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 Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:18 am
This is where my story will gradually be posted. I would appreciate if nobody posted in here, since it will kinda cut it up ninja
For feedback, you guys can post here
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
I know it's long
And it's probably not that great
And my writing style is probably not that enjoyable
BUT CMON
I READ ALL OF YOURS
;_;
(recent changes are bolded, removed sentences are slashed, in case you have read this before and are interested in changes)
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:33 am
Chapter 1: What will come of it?
A boy was laying on an old squeaky bed, experiencing an odd and frightening dream. When the boy's eyes opened for the first time, he had not awakened. On top of himself he saw a Demon; red pointed teeth, bloodshot eyes that stared without blinking, very human in terms of appearance, except for It's lack of any hair with skin so pale that you could see through it to the bone. It held him down tightly, snarling with glee, It’s molten hot breath looming over his face. His heart felt as if it was suffocating under the pressure on his chest. The boy's arms were stiff, paralyzed in fear, as was his body. Everything but his eyes were tied to the cold mattress, staring into the ones of the Demon. It extended It’s arm, grasping his heart, crushing it’s deafening beat under It’s crooked nails. He gasped for air, but none came. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears, pulsing hard against his ear drums. A loud, sharp tone rang through the air, and as the Demon’s eyes shined it shook him awake from his trance.
He quickly ran his hands over his chest, pulling at a device which was tightly strapped there. A bulb shining bright on it's front was making the noise which had awakened him. He quickly worked at the belts that ran down his sides around his torso, tightly strapped at his back. Tossing it to the floor, the tone stopped. He shivered from the discomfort he felt. What he had experienced was not real, he was almost sure of it, but one would have trouble convincing himself of this. In an odd way he could still feel what he had seen, almost like an itch begging to be relieved, but not quite. His chest felt as if it had been crushed by something heavy, and the only way to comfort himself was to compress it further, burrowing himself deeply into his arms as he wrapped them around his legs in a sitting position.
Monitors by the bedside beeped and blinked. One illustrated his heart beat, evident by the small dot that would run across, jumping in unison with the muscle in his chest. He couldn’t read the words, so he sat still on his bed while he watched the jumps that the dot performed become slowly more distant from each other. He noticed the cords and clamps on his fingers, through which his heartbeat was being monitored, and promptly pulled them off. He had to carefully remove the tubes that went through his nose and down his throat, as any sudden tug would make him gag.
He glanced down, looking at the device which was now laying on the floor. The cord on it’s top coiled beneath the bed, across the room and into the opposing wall. He still didn't like the sight of it very much, so he looked at other things. One of them was his own body. Working up from his own feet, along his legs and body, he noticed that he was a fairly skinny boy, his muscles slim and weak. He turned to the side of the bed to stand, but fell to the floor onto his face, unable to support himself. After several attempts to get back on his bed he gave in to his exhaustion, pressing his face against the cold floor. He muttered to himself in anger for his own stupidity. He listened to his surroundings for a few minutes, the same beeps and clicks and nothing else other than the buzz in the air. The cold floor was refreshing. Feeling very tired, comfortable on the cool surface, he decided to sleep a little longer.
It must of been several hours before he awoke again. He heard footsteps coming from outside the room, making him nervous again. Whoever it was that was coming, he knew he wasn't ready to meet them. Thinking of a way to hide himself, he crawled under the bed, bracing himself. The footsteps of men coming closer still, he shut his eyes.
The door opened, two sets of legs walking in. It was hard to not notice the empty bed, the first man yelling in panic: "O-o-oh, he's gone!"
The other man who followed ordered for him to alert the guards. It wouldn't be very wise to let the boy run around on his own.
The first man ran out of the room, out the door and into the corridor. He would probably continue to run until he found a guard. The other stayed, checking the machines for any recent readings. He whispered that they showed that the boy had only been detached for about twenty minutes, plenty of time to walk out of the building. Still under the bed, the boy tried his best to regulate his breathing. His heart palpitated, his heart felt hot while his veins were ice cold. Breathing heavily he tried his best to keep quiet, but couldn't help but breathe through his mouth. When the pair of feet came closer to the side of the bed, his eyes widened and he begged that they would move away. He heard the bed squeak and press down slightly, then lift up again as the man walked away.
He headed towards the device, bent down and picked it up, realign in the coil. Before long the boy noticed that it passed underneath him, and he would soon be found out once his body would stop it from coming. He rolled over onto his side to let it pass, but it caught his foot. Tugging and annoyed, the man knelt down to investigate the problem, and they met.
The man had messy brown hair, with a slim but smooth face, where a short beard had been grown which connected to his mustache by the hair on the sides of his mouth. He remained still and the boy as well, his heart beating so hard that it felt as if it would burst out.
Before any one could say a word, the boy screamed in surprise as someone grabbed his ankles. The other man was back, and he had been discovered. His heart flared up, sending sharp pains across his entire body, from the tip of his fingers to his ankles, into the mans hands and up his arms into his own body. The man's grip suddenly tightened, his entire body convulsing from the strong shock. The man's eyes rolled back, his muscles stiffened, and his heart skipped a beat. After kicking away at the man's hands, the boy set himself free and dashed out the door.
As he burst out of the room, the lights blinded his tired eyes. He shielded his face with his hands, only to fumble and fall against a wall. He forced himself back up, squinting at the fluorescent tubes in the ceiling, continuing his desperate run. Down the corridor, full of identical doors and turns... He heard a crowd roaring faintly, separated by the walls.
He ran into a large entrance. A desk sat at the back of it, and in the front were a row of doors. Two rows to be precise, each muffling out the noise of the crowd behind them. They were being held back by only a few men, who were obviously having trouble holding them back with what they had. Behind him, the boy heard shouting from inside the corridors.
They were coming, and they were coming for him.
He ran for the doors. The guards dashed after him, but were far from catching him. If he could reach the doors, the outside world, he could make it out. He reached out with his palms, extending his fingers, ready to push open the doors. Past the first doors, swinging it far, pushing with all his strength. He rushed to the second one, when his face slammed against the window as his body came to a halt. He nose snapped against the locked door, the pain running out of his body up the metal frame.
The door mechanism's light shone from red to green, with a slight click.
He fell down, clenching his broken nose. It bled in between his fingers, running down his arm and dripping onto the floor. He couldn't stop the tears as they ran down his face, blurring his vision. The doors slowly opened, the sounds loudened as the guards could hold back the crowd no longer. He choked on the air that was creeping in as they all ran in, crowding the entrance. Several of them stepped on him, one of them on his ankle which snapped. He clenched it in his bloody hands in his pain. They kept coming, all wearing the same gray masks... A cylinder sealed over their mouths, glass goggles covering their eyes with tough material concealing the rest of their faces. It made it hard to understand what they were saying, but they proved to be very angry.
Choking on blood and fumes, struggling to see the world around him, he couldn't help but close his eyes. He heard the sound of sirens, the sound of angry men beating back the crowd, the crowd beating back... He felt dizzy. The sounds fading, the screams melting away, he felt hands grab and drag him away from the chaos, shielding his face from the fumes. His hotheadedness resulted in him losing consciousness soon after.
The pain was back. His chest, caving in under the pressure, the eyes, glaring at him in the darkness. His vision was blurred, but he could tell it was the same Demon again. The eyes, they came back for him. His lungs pleaded for air, his limbs for escape. It loomed over him, it's molten, rancid breath... It came closer, closer again. It grabbed his heart, tearing it's soft tissue under his crooked, broken nails.
He sat up quickly. He gasped, breathing in as much as he could. The air was damp and hot, the a mask on his face filtered it to a more tolerable state. After realizing what happened, he sighed. That dream again... It bothered him, even after convincing himself several times that it was only that. He felt sick. His lungs were about to slither out of his throat, but he couldn't take off the mask in order to breathe in more easily. He felt the straps on the back of his head, there were three of them. He started to undo the first one.
"Hey woah, stop that."
He now started at the second one.
"Kid, stop, you can't just take that-"
But too late, he vomited inside the mask. Leaking into the mouth hole and clogging the filter, he could only recycle the same bitter smell that was stuck inside with him.
"Aww, damn it! Uh... here let me help you..."
A man came over to his bedside, and worked at the last strap. The boy muttered quietly.
"Hurry."
He instructed the boy to hold his breath, and pulled off the mask. He swiftly wiped off the boy's face with his sleeve, and gave him a new mask. He left all the straps undone but one, just to keep it on loose enough to be pulled off quickly.
"Sorry, I didn't think..."
Nobody spoke until two more people walked into the dimly lit room. They were dressed in baggy clothing, covering their skin and faces from the light.
One of them got close to him, looking quickly at his wounds.
"Is he alright? Rowan..."
She lifted up his mask to get a better look, probably forgetting why it was there in the first place. Thankfully he remembered to hold his breath.
Rowan was the man who helped the boy out, speaking back to her:
"Yeah, he's fine. I think he's a little sick. How do you feel?"
The second man came up to him too, watching the situation.
The boy pulled back his mask and vomited again. He coughed a few times, and slipped it back on.
"s**t. Audrey, we'd better get him to a clinic." Said Rowan
"Right, right. Can you stand up? (Second Man's name >_<) I think he's going to need your help". Said Audrey.
SM came to the boy to help him up. The boy couldn't stand on his own, so he tried to carry him on his back. It proved difficult, as the boy yelped in pain when his ankle was moved.
"Hey, be careful!"
"I'm trying okay?!" Screamed SM
The boy's pleading stopped their argument: "It hurts..."
Rowan came by his side. "Don't worry, we'll get you some help. What's your name?"
He didn't answer.
"If there going to be chasing us, said SM, then shouldn't we be going around with some fake names? Let's just call him something simple... Todd or something."
He let loose a storm of coughs, his chest tightening and his stomach lurching.
"We should hurry."
They walked quietly out the door, closing it with tender care. They walked down the dark alley ways, looking around every corner before entering. It was very dark outside, everything barely visible through the mask's goggles. Todd tried his best to keep himself from coughing, only letting them slip when he couldn't bear the pressure. They would stand still when he did, as if expecting the entire army to come running out of every direction, and then proceed silently. The sound of sirens could be heard outside of the alley ways, echoing through them
They eventually came to a dead end, an alley guarded by soldiers: impossible to sneak by. Rowan whispered to the others.
"You and SM go through: They won't suspect a couple and a sick kid." They quietly nodded. Todd let loose a violent cough.
"Who's there? Come out!"
Rowan ran back, while SM and Audrey advanced.
"State your business."
Audrey spoke quickly "It's our child, Todd, he's ill, please just let us-"
"I didn't ask for your life story! Let me see his face."
"N-no, please, he's very sick, he-he might-"
The guard pushed her aside, walking towards SM and Todd. Todd could feel his heart pounding against SM's back, and SM could feel it pounding him. He stood very still non the less.
"My son is very ill, please, he-he has breathed in toxins, he needs to go see a doctor-"
The guard looked at him in a threatening manner, silencing him.
"I have strict orders to investigate everyone who passes by here. There are no exceptions!"
His heart was pounding harder now, he could feel it, his guts were burning inside him, his nerves flaring...
He pulled at the mask, and lifted it up...
He looked closely at Todd's face, only to have Todd vomit in his.
Full of fury, he swung his arm at Todd's face. Todd shouted in pain, as he hit him in the nose, his pain crawling into the Soldier's fist, into his arm around his neck across his body. It spread into SM's back, out of his legs into the floor. SM fell to the floor in his pain, and the Soldier fell down to his knees. The second soldier pulled out his pistol, firing at Audrey. She held him back, trying to grab his gun.
"s**t! Get out of here SM!"
He stirred and groaned, with a gasping Todd on top of him.
Wiping her across the jaw, he pointed the pistol down to her face.
"Who are you? Why have you taken this boy?"
Todd coughed wildly, dragging himself off the body and rolling over onto his back.
Rowan ran out of the alley, tackling the soldier to the floor. His pistol fired off in the air, echoing through the alley ways and into Todd's ears. He shielded them, laying in a fetal position on the cold ground.
They ran to SM, feeling his pulse.
"He's alive, said Rowan, we need to get out of here."
"The other soldiers will have heard the gun shot." said Audrey
Audrey looked up at him. "You take the boy out of here. I'll try to wake up SM. Just hurry!"
He came to Todd's side. "Let's go, on my back."
Todd coughed.
"Come on! Hurry!"
He paused, and looked back at the boy.
"I'm sorry... Please."
The boy was sobbing, sobbing at the pain in his face, in his foot, in his stomach, the pain crawling in his entire body. He felt like dying.
Rowan picked him up in his arms, and carried him while running down the streets.
"All this trouble we've been going through... Just for this... This war... What will come of it?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:35 am
Chapter 2: A live bomb
Many hours passed before Todd awoke on his mattress. His hospital gown had been put aside onto a chair, covered in bloody vomit and scorched black at many places. His mask had been removed from his face, for the air wasn't filled with toxins here. But wherever it was Todd had been laid to rest, it was nowhere as clean as the room he had been in the previous night. The walls were dirty, the air was not as sweet and the equipment at his bedside didn't look as neat as in the larger building. A nurse walked into his room, and he shifted his head to observe. She stopped in her footsteps and, looking quite happy, ran back out to announce the good news. She came back with a doctor, another man and some medicine.
"This will make you feel better." said the nurse. She made Todd sit up and handed him the medicine. He stared at the little paper cup filled with red liquid. He tried to smell the contents, but then noticed his sense of smell was impaired by the bandages on his nose. He remembered all the events of the previous night, checking the rest of his body. His ankle had been patted and put into a cast, his cuts patched as well, but a few bruises were still visible. When he swallowed the medicine, he could only faintly taste it's bitterness.
"We took care of his injuries, but he's going to require surgery for his ankle." Said the doctor to the other man. "We will not be able to do it here, he'll be required to be transferred to another hospital."
"Why can't you do it here?" Todd recognized the man's voice, but couldn't quite remember from where right away. He had an unclean shave and short dark hair, his eyes tired and baggy. It came as rather surprising when he realized it was Rowan. Without his mask he could now see his face and hear his friendly, authoritative voice more clearly.
"We can't start the operation here, officers are already keeping all our patients in check since yesterday. Any major operations are likely to be investigated, and if someone finds the boy here..." The room fell silent.
"What will happen?"
It was Todd who had spoken up, the weak voice a boom in the silence.
They stared at him without supplying an answer.
"Alright, can't you see you're upsetting the poor boy? Yelled the nurse, Out with you both! He needs to eat!"
They left, taking their conversation elsewhere. The nurse handed him a tray with a plate containing some food, a cup of water and some utensils. There wasn't much, some bread and meat along with a some fruit. After eating, he laid back down. The nurse took away the tray and left. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
Dreams drifted his mind away from the hospital bed as he slept. There was woman's voice, talking to him. She told him seemingly random words, slowly one after the other. She talked in a very calm, relaxing voice. In his dream, he closed his eyes and listened to her. But then, she stopped. She got up and started to walk away from him... He reached for her, but the glass in front of him prevented him from calling her back. He banged his fist against it, but he was too weak... From the darkness behind him, the Demon materialized and placed It's hand on his shoulder. He wanted to push It away, but it wouldn't leave him alone. It brought It's mouth closer to his ear, and whispered in a old woman's voice: "Wake up. Wake up..."
"C'mon, you're leaving."
It was a nurse who was shaking him awake, but this one was much older than the other one. Confused, he quickly looked around. He was still in the same room as before, Rowan waiting by the door along with who he guessed was Audrey. He recognized her calm, nervous voice when she talked to Rowan, but she wasn't quite how he had imagined her. She had a narrow nose and thin face, but not in an ugly way. Her skin was smooth, and her maple eyes went well with her brown hair. It went down to her shoulders, curling as it went. She looked sad.
The nurse helped him into some clothing, some long pants to cover his cast and a hooded jacket to try and cover his face. "Where did that woman go?" Asked Todd, but she didn't seem to hear his question. They fitted him with a shoe, but the second one wouldn't fit over his cast, so they left it behind. She then helped him get up and into a wheelchair.
They started wheeling him out of the room, the adults following him out. They didn't talk, little less look at each other. Todd watched the doorways filled with beds and patients at the sides of the corridors. Many of them were sleeping, most of them with bandages somewhere on their bodies. One old man stood in his doorway, holding a pole with a bag of clear liquid hooked at the top, a plastic tube running from it into the IV in his arm. He watched silently as the group passed by. All the men, women and children, they all looked so sick and pale.
He felt so drowsy he could hardly keep his head up, but this wasn't the time to fall asleep. He tried to focus on his surroundings: The building's entrance was not as big as the other one. This one had people behind the desk though, watching as he was strolled out. Everyone fitted their masks before they left. Even with the goggles on he could tell it was much brighter outside now, and he could better see his environment. Tall buildings surrounded the hospital, a few of them abandoned. Smog hid the bright sun. There was a van in front of the building to which they were heading to. They took him out of the wheel chair and put him in the back seat, installed themselves in the front and started the vehicle.
"Take this to the doctor you will find there, said the nurse handing them a letter, he'll take care of it." They thanked her for her help, and drove off.
Todd looked out the window, watching the buildings pass by. The farther they went, the more the buildings became smaller and more run down. close to the edge of the city the buildings had been partially destroyed, with large holes in some of them, others with evidence of a recent fire. Some had even completely crumbled. Nobody seemed to really take notice apart from him. Soon they slowed down for a road block, which has been installed at the end of the road. A soldier approached the window. "Keep your head down", instructed Audrey.
The soldier spoke, trying to be friendly "Where are you folks heading?"
"We're heading out of the city to go see our aunt, answered Audrey, she got injured in the attack a few days ago, and she's in the hospital. We've planned to go see her, maybe stay a day or two..."
He smiled at them, and with a light chuckle, asked them "You're not trying to run away, are you?"
They didn't respond.
His smile dropped. He looked in the back seat and gave a nod. "You three have a nice day".
They drove off, as the soldier watched the van move away into the distance. He frowned, and returned to his post.
Todd tried to sleep at first, but the adults' talk kept him awake. He never remained attentive long enough to catch anything important, and whenever they saw him awake they would stop. Were they afraid he would hear them? Curious, he wanted to try and listen in on what they were talking about, so he pretended to be asleep.
Rowan was the one talking, while Audrey listened attentively. "...he told me that the surgery shouldn't take long, as long as there were no interruptions."
"Yes, but we don't know what could happen, answered Audrey, what if they stroke a nerve, and started him off? Or, what if he activated subconsciously? We don't know how his body works."
Rowan shrugged it off, "He looks human enough to me. I doubt it'll happen."
"But what if it does? What if the entire hospital shuts down! Then what will happen!"
"The doctors can keep a secret."
"And what if they don't?"
There was some discomfort as Rowan blurted out his answer.
"How could they! Everyone was against the idea when it was announced that the government was beginning research for biochemically... biogenically... or what they would have it! Lab tests, altered fighters... And all these rumors of kidnapped children, having their DNA poked at by scientists, doesn't give much positive feedback from par-"
Audrey gave him a loud shush, and looked back. Todd was laying against the window, eyes closed. She sighed.
"You shouldn't talk so loudly. He could of heard you!"
"Doesn't he have the right to know?"
There was a silence between them. It was Audrey who broke it:
"But what if a doctor gets reported killed in some bizarre, unexplained electrocution and the military decided to investigate? They'll be sure to find out who we are, and I'm sure stealing a country's weapon of mass destruction doesn't come off with a light sentence. We'll be considered terrorists!"
Todd's eyes widened. A weapon? Is that what he was considered?
Rowan snapped back. "Are you still going on about that? We're already past the halfway point, there is no way I'm going to turn back and quit. They said he needed someone to operate on his ankle, sooner than later. The doctor said it would be best if we had it done today, so we are going!"
This brought an end to their conversation. Todd took the opportunity to get some rest, being tired over the commotion. He had always been so tired lately, but each time he woke up he stayed awake longer... Maybe eventually he could stay awake as long as the adults.
Behind the glass, he listened to the woman's voice. Even if he didn't really understand what it was she was saying to him, he hoped it would never stop. He watched her, her brown eyes occasionally looking up at him, then back down to her books. Occasionally she held up a picture and smiled, then settled it back down. But she paused at one page. She looked down at the picture, and the smile melted away. He tried to move around to get a better view of what it said, but he couldn't find a good angle. Finally, she held up the picture, finally coming to a decision, and opened her mouth. "C'mon kid, get up." He blinked in confusion, then realized what was happening. He didn't want to leave, but the voices called him back. He wanted to stay with her. The woman had such a sad look on her face. He pressed his hands against the glass, and was back in his seat in the van.
Rowan saw the sad look on his face, and asked him what was wrong. When Todd didn't answer, he reassured him: "Don't worry. You won't feel a thing during the operation. You'll just be asleep during the whole time! It'll be all done before you know it." He frowned. Couldn't they leave him to sleep while they brought him? How annoying.
They placed him back in the wheel chair, and entered the building. This hospital wasn't as filthy as the other one, and it certainly was nicer, but there were many more people. Some were sitting down in chairs, waiting their turns. They looked at him, and whispered to each other how he must be in a very bad condition. Todd felt bad that he got to go in before them. He wasn't terribly injured, why were they worried? Once they handed the letter to the doctor, he led them to another room. Here they handed him a hospital robe to change into. Then Todd understood why everyone was so worried.
In the mirror, he saw a weak, frail boy, pale and skinny. He had brown hair and green eyes, under which bruises from his nose could be seen. The cuts on his slim face and body made him look as if he'd been in a accident, and the bruises on his arms and legs didn't deny it either. He didn't look away from the mirror until Rowan asked him to remove his jacket. He had already removed the rest of his clothing, and helped him into his robe. They came out, Audrey waiting outside, and brought him down the aisles to a waiting room. At this point Rowan and Audrey couldn't come along, while other people transported Todd away on a flat bed.
The doctor spoke to him before they were to start. "Now, all you need to do is breathe in deeply. Try to count backwards from ten."
Todd tried it out, but couldn't get past five. That was some strong gas. As he drifted off, the doctors prepared their medical equipment.
The first doctor smiled to the others, those laughing at his joke, "Careful, we've got a live bomb!"
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 11:59 am
reserved for the third =I
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