《Human Spawn》Chapter 5
Advertisement
I was starting to realize that I did not enjoy waking up. Sleep was a pleasant, comfortable experience in which there was no pain or longing. Being awake though, that was painful.
I had woken up on a medical bed, the sounds of various monitors surrounded me. The room smelled of disinfectant and soap. A hospital then.
No one else was in the room, but I did notice a camera in the corner. That wasn't creepy in the slightest. The rest of the room was empty save for the monitors and the bed I was laying on.
My clothes had disappeared, replaced with an ugly, green medical gown. As my eyes traveled further down my body, I realized that my legs were bound together with a leather strap. I tried reaching for it, only to realize that I couldn't.
Whoever had strapped me down had taken the liberty to handcuff both of my arms to the sides of the bed. I tested the right cuff, it wasn't coming anytime soon.
As I moved to the left I noticed something far more horrifying than any handcuff. Just past the cuff and the IV drip, there was nothing. The bastard had taken my fucking watch! Some absolute imbecile had taken my property, MINE!
Ok, maybe I was overreacting. But still, I wanted that watch back. It was literally the only thing I had ever owned, besides the clothes on my back that is.
All I had to do was wait, there was a camera here after all. Surely someone had seen me wake up.
So I waited.
My nose started itching. I tried reaching for it, only to remember I couldn't.
Eventually, I decided that I 'd done enough waiting. Time to... actively wait.
"Hello? Anyone Listening?"
It felt weird talking like I was violating some rule that I hadn't dared to before. There wasn't much point to talking in the city, in the first place there was no one to talk to, and even if there was, talking was just liable to get you killed.
I waited a few seconds without receiving a response.
"Look," I yelled, "I'm sure this is all just one big misunderstanding. Maybe you can come in here and we could work it out?"
I let out a sigh. It looked like I would be stuck here for a while. The itch on my nose took the pause in my thoughts as a sign to flare up again.
If it wasn't for the camera I think I would have cried. I needed adventure damn it! At least having a near-death experience would be interesting, this was just plain torture.
My thoughts of torture died down, and I was left alone in the room with just the sounds of the heartbeat monitor for company... and that damn itch was here too.
So I continued to wait.
After a while I got so bored I started counting the beeps on the heartbeat monitor. One, two, three... I lost count somewhere around ten-thousand.
Ok, fuck this. I'd had enough; it was time to put an end to this torture. I stuck my tongue out, trying to reach my nose. I was going to scratch that fucking itch one way or another.
The door opened and three people walked in
Immediately I retracted my tongue and put on my best innocent expression. If they saw anything, they didn't mention it.
The first two people to walk in were wearing uniforms. One was a middle-aged woman, who sported an annoyed look on her face. She took up position on the far wall, hand resting on a holstered pistol.
Advertisement
The other was a young man, wearing the same uniform as the woman before him, only with a smaller insignia on the shoulder. Probably the woman's subordinate then. He seemed nervous and was toting a rifle, not the best combination if I wanted to leave without a few extra holes in me.
The last member of the trio was an older man in a labcoat, much like his younger counterpart, he too was nervous, just a lot worse at hiding it. Thankfully, he wasn't carrying a rifle, instead, the only thing in his hands was a clipboard.
As the doctor moved to my side, examing the monitors the woman began to speak.
"My name lieutenant Anderson. Dr. Palmer here is going to ask you a few questions. You answer those, and we can talk about getting you out of those restraints."
I decided to answer with a nod, best not to say anything that might piss off the people with guns.
There was an awkward silence as the doctor examined the monitors around my bed. After making a few notes he moved back to stand with the others.
The doctor flipped through a few pages on the clipboard before looking up. His nervousness had dissipated a bit, but he still looked tense. After taking a shaky breath he started talking.
"As the lieutenant said I have a few questions here for you. Please answer them as quickly as possible, any hesitation might affect the outcome. Any questions?"
He spoke is a rushed manner, stumbling on a few words as he went. I couldn't help but wonder what had everyone so concerned. I hadn't done anything that I could remember. My musings were interrupted when he spoke again.
"I'll take your blank stare as a no. We'll start with a simple question, name?"
"Ezra." I blinked in surprise. I had responded automatically, with no thought about the question one way or the other. I didn't particularly care about the name itself, it was as good of one as any. But I wished I knew why I had said it. A question for another time I supposed.
"Full name please."
Unlike last time, nothing leaped out of my mouth. I hadn't put any thought towards one, and I wasn't exactly prepared to come up with one on the spot.
"Just Ezra."
He made a note on the clipboard and continued. A lot of the questions were nonsensical and often left me scrambling to think of an answer. How was I supposed to know what the color blue tasted like?
All of the questions were simple one-word answers, and any time I hesitated for more than a few seconds he would just make a mark and move on to the next.
Things continued like this for some time. Honestly, I was pretty confused by the whole thing. It didn't seem like the questions were supposed to make any sense. Maybe it was a test of my mental state.
Eventually, the questions just stopped and the room was returned to silence. The doctor continued to write on the clipboard muttering under his breath as he went.
As he worked the I could feel the tension in the room increase steadily. It got so bad that I swear I could see the young guy with the rifle start sweating.
Eventually, Doctor Palmer let out a sigh of relief, handed the clipboard to the lieutenant, and just like that the tension in the room evaporated. The lieutenant glanced at the papers and before handing them to the other guy.
"Jenkins, send this to Alpha, tell 'em we're all clear, and make sure to get the sergeant out of quarantine."
Advertisement
She added that last part like it was almost an afterthought. The lieutenant reached into her pocket and pulled out a set of keys, and started working on the restraints.
"I suppose you have a few questions, that's fair, but my time's valuable, so I'll only hit the big ones. For anything else ask Jenkins, as of today his only job is making sure you don't do anything too stupid."
I opened my mouth to speak, hoping to finally get some answers. To say I had a few questions would be an understatement.
"Wh-"
She didn't seem inclined to let me speak, however, because she kept talking like I hadn't said anything.
"I suppose you want to know why you're locked up. I'll do my best to explain things in a way that you can understand."
She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing.
"Every week the Dome resets and brings with something new. Each week is generally more dangerous than the last until after the fourth week, where it goes back to being a cakewalk.
One thing that always remains consistent is the type of threat. If the city has recently been hit by a demon invasion, then the only thing you'll find in that city are demons.
The only time you find humans is if they are part of that threat. In the demon invasion example, the only humans you'd find are cultists, demon worshippers, or something along those lines."
She paused for a moment to start working on my cuffs. It didn't take a genius to see where this was going. She was implying that I was related to insects somehow. Was I related to those insects somehow? I shuddered. The lieutenant continued, ignorant of my thoughts.
"There were only two reasons that I even considered letting you live. The first of these being that no threat ever leaves the Dome unless it's pursuing someone. Before you ask why no one knows. It's just one of the many unexplained rules of the Dome.
The second being that over the last two centuries twenty-six anomalies have been recorded, only two of which were human. The rest were completely different from each other.
The anomalies are weird can be anything. The weirdest one I know of is a giant, fire-breathing cockroach, and just like normal humans, they are completely unaffected by whatever keeps threats inside the dome.
That little test you just took was designed with the anomalies in mind, with the idea being to weed out anything that only looks human from an actual human. So I suppose some congratulations are in order, as far as the government of New Philadelphia is concerned, you're human."
Her last sentence was emphasized with a click from the last handcuff as it came off my wrist.
"So what now," I asked, "You just going to let me go?"
"Sadly, no. Jenkins will take you through an abridged version of orientation, after that, you'll be sent to the capital." She paused for second before adding, "Or you could just leave, not like I'm gonna stop you."
With that, she opened the door and left. When the door closed I the room was left in silence, broken only briefly by her yelling for Jenkins.
I sat in silence, lost in my thoughts. She had given me a lot to think about
I was pacing when the door opened again. The was unlocked, I had checked a few minutes earlier. As far as I could tell nobody would have cared if I had left, just like the lieutenant had said. But I had nowhere to go, and besides, I still needed to get my stuff back.
In walked Jenkins, he had ditched his rifle at some point and had lost most of the nervousness along with it. When he saw me he extended his hand, which I took, and introduced himself.
"I'm Private Frederick Jenkins, friends call me Fred. You're Ezra, right?"
Fred looked like he was in his early twenties, and still too young to grow a full beard. He had blue eyes and brown hair, and now that he was smiling, he looked kind of cute, well, in a puppyish sort of way.
"Yep, that's me. Lieutenant said something about an orientation?"
"That's the plan, though there are a few things we need to take care of first. Most importantly," he gestured at my gown, "are some fresh clothes."
He stepped outside for a moment and came back in with a small cart.
"Everything that was on you when the Sarge pulled you out of the lake's in here. Well, except the pistol of course. I took the liberty of providing you with some spare clothing. A lot of your old stuff's a bit singed."
I'll be waiting outside while you change. When you're done, come on out and I'll take you over to Alpha Site."
Them moment he left I jumped on the cart, looking through the things he had brought. I pulled out the clothes, looking for my watch. I had gone through most of the pile without seeing anything, and I was starting to get worried. These guys had stolen it, had they?
I shouldn't have worried, there it was, sitting at the bottom of the pile in all of its glory. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. This was one the few things I had ever owned, I'd be damned it if I lost to some stupid laser beam.
Everything else was there too if a bit worse for wear. The cargo pants and the t-shirt were singed, but still wearable if necessary. The boots and the leather jacket were both fine as far as I could tell. The only real casualty was the backpack, all of the plastic on it had melted, making it impossible to open. Not that I cared too much, clothes were replaceable, the watch wasn't.
Speaking of replacements I found the clothes Fred promised me. It wasn't much, a pair of pants and a tank top, but it was better than the scorched clothes I had.
I ditched all my old clothes save for the jacket; they were probably the best fitting clothes I'd ever worn, but seeing as there were only two other contenders, that didn't really mean much.
When I put my watch back on it buzzed at me, reminding me that I had outstanding notifications. Let's see: Extreme Dehydration, High Lactic Acid Blood Content, Deadly Temperatures, Mild Radiation Poisoning.
The first few were unsurprising, but the last one was more than a bit worrying. According to the logs, the radiation had maxed out as high as 400mSv, whatever that meant. Hopefully, mild radiation poisoning didn't have too many long term effects.
Dressed and reunited with my watch I was ready to go. It was time for orientation, and after that well who knew.
I couldn't help but grin, things were finally starting to look up.
Advertisement
Mechanical Friend The wonders of every therapy machines
Enter the attention of the spiritual world of having a car and what it means when it is seen more than just a car. It is a lot of things. Cars are more than just a mode of transportation to get from point A to point B. Ever since I was a kid and grew up with my family driving in our 84 Buick Regal, I knew I had some sort of special understanding with these vehicles. I know many of you out there have communicated with your vehicles in one fashion or another, but with me personally, Ive always understood and heard the soul of these classic cars. Its made me feel more empathy and understanding of some of the situations they get in, but also understand the joy they feel when they are with whom they call their road partners. When we go to car shows or dealerships, it's mainly for the cars. We don't know what we want or how old we want the car to be. There is a mechanical friend for each of us to learn more about their scientific background. This takes the reader far beyond the facts of what the car breed is. Everything has a spirituality side of it. A Tao; The Tao or Dao is a Chinese word signifying the "way", "path", "route", "road" or sometimes more loosely "doctrine" of cars. If we are looking for a classic car tht we dream of then the message is "Having an old American car is that it doesn't have to be very pretty. It's a satisfactory pleasure of building it and getting together to talk about the American classic, muscle car or not, it's how you connect with others into a community that holds together community. It is much safer to be riding around in a standard classic car from the 60s an 70s because you are aware of your responsibility driving it plus if you're hit, the armor protecting you is the car itself with no huge lethal damage to the car or yourself" Others' tastes are going to be different and unusual.but it is best to find what cars are going to say when we bond with them in every day in all the ways possible. This book teaches how to connect with the vehicle and how to detect gender energies within the machine and waht the machine can do for you.
8 132Protectors (HIATUS)
In response to an alien invasion, the United Nations formed the Protectors of Earth Initiative.The initiative selected 40 of the world’s greatest heroes. These heroes, fought on the frontlines, of the three-year war.Through courage and bravery, seven heroes rose above the rest. Together they stopped the invasion and brought peace to Earth. From its humble beginnings, the Protectors continued, ushering in a new era of heroes.However, in a world where heroes shine in the spotlight, villains lurk in the dark. One war has come to a close, but another has begun. A war against villainy and anarchy. A war that will shape the world, in the year 2035, and for generations to come.
8 142My Werewolf System
What would you do if you were to wake up one day to the message?[You have 5 days until the next full moon][Your bloodlust is increasing] Gary Dem is a person with a secret. While coming back to school appearing as a whole new person, he does everything he can to keep this from the people he cares about. For his path is one that led him to become part of the underworld. The world has changed, and gangs rule the streets sponsoring big corporations. Bribing politicians behind the scenes and controlling the decisions people make without them knowing it. Using a new breed of humans called the Altered, a mixture of man and beast.It was only meant to be a side job, he was never meant to dig in too deep, but on a mission for his gang, something went wrong, something changed him. [You have 5 days until the next full moon] [Your bloodlust is increasing]The lone wolf... is about to go on a hunt!
8 274Howling Wind
The Twinned Fangs—the pack is the only thing Gail knew while growing up. Isolated from foreign Ferian civilizations, she knew not the joy of playing in plazas and buying food from bakeries; instead, she was taught to hunt prey for the pack as well as to dedicate her entire life to it, but the lack of freedom was suffocating without a rank. Thankfully, she has some friends to show her different ways of living.Eventually, she'll reach an important part of her life in the pack: her Cubbing ritual, the night when she will earn a rank and a proper spot in the pack, and stumble upon encounters that will change her entire life.Horrible and mystical forces will attempt to disrupt and guide Gail as she tries to bring order to her pack and find peace within herself. With evil brewing and beings beyond the mortal realm looming on her shoulders, will she choose to please the pack, her friends, or herself?
8 85Dargon
Kegar, Strozazand, Katrina and their childhood friends are forced to go on an adventure that will test everything, from morality to legality. It's in their hands if the world lives or dies... or more importantly, if their families live or die. They will face everything from dargons and swamp creatures to undead (both great and lesser) to each other in order to bring an end to their quest. Dargon is updated each month on the 15th-ish, sometimes with additional content throughout the month.
8 176paradise city | 80s & 90s gif series
80s and 90s gif series containing of the most gorgeous men / characters that have walked the earth. Requests are open :)) •Highest Rankings:#1 - toysoldiers #2 - weirdscience#3 - standbyme#4 - coreyfeldman#5 - 10thingsihateaboutyou#6 - wyattdonnelly#9 - chrischambers
8 170