The Puppeteers

O'Connor, Evan

5/22/2028, 18:42 Hours

County A262 MK-ULTRA Facility

The Big Bang

    Voices. My mind felt just as numb as my body, straining, fighting, resisting. My efforts were useless. The drugs were taking over my body. I slipped out of consciousness once more.

    My eyes open slowly with a painful sting. Like a horse with a limp, I watch helplessly as my captors flood countless chemicals into my weakened body. I'm tied down and gagged. I want to scream, but I physically couldn't. I feel my heart, painfully throbbing as I catch a glace of the enormous syringe the malicious scientists are bringing towards my operating table. The tall doctor raises his arm, syringe in hand like a murderer's dagger. I shut my eyes in anticipation and... BANG! I feel a wave of heat followed by the crashing and smashing of various lab tools and machines. My eyes jolt open and I see the large hologram computer to the left of my operating table teetering, about to fall. I wouldn't survive it's collapsion. In a mass of panic and fear, I rock my table back and forth, and I fall to the right, just in time. The heavy machine smashes the side of the rusty silver table. I frantically rip the leather bounds that remain, and as I yank the gag from my lips, my ears are assaulted by a chorus of emergency sirens and alarms. I stood up and hurriedly glanced around at my surroundings. The hallway leading out of the room was on fire, and the machines in my operating room were starting to light. Gasping for air, I cough as I take in smoke and the putrid fumes of burning acids and medicines. One thought, that had remained on my mind since my capture, repeated itself over and over...

Escape.

     Still aching with the effects of the drugs the doctors tried to seduce me with, I dashed through the smoldering hallway of this hell of a laboratory. I had no idea what I would do if I actually got away. I don't even know where I am... I remember before I was drugged... American accents. I'm in the U.S. The shoulder sleeve of my shirt catches flame and so I brush it off frantically, not looking where I'm running. As a result, I slam headfirst in a burning glass door,  which gives as soon as I strike it. As I fall forward onto the steaming tile, I look up to meet the barrel of a complicated assault rifle, held by an officer of some sort. Behind the man were two other officers of the same clothing. He immediately commands, "Put your hands behind your head and follow me to the-". The man's eyes opened wide and he gagged as if he were choking, then he fell forward, and in his back I saw what looked like an operating knife. The two other officers aimed their guns into the dark corridor ahead in a panicked fashion, and just as they did, the sound of two pistol shots pierced my ears. The two officers fell on top of me, dead. As I pushed a body off of myself, I saw a tall, broad shouldered man with spiked hair as black as the feathers of a raven. He looked maybe ten years older than me, definitely in his mid-thirties. He looked at me, giving me a sort of half-frown. He threw me the gun he used to kill the officers, and like an odd reflex, my hand shot out to grab it by the handle. I stood up, and felt my head. When I pulled my hand away, It was covered in blood. My forehead must be bleeding. "You okay?". The man inquired. I shut my eyes hard. Then I opened back up to the burning mess, and the stranger who had just saved my life in front of me. 'Yeah" I answered quietly. "Alright then. The name's Dimitry Donskoy, but you can call me Rex.". I nodded, taking note of his thick Russian accent. He held out his hand in an awkwardly friendly motion. I shook it. "Evan.". "Well allow me to fill you in, 'Evan'... This place is about to blow up, and if we don't get out now, we'll probably lose our minds before we ever see the light of day again.". He turned around and gave me a dark look; "Literally, lose our minds, I should add." I gulped. Rex turned to a door to his left and gripped the knob. He frowned. I guessed it was locked, because shortly after, he raised his foot and kicked the door down with immense force. I must have looked impressed, because he gave me and awkward smile then motioned for me to follow him.

     I cautiously stepped over broken glass beakers and bottles. Odd chemicals of different colors littered the floor, only visible through the flickering lights in each corner of the room. I assumed it was a place where spare chemicals were kept, for there was an abundance. The sirens repetitive chimes rung in my head like a time bomb ready to explode. I still couldn't focus; the drugs being the blame. Rex's eyes shifted towards what looked like an elevator shaft. He tore a piece of metal from one of the broken machines next to him and jammed it into the crease of the elevator door like a crowbar. Yanking it open, he nearly toppled into the seemingly bottomless elevator shaft down below. Rex glanced towards me. "There's a ladder along the side. Follow me." He then recklessly stepped out onto one of the bars of the rusty metal ladder. He quickly began his descent. I hurriedly tailed him, but in a less dangerous fashion. My hands gribbed the cool metal. It wasn't as hot in the elevator as it was in the building with the unquenchable fires. I sighed and attempted to clear my mind. I returned to reality with a strict sense of determination. I'm not going to die here. Not now, not like this. I exhaled once again and began my own descent into the dark, drunken pit of madness.