Down The Rabbit Hole (A Project 863 Story)

Part 13 (What Happened?)

And that was when i woke up, At least that is what I think happened. It was like when you fade in between the unconscious and semi-conscious state. Where you finally realize it was all a dream right before said dream ends, but it was different in some kind of way. It was like I was never asleep in the first place. It was as if i was daydreaming, but it felt way more real. Now, i don't know how Life's blood works in the slightest, but it seems this is some sort of a side effect of it. Sam pulls me out of my own thoughts by punching me in the arm. "Ow, what was that for Sam?" I said. She very clearly shows her anger by saying, "That was so stupid, Madz! Why did you do that?! You don't have the antidote in y-" "I KNOW." I cut her off. "I-I'm sorry I was just acting out of impulse. I didn't know what to do. I was worried about you guys." Matt speaks up and says. "Hey Madz, you're fine. You don't need to apologize. Just be more careful next time."

"Wait. Shouldn't Madz be under the influence of Syphus now?" Woods says. Matt replies with, "No, we shut off the S.P.I.R.E remember?"Right, we did." Woods says, accepting defeat. "Anyways, I'm gonna go upstairs and actually get some work done." I say, trying to end this conversation.  "Wait, Madz," Matt says as I start heading up the stairs. "Do you feel alright? I mean, you did just pass out." "Yeah! I'm fine." I replied and continued walking up the stairs and into my office.

"What the hell just happened." I say honestly, just confused about what just occurred.  "That weird dream thing didn't happen when I was a trial patient and got injected with the serum," I say, thinking out loud.  "Is there something different about the version you inhale?" "What?" Sam says, pulling me out of my own thoughts. "What about the inhaled version? Are you talking about the serum bomb?." I take a deep breath, preparing myself to explain something that will definitely make me sound crazy.

"Ok. You are gonna think I sound crazy, but basically, once I passed out from the serum bomb. I 'woke up' in the studio, but it was night, and the power wasn't working or something because the doors wouldn't open. And then the phantom appeared and chased me down with a syringe full of serum. " I shudder at that due to the past trauma that syringe has caused. "I locked myself in the vault until I heard Matt yelling my name, and that is when I woke up, I believe." Sam tries to speak, but nothing comes out. "I-I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" She finally asks "yeah I'm fine." I lie bluntly. "Did Matt ever experience anything like that when he was exposed to the serum bomb at location #3?" I ask, trying to break the awkwardness in the room.  "I don't know. I haven't asked." "Do you want me to go grab him real quick?" Sam asks. "Uh yeah, sure." I reply driely. "Alright, I'll be right back." Sam says, walking out of the room. 

'Finally, some alone time.'  That voice in my head says, almost exhaustedly. 'Not for long,' I reply. And of course I hear Matt and Sam talking as they slowly (I assume with how long they were out there) walk to my office. Finally my door opens and I see Matt and Sam standing there, "Uh why are you guys just standing there... menacingly?" I joke.  Matt chuckles at that and finally walks into my office.  "Listen man I am still confused on why you tried to save the team when you didn't have the antidote in you. So why did you?" Matt questions. "Yes I know that, I wasn't worried about the team. I was worried about you, I didn't want you to go through that again man." I reply, speaking the truth. "But what about you? What would've happened if you fell under Nelson's control? I would be liable for that." Matt fights back. "No. You wouldn't. I make that decision myself, it would have been me who would have been reliable. Besides it didn't happen." I argue.  "But what if it did happen?" He replies. I am getting irritated with this back and forth "IT WOULDN'T HAVE ANYWAYS" I blurt out.