Sorry again that the update wasn't up last night, but the good news is I've gotten a lot done on Chapter 8, and plenty of ideas for Chapter 9 and 10. I need to search for employment, so I should have the chapter up this afternoon or tonight.

FAP FAP FAP

It's not working

PUMB

Great story, dude.

Can't wait for more.

needs moar moar.

Moar would be appreciated

Ever hear of a word called MOAR?!

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(It's been days, I know, and I'm really sorry for the delay. If it means anything, I've spent a while working on this chapter, and while it may be dialogue, this one takes up about 8-10 pages in my word processor as opposed to the normal 4-5. Sorry if the last chapter felt a little rushed, I tried to take my time with this one, so I hope it doesn't feel that way, too. Thanks again for the support, and I present to you guys Chapter 8!)



Chapter 8: A Day Off?



I woke up, stretching hard before sitting up in my bed. It was nearly two in the afternoon. It was odd that no one had come to check on me yet. I got up, deciding to take my time on everything I did until someone would come for me.

I walked to the little bathroom in my room and took a long shower, making sure to pay attention to each part of my body as I washed and lathered myself up. While the suds, steam, and hot water felt good, I was still a bit sore. I thought about touching myself, but was too tired and had had enough the day before. It was just interesting to explore my body without a doctor trying to shove something in me or tell me how to use it.

I got out of the shower, toweling myself off and drying my hair. I wiped the fogged-up mirror down so that I could see my reflection. It was still incredibly hard to see this as the ‘new me.’ I had become the kind of girl that I gawked at when Clarissa had dragged me to the mall and wasn’t paying attention to me. My complexion was fine, my skin was soft, and I’m sure most women would kill for the curves forced on me.

Looking at my reflection gave me mixed emotions. On one hand, it was an amazing experience. It was cool to be able to experience what life is like as the other gender, as someone that’s not yourself. Becoming a completely different person, to live life anew and get away from all your troubles from the past was oddly relieving.

On the other hand, it wasn’t me. This was not how I was born. The body I saw was not the one I started my eighteenth birthday in. I had now become someone different that means nothing to anyone that knew me. I had lived for nearly two decades; what did any of that mean now?

I left the bathroom to keep from hurting my head over these confusing thoughts whirling around my mind like a tornado. I dropped the towel in my bathroom, shutting the light off and closing the door. I walked over to my small dresser and pulled out a top that looked cute -- ugh, did I really just say that? -- along with some khaki shorts, white panties, and unwillingly a bra. I pulled my underwear and shorts up my legs, had the fight of my life with the horrid contraption called the brassiere, and finally after struggling through to victory, put on a light red tank top with a tribal looking design in white that resembled a lizard. It wasn’t quite pink, it was light red; don’t argue with me on this.

I sat down on my bed, as my lack of an ID badge prohibited me from being able to leave. On the small bedside dresser was a phone; I was told by picking it up and dialing ‘7’ I would reach any of the six doctors working on this project. Not only did this mean I hadn’t met two of them yet, but this meant I had a means of contacting them in the case of an emergency. I picked up the receiver and dialed ‘7.’

The phone rang to the other offices to get in touch with one of them. I preferred if Dr. Hutchison or Dr. Wright would answer. Dr. West would be alright, as well. I wouldn’t even mind speaking to one of the other two doctors I hadn’t met yet. But please, don’t let it be Chilton. Please not Chilton, please not Chilton, please…

“Chilton speaking,” the voice on the other end of the phone called out. Son of a bitch.

“Um, hi, this is Sammy Steel,” I started. “Is everything alright?”

“I don’t know why you would think things would be otherwise,” he said coldly. “Do you have a REAL reason to be bothering me, or are you looking for idle chit-chat?”

“Well, it’s after two, and no one’s been by to get me, for starters. I was just making sure everyone was still alive outside of my room.”

“I’m not sure if you’re aware, but it’s not all about you.” I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth together and gripping the phone as he went on. “We’re conducting work on other subjects as well, so when we FINISH with our work, I’ll make sure to send someone down there to let you out of your cage.” I didn’t have enough time to reply before hearing the click of the receiver.

Shaking in anger, I slammed the phone down hard. I couldn’t believe the nerve of that guy! Talking to me like I was an animal! I slammed the phone down over and over again, before simply slinging the whole phone into the wall, sending it clattering down to the floor. I was seething with anger, I could feel my chest heave with each deep breath I took. That’s when I saw the camera near the door.

Because my anger doesn’t normally die down until someone calms me down with words or violence or until something got destroyed, I stormed towards the camera. I yelled and screamed and cursed and swore at it, as if it or anyone observing the footage could hear me, and I made sure to give the lens the finger multiple times before storming back over to the phone. I jerked it out of the wall jack, stormed back to the middle of the room, and hurled phone at the surveillance equipment hard enough that it bent the post it was attached to and knocked the camera to the side, filming the wall. Oddly satisfied, I calmly picked the phone back up, walked over to plug it back in, and slumped down on the couch to watch some television to get my mind off of it.

About an hour passed. I was a good way through Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny on HBO or Cinemax or something, laughing out loud by myself, when I heard the chime of my door. The door opened and Dr. West peered inside, looking far from amused with me. “You broke the camera,” he said flatly.

I shrugged and went back to watching my movie. I heard him sigh, walking into the room to survey the damage, and then heard him grumble under his breath. He walked over to the couch, taking a seat on the cushion I wasn’t lying on.

“I heard you got in touch with Chilton,” he said.

“Mmhmm,” I replied.

“Yeah… He’s not too good with people. Especially ones that wind up as test subjects.”

“So I’ve learned.”

“I reached for the phone in my office, but I think he beat me to it by a split second. So… Sorry about that.”

I shrugged again. I was trying to ignore him, honestly. My mood wasn’t sour anymore.

“Tenacious D?” he asked.

“Mmhmm.”

“Have I missed the part where he gets high on the mushrooms in the forest?”

“Yeah,” I said. “That part’s funny as hell.”

“Yeah it is,” he said with a grin. “Come on, let’s get you out of this room.” I turned off the television, setting the remote down, and got up, walking out into the hallway. He followed me out of the room, closing the door and leading me down the hallway yet again. “…Take a dip in the strawberry river… God, that gets me every time.”

I burst out laughing, causing him to as well. When we finally quieted down enough to actually talk, I looked up at the scientist. “So, what took you guys so long today?”

Dr. West died his laughing down to a chuckle, until he was back to the same stone faced serious guy he liked to be seen as. “We have a few other previous test subjects here still, as well. One of them, named Roxy, could likely match your looks but had this horrendous man-voice. We have duplicate equipment like the set that changed you, and we stripped it down to just the vocal changing equipment. We promised her we’d get some work together and change her voice as well.”

He didn’t know I had met Roxy yet, much less what we had done together. “That’s nice of you guys,” I said in response.

“Well, it wasn’t just nice, we were also testing out the individual equipment, as well as completing an experiment that we had only partially completed previously.” We arrived at a door, and he swiped his ID badge to unlock it.

“Well then, that kinda makes me wanna take my comment back,” I said. We walked inside, and inside was Dr. Hutchison, Dr. Wright, and Dr. Chilton. Dr. Hutchison and Dr. Wright looked as cheerful as normal, while Dr. Chilton sat on the opposite side of the room, repairing a piece of machinery. It looked like one of the panels I was sealed inside of that made my change.

“Good afternoon, Sammy,” Dr. Hutchison said warmly.

“Hey, what’s up?” I replied.

“I finally got you some shoes,” Dr. Wright said, handing me a box. “You’re a size nine, so I ordered a couple of pair and they came in today.”

“A nine? I was a ten and a half before, and my feet are much smaller now.” I looked at the box in my hands confused.

“A nine in WOMEN’S shoes,” Dr. West corrected me. “They’ll fit.”

“…Oh…” Hutchison and Wright chuckled. They assured me that they had some socks in there as well, so I shouldn’t have to walk around the halls bare foot anymore.

“We’re going to go next door and perform a quick scan, and that should be the only test we’ll do today. Think of it as a day off.” Dr. Wright smiled, patting the top of my head, as we headed for the door. She turned back, looking at Chilton tinkering away. “Are you sure you didn’t want to come along for the scan, Dr. Chilton?”

Dr. Chilton never looked away from his work. “No, I don’t need any tests run on THAT lab rat today, so I’ll continue some actual work here.” For a skinny twig of a man, he must’ve really had some balls, because he was really trying my patience. Dr. West must’ve seen me tense up and clench my fists, because before I could turn around to retaliate he shoved me out of the room into the hallway, closing the door once the other doctors had left the room.

“Open that door,” I demanded. Dr. West met my request by glaring me down.

“You don’t need to pick a fight with that man,” he replied flatly, and started heading towards the room next door. He stopped when he realized I wasn’t following. He turned back, crossed his arms over his chest, and sighed, waiting silently for me to talk back. The other scientists noticed I wasn’t following as well, and also turned back.

“Where does he get off talking to me and about me like that?!”

“That’s just how he treats everyone, Sammy,” Dr. Hutchison started.

“That doesn’t mean it’s right,” I interrupted. “And that doesn’t mean I’m going to stand for it! He doesn’t know anything about me! NONE OF YOU know anything about me! And he thinks he can talk shit about me like I’m not even there?!”

“Sammy,” Dr. Wright said calmly walking towards me. I didn’t let her continue speaking.

“I never wanted to be here, and he’s one of the ones in charge of throwing my life away, and he’s got the gall to talk down to me?! I‘ll fuck his life up and see what he has to say about that! I‘m not a lab rat, I‘m not a test, I‘m not an experiment, I‘M A HUMAN FUCKING BEING!!”

Dr. West was apparently sick of waiting. He walked past Dr. Wright, walked right up to me, and slapped me hard across the face during my rant. For a man in a lab coat, he had a strong arm, as it nearly sent me to the floor and left me reeling. I didn’t move right away; not because I was hurt or afraid, but because it literally stunned me.

“Dr. West!” I heard the other two shout in unison, but he ignored them. With a single finger under my chin, he jerked my head up so I was looking up at him.

“Now that I have your attention,” he began. “You will not start a fight with Dr. Chilton for as long as you stay in this facility.”

“And why n--”

“Because he controls whether you live or die.” West’s words took me back for a second. He could see the shock in my face, and after a moment continued. “He’s got more authority over this project than anyone, and if it weren’t for Hutch, he’d have tested you to your last breath by now. He has no consideration for anyone that goes through the procedure, and little for us working with him. That’s just how he is. Knowing that you hate your predicament and that his equipment works to the fullest extent, he can take your life by ‘accident’ during a test or experiment and replace you with a much more willing entrant.”

I could feel my bottom lip quivering as I tried to calm my anger down. “Then why didn’t he do that to begin with?”

“Because we didn’t know if the experiment would work one hundred percent, and we didn’t have a volunteer. Defy him, and he will strike you down and promise the next volunteer a large sum of money to replace you. Take my word on this one, shut the fuck up, and get your tiny ass in the next room so you can be scanned. Be thankful he’s not using the equipment in that room to further test you.”

“You know,” I said quietly, trying to keep my anger from overwhelming me. “I really f--”

“Fucking hate me?” Dr. West finished my sentence. He didn’t need to say his line as he turned away, walking past the speechless Dr. Hutchison and still stunned Dr. Wright to swipe his card. I slowly followed, dragging my feet slightly as I felt a little defeated. According to West, I would have to take the verbal abuse from that skinny prick, and that wasn’t my style.