- Kasper -
Wake up.
That's right... I'm fighting.
Kasper hurled himself at the robot, wrapping both arms around it as it unleashed a barrage of explosives into his body. Every blast rattled his bones and jarred his senses. Hold on- Hold on- He ratcheted tighter, rusted plating grinding against his skin. The machine's serrated fingers bit into his back, scraping along his spine and slipping between his ribs like hot pokers. Every stab sent another shockwave through him. PAIN. Burnt oil hung thick in the smoke, filling his lungs with every desperate breath.
Don't you dare let go. Hold on. HOLD ON. HOLD ON-
The mechanized clicking finally stopped.
Silence.
The robot's head lowered.
Everything stilled.
The metallic groan of Riley and Ryker forcing the door open kept him from drifting.
<CALIBRATING_ STATUS CRITICAL>
"Gugh..." Kasper let go and staggered backward, adrenaline flooding every inch of him. "Why are you still here?!" His heart hammered so violently it felt ready to burst from his chest.
I can't feel my legs.
The door groaned again under Riley and Ryker's efforts. "We're trying!"
Don't look down.
"TRY HARDER." He shouted.
A creeping numbness spread upward through his body, slowly choking down what little control he had left. Backing away, he stumbled into one of the cubicles and eased himself to the floor.
"Oh... God..."
He looked down.
His abdomen had been shredded.
What little remained of his stomach churned uselessly. Blackened muscle writhed over itself like eels swimming through a slurry of blood and viscera.
"Agh..."
His clawed hand instinctively pressed against inro the gaping wound, trying to keep the warmth of his own life from spilling away.
"Heal..."
Grimacing, he forced his long fingers into the ruined cavity, physically holding himself together before the rest of him could fall apart. He wasn't even sure what organ was what.
It was impossible.
None of this should have been possible.
Nothing about him could be... not anymore.
His body wasn't his.
It was its own thing.
He was living somewhere inside it, clinging to ownership through nothing more than a squatter's right.
I'm not human.
<CALIBRATING_>
The scrape of metal against metal tore him from his thoughts.
"Door's open!" Riley shouted over the growing whir of machinery. "Kasper, come on!"
I can't move...
"GO!"
"What?!?"
"GO, NOW!" Reluctantly, he pulled his hands away from his stomach. Ribbon-like strands of flesh twisted and danced together, stitching the gaping tear shut. His ribs snapped back into place with a series of sickening pops as he rolled onto his side.
YOU ARE READING
The Eden Projects (FINAL EDITING)
Action"This story has no hero." Set in the distant future, where the government has been overthrown, and a new world power has risen, known only by the Moniker "ARK Corporation." We follow Kasper as he fights to survive in a nightmare where wrong is made...
