“We will supply you with a single daypack each, containing the following.” Once you’re back on the island, we will monitor your every move.” “Presently, you are here, in our base of conduct. Stepping out of the image, the man picks up a long, black cane from the front desk and points to the largest of the isles below the mainland. You see what appears to be an island above a collection of smaller ones, but they don’t seem familiar to you. You try too, for a second, before the lights go out and a projection is displayed on both the whiteboard and the man-in-leather’s front. You don’t have time to see what happens- he does it so quickly- but your throat feels tighter and you can scarcely make a sound.Īs the man retires back into the hall, the group focus their efforts onto relieving their voices, but to no avail. As soon as they start to panic, another man appears in the doorway, dressed in a strange assortment of military gear, although the gas mask is identical to the one worn by the man in leather. His eyes widen as he hears a gun click behind his head, and you turn away before the shot rings out across the room, sparking hysteria within the others. Your eyes urge him to quiet down, but you see that it’s already too late. “Fuck you! Who the fuck do you think you are?!”
You daren’t speak up against him, remembering the moment you awoke before in that hollow prison cell, and you remain silent in your chair as he demands your full attention.
Not an ounce of his skin can be seen beneath the long, leather coat he wears tightly around his body even his fingers are draped in the same material, as though his clothes are somehow his flesh.
As you try to convey the situation, a tall, skeletal figure strides across the front of the room with an all-covering gas mask strapped to his face. 20 other people, all about your age, strapped down by their wrists and ankles to small, metallic chairs, all more terrified and confused than the last. With a heavy heart, you allow yourself to look around and take in your surroundings. You’ll get your explanation once you settle down.” You hope to God that what you saw wasn’t true, but you can feel the fear in your body already, and you know that this is real.
You open your eyes for a second, then snap them shut. The screams help you come to your senses, as you awaken from your blurry dream. Then you hear a sound in the distance, like a siren, and you crumble to the floor without another thought. The last thing you can remember is turning out the light in your room before you went to sleep, and you wonder if this could all be a dream. As you check yourself over for any bruises or marks, you find a small puncture wound in the crook of your arm, surrounded by a perfect ring of six smaller ones.
Your body feels strange and alien to you now, like you’ve been placed in somebody else’s or you have to learn how to walk for the first time again. Your head throbs as you get to your feet, and your bones ache from sleeping on the cold stone floor, but that’s the least of your worries.Īs you stumble out of the cell, you start to realize your heart is beating a little faster than usual, but less so out of fear than something altogether wrong. The lights are out, leaving you with only the pale moonlight to guide your eyes and the door to the cell sits quietly in the dark, hanging wide open, waiting for you to pass. Once you awaken, you find yourself in what appears to be an old-fashioned prison cell, with no memory of how you got there. Then you feel something wet hit your cheek, and the light invades your vision.
You feel peaceful, and you don’t want to leave the inky womb of your unconscious. You sit alone in the quiet and the black, watching the darkness pulse hazily in the distance.