Operation: Merciless

Chapter Forty-Eight | Radiation

I slammed open the door to George's cell, startling him out of bed, and he tumbled to the floor. His face contorted briefly in pain before he gazed at me, concealing his agony.

"We've got a new arrival today, George. It took some effort, but we got him! Get up and get ready. I'll be waiting outside to take you for cleanup duty again."

George nodded and slowly pushed himself back onto the edge of the bed.

"Let's go." I retrieved a pair of cuffs from under my jacket and secured them to George's wrists. "As I said, it's time for cleaning duty, and we can't afford to be late."

The soft hum of the overhead lights resembled a swarm of flies buzzing around Galileo's head. The world seemed muffled, as if he were underwater, and his limbs felt burdened, as though they were shackled by the weight of the world.

"So, you're finally awake," a voice echoed from a distance as Galileo struggled to scan the surroundings. "You were quite a handful to bring in; you even tried to punch out my friend. Not a pleasant experience."

Galileo attempted to speak, but his cracked lips and parched tongue only allowed for a feeble groan. "You should conserve your energy. The experiment is about to commence."

The hum of the lights intensified in his perception.

"Why?" Galileo moistened his lips in an attempt to speak to his unknown captor. "What are you doing? I... I will get out of here."

"That's the issue with people like you," his captor lamented. "You all believe you can escape and be fine, but it doesn't always work that way. I told you the moment you arrived that you wouldn't make it out. This is me ensuring that."

The hum grew louder, and Galileo shut his eyes to cope with the mounting pain. Another voice seemed to emerge from where the captor stood, but it was muffled and distorted, as if they were having an argument. A sudden slap resonated through the room, but that was the least of Galileo's concerns.

The air was charged with an electric buzz. Breathing became increasingly difficult. The walls seemed to close in, and the lights grew brighter with each passing moment. Galileo's skin felt like it was crawling or even bubbling, and the urge to scratch it became overwhelming. "I need... my skin..."

"Burning? Boiling? That's the beauty of radiation, isn't it? It's so... illuminating."

Galileo convulsed in his chair, his body and skin burning intensely. He tried to scream, but only a strangled cry emerged, eventually transforming into a bloody cough. Blood and viscera spilled onto the ground, and the pain was unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was as if a million fire ants were biting into his skin.

"It... hurts!" he screamed, the metal chair clanging against the linoleum floors as he desperately tried to free himself. The agony continued to intensify, but he stopped banging the chair when he heard something hit the floor. Looking down, he noticed something resembling a piece of his own skin forming a puddle beneath the chair. Upon closer inspection, it was part of his own face.

Galileo's scream of surprise, fear, and pain resonated through the room. He coughed up more blood and gore. His body was being consumed from the inside out by something horrific, something unstoppable.

The next thing he coughed up was part of his bronchial tube.

Then a lung.

Galileo's mouth remained agape, locked in a state of eternal torment as the radiation unleashed its final assault on his body. Skin bubbled and boiled, sliding off bone and splattering onto the ground. Muscle disintegrated into a crimson sludge.

A silence descended upon the room, broken only by the sporadic, wet dripping of blood from the mangled and scorched corpse in the chair.

"Get your brooms and mops. It's time for cleanup, George."

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Editor Galileo here! Had a bit of fun with this one, and I hope you guys have some fun reading it! Stay happy and healthy, folks!