“Come on.”

“You should be awake by now.”

“Were you given to much propofol?”

“Did you have enough ketamine? Should I have given you morphine instead?”

“Maybe it was too much rocuronium?”

“What other combinations of drugs could have been used?”

“What if I had used alfaxalone... a sedative first so you were already drowsy.”

“Darn, could I have given you the wrong benzodiazepine? Midazolam and diazepam. It can’t be hard to choose the right one. They have less effect on the cardiovascular system than acepromazine and alpha-2 agonists.”

“I don’t even know if you had pre-existing health conditions. I was so worked up about examining your brain-”

The mindless babble ceased, only to be replaced by frantic tapping of a shoe. A monotonous sound, that neither echoed nor died. Ten taps, pause, ten taps more.

An irritated sigh punched a hole through the repetitive noise, momentarily freezing the room in silence. Rising through a thick sea of inky soup light managed to touch your corneas through tightly sealed translucent lids. Though dim, the searing pain was almost unbearable, forcing a low groan to slip through your chapped lips.

“Oh my relief! You are awake, thank the science deities!”

Raising a rubbery hand you pinched your cheek instead of the bridge of your nose, wincing you decided to find out who was responsible for the stream of chatter. Taking a sharp inhale for courage, you peeled back your eyelids.

Everything seemed too bright. Blinding in shards of savage light, that seemed to reflect off every surface. Gradually, the scattered rays settled and collected themselves neatly, allowing shapes to emerge out of the searing mirage.

Above you soft features appeared, dainty button nose, shadowed eyes glowed almost supernaturally. Infantile lines of age were beginning to emerge, framing the corners of their feminine features. Realising who they were you turned your head away, it was the best you could do since your limbs still felt drunk on sleep and drugs.

“Come now, I am not a monster,” their tone once again hardened.

Forcing the syllables through a carpet of fur you slurred, “You are, you stole my identity. You experimented on me. And... you kidnapped me.”

“Now I do have to apologise for putting you through all that, but it was necessary.”

“Necessary?”

“Yes. You had all the right qualities, and charisma. Do you know how long I spent searching through the Government’s documents on every citizen in the age bracket of twenty to thirty?”

Mutely, you pressed your teeth tighter together.

Exhaling softly the words fluttered out, “Nearly two years! We don’t have that much time if we want to change the world. Even if you choose to refuse me, you have little choice because you are now under my control. Now, let me get you something to eat and drink before your first mission.”

Defeated you let your eyes turn blind to the world once more. If this was your life, you didn’t want it.

Where could you meet Death to sign the document and move on?

“Here,” A soft thump and clink announced the landing of a tray ladened with nutrients, “I know it's not much of an apology, but it is the best I can do... for now.”

Once more the patter of anxious feet carried them out of your room. A hovered pause, and the door closed with a regretful swish of guilt. Tendrils of patient encouragement tickled at the nasal hairs and nerves. Your stomach growled at the promise of the sweet warmth of pastries and herbal tea.

At last satisfied, you found your legs swing around to touch the missed solidness of the ground, yet that wasn’t enough. They carried you out of the bare room of pristine white with notes of flashing silver. Down the endless corridor, where no one even gave you a second glance. Those strangers looked just like you, but could they be hiding a dark secret too?

Halting at a single blue door your hand rose and fell, a lonely knock in the timeless world.

Yeilding to your request the panel swung inwards, revealing an office that was no bigger than a storage cupboard. The desk was hidden behind a forest of plastic plants, that didn’t care for love and attention. Weaving through the foliage you reached the clearing where your captor sat.

Humming they murmured, “It seems my little exploration inside your brain was a successful one. How do you feel?”

Confusion briefly filled the void behind your eyes, tersely you spat, “I feel as well as anyone might after being experimented on.”

Humour folded the corners of their perfect almonds, “Very good, and I like your spirit. Now your first mission is to steal a Night Guard’s card, and then you must kill them.”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

They gave no reply, only a minute shrug, it was enough to know that your good citizen status would be no more after this mission. A dismissive hand flapped at your presence, chasing you away as if you were no more than a nuisance.

Throwing a pair of proverbial daggers, you trudged from the room. Even if you wanted to rebel, you simply could not... or could you?

That you would find out later, all in due course.

First you had to find a Night Guard to kill, and it was daylight outside. With a foul scowl the door security slammed his meaty palm onto the glowing green button, releasing you into the fresh air. Oh, how sweet it tasted after hours of the bitterly dry manufactured air of the Facility.

Wasteland lay at your feet. All flora had begun to dissolve and crumble under the unnaturally harsh sun, waiting to be collected by the passing hand of ghostly breeze. There was not another building in sight, how far had you travelled whilst you had been unconscious?

Stumbling in the ochre dirt, you began to walk, compelled on by the puppeteer. After many miles your feet ached, your socks were drowned by sweat, and dampened leather began to nibble hungrily at your soft flesh. You begged silently for a reprieve, a gift of the empathetic kind. Alas, none were given.

Instead, you were pushed into a strange lope, one that caused your leg muscles to whimper and scream at the presence of lactic acid. You know nowhere to go, only guided by the cruel omnipotent force. Cresting a particularly steep hill, you managed to buy a few precious seconds of gulped oxygen. Before you the city sprawled, lazy in every way.

Was it close or was it far?

Dehydration blurred your judgement, as you swayed unsteadily on the breathless hill crest. Clutching your skull, your tried to squeeze the remains of wrinkled walnut back inside the safety of the tough exterior, lest it should burst and splatter the beige landscape with peculiar globules of rotten pink matter.

Licking your lips in a futile attempt to lap up heavy beads of salty grit, you found nothing by dry sand of a parched plane. The exploding irritation of the neurological upgrades violently shock you from your reverie.

Onwards. Always onwards.

Tossing your head in a final bid to get the horizon to stop shifting you moved off. After uncountable miles you found yourself enjoying the easy stride of the slow run. Snorting you cleared your nasal passages of the grains that had snuck in hoping to hitch a lift to a new life. Instinctively, you drew in your arms so that they would not flap like useless wings, slowly adapting to this new way of travel.

However, the further you got from the Facility the driving command and incessant whip seemed to fade, little by little, as if the jockey had grown weary from a hard ride.

Could this be a chance of escape?