Subject 305-b

Chapter 2

Jake was standing over Nic surrounded by several others also in containment suits, but before Nic could say anything, Jake said, "Welcome back."

Nic did not feel welcomed and he lashed out with a series of questions. "Where am I and what have you done to me? Who are you? Where are my friends--" and then all of a sudden, Nic realized that he was on an alien space craft. He thought of escaping, but no use. There was too much light keeping him from breathing deeply. Flashes of voices came to his hearing, like the male voice asking "305-b?" or a female one stating his blood pressure was unstable, so he needed be taken to the emergency ward. We notice him on a portable hospital bed, getting pulled through different doors; though he no longer cared about the present, he was only thinking of the moments spent among the field, with her, his loved one, though his images were sprinkled with fragments of that unsettling disturbance. They want to know about that disturbance for reasons we must not reveal so soon. Suddenly Jake slapped Nic across the face and said, "Ah ah ah, 305-b, we can't have you drifting off into memories now can we...not when there's so much to be done." The hospital bed was pushed down a hallway, and as it glided through the ooze it also made a strange crunching sound which made no sense and sickened Nic to his core. Finally, a door up ahead to the left slid open and he entered a room with a large pod in it.

Jake began to unlock the chains which held Nic down, and the others in the containment suits grabbed hold of him with an iron grip and threw him in the pod. It slammed shut, Jake pressed a few buttons on a panel which seemed to have risen from the floor and said, "This should take care of any independent thoughts he has left." The pod began to fill with the black slime that coated the rest of the interiors and Nic pounded on the glass wall of his new prison, but, as he was submerged in the strange living goo, the last thing he saw was Jake's demented grin. Dreaming or Awake?
Nic woke up in a cold sweat. He was lying in his bed, but he wasn't at home; he was back in the field. Sitting up, Nic quickly scanned the horizon, looking for his friends; looking for the car; looking for...Jake. He didn't know why he knew that name, but he knew that it was bad. "Wake up, Nic." Nic bolted up, quickly scanning his surroundings for the source of the voice. No one was there. Had he imagined it? He was in his room, which now felt alien to him. A quick self-check revealed his heart was pounding, as if he had awoken from a nightmare-or into one. "Nic your going to be late,"
It was the voice of Cassandra, speaking to Nic this time. Cassandra and Nic had been in a relationship over a year, and it was thoughts of her that got him through his ordeal. Both Nic, and Cassandra worked for Cybernetics Industries. Cassandra and Nic had been in charge of a top secret project which was stolen by Delroy Johnson, the infamous computer hacker. It was during this chase that Nic encountered Jake. Nic cried out, "Cassandra! Cassandra! Help me! Help me!" Nic started to drift off again. Flashes of memories conflicted with his reality. When Cassandra pushed open the bedroom door, all Nic could do was stare. He vividly remembered Cassandra had been shot and taken away by someone. Here she stood as healthy and as beautiful as the day they met. Cassandra stared back and asked, "Do I have something on my face?" as she moved further in the room. Nic stood up to meet her, glancing down to be sure of his footing. Looking up again, her face changed; it became Jake's. "I said, do I have something on my face?" It was Cassandra's voice and Cassandra's body, but Jake's face, containment hood and all. Nic gasped and fell backwards into his bed. What was going on?
"Are you alright?" Nic looked up and Cassandra's face was normal once more. What the hell was going on? "Nic what's wrong!" she screamed as Nic once again fell unconscious. When he awoke later, the world looked as if he was underwater; something was aproaching him. He willed himself to move, but his body wouldn't listen. He felt his body being shaken and as the world came into focus he recognized his friend Derek who was frantically trying to wake him. Thinking to himself, Nic wonders if he could trust Cassandra, and why is he is having flashbacks of a person named Jake. Then he sees a symbol on the wall near the door, and it is the same symbol that Jake had on his containment suit. "Nic, this is Derek, I'm glad that you are alright. Cassandra and I were very much worried about you. You have been in and out of consciousness for 3 days now."