Trial 1 - Part 1: Going Feral

The fog enveloped me in a firm grasp, gripping me tightly as if I were its long lost toy. It was black, and I could barely get a scrap of oxygen out; it was agony. Could I really kill someone? If I were to end a life, would it carry with me forever? That thought which plagues me until I lay my final breath? No I couldn't. I can't, I'm not that type of guy. But I knew that I was in a situation where I had no choice.

The fog jostled me forward relentlessly as I attempted to keep my footing. There was no choice but to go forward; forward to whom?

Eventually the fog dispersed, dropping me onto the hard concrete of a factory. Where am I? The room, this room looks like a boiler room. With rusting, leaking pipes streaking over the stone floor. Why am I here? Why am I trapped? It had to be some kind of a joke, surely?

The pipes had creaked and groaned as a soft stream of water drained into the drain below. The pipes were no longer as loud as before. I heard some distant rustling in the darkness. I had no idea where I was but I trusted myself. I slowly got up, and cautiously looked behind me. The sound was louder now and was slowly getting closer. I didn't know what to do. The sound grew nearer and nearer as I slowly moved away from the boiler. As I looked further, I could see a shadowy figure. It was only a shadow, but it was definitely looking at me. I screamed and ran into the tunnel, but to no avail. I was trapped.

A ticking from a timer echoed throughout - That's right, the pig mask. I searched my body for it, only to find it stuffed inside my grey pants pocket. Putting it on, it felt as if I were being tickled, yet the sensation was completely different, as if it were a dream. The mask rested upon my naked flesh, enriching its absorption of my natural nutrients. Like sewing micro needles, it jabbed and stabbed repeatedly into the skin, I could feel my skin slowly being peeled from my meat, bloody and battered flesh hanging off my face. My body was covered in wounds, the skin on my arms and hands ripped away, leaving them raw and bloodied.

My flesh was ripped away, leaving large bloody wounds covering my eyes, tears running from them, I let out a pathetic sob, as I had no defense against this hellish torture. I couldn't... The fluid ran from my eyes, I knew the pain that I was going through, but was unable to do anything. I just lay there, crying, my tears soaking into the soft, new skin that rested on my face. I felt no pain from the blood that I was losing, or the torture that the machine was giving to my body. I just lay there, knowing that this was my future, the future of all humans. A slow death that slowly sucked away their fluids and their flesh and turned them into a living hell. I was slowly dying from the machine, but I felt no pain. Slow, unending suffering with no relief in sight.

My face went blank; my eyes became cloudy. A buzzing noise continued to fill my ears and I had to resist the urge to open my mouth and scream. I felt a strong desire to close my eyes; the pain was unbearable. The buzzing persisted, but it started to dim.

I could see flashes of color behind my closed eyelids. It started to change. The colors started to merge and merge. The flashes started to merge into a single color. My eyes were completely focused on that color. It looked like a bright red neon light; my eyes strained as hard as they could. It became brighter and brighter. Then it disappeared.

And that was the last thing I saw - Before the mask took hold of me.

Every instinct that betrayed morality was nothing more than a footnote in the past, lying in the dark, and too afraid to emerge. Animal instincts, as if I were going feral, took hold of every muscle flinching. This was not a part of me, not a part of me. This was not a part of me, no, not at all. No, I was, I had been, I had been myself, I was not this thing, I was not this thing. But that was the only thing I was, the only thing I could remember from my time as a human.

I was back on my senses. The world around me was dark, pitch black; it made no sense to me. I was lost in this world, a world I was to be banished from, but that would not happen. A deep, primal scream erupted from my throat, reverberating through every pore of my skin. I felt the presence of a force, a monster that was looking to consume my flesh. I was not a thing. I was still a man. I was not a machine, a mindless, animalistic creation - Yet, in this moment, I knew what to be done; and it would be done if only to ensure my survival, my being as this pig-like creature.

It came closer.