Prince ⦽f Madness

Chapter_9://C20H25N30

My life turned upside down after I graduated from med school. My skills as a nurse were polished to the point I was hired to make rounds in the Secret Bio Department of Prism. Basically, it means now I am good enough to take care of hunters. I will say this though that hospital reeked of flowers and roaches, and it really added to my anxiety.

The first two days we had protocol seminars, and it was boring because it was the same protocol in any hospital. I was getting slightly irritated because of how pointless this all was. Sometimes when things get too repetitive, it will make a person crazy and rebel just to fuck it up. My wing partner was Darrell. Believe it or not, after that night we all went out, Darrell toned down the annoying and was a normal happy person. By normal happy person, I mean he was tolerable to a degree.

We had the tour of the very advanced laboratory and equipment, even the pods we normally use seem so outdated compared to these. One pod contained an embryo, it smelled like lilacs and the aura was a tinge of red. These unborn children will grow up to be the bane of my existence.

The most ruthless, and sadistic man to ever give us the tour was Sargent Cyanide. He is, so fucking disgusting and morally incorrect on so many levels I couldn’t bare it, and they programmed me to shrug at the most vile. “... This is a special order from Russia. Capable of surviving the worse of winters and hell fire, this hunter will be used to take down their enemy,” he said as he pass around a chart with hypothesis and specifications of the order. “This is inhuman…” Darrell whispered. I hummed quietly in agreement. It was all written in codes. The bar-code or identification number was W-R-0098, basically it means Tungsten, Red, and numbers produced. Prism, in a sense, is a black market. I am sure, Prism is the number one culprit to start a war.

It wasn't till we reach level four that we watched a live experiment to test out how durable these soldiers really where. “Observe how this child dies and comes back,” Sargent Cyanide said as he cued the staff to infuse strange fluids into the kid's body. The child suffered; screaming and begging to be freed of his nightmare. He died in seconds, and about a few minutes in he drew a breath of life and screamed in pain and died again. It was like watching a cockroach after you stomp it. “Now this is all fine and dandy, but what if that becomes a monster?” Cyanide said.

A boy with red long hair and purple eyes with long broken angel wings went inside the room. Sargent Cyanide pressed a button on a remote in his hands and the child's mask fell off, the child tilted his head side before he approached the screaming specimen and ate him. Many of us couldn't stomach that monstrosity. Darrell almost threw up. The boy with red hair looked at the one way glass mirror, he was aware he was being watched.

“That is my perfect hunter. My pride and joy, Marcello. Created from a god’s seed and my own.” Sargent Cyanide said.

I was too quiet. Everyone was taking notice of my shocked behavior. I just told them, “I think I left my coffee maker on in my pod back home.”

After orientation, I went home. I was exhausted, I wanted to eat then sleep for the rest of my life with my boyfriend.

I hesitated to open the door. The boy's image haunt me and I think it will forever. I was scared. I rubbed my bar-code on the back of my neck, realizing Elyan and I weren't so different when I thought about it. We were both created in the same lab, we were torchered, humiliated and re-reprogrammed. I never met him and I knew he never knew me back in the facility. But it could be because we were in different sectors. So close… yet so far.

I walk in the apartment and I see all the furniture stuck on the ceiling. I let out my frustrations through my nose, and the moment I set foot in on the tile I shoot up and bang the ceiling. “Mother fucker!!” I shouted when the pangs of pain tingle in waves around my jaw. Something pinned me. Then I see Elyan, The God of butt-holes and douchebaggeries, moping the fucking floor. “I’ll put you down soon, Josiah,” the ass wipe said and took his sweet ass time in cleaning the floor.

It wasn’t after he put the stupid mop and bucket in the stowaway closet did he help me down. He reached an arm towards me and I slowly floated downward and into his arms smiling brightly. “Welcome home, Josiah--” I pushed his fat ass face away with my hand. “Couldn't you put me down earlier?!”

“And leave you running around with filth underneath the soles after all my hard work?” he chuckled and put down. “I doubt it, my love.” He placed a kiss where my bruise was clear and continued to drop the furniture where they went. “I’m sorry love, I lost track of time, I thought perhaps you would arrive later,” he said. I realized he was too busy cleaning to start dinner, and I was too tired to even think about lifting a pot. “Are you hungry?” I asked. If he wasn’t hungry, I could skip dinner and just go to bed. “I am very hungry. What do you want me to cook?” he walked over the clean and pristine kitchen and checked the cupboard.

“I was thinking… How about we go eat out?” I said to him while I removed my itchy as hell uniform to jump in the shower. “Are you sure?” Elyan asked with a gentle smile, I had suspicions he wanted to eat outside. “Yeah… You pick.” I closed the door and took a shit.

We ate at our favorite diner. We frequent that establishment we knew the staff and they knew exactly what we wanted to eat. I ate rice and peas, mashed potatoes and fried chicken. Elyan asked for seven, I repeat, seven chilli dogs, and a chocolate cheesecake. We both split the malt.

“Josiah, if you can replace one human at a time with an artificial human, would they still pay twenty-five cents for a loaf of bread?” Elyan asked. I wasn’t listening to him well, so, I just hummed in doubt. “The sudden change of humans as weapons will become a necessity rather than a luxury. There will be an entire civil rights movement to change the law. I guess that by the time Prism changes everything, a loaf of bread could inflate to twenty-five dollars.” That was a genuine question considering what we were dealing with. “That is indeed an interesting concept you brought into the table. I personally think you are correct, but I doubt it will happen so fast considering how expensive the technology is at the moment,” I commented and took a sip of the malt.

“I can understand that, but I think Prism is aiming for that,” Elyan added after he swallowed his third chilli dog. “Why eat bread when you can just relax in a pool of minerals or even consume the extracts by pills? Wouldn't food be a luxury item?”

“That's if Prism continues to grow. I think it will take a long time for everyone to adjust to it. Unless, as you say to replace us with a better vessel.” I take another bite before continuing. “While that sounds appealing at first glance, I don't think it is possible for us to live around a stasis chamber. The possibilities of a pod breaking down will require a number amount of basic training just to manage it. It took me a while to learn how to use it properly. and the ones in the Bio Department are so advanced I don’t think I will understand them till I am forty. In fact, what if someone is stranded without one? They will die. I don’t see the practicality in here unless it is easier to control the population.”

“I guess it is easier, to not worry about it, but since we are clearly in the middle, I doubt we have any choice but to fear the outcome. Specially after your strange encounter with this Unknown.” That sparked another thing that clouded my mind. “Did you managed to find out information?” I asked. Elyan hesitated as he poked his cheesecake. “Crow knows who he is but he… can’t remember who it is.” Elyan smiled nervously.

“Convenient…” I said deadpanned.

“But he told me he was on our side,” Elyan assured me. I just sighed and push my plate forward so I could prop my elbows on the table to rest my face over it. “You sound stressed, my love.”

I didn’t know where to start so I just spoke to him. “Does it not bother you I work in the place where you and I were held in captivity…?” He may smile, but his face drained of any red tones he naturally had. He glanced down at his dessert before he spoke, “I… won’t lie when I say I am frightened by the very thought… but at the same time this is a good thing.” I lifted my head confused as hell. “Explain…” I muttered.

“As you are aware, I can hear everything but I cannot hear anything from that place… I know it exists. You…. While it is a high risk, it is beneficial for both of us to learn to coexist with that department.” I couldn't believe what he was saying. “It’s not just beneficial to us… but to everyone around us that do not even realize how dangerous it is,” he added.

“And if I told you I do not want to work there anymore…?” I asked him. He didn't even think. “Then I will sleep at ease knowing you are not there.”

That night as he slept soundly I looked for placed in a different state to live, It was going to be a big ass move, but I have been saving for a while now. I cut on food, water, candy, and other supplies for this to work. I won’t lie, I fucking hated living there. Everyone did.

Next month I was ready to work in the deeper levels. I learned about the machines and protocols by heart. I the entirety of that month I never saw Darrell, I thought he never had the stomach to stay, but that particular day he showed up and he wasn’t Darrell. He was emotionless, static, even his orange eyes were bleached white. “Farnsworth, good morning,” I cringed. This was the result they promised me when I subjected myself to reprogram my emotions. I freaked out.

“Morning, Darrell--”

“Spyre.” He corrected me.

He watched me the entire shift, I fucked up so much because of it. Every time I looked he was staring at me lifelessly. “Can you cut that out?” I finally snapped at him. He just blinked and continued to work. I wanted to get home and just live somewhere not in Prism.

I call Elyan using the phone of the base. “Thank you for calling Big Saves’ Mart! Margarette speaking, how may I be of assistance?” I heard the woman speak and all I could faintly hear Elyan laughing in the background. I felt horrible for making such a rash move. “Can I speak to Elyan?”

“One moment,” she dropped her facade and aggressively yelled, “Elyan! You got a phone call!!” I heard the voices get quiet and suddenly I hear a mess before someone else speaks. “Yes? Elyan speak— Josiah!” He shouted excitedly. “I was just talking about you!”

“That… is creepy. A-anyway. At what time you get out?” I asked.

“I get out at noon today.”

“Good. Pack everything and meet me at the bus stop at eight o’clock tonight.”

“What? What happened, my love?”

“Just do as I say, please,” I urged him. “I don’t got much time I am supposed to be working…”

“Alright, I’ll quit now so I can get everything ready.”

“I’ll see you then.” I hanged up.

Darrell walked in, “Farnsworth, we have work to do.” God, he sounded so strange. So I had to follow him to the working level where we’re needed.

We saw how they “care and nourish” for these hunters. It was abusive. Pure abuse. They were struck after unwanted behavior. Most of them had their voice removed through raw procedures and acted on pure instincts after breaking their souls.

They forced us to watch them breed. There was a group of females drugged with MDMA, then they release a few males into the same room who were also drugged. If some were not fucking, they were deteriorating with the dose in their system, and if not, they were eating each other. It was a horror scene straight from hell.

My job was to tend to the children and infants. My patient, was Marcello. I had to set him up on the stasis chamber and check his stats hourly.

“Beautiful is he not?" Sargent Cyanide said from behind. He startled me. I composed myself before I answered. “I guess. I am not into monsters though.” Marcello was listening to me. I could tell with how he haunted me with his empty eyes. “He technically is a god-like breed and altered to perfect our needs,” Cyanide said.

“God-like?” I asked. He kept using that word, and I was not sure if we were on the same page.

“We had several god descendants in our Prism base. One escaped during a rapture. Thanks to him, we perfected a drug to reproduce and even have a gene pool for future reference. To clone a body is far too basic for the things we are capable of.” He looked at me with a cold smile.

“Baby designing; can’t say it's an original thought…” I scoffed at the dumb idea.

“It's not mere baby designing, if we can identify every single piece that makes the human body we can make thousands of gods to walk among us. I had to let the father of this specimen go because I was too involved with him. But that hasn't stopped me from finding him for myself.” I looked at him with the corner of my eyes, I was feeling sicker thinking this shit head might have a sick kink.

“So, you claim to have god’s in your super-jail?” I asked using air quotes. “We had--” The dumbass tried to explain, but I just continued on my tangent. “I don’t believe you to be honest. There is no such thing as a god. And if there were I doubt it that you would have the technology to tame one.”

“We do--” I would not let him intimidate me. “I suppose you won’t just show me, huh? I expected as much from someone so ill handed.” I spoke with heavy confidence.

“On the contrary, Josiah.” He laughed and walked off down the hall. “Follow me…” Something was yelling at me to do the opposite, but I needed answers.

We arrived in the biggest archive I have ever seen. It was bookshelves as far as the eye could see, containing files and books and other data sharing media. “So much for the age of technology…” I said nonchalantly. “You have no idea how difficult it is to keep our information away from prying eyes. It is safer on pen and paper than digital. We had the horrible experience to be hacked by external sources and cause a horrible harm.”

“Hacked?”

“Yes. Not too long ago we had a massive blackout and power surges. Then after that we lost ninety percent of our data.”

“Do you know who it is?” I asked. I knew what he was talking about. “If we did we wouldn’t be having this discussion,” he answered. It pissed me off no one knew who that bastard was.

“Fair enough…” I followed him till he got several files in his arm and we sat down on a desk for him to show me the contents. “Our first encounter with a god like being was in this very location. We call him ‘The Devil’.” The mug shots and stalked images presented a rugged man with gold hair and blue eyes. “Where is he now?” I asked looking through the reports. “He was under surveillance a while back but there are rumors he was in the area.” I opened another file and the mugshot and the stalker pictures were of a brunet and cocky cowboy. The lunar mark on his forehead was the same individual I encountered the day of the sky glutton. “This one goes back to 1887,” I said.

“Yes, this one was hard to catch. But once we got him under our custody, we could successfully extract his DNA and experiment.”

“What makes him a god?” I asked. That was a serious term we needed to clear up.

“That word is subjective--” he tried to shade me with his bullshit and I was not up for anything especially when my boyfriend was on the line. “So they are not gods...” Sargent Cyanide laughed at my comment. “I see you are very skeptical…”

“Something like that…” I brushed him off.

“Look at his lab reports,” so I did. Subject M1: The subject had many superhuman talents, the most dominant was super hearing and his voice. They subjected him to many sound based experiments to understand why his hearing was more damaging than helpful. He has three sets of vocal cords according to the many biopsy reports. According to DNA analysis, he shares some of it with one of the documented subjects: Subject Zero.

They put these subjects together in one room after depriving them of food, water and sleep. Subject Zero instantly bonded with Subject M1. Subject M1 fed Subject Zero with the little rations we provided. Then they put them in different rooms and blindfolded them, they could communicate and hear each other using a coded language. This subject protected Subject Zero like his own kin. They assumed they were lovers and were put in the same room again but they never mated. They only sang together. If an outsider stepped too close to them, they will protect each other using aggressive means. The images were fucked up, it is literally two people huddled up together in a corner of the room filled with dead dismembered bodies. They were locked down in soundproof rooms and forced to wear special masks and neck braces to prevent them from singing.

They cloned subject M1.

They raised subject M2 and taught to abuse and to torment anything near it. They exposed him to Subject Zero on various occasions and he beat Subject Zero and tried to eat him several times. They drugged Subject M1 with MDMA and locked him in the same room with female candidates and unlike Subject Zero he didn't mate with anyone.

“Who is Subject Zero?” I asked for context. I was feeling sick to my stomach, and I knew Cyanide was enjoying this. He opened the next file and no matter how cool I played it I jumped back. The mug shots and stalked shots were of fucked up. I could barely see Elyan suffer as he slowly died in my hands, I couldn’t stomach how small he actually was, how scared he looked, and how lifeless his eyes were in the photo as he forced a smile. I couldn’t swallow the bile building up in my throat. The bastard was telling the truth. He was indeed taken from his parents, he was the idea for the hunters.

I heard a click and the sounds of a child screaming overwhelmed my ears along with the screams of a man speaking his language, “Elyan…!” was the only word I understood. The child was singing and crying, probably answering to the sound of his father. “Shut him up!” someone said followed by a slap, then another, then a loud bang as if they threw him to a wall and suddenly the screams lowered to quiet whimpers. Cyanide chuckled deviously as he clicked the recorder to stop. “Even his sounds of distress make a pretty song don’t you think?” he whispered hotly against my ear.

I drew a needed breath before composing myself. “Did you subject your own kid to this fiasco?” I asked. “No, that is the father of my kid.” My stomach dropped to the center of the Earth. Elyan told me it was possible for males to be pregnant but I really hoped he was just trying to be romantic. I pushed him off me and made a space between us. “You raped a little boy?” I scowled at the freak.

“Don't be silly. While he was fun to play with, I waited till he was mature enough to actually provide useful sperm,” he said with a creepy grin.

“That is impossible, you can’t have a child without the participation of a female,” I was in denial.

“You can have a child with two sperms. And thanks to his donation we have a base to secure our future.” I couldn’t stand there anymore. I walked away back the way we came. I had enough. “You are seriously disturbed.” I stood still as he spoke. “You seem to have no issue with the other subjects… Why so defensive with this one?”

I turned to the bastard and shouted, “He was a baby! Are you fucking insane?! What the hell is wrong with all of you!? Why the hell do you put us through this!?”

“It gave us a lot of data. For example, Subject M1 can survive seventy-three days with an empty stomach before he finally felt the aches of his hunger. He can stay awake for almost one hundred hours before he hallucinates. He can survive falls and regenerate slowly. He is also immune to many poisons and drugs and has no sense of smell. Compared to us, this subject can survive the unthinkable. Sometimes we have to break things to find out what's inside,” he said to me as he walked closer. “We knew since you survive the rapture that you would do wonderful things. Not to mention the fact you did excellently during your reprogramming. You are so gifted you can survive without a pod.”

Ice walked in with a neck brace with my Identification number on it. “Where is he, Josiah…?” Cyanide asked. My heart stopped.