CH 7° A Glutton For Blood

It was unknown how long Marie had been asleep. The tension and the rollercoaster of emotions her mind had endured since all this began left her completely exhausted. Now, she slept like a baby.

Just then, a beeping sound woke her from her slumber.

Beep!!

Beep!!

Beep!!

Beep!!

Marie rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "How long have I been asleep?" she muttered. Checking her phone, she saw it was exactly 7:00 AM.

She clicked a few buttons on her keyboard and then beamed with joy. She jumped from her seat at what she was witnessing.

On her screen, rows of words are displayed: "Synchronization complete." The integration was a success.

The screen changed, revealing the innards of Aldrich's body and the status of the nanites. His spine appeared to have turned red as the nanites fully merged with him.

Marie quickly rushed to the door. If she had observed a bit longer, she would have noticed that the area the nanites were supposed to occupy, limited to his spine, was slowly expanding. The nanites were spreading to other parts of his body, which shouldn't have been possible due to their limited number.

....

Aldrich blinked, his vision blurred by a deep crimson hue that filled his sight. He furrowed his brow in discomfort, he then attempted to raise his arms, but the tight leather straps around his wrists and ankles held him fast to the cold metal bed, their strength denying his movements.

The moment his mind returned to his body, an overwhelming surge of pain assaulted his senses.

So much so that he gritted his teeth tightly, he clenched them with an impossible strength, so hard that bits of his gums tore open, painting his mouth red. His appearance now resembled a demon after a feast. By then, Marie had already arrived and was in the process of unhooking him from his restraints.

"Dr. Reigns, you will be fine OK, it take you to the resting lounge," she said as she quickly tried to remove the cuffs.

When she arrived she heard Aldrich making strange noises that she translated to sounds of discomfort, they knew administering 'The Enoch' to a human would bring some side effect, but they could only hypothesize.

What she didn't know was that what Aldrich was experiencing was not the pain of discomfort but quite fat from it.

The bed was designed for whoever was lying on it to have their back facing upward and their face downwards, when Marie entered she didn't notice his distress, if she did she wouldn't even go near him.

....

It was unknown what exactly was happening to his body at this moment, it was the nanites that were taking him apart from the inside block by block, and destroying his body.

Aldritch gritted his teeth so tightly that it shattered splintering his upper and lower gum, metallic taste filled his mouth as blood gushed forth.

At this moment Marie finally freed him from his bonds, now free from his constraints, and his face turned to face the light.

Marie's eyes widened in horror as she gazed up at Aldritch's ravaged face, his mouth destroyed beyond measure, blood trickling down the corner of his lips, and his teeth once pearly white were now nowhere to be seen.

Aldrich rose to his feet with an eerie ease, his movements fluid and unrestricted, a sight that left Marie aghast. He had never stood without his crutches before, and the sudden transformation sent her reeling.

She instinctively backed away, her feet carrying her towards the wall as if driven by a primal fear. Her mind raced with terror, her vocal cords frozen, unable to unleash the scream that was desperate to escape.

The silence was deafening, punctuated only by the soft thud of her back hitting the wall.

Aldrich's hand shot up to his scalp his fingers tangling his hair before gripping them with a frenzied intensity. And then Rip! He pulled on it, and his hair instantly ripped from his hair in bloody clamps the skin beneath his now bloody head was sleek crimson, and his scalp was now raw a gapping wound that seemed to pulse with a life on his own. The blood started to ooze from the ravaged flesh, trickling down his face like tears.

Aldrich tried to speak, but his words were labeled and distorted, perhaps due to physical and mental torment,

"what.. is.. happening... to... me?!"

Aldrich's body became what you would call a canvas of agony every nerve in his body was reeling in torment, but for some reason, his eyes were a focal point of his suffering, like a burning charcoal threatening to incinerate his soul.

And then with a gashly determination, Aldrich dug his fingers deep into his eye socket, seemingly grasping the hold of the source of his pain, and with a swift fluid motion, he tore his eyeballs from their socket leaving his eyes stained and his vision consumed by darkness.

This was the final bus stop for Marie; for a horror of this manner her nature could not bear, with a blood-curdling scream she unleashed a piercing shrink that revibrated in the air: ARGH!!!

Aldrich held his eyeballs in his hand, he tried to scream, but his shattered mouth and ravaged throat produced no sound.

As his blood continued to flow, it started to fill his throat and lungs suffocating him from the inside out, he was drowning in his viscous fluids, he was still standing and grotto his teeth and mouth even though his life was slipping away.

And then a new horror emerged: a black gluey substance began to seel from his wounds, oozing from his empty eye socket, his mangled mouth, and his empty scalp.

The dark luquid spread like, an acidic stain as if his body was unraveling before Marie's terrified eyes.