Infected: Corruption Chapter 3

sorry about the delay in posts. i haven't had any inspiration lately, and just recently my computer broke down :( good thing i saved on a flash drive :) anyways, it'll take me a while to find a new computer to post from. thank you for your patience and comments.

Even ghosts have to sleep, and Jason was no different. But the lights were never off. There was never a room devoid of scientists, who pounded away at their keyboards and scribbled on their clipboards. They were always working. The soldiers were no different, always pacing and making rounds about the facility. They were always ready with gun in hand.

It was in sleep that Jason found that bits and pieces of some memory came to him. It was the same one every single time.

Flashes of an empty street, followed by the silence in the car. Jason was in the passenger seat with his head against the window, watching the street pass by with yellow lines and white dashes. He never saw the driver. Suddenly they were flashes of fire, a great blaze with Jason in the center. But everything was silent. The flames devoured everything, but not a sound. Jason always woke up, thinking he was alive.

It was nights like these that he wandered the facility, searching for something to take his mind off the blaze. It was such a night that he discovered something sinister.

The soldiers did not care about Jason. The scientists did not care about Jason. No one was bothered by his presence. He was free to roam as he pleased, however futile it may be. They made no effort to hide what they were doing. They knew Jason could do nothing about anything. It was on this night that he discovered about the project, and the experiments that had proceeded him. That man told him everything, the one he had met on that first day.

Jason had wandered into a meeting room of sorts. Everything was circular in shape: the chairs, the table, the whiteboard, the room, even some scientists. The light from the projector blinded Jason for an instant, catching his attention. He moved out of the light and watched from the shadows. They ignored him.

A reflection caught Jason’s eye. A broken reflection with an absence in color in the shape of a skull. Jason saw the gold ring, on a hand adjusting an ID badge. The name was Erik Savage. The name sounded familiar, but Jason could not remember from where.

“He is the result of our research,” Savage said as he pointed his finger at Jason, “An ethereal entity. The potential is there.”

The others stared at Jason, contemplating experiments. Jason could see it in their eyes. But they would never be able to touch him.

The scientists nodded in agreement with Savage, and then left the room. Savage turned off the projector and exited the room. Jason followed him down the hallway and into his office. Jason was not finished.

Savage walked over to a freezer against the far wall. Jason stopped in the center of the room.

“#GJYU1590,” Savage began, “You are the only experiment able to roam around so freely.”

Savage turned around, holding something in his hand. Jason saw the needle of the syringe, but not the substance contained within it.

“You are an experiment worth monitoring, one of the few to maintain their sanity,” Savage continued.

“Why are you telling me this?” Jason asked.

“Didn’t you want to know?” Savage said coldly, “You are the only one incapable of doing anything. The only experiment that poses no threat. You are helpless, harmless.”

Savage opened his hand to reveal the substance in the syringe. It was the darkest shade of black Jason had ever seen. The substance bubbled inside of the syringe despite have being stored in a freezer.

“XNT-8. the same substance currently running through your veins,” Savage said calmly, “Its volatile nature produces unpredictable mutations, which makes for interesting results to record.”

Jason was speechless. They had done this to him. They had deprived him of death and cursed him with living a life he never wanted. They had made him into the ghost he was. Jason rushed without thinking at Savage, only to pass through him.

“What’s the matter, Jason?” Savage laughed.

“How do you know my name?” Jason asked, surprised.

“Oh, I know a lot about you Jason. You see, I was the one who brought you here. You wasted your life away anyways, so why not use it for my experiments?”

“You think this is some kind of game?” Jason yelled.

“Oh but it is! And I am the game master. You are all but pawns on my chess board, waiting to be taken!”

Savage continued to laugh, a mad joy in his eyes.

“And yet,” Savage said in a serious tone, “You are the closest to perfection.”

“What do you mean?” Jason asked.

Savage returned the syringe to the freezer and left the room, smirking to himself. Jason followed him. Something about those eyes hiding behind those glasses bothered him. They were too familiar, like they were something he should remember.

“You’re so persistent,” Savage said coldly, “It’s almost as if you’re alive.”

“What do you mean, perfection?” Jason asked.

“You are only a ghost, unable to touch yet unable to be touched. You’re harmless now, but you could be so much more,” Savage wandered off.

The blaze burned brighter in Jason’s mind, but why? Those words were so familiar: “You could be so much more.”

Foster parents, teachers, counselors, therapists. They all came to mind, but non were “the one”.

The blazes of scrap metal were dying. A body lay limp on the floor, silently burning away. The night swallowed any witnesses. A black figure, silhouetted by bright lights, stood above Jason. That voice uttered those same words: “You could be so much more.”

“But your experimentation has just begun Jason,” Savage continued, “For the sake of this Ark Project, yes, you are not finished. I cannot allow you to simply disappear.”

“Ark Project?” Jason asked.

“If Gravestone wants a super soldier, I’ll give him a super soldier. Based on the results, maybe even mass production,” Savage sneered, “But I will have my fun. I will experiment!”

“Gravestone?”

They had arrived at a steel door, latched shut. The lights flickered in the hallway, showing spots of green here and there.

Jason had wandered here before. It was Hell on Earth. Screams of anguish and despair flooded what would be silence. It was here Jason had felt belonged. It was here where he envied others deaths by their own hands. It was here he longed to be one of them and finally die.

“Yes, you are all my experiments!” Savage exclaimed, a madness in his eyes, “You! Them! And even her!”

Savage had opened the door and was pointing at the room’s occupant, who was still breathing. She sat alone in the corner, despairing in the fetal position.

“Just you wait,” Savage said sinisterly, “The experiment will be a joyous one, one that will be complete soon, one that will have excellent results! The very thought of it excites me!”

Savage laughed like a madman as he slammed the door. It lost its echo in the screams. Jason would have chased him, if something had not caught his eye. A silver necklace.