Excerpt

Chapter One

A hard gasp, his body jerk uncontrollably, lurching inexplicably to the jolting of the waters. Mouth agape, Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one reached for the vessels, cords and cables attached to his body and tore them free. Tilting his head upwards, he saw the opening of the tank and jumped towards it and then out. Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one’s cerulean skin as bare as a newborn child yet muscular and firm like a numen.

A million thoughts ran through his head and though he had no concept of words, his emotions spoke volumes.

What is this? Where am I? What am I doing here? With every heaving breath more questions arose. None that would be satiated at this moment.

For a newly born being, Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one had the understanding of an old soul. Diction was amiss, yet an inherent ability to decipher all things around him was eminently present—an innate, deep-seeded gift.

Looking to the floor Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one noticed a couple of cadavers. Who where they and why were they here? The thought fleeting, as the weight of his circumstance mattered more than irrelevant bodies splayed out on the floor. Wiping the moisture from his brow Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one lifted his head to take a closer look at the sight.

Decrepit walls, concaved floors, wet expanse, destruction everywhere, and yet, he somehow understood that this was not due to time but effort. Something or someone had done this—caused this wreckage. Who and why? Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one contemplated.

Echoing sounds, voices afar, memories blurred by dreams and incoherence. Bits and pieces of reflections that he could not place.

Faces … sounds … scents … all familiar and all not. How could this be?

The sounds of a female voice whispering in the dark, the image of a hand on a glass surface, a nurturing sensation that he could not explain.

These thoughts pounded in Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one’s mind like a drum.

Boom, boom, boom! Thrumming and flashing to the point where he momentarily felt as though he was losing his mind. Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one grasped his head and crouched in pain. No, not pain, discomfort and confusion. It felt like pain. Yet, pain was not a notion that he was familiar with. The truth was, how could Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one know how it felt, if he’d just learned how to breathe?

A roar, a bellow that reverberated through the empty corridor. With it came vibrations that shook the vastness causing bits and pieces of debris to shed from the walls like power on a plain. Stretching his arms outright and opening to his full-length Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one pounded his chest like a rabid animal. Then, confused and angered by the lunacy of it all, he marched off, denting the floor with footprints as he paraded along.

Experiment-eight-eight-two-point-one did not know where he was going but neither did it matter.