Subject 42

Chapter 4

(This chapter has not been edited. I appologize for any mistakes)

I ran through the city, the strength in my legs carrying me faster than any normal human could ever run. The city flew by, but my eyes caught every detail, every building, every piece of trash on the road, every single face that I passed. 

I didn't even know where I was running, I just ran. Trying to escape the memories that had clawed their way back out from the deepest corners of my mind.

Another memory flashed through my mind, a memory of blood, of pain and Him. He was there again, staring down at me with that same smile. My body jerked as if I had been hit with a physical blow. My feet stumbled and I almost fell but I scrambled, catching myself at the last moment. Even though I managed to stay on my feet, my body continued to jerk and shake. 

'No no no, not now' I thought desperately, but there was no stopping it once it started. My vision was starting to blur and I just managed to stumble into an alley before my legs buckled and I completely lost control of my body and my mind. 

I lost all sense of time and was only faintly aware of what was going on around me as my mind was overcome with flashes of memories and images. 

I was being tied down to a metal table as a man stuck a strip of leather in my mouth and in the next moment I was snapping that man's neck. Then, I was being sliced open again and again by a woman with a scalpel, my body healing just as fast as I was cut.  I could feel the pain again, I could feel each time the sharp blade dug into my skin. Then the scene changed and I was standing over the woman, slicing a blade across her throat. Over and over again, the memories flashed through my mind, making me relive all the pain, all the agony as my body convulsed uncontrollably. Somewhere, someone was screaming though I couldn't tell if it was real or if it was just another part of my memories. I don't know when it happened exactly, but at some point, everything went black and I slipped away into the void of unconsciousness.

I don't know how much time had passed by the time I next opened my eyes. It was still dark around me so it couldn't have been too long. My body felt weak and my hands stung. When I looked down at them, I could see that they were covered in small cuts and gashes that were already starting to heal on their own. I watched it in silence until eventually, they were nothing more than faint pink lines. 

The taste of copper filled my mouth which told me that I must have bitten my tongue at some point, though there was no pain. Large parts of the floor and walls around me were destroyed or cracked.

Slowly, I sat up, my body still shaking slightly, as I leaned my shoulder against the wall and drew my knees to my chest. I fought tears that were pricking at the corners of my eyes. What happened to me wasn't anything new, I was prone to seizures, another result of the experiments that were done on my body but the lab had always given me medicine to treat them. After I had escaped, they started happening again after just a couple of months. They didn't happen often, maybe once every three or for months, but some of them had been worse than others. I was fortunate that they had only happened in places where the damage my strengthened muscles caused wasn't too great. A few smashed walls and broken floors but nothing too damaging. 

I felt weak, every muscle in my body was sore. Usually, after a seizure, it took a few hours for me to fully recover but I didn't have that kind of time. Sylvia was so close I could almost feel it. If I didn't go after her that night, I didn't know when I would get another chance. 

Slowly, I struggled to my feet swaying slightly as I fought to regain the control I had over my body. I took a step forward and one of my legs gave way under my weight, threatening to send me tumbling back to the concrete. A large shard of glass stuck out from the meat of my thigh, sharp and jagged but I hadn't even noticed it was there until There were similar looking pieces strewn around near an empty metal frame. A mirror. It lay in a thousand pieces around me, only a few of them faced up to reflect the night sky above.