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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/googlyeyes93 on 2024-09-22 21:42:55+00:00.

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DAY 12

Beginning to wonder if there’s any point in keeping count of days anymore. The only way I know is by consulting the clocks around the facility and my computer, but who knows if those are accurate. I haven’t seen the sun since the shutters came down, and at this point, I don’t know if I’ll ever see it again. Wish I would have enjoyed my time outside more while I still had it.

The subjects are all still alive. I don’t know if we’ve passed some sort of advanced regeneration point, but we did take a blood sample for analysis from Two. He was still alive, something… torturing him. It’s like the invisible force that ripped him apart would wait for his wounds to scab over, taking their time then poking hard at the healing skin, making it bleed again as they pulled the it off. He couldn’t do anything but scream in pain.

One didn’t seem catatonic anymore at all. He had passed into a new point, one where he was bright eyed and awake for the first time in days. He started talking to us, with nobody in particular as his target, just open ended questions.

ONE: So, what are you in here for? What did you do? Wanna know what I did?

TWO: Shut up! Shut up! Stop singing!

ONE: Oh, that’s not me.

FOUR: Please let me go. Please just let me out of here. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

Three was huddled in his corner again, facing inward and muttering how he was going to teach someone a lesson, and they would listen to him after all was said and done. We got the answer on that pretty quick, because he was the first to respond.

THREE: I needed to teach that bitch a lesson. She wanted to get uppity, and I had to show the kids what happens when you get like that… how they should be a man. A woman is supposed to submit to her husband, dammit, and if she won’t I’ve got every right to punish her. What’s so wrong about living by God’s word?

ONE: Oooooh that’s the woman beside you. Huh, looks like she brought the kids for a visit. You show them their place, too?

THREE: They would have ended up just like her if I hadn’t saved them. They would’ve been ungrateful whores to any man they were lucky enough to have. I kept them pure. They died pure.

Taryn looked like she was going to throw up. I made a motion for her to leave the room, going back to her room for some quiet. She shook her head, refusing to be shaken once again. The woman was showing strength I hadn’t seen since my mother passed, and that was a high bar.

ONE: Damn, dude. At least I just shot up a school because they were bullies.

There’s two mysteries solved now. One was a shooter (and fit the stereotype, honestly) while Three was a family annihilator. I lost a lot of the pity I had for either of them through the experiment then, especially when One started describing his spree.

ONE: You know, it was REALLY easy to gat shots off in a school. Have they changed that yet:? I’ve been locked up for years so I’ve only been told hearsay. God, back in my day you could just walk right in with a twelve gauge in hand. I can see Erica standing right over there, speak of the devil. Not sure if she’s looking at me or not though, since there’s… well, there’s not much to her face anymore. OH! I think I get it now. They appear how they died, that’s why your family is soaking wet, right?

THREE: I drowned them…

ONE: What’d you use, bathtub? Baptise ‘em in the old river downstream? Come on, tell me!!!

THREE: I tied cinderblocks to their feet and threw them in our pool.

ONE: (whistling) Damn, that’s intense. Good on you, buddy. Innovative. How ‘bout you Jeffrey Jr.? What’re you in for?

FOUR: None of your damn business.

ONE: Oh, the little group around you says otherwise. Lots of hospital gowns. They look fuckin’ delirious too, more than all of us.

FOUR: I was trying to help.

ONE: Help what? The Grim Reaper?

TWO: SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!

ONE: Calm down, boss. We know what you’re in for, look at all these girls. I lost fucking count, and they look pretty young. Care to explain?

TWO: FUCK YOU!

ONE: Yeah, don’t think we needed any explanation anyway. Honestly, I look like a saint compared to you fuckers.

FOUR: Please, shut the fuck up.

ONE: What do you guys think the other guy had? I saw a bunch of burning body parts around him. I know the default answer is probably arson, but MY personal theory is that he was in charge of some major war crimes. Those things looked obliterated and COOKED. Like, well done cooked.

He was relishing this at this point, even though he was missing half of his organs. This son of a bitch was commanding the room like a storyteller, spilling everyone’s darkest secrets. When he looked at us, I felt my blood run cold.

ONE: Now you, lady, I get. I understand that you’re innocent of any crime. I’m sorry you’re about to go through this. Now, you two though….

He looked squarely at Philip and I, leveling eyes at us like lasers set to stun. We were frozen in place, entranced by his act of psychological torture.

ONE: You have two people. Now, I don’t think a good guy like you would do something like that intentionally, right? They’re pretty mangled, after all. One only has a part of his head. Ha, we should be friends!

He gestured to his own head, the flattened part bulging out now from brain swelling. Philip wouldn’t answer upon hearing that, shutting down in fear while his mind pondered the ramifications. They were likely the friends he had killed in his drunken joyride.

ONE: Oh well, you’re probably going to see them yourself soon. You though, who’s the woman?

The electricity in my spine from the gas was nothing compared to the bucket of ice that was just injected right into my bone marrow. I know. I know who it is. I just can’t bear to fucking say it.

ONE: Kind of a dick move if you killed an old lady. Hell, the only one in here who doesn’t have something hanging around is that guy.

He pointed to Murray then, giving him a thumbs up.

ONE: Well, things are only about to get worse. Kirk over here is telling me that they’re going to torture me in ways I’ve never imagined.

Two was screaming for him to shut up now as One just started to laugh again, taunting all of us. He had passed the point of sanity, but just might have achieved something beyond it at this point.

All of us left, going back to. the dining table and sitting in silence for a time.

“I’m so sorry…” Philip started whispering under his breath. I don’t know if he was telling us, himself, or the things that were probably still following him, but he broke down sobbing eventually.

I wandered off to read for a bit, trying to find anything to calm my racing mind. Even after all this, I’m trying to come up with some sort of scientific answer. Despite all my logic though, the real evidence in front of me is supernatural, at least.

—-

DAY 13

I’ve had bad doses of irritability, but nothing like this. God, every small sound is terrible, making the headache I’ve been nursing for days only get worse.

Philip has taken to being a recluse in his cot, crying on and off in between long dissociative episodes. He would just stare at the wall, not even bothering to pay attention to the food we brought him.

We offered food to the subjects still inside, but all refused, saying that they weren’t hungry anymore. Every one of them is exhibiting the same symptom now, seeing other people around them that are, seemingly, from their past.

It’s… getting hard for me to focus. I’m having my own episodes of dissociation, sleepwalking is probably the best way to put it. Cognitive function isn’t doing so great either, so forgive me if there are words misspelled in future entries. Assuming there are future entries. I hope I can keep going.

—-

DAY 14

Five got up on his own today. After laying in the medical bay since he caught fire, screaming in pain as his skin started to slough and peel off, he got right up and walked out of the room. I don’t know what was driving him, but he started beating on the windows, now shuttered from the outside since the shutdown started. Bits of skin and streaks of blood left marks all over the glass, with his fists banging against it in vain like a solemn funeral drum. If only they could have funerals.

Examination of blood samples shows that, while the cells can be broken down and individually destroyed to the point of irreparable damage, they can’t outright die. It seems that something is keeping them here, making sure that they’re trapped in this hellish limbo. It’s my belief that this correlates with the healing process during sleep, with the lack of rest leading to cells going into a sort of preservative stasis instead of going through regeneration as they would during REM sleep. It’s essentially a state of conscious cryogenics, frozen to keep them alive while they feel everything.

Two is still being tortured by whatever is there. I fear once we get closer I’ll start seeing these… phantoms that they’ve been seeing.

Three began to choke earlier, coughing water from his lungs as he struggled for breath. It just kept coming from nowhere, gallons of it that at one point mixed with blood from the pressure on his lungs. The more disturbing thing was Four’s reaction to it, shrinking back in fear as he saw the water beginning to pool on the floor. He looked wild-eyed, terror in his face as he fell back, trying to get as far away as possible from it while beginning to choke himself, throat violently sp…

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