Five of us woke up in a warehouse somewhere near the ocean - the entire time we were there I could faintly hear the sea behind the tortured screams of people whose bodies are still being pieced together. I'm the only one out of the five who got to walk away, the others either died or got taken by suits to some unnamed place for further questioning.
I don't think they'll ever see sunlight again.
I should feel something more for them but I'm still trying to process everything that happened that night. From hearing someone downstairs to the sharp pain of a needle hitting the back of my neck to waking up with five amalgamated things who swore they were human to the trials we endured before the authorities came.
Maybe they were behind it all along - pitting a regular guy against their creations to see who'd last the longest only to have it end in a tie. One human and two humanoids splattered with other people's blood and thoroughly traumatised for life.
Mervin and Safia died first - they both were some kind of bird with beaks as flexible as mouths and more teeth than I felt comfortable near. They also had fragile, hollow bird bones that shattered and pierced their internal organs in the first trial.
They tried to fly, still swearing that they were just human, while clumsily flapping towards an open skylight. I still don't know quite how it happened. One second they were nearly there and the next they were falling, hitting the concrete so harshly that we heard their bones shatter.
They died so very slowly.
Joan went next - she was looked kind of like a cow mixed with a lizard and she was so very kind. She sat with Mervin and Safia while they died, held their hands and wept until I helped her up and half carried her to the only viable exit we saw - industrial looking metal doors that were so rusted there were holes all over that we could all easily fit into.
Thing is, while the rest of us were focused on getting the hell out of there I think Joan had already given up. I think her hope died with Safie and Mervin and if we hadn't been so careful then she would have dragged us down with her in that storeroom full of long decayed bodies, some human but mostly alamgalations.
She tried to play her death wish for heroism. Tried to make it seem like she'd take one for the team so that we could survive when all she wanted was to get this over with quicker than the others had. She was so damned fast too - rushing towards the faint sound of rattling metal and screams while yelling at us to head for safety.
I don't even know what killed her or if she even died. All I can say is this - she ran towards those sounds, we heard her screaming and then everything was quiet and dark until the authorities burst in and pulled us away to safety.
Well, I was safe.
I don't know about the other two, mouse-like and silent the entire time.
I never even got their names.
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