ACCUPATION 3 The Descent of Man

Chapter 5: "The Experiment"

One day, one of the female scientists wanted to observe the two transitions that red lump caused to happen to people when they get infected. Walking into my cell she explained what was going to happen. She said:

"I've been working on a project, I'm studying the red lump virus. Your body is going to be put in good use."

She then walked out of the room but let in an infected rat. I ran from that rat for as long as I could, but I was soon infected by its viscous bite. I panicked as the bitten rising skin swelled and spewed out pink liquid. If I die again... will I wake up as one of those things? My body began to feel numb, and I could no longer walk. Crawling, I posed myself against a wall as I sat in a puddle of the pink slime coming out from my arm. The slime only accelerated the infection causing me to feel light headed.

At this point I knew that if I fell asleep I would wake up as a mutant "best case scenario" or as a red lump nut case. For a while I Bit down on my tongue in hopes of staying awake. My numbing body could no longer feel pain, and I had not realized it but my tongue was bleeding. Still I bit down more. Falling asleep, my body went through metamorphosis. I fell asleep for an entire day as my body turned from a puddle of slime, into what I now am. Scientists observed my body as it grew taller with more limbs. Taking samples of my DNA they observed as it completely changed. Finally when four eyes began to grow on my face. And four wings bursted out of my pupa, The scientists knew it was about to become unstable, so they had to wake me up early.

Daniela walked in, shocked. What happened? She asked. The scientists told her: "it was a success, we made the cure to the rabies virus by combining your DNA with his. The black lump virus itself won't need a cure, it goes away on its own. It just takes a while."

Daniela replied: "So we did it? Can he be set free now?"

The scientist replied: "Yes, You can."

Waking up, everyone had left the room. I felt different, hevyer. Quickly stumbling to the restroom I saw my face in the mirror. They had turned me into a monster...I had four arms and eyes. Sitting down on the floor I gave up. This is what I will look like for all eternity. I hated it. Hitting the ground with my fist, the tiles cracked and shattered as I shrieked in horror. The mirror, I shattered. The toilet I ripped from the ground, throwing it into the wall. Looking at my hands I wept over my permanent loss of humanity. Dragging me through the halls they performed more tests, taking blood and bone samples. Days passed as I sat in Dan's room watching her laugh with her husband. So happy together.

I'll give them credit, they tried to comfort me. But you can't put a bandage on a severed head. The Bible says

"oppression can drive the wise one into madness".

Sitting in the corner of my room I heard Daniela laughing with Tarris. They were staying up late again. It felt like too much. Opening a floor panel I snuck out of the house and walked to a quiet place. It wasn't hard to find considering we're in an abandoned city. The ocean was deep and emerald green. A man with a long beard played some old world music on his guitar. As it echoed off of the brass pipes I quietly began to calm down.

I'm glad she at least found love. I should be happy for her. Yes this is a very good thing for her. To my surprise I saw her in her cop uniform walking up to me. "How are you doing? You snuck out again."

"I'm fine," I quickly replied. Sitting next to me she leaned her head and hand towards mine. Quickly I scooted away and replied: "So you really love Tarris don't you?"

She suddenly looked confused and replied: "What do you mean?"

I continued: "y'all are married aren't y'all?"

She began laughing and clarified: "No Way, he's my grandpa!

Smiling, I began to tear up. "Your joking!"

"No" she replied.

"Why do you ask?" she said.

Why was I still scared to tell her? To tell her that I loved her? Even if I did, I still have to go back to San Antonio. Dexter doesn't have anyone to take care of him. So I just told her: "don't worry about it"

Now, in the morning we sat together for breakfast. Mushroom, kelp, fish, and glow vine sat before me, but I couldn't eat. The post apocalypse isn't the best time for a relationship. Besides, how could we really work out? Me and the strongest, tallest girl in the underground? Yeah right. Poor Dexter doesn't even know I'm still alive?! Tarris then slapped me.

"You're overthinking your old hog, why don't you tell us what's the matter with you!"

Writing a letter on my napkin I handed it to Tarris. Reading the letter he looked at me and smiled a perverted smile.

"Daniela, I think you should read this" Daniela quickly took the napkin and began reading it. Her face grew beet red as she could no longer keep eye contact with me. (That is if she had eyes)

I then rose up and told Daniela: "now you know how I feel about you. But I can't stay here with you. For these past two years and four months I thought you were married to your grandpa. Now I know that's not the case... but like I said, I can't stay and you can't come with me. "That is if you wanted to." I'm going back to San Antonio, where I'm going to care for my friend, my brother. If you come with me your father will kill you. So you must stay.

The table stood silently. You could have the fish swimming past the windows. Tarris, smiling still, got up and walked away. Daniela: "our babies would look pretty ugly." We both broke out laughing.

So I packed extra hours at the gunsmith, hammering and shaping. When I was paid I would buy food for both me and my steed, plenty of dried kelp and powdered milk. Daniela even gifted me a few six packs of milk-cola. Now, there wasn't an easy way to leave the underground. I could take the long route and go back to the teleporter we used last time... but that could take days. I was pretty far away. A teleporter sounded easy, except for figuring out how to connect the teleporter to a working one somewhere in the wasteland. I guess I could see if I could link its coordinates with my own portals coordinates, I'm pretty good with maps. Especially when traveling to a place I've never been before.

In the meantime I sat with Daniela on the couch as we watched tv, her arms crossed over me. This place had some interesting channels to watch, including live surgical operations. Really that was the only channel to watch. Dan wondered how much I missed Dexter, she noticed I never really talked about him. It's a tough subject, he's a brother to me, and I respect him, but I'm scared of going back to taking care of him. I even promised him I wouldn't die, but I did. He's probably back at San Antonio having a complete meltdown.

After another month of living with Daniela and Tarris, I left. Having four arms and genius intelligence came with perks. I could make guns that simply outperformed every other gunsmith in the underground. I also made them quicker than most blacksmiths. It seems that somehow no one remembered my father's invention of global wireless power... how else were street lights still going on the surface after 300 years? Anyways I taped into this limitless power supply and used it for my weaponry, the result? A laser rifle that never runs out of ammunition. Overpowered if you ask me, but hey I got to use what's at my disposal to make a living.

Finally after much hard work, and arming the entire underground with overpowered artillery, I made enough money to leave. Adam was clearly aware of my intentions to go back to San Antonio to get Dexter, and wanted me to leave him the blueprints for the teleporter. I respectfully declined, I don't like
getting involved with politics. Despite this I knew he would get what he wanted one way or another.

He searched Daniela's house for my blueprints and stole them. That day I decided to leave for real this time. I had moved out of Daniela's house but was still wandering around atom towers at the time. Gathering all my goods, I took my steed and left atom towers for good.

Once I was outside the water sealed door I placed my teleporter in a wide open area of the cave highway. It was dark and water dripped as the giant pumps worked hard to keep the cavern from flooding. For a second I laid on the ground. What was I going to do up there? Once I find Dexter, is that it? How do I avoid Anthony? He will kill me if he finds out I'm alive again, or worse, he'll imprison me forever. Turning it on I got on my spider steed and walked through the portal. What was on the other side would shock me...