Of Monsters and Humanity: The Genesis

Chapter 13 - Xander

Fifty-nine days before....

The lights of the Pit flickered on and immediately following, the jaws of life above me stirred to life and opened, making way for the crane.

"Step away from the crane and sit against the wall. Step away from the crane and sit against the wall. Step away from the crane--"

I did as it instructed with no back talk or cheek for the first time since I was captured. I was still trying to process what happened the last time I was awake.... That and I wasn't sure if I could talk yet. I didn't really have a mouth.

I didn't know if it was a dream or not. I tried to piece together the time Balcom said he had something special in store for me and what had happened.... Did he find out how to manipulate my dreams? Or was it real? The event was so fucking off.... I had would have never thought of dreaming of seeing something like that....

Or was I just wanting to see humanity so bad that I manifested it in my head? I could have done that, because before the time they knocked me out to dress me in a suit and present me to whoever those people were, I was thinking of killing myself. Maybe I was trying to find a reason not to.

But I thought of how real everything felt now. I sat up and put my head in between my knees. The command coming from the speakers rang in my head and my stomach felt so empty.... I felt so sick. They weren't even testing anything on me and I still felt like shit. At least I knew that I wasn't dreaming because of the pain.

Then, the crane stopped moving and the warning stopped blaring. I somehow didn't hear the box being set down like I do every time. It is the most glorious sound.... I wasn't sure how I missed it.

But I didn't care about anything like that. I was ravenous.

I crawled to the box, too weak even to stand, and threw my arms around it. I could smell the flesh residing underneath the door. I had only ever tore the top open once, and that was the first time they fed me here. Since then, I made a show of having table manners and undoing each lock before opening the lid and dining.

But I was so hungry that I said "fuck you" to table manners.

I tore through the top like tin foil and found a whole half of a body underneath. I smiled a weak, sore smile before tearing into it.

I finished the whole thing off in about five minutes. I lay back on the ground like it was a cloud and felt the energy coursing through my body. I could almost feel my face healing and my muscles strengthening and my head clearing and my missing teeth growing back. I wanted to express a sigh but I wasn't sure if I could yet. I reached up and touched my face. Unfortunately, I had my tongue back.... And almost everything else.

But I didn't care. I had food in my stomach and the energy that I needed. Ecstasy took me over and I lay back with my teeth clenched shut, the only way I could close the hole in my face. I was fine with it. I could almost not even feel it now.

"Xander, we would like to talk to you about last night," a low voice spoke through the microphone.

I looked over and saw Agent Byligan sitting calmly at the desk in front of the giant board of controls. The Research Lab was empty other than him sitting there with a sorrowful, apologetic look on his face.

"Why so glum, Byligan?" I asked happily, my words coming out breathy and almost unintelligible.

"You've given us a lot to think about from what happened last night," he further elaborated. I liked Byligan because he didn't talk completely proper like everyone else did, but he was still annoying. I hadn't spoken much to other doctors like I used to, which was more often than now, and the whole buddy-buddy facade was getting a little stale.