• Published 28th Mar 2013
  • 1,262 Views, 9 Comments

To be Human - Raptor



When a man is stripped of his memory and his humanity, it only causes him to seek out what it means to be human.

  • ...
10
 9
 1,262

Awakening

The Boy waited patiently for his older brother. He had done this before- his brother always took a while to do something. He was standing on the side of the road, watching the busy street. He was standing outside the movie theater on a bright summer day... in the city. The park was only a block or two away- the boy could see it from here. While he waited for his brother, he decided to do what he likes to do in boring situation like this- observe. He always liked observing. Yesterday he focused on sight. Today, he thought he would focus on listening, especially since it was a noisy day in the city. The Boy wanted to see too, since it was good weather, but, he had to close his eyes. He had to challenge himself.

He closed his eyes and listened intently. First he listened to one sound at a time. The he listened to the left. Then right in front of him. The to his right. He frowned. There were strange noises to his right. Noises of... grunting. The Boy opened his eyes and looked to his right. There was barely anyone on this side of the street. There was, however, an alleyway just at the side of the theater. Curious, the Boy glanced behind him to see if his brother had come out. He hadn't. The Boy looked back and heard the grunting noises again. He adjusted the bill of his cap to shade a bit less of his freckled face, and he slowly started walking towards the alleyway.

"...20 CC's of..."

The Boy crept closer and closer, and as he did, he could tell that the grunting noises were grunts of stress and... pain. He approached the alleyway and peeked around the corner.

"Keep him... ...him steady!"

"Why is he...?"

At the end of the alley were two men, one standing over the other, holding him by the collar of his coat. The Boy was first confused as to why they were in such a position, until the man on the ground tried to speak. When he did, the man holding him struck him in the face. Repeatedly. The Boy's jaw dropped at the real-live violence before him. He had seen fighting in movies and video games, but this was real. He saw the mugger relentlessly beating the other man, who gave no effort in fighting back.

"Okay... stable, for..."

The Boy was just frozen there, not able to do anything but watch. He was snapped out of his stupor when the mugger's head snapped in the Boy's direction. The Boy instantly let out a sharp gasp and took a step back, realizing that he had stepped out from the corner and was standing in the middle of the alleyway entrance. Just as the mugger started to move in the Boy's direction, the Boy felt himself being guided out of the way of the alley. He looked up to see his brother guiding him by the shoulders, a concerned look on his face.

"Come on, John, move," he said. "Go. Come on."

"W-why is he-"

"Go, keep moving." His brother kept glancing behind him. "We're gonna cross the street. 'Kay? C'mon..." He continued to guide the Boy, even across the street. The Boy silently and unquestioningly complied. He didn't even look back. After they were safely across the street, the Boy looked to where the alleyway was. He didn't see anyone there.

His brother finally stopped and spun the Boy around to face him. He crouched down to meet the boy's hazel eyes with his own. "Are you okay?" he asked. The Boy nodded. His brother sighed. "Good." He sighed again and bowed his head.

"Why was that man doing that?" the Boy asked. His brother's head snapped up, as if he expected the question, but not so soon. "Is he a bad guy? A criminal?"

His brother sighed again, and looked away for only a moment, shaking his head slightly. "Yes... yes, he's a bad guy..." he looked back at the boy with an unreadable expression.

"...Why are there so many bad guys?" the Boy asked. His brother looked at him like he hadn't expected that question at all.

After a long pause, he sighed again. "Because... ugh... look, I'm sorry to break it to you... especially when you're so young..." he paused. "...So don't tell Mom or Dad I told you this, but... humans...? Us humans...

"We've all got a bad guy in us."


The Man gasped as he awoke with a start. Darkness. Darkness everywhere. Wait- less darkness. More light. Little light... but still more. He was in a room. It was quiet. Not silent, just quiet. He couldn't think straight. Room was small. Blank walls, a door in front of him, some basic plain furniture... a bed. He was in a bed. His movement was sluggish... he tried moving his head to the left and right. He gathered no new information. He was still just in a room. He did, however, notice something to his right. He couldn't quite see what it was, thanks to the darkness, but he noticed that it was connected to something. He followed a thin line of it down to... him. The Man. Maybe. It was connected to something where his arm should be.

It looked like a limb of some sort. He wasn't sure. His vision was fuzzy, his thinking was hindered, and it was dark. It looked like a... stub. Of something. It was gray. Or at least it appeared that way, in the dark. One thing that caught his attention was that it had no hand. That concerned him. He wanted a hand. He should have a hand there. He tried moving his hand to see if he could find it. But there was no hand to move. He became frustrated. Then... realizing he really didn't have a hand... he started to panic.

He looked around frantically, as if the hand would be somewhere in the room. But once again, thanks to the darkness, he couldn't see much. He looked closely at the object connected to him. It was... a bag... of something... hanging on a pole standing upright from the floor.

An IV. I'm in a hospital.

The Man suddenly didn't want to be here anymore. He tried moving his whole body. It felt weird. He looked down to his torso. He was wearing a cheap white robe, the ones that patients wear. the rest of his body was covered by a white blanket. He looked left to his other arm, and he saw another stub. He was missing both hands.

The Man didn't like that.

He tried moving his legs to kick off the covers. It was difficult, as they felt numb and there was a lack of energy. He tried moving his stubs. They complied, but he noticed they bended strangely. They had two joints and only bended a certain way. This would make things difficult. He tried pushing the covers off of him. Eventually he succeeded, revealing his- stubs. Two more stubs, where his legs should be. The Man really started to panic now; his breathing was erratic and his eyes darted all around. One thought rang through his mind-

Leave. NOW.

Wasting no time, the man thrust his alien body out of the bed, yanking the IV out of his limb, and landing haphazardly on his four stubs, only to collapse to the floor. he used all his might to get up on his limbs, turn around, and crawl to the door. He didn't focus on how he was using his body, he just pushed off of the surrounding objects with his stubs to get him to go forward. And, it worked, for the most part.

While attempting to move for what seemed like a while, the Man's mind wandered. More specifically, into his memories. They were all cloudy... everything before the fall. He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember his life. He... he remembered his name. The Man's name was John... Clarke. Yes. John D. Clarke. "D"...? Oh, right... David. John David Clarke tried to remember what had happened the other day- just before the fall. Something had happened. Something bad. Something depressing... Something that made him not care about his own life. Why couldn't he remember it...? Was he repressing it...? If so, why was he feeling bad about something he couldn't remember?

The man shook the thought out of his head. Here and now, John. Here... and now... He stumbled up to the door and reached up to the doorknob- only to remember that he didn't have hands.

The Man didn't have time for this. For some insane reason, the idea of charging the door came to him. Not giving a damn about logic, the man used his limbs to back up. Then, with all his strength, the man lowered his head (which also felt strange), and charged the door, tucking in his arm-stubs.

There was a loud CRACK as the door- gave way, actually. Much to the Man's surprise. And pain.

The Man definitely felt that.



"Will he be okay, Doctor?" Twilight asked nervously. The mysterious stallion that had fallen out of the sky- and survived- was now in Ponyville Hospital. It was now evening, and the hospital was starting to close up. Twilight had brought the stallion here, waited for a bit, then left to go about her business. She came back to see if he was finally stabilized. The medical doctor that had examined and stabilized him, along with Nurse Redheart, was examining a levitating clipboard in front of him with a serious expression.

"He'll be fine," he replied, not looking away. "Believe it or not. He was falling at terminal velocity, from the way you were describing the crater he left. And yet not only did he live, but he made it out with only a few cuts and bruises and minor head trauma. Nothing could survive a fall like that. Not even a dragon." The doctor put the clipboard down and adjusted his glasses before looking at Twilight. "You're sure he was traveling that fast?" he asked her doubtfully.

Twilight nodded. "Without a doubt. And I think half the town could vouch for me. Didn't you hear the impact this morning?"

The doctor tapped his chin. "I did hear a loud boom this morning, come to think of it. It sounded like a meteor." He raised his eyebrows. "Are you saying that was him?!" Twilight nodded. The doctor put a hoof to his temple, looked at the ground, and shook his head. "This doesn't make sense..." he said quietly.

"Maybe there was some sort of spell protecting him," Nurse Redheart suggested.

"That may be possible..." Twilight pondered. "But who made it? Certainly not him, seeing as he's an Earth pony..."

"That brings us to another question," the doctor interjected. "How did he get so high...? He has no wings, no horn to teleport..."

"Maybe somepony teleported him," Twilight suggested. "Maybe somepony cast a protection spell of some sort on him, then teleported him in the air... but why would they do that...?"

"Hmm..." the doctor looked up. "Maybe-"

There was a loud CRASH coming from down the southern hallway.

"What was that?!" Nurse Redheart yelled.

"Come on!" the doctor barked as he ran down the dark corridor, followed quickly by Twilight and the nurse. It didn't take long to find the source of the crash. There, collapsed in the middle of the hallway, was the stallion, lying next to an open door, slightly off its hinges. He had a coat of gray, a mane of black, and eyes of brilliant hazel. He had no cutie mark. Before any of the others could react, the stallion scrambled to his hooves, and glanced at them. His expression was unreadable. "Sir-" the doctor began, only to be ignored by the stallion when he quickly turned away and started stumbling down the hallway, towards the window at the end. The three immediately started running after him.

But they were simply too far from the stallion, and the stallion was simply too close to the window. They couldn't reach him in time. With one strong motion, he thrusted himself at the window, shattering it effortlessly, throwing him out of the portal, and down from the second story of the building.



The Man blacked out for a second. When he came to, he was on the floor, looking down a hallway. He had successfully made it out of the room. When he focused his eyes a bit more, he paid attention to some details. The hallway he was in was dark, but he was looking down to the end of it, which was brightened. In front of the light were three silhouetted figures, standing in the corridor. They looked like they didn't have arms, or had them clasped behind their back, as if waiting for him to do something. They wore something on their heads, with antennae of some sort, which looked similar to ears. He couldn't make out the details, but he didn't care. He just wanted to leave.

Wasting no more time, the Man scrambled to his feet (and arms) as best he could, and raised his head. For some reason, his body was comfortable with his head raised and all four limbs on the ground. He would have to get used to his body later.

Those sick scientists. What the Hell did they do to me?

That put a thought into his head. What if he wasn't in a hospital? What if he was in some sort of science lab, being tested on? If the Man was having doubts about leaving, they were completely gone now. The Man turned to move in the opposite direction of the figures. Right before he did, one of them spoke. "Sir-" He was obviously cut off by the Man's lack of interest. The Man spotted a window at the end of the hallway, which wasn't too far from him.

Perfect.

The Man used his limbs to the best of his ability to get to the window. He heard rapid footsteps behind him. He knew they could move faster than he could. He focused everything on moving. To. That. Window. And before he knew it, he was right in front of it. He focused all his energy on his limbs. It was just like the door. Don't think, just go. He tucked in his arms, pushed off with his legs, and turned his head-

There was a loud CRASH as the window gave way, allowing the Man to fly through it, all in one swift motion. Unfortunately, the Man felt it. A lot. Then he noticed something. He was one the second floor. He would probably feel that, too.

SON OF A-