Blood of My Death

Blood of My Death: The Ancient Earthscrapper - Chapter Fifteen

The doctor stepped back, instructing Dr. Iris to accompany him.

"Now begin Test Subject Kristonia Howel," Dr. Travis demanded in an authoritative voice.

Dr. Travis took a glass tablet from one of his assistants and began typing on a holographic interface. The chair jolted as it began ascending back into the sphere. Inside, the globe was pitch black. Other than the light coming in through the hatch. It took a few minutes for the chair to reach the center of the sphere. Once the large hatch closed, it was dark, and I couldn't move an inch. Then a sound echoed through the sphere. It sounded like water pouring into a metal bucket.

It had to be hundreds of gallons flowing in at one time. The sphere was filling up fast. Within minutes, the water had reached my feet. It was freezing cold. The bitter cold stung my feet and skin. 'What kind of mental stress test was this?' In a matter of minutes, it submerged me in ice-cold water. 'So this is what this mask is for?' I was shivering from the sudden rush of cold water surrounding me. 'This was sleep deprivation.'

Hours passed while I was in this sphere, and there was no sound to speak of. Just complete darkness as a companion. However, I couldn't help but think about them.

There wasn't a way to keep track of time; for all I knew, hours could have passed by or only a few minutes. It was impossible to keep track of time other than by counting. So that was what I did, as it was the only thing I had. I counted in my head as the seconds went by.

'1, 2, 3, 4, 5...... 100, 101, 102, 103.... 400, 401, 402...... 849, 850, 851..... 2,675, 2676....' Shit, I messed up as I began counting from one again.

Repeatedly, I counted higher and higher in my head before losing concentration. It was hard to focus on my counting as I grew drowsy, but I had to keep going. I couldn't stop counting, or I would lose myself in the darkness. My thoughts were becoming foggy, and I could feel fluids flowing through the IV drip into my arm.

'What were they giving me? Were they trying to put me to sleep? Why did they need an IV in my arm? What was the purpose of this test? Rather than being a medical test, this was more like an experiment. How long have I been here? 7,901, 7,902, 7,903........ 10,200, 10,201, 10,203..... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.' Many things were on my mind at once, and my thoughts were so garbled that they clouded my mind.

A figure appeared before me as time went by in the shapeless void. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but it wasn't. There was definitely a silhouette of a figure in here with me. I caught glimpses of the figure here and there for several hours, or at least I thought it was hours. I'd lost count of how long I had been inside this sphere of water.

Whatever the mirage was, it was swimming around me, but not enough for me to see it. It wasn't just one figure floating around me, but many. I could barely make out the shapes as they moved like an image reflected in the water. They had a vaguely human appearance. 'What were these figures?' The outline of the shapes became more defined and grew closer to me. My stomach dropped when I could see them. They were grotesque corpses circling me. The more I focused, the more I noticed, and a silent scream escaped my mouth as I witnessed hundreds of them. I could see their misshapen and rotting hands reaching out to grasp for me as if they were calling out to me in their exact words.

"Why did you KILL ME?" the corpses questioned, one after another.

"Don't KILL Me!" echoed through the chamber.

Those words echoed over and over, growing louder and louder. I covered my ears, trying to block out the sound. 'What? Why can I move my arms? Wasn't I strapped down to this chair?' Instead, I was floating in the darkness, and my body glowed white. Upon realizing I was floating; I began to fall. A whirlpool formed around me as I fell for what felt like ages. 'What the hell is going on?' All I could do was scream.

A sea of arms was struggling to grab me, fighting each other to take hold of me. The deeper I fell, the more alive the darkness felt. Pushing against my body further increased my speed. A sudden impact on a hard surface shocked me. I was lying on the ground. It was a place unlike any other I had ever visited. It was foreign to me. There was a glow emanating from my body. The only light source there was. The ground beneath me was a whitish or grayish color with a soft powder of a dust-like substance. 'Was this the surface of the moon?'

I stood up, and I began walking a few steps. The dirt felt like sand, delicate and fluffy under the weight of my feet. A few rocks dotted the landscape. I picked one up, only for it to crumble to pieces in my hand. There was nothing familiar about this place to me. 'Was I dreaming or hallucinating?' I continued walking in a different direction. The light that lit my path radiated outwards from my body several yards. Looking at myself, I noticed I didn't see any light coming from my hands or any other part of my body, even though the light seemed to radiate from my body. I could see the light emanating from the darkness. My hands, stomach, and legs looked normal to me, as if there was an unseen filter on my body I couldn't see. The light was brighter than anything I had ever seen and illuminated several yards in front of me. I was a light shining in a world of darkness. Like a lighthouse on the cliff's edge, I was a beacon of light.

I then realized I was naked. 'What happened to my clothes?' I questioned myself, expecting an answer. 'Where was this place? What was this place?'