Chapter 2

My heart beats like a heavy metal drummer, the ooze now making its way deeper inside me, I can feel it breathe now, not like a humans more steady, yet with every breath it becomes more erratic. Sarah has broken down over the knowledge that she will end the world, Tim is doing calculations and googling, his data will be through the roof this month. I'm completely still, watching the ooze crawl up my chest, I need to stop it while we can still control it.

"Tim, how do I stop it?" He is still writing things on a piece of paper, but he does not reply. I notice the black orb still hovering but it is smaller, almost as if shrinking. "Tim, what about that?" I point to the black hole and once he sees what I'm talking about he starts more googling and calculating, the metal is now over most of my torso and all down my arms.

"Jack." Tim's face is grim as he says, "the black hole will send the metal to the foodless environment of space but there's one thing…"

With his unresponsiveness I can tell what he is going to say so saving him the trouble I do, "I will die if I go through there."

He nods his agreement and says, "and if you don't…"

He does not need to tell me of the consequences, I know what needs to be done. Either way I'm dead right, might as well be on my terms.

Turning to Sarah I say, "Sarah, you are one of my greatest friends, don't beat yourself up about this, keep trying to help people. Just because this was one failed experiment, does not mean it's over, it worked but next time do it in a place where you can kill it if necessary." I turn to Tim, "take care of my place while I'm gone and for the love of god clean my blankets." A small smile spreads across his face, he knows I'm joking and I don't expect him to but I would rather leave on a good note.

Walking toward the orb I feel my major organs such as lungs, and heart, are now fully absorbed, I can feel it. It is not painful but I have no clue how I'm alive right now. Once next to the orb I turn to Tim and the tear ridden face of Sarah's. I was never good at goodbyes and all my parents got was a hole in the wall of the house they had just left, mind you my friends mean more to me, so with a wink I fall back into the swirling void of darkness.

At first I can feel the wind rushing past me as I fall but as with the light it is consumed by the void. I can still feel the metal crawling slowly through my body, my chin and mouth are being absorbed when I hear it, a whisper. Just barely audible but there, then searing pain in stabbing through my brain like a white hot knife, but it isn't physical pain, it's mental pain, it's trying to absorb me, removing my conscience in the process.

I can hear the words whispered to me, "Mine. Mine. Mine…" it is repeating the same word over and over slowly gaining in volume. I can't just let it, so fighting it mentally I try to push it out, at first nothing changes and the ooze keeps growing but after some effort I can feel it leaving my conscience one thought or memory at a time.

We fight like this floating aimlessly through this void, the metal has completely absorbed me and my fight is almost gone, it will kill me, and to make it worse we are heading back for the entrance to this void. Fighting with all I have left I corner it in my head, I don't know how but I'm positive I could kill it's brain, but what would happen to the ooze. Whether I live or die I have to do it, so the rest of the world is safe. Severing it's attachment from the ooze I take complete control of me, and the metal. I'm going to die out here and in the end the only thing I can think of is, I haven't even been laid yet.