Experiments In the not-too-distant future, the world has been wracked by nuclear and biochemical warfare. The EU and America have joined forces against Russia, China and Japan, and both sides are scrambling to develop the ultimate biological weapon. The Americans have created the Bio-Weaponry Research and Experimentation Laboratories, a huge underground facility under the plains of Utah, now a smouldering, nuclear wasteland, to do just that. The BWREL conducts horrific experiments on people they have taken from the few remaining habitable zones in America; "all in the name of science". The constant experiments have mutated the experimentation dummies, as they are called, far beyond recognition as humans. The Experiments are imprisoned and most have been driven to madness, but a few dream of escape, thinking of the lives they once led on the surface... This story takes the viewpoint of a few of the experimentation dummies. The ultimate aim is to break out of the facility through any means possible. As already mentioned, the constant experiments have mutated the experimentation dummies, so when you are making a character, go wild with the possibilities! Extra limbs; additional senses - but remember that not all the alterations will be beneficial; mutation is a pretty random business, after all. Ok, now for the rules: 1. No "God Mode". Don't try to control other people; if you want someone else to feature in your post then do a collab! 2. Remember that this is a collaborative writing project - it's not just you writing. Don't hate on other people - they're trying as hard as you. 3. Out of character talk is only to be posted in the discussion thread. 4. Please try to write a good paragraph at least when you post and advance the story - no "one-liners". 5. When you've thought of a character, working from the character specs below, PM it to me before posting so that I can approve it. I will reject stupidly overpowered characters, though. 6. Have fun And finally, the character specs: Experiment ID Number: Alterations (mutations): Appearance: Age: Background: Any additional information:
Experiments Experiment number 703 sat up in bed with a start as his buzzer sounded, alerting him that he had five minutes until the day started. Whistling resignedly through his tongue, he rubbed his eye with one arm, switched the buzzer off and reached for his food packet, slotted in through a hole in the door. Grimacing, 703 slurped the grey, tasteless contents of the package and stood up, just in time to see the door open and two guards walk in. He was an experimentation dummy, a 'lab rat' of the Bioweaponry Research and Experimentation Laboratories, that he knew. He had been here for as long as he could remember and every day was almost exactly the same as the last. In the facility, everything except the experiments was a flat shade of surgical white and the combination of the bleak surroundings and the endless identical days conspired to drive many of the experiments to madness. 703 himself had gone insane a few times, but there wasn't much difference between sane and insane other than that, when he was insane, he found it harder to get to sleep at night. This place robbed you of the capacity to do anything other than the norm. 703 was marched along the stark corridors, at times passing other experiments and sometimes being escorted alongside them, the guards exchanging perfunctory nods as the experiments were herded along. 703 recognised a few other experiments but was unable to greet any of them for fear of intense punishment. After an indeterminate amount of time, 703, along with 439, 892 and 56, arrived at a now-familiar door. He recognised the door; after so many years of seeing all the different doors, you began to pick up on minor differences. At the sight of the door, 703 knew that today he would be testing a new bioweapon. The four experiments were ushered inside and strapped into chairs, which were reclined so much they were closer to beds. The guards left and a scientist entered from a door next to the viewing port, a wall of glass through which the scientists could watch. The masked figure in a starched lab coat withdrew a syringe from a rack of four that sat against one wall. He stuck the needle into 703's left arm and pushed the plunger in. The amber liquid contained within flowed into 703's appendage, and the scientist moved on to the next experiment. He felt the familiar wrenching pain in his gut that marked this genetically engineered virus as a derivative of the Novak strain. He only knew this because of a muffled conversation he'd overheard going on behind the viewport - he didn't know how long ago. 'You learn a lot', 703 thought as his consciousness faded, 'by keeping your ears and eye open. I know Dave has a coffee habit, whoever Dave is and whatever coff-'. His thoughts stopped at roughly the same time as his hearts, and, for the 57,384th time, 703 was pronounced clinically dead.
"Please don't take me," a young girl's voice cried, and Asena recognised it as her own. "I don't want to come with you, please don't take me!" Asena saw herself, crying desperately fighting to get away. She felt as if she was outside herself, looking in. She saw two men in lab coats approaching her. "No!" She screamed, tears flooding down her pale cheeks, "don't take me! I want to stay here! Don't make me go..." Asena's cry was cut short as the two men roughly grabbed her, covering her mouth and preventing her from making another sound. Experiment 1089 awoke, her wings fluttering in distress, her eyes filling with tears of fright and sadness. She recalled the feeling of panic and terror she had felt when those men had dragged her away to the experiment facility, to be experimented on and mutated into the creature that she was now. After grooming her ruffled feathers, she heard the buzzer going that was supposed to wake her up. She heard the small packet of meat being pushed through the door, and falling to the floor. She walked over, and using her sharp beak, tore open the packet. She ate the meat, grimacing at its slimy texture. Just as she finished, two men opened the door, and started to march her down the corridor, gathering other experiments as they went. Before long, the little group arrive outside a door. One of the guards pushed it open, and ushered the experiments in. Inside there were five boards with straps attached to them, so the experiments could be strapped to them to keep them standing. Each experiment was pushed against a board, and the straps were tied tightly over their chests, legs, arms and even necks. 1089 stared at the machine in front of her. It was a new bio-laser that was about to be tested on her. She heard the whirring sound of the laser preparing to fire, and saw a green light appearing in the opening in the machine. It was all she could do not to cry out as she felt the agonizing pain of the laser being fired at her, and a moment later she passed out against the board.
Number 1539, aka: The White Widower crouched in a corner, staring at his food. The child could not have been more than three of four. She was crying, the small, feeble sound wrenching his heart even as he struggled to connect the sound to whatever was left of his sanity. Why did he pity her? Why did he fell guilty? Why did they call her "breakfast" when they'd put her in here? Why did he do everything he could to stay as far away from her as possible when with every second his stomach threatened to devour every other organ in his body and his fangs nearly popped out? Can't hurt her. He decided, not bothering to try and make sense of it all. Nothing made sense in this place. This clear, ugly, white place that he mirrored with his very existence. Even as he looked down at the long, broken, nail-less fingers of his hands, they seemed little more than a sculpture cut from glass but for the bones, which were a bleached white just like the floor. So hungry . . . White gritted his teeth and his head snapped around before they sank into the upper portion of his arm. A sickly green fluid seeped out between his lips, and from there it dripped to the floor and sizzled. But he only felt mild pain from the bite -not from the acidic venom that had rent agonized screams from the other projects by the hundreds. His venom was so potent that despite his being a failure experiment, White was forced to "donate" every week so that the scientists could use it for their projects on others. The child's sobs turned to sniffles, and White felt her gaze burning into his forehead. Six of his eight eyes closed, tears leaking out of the corners. He knew he shouldn't cry too and waste more fluid -it would only speed up her demise- but he couldn't help it. He'd already had to drain three others after the scientists suddenly decided to give him live food; each time their age dropping. The pain never went away. "I want my mommy." she whimpered. "I want your mommy too." he replied. He wanted her mother to come and take the girl away from this awful place -heck, he would run crying to his own mother if she was still alive and had come to get him. But they were stuck here: he a monster soon to eat her, and she a mere child without any fault of her own. She didn't deserve to be here. But in a way she was better off being drained by him than becoming an experiment. She would die without any pain. Completely ignorant of what could happen to her if she lived. Still, that didn't make what White had to do any more right. At his words, the girl squeaked and came to realize that he was actually in the room. Her chocolate-brown eyes went wide as saucers, and White dared not try to smile and wave. One glimpse of his teeth and she would go catatonic. The grinding of gears at the door had them both looking up, the girl in fright and White in confusion. It wasn't time for him to go yet, was it? Two guards shoved open the heavy acid-proof door, then stepped inside. "Come along. She'll still be here when you get back." The first guard pointed a menacing base-powder gun at White, and he stood up on his hind-legs slowly -hands up- so as to avoid being shot at. despite how calm he appeared outside, he was panicking on the inside. It's not time yet. They usually wait until after the first block is done before they get me. First block only just left! It's not time yet. I shouldn't be going- a blow to the head with a gloved fist sent White sprawling against the wall. "Get moving! The Doctor wants you in the new chamber!"a deep voice growled from behind a thick mask and hood. White shrank into a ball, but was pulled up to his feet again forcefully despite his bid to try and hide. No! Not a new experiment! No! He wanted to shriek as they dragged him off down the hallways, but it was no use. He was weak as a kitten when it came to brute strength, so White was forced to grit his teeth and bide his time until the guards dumped him in a large, white room with a window on one end. The room looked familiar, but White looked about in utter confusion because there were no tables, straps or tools that he could see. Rubbing his bruised arms and ribs, White tried to make sense of what was going on when another door opened on the other side of the room and a body was dumped out. Growling and snarling, White shivered uncontrollably as he realized that they'd put him in a room with one of the insane ones. This experiment had become a hybrid between wolf, lizard and man, and was currently looking at him with the intent to kill. White realized with a chill that this latest experiment was not just an experiment. They were planning to try and figure out which one of them could survive the longest in battle.
Nuala awoke early. She usually awoke early, but this time something was different… if only she could remember what was different about this day. She shifted her weight so she was no longer lying on her wings. Wings… alterations, scars, experiments, pain – the thoughts came to her like they always did when she was thinking about anything that had to do with the lab. This time the thing that grabbed Nuala’s attention was the thought of her scars, particularly the tally marks. She had once been counting the days she had survived in this hell. Yesterday she had also been counting, she had finished counting down… but what had she been counting down to? My wings; today they will finish off my wings. The girl let out a wail of utter terror when she remembered it. Her wings were a relatively new addition – an experiment on whether and how it would be possible to surgically add extra limbs to a human body. Nuala knew this because she had heard people talk about it; today they would work on the muscles and add the nervous system to the wings. The thought of this was enough to make the girl feel sick and lightheaded. No viruses to test, no new gasses meant to intoxicate people, but cutting in her body without giving her anything to dull the pain. The thought of the process scared Nuala more than any of the things that happened in the lab despite the simplicity of it. Somehow breathing appeared more difficult than it was supposed to be, the room seemed to be spinning around her. I’m hyperventilating, Nuala thought. Good, maybe I’ll get another day before they finish my wings. Nuala turned out to be wrong. She hadn’t heard the buzzer, so she was surprised when a man in a plain white coat walked in. “Experiment 1401?” Nuala recognized the coats from the last time one of those men brought her to a part of the facility she hadn’t seen before – that had been three months ago. While the coat was familiar the face was new; the man was relatively young and the way he looked at her was different… Is this what compassion looks like, or is it pity? Nuala wondered. “Nuala,” she replied without a particular reason. “You have to come with me Nu- 1401,” the man looked uncomfortable and not quite sure what to do. He didn’t enter the room, nor did he touch the girl in front of him. “I feel sick,” Nuala replied. Maybe, if I manage to win enough time, they won’t do it. The thought made no sense and the girl knew it, but she didn’t care. Anything would be better than what was awaiting her. “And I didn’t eat yet.” “You will eat later; you have to come with me now,” she felt a hand on her shoulder. Someone helped her up and pushed her toward the door. They walked through the corridors of the research facility until they reached the door that had managed to give Nuala nightmares for at least two months. The man gently squeezed her shoulder. “It will be over before you know it.” Nuala shook her head, but made sure no one noticed. This guy clearly didn’t know what he was talking about; the moments filled with pain always seemed to last an eternity. It took all of the girl’s strength to walk into the room without looking too defeated. The moment Nuala entered the room two people grabbed her from behind, she tried to free herself from the people’s grip, but she failed and several minutes later her hands and feet were tied up. NO! Not now, not this soon, you don’t have to do it now. Nuala wanted to beg, but she could barely even breathe thinking about what was awaiting her. She saw the shine of sharp metal to her side, but she couldn’t turn to look at it. Footsteps behind her. Something cold and wet on her back, it wasn’t sharp though. A man sighed, or maybe he coughed. While Nuala was still somewhat aware of the things going on around her, her mind couldn’t place them. I’m panicking. She knew it and yet she couldn’t help it. Nuala felt how something pressed against one of her wings. No, that was not right; it didn’t press against her wing, it was piercing her wing. The girl didn’t realize this until she felt a warm liquid run down her back. Blood. I’m bleeding. Oh dear god, I’m bleeding, Nuala let out a soft sob, which turned into an agonized cry as the sharp, burning pain tore through her back. Don’t cry. I won’t cry. I won’t let them see me cry, Nuala thought to herself, but the girl, not used to this particular kind of pain, only managed to keep this up for seconds. Let it stop, please let it stop. The pain was there again; hot and sharp, this time not just cutting through skin, but also through muscles and nerves. The scream Nuala let out would make any human’s blood run cold… if this person hadn’t been in the underground test facility for a long time, that is. “Please,” another scream. “Please stop. Please… you don’t have to do this…” Nuala didn’t know what she promised in return for her freedom, for just another day. She probably promised the impossible, she promised loyalty, herself… anything for them to quit… anything for painkillers… anything for… for… for what? The thoughts of ways to end the pain, the begging for it and the screams faded as the girl’s world became nothing but blood, pain and the unnatural light in the facility. And yet she didn’t pass out; she remained awake during the entire process until, in the end, she was finally given something that put her to sleep. By then Nuala hadn’t enough of her sanity left to be grateful for it.
2142 Did not get the luxury of a buzzer. It didn’t take long for guards to learn about his combative nature. Instead, they would bust into his room unannounced usually four armed men. 2142 rolled out of bed and onto his feet in second of hearing footsteps come his way. He would fight every day until they killed him. They burst into his room, but he was ready, he swung his cuffed arms at a guard, only to have a Taser shot into him. They no longer took chances. He tensed up, falling to the ground. The guards quickly cuffed him, chained him, and lifted him to his feet. Dragging him to a room. They began to draw blood, as usual, they were keep a record of his blood between experiments to single out effects and learn how to get that reaction time. 215 milliseconds was an average reaction time, 2142 average 10 milliseconds, often times acting without even realizing. He was strapped to the chair, like always, when they were done a familiar doctor came in. 2142 didn’t bother to learn his name, instead 2142 just smiled. The doctor injected him with an agonizing burning into his veins, what it did didn’t matter. He began to believe that it was probably just a liquid to make him hurt, so he continued to smile, through teeth pressing so hard that he could swear they were cracking, the whole time looking the doctor dead in the eye, until the doctor was forced to look away. 2142 relished in the small victory, waiting for the agonizing serum to dissipate and for the days tests to be over.
(Warning: This piece contains detailed gore) The White Widower sprang for the ceiling just as the other experiment launched itself at him. White winced when he heard the clack of teeth snap on nothing but air. Still, while the beast -number 1763 he realized- may be powerful and would be able to crush White in an instant between his jaws, the spider hybrid was too fast for the other experiment to catch. I just have to paralyze him, then this will all be over. White calculated, then crouched against the ceiling and prepared to leap for the other creature's back. One, two three! White dropped square onto his target, but instead of sinking his fangs into the back of 1763's throat like he'd planned, White screamed and rolled away, blue and red pouring from hundreds of small cuts all over his arms, hands, feet, and torso. Spiked fur. How had he not seen it? The other experiment snarled, whirling around and attacking even before White could react. He watched as huge, yellow fangs closed around his leg and snapped the bone as if it was a toothpick. Now, White had never once been violent, and in fact was often treated more carefully than the other experiments because he was so fragile. But despite all the pain, all the tests, he had never once come close to snapping. Now, as he watched something that he would have only described a a monster when he'd been human begin to chew on his leg while it yanked his body across the floor, he did. "Kyaa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-!" The impossibly high-pitched, metallic scream rushed through his lungs and across his vocal chords, White's jaw dropping like a gate to let loose the sound. The glass cracked in the window, and he became dimly aware of alarmed shouts. But right now, he was focused on one enemy. Curling up his body and grabbing a fistful of spiked fur in each hand, cutting his already lacerated skin, White's jaws snapped wide before they closed on the creature's face. A garbled shriek came in response, and the animal surged, slashing his stomach open with long, hooked claws. But it was no match for poison-tipped limbs and fangs. They struggled like that on the floor for several seconds, blood pooling on the cold tile before number 1763 finally went still. Letting go with a faint rush of blood and brain fluids -for his fangs had punched through the skull- White rolled away and curled up into a ball, clutching his intestines and trying to keep them from spilling out all over the floor. Breath rushed in and out of his lungs as he strained to remain awake, but he'd lost too much blood. A thin, crooked smile came to his lips before he blacked out. For the last thing he saw for a long, long time was the panic-stricken faces of the scientists as they ordered guards to enter and heal them as quickly as possible.
1089's eyes opened, and after blinking a few times, the room came back into focus. She glanced down at her wing, and saw a scientist pulling a polymer needle out of her skin. She recognised at once what they were doing. Not wanting to waste any time waiting for her to wake up, they had injected ambrosia into her, waking her instantly. She hopped off of the hard table on which she lay, and was grabbed by two guards. They never learn, she thought, I can't run away, so why do they think they need to grab me every time I so much as blink? She was escorted down the hall, the guards keeping a firm hold on her wings. Suddenly, they heard a screeching coming from around the corner. Shouts and cries of pain were mixed with the awful sound of some poor, frightened creature screaming and wailing. Still keeping a hold of 1089, the guards ran around the corner and found what was happening. One of the insane experiments had been sedated, but the sedative looked like it had worn off. Three men lay on the floor, two of them unconscious and the other one bleeding and barely breathing. A creature, a hybrid between a lizard, a dog and a bat was screeching, biting and scratching the men on the floor. Its head whipped around as the guards and 1089 came around the corner. Howling in fury, it ran at them as fast as it possibly could and would have knocked out the guards and 1089 if one of the guards hadn't raised his weapon and fired at the creature. Seconds later it collapsed to the ground, a tranquilliser dart in its arm. Breathing heavily, 1089 stared at the creature on the floor. She and the guards just stared at it, before two doctors came running, and started to inject ambrosia into the unconscious men. One of them got up from the man he had just treated, and came over to the guards holding 1089. "Did any of you get hurt?" He asked, and the guards shook their heads. "Good. Then you can take it," he jerked his head at 1089, "to the lab." The lab! Thought 1089, beginning to struggle, the place of nightmares! The place where they mutated me! Changed me, made me into a monster! She tore one of her wings free of the guard, and struck him around the head with enough force to send him flying into the wall. She let out a high pitched eagle screech, and snapped at the scientist with her beak. He stepped back and she turned on the other guard, but before she had sunk her beak into his arm, she felt a sharp sting in her arm, and turned to see the scientist injecting something into her wing. Everything doubled, and blurred, before she collapsed to the ground and the world went black.
1312 stood up as straight as he could, his legs were shackled and so were his arms, a team of 10 men pushed him forward to his next holding cell, they struggled at first, trying to push a teenager made of rock out of one his holding cell into his 52nd, after all, they were just flimsy metal doors that after a good hour would break down. He stooped in his tracks, root upon hearing the screams, they were constant, during the night and all through the day. the ten men stopped behind him, not that they wanted to but they simply and physically couldn't move Jerome, 1312 as he was named. The men grunted and wheezed as they pushed him, with little results. Jerome let our a mighty bellow of a laugh that echoed through out the corridor, its gleaming white walls, stupidly small that smelled of a hospital bounced back his laugh. "1312!" a small man barked at Jerome who stood in front of him. "I demand you continue moving to your holding cell!" he cried looking at Jerome with a stiff upper lip and a snarl "I'd wish you'd grow some balls and fight me like a man than let these twits marshal me" he laughed and deliberately spun round causing all the men trying to push forwards to fall to the floor of fly towards the walls. "1312! HALT!" the scientist raised his voice and also a handgun stuffed in-between his belt loops and pointed it a Jerome. "1312 I DEMAND YOU.." "WHAT!, DEMAND ME WHAT YOU SICK LITTLE CREEP!" Jerome shouted bringing in a deep breath and puffing out his rock chest, the cracks now more predominant. The scientist's hands shook so uncontrollably as he looked behind 1312 as saw none of the men were getting up fast to deal with him. "Stop or I will..." he whimpered, as 1312 loomed over him, he placed his finger on the trigger and pointed it at his head. "Shoot?" Jerome asked as he leaned in close "Go ahead." he whispered in his ear. "I'll snap your neck and shoot your 'friends'" he emphasised as he looked behind himself "No sin on my soul, after all" he growled as he started to pull his hands apart straining his shackles "I'm just a monster" he growled as his shackles snapped. the bullet shot out of the gun a hit Jerome at point blank luckily, it wasn't a lethal bullet just a slug, painful though, it smacked him in the face and Jerome fell to the floor unconscious, he held his head as he heard sirens go off and then men ran out of rooms where doors had suddenly appeared in full swat gear and all 20 of them started to beat him into the floor using batons.
Experiment 703 wasn’t aware of anything as the scientists injected him with a small measure of Ambrosia, but he woke soon after they’d done so. He groaned as his brain became aware of exactly how much each part of his body was hurting. He was given no time to ponder the state of his body, however, as he was rapidly marched out of the room by the same guards who had brought him in. They passed myriad other experiments, some short, some tall, some brightly coloured, winged, feathered, scaled... At one point 703 and the guards passed a large group of soldiers who seemed to be escorting a huge hover-trolley. On the floating platform lay a prone figure who seemed to be made completely made out of boulders. 703 didn’t recognize the experiment, but he knew where he was headed – the re-education chamber. That was where they put anyone who was rebellious; after a few hours in the company of the re-education enforcers, there wouldn’t be much rebellion left. 703, meanwhile, was marched down the hallway to another room, where they tested hallucinogens. Again, 703 was strapped down to a bed and injected, but this time he didn’t die. He would have preferred to, though. All at once, a giant swarm of bees appeared in the chamber. They started climbing over him, weighing him down with their massive furry bodies, stinging him over and over. 703 screamed as his whole body was covered and he couldn’t see anything, or hear more than thousands of bodies crawling over his.
1089's eyes fluttered open and it took her a while to remember why she was and where she was. Drugged sleep always did that to her. Then she remembered...she was in the lab. What new horror have they done to me? She wondered, wincing as she did. Her head ached ever time she thought. Lifting her head slightly, she peered down the length of her body. Her wings were the same as normal, or at least as normal as giant eagle wings could be on the boy of an 18 year old girl. Her body was the same, but her feet were wrapped in bandages with blood soaking through them. She screached in fright and tried to hop of the table, but ever time she moved her feet felt like they had been set on fire with pain. What have they done to my feet? She thought, ignoring the stabbing pains in her head. Guards took her two her room and put her, none too gentle, on the bed. She heard them talking to a surgeon who was standing by the door. She caught the words ambrosia, 15 minuets, healed. She blinked as the pain killers started to wear off, and her whole body started to burn with pain. She knew she would be punished if she shouted out in pain, so she shut her mouth, and forced herself to keep it closed as the pain grew. Stars started to appear before her eyes, and she welcomed the darkness. She didn't if it meant she had passed out or died, but she knew it would mean a temporary break from the pain. A few seconds later, she went limp against the bed.
