So if you're not aware, Taboo's been writing for a couple of years now. When we were reunited earlier this year, I instinctively sent him to fan fiction page... Between his frothing at the mouth, he decided to appoint me as his "editor" since I clearly have a better grasp of the English language than he does, despite my minimal education. What I'm posting here is a first collaboration between the both of us; I'm not just an editor! The reason I'm the one posting this is A. So this thread is easier to take seriously thanks to actual capitalization and punctuation and B. Taboo is showering.
Thusly!:
“Help ── !”
…The girl across the hall was crying out again. It didn’t take long for her screaming to descend into sobs. There seemed to be a few other voices mixed in too, seemingly equally terrified. I had to wonder what on earth they were doing to her that brought her so much pain and grief. Probably the same things they’re doing to me, actually. It depresses me, knowing that someone else is going through the same things I am. I recall the lead scientist, Vandeken, mentioning that she’s particularly special compared to some of the other people I’ve seen here.
I recall one occasion when we had both been granted relaxation periods outside of our cells at the same time, and I’d been fortunate enough to meet her…
I’d been sitting in the relaxation room for about a half hour, unable to think of any way to entertain myself. The room was really just a slightly larger version of our cells, but with some more furniture and considerably better upkeep. The walls and floors were composed of smooth and shining white panels. Hard metal chairs that looked nice but hurt to sit upon for excessive periods of time (as I was now) were attached to the ground. A single glowing television that played only light jazz music and watched us as much as we watched it.
The room had a very sterile feeling about it, which made it exceedingly uncomfortable to be in it for too long.
I was in my solitary chair against a wall, thinking about nothing in particular, when the girl walked in unattended. She quickly glanced around before settling her eyes upon me. I was the only other one in there, after all.
There were precisely nineteen other chairs spread out throughout the room, but she decided to sit down right next to me.
I was a tad nervous, I will admit.
Wordlessly, I examined her in my peripheral vision, taking care not to look directly at her out of shyness. She seemed fairly small, and was probably around the same age as I was. Her pale face and long white hair seemed to become one not only with the white jumpsuit we wore as uniforms, but with the room itself. Only her eyes stuck out. Deep red eyes, with pink pupils that could have been glowing.
Just as I acknowledged them, those glowing eyes turned to suddenly stare right at me.
I panicked and quickly snapped my eyes forward again, trying my best to keep a blank expression. I couldn’t see her, but I could feel that her eyes were still locked onto me.
There was suddenly a small giggle to my left.
How can I possibly ignore that? Indeed, I was even a fraction annoyed by it. The notion that anyone could be happy right now was too impossible to me, and in doing so, she touched a nerve. I will be honest; It was immature of me. But nonetheless. “What?” I looked at her, doing my best to sound intimidating and putting on a stern face.
I was caught off guard by her oddly dazzling smile, and my façade fell immediately. “You had such a silly expression…” she explains, “I couldn’t help myself…” Even her voice seemed to have a quality of being small. It was oddly endearing, I will admit.
I now felt the hints of a smile upon my own face. Her positivity was contagious. “Is that so?” I coughed. Evidently, my poker face will require more work. “You’re making a rather silly face yourself, you know.”
She giggled at me again. “I don’t doubt it.”
Unable to think of anything else to say, we both stayed silent for another minute or so.
“Hey, hey, do you know why we’re here?” she asked suddenly.
Where did that come from? “…I do not.” I thought for a moment. “I do not even know where ‘here’ is, what ‘here’s’ purpose is, or whether there is even any place other than ‘here…’” In fact, the thought being in this place was at all unusual had never even occurred to me before she mentioned it.
“…Mmm… That’s what I thought…” Then why did you ask? She shook her head, making her long white bangs bounce from side to side. “I don’t know why, but I always feel like we shouldn’t be heeeeeeerrrr ── !” She was suddenly interrupted by a loud buzzing noise, and she pitched forward off the chair and onto the ground in obvious pain.
“…Hey!” I hopped off my own chair and tried to help her. The security collar on her neck had been activated, indicating that she had to return to her cell immediately. I had seen it happen to others before.
The buzzing stopped after a few more seconds. As I helped her to her feet, she began to cough furiously. “I… I should get going now…”
I nodded silently.
Without another word, she walked out of the relaxation room.
She’d been the first person I’d ever had a proper positive interaction with. Probably one of the first people that didn’t want to stick a needle in me.
It wouldn’t be for a little while longer though that I would actually recognize the voice across the hall as hers. In fact, I hardly even paid attention to it before, since I dismissed it as one as many. However, it was quickly singled out to me as the only female voice I heard, and with that realization, you can probably imagine that I was rather worried. I’d only met her for roughly three minutes, but still I quickly found myself rather attached to her.
I decided to peek through the foot slot in my door at her door. The label atop it read “0372.” Well, that would make sense, with my own designation being “0373.” I noticed that there were some particularly large locks on the door as well, big heavy steel bolts and chains. The very presence of visible locks was unusual on its own, as the doors normally locked themselves automatically and electronically upon closing.
This certainly aroused my curiosity.
In any case, we return to now. I haven’t seen her since that first meeting, and it’s been about four days since then.
The yelling suddenly stops and her voice descends into muted sobbing. I hear her door unlock and slide open. I decide to investigate, peeking out my food slot once more across the hall.
Doctor Vandeken steps out, accompanied by two of his assistants, a man and a woman. All three of them wear clean white lab coats and carry clip boards. There is some blood drying and crusting upon Vandeken’s right shoe.
I cringe at the thought of its origin.
Vandeken has his usual hideous smile upon his charismatic face. An odd mix, certainly, one that comes together to make him quite unlikeable looking. I think so, at least. His voice rings out across the hallway in a sing-song sort of way. “Yes, indeed, I would say that was quite the success! There is still much work to be done, much much much work indeed. I want some D-Class personnel down here to clean up the mess. Linda, could you radio that in?”
The woman nods and pulls a radio from a pocket in her coat. As they walked away, I heard her smooth voice issue the order: “Five D-Class personnel to unit number oh-three-seven-two for mutilation clean up ASAP. Caution is advised, subject is still emotionally unstable and could be easily sway into hostility…” Her voice fades with their footsteps as they turn a corner and disappear from my vision.
…They left the door open?
They did.
I wait a minute, peering outside cautiously. It could be a trap of some sort, though I didn’t think they were quite that cruel. Better safe than sorry, though. But still, no one shows up. I can still hear he sobbing inside the cell.
I gather my few shreds of courage and silently call across the way “0372!” Despite my voice having the qualities of a whisper, it still fills the entire hall. I shrink back from the door and pray no one notices.
0372 certainly noticed, though. Her sobs stutter for a moment, and slowly calm down into small sniffles. “Who… who’s there?”
“It’s, um, it’s me… From the relaxation room a couple of days ago? I’m right across the hall from you.”
She slowly wobbles to the doorway into my view. Her jumpsuit is covered with fresh blood, particularly around her arms and stomach. What the hell were they doing to her? I’m relieved to see that she doesn’t seem to be particularly harmed… But all that blood had to come from somewhere, right? Questions continue to bubble up inside my head.
She wipes some tears from her eyes, smearing yet more blood upon her face. “It really is you… oh, wow…” She begins to sob again, hiccupping as her tears flow. “I… I…”
I squeeze my arm through the food slot, just barely managing to squeeze it out all the way, and reach out to her. I hear bare feet upon the tiles, approaching slowly. No doubt she’s leaving a trail of red footprints upon the white tiles, but that’s none of my concern.
She takes my hand in her own silently.
Unfortunately, I’m not quite flexible enough to keep my arm through the slot and hold my head on the same level to look outside, and even if I could, there would be hardly any room to look out of. Consequently, I couldn’t see her face. I hoped she wore the same happy expression as she did when I first met her, or at least something near it.
She’d certainly stopped crying, though.
We stood there like this for another minute or so, simply enjoying the presence of one another.
I hear her little voice suddenly whisper something.
“What was that?”
“…Thank you.”
Not that she could see me, but I could help nodding and smiling to myself. It was rather fulfilling, knowing that I had managed to help her, even a little bit.
But before I could reply, some voices sounded through the hallway.
“Oh… Go back to your cell, don’t let them see us.” I pulled my hand back in. Rather rudely, I realized a moment too late. I’m not sure why, but I had a feeling in my gut that it’d be bad for us to be seen together like this.
“…Alright.” It was pretty clear that she didn’t want to leave me, but I heard her little feet slapping against the ground in the other direction. Well, now those footprints might be an issue… I’d just have to hope that the D-Classes didn’t pay any mind to them.
I heard some gasps as they entered her cell. Having seen just the blood that covered her body, I could only imagine how it looked in there.
One of them, a man, grunted. “Filthy little monster, aren’t you?” He seemed to be speaking to 0372.
Another voice, a woman this time, chided him. “Be quiet, you. Do you want to become a bloody mess too? I’m not going to be mopping your guts off the floor.”
Yet another woman agreed. “Don’t give her a reason to hurt us, dude.”
…Do they really mean 0372? Is that why she was covered in so much blood…?
Things are suddenly starting to make more sense that I’d like them to.
I sat in my cell silently for the next two hours or so nervously listening as they cleaned out 0372’s cell. There wasn’t really any more discussion amongst them, just some grumbling about the work, ordering 0372 to move out of the way, and the occasional small retching of their gag reflex.
It wasn’t until they were about finished and preparing to leave that my careful attention finally paid off.
The one who had called her a “little monster” suddenly cried out “Avery!” in an incredibly desperate voice.
“W-what?” one of the women asked in surprise.
“This finger…” the man said in a trembling voice, “…this ring… It’s my Avery!”
“What, do you mean your wife?” the other man asked him, in a rather snide voice considering the circumstances.
“Yes… Avery…” I could hear the man choking back tears as he repeated her name over and over again quietly. “Oh, she was… this blood is… ohhh…” Another gag and then a splattering noise. He threw up.
The first woman groaned. “I’m not going to clean th—”
The door of my cell suddenly rattled in its frame, and I could see the woman’s uniform pressed against it through the food slot. The man had thrown her against it. “Shut the forget up, that doesn’t even matter right now!” He released the woman, causing to her to slump to the ground, hyperventilating, and stomped back to 0372’s cell. A loud smack sounded throughout the halls.
Oh, no, this is probably bad.
“You little piece of stuff!” He hit her again, louder and harder this time, causing 0372 to make a small cry. “How the forget can you hurt a woman like her? Who the forget lets you decided if a person lives or dies?!” I had to admire his hypocrisy, considering how casually he had complained about the mess of blood only a few minutes ago. “Who gives you the power to kill whoever you like?!!”
“I do.”
Vandeken… Of course.
“Do you have an issue with that, D7203?”
Everyone went totally silent, with only the ragged breathing of the woman outside my door being audible. I could only imagine the surprise on everyone’s face.
“0372,” Vandeken called to her.
“…sir?” she responded quietly.
“Kill D6203; I’ve no use for such an overly emotional and bratty subordinate.”
“…I understand.”
The man screamed with terror. “Whu, no, I, anyone wouuKLLLGHHAAAUU—”
A cacophony of awful crunching and splattering sounds filled the hallway alongside his screams, which soon devolved into gurgling, and then more silence.
“I’m sorry…” 0372 whispered.
“Very well done as always, 0372,” Vandeken congratulated her. I could practically hear the sneer on his face. “So then, does anyone else have any complaints?” I hoped that that made it clear to the D personnel that it was Vandeken that was the monster, and not 0372.
“N-no, Doctor…” the remaining four quietly said in unison.
“Great! Now clean up the rest of this mess, hm? And 0372, I believe you’ve earned an additional relaxation period. Do as you please.”
Vandeken hummed a merry tune as he walked away.
My heart rate had gone out of control…
0372… What the hell has that madman turned you into? What are they doing to you?
Just what the forget is this place?
It would be about twenty minutes until I heard a small thump against my door. “…0373?” a small voice asked.
I stood from my bed and walked over to the door. I could see just the top her small head beneath the food slot; she seemed to be sitting against the door. “I’m here, don’t worry,” I said softly.
“About what happened earlier…” She breathed heavily.
“No, don’t worry; you don’t have to say anything.” I instinctively shook my head, though she couldn’t see it. “I don’t care what the psycho makes you do, it doesn’t matter.” I hoped that that didn’t sound too harsh or anything.
“I do worry though… please don’t be afraid of me…”
“I’m not! I said not to worry, so don’t worry. Geez. I don’t care what they do to you; it’s not your fault anyway.” Well, alright, this was a small lie. I was actually very curious as to what exactly they had done to her and what she was. But I fortunately had enough tact to realize that that’s definitely not the right thing to say.
“But I mean…” she coughed slightly for a moment. She was probably crying again, if she had ever stopped anyway. “Don’t they do something like that you too though?”
…Wow, alright, why had I never thought about that? Vandeken and his merry band of sociopaths actually work on me too. But… “I haven’t been made to kill anyone. I don’t think I could even if they wanted to me to in the first place.”
“Is that so…”
I reached through the food slot and placed my hand upon her head. “Cheer up already, alright? What happened to the cheerful little girl I’d met in the relaxation room?”
I felt her head nod up and down. “You’re right… I’m sorry.” She suddenly stood back up. “I’m so lucky to have a friend like you in here….”
Friend?
Yeah, I guess that’d be the correct term, huh?
After about half an hour of nothing, 0372’s collar beeped, indicating a minute remaining of her relaxation period before she would be electrocuted again. Not long after she sadly retreated to her cell (“Let me know when you have a relaxation period, alright?”), Vandeken decided to swing by my cell for a visit. Oh, joy.
The door slid open. I sat up on my bed and eyed him suspiciously as he walked in. As far as I could tell, he had come alone this time.
“Good evening, 0373. No need to look at me like that, goodness.”
Evening? Well, if you say so.
“We’ll be doing something different today, rather than the usual needles and surgeries. A rather special test, actually, that I think you’ll enjoy.” His usual grin grew to a comparatively sinister length.
The door slid open again, and a man and woman slowly walked in, looking frightened as all hell. They wore bright orange jumpsuits with a large black label across the chest.
“D-CLASS”
Oh, loving hell. Goddamn.
Vandeken simply smiled at me; seeing my face probably filled him with delight.
“You’ve got to be joking…” I gasped at him.
“0373, kill D0925 and D3299.”
It was over in hardly a second.
If I had to try and describe it, it was a lot like being a passenger in my own body. I could only watch my actions, without any real control over them.
My right hand went up, and the man went with it, floating off the ground. He just floated up into the air… My left hand reached out and grasped at something I couldn’t see, and then suddenly twisted itself.
The man’s head was wrenched off, quickly spinning around until the flesh and bones of the neck broke away. The body fell to the ground, limp and trailing blood from the severed throat.
Before the woman had a chance to open her mouth and scream, the head fell to the ground and the same thing happened to her.
As suddenly as I had lost it, I regained control of my body.
I feel to the ground immediately, shaking and gasped. I vomited.
“Ahahahaha!” Vandeken held his head in his hands as laughed in a surprisingly typical and evil manner.
You can also see it as
an aesthetically pleasing PDF format,
a relatively less pleasing HTML page, or
downloadable DOCX! Technology is amazing, isn't it?
I'll try to answer any questions people may have, and I'll also try to update the files and this thread as often as I can, because god knows Tab won't.
