Wake up! You have been chosen… to join with other fan-authors and help create an original sci-fi thriller story inspired by the eerie trailer for the upcoming film, The Signal. Watch the trailer below.
The Story
Chosen
“Wake up!” Nic could hear everything happening around him. But he couldn’t see, and he couldn’t move. The last thing he remembered, he’d been with his friends in the middle of nowhere. They’d been on the trail of a mysterious computer hacker. They’d made plans to meet. But then unexplainable things started happening, and that’s where it all got fuzzy. Where was he? Where were his friends? What was happening?
“WAKE UP!” Nic half-opened his eyes. The light made his head throb, but he could make out a figure standing over him wearing what looked like a containment suit. “You have been chosen,” the man behind the mask said calmly. --Brian 13:3
"Wha..." Nic half mumbled. He raised his hand to try and rub some feeling back into his eyeballs, but a sharp CLANG shocked sobriety into him. He raised his head and looked at his wrist; it was shackled to the table by an inch and a half of what looked like steel. "Where am I?" He asked, peering around to take in his surroundings. What he could see was frightening, a sterile labratory-like environment. Steel walls were all he could see, steel walls and a man in a yellow contamination suit.
"You have been chosen." The voice repeated.--AleFoleSr 1:46, June 4, 2014 (UTC)
Nic only understood the word "chosen". He remembered being chosen to play football by the coach but that was years ago. His mind started racing, wondering if he had been in another car accident. He had been in a severe accident 10 years ago and woke up in the hospital with his arms and legs tied down because he had broken his leg in three places and had shattered his jaw bone, but as far as he could see, he did not have any casts or bandages on him. This was entirely a different and scary situation. MarsBandit 12:00 PM June 4, 2014 (DST)
"Are you with me, subject 305-b? Do you understand? You have been chosen; you should be happy. Not many get the chance to change the world in such a significant way." Bobby2055 (talk) 16:35, June 4, 2014 (UTC)
Nic's mind was racing. Chosen? 305-b? Change the world? He looked at the man, confused and starting to get angry. "Where am I?!" Kyleaawesome (talk) 15:51, June 5, 2014 (UTC)
"My name is Jake," said the man in the containment suit, "You will be one of us." When Jake said, "You will be one of us," Nic noticed that his face turned into a somewhat alien-looking figure for a split second.
"What?!" exclaimed Nic, "Who...er...what are you?!" The man in the containment suit was now walking towards Nic. He placed his hand on top of Nic's head, and the last thing he remembered before he passed out was bolts of electricity covering most of his eyesight. He woke up in the same room, although he noticed that it looked a bit different then it was before. EnderAndroid (talk) 4:44 PM, June 5, 2014 (PDT)
Pulsing black ooze covered the walls, wriggling and quivering, and he could feel a rhythmic throb move through the still air as it synced with his heartbeat. The pulsing grew more frequent as his heartbeat quickened with fear, and he struggled against the steel confinements holding him down to the table. Nic squeezed his eyes shut as the throbbing grew more intense, almost seeming to come from within him, and then he opened his eyes.
Jake was standing over Nic surrounded by several others also in containment suits, but before Nic could say anything, Jake said, “Welcome back.”
Nic did not feel welcomed and he lashed out with a series of questions. “Where am I and what have you done to me? Who are you? Where are my friends--” and then all of a sudden, Nic realized that he was on an alien space craft. MarsBandit 06:58 AM June 6, 2014 (DST)
He thought of escaping, but no use. There was too much light keeping him from breathing deeply. Flashes of voices came to his hearing, like the male voice asking "305-b?" or a female one stating his blood pressure was unstable, so he needed be taken to the emergency ward. We notice him on a portable hospital bed, getting pulled through different doors; though he no longer cared about the present, he was only thinking of the moments spent among the field, with her, his loved one, though his images were sprinkled with fragments of that unsettling disturbance. They want to know about that disturbance for reasons we must not reveal so soon. Ketka.zva 15:44 EET, 6 june 2014]
Suddenly Jake slapped Nic across the face and said, "Ah ah ah, 305-b, we can't have you drifting off into memories now can we...not when there's so much to be done." The hospital bed was pushed down a hallway, and as it glided through the ooze it also made a strange crunching sound which made no sense and sickened Nic to his core. Finally, a door up ahead to the left slid open and he entered a room with a large pod in it.
Jake began to unlock the chains which held Nic down, and the others in the containment suits grabbed hold of him with an iron grip and threw him in the pod. It slammed shut, Jake pressed a few buttons on a panel which seemed to have risen from the floor and said, "This should take care of any independent thoughts he has left." The pod began to fill with the black slime that coated the rest of the interiors and Nic pounded on the glass wall of his new prison, but, as he was submerged in the strange living goo, the last thing he saw was Jake's demented grin.DJFinbar (talk) 15:19, June 6, 2014 (UTC)
Dreaming or Awake?
Nic woke up in a cold sweat. He was lying in his bed, but he wasn't at home; he was back in the field. Sitting up, Nic quickly scanned the horizon, looking for his friends; looking for the car; looking for...Jake. He didn't know why he knew that name, but he knew that it was bad. "Wake up, Nic." Bobby2055 (talk) 17:04, June 6, 2014 (UTC)
Nic bolted up, quickly scanning his surroundings for the source of the voice. No one was there. Had he imagined it? He was in his room, which now felt alien to him. A quick self-check revealed his heart was pounding, as if he had awoken from a nightmare-or into one. "Nic your going to be late," the same voice from before. Quantum Gal 14:21 Pacific Time June 6, 2014
It was the voice of Cassandra, speaking to Nic this time. Cassandra and Nic had been in a relationship over a year, and it was thoughts of her that got him through his ordeal. Both Nic, and Cassandra worked for Cybernetics Industries. Cassandra and Nic had been in charge of a top secret project which was stolen by Delroy Johnson, the infamous computer hacker. It was during this chase that Nic encountered Jake. Nic cried out, “Cassandra! Cassandra! Help me! Help me!” MarsBandit 5:24 PM June 6, 2014 (DST)
Nic started to drift off again. Flashes of memories conflicted with his reality. When Cassandra pushed open the bedroom door, all Nic could do was stare. He vividly remembered Cassandra had been shot and taken away by someone. Here she stood as healthy and as beautiful as the day they met. Cassandra stared back and asked, "Do I have something on my face?" as she moved further in the room. -Tyr Alexander (talk) 22:15, June 6, 2014 (UTC)
Nic stood up to meet her, glancing down to be sure of his footing. Looking up again, her face changed; it became Jake's. "I said, do I have something on my face?" It was Cassandra's voice and Cassandra's body, but Jake's face, containment hood and all. Nic gasped and fell backwards into his bed. What was going on? Bobby2055 (talk) 22:40, June 6, 2014 (UTC)
"Are you alright?" Nic looked up and Cassandra's face was normal once more. What the hell was going on? "Nic what's wrong!" she screamed as Nic once again fell unconscious. When he awoke later, the world looked as if he was underwater; something was aproaching him. He willed himself to move, but his body wouldn't listen. He felt his body being shaken and as the world came into focus he recognized his friend Derek who was frantically trying to wake him. Quantum Gal 18:39 June 6, 2014 Pacific time
Thinking to himself, Nic wonders if he could trust Cassandra, and why is he is having flashbacks of a person named Jake. Then he sees a symbol on the wall near the door, and it is the same symbol that Jake had on his containment suit. "Nic, this is Derek, I’m glad that you are alright. Cassandra and I were very much worried about you. You have been in and out of consciousness for 3 days now."
“Take hold of yourself, I know you have lots of questions”, said Cassandra. MarsBandit 10:19 PM June 6, 2014 (DST)
Questioning his sanity, Nic sits upright trying to differentiate his thoughts from reality. Gasping for air, Nic frantically tries to tell Cassandra something but fails at making a telligible word.
"What is it, Nic?" asks Cassandra bringing herself closer to him.
Scratching at the irresistible itch at the back of his forehead, he mutters "Can you get me a glass of water?" After Cassandra headed to the kitchen, Nic noticed eruptions at the back of his head, and, funnily enough, it was almost as if something was written there. Slowly moving his finger across the scalp, he tried to imagine what it could have spelt; it was almost as if was written "305-b". thelethargicdog 2:53 PM June 07, 2014 (GMT)
As Nic tries to collect his thoughts, he takes a quick glance at Derek's face.
"What the..." whispers Nic when he swears, for a split second, Derek's face was like Jake, containment suit and all, only the person inside wasn't Jake, but some non-human like creature.
"Ok, here's your water," says Cassandra in a slightly excited tone. As Nic takes a sip of water, he feels a burning sensation as the water goes down his throat. He immediately throws up right beside his bed, where Cassandra and Derek are just observing him.
"WHO ARE YOU?! *cough* WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" Nic says in a panicked tone. Raperv26 (talk) 22:04, June 8, 2014 (UTC)
Derek and Cassandra look at each other with grins before looking back at Nic and manically cackle together. Through Nic's eyes the room began to quiver and blur before violently shaking; he felt as though his head was in a tightening vice. Nic's vision is now nothing more than a smeared pastel painting. He hears a deep sadistic voice before passing out: “The stupidity of you astounds me, human; you don't even know what's real and whats imaginary do you?” It was Jake. Darkpoetlaments (talk) 00:27, June 9, 2014 (UTC)
Nic wakens and sees Jake, and immediately asked, “Why do you call me subject 305-B?”
“Because you are the 305th person to be chosen by us for reasons that I will make clear to you later," said Jake, "I see that you have made tremendous progress. Water...you will not need that anymore. Your body has been changed for the mission, and liquids will only hurt the project. Wasn’t that your project at Cybernetics Industries--perfecting the evolutionary biology project, being able to go months without water in hostile hot environments?” MarsBandit 10:28 PM June 8,2014 (DST)
"Wake, up Nic!" I heard a faint voice in my head.
"Of course, we spent 6 months for the research," he replied, keeping in mind that the research was trashed by his team at a point where the effort proved to be unyielding.
"Then you must know what you're going through right now is standard procedure," Jake said as he smiled comfortingly.
"Wake up, Nic!" the voice repeated, seemingly fainter.
Assuming that the research was covertly finished, he lifted his right arm to observe it, knowing what exactly would happen in the next few hours. "Wake up? I never slept", he muttered. thelethargicdog 9:00 PM June 09, 2014 (GMT)
First they would drain all the fluid from his body, replacing it with a thick fluid-like substance that would be 10 times more efficient in carrying oxygen through the body, infused with nanobot technology that would allow him to self-heal faster and allow him to survive wounds that would usually be fatal. They were going to accomplish this using something they called George, a generating enhanced organism that would refurbish genes "ethically." Nic had helped design it, so he knew what he was going to go through, and he knew it was not going to be fun.
The process was going to be long and painful because they would have to alter his DNA and there was a chance he was not going to make it. Every cell in his body needed to be changed, and changing each cell individually would be near impossible within a reasonable amount of time. To accomplish this they would genetically alter some of his cells to reproduce rapidly, latching on to other cells and changing them as well and repeat the process, and then his outside cells would be destroyed so that the new ones can take their place. Quantum Gal 22:26 Pacific Time, June 9, 2014.
Suddenly an alarm klaxon began reverberating within Nic's head, but he was surprised to discover that it was actually the most real thing he heard in a long time. As red lights flashed, everyone ran out of the room, leaving Nic alone, and he yanked out the tubes just in time to see something he was quite used to now - a confusing visual display of what looked like a combination of darkness and light, in the middle of the room. Three individuals stepped through: one was a 30-year-old dark-haired human man in a leather jacket with a facial scar that did NOT make him look any less handsome and the other two were what looked like his female bodyguards (one looked human but the other looked reptilian).
The man said in an Irish accent, "I'm D'ren. There's no time to go into detail, but I'm from Malevora, the realm currently at war with these demons posing as aliens. Come with me, Nic, if ye wish to live and everything will be explained to you along the way...as much as it can be anyway." PatrickHenry76 11:06, June 10, 2014
Nic is wondering, I must be very popular, Jake kidnaps me, the Malevorans, the military. It must be my research... I gotta escape and try to find out what is really going on and who to "really" trust. Where is Cassandra?
Suddenly Nic heard the word “STOP!..." as he ran from the room. Nic did not know that once the transfusion was at least 30%, the process was irreversible and continued by itself. He makes it outside of the complex and the security arrives. MarsBandit 9:28 AM June 10,2014 (DST)
Nic's Failed Escape
"Nic, stop!" said the voice, but he continued to run, while running, he stumbled, and fell down on the ground. The voice told him to stop, but Nic pushed himself to his feet and continued. When he looked behind him, he could see 2 men in white lab coats carrying what looked like tazers in their hands. Nic saw an opening of a gate on the far side of the complex, but it was too far, and, suddenly, he felt an awful sharp pain in the back of his thigh. He fell to his knees and blacked out.
When he woke up, a strange man was beside him and simply responded, "You are back at HQ," when Nic asked where he was. Jabba's Alien Rock Band 10:21 June, 2014 (MDT)
Nic shivered softly in his chair, eyes darting around the room as he fought back tears of joy at seeing all the familiar faces gathered in one place - where he belongs. A dozen voices then cheered at once, followed by a loud pop of champagne. With a feeble smile Nic accepted their praise - most appropriate for a hero of his calibre, of course. He tried to stand, but somehow his legs were so heavy, and he suddenly wondered why he couldn't remember their names? Nic winced as he tried to gather his thoughts and then heared a vaguely familiar voice. It is the Irish man saying, "Hit him with another," despite another voice saying Nic would not be able to handle it. GravastarRedefined (talk) 11:17, June 11, 2014 (UTC)
For the first time in God know’s how long, it was quiet, but, like a sudden connection to the proper frequency, Nic suddenly sat up, totally lucid. “I think we just hit the sweet spot,” Jake’s voice echoed throughout the steel room, and Nic could see he was sitting across from him, his hands folded calmly in his lap.
Nic felt different, like a pot ready to boil over, and then felt a surge of power shoot through his veins, allowing him to wrench the binding metal apart and strike the nearest attendant with enough force to send him crashing into the wall. A gun went clattering to the ground and Nic swept it up and shot at his advancing comrade, but, as he fired the gun at Jake, a woman’s scream echoed off the steel walls as a body hit the floor, and he opened his eyes to see Cassandra lying on the floor.
The bullet thankfully only grazed her side, but Nic noticed D’ren lay dead on the floor beside her so he searched the man’s leather jacket and luckily found a hastily drawn map on the back of a handkerchief. Nic picked Cassandra up and carried her over the threshold and out into the endless labyrinthian tunnels. Thelittleone of nowhere (talk) 04:19, June 12, 2014 (UTC)
The handkerchief map was hastily drawn, but, after a moments perusal, Nic realized that it seemed to indicate that they were in some kind of subterranean facility built directly beneath his lab. How had this been here all along without him knowing it? There was a crackle of static, thankfully it was coming from speakers in the ceiling this time, and not from inside his head. "Nic, it's Jake, buddy. I know you are a little confused right now, but this happens every time we send you. Something about riding the signal seems to temporarily scramble your eggs, but we've got you in containment now, man, and you are gonna be O.K." Uncleroots 15:16, June 12, 2014
Would Jake really do something this terrible to Nic?
Nic continued carrying Cassandra through the labyrinth. The fact that they'd kept this facility secret to him didn't make sense. He wasn't just a scientist, but he was in the managment group of the corporation too. There was something else he didn't understand. How could an alien space craft be situated below a giant research facility? Korvsmet 18:16, June 12, 2014
Jake had been going through some old files about how the ship had to go underground to prevent intruders from getting in. He lost track of the years he and the rest of his kind had to stay in hibernation. That time almost made him forget why he came to Earth; the loss of his home planet that he could have prevented with help from others rather than go on a mission meant only to confirm findings and not anything revolutionary.
With nowhere to go, he and the rest of the survivors settled in the planet's surface and tried to find a way to restore the planet. But even with their advanced technology, the aliens could not get it done without help from a native inhabitant of Earth as their genetic makeup was more easily malleable compared to the risky molecular structure of the aliens. The newly named Jake finally found a person who could meet the requirements in Nic, and he was not about to let him get away.Zeromaro (talk) 01:37, June 13, 2014 (UTC)
Beyond the Labyrinth
Surprised by his new found strength because some of the properties of the transfusion had taken effect, Nic finds shelter in a closed off corridor in the labyrinth. Cassandra had been weakened by the bullet wound and the excitement of the escape, but Nic took one look at the wound and it heals immediately. As Nic noticed the healing of his wound, he noticed a single black dot appear running along his arm, a new one appeared each hour. Nic could not destinguish if the dots were just his mind, or if they were labeling him for the hours since his last injury, but it seemed Nic had started exhibiting traits of his alien abductors. Nic thought, I‘ve been on the defense all day, but it's now time to reverse that. Over the communication system that reverberated throughout the corridors, Nic hears a signal. MarsBandit 10:38PM June 12, 2014(DST)
Cassandra gasped as her eyes snapped open. Nic, relieved that she was awake, asked if she could stand, but when her eyes met his, she froze.
"No!" she shouted, pushing him away as she ran for it through the corridor, "Get away from me!"
"Cass!" Nic called after her, "Cassie, wait!"
Anonymius (talk) 19:56, June 14, 2014 (UTC)
Nic tried chasing after Cass, but she refused to pay attention to his calls. Sprinting around a corner, Cass was no where to be found. Nic, who was confused about the encounter, decided to turn arround and see if she possibly had turned down a corridor sooner. As he turned around, there standing was a man. But this was no ordinary man, it was a man with long limbs, a smaller torso, and had a black leather suit on, with a black motorcycle helmet with a tinted visor which could not be seen through. DoctorScifi (talk) 24:11, June 15, 2014 (UTC)
"Harvessssst" the man in the motorcycle gear told Nic with a breathy deep tone. Nic started shaking more than before, "What have you done with Cass!? Give me an answer NOW," he threathened while pushing the man. "Harvessssst," the leathery man replied while putting a grip on Nics shoulder harder than any human form could have produced and rasping, "Har-Harvesssst huma-ns." Nic tried to flinch out of the mans grasp, but it gripped with more strength than before. Nic was stuck and he knew it. Ezvil (talk) 1:51, June 15, 2014
Nic started to succumb to the power of the Robotic Alien Entity figure. Lastly Nic willed himself free and the grip of the RAE was broken. Maybe it was from the transfusion, he thought, but I am really stronger than this RAE... Nic slammed the RAE against the wall of the corridor and escapes. Nic thought "Harvesting Humans?" The RAE are harvesting humans...I've gotta find Cassandra... Nic makes his way back to the surface and sees... MarsBandit (talk) 08:32, June 16, 2014
Cassandra standing there, looking at him, tearful and frightened.
"Cass," Nic said softly, raising his hand to her,"Cass, it's me."
"No," Cassandra shook her head, "No, how can you expect me to believe that, after how you shot me?"
Nic, shocked at these words, thought back, back to that steel room, just him and Jake, how he had attempted to shoot him, only to hear a scream and Cassandra lying there shot, with D'Ren dead next to her; the horror of what he had done hit him. Anonymius (talk) 17:55, June 16, 2014 (UTC)
Shocked, Nic tries to pull himself inwards, mentally orient himself. Corporate cyber security; recent server vulnerabilities; odd secruity logs; desert combat enhancements; gene therapies; defense contracts; Derek and recombination...that's it! Cassandra's latest batch of t-cells! The green frogs carrying Cassandra's 304th batch of t-cells had survived past 4 days of simulated uv-exposure. On Friday, the three coworkers had driven to Death Valley for real-world testing, and, if the engineered immune cells resisted sun damage, they'd get the next round of funding. The last thing Nic could remember was reviewing Saturday's results on his laptop when... Pseudonymius 3:25, June 17, 2014 (US EST)
As Nic was trying to piece everything together with his thoughts, a loud crack of what sounded like thunder broke the silence. Followed by the first crash were two more that happened about a second each from the previous, and the sky flashed. Nic looked at Cass to see if she was alright, but she just pointed behind Nic and he realized something was behind him.
He turned around ready to defend himself, but once he had seen who it was, he got ready to run because it was the leather man accompanied by 2 more that looked exactly like him! Before Nic fleed, he asked "Wh-who are you!?" The three leather men all responded in the same tone at once, "We are the estercholiberous, and we must protect the harvesters." DoctorScifi (talk) 19:09, June 17, 2014 (UTC)
Is that what I am? thought Nic I'm a harvester and the Estercholiberous are protecting me...but protecting me from what? Looks like RAE's to me... Why did they attack me in the corridor and what connection did they have with Jake? Nic runs and is confronted by the several men in containment suits and one of them was Jake with their weapons raised. Nic shouted,"Is this what you wanted?" MarsBandit (talk) 09:57 PM, June 17, 2014 (DST)
"Hey, what the?" Nic gasped, as he was grabbed by one of the RAE. He tried to shake it off, but another one pounced on him. He heard a scream, as Cassandra was also taken hold of by the remaining RAE.
"Cassie!" he cried, trying to break free of their grasp, but two was more than he could handle.
"I think you misunderstood, my dear Nic," Jake explained, "You see, WE'RE the harvesters, the Estercholiberous serve us, and YOU'RE to be the harvested."
And he shot him with his weapon, and everything went black. Anonymius (talk) 06:04, June 18, 2014 (UTC)
Nic felt cold and his eyelids were heavy and difficult to open. Before him was a large window and he appeared to be in a building high above the ground, but realized this was not any place he recognized when a figure in a strange black suit suddenly walked over to him. The figure looked back at something in the shadows and nodded at it, and then, as it turned back to Nic, the helmet on its suit separated seemingly on its own and slid back revealing a face that looked human except for the veins below the skin and its eyes being solid black.
"You have been caught in a Galactic war human," a mechanical voice from the figure told him, "And with proper augments you could be the forerunner of a new and better kind of human being that may help us defeat the Harvesters and save your people from a fate we suffered long ago." The figure looked back again at whoever loomed in the shadows and nodded, slowly this time before releasing the restraints and saying, "We are the Kal, and you will need our help." Siryphas 12:44 am, June 23, 2014 US Eastern
Laying on the platform and left for dead, Nic was rescued by the KAL who were sworn enemies of the Estercholiberous, commonly called RAE . Nick finally realizes that he had been chosen by Jake to be part of an unwilling participant in an experiment to create an alien/human hybrid to fight the KAL, who were known for their super strength and healing capabilities, They had rescued Cassandra and she was there with him. Nick teams with the KAL to search and destroy the Signal, because if you hear the Signal, you know that you will be Next. Cassandra stood by his side as Nic stared out the portal into the dark deep space with images and thoughts of finding Jake one last time. --MarsBandit (talk) 19:53, June 24, 2014 (UTC)