The Subtleties Of Spiders

A Chapter by Vincent

the first chapter in my story. wouldn't mind any criticism

It was dark.

I tried opening my eyes, but closed them immediately. The bright white light above me blinded me almost instantly. I could feel myself laying on my back on something metal, and a strange beeping noise right next to me.

The first thought I could remember for the longest amount of time came into my head at once. It screamed Who am I?

My heart beat seemed regular enough, even though I could barely move. The most I could manage seemed to be the ability to breathe.

I heard talking from somewhere to my right, everything sounding as if I was underwater.

“He’s awake, sir. Should I discontinue use of the anesthetic and prepare him for the tests?” a voice said far to the left. It sounded like a woman. After a few seconds, the voice said “I understand. I’ll begin immediately.”

Forcing my eyes open, I was able to make out the woman’s shape putting a receiver for a phone onto the hook and hanging it up in the blinding glare. I watched as the figure approached me and reached to the machine above me, pressing a few buttons to make it whir to a stop. Immediately, I felt a change in my body, it becoming more alert. I still had no clue what was going on, who I was, or where I was. But I was finally able to move after a few more moments.

“Sit up, please,” the woman said. I did as she told me and sat up groggily, taking in my environment. From what I could see, I was in something like a hospital room, except a metal cot for a bed and it was a small room also resembling an emergency room surgical bay. There were various instruments on the counter to the left of the room, none of which I knew the name to. I was wearing hospital scrubs and had nothing on my feet.

The woman was in a lab coat and had hospital scrubs underneath it. She had short cut brown hair and wore eyeglasses over hazel irises, a thin face and clear skin with a pointed nose and high cheekbones. She was beautiful, but definitely not my type. My guess was she’s a doctor.

The doctor checked my vitals and then removed the needles from my arms that I hadn’t even realized were there. Man, I was really out of it. And I still didn’t know my own damn name.

After hours of various tests, some checking my vitals and physical condition, they finally gave me something to go by. They called me “The Reaper”. Why? I have no idea. But at least I have an alias to go by.

The doctor brought me to a large room with a solitary chair in the middle. It looked like a dentist’s chair, just more metal, higher technology, and it had straps for the arms and legs. There were various wires attached to the back of the chair and it connected to a base on the floor.

“Sit, Reaper,” the female doctor said. So I did.

Then I heard a conversation passing the door to the room between two scientists.

“Did you hear about Reaper?” a voice said. It sounded male.

“Yeah, it’s a shame they’re gonna drain his blood and kill him. He seemed really promising for the gene trials,” said another.

“They already put it into him, didn’t they?”

“Oh, I forgot that. I guess he’s a failure then.”

The conversation happened as my right arm was being strapped into the chair. Then my body kicked itself into overdrive.

I reached up and grabbed the stethoscope around the woman’s neck and yanked her down towards the floor, bringing my knee up and smashing it into her forehead. Then, while she was dazed, I stomped on her head until she was unconscious. There was blood seeping out from her nose and mouth, and I might have cracked her skull, but I couldn’t have worried about such trivial matters right then.

I unlatched the restraint and dragged her body into the right hand corner of the room, away from the door and against the wall the door is on, putting her in a position where no one could see her from outside of the room.

That’s when I started taking my surroundings in slowly. There was a single metal table next to me with a bunch of papers on it, and cabinets next to it. I checked the cabinets and saw a bunch of hospital scrubs, which would be no use to me since everybody in the facility knew me. Then I looked at the documents on the table, seeing what information could be provided.

Delving into the small pile that was in front of me, I found it had an entire profile on some important doctors while the final page was about someone, last name Redgrave, first name Ranscion. Alias? Reaper.

At least I had found out who I was instead of wandering with an idiotic nickname like Reaper. But why not keep it? I was already pissed off that these people wanted to kill me. They had used me like a lab rat, and like a good lab rat I offered no resistance. I don’t think I deserved any kind of death from these a******s.

But because of this, I decided it was time to take the offensive edge. This time, they were the rats and I was the cat stalking the halls for prey. Gazelle waiting for the lion to strike them down.

I recalled one particular experiment they performed on me, involving the gene altering procedure. It had turned my nails black, but somehow they were sharper than steel from what I understood. Painful experiment, but it had its ups and downs.

I searched the doctor’s pockets and pulled out four twenty-dollar bills and a set of keys. One key that stood out had a “Ford” label on it. I took it off and stuffed it in the pocket of the hospital clothes I wore and crept up to the door. Right when I decided I would peek out, I heard footsteps. They sounded heavy, kind of like a pair of big boots and a couple hundred pounds behind them. I was off slightly. It was two pairs of boots. My guess was guards on their patrol. They stopped in front of the room. I heard them approaching slowly as I crouched and prepared for them.

As soon as their faces entered the room, I sprung up, wrapping my legs around the neck of one of the guards, twisting sideways and toppling him on the other guard, dazing them for a few seconds before they could act. Using one hand, I slashed my nails at the throat of the guard that fell, causing a spray of arterial blood to shower the ceiling, as the other guard scrambled to the side and tried to get his radio up. He hit the comm switch on the radio and all he could get out was “Reaper is…” before I grabbed him by the throat and squeezed both my hands, crushing his windpipe in a matter of seconds. The fragment of a sentence was enough though, because soon after, the alarm sounded throughout the building.

F**k, I thought. I wanted to do this with minimal contact. Oh well, more fun for me.

I searched the bodies of the two guards to find weapons I could use and came up with a pair of Mark XIX Desert Eagles, each fully loaded with .50AE ammunition rounds, one extra clip from each body, and four flash grenades.

Right then and there I questioned what facility I was in that would require such powerful guns, but welcomed it because I needed a way out. I shoved the extra clips into one pocket and two grenades into another, leaving the other two behind because I didn’t have enough room to carry them.

I went up against the doorframe and shrunk to a crouch. Waited a total of five seconds and then looked into the hallway, seeing no one around. I ran down the hallway to the right and slid to a stop against the wall, the intersecting hallway becoming my next obstacle.

From what I could see, each hallway was bare and white, like an insane asylum. It was creepy and made even creepier from the absence of life. I saw absolutely no scientists or guards at all. So I gambled that all of the guards were at some form of an exit, blocking it from me so I couldn’t escape.

Well, I was right. After a while of traversing the hallways of the building, I turned a corner and found the elevator. Five armed guards were standing at the elevator doors, guns at the ready and aiming directly at me.

“Stop or we will fire, Reaper!” one of the guards yelled as I took cover behind the corner. “You have no way out. We have more armed guards approaching you from the rear as we speak.”

“Are you sure I have no way out?” I yelled back.

“Positive, now give yourself up!”

It was at that moment that I heard about ten pairs of boots approaching my position from the direction I just came in. Smiling, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the two flash grenades, pulled the pin off of both of them, and threw them. One to the hallway I came from and the other to the elevator doors.

As soon as I heard both groups cry in surprise, I ran to the elevator and hit the button, roundhouse kicking the nearest guard to the ground. I then reached to the second closest guard and slashed his face, striking his eyes and blinding him.

I pulled out the Desert Eagle and then went to finish the job by blasting all five guards through the torso, aiming to kill but not expecting the huge recoil.

As soon as the last shot fired, the elevator doors opened and let me on. I hit the button to the lobby as the blood settled and the flash lost its effect on the guards.

“We lost him, President Caine,” the leader of the guard squad said over the comms microphone.

“Is there any way to recover our lost property without bloodshed?” Caine replied.

“No sir. He has one of our handguns and is heading up to the lobby from the basement.”

“Let him go, then. We cannot risk any more of our men. You did a good job, Lieutenant Mordred.”

“Yes sir, thank you sir,” Mordred responded.

I had made it up to the lobby with no resistance from the guards and when I made it to my final stop, I knew I was free and clear. With no enemies in my path, I ran out of the doors to the lobby barefoot and threaded my way through the parking lot, using the remote on the car keys I had stolen from the doctor to find myself a ride out of that hell with eighty dollars in my pocket.

The car turned out to be a newer model Ford Mustang GT, looking as if it just came out of the factory. I quickly jumped into the car and started it up, backing out of the parking space and driving out of the lot as if I had done it a hundred times before.

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© 2012 Vincent

Author's Note

tell me what i can improve on please.

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Featured Review

Pat Rickard

I like it, it's very different. My only comment would be that I wished you had gone into depth a little more about his first outburst of violence. Not physically, you did a pretty damn fine job of that. Maybe a little hesitation before reaching for the Doctor's stethoscope, or a moment of reflection afterwards. Other than that, well done!

Posted 12 Years Ago

1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

12 Years Ago

the way i looked at it was if there was any time for hesitation or reflection, it was just pushing h.. read more

Reviews

André-J-Franklin

Can't criticize this is was very well done. Reaper he's earn that name and this is only chapter one. Imagery, grammar,and structure is are on point. I applauded you keep this thrilling story going.