The Beast Within' Men (UNCOMPLETED)
I have met all your nightmares, all your fears, all of your insecurities, and all of your darkest secrets. I am your deepest and darkest nightmare, not a toy of science for you to cut into and break. Yet, you stupid humans find me interesting and simple, as if I was just a petty animal with no conscience.
Unfortunately for you, everything comes back around full circle, and the new beginning will be in my favor. I was scared and confused the first time the links of my self-consciousness to the cryptic depths of my mentality, of course, you don’t know what I mean by that so I’ll give you the tale.
Chapter One
Vision
The sun burnt my eyelids as I blinked rapidly and rubbed my brown hair into a bigger mess. “Ugh...” I rolled over to a tolling clock and sighed, my pale feet touched the cold hardwood floor.
Shivering in only my blood-red boxer briefs, the faded lights droned on flickering as moths flew into.
What idiots, I hate them and the lights.
Rubbing the sleep out of my blurred vision, an image flashed in front of my eyes; it was quick but I almost threw up seeing the horrendous scene. Arms stuck out of the sink and guts hung from the ceiling like streamers at a birthday, blood dripped off the counters. It faded away, pulsing just like a heart. I used my elbow to prop myself up onto the damp table. I felt weakened, but...empty, the emotion returned and confusion filled my guts. The strength returned and so ate a bowl of cereal and headed off to work, I cannot miss any payments. It’s hard enough as it is.
The dawn cut through the horizon like a dull knife. Driving on, I noticed a looming shadow out of the corner out of my eye. Looking back quickly, only to be met with a ripped up backseat.
A honk of a horn and screeching, my eyes flew to the street ahead. Everything went so fast. Me. In the middle of the street, when I should very much not be. As the cars struggled- to veer out of my path in time I gripped the wheel in terror. The vehicles so close I could hear the people inside. contorted into like of what a person would wring a towel. Blood dripped from the doors and I felt no emotion as the memory replayed like a broken record, over and over, burning itself into my mind. Darkness clouded the edges of my view and engulfed me.
Am I dead? I thought with uncertainty, there was a white light that hummed above me. It sounded much like mine at home but it was a blaring white that forced me to keep my eyes closed. I was weak, unsteady. It felt like every movement would be the death of me. A shadow blocked the light, so I swiveled my head to see them open the door. I was curious who was in charge of me for the moment. He was tall, with peppered hair that was swept to the side.
“So um...your name is Daniel Burr.” he looked up with eyes that cared too much for such a stranger, “Correct?” I nodded, my eyes now fully open, I looked around the room. It was your average hospital room; small but homey.
“What happened to me?” I sat up slowly, “Is everyone in the crash okay?” The doctor grimaced and looked down with his jaw tense.
“Well, they all died...y-you’re the only survivor” alarms went off in my head.
“That’s impossible! I was in the middle of it all-” my muddy mind retrieved the memory and time seemed to stop as the puzzle pieces connected, “I killed them…”
“No. No, sir. It’s okay, you did nothing wrong at all…” he placed a cold gentle hand on his shoulder. Something wasn’t wasn’t right about this man...I realized now fully awake, he didn't care. He never cared...that was greed. I leapt to my feet only to collapse immediately.
“Stay away from me!” with a hand of crusted blood, I pointed at his newfound grin.
“Oh what’s gotten into you now?” his worry had quickly turned into sarcasm and the doctor whacked me across the head with an object just before flying across the room and everything went dark.
I awoke again, now strapped to a chair with something on my head. I groaned, I felt dried blood on my eyebrow.
“Sir, it’s awake…” an unfamiliar voice said nervously.
“Stop being so afraid Lieutenant, the things restrained…” a firm voice replied, annoyed. I heard the lieutenant gulp, his stare was like a fire on my back and it seemed to melt my skin.
“Dan...nice to meet again.” a man walked around to the front, he acted fearlessly, but there were bucket loads of fear that made me smirk, “I’m to be called Henson, you hear me?” I clenched my teeth and nodded slowly.
“Good, now onto business…”
“What’s that supposed to mean.” I snapped, anger was growing like a weed around my organs and catching fire, uninvited. I tried to compress it, it wasn’t working.
Suddenly another image flashed, this time it looked like a really bad home video. Henson was on fire, his eyes bulging and ready to melt, his flesh reeked of burnt flesh, he was screaming in agony and pain, joy leaped through me at the sight, I hated him even though I just met him.
“Knock it off with that smile freak,” he whacked me with the gun on his back, “Look at me, now!” I shot up from the seat of my chair, it cracked and was halfway out of the ground. Hensen was quick and had the gun to my head, I got a closer look, an AK-47.
“Nice gun,” I smiled menacingly, “I want it…” Hensen was sweating, fear laced through to the trembling of his fingers. “You’re scared of me...what tiny puny humans you are,” my eyes darted to his gun, “you don’t know what you messed with.” Hensen’s eyes widened and he gulped.
“I would kill you right now...if I could.” he grumbled looking behind him at what seemed like a mirror.
They were watching me this whole time...I never noticed it. I’m ashamed. I lowered into my seat, “I’ll let you off…” a sly grin appeared, “for now.” Hensen forcibly pulled the gun away and walked behind me. I would be here a while…
Many visions of killing Hensen later I finally felt something different, someone, new.
I shuffled my feet against the floor. “Stop that.” I continued, “I ordered you to stop!” the voice startled me slightly, so I stopped, only for a moment. The man who came into my line of vision was bald with small black beady eyes, his small glasses, and pudgy body, it made me laugh at how stupid it was for me to be frightened of only what seemed a small child. I stared coldly into his eyes, he had very little fear so I had some respect for him, but still, hatred was all I could feel.
“I kinda like you...I’ll give you a quick death Mr. Neo.” I didn’t know how I knew his name, but I did.
“Is that so? Good to know, Dan.” the man walked up to him studying his eyes, “Alright, now...we are gonna perform some experiments on you.” I jolted, my eyes burned with anger, now I'm gonna be a lab rat. Fantastic.
They drugged me so I was awake but none of my muscles would move for me, it sank in, this was my life now-.there’s no way of getting out. I was restrained, even so, that at least made me happy. They still feared me as before...but why? That was the million dollar question at this moment. The cold metal underneath my naked body was cold to the point of painful. I realized this is what they use to store dead bodies and shivered, not just from the freezing steel, though.
“I can’t wait to get my hands on you, you little rat.” Hensen hissed, his assistant struggled to keep up behind him, the assistant looked back and his face was of...pity? Why would he pity me? Maybe it was my imagination, I mean why would someone feel sympathy for some naked man on a sheet of steel? Well, that’s humans for you...I guess.
“What are you gonna be doing to me?” I asked as kindly as I could being strapped down like a lab rat.
“We’re going to find out how you crushed those cars like tin cans.” the girl to my left said cautiously, “we will try our best to not hurt you...Hensen.” she strained Hensen’s name. He looked back with a dark expression. I felt some hope for these experiments, maybe with this girl they wouldn’t be as bad as Hensen wanted them to be.
“What’s your name? I'm Dan.”
“I’m Jayme and I know, Dan.”
“So um...what does he mean by me crushing the cars?”
“They sincerely believe you were the cause after all the cars never hit anything and you were in the middle of it all…” she looked into my eyes, “and you broke our finest doctor’s leg...by throwing him into a wall, we have it on surveillance.”
“....huh.” I looked at the keycard that hung out of her pocket, “Interesting…”
The room was covered grime and what possibly be dried blood. I couldn’t believe that I was going to be experimented on in this hell-hole. I cursed under my breath. They put on gloves and masks, the tools were at least sharpened and sanitized. I stared at Jayme with a worried expression, she looked at me and I saw it, the cold dead eyes...the same as Dr. BrokenLeg.
“You liar…” everyone’s liars here...even the assistant, it’s all an experiment, “YOU LIAR” I screamed with all my lungs could muster. My chest lifted and everything in the room including the sack of meats were suspended in the air.
A refreshing smile as I was in power once again, “This is what you get for treating me like an animal.” the doctors were yelling at me to put them down, As if. My fist clenched and all of them screamed in pain for only a moment and exploded into blood and innards. My grin tightened, It rained in droplets, the gruesome scene was what I needed to scare Hensen because he was frozen. His mouth open in a silenced scream, he was gagging. He turned and puked, he slipped onto the ground. His crying was loud- like a child.
“Mess with me again and it won’t be as quick…” the smile disappeared and I laid back again. I refused to see the mess I did. Or was that me?
Chapter Two
Criminally Insane?
This time I felt the chair drilled and bolted into the ground with steel, that was bad for me, but something told me I was stronger than I thought. Unfortunately now is not the time, Hensen and Mr.Neo stood in front of me, Hensen was tense and looked out into space. Dr.Neo was reporting and trying his best to scold me. I discovered a way of tuning out people’s voices, I needed to find a way out of here…
“There’s gonna be someone like you...coming soon I hope.” My eyes locked on Mr.Neo, “finally I got your attention.” I growled and surprised myself-I didn’t know I could growl. As soon as he heard it he jotted some notes down and smiled like a proud dad, I hated it.
“But in all seriousness, there is someone coming. someone new.” Hensen was shaking in his boots. He was certainly not the man I met. Holding on to my newfound hope I waited in silence as they exited behind me. The door closed with a three clicks, as familiar as my breathing.
Someone was screaming, my head jerked up. I swiveled as best as I could to find the direction of the sound but the iron chains held me down.
“Come on!” I was getting frustrated only being able to swivel halfway. The screaming got closer, locks undid in a door next to mine, this room wasn’t soundproof and that was a plus. The door slammed and I heard Hensen giving his speech with more confidence than I have heard in a very long time. In due time, this person would scare the living wits out of the poor man.
Something beeped and made a clanking noise, the wall opened up to reveal a man. He had a bloody nose, obviously tried back-talking Hensen. As soon as Hensen saw me he paled and grimaced, I smiled and Hensen whimpered. The man grinned and winked at me, I laughed. It was the first time I've laughed since the incident. I finally felt real happiness, joy filled my knotted stomach.
“Now that you’ve finally had a connection…” Mr.Neo said through the speaker, “Let me introduce you two.” I wanted to wave but my hands were inside iron cages that refused to let my hands move. “Ethan, that’s Dan, Dan, Ethan.” Dan was in basic constraints as I was before so he waved and smiled. He has so much spirit...not for long. I sighed, “Will you let us talk?” Mr.Neo laughed over the intercom, “and let you plan to get outta here?” more laughter, “dream on, beast.”
Ethan looked at me questioningly, I looked down in silence. He doesn’t know what he is yet. I wonder what happened to him? How did he get himself in here? Who did he crush in defense or anger? That’s something that will be found when we escape.
Time didn’t seem to exist down here but my gut told me it’s been about a week since Ethan got in and they raised the wall. It was like they were trying to drive us insane with hope.
I looked over at Ethan, he looked exhausted his medium length blonde hair covering his face. He was thinking, or something of the sort because he stared at me straight in my eyes and stared hard. He was up to something so I played along. My mind went blank and I heard a voice, not of my own.
“Dan?”
“Um….hi?”
“Oh well hey, I’m Ethan...Nice to finally meet you!”
“How on earth did you figure this out?”
“I dunno, I just kind of let the power take over…”
“Power? I thought it was me controlling it.”
“Um kind of, there seems to be something else helping...or taking control.”
“Whoah, that’s kind of interesting...I mean now that I think of-it you have a point.”
“Yeah, so anyways maybe we should figure out a way to get outta here…”
“Sure. So you know how the door locks? Well, when the door closes wait two seconds and hold open the locks inside the door for as long as you can, okay? It’s almost impossible to hold it open on my own, so I need your help.”
“Su-”
It had been cut off, I blinked. Hensen was in Ethan’s room. Hensen had whacked him with a baton and threatened him. Ethan got visibly angry and threw Hensen against the glass. I grinned, it made me so happy to see that jerk get beat. Hensen left the room, limping. I glanced at Ethan, he nodded and we waited two seconds after the door closed, I activated my powers and Ethan focused intensely on the door without even looking at it. After three minutes passed, Ethan glanced at me. I nodded quickly, Ethan ripped out of the steel bands with little struggle and reached for the door, it swung open. I cheered, Ethan disappeared into the lights. I then realized what he could do now. Run. Escape. Leave me for them to pick at my skin and brain.
I heard the door open and smiled.
“I thought you were gonna leave me here!” I fretted.
Ethan laughed “Of course I wouldn’t leave you! You’re the one that knows this place better than me!” I couldn’t help but smile, with a gut feeling I haven’t felt in a long time...I brushed it off.
“This way,” I whispered, suddenly the alarm went off. The lights flashed red then dropped straight into pitched darkness. I gasped, “Ethan!” I groped the darkness, he took my hand and I sighed. “We need to fight them off...it’s not gonna be easy!” The lights blinked on and I saw Ethan nod determinedly, his face now creased with seriousness. It was a side of him I’d never seen yet and it surprised me. Ethan and I walked slowly to an intersection in the hallway. It was all familiar territory for me but Ethan was just a step behind because of being so new to the building.
“First of all, we need a keycard from one of the scientists.” Ethan gave a quick nod and we pushed forward. Once again we were sent into darkness. Ethan gripped me tighter, I led him left where fearful scientist darted at us with straight jackets. I stepped aside and pulled Ethan behind me. Ethan reached over to grab a keycard he spotted. Just then we were plunged into darkness. I kept to the wall pulling Ethan along, I knew where we were going, I smelt the fresh air that leaked into the building from people going in and out. The red lights blared on once again, I looked back at Ethan to make sure he was okay. I continued forward, then realized the scientist that ran at us weren’t coming after us...but running away from something.
The sound of claws on hard floor confirmed it. I saw the thing, it was miserable. It looked like a half decayed lion with broken wings. I felt bad but this thing was clearly vicious as it began running towards us. Ethan stood by my side, he knew what was happening. I stared hard at it, the build-up in my stomach began. The lion roared as it was lifted into the air then swung into the wall with a sickening crack of multiple bones and a large gap in the concrete wall. We passed it’s large majestically sickening body. I still felt bad. So after all this time...we weren’t the only ones being tested on.
“I smell the air!” Ethan smiled broadly. We ran as fast as we could, the peak of light in the darkness was hopeful. We crossed another intersection. So close now. Suddenly, Ethan tripped.
His body hit the floor with a sickening crack, “My ankle!” he groaned and grabbed his leg. The red lights illuminated his pained face.
I heard slow footsteps, I knew what was coming.
The moment made me suddenly think of a boss battle in those old games I’d used to play, with the big booming footsteps of the boss about to enter the room with the blood of it’s previous foes splattered all over. The boss would give you a long monolog or just attack on sight, you had no warning but the earsplitting roar from a gaping maw.
“Dan….” the man clicked his tongue, “You shouldn’t try to run…”
“Yeah, right, so you can gut us open with a dull knife.”
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