Part 8

Excerpt: I cupped my mouth and fell backward, It was there, half buried in the cold, shallow waters of the creek, it was there that I espied the doctor’s gruesome, nay vile remains."

Part VIII.

The doctor and I separated, and began a frantic search for McLauren. It had come to light, that he had escaped in search of his wife.

Fraunbach warned him of the strength he possessed in his indestructible limbs, we had received a call later that his wife was found dead, it seemed almost squeezed to death. McLauren had not returned to us. Fraunbach’s only thought is that McLauren most have run off into the woods, for no one had seen him. 

Night came, and I had not heard any news from Fraunbach. My pulse was quickening and I feared the worst. The anger and grief of McLauren, seeing what he had done may have proliferated some type of delusional madness in his brain.

I went out in the woods in search of either of them, a terrible storm was brewing. I pulled my collar close, as trees rattled and thunder racked the ground and skies, causing the very heavens to tremble in fear. 

My instincts only compelled me to continue onward. I was soaked through my lab coat, and water sloshed to the tip of my boots. Before me, I could hear the roar of a river, I drew my lantern close to the banks. I cupped my mouth and fell backward, It was there, half buried in the cold, shallow waters of the creek, it was there that I espied the doctor’s gruesome, nay vile remains. My throat and stomach lurched, I cupped my mouth, should all my insides expel. I turned my head away, and fought it hard, my fingers gripped the outline of my face, I couldn’t help but sob. 

When I came to my senses I stood there, and began to think long and hard. The doctor was gone, there was no sense is staying here. There was only solution. I was in such distraught, I did not know how to commence. Yet, if it was one thing  that rang true. The man should not be allowed to live. But, was he man? What had McLauren become? These questions transversed through my head. The doctor’s work was so intricate, so delicate. Only Fraunbach himself could tell me. Did he really convert the brain into a microchip, or was it merely a copy of his brain’s electrical shocks and impulses?

I recalled the doctor standing over McLauren;

“ Now, McLauren. You must understand this. After this operation you will no longer be considered a man. You will have become a machine, a bipedal robot. Do you understand? As your physician, if I feel any indifference or hostility I have the right to immediately detach the chip from the body.”

I shivered, the beast had more than enough strength to destroy me before I’d ever reach the chip. Yet, I understood, that is what must be done. McLauren was no longer master of his own mind.