zONE

--A day after the Face1ess Incident--

--In a different unknown/secret location--

---TEST SUBJECT 00****---

'Bang!'

I jolted my eyes open and stared at the scene before me.

"Ahh", I could feel migraine threatening at the back of my head. The world felt like it was spinning, and I had an urge to vomit. My head pounded, sharp and heavy.

'BANG!!'

I sprung up with a loud noise piercing my ears. It was the same sound that had awakened me earlier, but this time, it was louder. Along with the unfamiliar, painful sound, my headache, a familiar electric pain, had also returned. This time it was much, much worse than before. Thrumming/buzzing/purring/vibrating/drumming behind my temples, I winced; brows furrowed tight with pain as the muscles in my right cheek flexed. I rested my head in my hands and began to rub my temples, trying to massage away the headache.

'Tick'

Suddenly my skull stopped pounding. The headache disappeared. Instead, my body began reacting before my brain. After taking in the scene Infront of me, I elevated my body and followed along as it pulled me. Without any suspicions. Without any doubt as my head throbbed, painless throbs. Different from the pain I went through before. I examined my surroundings.

I noticed that I was somehow in a greenery site. It was difficult to move without a plant touching my skin as I was constantly met with slippery leaves and rough vines. Everything I knew about the rainforests is elevating my heart rate as well as killing my logical thinking capacity. The sheer denseness of the foliage that had once made me feel cozied had now caused sweat running down my neck and face.

'How do I know what rainforests are?'

'Where am I? Why am I here? Who am I?'

I wrapped my arms around myself, my skin chilled from the unforgiving cold. The teeth in my mouth chattered together relentlessly and uncontrollably. I couldn't stop myself from shaking. The thousands of noises had crashed over me as it made my flesh crawl. Enough to make one jump out of one's skin, overriding my senses and setting my brain to the same chemical soup. In that cocktail of endorphins, I have wandered too far, now the closeness, the sameness, the noises are like robbers at the door, banging for entrance while the phone line remained dead. I was shivering. Shivering from fear, fatigue and coldness.

My wide-open eyes move with pointless speed, I want to see blue sky and space all around - not these vines slithered down the summit face like snakes, seeking the pool of frigid tributary below.

I could feel an empty, floaty feeling in my belly as my stomach began twisting into knots. Stomach heaved and I was once again met with a wave of nausea as my headache flared. Before I could comprehend this feeling, I heard a muffled voice. It grew clearer and louder by the second.

"JUMP!"

A voice scowled from a far.

I jumped.

As I plunged from the summit and towards the ground, everything suddenly began to swirl into darkness and my eyes stung as the ruthless wind raced past them. I immediately began to contemplate as to why I just did what I did but of course, my thoughts were overtaken and overridden by scene taken place right before me.

I had a look of shock and fear, planted permanently to my face. My body was falling so fast, that all I could see was a blur. My hair spread open like an umbrella as I chattered my teeth in pain.

I could feel nothing but the pain of falling and the fear of death that consumed me. I wished my fear could pass.

In that moment, I could feel the darkness below pulsating like a living being. The speed shook me side to side; I could feel the wind between my fingers. My body fell further into the deep abyss. My stomach felt like a whirlpool ready to engulf me with no remorse. I began to find it harder to breathe, almost to the point of having been restricted to the accesses of oxygen, and felt drowsy, as I saw below me. All I could think was when was this going to end. The knots in my belly were worsening. I was about to throw up when I looked down at the pitch black. The never-ending pit of black scared me half to death.

The gushing air raced throughout my whole body, soon, the pit of blackness, began to lighten. I could see that I was getting closer and closer to a roaring stream by the second. I couldn't breathe, the oxygen suffocated my lungs. I began to close my eyes hesitantly but before I knew it, I had hit the stage of hypoxia. My body reaches this stage when it has a lack of oxygen.

My brain is not my own.

My body is not mine.

What is happening?

As I neared the ground, I could feel the pain the impact was about to bring me. Eventually the shock had paralyzed me, and the rush of adrenaline became my only hope to survive as I curled myself into a ball. The last few moments flashed before my eyes.

I wanted to scream. I wanted it to stop. I hoped I was just dreaming and that I would be awake soon.

'plap'

I had hit the stream. The impact was more painful than I had imagined. The water was cold. My breathing was uncontrollable, and the work of my heart increased rapidly.

Somehow, I knew to fight the natural urge to thrash about and swim hard. It did not feel safe for me to panic. I could lose my life. right now. this instant. So, I tried to relax myself, control my breathing and try and float until the cold shock disappears.

I succeeded. I did not drown. I was alive. Still shivering from the cold water but calm, breathing under control and alive.

As I was just about to plan my next move, I saw a raging wave barreling towards me. It crashed into me and threw my body underneath the waters. It felt like I was thrashing inside an invisible prison. When I grasped for my last breath of air, icy-cold water flooded in. My throat burned as if a thousand needles had been plunged into it. The cold water filled my lungs and blood pounded behind my eyes as the air continued being sucked out from my body. My body was fighting for every last bit of air. My breaths were agonizingly painful and terribly short. I struggled to keep my head above the watery grave that waited to swallow me whole. I saw the exit but no longer had the strength to survive. The sounds of the intense water were unpleasantly piercing through my ears. I began to wish I hadn't jumped and wondered as to why my body reacted hastily to that voice.

I feel this blackness come over me. Like a blanket, but not a blanket of warmth but a blanket of coldness making me shiver. But somehow, it's making my eyes feel heavier and heavier. I finally close my eyes, finally sending me into a dreamless sleep.

-

--Next Morning--

I was aroused groggily, not knowing where in the niblets I was. My hands numb from the events I had previously faced. My body felt as if I had been bruised in every corner. My head, legs, and hands were feeling really heavy. It felt like my body didn't belong to me. It didn't listen to my commands as I tried to lift them. I placed my hands on a rock and arched my back as the pain was rushing through my body like an igniting fire. My eyes squeezed closed as my face contorted. Never had I ever experienced such pain in my life. I could feel my head spinning as I ultimately fell onto the gelid stony hard ground. I could feel the rhythm of blood throbbing in my temple. I had decided to ignore my headache and noticed that purple welts were scattered across my rough jagged sepia body like a disease. It hurt to breathe, and I wondered if some of my ribs were cracked.

I abandoned the idea of standing up and instead just tried to slowly and gently examine my whereabouts. My brain foggy and still drowsy, I glanced around. Trying to comprehend any figures, shapes, and colors. It seemed like a few days and nights might have passed.

I can feel the tiredness inside me like a worm, slowly but deliberately draining my life. I'm alive, but I'm not really living. I hear, but I'm not really listening. Everything seems to move in a dragged pace, all submerged into a hazy fuzz that is my vision.

I closed my eyes, fighting off nausea. Trying, even through the pain, to remember how I could have arrived at this strange, dark place where nothing seemed familiar.

Eventually, I had fallen asleep from exhaustion, pain and confusion.