S.M.A.R.T. (The Subject of Mind Altering Research and Testing)

Chapter Seventeen

The halls got smaller in some spots and opened up in others. He could barely squeeze himself through some of the tighter spots. The cobwebs were everywhere, and stuck to his face as he went through. It reminded him of catacombs. He pushed his way through the musty cement paths, until he finally came to a small room with a large breaker box. The large steel doors creaked as he pull them open. The sound echoed and bounced through the tunnels, and he heard rats and nice scurry around, startled.

The switches in the box were all labeled to the rooms in the facility. He saw his office, Michael's wing, the med ward, the Guards ward, and every other room in the facility, including, right in front of him, storage room one, where the pills were. He flipped the master switch, and the switch to the storage room at the same time. He could hear stomping coming from above him. This is too easy. He waited about five minutes, and then switched the master back on, but left the storage room off, and made his way back through the tunnels. He emerged from the oubliette to find people frantically searching for him.

"Sir!" One of his nameless guards shouted. "We've had a power failure."

"You don't think I noticed?" The General snapped at him. "Find me somebody competent, and send them to my office."

"Uhm, yes, sir." The guard said vacuously, and turned to trot off down the hall like a buffoon.

Imbecile... The General made his way back through the halls and was stopped three more times for people to state the obvious about the blackout, before he made it to the hall with the storage room. The door was still creased open. He opened the door and entered the black room. The cameras can't see me now. He pulled out a leather bag, slightly bigger than the size of his fist, and walked over to the newest shipment. He carefully opened the box.

He reached his hand inside and pulled out a bottle full of the white and blue candy. He felt his pulse rising, and a sinking feeling take over his insides. This is wrong. This is going to get me killed.--- No. This is what I need to do. I will rise up with this, and the leaders of this project will see my true potential. He poured the bottle into the bag, pulled the laces on the sack tight, and put the box back, before leaving the room and shutting the door firmly.

He made one more trip down to the basement before returning to his office, to turn the breaker to the storage room back on. He had done it. He had them in his possession. Now it was only a matter of time.

The General made his way back to his office and found Gus waiting for him. How did I know he would run to Gus? I should give all of them one of these and maybe they'd be useful. Hah. It probably wouldn't do anything to their tiny rat brains.

"Gus. What seems to be the problem?" The General asked as if he was sick of hearing it.

"Well, nothing, sir, I was told you wanted to see somebody."

"I did. I was going to get you to go down to the basements for me and check the breakers, but I took the liberty of doing it myself. You're welcome."

"Thank you, sir. Was everything alright?" Gus asked.

"Must have just been a rat chewing on one of the cords." The General replied.

"Damn rats. Alright sir, anything else?"

"Yes Gus, one thing. Find another man to help, and the two of you stand on guard outside of my wing tonight and see that nobody disturbs me. I plan on taking an early night."

"Yes, sir." Gus said, looking disappointed. It was his poker night, and he was looking forward to it. His scarred and hardened face never really changed, so he was good at it. Gus left the office and found Keg, his usually side-kick, and stood outside the General's wing.

The General sat in his office chair and fondled the bag of pills in his hands. He sat there staring at them, wondering why he hadn't volunteered himself to the testing of the pill. He was the credibility behind them presenting it to the military though. He finally loosed the string on the bag and popped a pill into his mouth. He washed it down with a swig of whiskey, and the feeling hit him.

The rest of the week the General took the pill every night, before starting to ration his doses. He only had a limited amount, although, the longer he kept Michael off of testing, the more he could take. He found himself consumed with the drug, and everybody else thought he was just drinking away his time while there was no testing. They didn't have the nerve to say anything, not that most would have cared if he drank himself to death one night. In fact, most would have secretly rejoiced, minus some of the guards.

He began to know quickly how to control the effects of the pill. He was finding every way he could to maximize his use of it, and he was becoming addicted to the knowledge, the same way Michael was. He would spend his days thinking about it, waiting for his release at night when he would shut his office doors and travel into what felt like another dimension.

He knew Michael would feel the same way, and it began to give him comfort knowing that he was likely strung-out in his cells, not being able to get a single pill. He decided he would hold off for a little while longer.

He started to think of different ways to expose Michael further when he did resume testing, and wrote down a whole page full of ideas, ranging from making him dodge baseballs, or forcing him to do dextrous climbs with the threat of fatally high falls, to stabbing him, and watching him make his body heal itself rapidly. None of his ideas would be fun for Michael. Most weren't just designed to force him to act, they were designed to break him.