Forced World

by Naden Gryphus

The Walk

THE WALK

“Sorry, Nathan, but you know I can’t afford a stunt like last time.” said Tom. Thomas has been my best friend for years now. It’s unfair we’re becoming distant because of a woman. Ever since they got together, he hangs out with me less and less. At least he’s happy with her. She may be a bitch, but I know she loves him. I could only wish she wasn’t so possessive of him.

“Yeah, I know. It's okay though, I can walk home. Good luck on your date,” I replied sadly “don’t screw it up like last time, and tell her I said hi.”

“Thanks, man. And sorry again, see you tomorrow.” he shouted while driving off in his beaten-up sedan. The only ride home was getting away, instead of taking me home, it was taking my friend to get laid.

‘Goddamn it’

I stood there for a moment. Just watching him leave, thinking of the journey ahead of me.

Nothing too extreme, but if there was something I hated more than anything, it was walking through the suburbs. It was dangerous, it smelled bad, and thanks to my awful shape, very exhausting.

It didn’t help that school was quite distant from any kind of public transportation, and my budget didn’t allow me to call a taxi.

I faced towards the path ahead of me; it was going to be a long day. I was already expecting something to happen. Hey, what can I say, I’m a pessimist through and through.

I put on some earbuds connected to my cell phone and turned it on. I picked a random playlist and music boomed into my ears. Some of those pieces you have laying around and never really pay attention to when you’re listening it.

I adjusted my backpack, and thanked myself for doing work before leaving, I didn’t have the necessity to carry my books, and I simply left them in my locker. So I was only carrying essentials. Which included a pair of slim notebooks, a case of writing utensils, and a bottle of water. I was a simple student that barely took notes. And having no assignments for the weekend was a nice touch.

I took the bottle out and took a sip. The moon was shining above me, so at least I wouldn’t have to deal with heat while walking. I put the bottle back inside the backpack and zipped it closed.

I was wearing a thick jacket with warm covering on the inside, so a chilly night wasn’t going to be a problem. I passed a hand through my unkempt hair and sighed.

‘Boy, I hate that cursed woman.’

After wasting much time preparing for my journey, I started walking in the general route I take when I’m out of traveling alternatives. It was long, full of confusing turns. But it got me where I needed to go, and it’s not like I had much choice, really.

The city was quiet at this time of the day, which was not uncommon, most people in this part of it are elderly folk, and they tend to take naps, I suppose. It was nice having some quiet time after such a hectic week, full of exams and annoying classmates.

It was Friday, at least. So my goal was to get home and take a twenty-hour nap. An hibernation, that’s what I needed.

I walked at the beat of the music; I think I would’ve looked silly to anyone watching, as I was the only one that could hear the song playing. But I couldn’t care less; I tried to steel myself for the boredom ahead, and this was the most obvious response.

As much as I hated to acknowledge it, I actually enjoyed walking, I hated the consequences it brings; but walking helped me relax, and after such a long and tiring week, relaxation was one of the sought-after things I had in my mind at the moment.

Finals week was finally over, now the wait for grades starts, but I wasn’t worried about them, I had done pretty good overall. So all that was left to do was rest for the weekend and prepare for next week.

---

I had been walking for a couple hours now, almost at three fourths of my journey if my calculations were correct. I wasn’t that good with distances, but it wasn’t the first time I took this route to get back home, after all.

What was left was nothing but a straight street, no more turns or complicated mazes of suburbs, just straight walking for about twenty minutes, and I could finally lay down and rest. Maybe eat some of the left-over junk food in my pantry. Yeah, some chips sounded really nice.

The street was bare of life, only cars on the sides and the flickering of cheap mercurial lighting. I stepped onto the sidewalk and slowed down my pace, I was getting tired of walking, something I blame my poor physique for, and myself, for keeping such bad exercise habits.

I had walked this path dozens of times, and each time, when I got to this point, I just wanted to pass out and sleep where I stood. It was not as exhausting as I had anticipated, but the fact that I was so close to home only added to the effect, and I just wanted for it to end.

‘Almost there, just keep walking. Ignore the exhaustion, just walk.’ I repeated the mantra inside my head to see if motivation would increase my pace. Imagine my surprise when a motivation appeared out of nowhere, in the most annoying way possible at the moment.

I felt a wet drop in my head, and looked up, all I could see were dark clouds. All above my head was dark night and few flashes of light between the ebony clouds.

‘Fuck, I hate walking.’

I pulled up the hood of my jacket and put my hands my pockets. My slow shambling turned into a brisk pace to get home. I was tired, alright. But I wasn’t gonna get a flu and ruin my perfectly good weekend by being bed-ridden the rest of it.

“Goddamn it, goddamn it, goddamn it! I knew I should’ve insisted on going with Tom!” I shouted out loud. I took out my cell phone and turned off the music; I took off my earbuds and placed them inside my jean’s pocket. I didn’t want them to get ruined, and I certainly could not afford new ones.

The rain that had started as a light drizzle was now a full-fledged downpour in a couple minutes. To top it all off, fog seemed to flood the area. You could barely see ahead of you, and the sound of thunder could be heard far away. It was as confusing as infuriating, I had been most likely lost so much inside my own thoughts I didn’t bother to check the recent weather for something like this.

‘Where the hell did this come from!?’ was the only thing on my mind. I know weather forecast isn’t reliable sometimes, but going from a clear, beautiful night to a storm in such a short time doesn’t seem logical.

Puddles were already forming in the concrete, and I splashed everywhere I stepped on. I kept walking in the rain, just wishing for it to end or for me to get home quicker. I certainly didn’t want to stay in the rain.

I heard a truck coming up the road; it was going way too fast for the weather we were in. It looked like one of those vans that everyone instantly thinks belongs to some shady spy agency. It even was black in color. It passed right by my side and stopped abruptly. It ended up ahead of me by a few meters. Its tires screeched like a banshee and the side-door quickly opened.

A tall man in a suit came out, facing away from me. He was also wearing balaclava. If anything, he looked like some guy cosplaying as a character from a wacky video game. I snickered at the thought, and he directed his attention at me. I froze in fear. Not because of the man itself, but because of his eyes, or whether where his eyes would be. The sockets were barren; all I could see inside them was darkness.

I screamed in fear and ran the way I was coming from. I heard quick footsteps in the rain behind me, puddles being splashed by expensive shoes. I ran, but I was exhausted, my adrenaline was the only thing keeping me going.

I kept running and running, trying to get some help, but there wasn’t anyone in these desolate streets to hear my cries for help. The fog didn’t let me see very far, and the sound of the rain and thunder was only heard through the hard beating in my chest.

I could hear the man getting closer, and I risked glancing over my back.

There was nothing behind me. I stopped running, and sighed. I decided I should take a different route home, and avoid anyone from now on. It was a simple, but hopefully, good plan.
I turned around to look in front of me.

And there he was. Eyeless and grinning at me with the most disturbing smile I’ve ever seen. He had a syringe in his hand. Images flashed through my vision, like if I was watching a slideshow of a fight scene. Quick movements, and my failed dodges, it all ended as soon as it had started.

I could feel my body starting to numb down. Spreading from the point of insertion of the syringe, making my body feel like dead weight. Slowly, but surely, I was starting to lose my grip on reality, and the sound of the rain became erratic. The last thing I remember was him standing over me, talking over his cell phone.

---

A loud thump woke me up from my dreamless slumber. A beating, a loud continuous beating that originated around me, I could hear it coming from all around me.

‘Where am I?’ was my first thought. The thought was brief, as my mind became clouded with pain and exhaustion. The last thing I could remember was that strange man, and then darkness. And now the beating was getting to my nerves. It didn’t sound normal, more like a sound made for the sole purpose to cause incomfort to anyone unlucky enough to hear it.

I groaned as I tried fruitlessly to open my eyes. They felt like they were welded shut. I could not move. I noticed that my senses felt deadened and my body felt like I was wearing it, not being part of it. I could feel it there, but I could not control it.

I was scared, and helpless. I tried to move every muscle I could think of, but nothing reacted to my commands. I could only hear the beating in my ears, and darkness in my sight.

The beating increased, until it became unbearable in my ears, my body tensed up, and I heard the most revolting sound I’ve ever witnessed.

BLOOCH!

I felt emptiness inside me. I gasped for air, as much as I could take. I had just noticed I wasn’t breathing but moments ago. And then, the pain came.

Pain. I couldn’t feel anything but pain. I couldn’t even bring myself to think about anything else. It was truly the most terrifying experience in my life. Not knowing what was happening to me, I tried desperately to move anything, to escape from danger.

I do not know for how long this lasted, it could have lasted seconds or hours, it didn’t matter, I lost track of everything in the fog of suffering that my mind was. Then, in a flash, I felt nothing.

This was more worrying than the pain; the lack of it meant something had broken inside me, as if it wasn’t obvious enough. I tried to open my eyes again, and succeeded, before closing them up immediately because of the bright light above me.

I could feel again. I was lying down, on something hard, metallic. I could tell I was still wearing clothing, as I could feel fluffiness on around me and my back. I supposed it was my jacket, as it felt similar to the warm covering on the inside of it.

Then someone spoke.

“Is it ready?” asked a very feminine voice.

“No, it’s not. We’ve had some problems with the compatibility of this one.” replied a gruff voice that I could only picture as an old man way past his golden years.

I tried to open my eyes once again, slowly. I was blinded by the light, but I did notice something, I could not see anything with my left eye. Panicking, I tried to sit up and put my hands to my face. This proved to be impossible, as I quickly noticed I was strapped down to the metallic table.

I began to panic, and tried to get rid of my bindings, I was tearing up in fear, my tears stinging my left eye. I tried to shout, but I was gagged too. All I could see was blinding light in one side and on the other nothing but darkness.

“It will be ready for shipping in a few hours,” said grimly the old man “for now, keep him sedated, but awake. He may want to know a few things. Stay with him, send someone for me if necessary.” I heard him starting to walk away, probably out of the room I was being held at.

“Yes, sir. Will do, sir” replied the woman. I heard the soft tick-tack of someone walking over to me. I tried to move and talk, but I was both bound and gagged. I also had a terrible headache, akin to a hangover, but that was apparently the least of my problems.

“Mr. Nathan, was it? Let me get that for you.” she said as she removed my mouth gag. Her hands briefly caressed my cheek, as if I was a small child.

I opened my mouth and tried to talk, only to finally take notice of the dryness of my mouth, preventing me to make any noise but strange guttural ones and hurting my own throat. I opened my eyes and looked the way the voice spoke.

There stood the most stereotypical-looking scientist I had ever laid my eyes on. Wearing a white long coat and brown skirt, stood a small woman with wide-rimmed glasses with the most passive smile one could ever hope to muster.

“Oh my, I should’ve probably thought of that before, huh?” she said as she walked out of my vision with a calm pace and a warm, sad smile on her face.

My mind was slowly clearing and I was starting to feel my body again. I certainly noticed some differences quite quickly. Firstly, I could not see absolutely anything with my left eye. And my first feeling of wearing something was erroneous, probably just some side-effect from all the drugs these guys must’ve pumped into me to keep me sedated.

She was back quickly with a tall, slim glass full of water. I thought she would’ve had to unbind me just to let me drink, but she just looked at me and poured it into my mouth. I drank greedily, barely managing not to choke on the sudden overflow of liquid.

My throat no longer feeling strained by my breathing, I considered it enough for me to speak and ask her what the hell was going on.

“W-Where am I?” I weakly said. My voice sounding deep and torn, like if it hadn’t been used in a long time.

“I-I cannot answer that. I’m sorry. Know that you are safe, and that you are very valuable to us. We need people like you, Nathan. Young people, unattached, those that won’t be missed. I’m sorry.” she calmly said. I felt like I was being the target of pity, even if I didn’t want to accept it.

‘Those that won’t be missed’ were the words that struck me the most deeply. I surely didn’t socialize with many people, but surely my family and friends would notice me being missing. I felt compelled to ask about it, but I had more important things to think of at the present moment.

“Look, I didn’t ask for any of this, let me out of here!” I shouted as loud as I could, which wasn’t much to say, really. Still it had the effect I was looking for, the scientist was startled and almost dropped the glass she was still holding in her hands.

She sighed and put her hand on my forehead. Her hand felt soft against my skin, and very warm to my skin. I had noticed earlier that I was feeling rather chilly, but comparing my temperature to her hand I was freezing.

“Look, I just work here all right? I don’t like this any more than you do. I’m sorry, but someone has to go. If it’s any help, you won’t be alone.” Her calm facade was completely gone, and she had a tint of anger in her voice. Apparently my resistance was not anticipated.

“All you need to know is that you need to move, quick. Find others and stick with them. Don’t play hero. And lastly, don’t truly trust anyone.” she said as she jabbed another syringe into my forearm.

I tried to scream but she quickly covered my mouth with her palm, my muffled cries were so weak I bet no one but her would be able to hear them even if she wasn’t covering my mouth, my throat being in the state it currently was.

I began to lose consciousness, the process felt similar to the last time I was injected by that creepy man. I still didn’t understand anything she had said, It all seemed like random general tips about life, I supposed.

My last coherent thoughts were erratic, bordering on panic and confusion, until the darkness in my mind filled it completely, only one last thought hovered in my mind before I blacked out.

‘Fuck, I hate walking.’

---

Twilight Sparkle had been staring at the readings churned out by her machine for several minutes now. Trying to come up with an explanation for the repeated influx of energy so close to Ponyville.

Sudden spikes in the readings, separated by intervals of a few seconds, without any explanation. It had been a good idea to set up the machine to read anomalies after so many disasters occurring in the vicinity of her new hometown.

“It doesn’t make any sense!” she exclaimed in a hushed voice. It was late at night, and she wouldn’t dare waking up her assistant at this hour, otherwise face his grumpy wrath.

‘It seems close by at least. Perhaps organize an expedition?’ she thought. After many of the events she had experienced, Twilight had learned that if you face a problem head-on as soon as possible, it won’t be as much of a problem in the long-run.

“We’ll just have to re-schedule that picnic with the girls. On second thought, might as well ask for their help! Yes! Brilliant idea, Twilight!” she shouted, suddenly forgetting of the time being.

“TWILIGHT! GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!” Spike had woken up from his slumber, cranky as usual. He was standing groggily-eyed on the arch of the door upstairs, holding a pillow in his claws. Wearing the most adorable frown she had ever seen.Apparently, Twilight had been making more noise than she thought of.

“Woops! Sorry, Spike. I’ll just finish up down here and head up to sleep.” she replied as she started to put away the papers containing the readings, where nobody would find them accidentally, in a heavy chest obscured between some bookcases. She stored her instruments and turned around to leave but not before casting a spell on the box that caused it to be locked to whoever tried to open it.

She sighed and headed upstairs, where Spike was already fast asleep in his little ‘lair’, he looked like a plushie wrapped in scales. Snoring loudly, one could see a small wisp of smoke escaping his nostrils every time he exhaled.

Twilight settled down inside the sheets of her bed and arranged her thoughts to get ready to sleep. The strange readings where the most important thing on her mind.

‘The picnic is soon, we’ll just have to change it to another day and use the time to investigate this matter. Hopefully It won’t take long, it might throw off my whole week!’

She spent the rest of her time before sleep making speculations about what could’ve caused the energy booms close to White Tail Forest. It was much stronger than a unicorn could possibly muster in a single burst, much less four of them, repeatedly.

‘This’ll be fun!’ she thought as she was slowly lulled into sleep.

Author's Note:

Well, here it is.
After about one whole week of procrastinating.
Leave a comment, if you leave a critique you get extra brownie points.

Comments

[strijer987]

i am interested i am hating the scientist people at the moment though but oh well

[kyle131996]

I hope he fucks the scientist over at some point

[bastiaan]

i like the way you write.

[GordonFreebrony]

Hmmm... Interesting. Gives me a bit of the Sunflower vibe, but more evil government than trying to save the world government...

Though I do wish there was a bit more to our character than just running away. Putting myself in his shoes I would've fought back, as ineffective as it might've been...

Pull a pocket knife or something...

Eh...

As for the writing itself, there are a few errors here and there and bits f it are clunky, whereas others are just rushed. In fact, the whole chapter had a rushed feeling.

Despite all that, it is mostdefinitely not the worst thing I've read on this site, not even close... So I might continue reading... Though j should get to sleep now...