I had spent my life studying, working and building models with the sole purpose of searching for the unknown and learning what I could. My drive to search for new knowledge was the only thing I cared about or ever wanted for myself. If I had known what it would lead to, I would have been an electrician.
You could imagine my excitement when I got the call from CERN. I could barely contain myself after they asked me to work on their LHC (Large Hadron Collider) in Sweden. It was a project on the cutting edge of science and exploration into the minute particles that make up this universe. Needless to say I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into it.
I had read all the research of course. The pros and cons of this kind of experimentation were vast and numerous to be sure. After weighing the odds of the "impossible" becoming possible I accepted the offer and uprooted my life, making the move halfway across the world and taking one more step toward my dreams. Hindsight being what it is I now know I let my ambition get the best of me. I should have taken less time deciding what was best for me and more time to decide what was best for the world?
In the months that passed all of my focus was on doing research for the project and building the machine. I had learned more about the particles that make up this universe than ever before. There were glitches of course, but what scientific experimentation doesn't have unforeseen variables?
We thought we knew what we were doing. We were completely focused on expanding scientific knowledge and "pushing the limit" as it were. But that was before the first one came through?
September 19th and the sun was shining. Like a kid anticipating Santa I could barely sleep the night before knowing full well that my presents were just under the tree, waiting to be unwrapped. I met with my team in the control room and started our procedures for start up, champagne at the ready. Those 20 minutes were the longest of my life to date. Staring at computer screens and watching energy levels, monitoring particle flow, logging every miniscule discrepancy.
Finally the moment came to initialize the machine and unlock the secrets of the universe. I grit my teeth and release the first wave of particles. It doesn't take long for something traveling at 99.9999991% the speed of light to travel 17 miles and cheers erupted as we began getting our first bits of data. It wasn't until we heard the alarm sound that we knew that there was trouble at the impact site. My mouth agape I watched the gauges peak as the energy output spiraled out of control. The temperature at the point of particle impact was rising at an unbelievable rate. I tried the emergency shutdown only to be punched in the gut with an error message, its image forever burned into my brain?
*FAILSAFE UNRESPONSIVE*
*FAILSAFE UNRESPONSIVE*
*FAILSAFE UNRESPONSIVE*
I guess Murphy really was right?
I thought the worst had happened. I thought the critic's worst fears had been realized when suddenly our prayers were answered. The machine had stopped along with the noise of frantic staff rummaging through procedure books and emergency manuals. The room went silent and dark and a sigh of relief escaped our lips for the briefest of moments, only to be stolen away by utter chaos.
When they are in your presence, the first thing you notice is the screaming. Evil and unrelenting their voices pierced our world for the first time and I have never been so frightened. Palms over my ears I looked down the tunnel in an attempt to make sense of the noise. The red iris of emergency lighting revealed only the cloud of dust that I would come to know so well in the coming months.
Instinctively I dropped to the ground, fearing that some of the liquid helium had escaped. My cowardice was my only saving grace at that moment. Cowering under a desk with my hands over my ears I felt the air around me begin to vibrate. Within seconds the creature was inside the control room. The smell of sulfur overpowering my senses I managed to look through my tears long enough to catch a glimpse of what would become my nemesis.
Oddly enough the wings are what shocked me the most. Grey feathers dragging on the ground behind the 7 foot tall beast as it made its way through the room. Its head resembled the skull of a large bird, its body without skin, its muscles bare and exposed dripping fluid. Surrounded in sulfur smelling dust it stopped every few feet to swing its massive clawed hands at my co-workers, dispatching them mercilessly. If it weren't for my hands over my ears I think the screams of the people I had come to know and love might have stopped my heart. But in that moment all I could hear was the beasts' voice muffled by my palms as I crawled on my belly out of the room and into the hallway.
Those 15 minutes on my belly felt like an eternity as I made my way out of the control complex and into the open air. The sunlight of the morning had yielded its grip on the world and given way to dusk as I ran across the parking lot trying to get to my car. I looked around me, daring to take my hands away from my ears if only for a moment to get my bearings. The air was eerily still, only being broken by the percussion of wings and screams in the distance as I shut the door and started the engine.
I made my way out of the parking lot slowly as to not attract any attention when dust began to creep its way through the air vents in my car. Smoky sulfur fingers dancing around me making my eyes tear. I looked in the rearview and saw grey feathers lying on my back window disappearing inch by inch. Before I could make heads or tails (or in this case feathers) of the situation there was a fist through the roof of my car swatting at me with razor sharp talons. I instinctively bent and dodged, hitting the gas and swerving my car in an attempt to remove my attacker from my roof to no avail. My heart rate skyrocketed in just a few seconds as panic and fear took over. I was seeing the world with high definition eyes. Everything was so tangible and real. Moments felt like seconds as I sped my car toward the pylons of a fast approaching bridge?
The sound and crunch of metal on metal has never appealed to me. Lucky for me an accident usually only lasts a few seconds before everything becomes still again. I rolled out of the drivers' seat slowly, still seeing stars from hitting the steering wheel. I attempted to scream for help but found out very quickly that I couldn't speak, the words were there but I couldn't get them out. I must have hit my head harder than I thought. I looked to the sky to try and find my attacker and found it empty, only the lingering smell of sulfur remained. I stumbled around the debris and discovered the beast's body smashed between the car and concrete. Its arms had been completely amputated and like a spider with half of its body removed the animal jerked in a futile attempt to move. In that moment there appeared a rage and a fire in my belly that had been absent in the previous years of my life. The seething desire for vengeance took over me and I knew what I had to do. I reached down slowly and grabbed a piece of shrapnel from the wreckage. Methodically I ran my finger over the tip to measure its sharpness. As I got closer to the beast I had to wrap my shirt around my face to fight off the gagging reflex from the sulfur. It lunged at me with its beak in one last attempt to take my life. With one motion I lunged forward with my weapon at the ready. Screaming I plunged it deep into the demons chest, its lifeblood pouring out and covering me while I stabbed it over and over. I had to take vengeance for the lives that had been taken from me; vengeance for my shattered dreams.
The cries of agony from those in the distance beckoned to me. A lingering sense of responsibility for their plight weighed heavy on my thoughts as I walked away from the scene of my first murder. Scared at my own reaction I wept. Not for me, but for those suffering at the hands of my ambition.
Now I have a new goal. One which I strive toward with all the drive and vision I had in my previous life.
Now I hunt them.
rating: 11
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