Monday 16 January 2012

Teasers continuing...

Here is yet another teaser from the new book. Please continue to post your thoughts and suggestions. Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Thank you for reading...

The Ark

"So, here we are then. Do you like it?"
We had eventually arrived at our destination. I didn't know how long I had been unconscious and had no idea where I was or how far away I was from the city. I only remembered waking up occasionally and being beaten unconscious again.
When we arrived, I was doused with ice cold water to revive me.
"It's our little Ark. It will be the cradle of our New World Order. This is the place where we will look down onto our creation and smile contentedly."
I was tied to a chair and couldn't move. I was completely naked – as God intended so to speak. It was a little chilly in this huge hall. I looked up and saw a man and a woman.
It was the man who was speaking and whose voice I had heard in the van. I shuddered for a moment, partly because of the cold, but mainly because I recognized them both from my nightmares. It was the Devil and his right hand.
"You do remember us, don't you, Cornelius?" the main asked.
"How could you forget us, Cornelius?" the woman added.
This ark, as they called it, looked more like a warehouse than a ship. However, very much like ships, it was damp, cold and generally unpleasant. I expected a big, fat rat to run across the floor at some point – but my surroundings were the least of my worries. It was the two people in front of me who I was afraid of.
I still didn't understand how they could have been in my nightmares and why they had become reality now, but if my dreams turned out to be echoes of past events, then these two people were the same two evil minds that had given me a great deal of pain in some distant past.
"You were our first patient, Cornelius. You were the first to witness our expertise, Cornelius – our genius," the main said.
They both paraded up and down in front of me.
"Cornelius, you must remember. Just think back a few years," the man continued.
They suddenly stopped walking and stood side by side in front of me, their devious eyes fixed on mine.
"Well, do you remember us? Do you know our names?"
I hesitated. I started to realized that my dreams had to be real memories that I had somehow lost, but that my subconscious mind had kept and brought back to me again and again in my sleep. That meant I knew who the two people were and that I had to know their names. Yet, despite my deepest fears and state of confusion, I didn't want them to feel any form of control over me. I didn't even want to give them the satisfaction that they could make me answer their questions. I was terrified of them, but I also despised them and instinctively knew that I had to try and resist as well as I could.
"Answer, Cornelius," the man suddenly shouted, but his voice quickly calmed again. "Or let me answer for you. You do remember us, I know that you do. But you are stubborn, as you used to be.
"As you know, I am Dr. Lucius Abaddon, an expert in the area of human anatomy, master of torturing the living body and keeping it alive just long enough to reveal its deepest secrets. I am sure you remember that, Cornelius, don't you?
"As you also know, this distinguished lady is my honoured colleague Dr. Judy Wormwood, an expert in the area of the human mind, master of twisting and bending people's thoughts and completely re-programming a person's brain, breaking their will and ultimately their body. I am sure you remember that as well, Cornelius, don't you?
"Judy is just too good at her work. She is unforgettable. She is a genius at her art," Lucius said and then sniggered. Judy just smiled at her fellow colleague who had described her so well.
"You do remember us, don't you, Cornelius? You might as well admit it. We know that you do. We made sure of that. We may have erased most of your memories, but we saved the memory of your torture so that it would remain with you as a warning and as a testimony to our work until such time as we needed you again."
I couldn't resist any longer. I had to show them how I felt. I pushed my fear aside and spat at their feet in a desperate attempt to show strength.
"So you do remember then. I see, defiant as before. But let me assure you, Cornelius, we will be able to break your will again. You will be our puppet, our slave, and you will fulfil our every whim once more. This time it will be much easier, because you know how painful it was before and how long it took. This time you will give in easily, because your fear will break any resistance you would like to put up," Lucius said.
I realized he was right. Everything he had said about my memories having been erased somehow made sense. Even though it sounded unbelievable, but deep down I knew that I had forgotten parts of my life. I also knew that if the pain I lived through in my nightmares was the same pain I had endured in the past, then the two didn't have to try very hard this time. It was clear now that I had to get out of here quickly. If they attempted anything right now, they would soon have me begging to stop. I would rather do whatever they wanted than go through this pain again. Anything would be better than their torture.
"Cornelius, you must be wondering what we want from you. Well let me explain. It is very simple really. Even you should be able to understand and execute it. We would have done it ourselves and we would have done it much more elegantly and efficiently than you ever could, but we simply cannot be linked to this horrendous and evil plan.
"As the parents of a new family which will soon roam the length and breadth of the World and Settlements, we cannot get involved, so we need you to do it for us. Do you see what I mean, Cornelius?" Lucius asked.
I had no intention of answering his question, but I probably didn't need to. He was obviously certain that I would do whatever they asked if they simply threatened torture.
"Don't answer, Cornelius. I know what you're thinking. You want to get out of here. You feel you can't resist our genius. We are simply superior to you. You are insignificant – you are nothing. Actually, you aren't even that. We have made you, without us you wouldn't even be here now. Without us you wouldn't even have had the chance to end up in prison.
"Anyway, let me come back to what it is that we want from you. Let me explain what your makers ask from you. You have finally ripened to the tool we designed you to be. You have grown in strength and confidence. You have grown in size and ability. Now you have matured enough and deserve to serve. Now you are finally alive."
With that Lucius turned around and started to laugh viciously. His laugh echoed through their Ark, making his laugh sound even more sinister than he had probably intended.
Judy still just smiled. Her look was fixed on me. Not even for a moment did she take her eyes off me. She hadn't even blinked once since Lucius had started to talk. Her eyes were sparkling, little flames inside her pupils flickering. There was a fire inside her burning strong, that was obvious. Her role in this was simple. Follow Lucius' wishes without question and do as told. Be his little helper, his right hand.
Yet she had her own hidden agenda. I could see it in her eyes. She knew that Lucius would only be the key to unlock the gate to her own paradise, the sandman who would put mankind to sleep so that she could live her dream.
I slowly started to remember more of my nightmares and the things they had shown me. I realized that these two people had appeared in my dreams and it came back to me who they were.
I recalled that I feared Judy most, because she didn't just have the ability to torture me beyond comprehension, but she evidently had the will to inflict any kind of pain, any level of terror, if it brought her closer to her goal.
Lucius was just mad, unpredictable, but he had neither the knowledge, nor the strength, nor the determination to be successful. Judy on the other hand had all of this and more. She was not simply determined; she was convinced that she could do anything she wanted if she set her mind and abilities to it. For her it was never a question of trying — it was about succeeding. She could break my shell and rip my heart out without even trying.
She wasn't sinister or evil. She wasn't being unnecessarily cruel or mean. She simply did what needed doing to reach her goal – no more, no less. She was efficient and clever, thoughtful even. Judy wasn't Lucifer's daughter or the Devil's spawn. Judy was simply a genius who had chosen to bring this world closer to her ideals. I didn't know what her actual motives were but I suspected she did it out of revenge – she seemed bitter.
This New World Order that Lucius was talking about didn't seem to have much in common with Judy's dreams. Still, Judy's alternative didn't seem to be very appealing either because it seemed to require a lot of force and brutality. Whatever it was that she was after, I knew that Judy could only realise and maintain her Ideal World with force and dictatorship, and that was why she had teamed up with Lucius.
I knew that I was only speculating and had no proof that Judy wasn't simply as evil and mad as Lucius, but I couldn't shake off this intense feeling that she was trying to do good – in a very bizarre way.

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