Who Am I?

Chapter Two

CRASH!

Anti shot up in bed, trembling and whimpering as the storm raged outside. He untangled himself from the sheets and shuffled to the foot of the bed to look out of the window. The courtyard was waterlogged, the foliage and flowers drowning in muddy puddles. Lightning lit up the sky and thunder rumbled through the clouds. "Me? Shaking? What's wrong with me?" He asked himself, looking down at his shaking hands. "I'm not scared of storms..." He turned as he heard the door open, a tall shadow was in the doorway. "Master?" Anti asked slowly, crawling back to the middle of the bed. The light suddenly came on, revealing a tall young man in white clothing. "Hello, Anti." He greeted, letting himself in. The demon suddenly became overcome with panic and anxiety.

"You're the first demon in that machine, are you comfortable?"

Anti shuffled back to the wall, his heart pounding. "I've heard you've been having dreams, care to tell me about them?" The man asked, approaching gently. Anti shook his head, his eyes wide with fear. "Hm? Your master tells me you keep remembering things, what kind of things?" He pressed. "G-go away!" Anti managed to shout, his voice trembling. "Oh that's no way to greet a friend, don't you remember me? I'm Trent, the technician." That confirmed Anti's suspicions. "Y-you..." He swallowed hard before continuing. "You did this to me...you...you wiped my memory somehow, made me forget who I am...or at least you tried to." A sinister grin crept across Trent's face. "Correct, so you do recall some of your past. I guess my machine wasn't turned up high enough." Anti barred his fangs and growled defensively as Trent went to grab him by the arms. "Tell me what's really going on!" Anti shouted, rolling out of the way and scrambling over the footboard and onto the floor. "Come with me and I will!" Trent shouted back, reaching for the demon as he tried to stand up. "C'mon...c'mon..." He said through gritted teeth, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stand. He sunk to the floor and looked up helplessly as Trent came over. "You're in no position to run, Anti." He chuckled, grabbing the wheelchair from the corner of the room and wheeling it over. "Where's my master? Master? Master!" He screamed as he was hoisted up into the chair. "Oh he knows where we're going, in fact, he's probably already there now." He pushed Anti back into the chair and brought the harness over him and buckled it tightly around his tiny body. Anti tugged at it to no avail, the locking system requiring a key to release it. "Let me out! Let me out!" The demon plead, struggling and thrashing as he was taken out of the room.

"Coffee?" Titan offered, flicking on the kettle. "Oh please." Salvador smiled, rubbing his hands together. "It's freezing, is the heating on?" He asked, blowing into his hands. "Bob says it is." Titan replied, dropping the spoon into the sink and bringing two mugs to the table. They were both about to start on their drinks when the corridor outside was suddenly filled with screaming. "Who's that?" Titan asked, putting his mug down. "Bet someone's gotten out, c'mon." Salvador replied, picking up his gun and getting up. They headed out into the corridor and stopped when they saw Anti fighting to get out of his wheelchair, he gripped the handrails on the walls with all of his might and tried dragging himself out. "Hey hey, what's going on?" Salvador barked, rushing over. "This little bastard won't sit still." Trent growled, trying to pry Anti's hands from the rails. "Help me! Help me please!" He begged, looking up at the two guards. "Where are you taking him?" Titan quizzed. "None of your business, just help me out." Trent snorted. "Does Bob know you're doing this? It's three in the morning." Salvador shot back as he and Titan pulled the demon's hands off of the rails. "He requested my assistance." Trent replied, yanking the chair through the open door.

Bob was sitting at the control panel to the DNA machine, studying the buttons and dials carefully. He looked over when he heard Anti's screaming. "Ah, there you are." He smiled, rising from his seat. "Master! Help me! Help me please!" The demon plead, staring at Bob as he walked over. "It's not your fault, Anti." He said solemnly, turning to Trent. "If you had just done things correctly the first time then we wouldn't be in this position." He snapped. Trent hung his head shamefully. "It won't hurt, Anti. This machine is going to...help with these nightmares." He smiled, hoping his lies would soothe the demon. But it did the opposite. "No!" He spat in protest, struggling against the harness uselessly. "Something's going on here, you tried to strip my memory, you're hiding something from me, what is it? Who am I?" He snarled, barring his teeth at his master angrily. Bob stood back in surprise, since his encounter with the machine Anti had been very obedient and docile, but now cracks were forming and his defiant, rebellious personality was showing through. "Enough!" He bellowed. "I'm tired of this, your sole purpose is to be used for breeding, the DNA used to produce clones of your extremely rare race." Anti's eyes widened. "The demons in the tanks...are my clones?" He asked nervously. "Exactly, and the only reason you're alive is in case of organ donation or blood transfusions." Anti's heart sank. Everything was coming together. "The reason why we tried to wipe your memory is to stop you from spilling about my plan, you see demon masters are fussy and they wouldn't be too pleased about paying top dollar for artificially produced demons." Anti narrowed his eyes. "So I'm just an object to you? That's it? I'd rather you kill me, anytning's better than this existence." The demon master laughed, as did Trent. "Kill you? You've made me millions already!" Bob laughed. "And that's just the start, I'll be the richest demon master there is." He pulled a square shaped key out of his pocket and unlocked the harness, before Anti could try and fight them, he was hoisted up onto the metal plate by Bob and Trent and the metal restraints were automatically activated. "I'll make sure everyone knows what you're doing!" Anti screamed, fighting the metal clamps uselessly as the machine roared to life. "Just you try it, little one." Trent purred, stepping away with Bob. "When we return, you'll be a mindless shell of your former self." The duo left the room, leaving Anti to face his fate alone.

"Let me go! Please!"

"I'm not giving up." The demon said to himself, continuing to thrash in the restraints. As the lights dimmed as the machine began to suck at the power, Anti spied a red light at his feet, underneath in capital letters read 'EMERGENCY RELEASE'. He had to act before the needles reached his body again, grimacing as he twisted himself, he edged his toe towards the button and just managed to push it in time. The restraints opened and he flopped forward, crashing into the metal steps and rolling onto the floor as the needles reached where he would've been standing. He turned and saw that the machine had powered off, probably a safety measure if no one was strapped in. "Phew." He let out a sigh of relief before dragging himself across the floor towards his wheelchair. He pulled himself up onto the chair and rubbed his aching legs. "If I'm going to put a stop to this madness, I'm going to need a better way to get around."