Prologue
The loud blurring of an alarm was heard, which was soon followed by a synchronous mechanical groan. A 100 metal doors emitted faint clicks.
"klak" "klak" "klak"
the metal doors slid back revealing the secret behind the doors. Emerging as a single unit was a group of adolescents who, from appearance, ranged from ages twelve to sixteen.
Their heads were shaved, so clean the overhead fluorescent lights were reflected by their bald scalps. They were clothed in gray overalls, and if one looked closely a small circular disk was attached to the necks seemingly embedded into their cervical vertebrae.
The adolescents as if programmed immediately arranged themselves into 5 neat columns. Each row made up of a specific age group.
if one looks at them you will notice the gradual transition of the behaviours as the ages increases. The 12-year-olds had their eyes darting around and filled with fear. The thirteen and fourteen were stiff backed, staring at the blurred reflection of the person in front of them and fifteen had grim stony expressions on their faces.
As for the sixteens, they had the most haunting expression. They looked as if their souls were lost.
Soon a small troop of guards came marching with their boots making thuds with the ground, a total of ten guards. They moved between the kids and flanked each column.
a guard moved down the line, grabbing the wrists of the adolescents. In his hand was a scanner which he used to scan the barcoded lines engraved in the skins of each child's wrist.
After the scan was over the formation began to march forward down the long narrow corridor, soon they reached an intersection where they parted ways according to the age divisions. The sixteen-year-olds were led down the furthest path. They soon arrived in front of a thick heavy automatic metal door.
The doors opened with a sickening mechanical groan revealing a laboratory. Researchers in white coats could be seen moving hurriedly between experimental tables, their eyes glued to the data streams shown on the monitors.
In the center of the halls were huge vats, twice the size of a fully grown adult, containing fluids that swirled inside the glass. There were two distinct types of vats, one was filled with a thick slimy green substance that looked like spirogyra. The other tank contained a brown murky silt-like suspension, and one could see humanoid figures floating in.
The humanoid figures in the brown vats had many tubes connected to them at the vertebrae which syphoned some liquids from their bodies. The tubes led to the top of the vats and then down to one of the workspaces of the researchers.
The sixteens were led to the center of the room and one by one the researchers with practiced efficiency guided the teens to the vats containing the slimy spirogyra-like liquid. The researchers watched as the teens got submerged into the thick viscous liquid. The skin of the teens that came in contact with the liquid began to peel showing the acidic property of the green substance, but the researchers looked coldly at the scene, as they reached for the heavy coiled tubes connected to each side of the vat. With the help of a mechanism, the tubes were put into the vats and were made to connect to the small circular disks at the back of their necks.
the other end of the tubes was connected to containers which stored the processed fluids extracted from the brown vats. Once in a while the tubes will pump the fluids into the teenagers. This was followed by a convulsion of the teens. The green liquid corroded their skin revealing the red meat, made the scene even more horrifying.
For hours, only the slow hum of the tubes and rapid tap- tap- tap f the researchers' fingers on keyboards was heard. In the corner of the room a massive digital display flickered;
00:00:59
"It's almost time", one researcher muttered, his voice emotionless.
The automatic metal doors hissed open once again as a troop of thirty elite operatives marched in. They looked different from the guards earlier in the morning. These ones were equipped with high level equipment; they had high caliber pulse rifles and kinetic shields.
They moved with precise coordination as they fanned out a semicircle around the twenty green tanks containing the sixteen-year-olds. They took a battle stance showing their readiness to pull the trigger at any sign.
The time ticked down;
00:00:05
00:00:03
00:00:01
Inside the tanks the writhing intensified, the green liquid began to seep into any available hole in their bodies.
At 00:00:00, the convulsions reached its peak. A muffled bang was heard as twelve of the teens could not withstand the integration, they bloated until they exploded. The spray of crimson turned the green liquid into a reddish-green soup.
For five others, a change even more horrific took place. Their muscles which were exposed after their skin was corroded began to squirm, enlarging into disproportionate sizes. The flesh on their faces fell off revealing the bones, their teeth fell off and were replaced with ones that belonged to a predator. The researchers saw this but watched with detached emotions. Their eyes of the aberrations these teens have turned into were like blood red pearls glowing with unnatural eeriness showing a mindless urge to kill.
The vats broke apart as they couldn't withstand the impact of these aberrations banging against them. The aberrations pounced on the nearest human beings they could find, but before they could reap any life the elite troops reacted faster. They unleashed a concentrated volley of fire on the aberrations. The aberrations landed on the ground with a huge thud; bodies riddled with holes. The troops then released another volley on them again making sure that they were dead. It was a scene of absolute carnage.
A group of attendants came forward to drag the bodies of the aberrations away. The researchers came forward to inspect. Out of the twenty teens only three were left. Whether they were still humans, or simply stable versions of horrors was yet to be known.
"Check the physio-neural link", a raspy voice sounded. It belonged to a man with chestnut colored hair, his eyes where sunken in with a huge Adams apple. He seemed to be the head researcher and went by the name Joe.
"Subjects 088, 092, and 100 are stable," one researcher noted. Immediately after Joe backed out a series of commands. "Transfer them to the Isolation Ward. Level Four containment. I want full integrated diagnostics within an hour."
The survivors, a girl and two boys, were wheeled down diverging paths, leading to separate rooms in the isolation ward. The isolation ward looked more like an ICU.
The teenagers were transferred into the rooms, and a large-scale Holter monitor was connected to them monitoring their vitals, an electroencephalography headset was also placed on their head to monitor their brain signals.
After an hour the head researcher Joe came to the ward and asked for the results of the diagnostics.
"Subject 092 is confirmed dead, brains signals where down and no pulse was detected." The attendant continued, "the results shows that the brain of the subject got corroded, sir".
"I see.", responded Joe the head researcher, "what about the other subjects".
"Subject 100 showed positive response, as of now she is conscious, but they where no changes in her gene structure after comparing the data before and after the experiment." The researcher continued, "but she did awaken". Joe let out a huge snort when he heard that. "if that's the case move her to the training institute."
"What about the subject 088, is he also conscious", Joe asked. The researcher shook his head negatively. "But the pulse signals are active, we did also notice some abnormal changes in his brain wave.'
"Let me see him," said Joe. The attendant led him to the room 088 was laying.
On the medical slab a boy lay flat. His face was masterpiece of sharp angles, a straight and narrow nose, a jaw line that looked like it has been honed on a whetstone featuring a pair of thin lips.
The attendant handed Joe the results as he compared it with the live monitoring of the electroencephalographic headset.
after monitoring the signals for a time he asked, "Have the necessary preparations been done to figure out why the signals are of the charts even though the subject is comatose?"