Psyche v. 2.0

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zombiiiez

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Sophie woke up with her head pounding - she hadn't had a migraine like this in years. Her mind seemed to be in a stupor, and when she went to sit up, she felt her body couldn't respond to what her brain was telling it to do. She frowned, eyes still shut, and tried again, but there was no change.

Finally she opened her eyes to the bright lights suspended above her, and a searing pain raged through her head, and made her feel sick.

"Subject P23-10 coming to. Vitals stable."

Sophie frowned again, her stomach rolling around inside her. She was freezing, as if a cold winter wind had whipped right through her and directly into her bones. The last thing she remembered was sitting in a room full of other people around her age. They were testing something... She licked her lips to formulate words, but her voice cracked when she tried.

"Stay calm," said an authoritative voice. "Try to relax."
 
Jesus H Christ, I feel like a bloody train wreck...

​Craking open his cobalt eyes, Sean awoke to a room - quite a remarkable one at that. Remarkable, in the sense that there was extremely little to be perceived as remarkable. Although, now that he strained his eyes, he could discern that the entire area was sterile. Not just clean - sterilised to the point of pathogen genocide. Not really caring to dwell on something so menial, Sean heaved himself up, nearly falling onto his rump when a voice sounded.
"Test subject SBP-242 is stable and conscious. Please calm yourself and exercise common sense until further instructions."
A mechanical voice, yet human - obviously, this was part of a routine drilled into their head, and they didn't particularly feel they liked it. Nevertheless, Sean complied, and sat on the bed's edge.
 
Sophie turned her head and blinked her eyes a few times to clear the blurriness from her vision. The room wasn't a small hospital room... more like a government hospital warehouse. There were raised tables arranged in a perfect grid, each with a single person on them, all hooked up to machines exactly like the ones Sophie found herself attached to. It was coming back to her... the testing, the facility claiming that nothing would go wrong. This couldn't be right... why would they need to restrain the test subjects?

"Wh..What is this?" She croaked. "My name is Sophie..."

"Again, try to stay calm. You are in restraints as a precaution. You may be experiencing side-effects of the drug, such as headache, nausea, fever, etc. You will be transferred to a holding room so we can monitor your progress. Your vitals are being processed and as soon we see that you are fully conscious, we can begin booking. We're going to take these restraints off now, can you sit up?" Sophie nodded and they unclasped the cuffs around her ankles, wrists, and torso. Sophie pushed herself up and swung her legs over the table and immediately felt light headed, but kept looking around. Others were waking, a few others were already sitting up.
 
As it happened, Sean was still restrained, and had only managed to rise partially. However, he eventually had his restraints off, and forced himself up - with no small measure of effort, one might add. The speech that was delivered unto him had little effect on his mind's state, his brain itself still unable to process quite what was happening. He did, however, manage to make out that he was supposed to sit up, and attempted to do so. All he manaed to do, was give himself further grief, by increasing the severity of how hard his head hurt. His bleary gaze wandered, settling and observing each person, though he spent more than the usual moment or two on Sophie. He did not know who she was nor did he care. But she seemed to be looking around as well. He was asked if he could stand - he tried, and fell over. People were told not to run before they could walk, but nobody mentioned crawling before they could walk.
 
Sophie watched Sean rise, and then fall as her vision seemed to tunnel. Her head throbbed even more, and the blurred vision returned and went black. She put her hands back to support herself, but fell onto her side onto the table, however she managed to stay conscious.

"P23-10 showing signs of fatigue, collapsed on table, still conscious. Continuing drip fluids via IV, moving to holding cell in T-minus 5 minutes." The doctor handed her a glass of water and helped her sit up again. Sophie sipped the water - it was ice cold, and sent waves of shivers throughout her already feverish, clammy body.

"We need you to sit up again, please," urged the doctor, putting his hand behind her back and pushing her upright. "Drink that, and try to stand. If you don't start moving, your recovery may take longer."
Her head still swirling, Sophie let her bare feet touch the floor, and only then noticed the hospital gown she was wearing. Everything was so damn cold. Slowly, she shifted her weight off the table and onto the floor, again looking to Sean, checking on his progress. As she rose, her legs trembled and she swayed, but a nurse steadied her, urging her to take a few steps.

Fighting the urge to pass out again, she finished her water, and slowly stepped one foot forward. She couldn't tell if she was trembling more from cold, or from the fatigue, and she grasped tightly to the nurse's arm.
 
Sean, despite his not-very-powerful build, still managed to hold his own when he was determined. With the support of a member of staff, he managed to rise shakily to his feet, grunting with the effort required for such and ordinary task. It was humiliating, for him - it was such a menial job, but he was proving unable to achieve even such a simple goal. In the end, however, he collected himself enough to manage himself, and used the staff member's arm as a support for his recovering body. Letting his gaze wander once again, he looked to Sophie, observing how she was doing. Truly, all sorts of people had been taken - granted, they all had roundabout the same number of years under their respective belts, but some seemed to look older than others. For some, it was purely physical. Othes just looked as if they had seen too much. It was a mixed bag, but he had other things to worry about.
Like not falling over again.
 
(Sorry for the delayed response - I had a meeting to take care of, and I work in half an hour for about 3 or 4 hours. Just letting you know.)

Slowly but surely, Sophie made her way to the hallway. It was lined with cells (OOC: the ones we talked about, but not the ones for the insane...). Above the hallway doors was a sign that read in the most unfeeling font, "Holding Area."

"You'll find a bed, a toilet, and a sink with bedding stored in your closet," said the nurse, opening the sliding glass door. She ushered Sophie in and sat her down on the bed.

"How long must I stay?" Sophie questioned, rubbing her temples in a feeble attempt to relieve some of the pain. "Will I get to talk to any of the others?"

"You will, in time," was all she got as a response, and with that, the nurse left the cell, and shut the door with a "thhnk." Vacuum sealed... Sophie took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, and she looked up past the glass into the hallway, watching the others pass by just as slowly and painstakingly as she had. Something didn't feel right... but she had no choice but to trust those in charge. As she rubbed her temples, she moved her fingers up into her hair, caressing her scalp. It was then that she discovered a tiny sutured wound on her head - no more than two staples. It was painful to the touch, and she winced.

"What the hell...." she groaned, frowning. What was that thing? Why had they needed to mess with her head? A quick panic overcame her, and she started breathing slightly heavier than usual, but calmed herself. She wasn't the only one in her position. At least, she hoped...
 
Sean, being the person he was, was not phased much by the staple-like wounds present upon his scalp. He simply poked at them, rubbing them a little, before eventually losing interest in the - seemingly menial - disposition. It wasn't doing anything, even if his handler did look uneasy as he investigated it.
"All facilities needed for you to survive are located in your room," they said, evidently not wanting to be there, "And will be cleaned on a scheduled basis."
"Uh-huh."
"You will be allowed to socialise in due time. For now, you are to remain in your living quarters."
What a fancy way of saying cell.
Sean, as dauntless as ever, simply lay back on his bed, attempting to recover any lost energy he had had, and keep his headache from turning into something he would never wish upon a tired, confused soul. The rest of the room was explained to Sean, who barely seemed to be listening, but observed nonetheless. He had decided to take things as they came, and if that meant just being bored to the brink of insanity, then it was his problem. Some may have felt like animals, given the 'cages' and the 'Holding Area' sign, but he didn't even seem to mind.
 
Sophie slept through the rest of the day and night, hardly waking when the attendants came in to check the vitals and dole out various medications.

She woke next to the sound of the cell door gliding open with a hiss, and not one, but two attendants stepping into the cell. She sat up, pulling the hospital gown tightly around her. Her head still ached, but it was quite subdued. The cold, however, had not cleared up in the least - she could still feel it deep in her bones, as if her marrow now produced iced blood cells. She shivered, and noticed that her breath vaporized in front of her momentarily before disappearing into the cell.

"Is there any way you guys could turn up the heat? Is there any need for it to be almost to freezing?" she questioned impatiently.

The two men exchanged glances. "I'm sorry, miss. There's nothing we can do. If you would, please take these--" he handed her a small cup with a couple pills in it, "--and come with us. All of your questions will soon be answered." It was then that Sophie noticed that their breath did not show itself the way hers did. She shook her head, wondering if hallucination was a side-effect of the drugs they'd been testing. She didn't want to make a fuss, and she rose to her feet. Her legs, still somewhat weakened, trembled slightly, but she found her footing and strength much more easily than before.

Pulling the thin cloth of the gown tighter around herself, she approached them, and allowed them to take her by the arms at the elbows. She assumed it was to steady her.

"That's really not necessary. I--"

"Just a precaution," interrupted one of them.

"But I--"

"Miss, it is in your best interests not to put up a fight."

Sophie's stomach gave an uncomfortable pang, but she swallowed it back, giving into their wishes as they led her out into the hallway.
 
Sean was not sure whether he felt cold or not.
Truth be told, he wasn't sure of a lot of things when he woke up, opting to just sit on his bed and ponder such problems. When it came to him being collected, he was found staring into nothingness, refusing to pay any attention whatsoever to his surroundings. It wasn't that he was scatterbrained - he knew exactly what he was thinking. It was just that he had a level of boredom with his current situation. He felt lightheaded, however, and this managed to impede his thought process - as did the men arriving to have him take the pills. Upon being instructed to, he swallowed them with no measure of any notable reaction, except for maybe a small retch - he did that sometimes, when attempting to swallow pills. He didn't even fight back as he was dragged off, nor did he say anything - he was too busy wondering what breakfast would be.
 
They led her to what looked to be a mess hall, four long tables in the center of the room. The food smelled decent, but nothing good. It was then Sophie realized how hungry she really was, and she took her tray of supplied food - scrambled eggs, maybe a piece of burnt bacon, and soggy buttered toast - and took a seat towards the end of one of the tables. She looked around at the other test subjects, making eye contact with them briefly before looking away. A few girls smiled weakly at her and took their own places amongst the tables. Others looked grim and sat quietly. Some seemed totally oblivious as they discussed their side effects and the strange sutured or stapled wounds on their heads.

Sophie looked around for the man she'd seen before, the one who'd fallen over as he was getting up, as she hungrily downed her food and gulped the water they'd given to the subjects. Guards lined the walls around the mess hall, watching silently as they ate. This made Sophie uneasy. There was something sinister in the way they loomed, their arms crossed, their dark eyes seemed mixed with judgements and perhaps nervousness as they stood surveying the scene.
 
Drawn to nowhere in particular by the inescapable force of his absent-mindedness, Sean meandered aimlessly amongst the tables, paying little attention to where he was going, or who bothered to notice him. He did not know many people in the area - the ones he did were people he'd talked with out of boredom. Sophie had not been one of them, but nevertheless, something seemed to draw him to her, even though he was not paying the slightest bit of attention to where he was going. To be in such a situation, yet with such a mindset, could have required strict discipline - yet, boredom was the more immediate feeling in him, prompting nothing but him seeking ways of killing time.
"Is this seat taken?"
He asked Sophie, having finally decided to eat the breakfast before it became even less edible, and had decided upon the seat closest to him. It was merely a coincidence that his lack of attention brought him there, but coincidences are more common than one thinks.
 
She shook her head. "No. Go for it," she responded. She held out her hand to shake. "Sophie," she said with a smile that held the air of a smugness to it. She turned her head to examine the guards once more.

"See those guys?" she motioned to them. "Do you suppose that kind of supervision is really necessary?"
 
An eyebrow was cocked at such an air, but it was quickly disregarded - the matter seemed too boring to pursue, and if it was boring, he left it be. However, the topic of the guards' supervision was a different kettle of fish entirely. Sophie had a point - what did they need such enhancement to sight for?
"Well..." he said, downing a mouthful of something tasting vaguely like scrambled egg, "Come to think of it, this is a pretty big mess hall..."
Sean shook his head a moment after, tossing the thought out. It was a fairly stupid one, one that had been made and destroyed on a whim. He seemed to stare blankly at the people containing them, now that they had caught his interest, and looked over their uniform beings.
 
"I didn't get your name," she said. She pushed her plate away from herself, feeling slightly ill from it, and looked around at the other 'inmates.' "I feel like a convict," she said quietly, folding her arms. "How have they treated you so far?"

She smiled to another test subject as she walked by and shivered again. Her breath wasn't visible anymore, and the cold inside her seemed lessened, somehow. Maybe the side effects were wearing off. She looked to Sean again, resisting the urge to ask him a million questions a minute. He seemed far more level-headed than she, and so far, he was the only acquaintance she had that wasn't adorning some sort of lab coat, face mask, or officer's uniform. It would be in her best interests to keep him around, for her sanity's sake.
 
Keeping Sean around to stay sane was a double-edged sword, when it boiled down to it. While he was sociable enough, if you interested him sufficiently, the likelihood that he would spurt out offhand and/or nonsensical drivel was quite notable. Irrespective of such a tendency, he was still human, and he was still susceptible to the effects of being friendless. Thus, in the knowledge that he may not get another chance to actually speak to someone as an equal, he introduced himself. Though he did not push away his plate - he was too busy thinking to concern himself with trivial matters of taste. He had not felt sick from it, nor did he feel particularly bad - however, his limbs did seem to seize up a little, and they also seemed to be a little heavier than he remembered it. He had merely put it down to not really feeling well - and still did.
"Treatment? To be fairly honest, I haven't been paying much attention so far. My head hurt for a while and my limbs still feel heavy. I might have fallen asleep while they were dragging me off... Huh."
A seemingly brainless response, but not from a brainless person. "Sean, if you're interested. May I ask your name?"
 
"Heh, my name is Sophie, as I said before," she said, raising an eyebrow. "You seem pretty nonchalant, given the circumstances. Have you found the staples on your head yet? I find them a bit odd considering we were told that our purpose was to try out a psychotropic drug--"

It was then that a man's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Good morning, all. Welcome to the first day of the studies. You will be briefed on what is required of you shortly. Please finish your breakfasts and escort yourselves back to your rooms. There you will be collected in groups and taken to specific areas to begin your tests. If you find you are unable to safely make it to your rooms, one of our guards will escort you."

The guards stepped forward, circling the tables as the inmates began to rise and head back to the hall.

"They don't tell us much..." she said to Sean quietly as she rose. Members of the kitchen staff came in to collect the plates and various members of the test subjects were taken by their arms and helped back towards the holding area.
 
"Head staples, huh? So that's what they are."
In a maneuver that was essentially tempting fate, he poked the items embedded in his cranium, and even rubbed it a little. He'd at east find out what it did, if it went wrong in his head. He knew it might be able to kill him, but this hardly concerned him as he did what he pleased. All throughout the announcement, he failed to listen properly, only catching various snippets. Sean stood slowly up, seeming to deliberate over whether he should, or just let himself be dragged away to save effort. He didn't really care for exerting himself, but he saw need to stay up at this point in time. That was Sophie, naturally - he had somebody to talk to, and sleep only passed so much time. "I don't suppose they would. I don't recall them telling us about this ever being in the contract, so..."
 
Sophie watched him feel for the staples intently before she began to leave. It was then that she noticed an official approaching them with a stern, grim look on his face.

"Sean, stop. I think we're in trouble," she warned, gesturing towards the official. He wasn't alone. He was followed by two armored officers, both with shields and face masks and weapons.

"You two, get back to your holding cells," he said grimly. "I would prefer not to use excessive force." The two armored men shifted to acknowledge themselves, glancing between Sophie and Sean.

"Excuse me, but I think we have a right to know what exactly is going on here. What happened to us? We were told we were going to be experimenting with a substance, not undergoing neuro-surgery," Sophie retorted. Suddenly, a searing pain shot through her skull, and seemingly into her brain. Instinctively, she threw her hands up and clasped her head, letting out a shriek of agony as a high-pitched ringing in her ears brought her down to her knees. She crouched into the fetal position and the cold feeling returned to her bones. Her breaths came in gasps and pants, vaporizing as it had done before.

But just as quickly as it started, the pain and whistling ceased, and she was left in a limp pile on the floor still clinging her head. When she opened her eyes, she noticed the ground next to her lips was covered in a crystalline frost.
 
Sean, not usually prone to sudden and instinctive actions, rushed to Sophie, ignoring the fact that her breaths had spontaneously begun to vaporise before him. Though he noticed the rapidly-cooling air around him, he did not care, and knelt down to see if she was still all right. He was no genius, when it came to surgery - but when a pair of staples suddenly crop up on your head, and one of your new friends sinks to the floor, it didn't take Einstein to put two and two together. His theory that the two were linked was sketchy at best, but the deathly glare in his eyes was nothing but unmistakable in its fury. Despite this sudden development, however, his first priority at this point was Sophie.
"Sophie? What happened?"
His voice - so as not to cause more head pain - was quiet, and reserved. He couldn't afford to be desperate.
 
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