Mangled Virus

Chapter 1

Fear douses his mind, "where the hell am I? Help... Help! Can anyone hear me?" His voice echoes within his own head as his fists bang against the metal wall. "Where the fuck am I! What is this? Help!" He stumbles tripping over himself, placing his hands against the cold wall to balance himself. "What is going on..." He whispers while sliding down the smooth surface pushes his legs to his chest, hugging them. The humidity in this room was unbearable with the heat attacking his skin at any given. The darkness concerns a new fear being unable to tell if his eyes are open or closed.
Sobs from catastrophic fear spill from his glistened eyes, the air of the small room growing thinner. "Please, let me go." He cries. Suddenly, a triangular shape of light emerges from the north-facing wall growing in diameter with each bang of the walls. He shoots up quickly standing using the wall once more as balance. He squints as the light attacks his retina covering his eyes with his hand.
"And here you see, the MUN." A women's hand points to where the man is. "MUN in which means Major Unity in Order." The man squints, peering out of the tinted box with utter confusion. "He will be put through many tests and trials to determine his strength for the New World. If he is a failure, we will dispose of him. If he is a success, we will release him into the New World." An award-winning smile comes across her face, which everyone in the audience applauds. His memory is blank, filled with many questions that are unanswered. The women's face turns to a screen in the wide room.
"Before the MUN, life on the New World wouldn't have been possible. The atmospheric change from this deteriorating Earth is entirely too much for an average human to endure, which is why we use MUN. MUN helps us find who can take this transition as they encounter many obstacles over a course of 3 years. MUN is a natural selection that is taken by a computer, for it takes a person from their average life and uploads their original subconscious to a web. This web is known as UPNS, meaning Uploaded Minds of Natural Selection. UPNS will sustain your average-day life continually even past death. Not everyone gets this opportunity, which is why you should embrace it if the computer chooses you." She stops for a breath, smiling at the crowd which applaud her. "Any questions so far?" She grins when hands shoot up.
The man's confusion only grows along with the numbness inside of his head. His ears start to ring, with blood pumping quickly from his heart. So many questions roamed his throbbing head. "Why am I here? Why am I in a box? What is the New World? Who put me here? How long have I been here?" These questions only increased his fear then causing him to fall limply on the ground being unconscious.
The crowd gasps as they witness the unconscious man, with raising palms the crowd begins to be riled up. "Why did he fall unconscious?" The question roams through the room. "Well, the mind can only handle so much change at once. It is entirely normal for our subjects to become unconscious through hard, or unstable changes. It entirely depends on the person, really." The women answers, a little too calmly. The questions receives many nods and jottings of notice on papers. Her voice begins to speak once more, "As you all know, this world is being corrupted with many dangers, in a short amount of time." Her eyes peer to the same screen as the MUN reading, the screen transitioning to another. "Earth's atmospheric conditions have been shown to cause a brain wave deficiency." The crowd sucks in a breath, their fear crawling on their skin very noticeably. "The Earth is being invaded by past humans as they turn into- well, zombies." The crowd silences with no breaths being heard. "They aren't called 'zombies' though, we call them the Mangles. Once they begin a change into the undead, their entire inner body shifts into nothing, they are holo except for their hearts which turn into jelly inside of their body. This outbreak was caused by a chemical change in Earth's atmosphere as of now is near full effect." Her eyes blank, realizing the impact of it all. She falls silent. Paper ruffles in the crowd, the tension could be felt from afar. As seconds pass, her eyes click back to the crowd and she flashes them a smile. "Any questions?"

The vision slowly returns to the mans mind, his eyes opening slowly or so he thought. Darkness surrounded him. It peered in closer than he'd hope, once again not knowing if his eyes were open or closed. A familiar feeling of panic spread throughout him. "The presentation must be over" he thought to himself. A crackling sound rose from the ceiling, sending a loud echoing boom through the room. "Hello Noah." His heart sped, "Who's speaking? Who's Noah!" Anger arose from him, not knowing so many things at once. The crackling sounded again, "you." Noah's eyes creased, furrowing his brows from utter confusion. "I can't remember who I am." Sadness spilled from his mouth. His heart felt an abandonment of memories he used to have, instead it is now filled with want of memories. The voice flared around him which he entirely blocked out from his hearing. "I don't know who I am..." A faint whisper leaving his parted lips. His glossy eyes fill with a flame. Anger. A new feeling as of what he remembers. It felt amazing. "I don't fucking know who I am!" He screams, rage burrowing through his veins. He shoots himself off the floor, slamming his hands into the dark room's walls. His chest heaves, his breath being heavy. His heart now beating at an unsettling pace, his anger only glides more inside of him. "Noah, calm down. Everything is okay. We are trying to help others, and you." The voice crackles. "Shut up! Shut your Mangled ass up!" He groans, followed my a growl. Noah quickly skirts his feet along the smooth floor, ramming himself into the concrete walls. His nose is shot with a pain, exploding it through his face. His eyes feel as if they're exploding, his nose now numb with blood running down his face. "Noah!" The voice screams. Noah moves himself back from the wall, ramming himself into it once more. "Let me out! Let me out!" Anger coursing through his bloodied face, cracking coming from his actions. A pain shoots through the back of his neck, he slowly turns around, tripping over his own foot slightly. "What did yo-" his eyes glisten over once more, fogging up. The voice sounds faint as Noah reaches his hand slowly to the back of his neck, discovering a dagger had been shot into his neck. He quickly pulled it out, stumbling to the ground. His mind invaded by darkness and sleep.