Chapter Six

The world slowly came into view as Rex struggled to get his sky blue eyes to work for him.  He raised his hand to inspect the lump on his broad forehead and tried to remember how he got it while, at the same time, working on determining just where he was. 

It took him some time to realize that it wasn’t his vision failing him that caused visibility to be so poor.  It was the fact that he was in a space that was so dimly lit that it could almost be considered dark.  Feeling his pulse quickening, he worked at controlling his breathing to avoid panic.  All of his life, he’d suffered from mild claustrophobia.  Waking up in a strange and unknown environment while unable to see his surroundings made him feel trapped and closed in. He couldn’t let it overtake him.  He needed his wits about him more than ever.

Going back over the chain of events leading to his waking up in this unsettling place, he slowly remembered the tall, odd looking woman who admitted that she was an alien slamming her head against his.  He’d never encountered an alien before, but he’d heard from other wanderers in his travels who had suffered some type of dealings with them that they could be cunning, devious, and nasty to deal with. More than once, he’d been warned to avoid them at all costs.  Although he was unhappy about having run into one, he was actually surprised that it hadn’t happened earlier.  After all, they’d been the ruling regime for an easy fifteen years.  His luck was bound to eventually come to an end.

He wondered about Kendra.  Had she also had an encounter with this woman or her cohorts? Was she a prisoner as well? He tried to use his psychic abilities to see her and found them not responding.  Kicking himself for not using them the night before and going to her then, he rolled over onto the narrow cot that he lay upon and closed his eyes.  He couldn’t explain why, since the knock on the head couldn’t have been that powerful, but he was having trouble keeping awake.  He decided to give into the urge to go back to sleep in hopes that, when he awoke, his abilities would be, once again, functioning.

When he awoke again, there was a dim light illuminating the room with a soft glow that was just enough to allow him to see his surroundings without them being crisp and clear.  It was enough to stave off those feelings of claustrophobia and let him have a better idea of where he was.

The room was larger than he’d expected.  There were several cots lined along the wall next to the one that he rested on; filling one side of the  long and narrow room.  The other side of the room contained cabinets and rolling trays with what looked like medical equipment.  He was nearest the door and the light.  The further into the room he looked, the more it blended with the shadows.  Even so, he was certain that he could make out some type of examination table at the far end.

The clarity of his mind equaled that of the room.  He was able to think, but not to act or retain his thoughts for any particular length of time.   As he’d done earlier, he attempted to use his psychic abilities, but could not.  Testing his telekinetic powers, he focused on moving a rolling cart.  It barely budged. 

His head shook in frustration.

The sound of someone entering the room caught his attention.  The gaunt body of a female steadfastly moved around him while she tended to the odd looking machine with an abundance of tubes that hovered over him.  It was then that he realized that he was flat on his back with the tubes attached to his flesh at various locations on his body.  When he attempted to pull one free, she firmly placed her hand over his and, after making eye contact with sad and almost lifeless brown eyes, slowly shook her head to indicate that he not pursue that route.

It was when she locked eyes with him that he had a sense of familiarity about her.  His brow creased while he struggled to remember why he got the sense that he knew this woman. She held his eyes with hers for some time, but did or said nothing to indicate that they might know each other. So much had happened while growing up as a wanderer trying to survive in a devastated world that he could have encountered this woman at any time.  Or, she could just be reminding him of someone that he once knew.  He looked at her dull, dirty blonde hair and equally dull flesh that hugged her face in a way that showed how malnourished she was and did his best to understand what it was about her that gripped him with familiarity, but he couldn’t come up with a reason. It was just too difficult to decipher with his mind as weak and as unclear as it was.

“Where am I?,” he managed to eke out with a thick and gravelly voice that sounded to him like it belonged to someone else.

The woman put her index finger to her lips. “Shh.”

He hadn’t tried to sit up until then.  When he did, a pain shot through his skull.  It felt like a knife had been shoved into it at the base of his neck and then was twisted upward toward his eyes.

He laid his head back. “Damn.”

“It’s best to stay still,” the woman said in a voice that he knew that he should recognize, but he just couldn’t place it.  “If you stay still and prove worthless to them, you will be released much faster.”

“Them?” he managed to say. “Who are they? Where am  I?”

“It’s not safe to talk,” she whispered.  “Just lay quiet for now.  I’ll come back later when it’s safe and answer what questions I can.”

Before he could say more, the door opened and several very tall, narrow people entered the room.  As three males and one female stood closer to him, he was able to see that they resembled the strange alien woman who he’d encountered in the woods in body makeup and height. Remembering the examination table at the end of the room, he felt the first signs of genuine panic.  Was he prisoner of the aliens and about to be dissected?

His mind told his legs and torso to move him off of the cot and run as fast as he could, but his body refused to respond.  The only movable part of his body was his head, and, then, when he moved it, he experienced such an intense pain that he strove to keep it still.

“Move him to the table,” said the male closest to him.  His commanding  voice had the same echo in it as had the female that he’d encountered in the woods.

Rex’s eyes flew wide open, but he was powerless to stop them from transferring him from the cot to a gurney and wheeling him to the table at the far end of the room.  He shuddered from the impact of the cold steel on his bare flesh when his body was unceremoniously hoisted onto the foreboding table.

He considered asking for his freedom, but from the way things were going knew the futility of the request.  Besides, something deep inside of him refused to allow him to show them any more weakness than he’d already shown.  Perhaps it was his pride. Or, perhaps it was something else that his psyche had picked up on.  He didn’t know.  He just knew that he’d endure whatever it was that they had planned and then kill as many of the ugly creatures as he could, once he figured out how to escape.

With his mind set on showing no fear, he looked around at his surroundings. It was then that he noticed another table next to him.  It held a faceless body of a male.  While the rest of the body was covered in flesh, the face was left uncovered so that he was able to see the computer workings inserted in the skull.

He caught his breath as they hooked tubes into the lifeless, faceless body and then coupled those tubes to the ones attached to him. Then, one of the alien men laid down on a table on the opposite side of the lifeless form and similar hoses were connected between the body and the alien.

The world seemed abstract and distant as Rex watched his rich, red blood being pumped into the lifeless form while a green liquid was going through the tube into it from the alien male. It wasn’t long before exhaustion overtook him and he was forced to close his eyes.

When he awoke again, he was alone in what looked to him like a prison cell. He even wore a jumpsuit like one that might be worn by an inmate.  There were bandages on his arm, the heart area of his chest, his stomach, and his groin.  He was able to move, but he was stiff and sore to the point of being in pain.   He cautiously unzipped the front of his jumpsuit and peeked beneath the bandage on his stomach and saw that his flesh had been cut and stitched.  He found similar conditions beneath the other bandages.

Remembering the lifeless body on the table next to him being pumped full of his blood and what he assumed was the alien’s blood, he sat quietly and closed his eyes once more.  He’d been drugged and robbed of a significant amount of blood.  He suspected he’d also had bits and pieces of him removed.   Or, at the very least, tampered with.  As much as he wanted to look for a way to get free, he knew that his body needed time to recover.  He had no choice than to rest and hope that they fed him with sufficient food and water to allow him to heal quickly.  Then, he’d find a way to get free and back to his family.

The door to his cell opened and the same familiar looking woman entered pushing a cart that contained a tray of food.  Even if he had planned on refusing their food, his stomach wouldn’t have allowed it.  He’d had only a small bit of rabbit over the course of a few days and his body was demanding sustenance, no matter the circumstances.

Their eyes connected and, once again, he felt that tug of familiarity.

“I feel like we know each other,” he said as he pulled the rolling cart close to him.

A small tear slid down her face. “Have I changed that much?”  When he looked at her in surprise, she quickly said, “I know I have.  I am soon to die and I look it.”

“I’m sorry?”  he said with confusion.

“It’s me. Melissa.  Your wife,”  she said in a voice that was just above a whisper.

He’d only just begun chewing the clump of nutrient dense bread that he’d greedily shoved into his mouth when she made that statement. Swallowing from shock, the bread stuck in his throat.  He forcefully coughed in an effort to dislodge it while she pounded him in the middle of his back.  Once he was no longer in danger of choking to death, he settled back and took a good look at the woman who’d claimed to be his deceased wife.

“You have me mistaken for someone else. My wife and children died a few years ago,” he said as gently as he could while he searched for the words for his next sentence. “Plus, she was considerably younger than you are.”

“Jeffrey lives and Jeanne survived for a while until…,” she looked away as she briskly wiped at her face.

His brows knitted together with confusion and concern.  Those were the names of his children, and Melissa was the name of his wife, but this woman, although seeming familiar, looked to be at least forty years older than his wife was.  Besides, he’d witnessed her death….

Hadn’t he?

“Jeanne survived until what?”  he pressed.  He had no idea why he needed her to continue with her bizarre story.  He just did.

Melissa clasped her hands together in front of her as a way to help keep them from shaking as she muttered, “Until they ate her.”  Then, without waiting for him to comment, she continued with, “They’ve slowly drained the blood and life from both me and your son.  They force us to drink some type of sludge daily.  It keeps us alive longer.  We age, as you can see, until we eventually die.  I’ll be dead soon.  I can feel it.”

“I don’t understand,” he said with true confusion.

“You will soon enough,”  she said as she started from the room. “They’ve made their first cyborg in your image.  It will take a few more before you start to age.   Although, I heard whispers that they plan on breeding you for a while.  It seems they like your body’s build.  If that’s the case, you won’t be making too many cyborgs and will live longer. I don’t know if that’s a blessing or a curse.”  As she pulled the door behind her, she said over her shoulder, “I’ll send Jeffrey in to say ‘hello’ as soon as I can.”