Inside his veins, no, his whole arm felt like it was engulfed in fire, as if molten metal was being poured into him. The pain was excruciating, but Sam had no idea this was just the beginning.
"EVERYONE BACK, EVERYONE STEP BACK, NOW!" the monkey yelled, raising her weapon and aiming it at Sam. The octopus did the same.
Everyone held their breath, watching Sam endure hellish pain.
He felt the liquid inside him altering something, causing his blood to boil. Sweat poured down his forehead like a waterfall. Sam screamed again, but this time the pain was even worse, with the source of it visible behind the glass.
The glass turned crimson, and the sounds of crunching and sawing filled the air. Something or someone was doing horrible things to Sam's arm, causing even the monkey's legs to weaken slightly. Slave Number 44 collapsed with a crash, but no one paid him any attention; all eyes in the room were on Sam.
'It hurts! It hurts so much! Why?! What are you doing to me?!'
His thoughts were a jumbled mess, trying to distract himself from the pain and the sounds coming from behind the crimson glass. But his mind betrayed him, refusing to cooperate. He struggled to pull his arm out from under the glass sphere, but his attempts were futile.
The process lasted about three minutes, during which the horrific sounds stopped, and Sam could barely feel his body. His mind was ready to leave him at any moment. In those three minutes, he lost consciousness countless times, but the burning liquid kept him awake, continuing the torment.
To him, those three minutes felt like an eternity, as they did for everyone else in the room. Even the green humanoid and his red friend watched the horrifying scene.
Finally, the sounds of what seemed like a sprinkler spraying water came, clearing the crimson from behind the glass.
With a hissing sound, the glass moved aside, but its effect was initially invisible due to the smoke hovering over Sam's arm. After a few seconds, the smoke dissipated, revealing something that amazed everyone. Where Sam's human hand had been, there was now a matte-black mechanical arm with golden accents.
The pain in his arm was completely gone, as if it had never existed, but Sam was exhausted. He glanced at his new arm, inspecting what had happened to it.
Visually, the new hand resembled an armored glove. The top part was covered with a layer of matte plating, entirely black, though it had various engravings. One prominent engraving in the middle was orange, depicting a large cross, with the metal protruding sharply, making the cross stand out.
His knuckles were replaced by round, matte orange balls, each connected by what looked like tiny cords, though none were attached to the thumb for some reason.
The fingers were simply designed, black and resembling the shape of human bones, but they had one striking feature: four sharp metal claws about 5 centimeters long. It was clear they were extremely sharp and dangerous.
Sam finally decided to raise his arm, but for some reason, something still held it down.
The monkey finally snapped out of her daze and spoke.
"Hey… 72, are you even alive?" she said, lowering her weapon and examining the state of the guy.
Sam barely turned his head and looked at the monkey. Her gaze showed fear, but it wasn't because of what had happened to Sam's arm. It was more due to the screams he had made and the possible consequences if he had died in the process.
With a hoarse voice, Sam spoke.
"I think I'm alive… Why didn't any of you try to help me?"
Although Sam understood that they couldn't have helped him in this situation, he wondered why no one had shot at the box with their carbine.
The monkey was somewhat taken aback by the question but then sighed and said in an angry tone.
"Don't get cocky, you're just a slave. Be glad you can still talk, and look at your new, stylish arm—doesn't it look great?"
But for Sam, it wasn't so joyous. While his arm did look incredibly expensive and cool, there was one problem—he couldn't lift it. No matter how hard he tried, it felt as though it was weighed down by an incredible force. He also realized that he still had tactile sensations; he could feel the cold surface of the indentation in the box and a slight tingling.
The liquid that had been injected into him had also stopped burning, leaving only waves of fatigue.
But the process wasn't over.
The box hissed, literally. Its top panel, which was on the left side of where Sam's hand lay, began to slowly rise, and a small screen displayed some indecipherable letters or runes—Sam wasn't quite sure what they were.
When the top panel opened, its cover hung back. From inside the box came a strange grinding sound, which soon became clear why.
A flat black board rose from the box, but the most important thing visible was what appeared on the board. Through the mist, a silhouette of something like a pistol began to take shape. As the quick fog dissipated, everyone's eyes widened.
On the flat board lay a revolver with an extraordinarily long barrel. It was entirely matte black. It was lying on its side, so only one side was visible, but even so, its appearance was striking.
The barrel was closed with metal points, and the barrel itself was quite large. There were fittings on the top and bottom of the barrel for attaching accessories. On top was a matte sight with a green dot. Just behind the barrel, somewhere in the middle, were what looked like twisted matte-colored horns.
It was the same on the other side, as the revolver was slightly elevated.
The weapon's appearance was intimidating; there were no markings or anything at all. Everyone stood silently, staring at it, until the monkey suddenly snapped back to reality and quickly grabbed the weapon away from Sam.
The guy just glanced at her and realized he had missed the moment when he could have had the weapon in his hands. Though he couldn't blame himself, as it was hard to maintain any reaction after having his arm operated on and turned into something unrecognizable.
Regarding the arm.
Sam realized he could now lift it comfortably and removed it from the troublesome indentation. He found he could move it freely, trying a few times to clench his fist. He was also able to turn it around and see how his new hand looked.
It was, to say the least, unusual.
He saw something like skin, which was black, matching the exterior of his hand. The pads on his fingers had a similar skin, but orange. The most surprising part was that when he touched it with his left hand, it felt very pleasant. It was no longer as rough from calluses as it used to be from hard slave work.
The final detail he noticed was a diamond in the center of his hand. It had a green glowing light covering it.
"I've never seen such a weapon before... It looks incredibly expensive... These carbines we found don't even compare to this perfect design." the octopus suddenly said.
Sam wasn't surprised that everyone had suddenly turned their attention to the amazing weapon, leaving him aside. Personally, he was more interested in his new, wondrous arm.
It looked even more costly than the revolver. No, it looked even more impressive. Although he didn't know all its functions, he had no doubt that such arms would likely cost a fortune, if they weren't priceless.
'This is bad... If I return to the camp with this arm, they'll definitely operate on me and take it away. I can't let that happen... But... What should I do?'
He didn't see a way out of his situation. The weapon he was likely supposed to receive as a reward after such a painful procedure was now in the hands of the two overseers.
Looking up, he stared at the revolver.
'Well, the fact remains, it looks incredible... Huh?!'
"Hey, what the hell?! What's going on?!" the monkey suddenly screamed.
Sam was in no less shock as he saw the weapon… disintegrating?
First the barrel, then the body, and finally the grip. Everything turned to dust. The monkey, disbelieving her eyes, tried to catch the dust of the revolver, but soon everything fell to the ground, leaving only piles of dust on her hands.
And then Sam felt something... His arm. His arm wanted to do something.
Rather, it felt like something at the farthest corners of his consciousness was urging him to do something with his arm, like some kind of instinct.
Looking at his open palm, he tried to focus on this feeling and noticed that the diamond in the center glowed a little brighter. His next action was a shift to the right, opening a hole in Sam's hand.
"What the hell? Hey, 72, what the fuck are you doing?!" the octopus said, noticing the strange movements on the mechanical arm of the slave.
The dust began to move slowly, soon flying towards the hole formed after the diamond shifted.
It was sucked inside, all of it, even the handfuls remaining in the monkey's hands were consumed by Sam's strange hand.
'I... absorbed it?'
Once everything was absorbed, the diamond slid back, leaving the room in dead silence. Sam felt something again, as if he could do something else, but he couldn't understand what it was this time. Trying to concentrate on this feeling again, something interrupted him.
Rather—someone.
"Hey, kid, what the hell are you doing?! Do you want to die?!" the furious monkey said, approaching Sam and jabbing the barrel of her carbine into his face.
"I... I don't understand what you mean..."
"Don't talk nonsense! I saw what happened! Did you think you could keep the weapon and do something with it?!"
Despite the threatening tone of the monkey, Sam could sense that she was scared.
'Is she afraid that I might have gained a weapon? Or is she worried about losing such a prize?'
"Give us the weapon, kid, or we'll take it along with your arm, from your dead body" the octopus said, jabbing the second barrel of his carbine into Sam's face.
'How i get into such situation?!'