3
Being consumed was the strangest feeling Winston had ever experience. Yes, it did hurt at first, like being thrown into a tub of acid then he was nothing. He had no body anymore but, he still had his mind and it was being opened. Don't fear, it said, it sounded like his voice. I'm going to fill your head with knowledge. His mind was now an open book, everyone could read it even himself. Winston saw his memories flash before his eyes from his first memory as a toddler staring at a leaf in a pond to the last memory when he was attacked by the monster. Once his brief encounter with memory lane was over more images fill his head, only these images were…..incredible.
He was in space, the stars, galaxies, and universes, all of the wonders that most never get to see. There were other things filling his mind as well. Mechanics, mathematics (indeed 2+2=4, Winston) Biology, evolution, philosophy, astronomy, and more, and more as it filled his insignificant mind with knowledge. You'll get use to this soon, Winston. I promise you that. Now we need a body.
Winston was about to ask it how he was going to get a body when he was nothing but particles. His cell began to reform back into the shape he once was as a human. His limbs, organs, skin, all reformed into a perfect imitation. Something opened underneath him, spilling him out into the cold like a newborn babe. The ground he fell upon was earthy with grass growing from it. When he opened his eyes it was a fuzziness of green and white which began to take shape. When he regained his vision he was right that it was grass, the greenest grass he'd ever saw in fact. The white belonged to the legs of a dog which he was underneath it. This had to be a dream, he thought. Nothing made sense to him, the dog, the monster, the brief glimpse of the Universe. Now he was on the greenest grass on earth with a dog above him.
The huskie walked away from Winston's shivering body and looked at him. It was the same dog but, it was a normal looking dog this time. Maybe I passed out and imagined it all, he thought. Just when he was about to pet the dog to confirm reality the dog did something that was only meant for dreams. "No Winston. You're not imagining anything." Winston stood up dumbfounded, the dog was….speaking to him.
"I'm…I'm dreaming this. I have to be dreaming this," whispered Winston, panic raising in his voice. No you're not dreaming, Winston. This is very real, said the voice in his head. It sounded strangely like him. Winston put his hands on his head screaming to the heavens of his current madness. The human scream turned into a roar of something so alien it didn't belong to any animal on the face of the earth and it was coming from him. Winston finally stopped screaming when several hands pinned him down to the ground, they were human. Well, human looking that is.
Once Winston was pinned down the dog walked on top of him like a wolf on its prey. "My God, Winston," said the dog, strangely it had a British accent "You are the most panicky human I've ever had to consume. You should be calm."
"Calm? How can I be calm?!" shouted Winston, he was surprised with himself. He'd never raised his voice in retaliation for sometime….like Outer Party Winston Smith. The talking dog sat on his chest, it's wait was heavy. "Because if you panic, your body will do anything to survive even if it means attack yourself."
"I wasn't attacking myself."
"Look at your hands, Winston," it said, Winston took a brief look at his hands. They were no longer human hands but, a twisted thing of nightmares. The hands that were suppose to be there were gnarled up like twigs with something red coming out of them. Winston was about to panic again when his own voice started talking in his head. Don't panic, it'll go back to normal if you stay calm. Winston closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, he could feel his hands becoming normal again. Once Winston was fully back to 'normal' the group let him go and they went into the cabin in the forest.
Slowly Winston got up from the ground. The whole group was in the cabin. The only people outside were the dog and Winston staring at each other. "What am I?" he asked, not knowing who he was anymore. He didn't expect this answer from a imitation huskie dog. "You're human, a better improved human like the ones in the cabin. Speaking of improving, you need teeth and hair." Winston felt something tingle in his mouth and scalp. He wanted to panic but, immediately told himself to calm down. He suddenly grew back teeth and hair. Winston didn't know weather to thank the dog or not. "You can thank yourself for that, Winston. After all we all share the same thought," it said, leaving for a the cabin until Winston asked, "What are you?"
The dog looked back at him, "I have many names but, you can call me Russel."