NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Failed Experiment
I was trapped and helpless.
The guards had me surrounded like hungry vipers, ready to tear me to pieces. One of them grabbed me and tossed me onto an iron bed that clamped me down with metal straps.
I felt needles pierce my skin and saw a dark, thick liquid oozing through the tubes. It crawled slowly towards my veins, like a venomous spider.
I couldn’t look away from the horror. It was pointless to wonder or regret, to plead or scream. But I hoped that death would be kind to me, after all this agony, or I would come back to haunt them all.
The chief grinned wickedly at me and said: “This drug is our masterpiece, boy. It will change your genes and make your skin as hard as a diamond, maybe harder. We call it ‘Diamorph’, short for diamond morphing. Clever, huh?”
I asked him in fear: “And what if it doesn’t work?”
He laughed maniacally and said: “Then you’ll be stuck here, with your skin cracking and healing over and over again. You’ll wish you were dead, but you won’t be. You’ll be our eternal guinea pig. Ah, what a thrill!”
He was a monster, a sadist, a bastard.
I cursed him with all my strength: “You’re a twisted fucker, you know that? You’re worse than the devil himself. You better hope I die here because if I don’t, I’ll make you pay in ways you can’t even fathom.”
The chief ignored my words and threats, laughing like a madman.
He glanced at the monitor and told the scientists:” Keep him here for a week and keep on monitoring him, the genetic mutation should not take place before that. Also, feed him constantly with a high-protein diet and keep him hydrated. We don’t want him to die on us, do we?”
He was about to leave the drug lab, but then he stopped and looked back at the scientists. And said:” When the mutation takes place call me immediately. I want to witness what happens to him. I want to see him suffer with my own eyes.”
The chief walked out of the room, smiling wickedly, while the scientists went back to their screens and machines.
I was alone with my thoughts and my pain. Why me? Why this? Why now? Damn it, why?
This was not the life I dreamed of. This was not where I belong! I should have been with my friends, my family. I should have been training in martial arts and weapons, mastering swords, spears, bows, axes, and halberds.
I should have been the best in my class, on my way to join the “CMA” and learn to fight with exoskeletons. I should have been on the frontlines, battling monsters, exploring the unknown, and living like a hero.
Oh, how I wish this experiment would work, so I could break free and slaughter them all, one by one, so I could escape this hellhole.
However, I knew that life was not fair and that the worst was yet to come.
And sure enough, on the sixth day of being in the drug lab, while being pumped with ‘Diamorph’, the gene change began.
My skin started to crack like glass. It was increasing by the second and spreading all over my body.
The chief was called back and rushed to the room to see what was happening.
I felt like I was dying. The pain was unbearable. Blood gushed out of the cracks like rivers. I couldn’t do anything but scream. I screamed like a wounded animal, like a doomed soul. I screamed so loud that even the other test subjects looked at me with pity. I couldn’t take it anymore and I begged the scientists to stop, to remove the needles, to take me to the sick bay. Yet, they ignored me. They only cared about the chief’s reaction. They only cared about his warped face that kept changing from satisfaction to disappointment, and soon enough I learned why.
The chief shouted at the scientists and ordered them: “Fuck! The experiment was a failure. As much as I love his twisted face and his pathetic pleas, he’ll bleed to death if we don’t stop. Pull out the needles and dump him in the sick bay. Tell the nurses to inject him with enough nanomachines and blood, so that he can heal enough to survive. Then toss him back in his cell and let him rot until the next experiment.”
The scientists nodded and quickly obeyed, afraid of angering the chief further. They dragged my limp body to a stretcher and wheeled me away, leaving behind a trail of blood and gore.
The chief watched them go with a sneer, then turned to his computer and typed in a report. He was not satisfied with the results, but he was not discouraged either. He had plenty of other subjects to experiment on, and he was determined to find the secret of enhancing human abilities. He believed that he was doing a noble service for humanity, even if it meant sacrificing a few worthless lives. He was the master of his own fate, and he would not let anyone, or anything stand in his way.
He finished his report and sent it to his superiors, hoping to get some praise and recognition. He was confident that they would appreciate his efforts and reward him accordingly. He had worked hard for years, climbing up the ranks of the “Cult of the Damned”, a secret organization that aimed to create the ultimate soldiers for wars against the monster invasion.
He had proven himself to be a brilliant and ruthless scientist, willing to do anything for the sake of progress and glory. He had earned his title of “Chief”, and he was proud of it. He checked his watch and realized that it was time for his lunch break. He decided to treat himself to a nice meal at the cafeteria, where he could enjoy the company of his colleagues and subordinates. He liked to mingle with them, to show them his charisma and authority, to make them admire and fear him. He liked to be the center of attention, the leader of the pack, the alpha male.
He got up from his seat and walked out of the room, humming a tune. He was in a good mood, despite the setback. He knew that he would succeed eventually, that he would make history, and that he would become a legend.
However, the only thing he didn’t know was that shortly, he would be trapped and helpless. Paying the debts of the souls he had taken, the souls that he used and abused.