"Get up Eleven!"
A skinny boy with black hair felt a chill run down his spine when he heard the metal bars of his little cell ring out. No matter how deep he was in sleep, that ringing sound would always pull him out.
Immediately, he sprang up with his hands stretched out and his eyes closed. He was as naked as a candle.
In a minute, the warden opened his cell. It was a small space just enough for him to walk a couple of steps and barely jump. It had no bed, chair or anything else for comfort. At the corner was a hole for his wastes. Worst of all, it was completely dark. The boy had stayed here for the past 15 years.
"I hope you had a good night's sleep," the warden said while cuffing his wrists. "You're going to need it."
The boy didn't say anything. He just stood erect. His appearance was emotionless. The boy wasn't supposed to speak to anyone besides the scientists at the lab. He couldn't risk getting punished for breaking the rules not when he finally had a shot of leaving this horrible place today.
The warden led him out of the cell and to a line of others like him standing at the center of the hallway. When the warden had chained him to the others, the boy could finally open his eyes. He searched around for a few seconds to be sure the other guards weren't looking in his direction. When he was certain, he leaned forward and whispered,
"If everything goes according to plan, this will be our last day as slaves."
"You can count on me. I'll do whatever it takes to get out of here," the boy whispered back, turning to Eleven.
The Hallway was painted in black and white stripes. Several lightbulbs scattered around brightened it. The hallway had three floors above the ground floor. Patrolling around were wardens and guards dressed in golden uniforms with a big guns in hand.
After fifteen more minutes, the warden had 100 nude teens chained together in a single line. The microphones at the top corners of the hallway came on and as usual, the children listened for the order of distribution.
"Good Morning Subjects. Today's routine will be as follows; Numbers 1-20 will spend the day at Laboratory E77, Numbers 21-40 at Laboratory T15,…, and finally, Numbers 81-100 will make themselves useful at Laboratory A93."
The voice went silent for a few seconds before going on.
"You know the rules. Keep them and no one would get hurt. Well, more than necessary. You are dismissed."
Instantly, a beep was heard across the Hallway. The children started to move. They walked to the elevator at the front of the hallway. The elevator was large enough to occupy 20 people at a time. Eleven's set was the first to walk in.
During his time here, he had gotten used to being called Number 11. It was better than the name his mother gave him – Pain. When they had all entered the elevator, a warden inputted the Laboratory code assigned to their group.
The elevator doors shut and in a matter of seconds, the capsule descended with intense speed. The doors reopened at the desired destination and the children all walked out, resuming their ordered line.
This laboratory was the size of a soccer field and had numerous computers and pod-like devices stationed at different sections. Several old men wearing glasses dressed in white coats came to them. They each picked a Subject from the group and led them to a section of the large laboratory.
The Subjects complied. Eleven was taken by a rather young Scientist. He had black hair just like Eleven and looked in his thirties. The Scientist opened the vertical pod in his section with the push of a button on it and Eleven instinctively got in. It closed, but the upper part was made of glass enabling the scientist to see Eleven from the chest upwards.
"How are you doing today, Eleven?" the scientist asked, his eyes glued on the computer screen in front of him.
"Fine, Doctor," was Eleven's aloof reply.
"That's good. Let's begin," for the first time, the scientist linked eyes with Eleven. "Be strong kid. It'll be over before you know it."
The scientist tapped on the screen behind the pod and without delay, a red gas started to fill it. Eleven closed his eyes as he drew in a deep breath. He had gone through this Procedure more then five thousand times but he hadn't gotten used to it. None of the slaves could.
For 10 hours, Eleven remained in the pod forced to breathe the poisonous gas in it. The gas worked on a cellular level. After a certain amount had been inhaled and infected the cells of the brain, it would cause an indescribable sensation of pain to every cell in the human body.
As far as Eleven knew, the procedure was done to extract a chemical element from his body. An element secreted by the Brain when under immense physical pain. He had heard the scientists refer to it as Eternium; the only element capable of stopping Human ageing. Although it needed to be refined before it could do that.
It took about 10 hours to extract a vial of 5 milliliters. During that time, Eleven would feel like every bone in his body was being snapped over and over again.
It felt like every nerve in his body screaming. Every fiber, every cell, every molecule felt like it was being ripped apart, shredded, and incinerated. Time became distorted, stretching each second into an eternity. The pain became a never-ending, relentless assault, leaving Eleven begging for relief.
That was the everyday life of Eleven and the other Subjects. All They could do was wait for the time to be up and their Hell to end. The worst part was the subjects, as the scientists call them, won't be able to move throughout the Procedure, say more of scream out in pain. They were completely paralyzed as their minds struggled to endure the crushing weight of insanity. They had to remain conscious throughout the entire Procedure.
After what seemed like forever, the timer finally completed its countdown. The needles that pierced into Eleven's veins in several parts of his body to extract Eternium were ejected and every trace of the agonizing gas was forced out of the pod.
The next part of the Procedure was Cellular Reconfiguration. For 5 hours, a blue gas was released into the pod to repair the damage done to Eleven's cells by the previous red gas. Unlike before, Eleven felt a soothing sensation envelope every fiber of his body. It was the total opposite feeling than earlier; pure bliss.
Eleven waited patiently for the second countdown to elapse even though a part of him wanted it to never end. He had endured the Procedure for the last time. For the past six months, he has been crafting a plan to escape and today nothing could stop him from executing it.
Eleven had involved the subject who occupied the room by his left on his escape plan. All the boy had to do was make a distraction good enough to get the attention of all the scientists in the lab. There were no guards in the lab today so Eleven was confident that if he could get a couple of tranq guns held by the scientists, his escape plan would be successful.
At long last, the second timer finished counting and Eleven heard a beep in the pod. Normally, after the beep, the pod would open but this time, it didn't. Eleven turned around but couldn't find the scientist. The blue gas had stopped circulating the pod, leaving just oxygen in it.
After 5 minutes of waiting, Eleven was certain something had gone wrong. This has never happened before. His heart began to beat violently in his chest and he began to sweat profusely.
"Eleven," a voice called out from outside the pod.
Eleven's heart skipped a beat when he heard it. Even in death, he could never forget that voice. It was the voice of the man who adopted him 13 years ago. The man incharge of everything here. The only person Eleven feared above anyone else- The Slave Master.
His face appeared before Eleven with a smirk on his lips. There was a line scar that went from the brow on the right side of his face to his nose.
"I warned you of the consequences should you try to escape, but you dared anyway. Your buddy Ten, told me everything about your silly little plan, in exchange for his freedom."
Eleven's eyes went wide in shock when he heard those words. The one person he had considered a friend for the past 13 years had betrayed him. He was speechless. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he awaited the Master's punishment. Begging for mercy wasn't an option. He would rather die than live another day as a slave.
"Since you desire freedom so bad, I'll grant it to you," the Master uttered, a devious smile on his face. "Any last words, Eleven?"
"My name is Pain!"
The Master laughed then pressed a button on the pod and Eleven saw the dangerous red gas rapidly fill the pod again. A new countdown started;
100:00:00
099:59:59
099:59:58
All the subjects knew the punishment for disobedience. It was 10 continuous cycles of pain and relief in the extraction pod. The slaves could hardly endure 1 cycle. The fear of 10 kept them obedient to their Master.
As soon as the countdown started, The Master left Eleven to his fate. Eleven bore the agony for as long as he could, but he could barely last an hour before his mind started to break. His body couldn't handle another round of torture on the same day.
'From the day I was born, I have known nothing but suffering. My own mother hated me so much she named me Pain. I don't deserve this cruel fate.'
Those were Eleven's thoughts while feeling light headed.
'I will do anything for a chance to start over!'
'Humans shall know Pain, Agony and Torment like I have.'
Just as Eleven had that final thought, the pod exploded.
Booomm!!!
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A/N:
This is my WSA 2025 Entry. Please support me.