Goose flesh covered my skin as I sat nearly naked in the doctor's chair. My thin underwear gave no protection from its cold metal surface. I shivered, struggling against the shackles that held me in place. It was futile to try to escape, but I had to try anyway.

"Calm down patient zero," Oskar's voice came from behind me as he walked around the chair. The doctor's assistants were trying to hook cables up to my back, but my writhing made it a challenge.

"Fuck you," I spat. Catching a glimpse of Oskar's face. Even in the rooms dim lighting the bruise forming on his chin was clear. My elbow had gotten him good. He deserved it for bringing me to the doctor.

"He's quite spirited today. I wonder why that is?" the doctor's voice made me suck in a breath and for a moment I had forgotten to struggle. The assistants took that opportunity to plug me in.

"Patient zero is exceptional at deception. His energy levels are hard to predict," Oskar said.

"And yet we've never had this issue before," the doctor replied as he moved into view. He stood next to Oskar by my feet. "No worries though. It's of no consequence to me. The physical exhaustion is mostly for the patients benefit, so he doesn't hurt himself struggling."

The doctor's words held no emotion. I was frozen in place, my struggling forgotten. His icy blue eyes cut through me, he was the devil reincarnated. I swallowed hard. When he leaned in close to me I was sure he would hurt me. My heart raced.

"Oskar is going to hold up a series of cards. I want you to tell me what you see, and read any words that may be on the card out loud. Do you understand?" the doctor said.

My voice caught in my throat. His nearness made my skin crawl and I wished I could disappear from his gaze. "Yes." I managed to force the word out.

"Good," he replied and moved away from me. His footsteps trailed across the room, but I could no longer see him. The chair was positioned to face the corner of the room and the strap that held my head down kept me from looking around.

Oskar stood by my feet with a stack of cards in his hands. They were turned away from me so that I could not see what was on them. When the familiar whirring of the machine filled the room, my blood ran cold. I thought I was just reading cards? Was it a trick?

The all too familiar fire burned through my veins as the black liquid entered my body. Surprisingly the pain was bearable. It was maybe a five when the pain was usually a ten. They weren't giving me my usual torturous treatment? My mind raced as fast as my heart when the lights went out. What was going on?

"Focus Patient Zero. Read the card in front of you," the doctor's voice called from behind me. Oskar had flipped over one of the cards in his hands. I could see it clearly, even with the lights off.

"It's a circle," I stuttered. The burning in my veins made it hard to speak. "Inside it is the phrase 'a circle begins and ends at the same place.' It's written in cursive."

"What about the colors?" the doctor asked.

Staring at the card I realized I could see the colors clearly. It was like my sight was normal and I was looking at the card in the light of day. Though everything around it was in shades of grey. At least until I changed my focus. I could see the colors of whatever object or person I focused on.

"Patient Zero." The doctor's voice was stern.

"The card is white, the circle is red, the inside of the circle is green, and the text is black," I replied.

Oskar continued to flip through cards. I read and described each one of them to the doctors content, even though my skin burned like it was on fire. The more cards I read, the worse the pain got. I wondered if I was reading the cards incorrectly and that the pain was my punishment.

Hours passed before Oskar ran out of cards. When he did my pain only increased. The doctor shoved a bit into my mouth before turning the machine on full blast. I wreathed from the searing pain, but he didn't care.

Time passed slowly as the torturous pain from the black liquid had me begging for death. Oskar tried to hold my hand, but I shook him off. I didn't want his comfort, I wanted death. I hated him for his part in my torture.

Tears streaked my cheek when one of the doctor's assistants spoke. "The silent alarm has been triggered."

"What?" the doctor said as the dim lights of the room turned on.

"That's not possible," Oskar said.

Oskar left my side to join the others out of view. I couldn't make out their panicked whispers over the whirring of the machine, but it was clear that something was coming.

"Evacuate now," the doctor said and his assistants scurried around the room. "There's five minutes left on the machine. As soon as it turns off, get him out of here. If you can't make it out you know what to do." He spoke directly to Oskar.

"You want me to terminate Project Infinity?" Oskar asked.

"Only if you have no way out," the doctor replied. His footsteps trailed off into the distance.

The room was quite aside from the machine. Oskar came to my side and stared down at me. His piercing green eyes were filled with worry. It seemed as though time stood still. Oskar paced the length of the chair, while I wreathed in pain.

When Oskar jolted and his eyes widened, I knew he had heard something in the hall. He stood by my feet with a gun in his hand, pointed right at my head. Relief washed over me. Finally he would put an end to my suffering. I was glad it would be him. After all those years of taking care of me it was fitting that he'd release me from my pain. It would be his greatest kindness.

"I'm sorry Viktor. I wish that I could have saved you," Oskar said as the machine started to power down. Noise came from the door of the room, but I couldn't see it. The fire running through my veins began to calm.

"Maybe now we can both be free," Oskar said. I stared into his beautiful green eyes, ready to die. When he turned the gun on himself, pressing it into his temple, my heart stopped.

"No!" I shouted, but the trigger had already been pulled. Oskar's blood and brains splattered the wall. The sound of the gun shot echoed throughout the room as his body fell to the ground. My eyes couldn't reconcile the sight. The door to the room burst open as I continued to scream.