ArymTheThird

Added a Cover. It is beautiful. Will only acknowledge positive comments about it. Thanks

The day was beautiful, as always, around this time of the year. The sun high up in the cloudless sky, shining brightly. The birds chirping, children playing; As if happiness was painted on the window.

On a day like this, you just want to run outside and enjoy life as it is meant. I, like any other, would love to do so,...or least if I wasn't bound to this chair.

"Come, have some. Your sister and I worked hard to make these, you know?"

With these words, a plate was put in front of me. Prying my gaze from the window, I looked at the women trying to feed me like a toddler.

Ah, Mother. My lovely Mother. Always the image of virtue and benevolence. Even now, sitting in front of me like this, she had that smile that didn't reach her eyes, adorning her face. Coupled with her perfectly neat appearance, no one would suspect the mess her, no, our lives were. But I guess that's for the best. Don't wanna stand out too much, after all.

Strangely enough, she had a white hue surrounding her like an aura; her body was also slightly blurry.

Mhh, I don't remember her looking like this, but then again, we don't see each other all too much...

I shrugged. Eh, who cares?

“Thanks, mom. I love your cooking.” I said, imitating her smile

Leaning forward, so she could put the mini burrito into my mouth, I bit into solid bliss. It wasn't a lie. I did love my Mother's cooking.

“Speaking of my sister...where is she?” I asked.

Mother's face scrunched up for a second, before quickly returning to normal. It's quite rare to see her mask cracking like this. So rare in fact that people use it to predict disasters. Well, while that is not entirely true, it's still quite unusual. I wonder if something happened?

“Your sister is occupied.” Of course she was. “School is stressing her out lately.”

Sarah, my sister, not visiting me is nothing out of the ordinary, so that couldn't be it. Maybe she got a bad boyfriend, effecting Mom's image? A biker, or even worse a punk rocker? Yeah, that might just be it.

"But let's not talk about her right now. I'm here to visit you, Honey. Now tell me, what's new?" She said.

Looking at my Mother, I was slightly perplexed, irritated even. What's new? How was I supposed to answer that? Apart from staring at the never-changing white walls or the idyllic scenery outside, I wasn't allowed to indulge in, there wasn't much that I could do. So what's new? Mikey threw his pudding across the room and hit a nurse last Wednesday, that was funny. The old Tom found new blue underwear he could use as a helmet. It doesn't suit him, though. Black is more of his color. Or maybe I'll tell her about the great variety of noises Dr. Jenkins makes whenever a patient is in his office?

...Nah, let's play it safe.

Giving her a non-committal "not much", I tried to move on with the conversation. Nothing good would come of talking to her about life here.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, before we could find a new topic to explore an awkward conversation in, my Mother's holy hew spontaneously combusted, blinding my sight...

***

“You think he's dead?”

“Well, he did take some weird drug. Wouldn't be far fetched to say, but-”

A shrill voice interrupted the two, “Who cares?! I don't want to be here all day, so hurry up and find the damn exit!”

Humanity, as lovely as I remember you.

Waking up from his fever dream, Jason laid still, unmoving, and only barely breathing. A habit ingrained over his early years.

Usually, after waking up, Jason would take a few minutes to adjust his mind. Remind himself of where he is...sometimes who he is...

This time around, though, he didn't seem to have time for that. Not only was he surrounded by curious onlookers and a furious domina, but he also felt a lot more uncomfortable than morning sickness could justify.

It started with a slight stinging in his stomach region, but soon enough, the pain spread, and his whole body started convulsing from the agony it brought.

Host detected...

Initializing integration...Starting process...3...2...1...

The voice in his head brought slight relieve and the text something for him to focus on, but a moment later, the pain spiked. Foam formed around his mouth, his eyes rolled back, and his limbs spasmed.

Scanning resources...Requesting data backup...Denied...

Create local save file...Success...

Prepare Host...Releasing neurotransmitters...

“Fuck, what's happening?!” The first voice returned.

“How am I supposed to know! He just suddenly started flaying around!” The second voice answered.

While Jason was having a seizure on the ground, the other Subjects started to take notice. More and more people came and formed a half-circle around him. As most only lurked, hoping for someone else to take the initiative, a fairly young woman came forward and tried to place Jason on his side.

Pointing at the owners of the two voices from before, she said, "You two, come here; everyone else, stay back and make room!"

Surprised they were talked to, the two boys looked around for a few seconds, bewildered. Eventually, they overcame their hesitation and stepped up. The woman had the owner of the first voice, a small bespectacled teenager, hold Jason lightly so he would stay on his side. The other boy was to time the seizure and carefully lay his rolled-up shirt under Jason's head.

With the danger of further injury adverted, the woman tied her blonde hair back and began examining Jason. Unfortunately, without any equipment or knowledge of the drug, there was only so much she could do. After some preliminary measures, like checking his mouth and eyes, she could only step back and hope for the best.

Meanwhile, Jason was desperately trying to tune out his surroundings and the pain that didn't seem to want to subside. His blood was boiling, his bones creaking, and his mind threatening to split into two. Although he had known pain before, had known agony that made him want to die, this was a new extreme. It wasn't just one particular area either, but every cell in his body screaming and begging.

Messages continued to pop up, and the robotic voice from before echoed inside his head with each new one. Despite the pain, Jason did his best to comprehend what was being written, the sound having long devolved into a continuous ringing.

Create Interface...Adapt to Host species...

Final adjustments...

...

Welcome to the System!

Finally, with that last message, all the misery was swept away like a tide, making Jason question whether it existed in the first place. Maybe he had just imagined it?

Still half-expecting the pain to return, Jason slowly sat up. Strangely he didn't feel any discomfort. None of the nausea or gut-wrenching he expected after such an event hit him; In fact, he felt healthier than ever before, more clear-headed even.

"Are you alright? Any discomfort? Do you need anything?"

At the rapid questioning, Jason opened his eyes to the blonde women, her assistants, and all the other onlookers. Having gone through hell just moments ago, he was in no mood to answer their inevitable plethora of questions, but he also knew the consequences of going against the group in an enclosed space.

"Thank you," He said, "but I'm alright. More importantly, how long was I out?"

The woman sighed in relief, her shoulders visibly slacking. Every other person would be touched at the concern shown by a stranger, Jason, however, made a mental note to keep an eye on her. He knew all too good the vile thoughts that can hide behind an innocent smile. Not to mention that she didn't stop him from drinking the drug in the first place. Of course, he didn't voice any of this. Always keep a smile, always be friendly. He repeated in his mind.

"Good, I'm glad you're okay." she said before turning to one of her assistants. "As for your downtime..."

The boy in question scrambled to speak up, clearly not used to being the center of attention, yet before he could answer a voice, none of the present people would ever forget, resounded in the room.

Congratulations on a successful integration! Hurray! The first Test shall now commence.

As soon the last sentence stopped, grating sounds of gears shifting took over. Over the next few seconds, with vibrations ever so slightly getting stronger, a rectangular shape formed on the opposite side of the drawer with the drugs. Slowly lights buzzed into appearance over the quadrant ending in a twelve. Soon after, the rectangle split in two and opened, revealing a door, with nothing on the other side; No room or hallway, only a gaping black hole, staring back at everyone daring to peer into it.

Silence dominated the room. Until now, the surrealness of the situation had stopped most of the group from thinking too deeply about the implications of the things said and done to them, but now they had to face it head-on.

They were kidnapped and about to be used as lab rats.

They didn't know where they were, why they were here, or if they would be able to go home again. Ever.

No one knew what awaited them on the other side of the door, but all of them knew it wouldn't be anything good.

Was this caused by me taking that drug? Then the pain was the 'integration'?

Jason's brain started to work on overdrive. If he really was the cause of the Tests starting, it didn't spell anything good for him. He wanted neither the groups nor the overseer's attention too much, and this was a sure-fire way to get both.

I have to divert the attention from me before any of the others connect the dots...

"So the Tests begin the moment someone takes the drug."

Unfortunately for Jason, someone had already figured it out. Ripped as he remembered him, the hardened soldier (now dubbed Chad in Jason's mind) stepped towards him with folded arms and a downward glance.

...Well fuck.

“If you wanted to risk your own life by exposing yourself to some strange drug, then that's on you, but now you have dragged us all into this too." He said.

The attention of the crowd was quickly focused on him, and therefore his 'argument.' Those easier swayed already started nodding to his words, with the rest frowning in thought.

"You acted too quick and thoughtless when we already had a plan in progress. In times like these, we need to act as a group. Egocentric action like yours could cost us dearly. I'm disappointed, to say the least."

What are you, my dad? Still, I have to defuse this quickly.

Standing up, Jason moved to stand beside Chad and addressed the crowd.

“I understand your frustration, but it's not like we had many choices in the first place. There is no exit beside the door that just appeared, we had no clue besides the drug, and I don't know about you, but I didn't see enough provisions in the room to sit this out."

As the angry faces started to be replaced with more uncertain expressions, Jason continued, "And although these 'Tests' have supposedly begun, no one is forcing you into them; the status-quo hasn't changed. Instead of assigning fault, we should focus on solving our predicament."

Taking a peek at Chad's face, it was even more scrunched up than Jason imagined. He was trying to establish himself as the leader, and since nothing united people more than a common enemy, Jason's 'blunder' was the perfect opportunity.

"Still, my friend here isn't entirely wrong. I should have acted more responsibly and taken the consequences outside of myself into consideration."

At this point, Jason stopped for a moment and looked them all into the eyes, one by one. "Which is why...I volunteer to take a look inside that door and see what those Tests are all about."

With his monologue ending, Jason turned around to face the entrance of the void.

Although I would have gone inside, either way, he smirked, Seems way too interesting not to.

As his words sunk in, and the whispers agreeing with his statement grew louder, Jason knew he had won himself some time.

Now his maneuverability would be a lot greater, and the scrutiny placed on him that much less. It was time to find out what Test Chamber 37 had to offer.