Flawed Minds

Chapter One

Subject 88

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

"Ughh..." I groaned, my head rolling forward. I felt nauseous; I had undoubtedly taken hits to my stomach, the feeling of hunger was put off by the unsettling urge to vomit. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing unconsciousness to take over again. But there was an incessant noise keeping me where I was.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

I could hear water. The small splashes of the droplets as they hit the ground, a slow beat in the otherwise silent surroundings. I turned my head, watching them fall from a broken pipe on the ceiling to the grey concrete below.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

The first thing that I slowly began to realize was that I could focus. I didn't have to struggle to keep my eyes trained on the water droplets, nor did I have to strain to hear my surroundings. I sat up straight, realizing I could think clearly- I had spent so long with a fuzzy mind that it was almost unfamiliar to me. Faded memories flickered in my head; images of people bustling around with clipboards and syringes with colorful contents, sounds of agonized screams filling the air, the pain unbearable, the smell of blood overwhelming. I shook the thoughts out of my head and took in my surroundings; The same concrete cell with one thick metal door that I had been in for what felt like forever, the only opening for air was the size of a letterbox. The bed that I was sitting on was also metal with a thin mattress and a single sheet for a blanket. I didn't have the chance to think about much else as the metal door swung open.

"Hello again, Subject 88." A tall man with dark hair, round glasses and almost black eyes, wearing a long white coat addressed me, with an accent I couldn't quite place. "It's time to test your abilities again, and I would think it wise not to lash out at us this time- it was a shame to have to bloody your face over it." He took my chin in one hand and lifted my head, prompting me to follow his finger as he waved it in front of my face. "Ah, it is good that we did not leave you with a concussion."

I blinked, slowly but surely remembering the extreme limits they had been forcing on my body. I again wished for unconsciousness, wishing I could go back to forgetting; I believed they were trying to turn me into some form of super-human weapon. They had forced me to lift extremely heavy machinery, slowly increasing the weight until I collapsed under it hundreds of times, broken and crying in pain. Now I can carry and throw immense objects, and they forced me to train for a whole month after. They subjected my body to open flames, more and more fire until it burned, my skin peeling and my throat was sore due to my screaming; I now am essentially fireproof, my once scarred and burned skin had returned to its normal smooth appearance, almost no trace of the agony that I had been through. All of this due to serums I had been injected with, they had mutated my genes and tried to take away who I am.. I was an experiment. And I knew why.

I barely noticed that I had been lifted by my arms and was being dragged down a grey corridor, fluorescent lights blinding as we passed under them. I could hear cries of agony behind doors as we passed; I considered they may be tortured too, but from the many pools of dried blood everywhere, I figured not many people lasted. Attempting to walk alongside the doctor was almost futile as my whole body ached to the bone, I barely had much energy left to stay awake. That didn't last long however as we stopped in front of a steel door, my tormentor pausing only to type in the code to enter. I recognized this door and automatically reacted to it. I pulled and struggled to get away, crying out, begging not to be put in there again, but my pleas were ignored as I was thrown forward into the chair with strong leather restraints in the center of the room and strapped in by my arms and legs, one strap round my waist for good measure.

"Please not this again, I can't- It's been months, we've tried hundreds of times an-" I was silenced by a sharp backhand across the face, the doctor with the glasses grabbed me by the throat and glared at me, inches away.