Chapter 6
Alex got up from the tub, “I no longer sense your presence, would you like me to drain the water and give the tub a thorough rinse?” Tub asked, Alex stared at the screen. Does this thing have cameras? “Yes, drain and cleanse.” He muttered.
“Please take the provided items: Towel, robe, and slippers.”
A hidden door in the wall opened by itself, and behind was a small closet with white towels and bathrobes and slippers. Alex dried himself with a towel and put on the robe and slippers, the fabric felt good against his skin. Alex closed the closet door, it was indistinguishable from the other wall tiles in the bathroom.
Alex leaned over the marble sink and looked at himself in the mirror. The robe collars made him look like a vampire and though there was nothing underneath the robe, he still looked well dressed except for his collars. Speaking of which… Alex pulled aside the collar, and he stopped breathing. The neck was still smooth, the skin still very tender, there wasn’t any sign of damage, like last week.
Alex drove himself to breathe again and snatched a razor blade on the shelf. He held up his wrist and deftly cut open the skin, there was no flesh, only metal that reflected the fear and horror on his face. Alex forced himself to calm down and not freak out, what is this thing that he had under his skin? Alex prodded and poked, but nothing happened.
That was until Alex peeled off more skin, and a matte black spot appeared. It didn’t look like it was connected to its shiny counterpart surrounding it. It wasn’t just something painted on, this was an entirely separate object. Holding his breath, Alex pressed down hard on the matte black button.
Liquid metal scaled up his arm instantly. Alex opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. His heartbeat exploded rapidly in his ears, as quick as a gatling gun but as loud as a jet engine. He stumbled back and tripped over the tub, his hand shot out and gripped the digital screen. “Don’t be afraid.” Tub said, except that it wasn’t Tub. The voice was of a male, with emotion, imploring, coaxing him. Alex screamed and jerked his hand back, he ran out of the bathroom and grabbed his phone.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” The Same voice said from the phone. Alex screeched and immediately let go of the phone. But it stuck to Alex’s hand, he couldn’t let go. Alex threw open the door and ran down the hall. Doors zoomed by as Alex rushed to Sam’s room, “Sam!” Alex pounded on the door, “Let me in!” A moment later, the door opened, and Sam appeared. His body was still dripping with water, there was a towel cinched around his waist.
“Alex? What is it? You look terrible!” Sam gasped, but Alex was beyond words. He shoved past Sam and sat on the bed, head in both hands. “I-the-it… Oh, Sam, there’s something inside me!” He wailed, fighting back tears. “What? What do you mean? Are you okay?”
“No! No! I’m not okay! Not at all!”
“What happened?”
“I-” Alex stuttered, “I have… It’s from the crash.”
“You’re white as a sheet. Here,” Sam grabbed a can of pop from the mini-fridge and handed it to Alex, “drink it while I go change.”
Alex stared at the can of soda in his hand, the bright orange liquid made him see his tear-stained face, and he whimpered. Ripples appeared in the drink as his hand began to shake, he fought back tears threatening to overtake him. Sam was back again, this time in an identical bathrobe and slippers. Alex stopped whimpering, “What is going on?” Sam asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You ran to my room screaming bloody murder looking like a crazed lunatic, that’s what I meant.”
“I don’t… Well… There’s this… Thing! I can’t explain it, but it’s inside me!” Alex leaped off the bed and darted to the bathroom, “Alex, what are you doing?” Sam followed behind. Alex didn’t answer as he grabbed a razor, trembling, and put it over his artery. “Alex, don’t-” He slit his wrist, the silver flesh was still there. Alex’s breath hitched, as did Sam’s. “S-see?” Alex stammered, “Something’s inside me!”
Sam was silent, “Sam?” Alex turned around, “Do you see this!?” As soon as he turned around, Sam seized his wrist and with one trembling hand, pointed at it. “Y-you… your wrist!” Seeing Sam so alarmed sent a surge of panic washing over Alex, he once again came close to breaking down. “This isn’t what I was talking about,” He cut off more skin, “see this?” the black dot appeared. “Sam?” Alex looked back, Sam was struggling to stay calm, his entire body shook, his eyes bulged, his face a sheet of white, he looked worse than he was when he was on the plane. “Y-yes?”
“I’m gonna press down on this… “ Alex gulped, “Dark spot, brace yourself.” Sam was silent for a moment. “Sam?”
“No, I don’t think…”
“Yeah, me neither.” Alex put down both of his arms, Sam turned and walked stiffly to the bed. He sat down and, like what Alex did earlier, placed both hands on his head. “Oh, God…” He whispered, “What did I just witness?”
He looked up at Alex, “Alex…” his eyes were brimming with tears. “I have something to confess…”
“Huh?”
“When I was in that cave right before I found you…” His hand went to his neck, “I wasn’t choking, something went down my throat, I felt it, it was like globs of glue being forced down my throat.” Alex was dumbstruck. He stared at Sam, who was looking down at his hands in shame. Suddenly, as if his hands moved on their own accord, he pushed down hard against the button.
Alex’s wrist exploded in shiny silver, the liquid climbing up his arm, moving to his shoulder and neck. Sam leaped off the bed, eyes wide, Alex stared in horror as the silver liquid covered his entire body before sinking in. There wasn’t any sound in the room other than their heavy, ragged breaths. “S-Sam?” Sam stared at him in horror for an awfully long time even under these circumstances. “What’s wrong? Is it me? Tell me!” Alex didn’t wait for Sam to answer, he ran back to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He screamed.
He looked like a terminator robot. Matte black plating covered his eyes, nose, and forehead like a masquerade mask, there was thick plating on both of his chops. Taking off the robe, Alex saw that there was thick metal plating wrapped around his neck, with a thin strip of skin at the very middle. His torso was covered almost entirely in matte black plating, his chest was protected by two thick pieces of matte black titanium, the only thing between them that kept them separated was a thin neon strip running down his sternum, it had a healthy white glow to it.
His abdomen was matte black metal, the shape of his abs still showed, though. His arms and forearms were covered in plating, with one on the top side and one on the underside, his palm and backside of his hand was the same, as were his fingers. His legs and feet were no different. Alex turned around and looked at his backside in the mirror, his back was covered entirely with plating that reached his ribs, with the same thin neon strip stretching down his spine.
Upon closer inspection, Alex realized that these were separate platings put together, not just one piece, and there were evident crevasses and even small green and red lights. He felt this energy that he had never felt before, he felt agile, a strange feeling. This must be the reason why he didn’t feel the weight of all that titanium he had on his body.
He absorbed all that knowledge in only a few seconds, and before he knew it Sam was standing behind him. “Sam… I can’t believe…” Alex whimpered in a small voice. Sam helped him put his robe back on. “Let’s call our parents.” Gee, great idea, Sam! My parents already think that I’m hallucinating and now you want to tell them that there is a living being inside me to make them think even more that I’m crazy? Why didn’t I think of that!? THAT’S A GENIUS IDEA! HOW STUPID ARE YOU!? “No…” Alex mumbled
“No?”
“No.”
“Well… I…” Sam suddenly put a hand over his forehead and stumbled back until he hit the tiled wall. “Sam! Are you okay?” Alex asked alarmingly.
“Yeah. I-I’m just a little winded up over everything that has happened.”
“I need to… Yeah I know. Because I’ve been possessed by this… There’s something inside me, Sam. It talks, there’s this voice of a man in whatever electronic device I touch. I have something inside me, Sam. Sam, do you realize what this means? I have something inside me, something that is alive and talks. I can’t-! I have a parasite within me, Sam! Oh my god, Sam! OH MY GOD! SOMETHING IS INSIDE ME!!! Sam, CALL 911 RIGHT NOW!!!”
Alex practically flew out of the bathroom, Sam followed close behind, Sam tried to calm him down, but Alex was beyond listening. He frantically searched the bed, he violently pulled off the blankets and he grabbed at his phone. “No! Alex!” Sam held his hand back, “Are you sure you wanna do this? There’s no way your parents are gonna believe you.”
“But you saw it! I have proof!” Alex snatched his phone off the bed. “But are you sure?” Sam asked again, “I don’t think this is-”
“Please don’t call the police." The male voice pleaded on the phone. Sam and Alex screamed, Alex threw his phone down. “What was that? Did you see- I mean did you hear that!?” Alex cried, Sam was also freaking out, he was white as a sheet and was quaking as if he had pneumonia. Alex slumped down on the bed, trembling, waiting for the room to stop spinning.
“Oh, Sam…” Alex whimpered, his skin had gone back to normal. He stood up suddenly and reached for his phone, “Alex? Don’t touch the phone!”
“I’m not moving my arm! It-it… Oh my god, it can control my body!” Alex wrestled and fought his other hand, it wouldn’t let go, it clung on ever tighter to the phone, the screen lit up, and Alex tried even harder to stop it from talking. Sam charged forward and battled with Alex’s possessed limb.
Alex tried bashing his possessed hand with a glass bottle of pop, but it deftly darted aside and Alex instead broke the bottle against Sam’s forearm. Sam yelped out in pain and grasped at the spot that Alex had accidentally hit him with. Sam did a three-sixty and when he turned around he was looking at the possessed hand with more ferocious venom than Alex had ever seen before.
With a growl, Sam seized the hand and began to pry the fingers off the phone one at a time. The hand flicked back and hit Sam square on the nose, and he stumbled back, holding his nose. Alex striked his rogue hand over and over again, but Sam charged from beside him and grabbed the hand, and Alex was yanked along with him.
They both spun and staggered around the hotel room, fighting the entity that had taken control of his hand, “GET OUT! GET OUT RIGHT NOW!” Sam screamed as he pulled ever harder on the phone, he jerked especially hard and Alex stumbled forward. The room was a blur as they spun, and Alex and Sam both collided with the giant glass window. Alex gasped as he hit the window, this thing is doing whatever it could to get them to stop, even going as far as hurting them.
Alex forced the possessed hand against the glass and he pushed the hand with all his might, crushing it against the sturdy window pane. Sam, seeing this, began to push as well, even harder than Alex. The hand retaliated, pushing off the glass window pane with so much force that made both Alex and Sam fall back onto the floor. Sam, however, was not fazed, he grabbed the hand and jerked and pulled with such force that Alex felt pain.
They rolled around on the carpet, fighting the hand. The maroon stripes on black the carpet became obscure as they tumbled and rolled. Sam was first to get to his feet and he heaved the hand, pulling Alex up as well. The hand, having decided enough, struck Sam in retaliation, with so much force that Sam fell back, blood spurted from his nose in tides.
Alex scaled the bed and snaked his hand behind the nightstand. He yanked out the charging cable and wrapped it around his wrist. No matter how much it hurt, he was gonna have to cut off the bloodstream for that hand. He pulled, hard enough for the cable to break, he desperately needed that numb feeling. But since it was all metal underneath the skin, Alex instead broke the charging cable. All the while the phone was yelling: “Please stop! I don’t want to hurt you! Calm down!”
Having exhausted themselves, Alex finally gave up. “What are you? Why are you inside me?” He demanded, “What-”
“I don’t know! I don’t remember who I am! I don’t have any memory of my… Past life.” The voice on the phone sounded very uncertain. “Oh my god…” Alex began to quake, “I’ve been p-possessed!”
“Am I a ghost? I’m not so sure who I am or what I am now.”
“You!? I want you to get out RIGHT NOW!”
“I don’t know how! I need to know more about everything before leaving you! And I’ve already scoured your brain for information!”
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What?” Sam cut in,
“I guess being a ghost gave me a lot of powers I have yet to discover.”
“You mean you can’t be separated from me!?”
“I don’t-” The voice cut off as the screen suddenly went black.
“What!? What is it!?” Alex shook the phone.
“It’s dead…” Sam sighed forlornly.
“What? What do you mean?” Alex grabbed for the charger, but it was in two pieces after he wrapped it around his wrist. “No! You have to tell me! You-” Alex’s voice broke, wracking sobs overtook him as he clutched his phone to his chest. He cried until Sam put a hand on his shoulder and Alex stopped crying. “Do you wanna sleep now?” Alex nodded slowly, and let Sam help him up.
They walked to Alex’s room, where Sam watched Alex dress himself and then asked: “Do you wanna sleep with me tonight?”
Alex knew exactly why Sam would ask that, and so he nodded. They slowly walked back to Sam’s room. Sam looked about as shocked as Alex, though Alex didn’t have a tremor like Sam did. “I don’t think I can sleep.” Alex groaned as he sat down on the bed, “My dad has sleeping pills.” Sam suggested, “Maybe we can take those.”
“Are you sure?”
“It works really well.”
“I’m not- Oh, whatever. Give me those pills.”
Sam opened the nightstand and grabbed a bottle of drugs. Sam put four pills in his hand and then opened the mini fridge to get two cans of pop. He gave two pills to Alex and then popped the rest into his mouth. Alex swallowed the pills before gulping down the soda, and Sam did the same.
Alex emptied the soda can into his mouth, but Sam put his back in the fridge. Sam changed into his clothes as well but didn’t put on his pants, Alex took off his pants as well. “If dad were to come back right now with your parents, you know, back from ‘exploring italy’, then he’d totally freak out.” Sam yawned as he lay down on the bed, “Do you want me to sleep on your loveseat?” Alex asked him.
Sam shook his head and pulled aside the covers invitingly, motioning Alex over. Alex shrugged and rubbed his eyes before climbing into bed with Sam. He could already feel the drugs kicking in. The blanket fell over them in one swift motion of Sam’s arm, and they were instantly covered in warmth. The last thing Alex felt before he fell asleep was Sam putting his arm over him, spooning him.
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