I woke up in, of all places, a cemetery. Creepy to say the least, although as I blinked my eyes a bit and could see that it was daytime, the creepiness factor went down a bit. I stood up slowly feeling a little nauseated. As I steadied myself I took a slow analytic look around. The cemetery wasn't very large as cemeteries go. I could spot a road traveling beside the cemetery. I followed the length of road with my eyes noting that it appeared to lead to a town in the distance.
I tried to focus my thoughts but everything seemed jumbled and foggy. I blinked a few more times trying to focus better and clear my head. I walked carefully through the graveyard making an effort not to step on the tops of any graves. Pointless maybe but I did it anyway.
I headed towards the small church-like building at the edge of the cemetery just this side of the road. Still trying to collect my thoughts and remember what I was doing here, I stepped up to the small tan door that led inside of the church and knocked. I waited a minute but no one answered. I looked around at the graveyard again, in order to see if I could spot a groundskeeper or the like. Nobody seemed to be anywhere in view.
I tried the door to see if it was unlocked. Surprisingly it opened fine. I took a step inside, letting the door swing shut behind me. A small white archway led into the main area of the church. I walked out from under the arch way to where the rows of benches led to a podium.
Suddenly a bout of nausea hit me again and I stumbled to my knees barely managing to catch one of the benches with my hand to prevent myself from falling completely down. I felt a sharp pain in my head as memories came rushing back.
"We have your next case Owen", project director Samuel Witiker was telling me after I was summoned to his office.
I patiently waited for him to continue. He willingly obliged.
"Subject is convicted spree killer Jock Harper, went on a 7 day long terror spree killing at random with seemingly no motive, body count of 15 people that we know of possible unknown victims as well since he claims a count of 29."
I nodded my understanding.
"We need you and your team to find out about any more possible victims that exist, and if there's anything else we should know about," The director continued.
I told him we'd do all we could and got up to leave.
I opened my eyes to see the church again. My thoughts were getting a bit clearer now. Things were making sense, I was put under and plugged into the REM machine. I realized I was in our current subject's mental world. I rose back to a standing position.
I walked over to the podium to look at what might be there. A small black book which I assumed was a Bible was laying on it. Other than that the podium was bare. I picked up the book and opened it flipping through the pages. Every single page was blank.
I closed the book and set it back down before stepping back down from the podium. The glass windows in the church were very ordinary and not painted or fancy like in some churches. I could directly see the town I had noted back in cemetery through one of them.
Realizing I probable wasn't going to learn anything else staying here, I made the decision to follow the road into town next. I exited the church and walked back through the graveyard once again being careful not to step on graves.
I went through the black Iron Gate on the fence around the cemetery and made my way to the side of the road. The road wasn't paved as I initially thought. The path was composed of loose gravel and sand which appeared to have not been replaced or worked on for ages.
Just as I was about to start walking down the road, a feeling like a lance going into my skull hit me and another bunch of flashes of memories hit me.
I was being strapped down into a metal table.
A lab scientist was hooking wires up to me.
I could see Jock Harper strapped down on the opposite side of the room and drugged into unconsciousness.
My team was secured down to identical tables next to mine and also drugged, albeit more willingly then Jock was.
The scientists were making last minute adjustments to the computers and wires and tubes that hooked all of us together with the large machine in the middle of the room.
Director Witiker was there as well reviewing over the objectives again.
Finally, a scientist injected me in the arm and I slowly lost consciousness.
The pain receded and I was able to collect myself again. Everything made sense now, for the most part. I needed to find out more about the subject's mental landscape, as well as find my team, before I could begin trying to extract the information I was tasked with finding.
I started walking again this time with a much clearer goal in mind.
