| NEUROCAM ASSIGNMENT – NTC – 6421/02 – Undercover Infiltration. Assignment Status: Incomplete Report Begins I woke early on Saturday morning with no memory of the previous night. As I sat up the room heaved and spun around me, my bed adrift on an angry sea. As my head began to clear I tried to piece together the events of last night but my mind drew a blank, not even able to remember the last thing I remembered. This was decidedly odd, I thought, as I had never experienced a memory blackout such as this. 9:27am on the bedside clock as I drew back the curtains. Temporarily blinded, I stumbled my way into the kitchen for something to drink. Glass, fridge, orange juice, desperate run to the sink to save spitting out the contents on the floor. Poison! Gingerly I brought the bottle up and smelled the contents, reeling backwards at the strong acrid scent. So much for that idea. Flicking on the bathroom light I examined my face in the mirror. My eyes were sunken and dark, hair matted with god-knows-what and my hands looked as if I'd been digging in the garden. Water, toothpaste on toothbrush, thrown against the wall seconds later I as tired to rinse the taste out of my mouth. I picked up the tube; this stuff smells just like the orange juice did. At least the water seems to be OK. Staring into the mirror one thought was running through my mind, "What the hell did I drink last night?" 20 minutes later and I was beginning to look human again though I still felt very far from it. Outside and it's freezing. I jumped in the car and waited a few moments for the engine to warm up. Condensation fogs up the windscreen and I open a window. Perhaps the biting cold will snap me out of this. Rummaging through the glove box I found an old pair of sunglasses that do little to eliminate the glare. Engine warm I backed out of the driveway and started to head off. A quick check of my watch showed it was just after 10 - still plenty of time to make it to the assignment. Reaching the end of the street I went straight through a stop sign I had passed every day for years. Shit! I just ran a stop sign into a major intersection. Gear down and foot to the floor as I yank the wheel to the left. I get up some speed before daring to look in the rear-view mirror and breath a sigh of relief as I see the road is empty. That was close - lucky it's so quiet out here. A few minutes up the road and it occurs to me I really shouldn't be driving this morning. I feel slow, almost confused. I have to take my eyes off the road for a few seconds to find the indicator. A right turn and I'm blind! Eyes mostly closed I try and aim the car for the curb and hit the brakes, a jarring thump followed by the sound of crushing metal tells me I found it. My head hits the wheel and there's an explosion of light and colour. Images of a strange bar, a blond woman in red hands me a drink, four men in dark suits and then the light again. Hands over my eyes I try to peek around them and wince at the pain. The sun is low in the sky before me and it's all I can do to take a quick glimpse. I really shouldn't be driving. Hand still over my eyes I get out of the car and face the other way.
Digging blindly in my pocket I pull out a crumpled cigarette and and
lighter before risking another look. After a moment I come to realise
that as long as I don't face the sun, I can keep my eyes open. Leaning
back against the boot of the car I light the cigarette and inhale deeply.
Again. As I look around I can see I'm on the main road. My mouth No cars. I look at my watch then look back up. No cars. At the watch
again, press a few buttons. Yes, it's morning and Saturday the 9th.
Again to the road and it's empty. My heart beats in my throat as I
consider the possibilities. I close my eyes and count to 10, but still
there are no cars. There is nothing where the should be a traffic jam. Half frozen and pulse so high I think my heart might explode I start to run blindly down the street and in the general direction of home. Less then a block later my foot catches on the pavement and I go down hard. Searing pain as colored lights explode in my eyes, then darkness. Naked. Cold steel to my back. Voices. Pain again. Light above me. Try to see but too bright. Sounds in my head start to resolve themselves into words again. I awake face down on the concrete. As I pull myself up I see a small pool of blood before me. I bring my hand to the cut, look at my fingers to confirm it's still bleeding. Hurts like hell, too. I move my back to a nearby wall and rest my head in my hands for a few minutes. And then I begin to remember. A strange bar and a beautiful woman - what luck! She leans in close and whispers in my ear, laughs, touches my arm. She's buying me drinks. One, two, three - lost count after that. The room starts to spin and I feel bad. Can't focus, can't speak. I try and make words but nothing happens. I look down at my hand and the fingers grow and stretch - zoom across the room before slingshoting back. I look up and her and she throws her head back and laughs. I was drugged! I tried to get up, to leave. It was crowded, everyone looks at me angry, pushes me back and I can't get through the crowd. I want to scream but nothing happens. Then she's on my arm, leading me out as the crowds effortlessly part for her. Then four men in dark suits take may arms and bundle me into the back of a large car that smells like new leather. I woke in some kind of hospital. There are machines around me, lines running into my veins. I try to get up but I'm strapped down at the arms, legs and waist. I can't even move my head. I close my eyes to the bright light shining from above. A second later I can feel a shadow. It's her, but her hair is tied back and she's wearing a surgical mask and gloves. There a very large hypodermic in her hand. She pulls down the mask with one finger and smiles coldly. "Now we'll see what you know", she says as the pushes the needle into one of the many tubes I'm connected to. And then it's dark again. Head in my hands in the freezing cold I begin to laugh. I'm not here, this isn't real. This is some kind of illusion, some kind of drug induced fantasy. For a moment anger boils my blood, not at my captors but at those who had failed to warn me. There was nothing about this in the Operational Guidelines! But the anger soon fades and the laughter returns. I stand, throw back my head and howl like a maniac. Fist in the air I curse the sky. "You failed!", I scream. "You'll learn nothing from me, you hear me? You failed!". As I continue to scream and curse at the top of my lungs, the sun explodes violently behind me. A piercing shriek fills the air around me. The ground ripples and cracks, throwing me hard onto my back. Stars burn and fall and trees crumple into dust in seconds. Houses seems to pixilate and fade away. The noise increases in pitch with every second, until I can no longer hear as much as feel it. I look down at myself and see my body stretch and twist. Shrinking and growing at the same time. Then everything around me fades as my head seems to grow. Larger and larger until it is the street, then the block and finally I am everything. Nothingness. I woke early in morning with no memory of the previous night. As I sat up the room heaved and spun around me, my bed adrift on an angry sea. As my head began to clear I tried to piece together the events of last night but my mind drew a blank, not even able to remember the last thing I remembered. This was decidedly odd, I thought, as I had never experienced a memory blackout such as this. 9:29 on the bedside clock. I try and lay as still as I can - even moving my eyeballs hurts. My mouth tastes metallic and I think I'm going to throw up. The clock hits 9:30 and the alarm goes off playing music. I feel ill. I crawl out of bed and stagger towards the bathroom as the music in the background stop and the DJs cut in. "It's a glorious Sunday morning with an expected high of 32 before a late change...." Into the bathroom and just able to make it to the sink before I'm
sick. I run the tap and take a large drink before filling my hands
with water and splashing my face. As the water runs off me the sink
turns red. I stand and turn towards the mirror and finger a large,
painful gash on my forehead of which I have no memory... Report Ends Regards, Operative Wintermute |