Subject 27

by Phyrexian

The Testing Begins

Chapter 2 - The Testing Begins

As the gate slowly opens, my mind is racing with thoughts. Wondering how a manticore could even exist. I thought they were a mystical creature, legends, fake! The beast roared once more snapping me back to reality. The gate’s halfway open, the manticore puts a paw on the gate and another against the wall, trying to force the gate to open faster. My heart’s now racing, adrenaline coursing through my body like never before, my hands are clammy, this feeling.... I’ve never felt so much... Excitement... So scared before... So alive! I don’t know if it’s the adrenaline rushing to my head, or just the kid in me so excited to see a mystical creature. I stand here, motionless, eyes focused on the two paws trying to force that slow gate to open any faster. Standing here, scared out of my mind, not knowing what to do feels great.

The gate was now fully open, I feel a lump building up in my throat, waiting to see if manticores really do exist. The beast steps out from the shadow, standing on its hind legs. Body and head of a lion, wings of a bat, and tail of a scorpion, this thing was massive! Nearly towering over me, a solid 7 feet tall on its hind legs, maybe weighing around 300+ pounds of pure cold blooded killing machine! There’s a good 20 feet between us, the manticore standing there, seizing up its next meal. Its tail wagging left to right, like it has a mind of its own. I can't tell if this is a dream or not, or maybe i really did die when they pulled out that metal shard from my torso.

The manticore starts to slowly approach me, still walking on its hind legs, its tail wagging back and forth as it walks, his wings fully expanded to their full length, and I am scared shittless. The manticore is now only 10 feet away, still walking towards me, keeping perfect eye contact with every step it makes. I don’t know what i’m more scared of, that this thing has a good 2 feet on me, hell even maybe the extra 200+ pounds of muscle then I do, or that tail of its, filled with some deadly poison that could probably kill a full grown male in seconds. My mind is telling, no screaming at my legs to move, but my body will not listen. I can feel every beat of my heart against my chest, time seems to slow down the closer the beast comes to me. My mind is now yelling at my body to work, my legs seem to be locked in place, and my feet feel like i’m wearing a pair of cement shoes. God, what a way to go, dieing to a mystical creature like a manticore.

Time is crawling now, since the beast is only 5 feet away, and every step it takes seems like a lifetime ago, the only thing I can hear is the beat of my heart and every breath I take might be my last one.

“Oh Subject 27, you’re scared stiff aren't you?” That voice again? I must either be dead or going crazy if I keep on hearing voices in my head. “Oh no Subject 27, you are very much alive my dear boy, and yes, you are slightly crazy, but who isn't? Now come on, my good friend, why don’t you show your hosts what gifts i’ve bestowed upon you? Or would you rather take your chances and see what this big ol’ pussy cat is made of and see if it wants to eat you like a mouse or play with your dead body like a ball of twine?”

That voice does have a good point, this manticore could either be no more of a threat than a normal house cat, or it could very well want to rip my face off and eat it like catnip. I don't know what it's talking about though, what power? I’m just a normal human being stuck in what could be Hell, Limbo or some rich bastard’s sick idea of a joke.

“What powers are you talking about? I don’t even know who or what you are! And why do you keep on talking like we know each other? I don’t recall anything about my life or what has happened! Let alone a voice in my head that keeps on talking to me!”

“Tsk Tsk Subject 27, you truly don't remember a thing, do you? What a shame... Ah well, we’ll be talking again very shortly if you survive this big ol’ pussy cat.”

As it said that, and time goes back into full swing, the manticore is now in arms length from me, just staring me down. Why did the voice in my head keep on calling this death machine a ‘big ol’ pussy cat’? Sure it might be ⅓ lion and but it’s still 100% cold blooded death machine. My heart is pounding so very hard right now, the adrenaline still coursing through my entire body, and I have two options right now. Plan A: either try my best to beat this manticore down without it killing me in one shot, or Plan 2: pet it.....

As I raise my right hand, the manticore quickly shifts its gaze from my eyes to my hand, watching it very carefully. The manticore is studying every single move I make, his wings are now close to his body, his tail staying perfectly still. My hand is only a few inches away from the manticore’s chest, every second feels like i’m signing my own death warrant. I firmly place my hand on the manticore’s chest; his fur is surprisingly soft to the touch, and I bring my left hand up onto its chest and start to pet it with both hands. The manticore stands there, not making a single move while I pet it with my hands. Scratching his belly, the manticore starts to purr like a kitten in a beam of sunlight. As I pet the manticore, my heart rate returns to normal and the adrenaline rush stops, and oddly enough a smile breaks out across my faces as I pet the beast. The manticore lays down in front of me on its back as I keep on petting and scratching its belly, his left hind leg starts to twitch and does a kicking motion as I reach the spot right under his rib cage on the left side. The purring noise is rather loud; it’s echoing off the walls of this empty room.

“Bravo Subject 27, Bravo. You just made me 10 bits. I am rather pleased to see you were able to figure out the manticore’s “weak spot”. It might seem like a giant vicious lion ready to attack anything in sight, but all in all it’s no more of a threat than a normal house cat. You’ll have more tests with wildlife soon enough, more dangers than the others. Lamar! get back into your cage!” As the voice says that, the manticore slowly gets to its feet and walks back through the metal sliding door and it slowly closes behind it.

“Now Subject 27, since you were able to complete the test rather easily, we’ll let you continue further. If you wouldn't mind going back out the door and going to the next room on your right, well continue your testing.”

As the voice cuts off I hear metallic clicking from behind me as the door unlocks. I sigh in relief that test was rather easy and I didn't have to defend myself.

I turn around and push the door open, and headed to the next room, I hear metallic clicking from behind me as the door locks itself behind me and once again as the door to my right unlocks. Slightly nervous about what might behind this next door, I pause only for a few seconds before opening it. As I open the door, the collar around my neck softly beeps, slowly, not like before when I was trying to touch it. I pause, listening to the soft beeps of the collar, with the door only halfway open, and the voice starts to talk once more.

“Come on in Subject 27, ignore the beeping on the collar, nothing that you need to worry about.” As the voice cuts off, I fully open the door. There are no lights in this room that are on. I slowly walk into the room, the only source of light is from behind me, coming from the hall way.

The room has an odd feeling to it, like the feeling of ozone right before a big storm. As I step fully into the room, the door slams shuts and locks itself. My eyes quickly adjust to the darkness of the room. The collar is still softly beeping, a slow steady rate.... Beep... Beep... Beep. I feel at ease in this room, the darkness cloaking my actions. I notice a little red light across the room, Just flashing, probably no bigger than a penny. I slowly start walking towards the light, it’s slowly getting bigger and bigger the closer I get, the collar is still keeping the same rate as before, just softly beeping. Wonder why it started to beep in the first place, why here and not in the first room?

I am now close to the blinking red light, and I slowly move my right hand towards to, trying to grasp it. As my hand made contact the collar starts to scream. The beeping is a lot louder then before. I quickly remove my hand from the little red light and the collar starts to quiet down again. Why did the collar flip out when I put my hand on the red light? Testing a theory out, I quickly put my hand on the red light again. Once more the collar started to scream, the rate of the beeps started to increase, and the volume increased as well. With my hand on the red light as the collar screamed, I do the next best thing I can think of: push down on the red light.

As my hand slides down with the red light, the collar stops beeping. Standing here, motionless in the dark, with no sound, no light, wondering what will happen next, my mind races; not knowing what that little red light did, or what it was for. I turn around to try to walk my way back to the door and then as I place my foot down, I fall. Ether I turned the wrong way or the little red light did something to the room when I pressed it down. The fall seems to last forever, free falling is not something I like so much, especially in the dark.

I keep on free falling, not knowing when I’ll land face first into the ground below and most likely break my neck. It feels like I’m falling faster and faster, time seems all lost to me while free falling. It’s like an eternity, This feeling of is familiar somehow, like I’ve done it before, willingly though. Why I would ever decide to do this is beyond me. While thinking this a fragment of a memory comes racing back to me.

I was falling fast, but enjoying it, I could see the bright yellow sun, the big white puffy clouds hanging in the air, the blue sky expanding as far as the eye could see. The feeling of the wind pushing against my body as I fell, the wind rushing past my face. The mere thought of plummeting to the earth at break neck speeds was thrilling, and I felt weightless while free falling. I could do all sorts of things while free falling.

I snap back into reality when the lights suddenly came on and I slam face first into the floor with a loud thud. The sudden impact of my head hitting the floor knocked me unconscious.

“Oh Subject 27, did baby fall down and go boom?” His insane laughter echoes through my head like a gunshot in an enclosed area, never stopping, just continuing to echo. “ I do have to admit, Subject 27, that did look like it hurt, a lot. Hell most people would died on impact from that height, but not you, you’re a tough one to crack. Now Subject 27, get it, rise and shine!”

I wake up still face first on the floor, my head throbbing due to the sudden impact with the floor. I most likely have a concussion now due to the fall. Feels like someone dropped a concrete block on my head. I can feel blood running out of my nose, the warmth of it as it runs out and onto the ground. God that hurt like hell. I sit up holding my head, hoping that this pain stops soon, as well as the blood. As I sit here, making sure everything is in one piece, my neck is hurting from the trauma, but I am still able to turn my head so I doubt I broke my neck. I put a little pressure on my rib cage to see if any of them cracked or broke. A sudden sharp searing pain shoots into my torso as I make contact with my rib cage. Hoping I only cracked a few, I sit here waiting for the pain to stop before getting up and moving on. I look up to see where I fell from and how far of a drop it was. I see a platform where I was most likely standing at with the little red light. And not too far from it was the door, so pressing that little red light did move the room around. I looked to see how far the drop was from the ledge to where I am now, roughly a 20 foot drop. Kind of hard to gauge any thing with a throbbing head, let alone a concussion.

I try to stand up, slowly so I don’t do any more damage to myself. As I started to stand up, my ribs start to burn. Grunting in pain, I’m able to fully stand up without falling down. With every breath I take makes my chest burns with searing pain once more. I look around the room where I am at; the floor is a smooth grey stone, the walls are stones painted white. I see three doors on the far side of the room. I notice another camera above the three doors. I start to walk towards the doors when my collar starts to talk once more.

“Subject 27, this is Doctor Helping Hoof. I am surprised that you survived that fall, let alone already started to walk again. The collar allows us to monitor your vitals and the condition that you are in. I don’t know how you are walking around with 3 fractured ribs, and a concussion, but you’re making one great test subject to study. The three doors in front of you are a “reward” for you surviving the fall, but you may only pick one. Fair warning though, one door will not benefit you, another one may or may not have another test in it, and the last will have something to help you out.”

As the microphone on the collar goes dead once more, I stand there, wondering which door I should pick. I approach the doors, standing only a few feet from them, I hear metallic clicking from all of them as they unlock. I choose the door in the middle, and as I open it, I hear metallic clicking coming from the other two as they lock. I slowly open the door, my heart rate starting to increase, my ribs still on fire. My head still throbbing from the fall, still hard to think straight with this concussion, I push forward, opening the door fully. I step into the room, the door closing and locking behind me, The room is well light, same smooth grey stone flooring, and white walls as before. Something is off about this room, it’s smaller than the others I’ve been in. There’s a door on the far side of the room, and two pedestals in front of me, and behind those pedestals on the ceiling are two tubes. I notice two cameras in this room, one over the door on the far side, and the second one on the right wall.

The microphone in my collar starts to talk once more.

“Subject 27, I’m glad you chose the testing room.” As he says this, a lump is building in my throat. “Now Subject 27, this test is rather simple, but it can either help you or harm you, depending on which pedestal you pick. Too bad you didn't pick the door to the right, that had a healing potion in it to heal your wounds that you obtained” I facepalm myself as he says that. “The door to the left though, well, you would have some ‘fun’ in there, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. Now, Subject 27 pick which one you want and pick wisely.”

The microphone goes quiet after that. I stand there wondering which one I should pick. Wait, this might be the concussion talking but I do have a rather smart idea, what if I don’t pick either of them? What if I just walk towards the door?”

I head towards the other door, try to open it, but it’s locked, figures. As my idea crashes and burns, the microphone starts to talk once more.

“A slave OBEYS!”

As he says that, a powerful jolt of electricity comes from the collar and rushes into my body. The pain of this is unbelievable, my whole body locks up and I collapsed and hit the floor with a thud. With every gasp for air I try to make my chest burns with searing pain, and my eyes start to water from the pain caused from that jolt of energy from the collar. Nearly passing out due to lack of air, I start to cough violently. Which doesn’t help the pain in my chest at all... After a few minutes trying to regain control over my body, I eventually get up on my hands and knees and slowly begin to stand.

Surprisingly the collar’s microphone still worked after that jolt of energy.

“Now, now, Subject 27. I gave you fair warning if you disobeyed one of us. Now, would you kindly do as you’re told and continue with the testing. Pick which button you want to press and see what you’ll get.”

I limp over to the two pedestals and press the one on my right, hoping I can get at least one break and get something decent. I look up at the tube, waiting for something bad to come out and try to rip me a new one. I started to hear screaming coming from the tube. Getting myself ready to defend myself from what ever it was, the screaming is getting louder and louder as it comes farther and farther down the tube.

As it landed on the floor right in front of me with a thud, it isn’t like anything I was expecting, not in the slightest. Slightly dumbfounded on what I just got for a “reward” and extremely confused on what this creature was in front of me, my jaw nearly hit the ground after witnessing this creature appear right in front of me. It turns its head and stares at me and says,

“Oh, Hello there.”

Wait.... Did.... Did it just TALK?!

Comments

[Jack Kellar]

Wow, I'm getting some serious Bioshock vibes here, and not just because of the expressions and phrases you lifted from the game.

[Vash_ts]

523090 I, instead , Lol´d at the Half life 2 pun...

[UraniumSpoon]

528341 Lamar!

[PlotTwist]

Seems like too many game references to be taken fully seriously...