64author note: Okay so this is my first story. Reviews would be nice, so please take the time to do so. If I have time I'll repay the reviews with reviews of your story if you would like. Not much else to say so go forth and read, that is what you came here for right?
Prologue
Charles was in a hurry, quite a hurry at that. The transfusion had already begun and he was late. They would have wanted to use sedatives, but he had them in a suit case by his side. He was supposed to sedate the subject. It was his job, well part of it. The other part was keeping the subjects occupied. It was a hard job. No one really liked to do it, but someone had to and Charles was the man. He was excellent at calming the subjects, distracting them. People told him it was because he was charming, charismatic that made people like him instantly. They trusted him; listened intently to his pointless rambling while the other doctors were preparing the transfusion. And when it was finally ready he stepped back and allowed the docs to do their part. Normally that was when the subjects realized that he lied. He wasn't their friend; he never had any intentions of befriending them. A horrible look would appear on their face. One of hatred and fear that Charles ignored as much as he could. They would thrash around on the table, spitting out curses and hollow threats. Of course precautions were made before hand. Thick leather straps held them secure on the metal table making the docs' job easier.
Unfortunately, leather straps weren't always enough. Sometimes the subjects needed to be sedated. That was Charles other duty. He would take the shot full of the sedative fluid and jab it into the forearm of the subject. That was the worse part in his opinion. Each person reacted differently to his act. Some screamed in fury, some cursed, and some even cried. The worse was the silent ones. Some stared at him, with cold silence. Their eyes shown betrayal…revenge. It terrified him, knowing that after the transfusion, those empty threats wouldn't be so empty. The docs weren't the ones in the most danger as they believed, it was him. They thought he was someone who would help them out of their predicament, but no he deceived them. He took of the mask, showed them who he really was. The docs were the enemies in the beginning, they suspected treachery from them. He was someone who was supposed to be an ally. Some ally he was.
Charles finally reached the survey dock. It was a small room that overlooked the whole procedure. Staring out the window was his colleague, Darin. If Darin realized he was there he didn't say anything. The man was silent and still, like a statue. Cautiously Charles walked to his side, panting a bit from hurrying. Darin didn't say anything; he didn't even acknowledge his presence. He was mad, as suspected. Without Charles the whole procedure would have been a nightmare. They couldn't even delay the transfusion to wait for him. Timing was crucial.
Glancing down Charles could see the whole layout of the room. It looked similar to a surgical room, with the tiled floor and stainless steal cabinets. Large fridges lined the wall housing the required chemicals. The only difference and it was a major difference at that was the metal table in the middle. And laying on that table, secured by the straps, was a young woman. Charles guessed her to be around twenty. Her brown hair was splayed out under her face in a wide fan. What caught his attention though was her face. The woman had a cruel beauty. Her eyebrows were thin and arched high as if she was sneering all the time even in slumber. Lips were full and her cheek bones pronounced. She was like an elf. He also noted that she was in fit condition as were all the subjects. They needed to be if the transfusion was to be successful. Also like the other subjects she was hooked up to an IV that fed her blood. Deep, red blood that made him shiver. She would be different after that blood, they all were.
"Charles, you're late," Darin said finally breaking the heavy silence. He still wasn't looking at him. His focus was still on the room, where the woman slept like a comatose victim.
"I know and I apologize for the dilemma I probably caused," Charles replied sincerely.
Darin didn't reply much to Charles irritation. He was offering his apologize, Darin could at least accept it. It wasn't often that he did something like that.
"How is she doing?" Charles asked, deciding to move on seeing as Darin wasn't going to respect common courtesy.
"All stats are stable," he replied stiffly.
"And the procedure?" Charles knew that it had not gone well. He could tell by how Darin tensed up at his words. The man turned his head and looked at Charles with narrowed eyes. His lips were set in a thin line. Charles braced for the onslaught of words that he sensed were coming.
"How do you think it went?" Darin asked calmly surprising Charles immensely. He didn't know what to say, so he just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"Bad."
"Like hell it was bad! No it was more than bad. It was a down right appalling!" Darin shouted his voice echoing in the small room. That was the Darin Charles knew.
"I didn't mean to cause such an inconvenience…"
"An inconvenience? An inconvenience?! Oh, Charles it was worse than that."
"What happened?" he asked warily.
"It took us hours just to get her on the damn table. We had to get the agents to help us. The agents! Can you imagine the embarrassment? Those smug bastards enjoyed every minute of it. With all the time that was wasted we had to get another blood bag! That set us back hours and if that wasn't enough we had to deal with her constant screaming. It would have been nice to sedate her, but the damn sedatives were not there. I wonder who had them," Darin yelled a vein throbbing in his forehead. Charles flinched but didn't back down. He knew he caused hours of agony setting them back that much. They could get over the agents part, that was no big deal, but wasting a whole bag of blood was awful. It was going to take a while for the others to forgive him after that.
"I apologize again for what I did, it won't happen again," Charles assured.
"It doesn't matter now. All we need to do is wait. She should be waking up soon and we all know how that goes," Darin muttered rubbing his forehead. Charles grimaced. The awakening of the subjects was always hell, even though they played no part in it. All they had to do was watch and allow the specially trained men to do their jobs. These men were no shit men. They did their job without complaint and did it well. It was a job Charles was glad he didn't do.
"Should be a show," he mumbled under his breath.
"Yeah it should," Darin admitted much to Charles surprise.
They didn't talk after that. Charles rather they did, but any start of a conversation failed so he went to silence. Anticipation hung in the air making him jittery. It was a waiting game. Any minute now she could wake up and she would be pissed. Charles knew that she wouldn't be able to harm him from where he stood, but she sure as hell could see him and that was enough to make him nervous. Sure she didn't know him, she was lucky not too, but still. Anyone would be her enemy now.
It was so slight that Charles almost didn't notice it. When it happened again, it caught his full attention.
"Her hand moved," he declared pointing at the woman.
"I know, I'll go call the others and let them know she's waking up," Darin said pulling out his cell phone.
"Better make that stat, she's awake."
Her eyes were wide open, wider than Charles thought was possible. She didn't move, not an inch except for her eyes. They roamed the room, surveying her surroundings like an animal thrust into an unknown territory. Not once did she blink, not at all. Her gaze froze when it reached the blood bag and he saw a look of disgust cross her face. She sneered, her lips pulled back in an animalistic snarl to reveal shiny white teeth. It unnerved him seeing how different she was already. How alien she was from a human.
"They're here," Darin said putting his cell phone back in his jacket, his face grim.
The door to the room below opened. Charles saw the woman tense, her hands clenched in tight fist. Eight men walked in, and they were not small men. No, they were quite large. Not fat, muscular. They were here to move her. More subjects were needed to be transfused and rooms were limited. She had to be moved to a waiting cell and that was not an easy task for anyone. To make matters worse, sedatives most likely didn't work on her anymore. Fortunately she was newly awakened and was unaware of her full potential, the potential to crush skulls.
"Here we go," he sighed silently wishing the men the best of luck. They would need it.
The eight men entered the room slowly, testing the waters. She didn't react, only watched with guarded hatred. They separated and surrounded her like lions around prey. One of the men began to speak, but his words were faint and Charles couldn't make them out. Whatever he said affected the woman greatly. She dug her nails into the metal, literally dug her nails into the metal. The metal screeched as her nails tore into it like butter. Her reaction was instant. Eyes widen she looked at her hands with new found awe.
Distracted the men took that as an opportunity. Leaping forward they untied the restraints. Before she could react, they grasped her arms dragging her up. She screamed and it was ear shattering. Thrashing around some men flung off her arms as if they were weightless. One hit the wall with a dull thud and slumped to the ground unconscious. The others only doubled their attack. Four men dropped to the ground and clutched her legs. The other three held onto her arms. Thrashing she almost knocked them loose, but before she could do anything else they acted. The men holding her legs lifted up causing her to fall back. Straining, the men held her up keeping her from falling to the ground. Tossing and turning she tried to break from their hold, but to no prevail. Her immense strength was still present; she just didn't know how to unleash it... yet.
With much effort the men began to carry her out of the room. She was still screaming and it was still painful to hear. It reminded Charles of a wounded animal, beaten and broken, yet still defiant in its mind. Her eyes held fire, her face wild and angry. She shrieked louder, with more intensity as they began to pass through the door. As she went by the door her fingers barely kissed the sides. The door had been made wider for this purpose. One time a newly awaken subject had gotten a decent grip on the door and when the men tried to tug him free, he managed to rip the part of the walls out. This time that wouldn't happen.
The men finally made it threw the door and out of the room. A team of doctors rushed in and aided the still unconscious man by the side wall. Other than him, there was no other sign that the woman had been there. Only her distant screams reminded Charles of her presence. It sent chills down his spine.
"That went better than I thought it would," Darin stated with a weak smile.
Charles could only nod. His mind was elsewhere. It had left with the pained and confused woman. The image of her tortured face still imprinted in his mind, just like every single subject that went through the doors.
"The next subject will be arriving soon, so be ready," Darin reminded heading out of the room.
"I will," Charles said absentmindedly. Darin nodded and opened the door to leave, but stop in his tracks.
"Oh and Charles…"
"Yes?"
"Don't be late again."
"I won't..." But Charles wasn't listening. All he could hear was her screams... the screams of an awakened monster.
Stay tune for the next chapter: Image