"Are you sure about that? Because what you are claiming is not funny."
"I know what I am saying. It's the truth, together with Edberg's observation, it can't be denied that he has turned."
The conversation started waking Adrian up. He was grasping at the edge of consciousness. He didn't recognize these voices but he didn't know whether it was because he was dazed or whether they were unknown people.
"Well we have a protocol to follow and I believe you too know what to do in this situation." Said an eloquent voice.
"No, there has to be another way. He hasn't turned completely, he still has his personality. He isn't like the other cases." Said a man in desperation. Adrian, now slightly more conscious, could tell that that voice was of Edberg's. He tried to move but he felt himself incapable of moving. The others noticed his movements and turned their attention towards him.
"He's awake. How are you doing buddy?" said Edberg.
Adrian opened his mouth to speak but his throat was dry, barely any voice came out. Edberg noticed and took a glass of water from a nearby table and helped Adrian drink it. The water refreshed his throat and he was now more aware of his surroundings, but still weak. He could see much more now. He saw a ceiling that was almost pure white, but a light ,the size of a car tire, blocked a lot of his view. He could tell that he wasn't in his house or as a matter of fact anyone's house. He was laying in a hospital bed, and looking at the equipment around him he wasn't in any normal ward. He tried speaking again, this time successfully.
"Where am I?"
A simple question which was met with silence and astonishment. It seemed that everyone in that room was surprised by the amount of consciousness he had. The silence was broken by a male voice.
"You are in a hospital basement. It seemed that you were feeling unwell this morning?"
"Yes I was feeling a bit sick, actually a lot sick." Adrian tried to get up, but couldn't. It wasn't as if he wasn't able to, he was strapped to the table, only his head was left un-strapped.
"Why am I tied up? Who are you?" Adrian was trying his best to get out of the bounds when a familiar voice tried to respond.
"Calm down Adrian." The voice was of Emily, Adrian's ex-girlfriend. "The man you just talked to was Prof. Leonard Flemming. There are a few things that happened with you recently and there have been a few changes to your body taking place. That's wh-"
"What are you doing here?" Adrian interjected.
"All will be explained in due course."
Emily returned to explaining the situation he was in. Adrian looked around to get a good look at all the faces he could see from his perspective. There were many faces, many of them he didn't recognize. Out of the 5 people he could see he recognized only three faces, and he didn't like one of the faces he did.
"What is he doing here?" Adrian lashed out.
The man in question replied. "Hey Adrian. Nice to meet you, I didn't think this is how we would meet." with a slight British accent.
The man, whose name is Andrew Lee, was the man with whom his ex-girlfriend, Emily, cheated with. Adrian was fuming. Emily and Edberg could feel the animosity from his eyes and so could Andrew. What is he doing here? Did Emily bring him here? Was she not happy with cheating on me that she wanted to rub it in like that?
Adrian was filled with uncontrollable rage. More than he had ever felt in his life. Maybe it was the mixture of all his recent experiences and his bad fever, but he felt like busting through the straps and ripping Andrew's head off. That's when it happened.
The others were discussing how to handle this situation when Adrian ripped his arms out of the strapps. Before anyone could assess the situation Adrian was completely out and on his feet. He charged at Andrew, who didn't know how to react. He tried to block him but Adrian tackled Andrew to the ground. Adrian, even though he was sick, felt the strongest he had felt in his life. Andrew was taken aback by this show of strength. He knew this wasn't the normal Adrian and knew that if he were to take this lightly it could cost him his life. Andrew pushed back, trying to grapple Adrian down. He was slightly successful as he was able to shift Adrian over to his left side. Something about Adrian's sudden burst of strength didn't seem to add up. His whole body is definitely stronger than an average human, but his left arm is even stronger. I can barely move that thing. He thought as he pushed Adrian over on his back and leaped up and made some distance between them.
"Stay down Adrian. You don't want to do this." Andrew tried to reason with him. But to no avail. It was almost as if he was possessed. Adrian got up in a crouched position, getting ready to strike, his left arm out-streched. It starts to morph and distort into a sharp claw. This revelation shocked everyone, even Adrian who snapped out of his rage only to be filled with horror at this monstrosity that took the place of his left arm. He was breathing heavily, his eyes wide open. He could barely keep the strength in his legs to stay standing. But he leaped towards Andrew and attempted to slash at him. Andrew saw the attack coming from a mile away and dodged it effortlessly. He tried to gauge what was happening with Adrian. His movements did not match what his face was showing. It seemed like Adrian was no longer pursuing Andrew but something else was controlling his body. Andrew knew that there were only two things he could have done there and one of them entailed killing him, which he thought was probably the last option.
Adrian lunged at him again and missed. Andrew took this chance to strike at his neck. The attack almost connected but at the last moment Adrian's left arm turned back into a normal arm and pulled his right shoulder. The sudden movement made Andrew miss. Adrian was now turned around, facing Andrew. His face was of pure distress. I have to finish this now or else the others will join, and if the others join now, then I don't think the three of us will be able to keep him alive for any longer. Andrew went for a strong punch to knock him unconscious. This time instead of dodging out of the way Adrian's left arm caught the punch in a death grip. Andrew tried to pull his arm out but Adrian's grip grew stronger. The look on Adrian's face changed into one of a savage beast. His hand grew many small claws that dug into Andrew's hand. He then proceeded to pull him off his legs and whip him around and slam him into the floor. The whole ordeal had left Andrew a little confused and heavily winded. Before Andrew could even get up, Adrian placed his foot onto Andrew's shoulder and started pulling on his hand. The pain felt by Andrew was intolerable, his arm was being ripped apart from his shoulder. The others started rushing towards them but they were too late, Adrian had already ripped Andrew's hand off.