- Doomsday - Volume One: Gods and Monsters

Chapter 7: [Y/N] Part. 1

I have started to adapt to this situation far better now that I had been here for nearly a year, not that it hasn't been difficult, and I'm still having that one nightmare. However, I have a goal, and I will reach that goal, and that nightmare will remain a fleeting memory in the mind of a small, scared and lost child.

Paul had been telling me about the rapid progress that they were going through in order to perfect the serum, promising that they wont do anything until the serum was finished, for our safety. But, I told him, "Wouldn't it be better for us to take it now rather than later?" My general thought process being the longer we have the serum in us the quicker we can adapt to it and can master it sooner. Paul looked at me with a smirk, "And have you all turned into gargoyles?" I let out a small laugh to which he joined. He continued "[Y/N], I know that you want to get on with this process but we have to make sure that everything is fine and won't immediately kill you, understand?" I nodded in response and that was the end of that conversation.

I felt quite lucky to have Paul. Many of the children here didn't have anyone here to talk with, nevertheless an adult who wants to help them. At the start I did have some suspicions that perhaps this was some sort of manipulation tactic from the scientists. An attempt to take on a parental role, but he seemed nothing but genuine and I could candidly say that I enjoy our discussions. However, his concern for my safety did appear to conflict with my goal of attaining further power. I asked if he could put in a word for fast tracking me. Paul, somewhat confused, refused, telling me that I had to wait for the trials to reach their conclusion.

While I hadn't really attempted to make many friends there were some people to whom I had formed a somewhat close bond with, a young boy and a girl around my age. The young girl's name was Gwen. She was only shorter than me by a small amount and had long, blonde hair. Generally sweet and polite but seemed quite shook up by the whole situation we were all stuck in, as many of us were. We ate together quite often. Afterwards, I imagined she must have believed I looked quite lonely and decided to sit with me one day. One thing I did note about Gwen was her intelligence, because she seemed to have a great amount for her age and the little outside media we could consume. She seemed well read and knowledgeable about general world events, and I admired her for it. Many lunches I would sit and simply listen to her rant about some geopolitical event that was significant and I would soak up the knowledge she bestowed upon me.

The only time we had any real falling out was when we had a discussion about Omnics. Gwen was talking about some protest for Omnics. In my mind, rightfully, I laughed at her statement, because the idea of giving ANY sort of help to the Omnics seemed idiotic after all that had happened over the last few years. We had a rather heated discussion, we said some bad things on either side and left that table angry.

That is a good opportunity to introduce my other friend, Harry. Harry was perhaps slightly older than me and slightly taller too. He would be considered quite handsome, well as handsome as an underfed ten year old could be, but he had many of the girls pining for his attention in the facility. Harry and I had sat together many times and, even though we didn't really have matching personalities. He was extroverted, I was introverted, he was more laid-back and care-free, I was more serious. We just became friends, as I would imagine happens sometimes, though not often. It felt nice to have someone I could depend on either way.

Harry had been able to sort out the differences between the two of us and we agreed to disagree, leaving the issue alone and never talked about it again. After that point, we spent most of our time together, talking about how one day we would all leave this place and eat a decent meal again, Gwen would always say that we would have Chinese, Harry wanted Italian, I was happy to be included.

Leading up to the day that we would all be given our injections and the 'Doomsday' serum, Harry and Gwen had professed to me that they were both somewhat nervous, and were confused on how I could remain so stone-faced. I didn't really want to go into detail behind my reasoning, but I explained how I WANTED to gain more strength, and with that strength I would be able to prevent anyone taking advantage of me ever again, thus I was relatively calm. Gwen called me stupid, Harry called me a badass, we all shared a laugh and continued on with our meal, with my little speech seemingly having inspired both of them at least in part.

We had all been lined up in multiple rows facing a large stand with many of the leading scientists standing up-top it, including 'Bitchtron', (a nickname that many of the younger kids had come up for him, and would only refer to him as) which got a small giggle out of Harry and Gwen. It got us a small chastising from one of the guards, but it did little to faze us. The lead speaker, one of the various scientists or guards here, we weren't really sure of, gave us a generally unenthused speech. When he got to the point where he talked about injections I could visibly see Gwen react to the statement, and could tell from her eyes that she was scared. A rather thoughtless response, and something I wouldn't generally do, I reached out and held her hand, attempting to reassure her, she snapped back to reality and blushed a slight bit. I gave her a reassuring glance which was returned with a small nod, then I let go. While something I wouldn't usually do, and somewhat embarrassing, I was more concerned with her at that moment.

As the speech came to a close, we were carolled out of the assembly room, into a long and windy corridor, for multiple minutes we went through different, but seemingly the same hallways. As the minutes built up, the tension and anxiousness grew from the crowd. I would be lying to suggest that I was completely fine, but I kept up my stoney facade. We eventually filed into one by one queues and were led into small rooms to receive our injections. I was relatively early up the line and would receive my injection soon. Before I entered the room I looked back at Gwen and Harry, and with a hardened expression, gave them a nod, and moved into the room.

The room had a generally same-y appearance to the rest of the facility, white walls, ceiling and tiled grey floor. In the centre of the room was an imposing black chair, lowered to allow a child to sit in it. Without being asked, I briskly moved over to the chair, earning a surprised look from the doctor, "Excellent, many of these young people require too much time and energy. I appreciate your straightforwardness", to which I responded with a quick nod. It took a minute or two for him to set up, it would seem like his last victim had made a mess of the room slightly in a struggle to restrain him. "These are the issues working with children'' he began, "Can't reason with them, have to use force to teach them how it works, that's the only way." He said ominously. While he was working I asked him, "Doctor, this serum, it will make me strong right? And I don't just mean like average strong, I mean strong enough to take on an army?" The doctor gave a small chuckle to my answer, "Well I don't know about an army, but you will definitely have the power to take on a group of adults, and with further exploration of your abilities, we theorise that you could get to a level where you could match an army, maybe even level a building, we aren't sure yet, as it entirely depends upon how your body responds to the serum."

I gave a nod and looked straight ahead of me, at the wall. The bone white wall. It was cold and unwelcoming and gave off an intense aura. Looking at these hallowed walls for this many months, I've learned something interesting, look into them long enough and they sucked you in. Not physically ofcourse, but mentally, the mindset you retain from this facility embedded itself upon you. I glared at the wall, I HATED these walls. These walls represented not only the autonomy that had been stolen from me but all the daily repression that me and my fellow candidates went through everyday. One day. One day, I will break through these walls.

While I had been absorbed in my thoughts I hadn't even noticed that I had been injected, and by the time I had noticed I had to leave to make way for the next person. It didn't really feel all that different, maybe a sore arm, but that was it.

As the day had wound down, and it was time to eat, Gwen, Harry and I all sat down at our usual table and began to dig in. Harry, ever jovial, was taking the centre off conversation, proclaiming his bravery in the face of such horrifying circumstances, Gwen laughed (with a somewhat deeper voice than normal, perhaps she had gotten a cold? This facility can be quite frigid in places), I responded by pointing out it was only a needle, and his face dropped, we all shared a laugh. Gwen sneezed at this point, Harry responded "Gesundheit", and I asked whether or not she was feeling alright, we dropped the issue and continued on with our meal.

That night I went to bed, and sat on my side, glaring at the wall. This wall took all my attention for a few hours and distracted me from the fact that I was slowly drifting asleep.

I didn't dream that night.