///On Hiatus\\\ [Stories That Never Took Off]

[redolent] Chapter 3: The Pentium

Around five years ago, an epidemic like never before hit Earth. The virus attacked each cell, slicing through each delicate membrane and into the heart of the nucleus it implanted it's own DNA. Completely overtaken, the immune system was useless as the virus began multiplying within it's host in a matter of seconds. But the virus didn't stop there. It changed people.

They became monsters.

Unrecognizable. Indestructible.

Albino white skin and cold red eyes. Under their thin white skin, you could see webbed veins carrying black blood. Any hair on their body was gone, leaving clear unblemished skin that was as hard as steel.

They became monsters.

Elongated teeth thirsted for blood and carnage. Nails became lethal, each curved weapon as sharp as knives.

They became monsters.

Intelligence hadn't eluded their evolution. Instead, they were tactical. They organized and planned sieges on nearby towns. They waited. They watched.

Then they attacked.

They became monsters.

It was chaos. A trail of death in their wake. Humans trembled in their houses, waiting for night fall, and then the terror would begin.

But the scary thing was, was a truth no one could deny.

They were indeed human.

They were what humans would become.

Mindless, violent, animalistic.... Monsters.

~ ~ ~ ~

Redolent was created.

She awoke, her pupils of liquid fire scanning across the metal table she was laying on . She picked herself up slowly off the icy chrome surface, taking in her surroundings like her first gulp of fresh air. She breathed in, aware of her paper-like lungs inflating, brushing against the metal rotators implanted inside of her. It was eery, how are she was that the air was flooding into her bloodstream, circulating around her body in silver veins. Her brain sparked as the door in front of her swung open cautiously. She tensed and immediately surveyed the room, like it was an instinct to escape. It was a pristine white room, blinking LED lights flashed angrily at her. Monitors of complicated algorithms sat watching her, inputting the slightest action from her into a vault of data. Her eyes trailed up the multiple wires surrounding her body and she studied the blackened screen that monitored all vital signs.

She was silent as the room filled in front of her.

They told her she was created to save Earth. She was created to kill the Pentium-- the monsters plaguing the human race at all costs. At the mention of them, pictures flashed before her very eyes. Startling images accompanied by statistics and information that flooded her system. She blinked and the images vanished. Her sight was ringed with red tick-marks, it instantly computed anything within her vision. Tiny circles enclosed any object she focused on, information automatically streaming for her knowledge. With a flick of her head, the words vanished again, leaving her staring at the scene in front of her in perfect clarity.

She listened to their words. The terror rang in their flying octaves. All eyes were on her, they all watched her like she was their god. Like a deity. Their embodiment of hope.

"Do you understand?"

Their question hung in the air like a heavy thundercloud.

"I understand." But she smiled. It was an eery smile of the sickest delight. The scientists forced themselves to smile back, their worries rocketing with a feeling of unease in the air.