Word Count: 7,352
Due to the horrid state of the current economy, I found myself in dire financial straits. I lost my job because the company with which I worked for twenty years went bankrupt. My job was gone, my pension was gone, and if I did not come up with a lot of money fast, I was going to lose the house my grandfather built with his own two hands.
Jobs were scarce. I was truly desperate for money, and I took any work I could get. I was working three part-time jobs at fast food joints, but that was not even remotely close to what I needed. I sold my luxury car and bought a small economic vehicle instead. I let my gardener go, so now I was doing the yardwork. I cut every expense I could trying to hold on to the house that was in my family for three generations.
I felt like I was going to lose my mind trying to figure out what to do. The house was paid for. There was no mortgage on the house and no liens of any sort, with the exception of the lien from the IRS. That should be a crime in my opinion. I owned the house outright, but because I could not pay my taxes this year after losing my job, the government was going to take it and auction it away.
I talked to one of my girlfriends yesterday who gave me one course of action that could save me at least for the short term. It is not something I would ever consider on my own, but it could really help me out at this point. A small pharmaceutical company needed test subjects for some experiment they were performing. It paid enough to knock away my tax debt and get me caught back up on the rest of my mounting bills.
The idea of being a guinea pig for the testing of some new drug caused me a lot of anxiety, but I was simply out of options. I went through the initial exam and signed up to be a part of the trial the next morning. I was supposed to refrain from alcohol, illicit drugs and sex for two weeks before the drug trial was to begin. The facilitators told me to remain active, but not to overdo it physically for the last week before I was to report to the testing location.
I would get paid at the end of the last day of the trial, then I could set my financial worries to ease for a large part of the year anyway. I wondered if all clinical trials paid this well, or if there was something special about this one. It paid more than I made in a year when I had a good steady job.
I had to drive for more than two hours down a long road out into the forest where the testing facility was located. It seemed strange they would have their testing center so far out in the middle of nowhere. I spent one hour driving down the highway until I got to my exit, then drove two hours from there. Multiple turns along the way made me happy they provided me with a map.
This must be a major testing facility or something, because the building was huge. It was shaped like a trapezoidal prism and had six stories that rose above ground. I had no doubt they had at least two basement levels, possibly even more than what showed on the surface. Every medical facility always seemed to have basement levels for the morgue and what not.
A helicopter pad obviously occupied the roof as the building had a helicopter sitting on top of it. I did not know much about these things, but there appeared to be two more helicopter pads on the ground. I could not help but wonder why they needed so many. I began to have second thoughts, since it appeared they needed to have the ability to fly multiple test subjects to hospitals or something. Were I not so absolutely desperate for cash, I probably would have left.
I parked my car in the designated area, took a few deep breaths and walked across the parking lot to the building. As soon as I entered, there was someone waiting to greet me. She went over the rules, expectations and such with me again as she led me into a private room. There she had me remove all of my clothes, including my rings and earrings. Next, I had to shower with a special soap and a rag for ten minutes in extremely hot water.
Finally, I was led down a confusing maze of hallways, through the commons area for the test subjects and to the room where I would sleep for the next few weeks. I thought there would be more people involved in this study, but there were only eight bedrooms in this section of the building. I assumed all the test subjects would be held in the same area, but perhaps they had multiple smaller wards such as this one in other parts of the facility.
My arrival made six subjects, and the last two arrived within the hour. It was fortunate I was not one who had trouble making conversation with complete strangers, because there were no TV’s, newspapers, or magazines. The facility did provide us with games and such, but unless someone was going to play solitaire, you still needed to talk to someone else.
The group consisted of me and three other women, and four men. I know we were under observation the entire time, but I was still a bit shocked they had both the men and the women in the same ward. Maybe they were doing different combinations of people in different wards. The size of this ward was miniscule compared to the size of the parts of the building visible above ground, so I could not imagine this whole building was built to observe this one small wing.
Slightly less than two hours after the last subject arrived, a dry monotone voice spoke over the PA system. The voice informed us we would be called one at a time to receive our first dose of the substance they were testing on us. One person would be called every ninety minutes beginning at six in the morning until everyone received their shot. Two of us were to be injected with the placebo, and the other six would receive the substance the voice only described as RT-220.
My pulse increased, and I could see the anxiety on the faces of the others as we listened to that bland voice drone on about the procedure. No mention of what this substance was or what it was intended to do was made, only how the study would be conducted. Three times a day we were to get our weight and vital signs taken. We were to refrain from using our names, and instead we were to use our assigned number as instructed at intake. The men were 1 through 4 and the women were 5 through 8.
Among other things, we were to provide a urine sample in the morning and after supper. At mealtimes we had to eat everything they gave us. We could drink all the water we wanted to drink, but only water.
After listening to that voice go on and on with the instructions, I began to question my presence here. I really did not want to be the guinnie pig for something I was not even the slightest bit aware of what it was supposed to do. This was the only way I could come up with that would earn me enough to keep the house my grandfather left my mother, and my mother left me.
For twenty minutes we listened to the man on the PA give us our instructions. By the time he was finished, I could not remember half of what he said. His voice was so flat and boring; it was extremely difficult to listen to him while staying focused.
The first few days passed, and no one felt anything out of the ordinary. It did not take us long to figure out 3 was a real jerk, and 6 was a little miss priss who thought she was better than us even though she knew nothing about us. It was going to be difficult being trapped in here with individuals like them for several weeks without a break. I thought that would probably end up being the worst part of this whole thing.
Some of us worked to get along. It made the time pass so much faster when there was not someone in the room with which I dreaded having to spend time. I spend a lot of time playing games with 1, 2, 4 and 8, or working puzzles with 1 and 5. Prissy little miss 6 continued to act as if she was too good to sit and spend time with the rest of us, and she generally spent most of her time sitting in her room writing what I assumed was her journal.
It was early in the morning of day six of the study, and I was having breakfast with everyone but 6. For some reason 6 was not there for this morning meal. I wondered where she could be. We received our regular wake-up call this morning, and we all weighed in and had our vital signs taken. She was there for all of that, but she wasn’t here for breakfast.
I did notice 6 was being very quiet this morning, but most of us usually are at that time of day. After I finished eating, I walked to the end of the hallway where 6’s room was fully expecting to find her back in her bed. She was not in there though. I went back and checked the commons area, which was the only place left she could be, but she was not in there either.
The others were returning from lunch, and I asked them if they knew where 6 was. None of them had any clue where she might be. They all remembered seeing her at weigh in and vitals this morning too, but nobody could recall seeing her after that at all. It seemed to me like it would be rather stupid for her to leave the trial when she was already one-third of the way finished with it, but perhaps she could not handle being cooped up in here with us “lesser” people anymore.
A few hours after lunch that dry, monotone voice came over the PA system again. This time the man explained 6 did in fact choose to leave the trial, and for the rest of the time there would only be the seven of us. We all did feel something of a sense of relief not having her here with us anymore. Now I wished 3 would leave. If he left, the last two weeks of the trial would be a snap.
Two more days came and went as usual, but on day nine of the trial things started to become scary. Four of us were sitting around playing a game of spades when 1 fell on the ground and began having convulsions. He started to foam at the mouth, but what really made this terrifying was the foam coming out of his mouth was a bright orange color. I would expect it to be white, but it was as orange as the fruit.
Someone was obviously keeping an eye on the monitors, because within thirty seconds of his collapse the doctors, nurses and orderlies were there taking care of him. They made the rest of us go to our rooms until they got the situation under control. The medical personnel got 1 strapped to a gurney and quickly wheeled him out of the ward. As they were taking him down the hallway and out the doors, 1 as best as I can describe it was growling. He did not sound like he was gurgling foam from his mouth. He literally sounded like a large angry dog growling at his nemesis.
Several of us looked out the doors to our rooms to look down the hallway, but there was nothing we could see. The doors at the far end of the ward had no windows, so what was on the other side of the double doors was obscured from our vision. I wished I could see what was going on, so I could see what was happening to 1.
I jumped, and my stomach churned as sparks momentarily filled my eyes when I heard the clanging of metal pans, trays or something crashing to the floor on the other side of those doors. The noise was far away and faint, but we could all clearly make out the sounds of a struggle taking place. I screamed, as did 8, when we heard the distinct sound of three gunshots being fired. The commotion on the other side of the door ended almost immediately.
“Oh my God, did they just shoot 1?” 5 asked.
“I-I-I think they du-did. I think so,” 2 replied.
I stood there leaning against the door frame with my gaze fixed to a single spot on the floor. It was difficult for me to believe this really happened. He seemed just fine, then 1 fell on the floor having what I thought were seizures as he tore at his own clothing. I saw the look on his face as he writhed around on the floor. He looked terrified, like he was looking right into the face of the devil himself.
What did they inject us with? What did I let them put in my body?
We were told when we were sent to our rooms that we were to wait in them until we were instructed otherwise, but as we talked about what happened we all eventually took a few steps into the hallway. I do not think anyone was doing this to be defiant, we were all really freaked out by the scenario we built in our own minds. At the moment there was no way for us to really know what actually occurred on the other side of the doors, so our imaginations filled in the blanks.
For the most part we all agreed what we believed happened was 1 somehow broke through the straps holding him on the gurney, and then he probably began attacking the medical staff. I am sure it was protocol to call security when the medical professionals came into the ward to get 1 and take him out. In an uncontrolled rage, 1 started attacking the staff, and security had no choice but to shoot him. No one really had a guess one way or another if they thought 1 survived the gunshots or not.
A male voice, different from the dry voice that usually came on over the PA, instructed us all to return to our rooms. It told us to stay there for the remainder of the day. Our supper meals would be delivered to us, and we were to eat in our rooms. None of us were sure if we were to remain in our bedrooms for our safety or for the safety of others.
I never expected anything like this to happen during this study. I suppose I knew there was a possibility something could go wrong, but this seemed to be turning into a nightmare. My thoughts turned to who might be the two placebo recipients.
They did not tell us it would be one man and one woman, but all of us assumed as much. It was obvious 1 was not a placebo, so that gave the remaining men a thirty three percent chance of being safe. None of the remaining women were showing any side effects, but we did not know what the situation was with 6 since she left the study early.
The official story the administrators gave us was that 1 was epileptic and did not inform anyone during his sign up or intake. They wanted us to believe that 1 had a seizure because he had not been taking his medications since the study began. The noises we heard were just him turning the gurney over and knocking over racks filled with various hospital supplies.
None of us believed this cover story of theirs. There was no way the administration was going to convince me those last three loud bangs we heard were anything but gunshots. It was the general consensus among the remaining test subjects that the RT-220 did something that drove 1 mad, something like what rabies could do to a person.
I was sitting in the commons area with 2 and 8 debating whether or not to continue with the study or if we should go ahead and leave. As we were having this discussion, 5 came out of her room with her stuff in a bag, informed us she was leaving the study and headed for the exit. When she reached the double doors, she found they were locked. 5 banged on the doors and tried her best to bust them open.
The rest of us sat there and watched her for a minute thinking someone would come and open the door. While 5 continued to try to force her way out, the three remaining men went to the door to help her. They never told us we were going to be locked in. We were supposed to be allowed to leave any time we wanted. If that was the case, then why was I watching three strong men ram helplessly into two magnetically locked doors.
I looked up at one of the cameras in the commons area and began shouting at them to let us out. This was the final straw for me and probably for everyone else as well. As soon as they came and opened these doors, I was leaving.
No one ever came to the exit. Instead, that dry monotone voice came on very loudly over the PA and instructed 2, 3 and 4 to stop their assault on the doors. The three men did not listen, and they continued to try to force the doors open. The voice on the speaker system stopped and an extremely high-pitched whistle replaced it. This caused all of us to fall to the floor covering our ears in a futile effort to stop the extreme pain it inflicted.
The squeal stopped after ten seconds, and then we heard nothing else over the PA system. Everyone was either cussing, screaming, or rubbing their ears with their fingers. I could tell just by looking at the others that they were currently as deaf as I was. It seemed like something out of a horror movie. This was only supposed to be a trial for a new medication. Now we were all being held against our will.
Before our hearing returned, 3 moved a chair under one of the cameras in the commons area in an angered attempt to rip the camera from the wall. When he reached up and put his hands around it, he received a shock strong enough for us to see, but with our ears still ringing we could not hear the loud crack that accompanied it. He was thrown off the chair, and 3 landed hard on his back.
I ran over and helped the other two men check on 3 and get him back on his feet. The charge was only enough to cause pain, but not physically damage him. 3 probably took more damage when he hit the ground than he did from the shock.
When our hearing finally started to return, everyone seemed to be in a state of chaos. It was not until we could hear well again that we all stopped talking at once so we could try to figure out what was going on and what to do. Every one of us was clearly upset, but we had to calm ourselves down if we wanted to have any hope of getting out of this horrible situation.
We looked around for anything to help us open the doors as we made note of all the visible cameras. It seemed the administrators already thought of those things. The cameras were electrified and there was nothing large enough to help us pry open one of the exit doors. Thanks to this historic recession, I was going to die in some lab rather than living in my beautiful home.
That all-too-familiar voice blasted over the speakers and told us all to go into our rooms until further instructed. We stood there for a moment, afraid to act one way or another. The voice came back on and told us to go to our rooms until further instructed or what it called “incentive” would again be employed. Nobody wanted to be locked in their rooms, but they wanted to go through that torture even less.
We were stuck in our rooms for two excruciatingly long hours before I heard the magnet lock on my door release. The voice told us it was mealtime and for everyone to go and consume everything provided. That was the normal procedure all along, so I had to wonder what the motivation behind pointing out that one particular instruction again was. Following our meal, we were told to return to our rooms.
Everyone was quiet during the supper meal. We were all in something of a state of shock and denial. It was difficult for us to fathom the dire position we were in at the time. This seemed like something that only happened in movies or books, but not something that happened in real life. We did not know if we were ever going to get out of this alive.
During the night I awoke to the sound of 4 vomiting in his bathroom. He went on for a couple of minutes, and then I heard the magnetic locks holding the exit doors release. Four hospital personnel pushing a gurney rushed to 4’s room, and they were accompanied by two security officers. Judging by the clacking and clanking I heard, the security officers were heavily armed.
Something was wrong with 4. Even before the facility personnel reached his room, 4 went from vomiting to sounding like someone stuck a sock in his mouth. It almost sounded as if his tongue had swelled in his mouth. Listening to that, then hearing him suddenly stop seconds after the orderlies and security arrived frightened me terribly. There was a real possibility I could die here, and that thought caused a churning in the pit of my stomach.
What scared me down to my core was the fact I heard all of that through my solid wooden door. I could identify the medical staff from the security staff by the sound of their shoes and clothing. I clearly heard 4 in his room gagging, even though both of our doors were sealed. These bastards were doing something to us that was changing us. I bet 6 never left at all. I bet she was dead and on a dissection table in the lower floors of this building.
I did not go back to sleep after this. It was in part due to what I heard and how it made me feel, but I felt no need to go back to sleep. I felt as though I had a full night’s rest despite the fact I only slept for a few hours. They were doing something to me that was changing me fundamentally from the inside.
I was glad when I heard the doors unlock and a large meal cart roll onto the ward. There were two orderlies and two armed security guards. Breakfast was delivered to our doors, and after the four left the ward, the voice instructed us to take our meals into our rooms and eat them there. My stomach was growling when my food arrived, and I ate it all in less than three minutes. I never scarf my food down like that, but for some reason I could not help myself.
We were released from our rooms and instructed to bring our lunch trays and utensils and deposit them in the proper place in the commons area. I asked the others if they heard what was going on in 4’s room last night, but they all said they slept through the night hearing nothing. Wondering about my inquiry, 5 asked me what I heard. I told them what I was able to hear last night, but I did not get into too much detail. I did not what to make them afraid of me because I was changing.
3 was being a lot quieter today than he usually was, even after what happened over the last few days. He almost seemed to be going through the motions, but no one was home. Staring at his tray, 3 was not paying attention to the conversation the rest of us were having about our situation and how we could possibly get out of it.
Suddenly and without warning, 3 jumped across the dinner table and slashed 5’s throat with his fork. He gouged her neck with so much force the fork cut three inches deep into her flesh. As 5’s blood gushed out of her gaping wound, 2 tackled 3 in an attempt to stop him.
Within a few seconds of 3 attacking 5, the high-pitched whine came over the PA system again. 8 fell to the floor screaming in pain, but it did not seem to bother the rest of us very much. In fact, I did not ever really notice except for the fact that 8 was writhing in agony.
I ran over to try to help 2, who had 3 on top of him with a stranglehold around his neck. Grabbing 3 by the shoulders, I attempted to pull him off of 2. Instead, I lifted him up and threw him across the room. He hit the counter hard and fell to the floor in an unconscious heap.
I stood there in shock looking at the crumpled body on the floor. The screech coming from the speakers finally stopped and I heard the sound of the double doors unlocking. Moments later armed security in black tactical gear surrounded us as several medical personnel rushed over to 5. It was too late; she was already dead by the time they entered the ward.
The armed guards ushered 2, 8 and I back to our room as the others removed 3 and 5 from the ward. I heard them in there cleaning up the blood for more than an hour. The noise of the brushes on the tiled floor grated on my nerves, and I was so glad when they finally finished. I paced around my room trying to decide what I should do.
Over and over, I played it in my mind how I lifted 3 like he was nothing but a rag doll and threw him twenty feet through the air. I was sure he was still alive at first, but then I really began to wonder if I killed him. He did not give me any other choice. He already killed 5 and he was trying to kill 2. Because she was squirming on the ground in pain, 8 could not help. All I intended to do was try to pull him off of 2. I never in my life expected I would throw him against the counter like a wet towel.
If I was able to do that, I wondered if I would have the strength to push these magnetically sealed doors open. Remembering the cameras in my room, I tried not to appear as if I was devising my escape. Only three of us remained, and while I was still not sure who received the placebo, I was positive it was not me.
We remained locked in our rooms until after lunch the next day. All our meals were delivered to our rooms until then. I was glad to finally get out so I could move around some. The rooms the facility provided for us were not too small, but they were not big enough to give any walking around room.
I sat with 2 at the table nearest the exit doors putting together a puzzle. We did not talk much about what happened yesterday. We did not talk much at all. My attention was focused on the television I could hear through the doors and down the hall. Someone was watching the news, and I was glad to hear anything about the outside world.
I slapped my hand over my mouth and began crying as I listened to the report. The newscaster announced there was a single car accident this morning in which the driver was killed on impact. The reason it upset me as it did was because when they gave the name and age, they gave my name and age. The people conducting this study never planned on letting us leave. I was sitting right here, but they already had their cover story for my death running on the news.
Terrified and distraught, I jumped to my feet and ran to my room. Unsure of what was wrong with me, 2 followed me to my door. By the time he got there, I was sitting in my bed with my knees pulled up to my chest, my face half buried in my knees, and 2 asked me what was wrong.
Under my breath I barely whispered out the words, “I’m dead.”
“You don’t know that,” 2 said. “You might be one of the placebos.”
I jerked my head up to look at him. I whispered those words very faintly, and my mouth was covered by my knees yet 2 still heard me. That meant he was probably experiencing the same effects as me. If that was true, I was sure we could break out of here together.
I tested him again. Lowering my head so that the bottom half of my face was resting between my knees, I told 2 to nod his head if he could hear me. With my arms wrapped around my legs, I chuckled slightly when 2 softly nodded his head two times. At this time, I told my fellow test subject we should go back to the commons area. There we could sit in separate areas, yet still whisper our conversation back and forth to each other.
We found 8 still sitting there looking over the wall. She turned her attention to us and said, “Aren’t they pretty?”
We asked her was what pretty, and she said, “The lines on the walls. The glow around the cameras is so beautiful, so blue.”
I took a couple of steps away from her, and so did 2. We did not know if she was about to go crazy like 3 did yesterday, so we felt having more distance between her and us was prudent. I watched how her eyes traced horizontal and vertical lines on the walls. It occurred to me that 8 might be looking at the electric wiring inside the walls. I very lightly whispered to 2 that I thought 8’s vision expanded like our hearing did.
Walking back over to her, 2 asked 8 if she saw anything around the doors. She told us it was painful to look at it too long, but the top and bottom edges of the doors emitted a deep violate hue. I told her it was probably because of the magnets they had in place. With the abilities the three of us had, 2 suggested that we would be able to force our way out of here. I was frightened, but I had to agree with him.
Staring at a single spot on the wall, 8 got up from where she sat and walked straight to the place her gaze was affixed. She traced her finger in an L-shape, then there was a loud pop, and the cameras began smoking. Turning to look back at us 8 said the cameras and microphones were all disabled.
The three of us ran over to the double doors, but before 2 and I had time to attempt to force them open, 8 told us to wait. She examined the wall, found the right place, and traced her finger along the current. We could hear the magnetic locks unlatch, but by this time we could hear the armed security trotting their way down the hallway.
With the locks undone, it was a minor effort for 2 and I to rip both of the doors off the hinges. Holding the thick wooden door in front of him, 2 began rushing toward the guards. They stopped their advance and began firing, but their guns were not quite powerful enough to make it through the thick wood.
I moved over to stand sideways beside 2. He threw what was left of the door, after the bullets chipped away, at it at the security officers. When he did this, I stepped around and got in front of him with the door I held. Quickly rushing forward, it did not take long at all for 2 and I to incapacitate the guards. I held to the belief the guards were all unconscious, but with my newfound herculean strength I could not help but wonder if I killed any of them.
Kneeling down to examine a patch on one of the officer’s uniforms, 2 looked over to us and informed us these were no security guards. These were Army personnel. We were not the subjects of an experiment for a pharmaceutical company. We were the subjects of a military experiment.
“What kind of experiment would the military be running on us?” I inquired.
“They were giving us injections of a substance discovered in a Mayan temple,” 8 told us. “It was found to alter DNA in certain plants and animals.”
2 asked how she knew this. As she motioned toward the nurses’ station 8 replied, “The computer told me.”
I could hear more soldiers coming as could 2. When we informed 8 of the change in our current situation, she began looking over the lines of electricity she could see flowing through the walls and floors. Finding what she was looking for, 8 squatted behind a reception desk and told 2 and me to do the same.
As soon as all the soldiers were out of the hallway and into the main area, 8 pressed her hand against the spot she chose on the wall. A surge of power flowed from her hand into the wiring in the walls. The surge caused a massive eruption of electricity in the area the soldiers occupied. In only a few seconds 8 was able to incapacitate a dozen armed and armored soldiers.
I did not know how much longer we could continue to fight our way out of here. It was clear we had to find an exit soon or make one of our own. I strongly disagreed, but 2 was rather insistent we should destroy this facility. If all of the RT-220 was here, we could destroy it all at once.
I thought we should allow them to keep using it, allow them to make more of us. What concerned 2 was if they started changing soldiers to be like us. That would bring our planet to a whole new level of warfare. 8 was indifferent on the subject. She seemed to be experiencing some state of peace or euphoria.
As if she was looking out a window, 8 said, “If we can get over there to that transformer station, I could light the whole place up like New Years.”
Walking over to the wall through which 8 appeared to be looking, 2 began pounding at the concrete wall with his bare fists. After removing two feet of concrete, he ran into a heavy iron plate he could not damage enough to remove.
Frustrated, 2 leaned against the wall with his hand on the hard steel. Suddenly the steel began to liquify. It was not melting, instead it was moving like mercury, it was acting as if being a liquid was its natural state. Resuming his assault on the concrete, 2 broke through two feet of concrete, a foot thick steel wall, then three more feet of reinforced concrete before reaching the fresh air of outside.
As we prepared to jump the three stories to the ground, I noticed both 2 and 8 looked extremely pale, almost white. Their eyes were also changing. I imagined my eyes looked silver like 2’s eyes did, but 8 had eyes the color of copper. I was sure that had something to do with her ability to see and manipulate electro-magnetic fields.
My anxiety levels increased sharply at the idea of jumping down 30 feet. I know I was stronger than before, but I was not sure if I was more durable. 2 lifted 8 and we jumped together. The air around us wavered almost like water and carried us all the way to the transformer. I could not say for certain at the time, but I think I was the one who did that. It appeared our newfound abilities were evolving quickly.
When we touched the ground, the wavering air remained until my anxiety over the jump subsided. Liquifying the metal enough to give him a grip, 2 ripped the door off the transformer box and 8 began to examine the flow of energy through it. It took her several minutes, and it was not long before we could hear three helicopters off in the distance. There was no doubt they were headed in this direction.
Finally, 8 found what she needed. She touched the circuitry inside like she was striking the keys of a piano, and a burst of violet light flashed from her hands. Almost instantly I could hear light bulbs erupting, computers bursting into flames and electric showers causing fires throughout the building.
I was relieved to see at least some of the personnel inside exiting the building. I was now in agreement the research needed to be destroyed, but I did not want to kill all those people inside though. Most of them probably had no idea what was really going on in there, and it would be wrong for them to have to die because of it.
Before we were spotted, 2 tugged 8 and I by the arms and told us we had to run. There was nothing more for us to do here, so the three of us turned and ran into the dense forest. How fast we were running exactly I could not say, but we moved much faster than any normal human was able. We were obviously no longer normal humans.
Bounding through the trees as fast as we were, I was still able to keep a detailed eye on my surroundings. The trees were not a blur as I ran past them; instead, I saw the trees in intricate detail. I was able to make out the dry leaves on the forest floor even with the canopy overhead blocking out what little moonlight there was. Easily dodging any obstacles in our way, the three of us quickly put a significant amount of distance between us and the facility we left behind in flames.
I do not know how they tracked us down, but we suddenly found the helicopters were right over us. Trees exploded into splinters and the ground exploded around as the military helicopters unloaded their guns at us. Smoke, dirt and debris suddenly filled the air around us. Giant shards of wood sailed through the air in every direction, but we managed to dodge any significant obstacles.
It was something I could not put into words so that humans could understand it, but basically I knew the large rounds were coming before they fired them. All three of us easily dodged the artillery as we could see where it was going before their ammunition ever left their cannons. Avoiding the large chunks of shattered trees flying all around us was even easier.
Regardless of our ability to evade their fire, it was only a matter of time before they switched from artillery rounds to missiles. I was sure we would not be able to dodge an onslaught of those. I was scanning the landscape for somewhere to run or somewhere to hide when 2 sprung behind me and caught a falling tree I somehow failed to notice.
He lifted the log, which was the top half of a large pine tree one of the helicopters ripped apart with its shells, over his head and threw it top first at the nearest copter. With amazing aim, 2 threw the tree into the blades spinning above the craft causing it to come crashing to the ground. Running, we could hear it as it obliterated the trees behind us as it fell hard and fast. The explosion that followed threw the three of us to the ground.
Thinking they had us pinned, the other two helicopters began to unleash on us. I knew they had us at this point. We were not able to get up and run again fast enough to avoid this barrage. Prepared to accept death, the three of us were shocked when everything slowed to a stop. Splintered fragments of trees hovered in the air above us, and the heavily destructive ammunition froze in position before it could strike.
I glanced around to find we were surrounded by two dozen beings who looked a lot like us. These beings lacked some of the human facial features such as the nose and ears, but it was clear we were becoming like them. Clearly these are the ones responsible for the placement of the RT-220 in the first place.
They stood around us as if they were watching this whole time. When we stood, the dirt and splinters drifting in the air around us pushed out of the way like wiping dust off a counter. It was as if we somehow stepped outside the normal flow of time.
To say I heard it would be to categorize it wrong, but I heard them in my head telling us we were safe now. They did not use English. In fact, they did not use words at all. Instead, they communicated it in such a way that we just knew we were safe.
A vaguely rectangular light appeared nearby, and the beings surrounding us slowly began to enter. We were told we could come with them, that they would save the three of us, but they would not save the others. I was not sure what they meant by that, but before I could ask my question out loud, I already began to receive my answer.
This world was coming to an end soon, and these alien beings knew this. Their desire was to save us all, but they did not know if they could trust us. They placed the mutagenic substance here to allow us to evolve, to develop into one of them. Instead of using the compound for the betterment of all mankind, humans looked for a way to use it as a weapon of war. For that, these extra-dimensional aliens deemed the human race was not worth saving.
This whole time the military was testing the RT-220 on people, they did not know they were being watched. They did not see the otherworldly observers all around them studying their every move. Those performing the experiments on us thought the test was a failure because we turned out to be uncontrollable. What they never realized was they were the ones being tested, and very miserably they failed the test.
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