Jule was very warm and friendly. He sat with Ash while he ate and filled him in on what happened while he was passed out. The news greatly shocked Ash. Although he knew that the camp was divided, he had thought that most people had already accepted Kyle as their leader. It seems he was wrong. When he thought deeper on it, he felt curious how the new leadership would fare. Maybe he will be lucky and pardoned of his crimes? Or maybe the guy will just throw him out seeing him as a threat. Jule saw Ash's face light up and then fall while deep in thought and couldn't help but grin. After Ash swallowed the last drop, he took the tray and promised to keep him company later after he scouts out the situation outside. Ash just nodded in acknowledgement and soon the door closed swallowing him in darkness ones more.
Ash sat down again and decided to focus a bit more on healing. If the judgement is going to be negative with the new management, then he would need strength to run and escape. But after 10 minutes of sitting still, not only did he not feel any improvement but felt like he was an empty shell. There was not even one drop of power to draw upon. Suddenly a sharp pain filled his head and he cried out. It felt like his skull was splitting in two. Ash grabbed his hair in the confusion and pulled at it in hopes to reduce the agony. But it just kept increasing without any signs of receding. This was not the first time Ash was experiencing something so intensive in his head, but it still hurt. Sweat started dripping down his face and mixed with the tears which he didn't know were flowing down his cheeks.
Several emotions were colliding against each other inside him. Anger, fear, pain, betrayal, distrust, guilt, insecurity... it was a chaotic mess. It reminded him of the emotions he felt when he was back at the lab. Soon the pain and emotions became too much for him to handle and fell back into his comatose state.
---------
"Ash what do you think?" Dr Hawks was standing in front of him holding a book on human anatomy. The screen behind him showed the brain activities of famous scientists, ordinary people and his own. The lights covered different parts of the brain more than other for each person respectively. But when it came to him almost most of his image was illuminated in orange light. Dr Hawks mentioned before that his brain activity was very unique to others and that he is capable of achieving even things that defy science as we know it.
"I don't think I am capable of that doctor." Ash replied in a small shaking voice. He was a bit scared of this man. He seemed nice at times but then changed his face and did experiments on him. Ash could still remember the torturous experiment they did yesterday. The man had the galls to call it treatment. Ash avoided looking at the doctor and instead looked frantically around the pastel coloured room.
"Hmm... you won't know until you try Ash. Every scientific discovery was achieved after a series of tests and failures. If you can't today, then we will try again tomorrow. But you have to believe you can do it" He walked towards Ash, were he was sitting and tapped on the tray in front of him. "So, show me what you can do."
Ash looked down at the tray with swimming eyes. It was the first time in his nine years of life that he had seen something dead. On the tray lay a dead white mouse. It was extremely cute when it was alive, but the doctor killed it without any hesitation right in front of him. "I-I" tears started streaming down his face without warning. The monitor next to them beeped as the wires and tubes connected to his head to scan brain activity detected the change in emotion.
"STOP CRYING AND JUST DO IT" he shouted. He had a crazed look in his eyes as he clenched and unclenched his hands. He certainly was the mad scientist.
Ash flinched visibly. His fear of the man overtook all other emotions and he stretched out his hand to lift the mouse into his hand. The body was still warm but looking into its life less eyes anyone could tell that it was just a matter of minutes before it stiffens and turns cold. With trembling hands Ash started focusing his mind. He didn't know what he should be feeling but he still tried to do what the doctor said.
'Come on little guy' Ash whispered in his mind. 'Wake up' back then he had no idea what the doctor was even saying. His healing power was merely a drizzle and it did nothing more than accelerate the hosts own healing properties.
Time ticked by. Ash could feel the handles of the clock move. With each second his heart trembled more. 'What is it that the doctor wants me to do? Am I doing it?' nothing happened. The warm body in his hands slowly turned cold. After 15 minutes of holding a lifeless animal in his hands, the doctor finally sighed. He rubbed his temple and waved his hand in annoyance, hitting the mouse out of his hands and onto the floor. Ash watched the body fall in horror and scrambled after it. He cupped it against his bosom and looked at the doctor pleadingly.
"Sam!" An assistant hurried over at the sound of his name. He looked at the small trembling boy in front of him and pity filled his eyes. "Throw that away" without any further questions and disregarding Ash's protest he took the dead mouse from his hand and left hurriedly.
Ash cried in despair. "Tomorrow if you don't make any progress, I will throw put you on the stimulator." Ash's was crying but this news hit him like a truck. He gaped in horror, but no words left his mouth.
*
Ash was in his room. He was patting the small white rabbit that the doctor had gifted him as an apology for the mouse experiments that he had to do. He had grown to love it. it was the only comfort and companion in his dark life. His heart was heavy. Today as well was an unsuccessful day. It had already been 3 years. Countless mice have perished due to this experiment. Each time Ash tied his best to revive the small animal. But it was impossible. There was never any movement. Someone knocked on the door and came in without waiting for an answer. "Ash. You have the vitality training now." Sam looked at the boy and gave him a kind smile. Ash was more at ease around Sam, so he was usually left with fetching and feeding. Although Sam was not allowed into the experimentation rooms, he had a general idea on what was going on.
Vitality training was another horrible session that Ash dreaded. In fact, he hated it just as much as the stimulator. if one was mental torture, the other one was physical torture.
Even if he refused, there was no helping it. They would just call the guards and drag him away anyway. As such Ash shakily stood to his feet and walked off with Sam to the training room.
Ash was strapped to a bed naked. The doctor hovered over with a medical knife in his hand. Ash watched it lower towards his body with anxiety. He felt the cold metal against his body and then the pain filled him. he cried out. The cuts from last time were still not healed yet. But the doctor kept cutting at his body with different lengths and depths. Each wound was recorder and observed. 'How fast do they heal? Do cuts in some places heal faster than others.? How about broken bones, bruises, fever and different diseases. What about pain tolerance? Is he immune to them or how long does it take to become immune? Will he catch the same disease again?" he has been recording and studying these for the past year.
"It seems you are healing faster than you used to." he noted down ignoring the tears that were streaming down his cheeks. "Must be because your mental state has been stimulated so much." He walked around and observed some of the older lacerations. "it seems like this is the fastest you will be able to heal. We have been at it for a year now and the speed had kept steadily increasing over time but for the past several months it has some to a standstill."
He finally loosened the straps and let him sit up from his laying position. "Now now don't cry" he said wiping at his tears with a loving fatherly tone as if he wasn't the one hurting him until now. "there is one more test that I want to do here. After that you won't have to do the vitality test anymore." He rubbed away one more stray tear "do you want to do it today and get it over with or wait until next week?"
Ash bit his lips. His body was already aching from all the lacerations, old and new, that covered his body. He was feeling weak already from the blood loss. His body and mind were tired. He certainly did not want to do anymore. But if he could make this his last ever vitality test then it would be a small price to pay to endure a few more minutes. If he is lucky, it won't be anything too bad and he would heal within two weeks. It is better than having sleepless nights in fear of what is to come during the day. "Yes doctor, we can finish it today."
A wide grin stretched across the doctor's face. instead of reassuring him, it gave him an ominous feeling. Whatever was to come, he is not going to like it.
"Alright!" the doctor strapped him back down. But this time let him keep his sitting position. "This is going to hurt a little but after that it will be over." The teeth over his lips sank deeper into the flesh as he looked at the doctor in worry.
The doctor took out a weird looking knife. It was very sharp and had blades on both sides, just like a scissor. The tool made his worry intensify. "Doctor what is that for?" he asked with a terrified voice.
Dr hawks looked at the boy for a long moment and then decided to answer. "we have already tested a lot of your body's healing properties. But we also need to know if cut of body parts regrow."
Ash's eyes widened at the words and he instantly started struggling. "NOO!" he cried out in protest.
"I won't cut off anything important and most probably it will regrow anyway after all, I need you healthy and whole. You won't even know it's gone. If you don't want it to hurt more, then bite down on this." He stuffed a thick leather cloth into Ash's mouth muffling out the sound of his cry. Powerlessly Ash watched as the strange device was placed on the little finger of his toe and snapped close.
*
Ash's lips trembled as he refused to look at the doctor who was watching him like a hawk. He had been in a depressed and withdrawn state of mind for the past several weeks. None of the experiments were going according to what the doctor wanted. After that dreadful day, all of them had left him alone for a few days. Ash had cried into his pillow so much that it was drenched through. Thoughts of just ending it all crept into his mind but there was nothing in his room which could help him with that. Not to mention that he was being monitored 24/7. The pain he felt throughout his body was so unbearable. He would always glance down at his wrapped-up foot which was missing an important member. Until now it has shown no signs of re-growing. 'You won't even know it's gone my ass'. Although his little toe did not serve any big purpose, it was still part of his body and it pained him to see it missing. He would hug his little bunny and cry his heart out. The animal was very tame and intelligent. It knew that its owner was having a hard time, so it would sit still and let Ash stroke it as much as he wanted. If he didn't even have the bunny, he would have already broken down a long time ago.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
"Don't waste time. You know the drill" helplessly Ash got up and followed the doctor with a limp in his steps. They entered a large room with dozens of monitors. A chair stood in the very middle looking foreboding. Ash shuddered as he looked at it. Two guards came up and sat him on the chair and started strapping him down. He could hardly lift a finger. A terminal was placed on his head which was connected to the monitors. And his nightmare started ones more.
The doctors aim was to increase the brain activity to the maximum. And his idea for it was to scare him so much to see how the brain defends itself. Fear was a good factor to stimulate the desired brain activity. So, Ash was placed in a stimulator that replayed his fears over and over again.
Ash's eyes went black and then images started filling his brain.
A silhouette of a woman and a man, they had a child in their hand. They looked very happy together. Ash watched the image of family love with a warm feeling in his heart. But then the atmosphere changed. They looked at the child who was holding a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest in his hands. The birds wing was broken and bleeding. Seeing its pain, the boy shed tears as well. In the next moment a light surrounded the bird and the broken wing was mended. The onlooking parents face turned stormy and dark. They pushed the child away shouting 'Monster.' Then a hand reached out and plucked out the child up and dragged him away. A sudden feeling of fear, anxiety and pain filled Ash as he watched it. He had always imagined what his life was before the lab and this was a fear that had taking form based on his beliefs. 'Was he abandoned by his parents because they thought he was a monster?' This was a question that always haunted him.
The images changed.
Ash was now strapped onto an experiment table. The doctor had a very strange looking large butchers' knife. He raised it and it fell swiftly. There was blood everywhere as he was being cut slowly into pieces.
Ash's heart rate picked up. The was already crying and screaming. The stimulator was able to make the user experience pain. The sensor connected to his neural system ensured that he had the full experience of what he was seeing. He broke out into reality for a split second and scanned his body quickly with deep gasps. Everything was still in place.
The images changed again.
This time Ash was lying on top of a pile of white mouse. All of them were dead and starting to rot. Their wide eyes were staring at him accusingly. He was the reason they died.
Several more mentally torturing images flashed before his eyes. And with each passing image, Ash was going more over the edge of insanity. Every time he went onto the stimulator, he would come out shaking and sweat soaked. His eyes would be dazed, and he would be in a stupor for a long time. With each passing week in the lab, his fears were increasing. This made the stimulator sessions longer and more painful. Ash really wished all this mental torture would end.
*
Ash was back in the pastel coloured room. Countless mice have died in here. Dr hawks stood before him as usual. He was watching him with sharp eyes as another dead mouse lay on the tray in front of Ash. Ash's hands shook as he took the tiny soft body and started pumping healing power into it. several minutes passed, yet again no changes occurred. Ash could see that the doctor was starting to get impatient. A cold chill ran down his spine as he saw Dr Hawks's eyes tighten. Ash tried to focus harder, but he really had no idea how to bring the poor creature back to life. Maybe it was something completely impossible for him.
"Doctor, I don't think I can so this." He looked at Dr hawks pitifully, but the older man completely ignored him.
"Sam!" Dr Hawks shouted for his assistant instead. Within minutes the smaller, fidgeting guy appeared and stood in attention. "Bring that thing here."
Sam hesitated for a moment. "Sir is that necessary?" his eyes looked like they were pleading as he shot Ash a quick glance.
"Yes" The doctor responded in an annoyed voice and gave him a glare which said, 'you better do as I say, this minute.'
Sam stood around for a few more minutes to see if the doctor would change his mind but when he got a sharp glare, he didn't dare waste any more time. Before he left to fetch whatever, the doctor asked for, he shot Ash a sympathetic glance. For some reason, Ash had a bad feeling. His heart rate quickened without any stimulation and his brows dipped in worry.
Soon Sam returned with a cage in his hand. Seeing what is in there, Ash's eyes widened in horror. 'What are they planning to do?' he wanted to run forward and snatch the cage out of their hands. He jumped to his feet acting upon his thought. Dr hawks signalled a nearby guard with his eyes and he stepped forwards at ones. The guards took a hold of Ash and restrained him back to the chair.
"No! please I will try harder. So Please don't."
Paying no head to his crying, Dr Hawks took out a snow-white rabbit from the cage and held it in his hand. The rabbit looked around with intelligent wide red eyes and spotted Ash not far away. It was tense when someone suddenly came in and put it into a cage, but now that it saw its owner, it wriggled his nose and relaxed.
Ash started struggling against the man who was holding him down. Seeing Ash panic, the rabbit instantly knew that something was wrong, and it tried to jump away. Without any words of warning or threat, a hand circled around the small white neck and twisted. A soft crack was heard in the room and then the lively, intelligent eyes lost its life.
All the struggling stopped at ones. Ash looked at the unmoving body in disbelief. He stared at it so hard wishing for it to move again. To tell him that his bunny was playing possum. He didn't notice the guard let him go. Nor did he notice the guilty pitying eyes looking at him. his attention was completely taken by the mass of white fur. He was shocked still at what he had witnessed. His eyes were dazed and lifeless as he refused to utter a single sound. Until the doctor stepped forward and placed the dead rabbit on the table in front of him, he did not belief that they had murdered his one haven in this torturous lab.
Ash slumped back against his chair and silent tears streamed down his cheeks. No one could understand the pain he was going through at that moment. His heart was breaking over and over again. He stretched out a hand and laid it on the soft white fur. As soon as his hand made contact, as faced reality. Either he does something and proves Dr Hawks theory about bringing back something dead to life, or he loses bunny forever.
As soon as that realisation hit him, Ash started pumping out his healing power with great ferocity. He felt his power drain from his body and enter the bunny. He could feel it flow life a stream. But as soon as it entered the body of the rabbit, it shattered like a bucket with a hole. No matter how much he pumped into the tiny body, it was not responding or filling up.
10 minutes passed, 20 minutes, 30 minutes. Ash felt the warmth leave the tiny body.
That was the last string of his rationality and it snapped. Ash started screaming. His brain activity was fluctuating dangerously. It rose and fell in sharp angles. Finally, the doctor realised that he had made a mistake. He shouted in panic.
"Retrain him. Someone put him out."
On his order several guards stepped forward and tried to grab at the trashing boy who was in a trance. No words were reaching him. Without warning the boy's hands shot out and grabbed at the nearest guard's face. The guard felt life a strong force was tugging at his soul. With the force came pain and he cried out as he felt something being pulled out of his body.
To the horror of Dr Hawks and Sam, the saw the guard that Ash took a hold of, shrivel up like a dried leaf. His soul and essence were sucked dry and an empty shell fell to the floor. Similar situation occurred to the other guards and soon there was a pile of dried up corpses laying at the boy's feet. The rest of the guards who arrived after hearing the commotion didn't dare to approach carelessly, so the stood some distance away.
Ash's mind was blank. He wasn't aware of anything that was happening in his surroundings. His eyes had rolled back into his head as tears flowed freely down his cheeks. All that filled his head was 'dead', and 'bring back'.
As his eyesight darkened, he saw a lifeless body lying around him in his mind's eye. It was just a black silhouette in the even darker world that was his mind. "Bunny!" Ash cried happily as he reached out with his powers. The vitality and essence that he took from the guards flowed out at his exclamation and surrounded the motionless form. After two minutes, a yellow light filled the body and accumulated around the heart.
Bu-dump. Bu-dump. Bu-dump.
The sound of a heart beating filled his ears. He did it!!! Bunny is alive! A relieved smile stretched across his face as all the panic and pain washed away. It was replaced by dizziness and nausea. He felt weak to his very bone and he fell back to his chair exhausted.
In his drowsy state he vaguely recalled the shocked faces of both the doctor and the assistant. Then when he was about to step forward seeing the Ash had calmed down, a man rushed into the room and reported urgently. "Dr Hawks, test Subject 0029754 is a success. She has finally woken up."
"Bunny!" Ash sighed and lost his consciousness.
*
Ash woke up inside a clear blue liquid. It was slippery and gross to move around in. A tube was connected from his mouth to the outside for oxygen supply. He was feeling very drained. He looked around in surprise. He was suspended inside a circular cylindrical container. The glass looked hard and though. He blinked twice and noticed that someone was watching him. Dr Hawks stood on the other side of the container with a sullen expression on his face.
"Ash from now on you will have to stay in here. You attacked and killed too many people, so the authorities have asked me to put you down. So, from today onwards you are dead to the world. Only I will know of your existence."
Although he was surprised, he didn't really care much about it. instead he mouther out his pressing question. 'bunny?'
The doctor immediately understood what he was asking for and his expression turned gloomier. "You were not able to bring it back to life. Maybe I was asking too much of you. From now on we will stop the revival practice. Instead we will focus more on the other tests."
Tears filled Ash's eyes at the information. It mixed completely with the liquid in which he was kept in. 'Why! He was certain that he had brought back a heartbeat!'
As he was starting to get swallowed in his sorrow again Dr hawks spoke again. "From now on you won't be alone." He pushed in another cylindrical container with a figure inside. "This is Erva. She has been an experiment since way before you were brought in. All the preparations were done a long time ago, but she only gained consciousness 3 days past."
Ash looked at the biologically modified being felt pain in his heart. She was still shrouded in an invisible mist that only he could see. The mist that said his power had touched her before.
----------
Ash woke up groggily. He was still surrounded by darkness and his head felt like a truck ran over it. he rubbed his temple with a shaky hand and breathed out heavily. He had remembered something that he was desperately trying to forget. His lab days were pure torture. Compared to that, facing a Zombie apocalypse seemed easier. He had remembered somethings that he had even forgotten.
Jule hasn't returned yet or maybe he did and when he saw him passed out, he must have thought he went back to sleep and left him in peace. Erva's golden eyes flashed before his eyes. He sighed heavily. Seems like the perpetrator to this apocalypse was yours truly. He was the one who breathed life into a mass of unnaturally mixed together DNAs.