Experiment 199

Experiment 199: Preface

                I was running.

                I didn’t know where I was going, but I did know that I was running for my life.

                The hallways twisted in hundreds of different directions and I struggled to find my way out. I could feel my heart pounding with incredible speed and echoing loudly in my ears. Without pausing for a moment, I took a sharp turn right and felt my loose lab clothes flutter behind me. I sprinted down the hallway, huffing and puffing, coming to yet another dead end.

                I hunched over on my knees a let my head hit the concrete wall, my lungs ripping at my chest for just one breath of cool oxygen. I felt the metallic collar around my neck tighten and a jolt of electricity shoot into my over-exerted body. My whole body shook from the shock, forcing me to fall to my knees and use my trembling hands to brace myself up against the wall.

                Even after the short jolt of my human-sized electric collar subsided, I continued to lean against the wall and pant like a dehydrated dog. My whole body ached. I didn’t want to run another step. I didn’t want to be subject in yet another test. I no longer wanted to feel another “Positivity Pulse” or be forced to exhaustion. I just wanted this horrifying nightmare of my life to end.

                “Let’s get a move on, Experiment One-Nine-Nine.” A male’s fizzled voice boomed from the dozens of speakers plastered on the walls of the testing area. “You don’t have time for any more mistakes like this.”

                A snarl ripped through my throat, my teeth ground together so tightly they were ready to smash into thousands of tiny pieces.

                “Mistakes?” I scream into the air, towards the man I will never know but always hate. “You think this is my fault? You think I want to do this?”

                The man only chuckled and I could hear him readjust himself in his squeaky chair. I could hear a lot of things I prefer not to.

                “The other doctors told me a lot about you.” He said with a quick sniff of his noise. “But I have no time to play along with your little games.”

                I scoffed at him. “You call yourselves Doctors?” I questioned, rising to my feet again. “I believe the correct term is Torturers.”

                I raised my head and looked around the warehouse like building I was lost in. This wasn’t the first time I was in the Maze, but it was different from what I remembered. Everything had changed. The only the exit, the thousands of paths, and even the secret booby traps had changed, a new horror to experience all over again.

                Another vibe of electricity shot through my veins and I let out a blood curdling scream. Even before the jolt slowed down, I was on my feet again, running through the maze again.

                But this time, I was running with vengeance.

                The others call me a freak.  The scientists call me a perfect weapon. I’m the ‘…Perfect blend of camouflage and killer.’ To me, I’m just a full-blood monster.

                If it were up to me, I would be dead right now. I would rather take my own life than be stuck in this place for another day. To the scientists, I am an enormous advance in biological weapons history. To myself, I’m just another play-thing for them to poke and prod at.

                My name is Rory Jennings, and I am living and breathing Hell.

                Ever since I was two years old, the scientists at King’s Journey Laboratories have changed my life forever. King’s Journey is an underground organization, that does harmful testing on all sorts of kids in ‘…hope to make a better and safer place to live.’