Nuclear Love

1 | Killer Wake-Up Call

INHALE.

Exhale.

Inhale.

My eyes feel stuck together. I try to pry them open, unsure of what happened to get me here. A faint buzzing begins in my ears - something mechanical issuing static to the left of me. The sticky salve on my eyes starts to lessen as light trickles through my senses.

It burns.

My muscles ache, as if I've been running all night. My skin feels tight, stretched twice beyond its limits. And coldness all over, like I've been sitting in an ice bath.

And my memory.

My memory is gone.

Except for one word. From a faint corner in the backstage of my mind it emerges, quietly at first, then buzzing as loud as the machine next to me.

Celeste.

I don't know what it means, but it seems important for some reason. I can't even remember who I am, what I'm doing. I could've just been born for all I know, except I know I'm a man - I just know it.

As the light ramps up into my vision, I can see reds, greens, and yellows all mixing together into a mosaic. My nose starts to smell a faint aroma, again barely perceptible, but then sickeningly pungent after thirty seconds.

Chemicals. Gases. Metal burning. It makes me retch.

I can't feel my body below my neck and start to panic. My eyes widen. I bite my lip, hard enough to taste iron. I can feel my heart beat, a drum that only seems like it's about to burst up through my head. Until-

Tingling.

A million pin pricks come on simultaneously. The buzzing intensifies and I can't hold back the scream that erupts clumsily from my lips. Fire all over my entire body, as if every nerve is waking up with an adrenaline rush. Pulse picking up speed, my breath becomes shallow.

I must be dying. Something is wrong. This can't be a good thing.

Every second seems like hours while I pant like a dog on a hot summer day. Buzzing growing louder with the mix of colors makes my head spin until I'm on the verge of passing out.

And then it stops.

All I hear are breaths. Normal, deep breaths. The pain is gone. Exhaustion washes over me, but the adrenaline is still in my system. As intense as the prickling was, the relief of not feeling anything except hard, cold metal around me is blissful to say the least.

The only thing that is out of place is my hand, still tightly clenched like a fist, but that'll have to wait. As much as I try to open it, the muscles just don't move.

There's glass in front of me, slightly fogged up now from the heat emanating from my body. I reach out an unsteady hand and push. Nothing happens. I kick and kick against the glass, bracing my body against the surface I'm laying on until I feel a release.

The door opens, steam leaving the chamber around me. An overly dramatic entrance like a vampire coming out of his coffin. I remember another word as I sit up from the bed.

"Pop culture."

A reflection in the glass stares back at me. Disheveled, scraggy, with chiseled cheek bones and chin. I recognize the image as myself. I'm handsome of course, and under normal circumstances, and maybe a decent bath and suit, I'd be pretty dapper. Brown hair like a chocolate bar and deep set gray-toned blue eyes stare back at me as I raise my hand to my cheek. I'm obviously good looking.

I step out from what looks like a glass chamber, a pod maybe. The buzzing noise over to the left is now louder than ever, though not uncomfortable now. I look around at what appears to be a room full of metal beams. The colored lights I saw show up as dials by a giant screen, a large red light flashing "Danger." Lights overhead blink in and out - the power cutting out in pulses. At least five other pods sit around me, one of the pods opened just next to me, the others still sealed up. Two entrances line the edges of the room - one is completely blocked by twisted metal shapes, contorted from whatever broke the room I'm in.