THE HIVE

Chapter 5

I literally feel nothing.

I think this is what being dead feels like: no input from any senses, just like when you're asleep but not dreaming. But I'm not too sure. Maybe I did dream. I have this weird sensation, but I can't describe it.

There is no description of this nothingness. Just a profound sense of no sense at all.

...

But, I notice a change. After what feels like eternity, that unfeeling world of black is penetrated by an unknown discrepancy. It's like something is pervading my mind, something from far away.

My senses all stimulate. The grogginess dissipates gradually. My ears ring from the initial quietude. My skin registers pressure in different points of my body; my muscles convey spasms.

"Nh." I grunt. All around me a buzz emanates. It permeates through my head and tickles my brain- and before long, it stings, it hurts.

I squint. My vision is blurry. But this is not the blurry vision I'm used to. Right now, I feel like I'm seeing through bathroom glass.

Sooner than later though, my normal vision returns and I can see my hand clearly. It's the extent to which I can manage seeing objects clearly without my glasses.

Or that's what I believed.

I rub my eyes with my other hand.

"I can't be seeing this right. What did they do to my eyes?"

I cannot believe what I am seeing. This doesn't make sense.

If anything, what I am seeing right now could only be explained if I had a VR headset on. Don't think they have any around here though. And it's too real. Tangible even...

Before me, is the most gruesome and stomach turning sight I can guarantee one can ever truly feel viscerally; it happening in reality. (Yeah, movies aren't real, as aren't storybooks or games so those that live vicariously through them think they know what it means to be afraid, be in pain, be in the worst place imaginable; except, they don't. They don't feel what I am feeling. Because it's not their hand-)

I try and lift up my hand- the one that I thought my eyes were not seeing right, thought my mind was playing tricks with me. But no, it's no illusion. It's no trickery of my eyes. It's real.

My hand- has been through something unimaginable, unfathomable. Because, all of a sudden- it's black. Completely black, and shining!

The skin is not human skin. The flesh is not human flesh. It even has hairs, that are not human like. They are pointy, and a bit too thick- almost like-

I touch my head and stroke a strand of my hair, rub it between my fingertips, and then I touch those pointy but blunt ones over my mutated hand.

Yep. There's no mistaking it. They are at least the same width, if not thicker than the hair I have on my head.

Did they cut out my hand when I was asleep and swap it out with one of their spares?

I gulp. My heart races. I try to move my alien hand. I'm terrified to say the least.

Normal.

Absolutely normal.

If I were to close my eyes and move it, I'd feel the same as I do in my other hand. The skin has the subtlest distinction, but it's subtle enough to be ignored.

But, the sight. That alone is enough to give me nightmares. And oh boy, am I going through one in real life.

"Holy guacamole, I'm a supervillain-" I squeak. That's what I can think of because, no hero should have a hand that looks as abominable as this.