apocalypse

Testing

When I wake up, I am strapped down to the exam table. Ethan stands over me, looking at his iPad. "Ah. you're awake. We're not quite done yet, but let's just say you were lucky to be unconscious."

"What did you do to me?" I whisper.

"Oh, nothing serious. Blood tests, DNA samples and the like. I just wanted not to startle you."

"Well, you failed at that pretty amazingly."

"Quiet, it's crucial now to keep your emotions under control, so I figured that It would be better to knock you out." He turns towards me, holding yet another syringe. "Don't worry, I just need a sample from your mutated skin patches." It's not like I have much of a choice. He extracts some blood from a patch on my arm. "We need to talk." He unties me and gestures me out the door. He led me to what seemed to be an extra living space, and had me sit down across from him. It's like an identical version of the main room, but bigger. The moment I sit down, he says, "I'm sure you've got many questions-"

"Many doesn't even cover it." I blurt out.

"Listen," he says, raising a hand to silence me, "I've run the test results and..." he hesitates. "Well, ever since you were bitten, you have a certain tie to the soup's.. Shall we say, mental hive-mind? While I have reason to believe that this does not affect you in a calm state, if you lose control of your emotions, then the soup's venom will kick in, rendering you uncontrollable and dangerous, for a while. You will become the same as a regular zombie. You might even be controllable by the soups." I sat there, uncomprehending. Then the full meaning of his words strikes me. I will be a soup. I will be what I have spent my whole life running from. "Please. Don't tell them. It's bad enough already."

"I'm afraid that I have to tell them. It's for their own good."

"No! I can't stand the way that they look at me, the way they whisper like I can't hear. Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain in my head. "Aah!" I yell, putting a hand to my head.

"Violet..." Ethan is backing away slowly. "Calm yourself. This is what we have to avoid..." I feel dizzy. The world is spinning. Ethan is reaching for the door. Voices fill my head. Orders. Announcements. Chanting. Ethan closes the door behind him, and I can hear the click of the lock. Then the voices overpower me, and I am no longer in control.

Get them. Find them. Kill them.

Why?

You are ours now. You will do as we say. Now kill them!

I don't want to.

They tried to kill you. Get your revenge. Kill them!

But...

KILL THEM!!!

Screaming. Pain. The voices are getting louder. I don't want to. It will be better for you if you do. "GET OUT!!!" I scream to the air. I hear a snap, or maybe it's just my imagination. The voices suddenly go silent. I want to get up, to tell them. But my head hurts too much. So I lay on one of the couches and try to wait it out.