Pacing through the empty corridors caked in dust and taken over by the webs of spiders, it felt like the walls were gradually narrowing in as a suffocating atmosphere enraptured the group.
This section of the facility was seemingly abandoned. 'Are we really going to be training here?' Mandrew felt the entire situation was amiss.
Only their footsteps could be heard. No one dared to utter even the slightest whisper.
The officer in blue spoke up quietly and looking closely, one could see a trace of alarm flicker within his eyes as his brows jumped nervously.
"We've arrived at your training facility."
Just ahead was a green door, dark and lackluster in design without a single window to see what was inside. The handle was old and rusted over.
"Go on in, I'll be taking my leave," the officer quickly set off after giving one last piece. "Good luck and… just do as you're told. I'm saying this for your sake."
Then he walked away at a brisk pace before escalating into a rampant run as if his life depended on it.
'Don't tell me there's some sort of monster in here?' Mandrew looked back at the door cautiously, exchanging similar looks with the others.
Ivaan rested his hand on his chin and offered, "Maybe we should knock?"
The group quickly shot his idea down, but at the same time, what's the worst that could happen? Was there really some kind of beefy monster inside? A giant mass of muscle waiting to put them through hell?
"I'll open the door and go in first."
Mandrew offered, grabbing the door's rusted handle which nearly broke off on contact.
The door creaked open with a loud squall like the screech of nails on a chalkboard, prompting the others to clench their teeth in distaste, furrowing their brows together in displeasure.
Taking a peek inside, they noticed a large man built of solid muscle—he looked like the peak specimen that all men should strive to be.
Without turning around, the man started to speak, "I'm a powerlifter. Lotta people look at me, and they want to sort of be like me. They want to be a nasty, fully natural 100% beast—how I look."
The man slowly turned around, looking Mandrew in the eyes with a beastly look on his face.
"You… You want to be like me, right?"
Mandrew was aghast at the man's face—his eyes were bloodshot red with the red veins visible all throughout, even pulsating slightly.
Mandrew felt the urge to immediately refute as despite the muscle, the man didn't look healthy. At the same time, refuting such a crazed looking man didn't seem like the best idea.
No words were spoken, and the others all thought the same.
He had too much muscle, it was overwhelming! It looked as if the man's entire body had been consumed!
And now that the bulky man was facing them, even flexing the bulging muscles throughout his body to show off, they could see all of his veins appeared to be on the verge of popping.
No, not on the verge of popping! Some were in the process of rupturing, only to mysteriously heal almost instantly.
The man gave a smile, one so vehemently filled with obsession rather than invitation. It was like they were prey, and he was the predator. Now that they entered his territory, they were done for.
"Heh. Look at you guys. That look in your eyes," the man's body shivered in excitement. "That's the same look of a boy aspiring to be a man. Come in, quick."
His hands waving dauntingly, he beckoned the others to enter with a mad laughter, "You can call me Sam Hyde. And let me give you a warm welcome: Welcome to Guy Heaven! This is my gym—and it's guys only. You can consider yourselves lucky!"
Mandrew and company quietly entered Guy Heaven under Sam Hyde's watch.
The inside was much cleaner than the outside corridor—at least in terms of comparing the dust.
Much of the actual training equipment was broken and strange red splotches painted the walls, flooring, and even the ceiling.
'Wait… Is that all blood? The fuck?' Mandrew felt horrified.
'Is this a gym or a crime scene?' The others looked around vigilantly.
Settling his gaze on the man's veiny right hand, Mandrew took notice of a large gallon which seemed to be filled with a strange substance.
"Excuse me, Sir—"
The man's eyes snapped onto him with a hollow look, "Stop."
Mandrew froze, his throat dry and itchy as his heart thumped in fright as he wondered what this monstrous man was going to say.
"Please, just call me Sam."
"Oh… Excuse me… Sam… what is in that gallon?"
A wide grin spread across Sam's face, "This? Heh. I'm glad you asked. Have you ever heard of the SS? Not in terms of Germany, but like… the Super Soldier Formula."
Mandrew nodded despite being unsure; it wasn't hard to deduce what Sam Hyde was referring to.
Sam Hyde smiled, "Smart guy. Here, let me give you a simple demonstration."
Sam Hyde lifted the gallon to his lips, tilting it and chugging the substance down.
With loud gulps accompanied by the movement of his larynx and Adam's apple, his hulking throat quickly took the entire gallon down. As he chugged, his veins pulsated even more while other parts of his body tore open with the explosion of his cells
Blood leaked from his wounds before the openings rapidly closed in a contradictory unnaturally natural way. The cycle continued repeatedly as the strong metallic stench of blood made Mandrew and the others nauseous.
'How can this man torture himself like this? What the hell is going on?'
Suddenly, the man dropped to the ground belching. He vomited in excess a combination of body acids, blood, and what looked like small pill-like capsules.
Aghast, the others watched in terror. Time felt like it was passing by excruciatingly slow.
After what felt like forever, Sam Hyde stood back up nonchalantly, wiping any traces of fluids from his mouth.
"Give me a second," he said, pulling out a small blue box. Written upon which said Goobers. "Gotta get me some Goobas. They keep the formula under control."
'You call what we just watched… under control?' Mandrew's group nodded skeptically.
'Even if Goobers did help… you'd probably need a dozen boxes if you chug an entire gallon of…. Super Soldier Formula?'
Mandrew's eyes were void of hope as he asked, "So, when is our training going to start?"
Sam Hyde said over a mouthful of Goobers, "Mm. Right now, I've already got your training plan ready to go."
He pointed over to a desk where five glasses of Super Soldier Formula stood.
"Since only four of you made it, I guess I'll divide the fifth into your glasses. Good for you, good for you!"
Mandrew felt faint, 'That stuff is divided that way on purpose… isn't it dangerous to just change the amount like that?'
"Wait!" Ivan Rodriguez shouted, "What about training? Aren't we doing actual training?"
Sam Hyde gave him a dispirited look and sighed, "Ai. Listen up, this is part of your training. You drink the Super Soldier Formula, you do some working out or whatever suits you, and you get strong. When I think you're strong enough, you'll get some actual training."
As he spoke, he poured the fifth glass into the other four, filling them to the brim of the glass.
The four exchanged looks of doubt, pondering if someone should try a glass first to see if everything went okay. Then again, maybe they should just all chug theirs at once.
"Listen up," Sam Hyde started, "The four of you better take it all down at once. It's going to be much worse to drink it sip-by-sip. And if you back down, I'll force the whole damn glass down your throat myself—and I mean the whole thing."
His voice was exemplified by a threatening tone. The four hurried to the table before picking up their glasses.
'Here goes nothing.' Bottoms up, they forced the bitter tasting liquid down.
At first, nothing happened. But then., like a spark igniting into a full-fledged fire, their bodies gradually heated up until they felt like they were boiling alive from the inside.
A stream of sweat was discharged from their pores alongside a disgusting black substance which reeked—it was the impurities within their bodies being flushed out. But that was just the start.
Following the sweat and impurities, beady drops of red blood leaked out from all of their pores and seven orifices, dyeing their entire body red.
They felt like they were suffocating, unable to catch their breath amidst their agonizing screams and nearly choking on their own blood. It was a hellish nightmare.
Even so, the formula had its own upsides.
While it destroyed, it also regenerated. And so this constant cycle of destruction and rebuilding, like a phoenix being incinerated but then reborn by the very same flames, continued for an unknown amount of time.
Sam Hyde watched quietly with a fully refilled gallon, occasionally taking a sip. He was like the master, sipping sake from his flask, 'Maybe dividing the fifth into their glasses was a bit much. Ahh. Whatever, it's my job to create monsters here.'
Under the guise of training, Sam Hyde had recently demanded a higher quantity of Super Soldier Formula than the military wished to provide. After all, the ingredients and process to create it were anything but cheap.
In truth, Sam Hyde was practically stealing from them.
But even so, what could they do? Sam Hyde was a monster—one that the government and military had created themselves.
Should they take him down? How many casualties would there be in the process? Just how many resources would it cost?
The military and government didn't know, and likewise, they had no interest in finding out.