Endurance Page 9
The room was dark with red and green lights flickering all around the room, with TV monitors and what appeared to be sound systems as well.
As Tom continued to soundlessly approach the person in the chair, he noticed a CD with “Endurance Test” written on the top in thick black letters.
Tom walked behind the figure and looked down at him. He was asleep, and wore black trousers and shirt with a badge that said “security.”
Tom held the gun to the back of the man’s head, his finger hovering above the trigger. His decision made, he pulled the trigger. A loud bang vibrated throughout the room. Blood and fragments of brain splattered on the small TV screens. Part of the man’s head was gone. Tom looked at the body slouched in the chair. Blood was all over the gun, Tom’s hands and on his white suit.
Tom stepped away from the body. He looked at the CCTV screens. He saw his room. Miller was no longer on the floor or in the room. Tom quickly looked at all the screens trying to find Miller. He saw corridors, other rooms with people lying in beds, labs. With no sign of Miller on CCTV, Tom walked to the CD titled “Endurance Test” and picked it up. He looked around the room for a CD player and a TV. As he glanced around the dreary room, he spotted an opening. He strode over to find a smaller room with a tape, CD, DVD and video player with a TV.
Tom entered the room and shut the door. As he closed the door, keys jangled in the key hole. He quietly locked the door and turned to examine the equipment.
Tom pressed a button which said “power on” and the player turned on with a message, “Welcome.” Tom pressed the eject button and a slot opened for the CD. Tom laid the CD on the dish and pressed the eject button again and the tray closed. The machine made a whining and chugging sound, the TV changed channels and the CD began to play.
Ken Williams was the first person shown on the film. He began to talk to the camera.
‘I am Doctor Kenneth Williams and I am currently working on a project to experiment with a drug that has failed to cure cancer but has caused major side effects on humans to turn them into an aggressive wreck.’
I knew I was fucking right. Miller was a liar. I don’t have a kid, Anna is dead or at least I think she is. Lucy is in on this. Stuart is dead and Dan most likely is. Now I know the truth.
‘This footage you are about to observe is a series of recordings of the experiment I decided to implement using human participants. The aim of the Endurance test is to examine what humans are capable of doing in order to survive. This test will allow us to identify, by using futuristic equipment, the side effects of the drug.
On this CD, you will see a number of names. These names relate to particular recordings from the experiment, involving the subjects placed in the experiment. But first I need to explain what you are about to see.’ Ken paused, took a deep breath and looked straight into the camera. ‘My team and I built a complex replica of London. It’s realistic and is identical to London. We used open land to construct this masterpiece. We built it to scale of a small area of London; from Waterloo to Leicester Square. We felt the participants would stay within this area because it’s one of the most populated parts of London. We considered the locations and built what we needed, including the undergrounds and railways.
Within the replica, we allowed the army to use their battle hovercrafts to test the capabilities of their machines. They were used to kill the infected and test the ability of the participants’ wills to survive.
The subjects were chosen randomly, with the exception of my son, and his friends. To obtain our participants, we tracked them until they were in their homes, where they were drugged and transported to our replica. They awoke without knowing that they were, in fact, in false replicas of their homes.
If anyone was able to find a way to the end of the replica walls, they were executed. We decided to focus our attention on my son, Thomas Williams.
He and his girlfriend Anna Reid, were the first exposed to the experiment. They were to spend their five year anniversary in this London replica and we planned to film their activities. Although this may seem diabolical, it isn’t. This is an experiment testing many aspects of human life and will benefit our future.
This replica allows us to have control of the weather, but not who lives and who dies.
I would like to quickly name some of the scientists to thank for this experiment; my wife Sarah Williams, Doctor Michael Miller and Doctor Vidolski.
A menu will now appear to make your selection of which participant you would like to observe.’
A menu appeared on the TV screen; the first name is “Thomas Williams”, followed by many others including “Anna Reid, Kenneth Williams, Lucy Allan, Dan Maguire, Stewart Lake, Danni and Graham Taint.”
Tom stared at the screen in disbelief.
How can they make this seem like a movie?
Tom used the remote to hover above his own name on the screen and finally selected it. Ken returned to the screen, looking into the camera.
‘You have chosen my son Thomas Williams. Just to give you some background information. My wife Sarah, and I, have been experimenting on Tom for a long time. Nothing too serious at first, just testing his reactions and how certain choices affect brain patterns and then affect his life and future choices, etc.
I decided to let Tom grow up thinking his mother, Sarah Williams had died of cancer when the two of us were away. Of course she didn’t, but we had to take drastic actions to get our work underway, and Sarah wanted to begin on the experiment, Endurance. Later, I let Tom believe I was murdered in a mystery shooting.
So while I and Sarah were out of Tom’s life, it allowed us to watch him and prepare our experiments, to prepare the replica, the drugs and, of course, test Tom’s mental strength.
This experiment is to show what humans can endure. Thomas is the main subject here and I believe he will survive the chaos that he will be presented with. Some of the scenes that you will watch on this footage are graphic and will be distressing.’
Tom watched the TV screen change to CCTV footage of him waking up in his bed. Tom fast forwarded the CD by chapters. He skipped to himself walking in Anna’s flat, and watched himself pacing up and down in her room, waiting for her to change. He then skipped to them eating, then to himself in the restroom of the restaurant, then to the cinema, then to him kneeling down in front of her preparing to propose. Tom watched the catastrophe unfold. The car ran over Anna at some speed and snatched her away from Tom. Tom fast forwarded slightly to the explosion. He watched the hovercraft above the group of people who came out to help Tom. He watched as it sent small explosions and bullets along the ground and onto buildings. The camera shook and was destroyed. The view changed to one showing the entire location covered in flames.
Tom’s viewing stopped as he heard someone unlock the door and enter the room. He held his gun, paused the footage, and turned quickly to see Lucy standing at the door.
‘Have you watched it then?’ Lucy said.
‘Yes, I fucking have. Why didn’t you help me? Me, you and Danni could have overpowered them in here.’
‘Tom, they threatened to kill me and my family if I said anything to you. I had to play along, I’m so sorry.’ Lucy began to cry. ‘I am truly sorry.’
‘Were you part of this film, or were you helping them all the time?’
‘I was part of it for a day, then they took me out because I reached the wall of the replica. The hovercrafts were going to kill me, but they didn’t. They must have had plans for all this to happen. They must have known I’m a trained nurse, and that I could help them with the infected.’
‘Did you watch me?’
‘Yes.’ Lucy paused as she stared at Tom’s scarred face. ‘I did, day and night.’
‘Did you want me to survive?’
‘Yes. Of course I did, Tom.’
‘So you wanted me to survive. You wanted me to come back as a disabled man for the rest of my life. You wanted this experience to fucking scar my whole entire body?’
> ‘Tom, no, I didn’t know that was going to happen. None of us did. I wanted you to survive because you mean so much to me and…’
‘Who spoke to me on the radio then? When I went to my house, I found the radio and got frequency, who was saying that it was the government’s doing and London was shut for refurbishments?’
Lucy paused as she looked at Tom’s face. His enflamed skin covered his left eye and the rest of his face was covered in severe burn scars. ‘I knew the signal had to be intercepted. You caused a lot of panic. As they intercepted the signal, you spoke to Miller. It was Miller who you spoke to on the radio and he lied to you.’
It was all scripted. So much thorough work and years of planning.
‘We need to get out of here. Where’s Danni?’
‘She’s in the lab. Tom, there’s something I need to tell you and you need to believe me. This drug they’re using. It gives people adrenalin and seems to keep people alive. It seems to revive their hearts. Anna was dead, but when the drug was injected into her, she came back to life after a while.’
‘I know. I saw her in the corridor earlier.’
‘Also, Dan is here in the lab too, and Stewart. But they’re both dying. They aren’t as strong as Anna. They were going to bring Ken back, but they couldn’t find his body.’
‘So how was Anna not killed in the explosion?’
‘The body hanging upside down wasn’t Anna. That was her twin sister Anna never met.’
‘What? Anna knew her family well.’
‘They were separated at birth. All her family were involved in this experiment and they all died. We don’t have time for this. Danni escaped once, but now she’s been tied down and locked in a testing room in the lab. I went to her room and loosened the locks on her wrists so she should be able to get out, the only problem is I don’t know how long it’ll take for her to escape this time.’
As Lucy finished her sentence, a deafening siren began to sound.
‘That must be her now. Come on let’s go.’ Lucy grabbed Tom’s hand but Tom pulled away.
‘Lucy, no offence but I don’t trust you. Let’s just get out of here and we’ll talk properly.’
Lucy nodded and exited the room. As she did, a gun was pointed at her head. Tom paused in his spot, as did Lucy. They stood waiting, someone pulled the trigger. Lucy’s head exploded, her brains splattered on the wall behind her. Her body hit the floor.
Smith walked through door and pointed his gun at Tom.
‘Get on the fucking floor,’ Smith shouted.
Tom put his hands up and slowly knelt on the ground. Smith walked up to him and knocked Tom over the head with his gun. Blackness prevailed.
15
Danni hid behind the bed she was tied to. She looked up as a man in a white gown shot at her. The bullets sparked off the metal framing of the bed; the mattress was covered in bullet holes.
Danni was trapped. She looked to her left and right and saw only white walls. There was nothing to use as a weapon. Danni looked under her bed and noticed the wheels of the bed were locked; she saw the lever within her reach. She unlocked the wheels and moved the bed, lining it up with the man in the doorway. She charged at him, pushing the bed as hard as she could into him. He shot wildly. The bed forced him out of the small room and into the main lab.
As he smashed into a work unit, glass beakers smashed and the liquid contained within burned his skin. He squealed in pain. The liquids spurted onto the floor and created a misty haze.
The scientists in the lab looked around alertly. In fear, one of the scientists ran to the wall and pressed a red button setting off a deafening siren.
Danni crouched behind a unit and watched as the scientists exited the lab, except for a middle-aged woman, who put a mask over her mouth and pulled out an automatic gun. Danni looked at the unit to her left and took one of the gas masks and put it over her face.
The scientist who had been pushed into the liquid had completely changed. His veins turned aggressive, his skin looked sore, the inside of his mouth turned from normal to dead and black.
Danni looked up from behind the counter; both the woman and Miller shot at her. She decided to sneak along the line of worktops. As Danni crawled along the floor, she opened drawers built into the worktops looking for a weapon of some sort. As she opened drawers, glass beakers smashed and scattered on the floor and onto Danni. The desktops’ surface was scuffed and carved from each bullet fired at Danni.
She opened a drawer and found a handgun. She grabbed the gun, jumped up and shot at the woman. The woman ducked down and Miller shot at Danni, hitting only the worktop and the liquids on it.
‘Get out of here Miller. Get to Tom, we can’t let him escape.’ The woman shouted to Miller.
‘Okay. Sarah, Kill her.’ Miller shouted back.
‘Just go get my son.’ Sarah bellowed.
Miller made a run for the door. Danni tried to stop him; she jumped up to shoot him. Miller shot back and Sarah shot, her bullet skimmed Danni’s arm and peeled her skin. Danni let out a cry and ducked back down.
Miller got to the door and left the room. The door locked and the lights began to flicker.
Danni counted the bullets in the gun. She had two left. She looked at her arm as blood trickled out of the wound.
As Danni moved along the worktop, she saw three people banging on the glass. The pupils in their eyes were red and their skin was dark and dingy. Blood covered most of their bodies.
Danni looked above the worktop; and Sarah shot at her. This time, she didn’t stop shooting. She smashed all the glass beakers containing liquids. The glass shattered and fragments of glass spread across the room. The liquid clung to the specks of glass and splattered onto the floor.
Sarah’s gun clicked. It was finally empty. Danni jumped, shot once and missed, hitting the glass wall behind her. She shot again and hit Sarah’s shoulder. Sarah screamed in pain and collapsed onto the floor.
Danni threw her empty gun on the floor and looked around. The flickering lights chillingly assisted the infected. As the infected charged into the room, they ran straight to Danni. Each time the lights flickered, the infected eerily came closer to Danni. Their red eyes were filled with anger and their bodies slouched.
Danni prepared to fight a medium built male, whose name tag read Dan Maguire. She was distracted when she was grabbed from behind and thrown onto the desk face-first. The smashed glass grated her cheeks. She was then thrown into the glass wall head first, making her dizzy.
As she looked up from the ground, the flickering light showed the scientist she pushed into the worktop using the bed, looking down at her. His skin was black and his eyes were bloody red. Blood dripped from his eyes. The veins on his face were black. He smiled at her, revealing his yellow stubbed teeth.
Suddenly, bullet holes appeared in his chest and he fell against the glass wall and slid onto the ground. Danni pulled herself off the ground to see Sarah shooting all the infected.
Each shot created enough light to see her wrinkled face and dry grey hair. Her shrivelled lips were clenched together tightly. Her top teeth were biting her bottom lip, and her thin veined arms held a handgun, firing at the infected.
Danni looked at the scientist’s dead body. She leaned over and stole his swipe card from his outside pocket where it displayed his identification. She looked at the door and looked back at Sarah who was surrounded by the infected.
As Danni turned to run, she was stopped by Anna who stood in front of her. She didn’t look like the other infected. Her skin was loose, it hung off her arm revealing bone. Her cheek was missing, revealing her dried up, black tongue and yellow and black-stubbed teeth. Anna showed no emotion and grabbed Danni by the neck. She clenched her neck tightly. Her bony fingers dug into Danni’s skin. Blood trickled out of her neck. Danni forced Anna’s hands off her neck and threw her onto the worktop and continued to run for the door.
As she reached the door, she swiped the card and the door opened.
&n
bsp; ‘You can’t leave me.’ Sarah shrieked at Danni. ‘Help me.’
Danni looked at Sarah who held two handguns. Danni hesitated, but walked out the door. She let the door slide shut and watched as Sarah turned and continued screaming and shouting at Danni. Only her mouth moved. Danni could hear the muffled gunshots coming from the room.
16
‘Drop the gun and leave Tom on the ground.’ Miller bellowed at Smith.
‘He’s scum; we need to kill him now.’
‘He’s the experiment, which is ongoing. You’re ruining it. It wasn’t in the script to tie him to a chair and punch and kick the shit out of him, was it? Let me put his leg back on. We need to get out of here, we are all infected.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘His girlfriend decided to break out of her room and cause mayhem in the lab. All the liquids have been destroyed. This is going to go airborne.’
‘Shit.’
Smith lowered his gun and walked away from Tom’s severely beaten body. Tom lay sprawled on the ground. A wooden chair had been shattered on the ground next to him. His prosthetic leg was on the table and his face was swollen and bloody.
Miller took Tom’s leg and began to reattach it to his thigh.
‘What the fuck are we going to do if it’s gone airborne?’ Smith asked anxiously.
‘It has gone airborne. I will have to make multiples of the cure.’
‘I thought you said the cure doesn’t work?’
‘It does for some people. For the people it doesn’t cure, I don’t know, they’ll just have to be killed.’
Miller pulled Tom up from the ground. Tom wearily stood, swaying on his feet. Smith pulled his gun and aimed at Tom’s head.
‘Fuck sake, Smith. Drop the gun.’
‘This experiment is fucked up. It’s failed. This isn’t the London replica anymore and definitely isn’t just an Endurance test. It finishes her, Mike.’