- Doomsday - Volume One: Gods and Monsters

Chapter 8: [Y/N] Part. 2

I woke up the next day, somewhat confused, I could hear high pitched screaming within the room and a low pitched gurgling noise. I bolted up and looked around my room and, what the hell was that?! On the opposite side of the room was a small creature? The creature had a stoney, rock-like exterior and piercing red eyes, but its joints and limbs were all twisted in the wrong ways. Legs bent backwards, arms folded in on themselves. It appeared like one of those Lovecraft monsters that Gwen told me about. Wait Gwen, Gwen and Harry?! I needed to check if they were alright, Harry was directly below me so it wasn't that hard to check, I quickly twisted myself to look into the bunk below me and there I saw him, a scared look in his eyes. He was frozen, paralysed in fear, he had seen something no people, nonetheless children, should ever have to see. I quickly climbed down from atop the bunk and shook him ferociously, trying to wake him from his stupor. After a moment or two, he quickly came back to reality and looked me in the eyes. Fear, pure unadulterated fear. I told him to look at me rather than behind and positioned myself in front of the opposing bunk.

A few moments later, guards and medics had rushed into the room, a shared look of annoyance from the guards and disgruntled concern from the medics all turned to horror when they saw the nightmarish image. It turned out that not only had that one person turned, but many other children had turned, some I had some general knowledge of, others I didn't know at all. The rest of the morning moved extremely quickly, we all had to be medically examined by the doctors. While I would have preferred to have been examined by Paul, me and Harry got some old grouch who seemed more annoyed that he had been awakened at this hour.

We had both been tested and were deemed medically sound, yet we hadn't seen Gwen all morning, and our concern was beginning to override our thinking as hope was deteriorating. We had waited outside of the girl's examination hall for most of the early afternoon, anxiously waiting for a response. An hour and a half later, with Harry nearly drifting off to sleep, we saw the familiar sweep of blond hair cascade from the other side of the door, and Harry immediately was brought back to consciousness, screaming out her name in concern.

We both rushed over to Gwen, wanting to make sure she was alright, and, aside from the residual cold from yesterday, she seemed alright. She would not be for long. We moved on from the issue and recouped at the dining hall, going over the trauma from this morning's fiasco. Apparently, Gwen had been sleeping under a 'turned' as we had prematurely named them. Pus and blood lining her bed as she awoke, we were shocked. We knew that Gwen was quite a skittish girl, yet she seemed to have taken it well, or at least she was hiding it well.

After the chaos of the day, Paul managed to make a small space of time to come and talk to me about what had happened. Paul looked exhausted and I felt quite bad for him, it looked like he had been running for a marathon. He first wanted to check if I was alright, to which I responded with a brief "Yes, they said I was fine", he seemed much better after hearing that and told me some of the behind the scenes details. It seemed like either the serum didn't mesh well with the DNA of some of the young people, the serum had been administered incorrectly, or the safety testing had been rushed, or a mix of all of the above. Paul looked livid as he ranted and raved about the idiocy, but kept a hushed voice when any guards passed by. I could tell that he was cautious about any people overhearing his criticism.

I thanked him for the information and was about to leave until he had brought me into a hug. This was strange, and I hadn't experienced it in a while, but it felt nice? I felt very comfortable and secure, I could have stayed in that embrace for days if I could, but eventually he let go and quickly rushed off to deal with another issue. I stood there for a moment, thinking about the encounter, then returned back to my sleeping quarters.

As I settled down for sleep I noticed something, something important that had been missing from my daily routine, I had not had a nightmare that night, and from that moment onwards I wouldn't have that nightmare ever again, it had become a fleeting memory in the mind of a scared young child.