Brave Fear (boyxboy)

Chapter 3

Zane couldn't move. He was riveted to the spot, speechless. He recalled the hologram of the boy and the screams of pain and terror he had heard when he entered this mysterious building. Before anybody could do anything, a door at the far end of the room swung outward, illuminating a hallway similar to the one they had just left. The smiling man gestured toward the open door as if showing a prized artifact at an auction. "Come! Follow me and I'll give you the tour,"

Zane and Joseph followed numbly, ducking to get through the smaller than average doorway. Zane was in too much shock to say anything, and Joseph was completely terrified of what he would see. Zane shivered.

The man ahead of them continued to sound enthusiastic. "I am your new supervisor, Lucas Wawrzynski. I'll be monitoring your work and reporting back to the Governors." He strode past a barred door that seemed to have fire blazing against the thick material. "Don't mind that. Come on!"

Zane peered through the glass. A girl not much older than him was lying on the floor, writhing in pain. Around her raged flames and a thick coating of lava flowed across the floor, melting the steel. The girl seemed to be unharmed by the lava but was screaming for help. Her hair was the same color as the blazing hot magma, bright red and her eyes were a pitiful darkness, begging for help nobody could give. Zane was tempted to throw open the door but it was locked. He was also completely sure he could not withstand lava as she did. He realized there was nothing he could do for her. He also realized that this place was not humane.

This was a place of horror and nightmares. Zane did not relish the thought of spending most of his waking hours here. He didn't want to be the one to cause this pain, this suffering. He vowed then that whatever his job in this miasma of hurt he got, he would not contribute to the pain he heard, saw, and felt. He would convince Lucas to give him a job in the computer room, or maybe even mowing the front lawn, because why not? Anything but having to see people suffer on a daily basis.

Joseph was faring none the better. He seemed to be struggling to hold in his breakfast and flinched every time he heard a scream. He kept his eyes fixed on the ground, watching his feet plod along. His hair fell over his face, blotting out the fluorescent light from above.

Zane wished he had listened to Joseph on the train. Granted, Joseph had only been partly right. The reality was far worse. The Governors contributed to the process of human experimentation, turning a blind eye. They managed to avert people's attention by giving them a life purpose of pleasing the government. Giving them only one place to work and placing this building on the outskirts of the city also helped to disguise the process.

Lucas Wawrzynski was still walking and talking. "The Governors feel this process is necessary. Several other nations in the world have tried to bomb this wonderful city of ours, leading them to develop a new weapon," he said nonchalantly, walking past a room flashing with a mysterious light. His feet clomped on the floor every step he took, momentarily drowning out the faint screams. "The Governors decided that the best weapon was still a human being. Planes and bombs will never triumph over the prosperity of the human race."

"Excuse me, sir?" Zane asked. "What do you mean other nations? I thought there was only us."

"Please save your questions until the end of the tour," he said, smiling broadly down at Zane. "As I was saying, the Governors developed a serum that enhances the genes of humans, which create unexpected talents. We here in the experimental science division refined it to bestow upon the receiver supernatural powers, making us the most powerful nation in this dangerous world.

"However, it requires the receiver to have a certain level of independence, hard to find in a society where everything is decided for you. So, we've been sent citizens who have shown high levels of prejudice or rebellion, injected them with the serum, and recorded the results. Unfortunately, it hasn't turned out the greatest, as you can tell. They keep reacting badly to the serum, suffering from intense pain and surprise bursts of power. That's why we've been needing to draft more employees to work here. They keep getting killed."