Chapter 2 — Pt. 2
Two heavy enforcers, wearing military uniforms, accompanied by assault rifles attached to a strap in their back, and a side piece close to their thighs were walking along a corridor. The two enforcers were tall, looked strong and tough, the sound of their boots smacking the ground in harmonious synchrony on the concrete floor. Wide-shouldered, and well-built, both soldiers had bowls of cereals for heads, with small weapons and jungle camo milk. A special helmet sat atop of their bowlish heads, preventing any milk or cereal from spilling out. Their green military helmet had a series of hinges welded into their respectives bowls. Both soldiers were walking on a dim light corridor, in an underground basement. Shy white lamps were located on the roof of the corridor, with a few flinching with electrical shortcuts, and others not working at all. Both men didn’t seem bothered by this, as they quickly turned right into a more open hall. The circular room the enforcers had just entered, contained a series of jail cells along the sides. Numbered from 001 to the 010, the enforcers approached the cell on the very middle, number 005, and with a harsh knock, demanded whomever was inside to pay attention. Suddenly, a cluster of noises inside the cell occured, until a lone, desperate voice spoke: “I’ve placed the bandana! I can’t see, I swear! Please… Please don’t hurt me! I´ll do anything you ask!”
The enforcer to the left, opened a small widget that allowed him to see inside the cell, and found a scared inmate, wearing an orange jumpsuit, sweating and trembling, while wearing a bandana wrapped around his head which didn’t allow him to see a thing. Glad with what he had just witnessed, the enforcer nodded to the soldier on the right, who proceeded to open the cell door. Both soldiers entered and picked the inmate by his arms. One soldier hit the blindfolded man in the gutter, making him gasp for air in pain. The soldiers grabbed yet again the inmate by his arms and dragged him out of the cell. One enforcer proceeded to place handcuffs on the scared man and ordered him to keep walking. Scared and trembling, with strong arms roughly wrapped around his own, the inmate did as he was ordered. The soldiers took the puny man along a series of corridors and more opened halls with cells like his own, until they reached a room with two doors, one door to the right, and another in the very middle. One soldier took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door in the middle. The small room that awaited them had only one chair and a table, a black glass screen in front of the table, and a small black box lying on it. The enforcers propped the man in the chair, forcefully removed his handcuffs, and exited the room, locking the door from the outside. Both soldiers then opened the door to the right, which had a label that said: “AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY”. Inside it were a group of scientists wearing white medical coats, and one bald man in the middle of the room wearing a fancy grey outfit, with a black tie, a luxurious golden watch on his left hand, and an elegant royal walking cane on his right hand. This man was looking determinately at a clear glass mirror in the middle of the room which allowed them to have complete observatory access to the room the scared inmate was held in. Without even changing a glance, the well-dressed man told the room of scientists to begin.
The trembling inmate started to fidget in stress, waiting for anything to happen while he was blindfolded by the bandana. “Okay… I’m here, what do you want?” said the man with a tone of impatience. “Come on already, I´ve done everything you asked! I dug the ditches, I drained the reservoir, what else do you want!?” The man in the orange jumpsuit was now visibly upset with his wailing. “Please let me go, I want to see my family… I have been here for ages” cried the man in despair. Suddenly, a noise emanating from what could only be a public announcement microphone speaker said: “Test Subject №005, you may remove the blindfold”. The inmate shook his head in confusion, “Test Subject? What…?”.
“Test Subject №005, remove the blindfold” repeated the voice from the speaker. The inmate proceeded to remove the bandana wrapped around his head. The luminous white light from the room quickly blinded the man and caused him to cover his eyes with his hands. “Damn, I get why there are so many energy shortages now. Hmm… could you guys like do me a solid, and lower the lights a bit? Please…? It’s a bit unbearable”
“Test Subject №005…”, repeated the machine until the man interrupted again: “Hey I have a name all right! So stop calling me Test Subject whatever…” demanded the man in comedic anger. A deafening silence hit the room until the speaker sounded again: “Test Subject №005…”,
“Oh my God”, cried the man while the speaker continued. “Test Subject №005, remove the black lid from the table”. Along with all this confusion, the man barely noticed the mysterious black lid box in front of him. “This thing?” pointed the inmate, “Ok, fine”. With reluctance, the man removed the black lid box from the table and placed it on the ground, only to be very confused at what was hiding beneath. “What the hell is this?”
“Test Subject №005… Eat the bowl of cereal”. In front of the inmate, and hidden beneath the black lid box, layed a white bowl, with glossy white milk, and wheat grain colored cereal.
“Are you serious?” replied the confused man. “You want me to… you want me to eat a bowl of cereal? Why not just bring it to my cell you know? Save your boys the walk, and the smell too” said the man while smelling his clothes, “Ugh, I haven’t showered in so long”. The man took a long glance at the bowl of cereal, picked the silver spoon from the bowl, but before doing anything, he spoke again: “Wait a minute, wait a minute. Is this for real? I mean, I´ve been held captive here for so long, doing all this arduous and toiling labours, and now… Now I get to eat a bowl of cereal? I mean, what the fuck guys”
“Test Subject №005, eat the bowl of…” said the machine before being interrupted, “Yeah I know… I know…” replied the man. “Test Subject blah blah, eat the bowl of cereal, whatever… “ mocked the man.
Silence hit the room yet again, until the speaker noise sounded again: “Test Subject №005, eat the bowl of cereal, or we will make you comply”.
“Okay, okay… Fine. Keep your boys at bay” the man took another glance at the bowl of cereal and picked up the silver spoon, “Here goes nothing I guess”, and with that, the inmate took a spoonful of cereal. Quickly the man´s face turned into one of delight, as he clearly enjoyed what he was eating. “Hmm… Hmm, this is really good actually. How come I´ve never tested cereal this good on the island?” The man resumed eating the bowl of cereal, while enjoying every single bite of it. “And the milk, my God the milk. I don´t think even Miss Peggy produces such tasty milk”. With every bite, the grin on the man´s face got wider and wider. “This is so good, you have to give me the recipe… wait, let me guess, you feed the cows celery instead of onions?” The man continued munching, enjoying his meal quite a lot. Spoon after spoon, the man´s apparent insatiable appetite couldn´t be clenched.
The once mortified inmate, became a succulent connoisseur of great cereals by his apparent hunger. The once filled bowl was now almost empty, yet the mouth of the inmate was always filled with chunks of delicious grain cereal. The man had milk dripping from his face, and making a mess on the table by his frenetic eating. For a moment, this pleasurable time seemed perfect. Until suddenly, the man stopped chewing, with his mouth filled with cereal, and froze for a moment. He fastened his grip on the silver spoon and his left hand holding the bowl started trembling. For a second or two, he remained still, until the cereal filled inmate dropped the bowl of cereal and coughed the many chunks of cereal remaining on his mouth. The inmate started tweaking and shaking, while uncontrollably coughing. He dropped to the ground, vomiting grain cereal chunks and now diluted grey milk. His frenzy wouldn´t stop, and with the amount of cereal coming the man was vomiting, any air couldn`t enter his lungs. He started choking. Gasping in pain he grabbed his neck, as his red eyes were bold open and seeming to burst like bubbles. His head turned purple, as the man lay on the ground awaiting a cruel fate. He kicked and begged with gestures for any help, yet it was hopeless, for no one came. The man´s vision turned blurry at first, then slowly, an ill darkness creeped in. It seemed like all was lost for this poor fellow. But surprisingly, the man took a huge breath of air, and great precious oxygen, more precious than the cereal itself, entered his lungs. He began to cough in pain again, and started to recover his oxygen. Then, an incredibly strange and inexplicably mysterious pain began to perforate the skull of the inmate. The prisoner shouted in pain, and cried in distress, placing both his hands on his head. Even crazier, apart from the terrible pain the man was already suffering, he could swear his brain was popping out his skull. Something odd was going on, as the suffering man’s head began to warp in a distorted manner. The man´s face contorted in anguish, and began to deform. His ears got crumpled onto the sides of his head. His hair began to fall down, as his skull twirls and twisted for his great misery. Out of his mouth and nose, the poor man began to spew heavy chunks of blood and what seemed to be… brain chunks, and skull remains. And then, the top of his head began to screw up inside his own head, creating a bowlish sphere with an empty space. The man´s skin grew red hot as he cried in desperate despair, and began to turn marble glass. His whole face and head was continuously self adjusting and rearranging in an interesting pattern, and the top of his head began to fill itself, by its own, with a white liquid and a grainy substance. The man relinquished in pain, crying and out of hope, had painfully turned himself into a bowl of cereal.
Inside the scientist´s room, the well dressed man fastened his royal cane and pronounced the ground with an elegant smack, “Extract the milk, ditch the body” and promptly abandoned the room. The group of scientists, amazed by their results, complied with the gentleman´s command and delivered a pair of soldiers a spherical device, with a tube on top and a collection frask at the end. The two soldiers entered the room, only to find the man still crying in pain. The soldiers raised the man from the corner he was sitting, and attached the device to the man´s bowlish head. “Wait, what… what are you doing… what’s going on?!” decried the desperate man, yet to no avail, as one soldier turned a switch on the device, and the newly bowl of cereal´s eyes turned bright white, as the milk and cereal inside his head were slowly being absorbed by the device. After a few seconds, the device´s green light turned red, and chanted a small beep. The soldier turned off the switch, released the device from the man´s bowlish head, and his lifeless corpse dropped flat on the ground. The two soldiers, with their commanded essence collected, left the room, leaving a lifeless bowl of cereal behind.
