Of Monsters and Humanity: The Genesis

Chapter 5 - Xander

Sixty-nine days before....

The signal lights all of a sudden flashed to life, awaking me from a sleep that was so light that I might as well have been awake. The sirens followed, also, but sounded a different call than that of when they drop food. I knew almost immediately that I was not going to be fed--it was cleaning time.

Every so often, a large circular structure of metal with large, hose-tip-like sprayers attached dropped down. Instead of food, this contraption rained down this heavy, blinding chemical that was meant to clean the Pit and yours truly.

I hated it so much and I rolled over, groaning.

"This will just take a minute, Patient X," a voice spoke from the loudspeakers above me.

I lifted my head and looked everywhere for the best possible place to be, but there was nowhere that would escape the Sprayers, and I knew this. The nozzles got every inch of the Pit and everything inside. I guess they didn't like seeing blood all over the floor all the time, or all over myself, for that matter. I didn't care. I wore it like armour, like something that would define the difference between me and them. I wore it with pride, for I was the monster.

All of a sudden the lights and sirens stopped.

I squeezed my eyes shut and closed my mouth just as I was pelted with acid.

For what seemed like an hour, the rain didn't stop. It completely coated the walls and my skin. I tried my best to keep my pores shut, but it somehow made its way inside and burned everything that I was. I ignored the sloshing puddles of acid under my face and just focused on keeping my eyes and mouth shut. Don't breathe, don't breathe, don't breathe, don't breathe....

Suddenly I was completely under acid.

I didn't move.

After a long while, the waves of acid lowered down my body and the remaining liquid emptied itself through the inch-tall grate that circled the bottom of the Pit. I lay there for a moment to ensure that I was no longer submerged before locating the acid in my body and allowing my pores to empty it out. I breathed out a sigh of relief and relaxed, rolling onto my back.

I watched as the alarms started again and there was a great shift in the machinery above me. About a second later, a light, airy liquid rained down from the sprayers.

Water.

I assumed that the acid was too strong to just leave on the rocky walls because it might eat away the material and set me free (although, I had my theories about being underground because that would be the only logical explanation for everything), so they soaked the Pit in a water-like liquid to get rid of most of the acid.

This second step lasted longer than the first and the spray was slower and gentler, probably because they wanted to clear as much of the Pit as possible without drowning me again. I never understood why they didn't fill the Pit up with the water like they did with the acid--I would appreciate it much more.

This new liquid hit my face in a misty rain and put out the fire around my body. I lay there, savoring the most angelic feeling in the world. This was the only thing, other than dead people, that they distributed to me that actually made me feel better than before. Granted, I wouldn't have to feel better if they just didn't pelt and drown me with acid, but nonetheless, I could smile without pain.

"Are you hungry, Xander?"

I heard the sky opening and angels singing before I realized that Balcom was speaking. "The fuck do you want now?" I asked, turning my head to the side and glaring at him through the black glass.

His face went blank as he paled and swallowed before shifting and squeezing out a smile. "I was just wondering if you were hungry."

I coughed out a laugh and rolled my head so that it faced the Sprayers above me.

"Xander--"

"You can call me 'Patient X' if you want. Everyone else does."

"I want you to trust me." I didn't look at him but raised my brows. "And feel as at home as possible, of course."

I bit my lip and suppressed laughter. This was actually funny. "Ahh, yes," I sighed, throwing my hands above my head and lying, relaxed, as one would on a couch at home, "home sweet Pit. My favorite place to be, in fact. It almost reminds me of...." I looked at him with my brows still raised.

"Feel free to go on," Balcom said and gestured his hand as if to tell me to continue to speak. A man sitting next to him pressed a few buttons and looked up at me as if he was recording.

I couldn't contain my laughter now. It bursted from my stomach and crawled through my throat. The noise hit the ceiling of the Pit and came back and hit me. The people behind the glass jumped. I couldn't stop laughing in amusement at the fact that no matter what they would do to me, they could never break me.

"One day, Xander, one day."

I turned my head and saw Balcom shaking his head, his eyes flaming with perseverance, his smug face no longer containing a fake smile.

"One day, we will find out."

A smile, knowing differently, grew on my face as my eyes challenged him right before he slammed his hand on the desktop. I was weak from laughing and not as on guard as I should have been, because suddenly, the water was replaced with acid again and my insides turned to liquid.