When a person wakes up from a dream, they would like to open their eyes in a soft bed, with their little girl jumping on them. But whenever I opened my eyes, I wondered what kind of terrible situation I would find myself in this time.
"You're awake..." said Rose. She was covered in blood and sweat. "...I was so afraid you wouldn't wake up."
"Were you that scared?" The metal cutting tools on me slowly moved away and took their places on the ceiling. When the damp walls returned, I saw Rose's face. Rose was looking at me with surprise.
"After all, I'm not a doctor, Mehmet. I might have made some mistakes..."
"What kind of mistakes?" I tried to sit up, but my body felt heavier than it should have.
"Let me help you," she said, and Rose came behind me to help me sit up. "If you want, take a look at yourself." Just then, Rose ran and brought a mirror from the corner of the wall in front of me.
What I saw in the mirror was a grotesque sight. My body was covered in dried bloodstains. My eyes were bloodshot, and most of my teeth were broken because of the metal mask on my mouth. A metal cage gripped both of my shoulders, went down to my chest, and was impaled into my body just above my kidneys. The hoses wrapped around the metal moved with every breath I took.
But the strange thing was the metal wings rising from my back, looking just like eagle wings. I didn't know how I could move them, but it felt like I was moving them involuntarily. They were opening and closing, moving in a weird way. In fact, as one of the wings opened, its sharp metal tip had created a painful scratch on my arm.
"Ah!"
"Careful, you'll hurt yourself!"
"How am I operating this metal thing?"
Just then, Rose brought another mirror and placed it behind me. When I looked at my back, I saw three metal devices with a pumping system impaled into my body. With every breath I took, these metal devices would fill with air from a few cylinders in my spinal cord and, with the magnetic retraction of the springs inside, they would push down. This downward pushing air was what made my wings move. A bunch of valves on my back would decide which part of the wing the air would go to, allowing me to move them. And somehow, my brain must have been controlling those valves. The coils needed to get the electricity to power the pumps must have been impaled somewhere under my skin. But where was the electricity for the magnets in the coils coming from?
"You've turned me into a freak of nature, I must congratulate you, but..." Just then, a "tick" sound came. My wings went into a closing mode. A relay inside my body must have been activated. "...where does the energy for these wings come from?"
"Well... let me put it this way... When I was creating the same structure in your body that one of the mutants had, I noticed something. Mutants could generate their own energy. In fact, you wouldn't even need those mechanisms on your back because you can't generate energy. We could have made something like a backpack."
"You're saying I didn't need to carry all this in my organs, in my flesh?"
"You didn't need to carry most of it." Then Rose laughed and gestured with her hand, saying, "Just a small detail..."
"A small detail? How are we going to take these out later?"
"I don't know if they can be taken out. I might have damaged a few of your organs pretty badly. Anyway, these are small details that can be discussed later. To get to the main point, I have to say this... There was supposed to be an energy flow from your body, but you're not a creature that can generate energy. By energy, I mean electricity. That's why..." Rose put her hand towards my stomach. After rummaging around my belly button for a bit, she pulled out a maggot and showed it to me. A sticky liquid from inside the maggot dripped onto my lap, and I tried to move away. "...You have a lot of these in your stomach. They generate electricity well..."
"These are in my stomach?" I said.
"Yes..."
"Ugh..." I started to gag, then got up from the table and began to vomit. Rose was waiting to put the maggot back in with her hand, but I smacked the maggot away. I vomited for a long time. When I was done, I said, "You are not putting that back inside me!"
"Why? They're already in there..."
"No, they're not! I don't want to think that I have maggots inside me! God damn it, Rose! What did you do to me! It's disgusting! So disgusting! I want to die!"
"Aren't you exaggerating a bit?"
"Damn it! F*ck! Someone save me from this lunatic!"
***
It took me a few hours to come to my senses. The good thing was that Rose had neutralized most of my nerves. That's why I couldn't feel most of the things happening in my body. If I didn't think about it... What am I saying? How could I live without thinking when I have strange mechanical parts and disgusting creatures inside my body? But it's okay... Jose will heal me. That's why I needed to save him as quickly as possible.
The metal door of the strange research facility we were in was stuck. I tried to open it with my hands, but I wasn't strong enough. Then I turned my back and struck the door hard with my metal wings. The metal door shattered. As I walked out from the side of the broken door, I found Rose sitting on a rock, cleaning her gun. The yellow sky shone on her face as she watched the zeppelin soaring in the sky. She must have heard the sound of my wings rubbing against each other because she turned to me and said, "It seems your psychological breakdown is finally over... The food for the maggots in your stomach is only a day's worth at most... So it's good that you came to your senses before they started gnawing at your stomach from the inside."
"Came to my senses? I'm not in my right mind at all, Rose. But... But I want to get this over with as quickly as possible."
"Then let's go..." said Rose and stood up. "Let's go to that creatures' town."
***
With the rubbing sound of my metal wings, it couldn't be said that we were moving very stealthily. Even though the dirty sheet I had wrapped around me hid my flesh body, my metal wings were still exposed. Rose, who had also covered her body with sheets, had said to me: "As long as your human side isn't visible, it's enough... In fact, it's even better if your metal wings are visible..."
We were in the first town we had come to, a town surrounded by walls. As we were almost crawling through the back alleys, we witnessed how the foolish and civilized-looking creatures of this city turned into wild creatures with the announcement from the capital.
The creatures were tearing each other apart as if it were a moment of chaos. There were fires in the streets. Buildings were constantly being evacuated, and the blood of mutants was spilling onto the streets. Zoran, the fly-human creatures, were jumping on the mutants who were trying to escape in pain, sucking all their blood in the middle of the street.
Even the Xerolmes had gone wild. It couldn't be said that they could do much because of their weakness. They were more busy being brutally massacred by the Zarons. Since most of them were as slow as snails, they could only get a few feet away while their blood was being sucked. The mosquito-like creatures called Zarons were causing chaos throughout the city.
One of the Xerolmes took a metal spear and impaled one of the Zarons with it. The Zaron was still screaming as it was pinned to the wall. As it lunged forward to free its body from the metal spear, pieces of flesh scattered from the huge hole in its chest. It took two steps and fell to the ground. As the Xerolme jumped on it and tore it apart, another Zaron crushed the Xerolme's head with a metal piece that had concrete on it.
The Zarons had surrounded a mutant in one place, and the mutant was trying to keep them away with its metal arm. A Zaron, taking advantage of the space behind the mutant, jumped on it, bit its neck, and sucked all its blood. The mutant fell to the ground like a dry branch.
A mutant ran into a building to hide. The Zarons entered through the window of the upper floor of the house. Then there was a huge explosion. The Zarons who were trying to escape from the building died as they burned in front of it.
I was watching all this from the box we were hiding in when Rose touched my shoulder.
"Let's go... The street ahead seems clear."
I got up from behind the box and followed Rose, crouching. Screams were rising from the buildings and streets. As we were passing through the narrow back alley we were in, Zarons were flying over us, colliding with each other to tear one another apart.
"It's very strange for a whole town to be thrown into chaos all of a sudden..." I whispered.
"The truly strange thing was that these weird creatures acted civilized. Whoever this 'president' person is and whatever he was doing, he was making them act civilized. Now they've returned to their true selves!"
Just then, the wall of a building in the alley we were walking through exploded. The thing that came out of the wall was a mutant. It was holding another dismembered mutant in its hand. It had probably used its mutant friend as a bomb and blasted the building wall to escape. The mutant's right arm was metal and very long. Its head was half-metal, and it had a jaw full of sharp metal teeth. This ugly and terrifying creature was looking at us with frightened eyes when three Zarons came out of the crack in the wall and jumped on the mutant. Two Zarons, who had climbed onto its back while it was on its stomach on the ground, tore its body apart. A third Zaron, with its claws out and its body taut, was looking at us.
"Shoot it!" I yelled.
"Wait..."
"Just shoot it! What are you waiting for?"
The Zaron was slowly walking towards us with its bloodshot red eyes when Rose reached her hand out and took the dirty sheet off me. The Zaron, seeing my mutant-like body, suddenly stopped being a wild creature. It cleared its throat with a cough and said, "Ah... If I didn't realize you were the President's mutant, I would have torn your throat out. My name is Puke." Then the other two Zarons, with their bodies covered in blood and dismembered organs, approached us. "These are my friends, Chest and Scratch..."
I shouldn't have spoken as a mutant, because they should have known that mutants can't talk. Just then, Rose also took off the sheet she was wearing. The Zaron named Puke suddenly said, "Hey, wait a minute! You're a CLAUDIS IX mind weaver! The President gave an execution order."
"Yes... But I'm this mutant's prisoner," said Rose, pointing at me. "He's going to take me to his master."
"Ah... Interesting... A mutant on a special mission, huh..." he said, stroking his bloody chin with his hand. "Anyway... If you don't need our help, we plan to continue losing our minds and tearing each other apart." The fact that the creatures called Zarons were so stupid surprised even me, and you know I'm not exactly known for being smart.
"Yeah..." said the Zaron named Scratch behind him. "...I was planning to rip off Chest's head."
"And I was going to gut you, buddy," said Chest.
"Actually, there is something..." said Rose. "It would be great if you could guide us while we take me to your President. After all, the streets are very dangerous..."
"Ah... Of course... Kids, we need to help this mutant. Let's not lose our minds for a while."
"Hey... Who made you the boss?" asked Scratch, and he stepped forward. Scratch and Puke looked ready to move to tear each other apart.
"Do something, Mehmet," said Rose. "We've already convinced this idiot, we don't want to miss our chance because of these morons' desire for power."
"It's time to test the metal wings," I muttered and walked towards the two mutants with heavy steps. Then I swung my metal wing. The metal wing impaled the Zaron's neck. Then as I pulled the wing out, I had cut its body lengthwise. As the Zaron named Scratch was thrown to the ground, I had accidentally killed the Zaron named Chest behind me as I was retracting my wing. The tip of my wing was so sharp that it had torn Chest's face apart as I pulled it back. While Chest was lying in a pool of blood, I plunged my wing into the creature's chest so its screams wouldn't be heard much.
"Alright then..." said Puke. "...Follow me."
Rose held her hands behind her as if they were handcuffed and gestured to me with her eye. I went behind Rose. I grabbed her hands as if she were a prisoner.
***
It couldn't be said that we were moving very stealthily, as Puke would go ahead and check the street whenever we were about to enter a back alley, and then motion for us to come. Puke even had to slow down a few times with Zarons who were blocking the street.
Puke was leading us to a building under the zeppelin. As we walked towards the building, the zeppelin became more visible. The zeppelin, which was like a sausage with metal clamps at its beginning and end, was surrounded by flying mutants. There were machine guns at many points on this zeppelin, and mutants were watching the streets from the long scopes on the end of each gun. We had witnessed the street creatures being shot by the fire from the rifles occasionally.
Once again, a trumpet sound rose. When we were close to the zeppelin, we could barely walk because of the vibrations that sound caused.
"Citizens of the wall, your President is speaking! This is an emergency! There are terrorists from CLAUDIS IX in the city. You are to execute those terrorists on sight. A robot and a human are on the run. Capture them on sight and bring them to the President!"
This huge zeppelin was surrounded by winged mutants. These mutants were flying out of formation. Sometimes they would crash into each other, and sometimes into the zeppelin. Whenever there was something interesting or suspicious below, the mutants would suddenly glide down to the ground, grab the thing, and carry it inside through the zeppelin's opening metal back door. I could say that the mutants gliding in the air around that rust-colored zeppelin looked like flies swarming around feces. At least, that's what my imagination had come up with.
As we were going up to the roof of the building Puke was leading us to, we had encountered dismembered mutant corpses on a few floors, but we didn't care much. When we finally reached the roof, Puke put his hands on his waist and said, "That's it... We're almost there..."
We hadn't climbed the last few stairs of the roof. We didn't want the zeppelin in the sky to see us. Puke looked at us and said, "Come on... If you want, I can attract the zeppelin's attention for you. Hey... President..." Before he could finish his sentence, Rose blew Puke's head off with her gun.
"You killed him! He was helping us," I yelled in anger.
"What was I supposed to do? He was just a creature and... What am I still explaining to you, are you an idiot? Remember your training... You're acting as if I haven't taught you anything professionally. You went on so many secret missions! You handled so many big tasks..."
"They were in my subconscious, and I really didn't kill anyone."
Rose suddenly grabbed me by the collar and shook me. "Don't talk like an idiot! You need to kill someone right now, Mehmet! Our friends are in danger!"
"I thought they could take care of themselves."
"They're probably taking care of themselves, but... But if we don't do something, we could be trapped within these walls forever! I want to get the f*ck out of this planet now!"
"Okay..." I said, freeing myself from Rose's grasp and shaking myself off. "...Yes. You're right. I can't fail! I didn't put on these huge metal wings for nothing. Yes! What are we doing?"
"I'll explain our plan. Listen carefully... First of all, our goal is to distract the zeppelin. Our friends were probably trying to draw the President's attention to the town and then sneak away, but the zeppelin ruined their plan. They are probably either hiding somewhere in the town or fighting. It's not a problem... They distracted the President and found the zeppelin in front of them. If we also distract the zeppelin, the problem will be solved. Everyone can easily sneak out of the city."
"So how are we going to distract the zeppelin?"
"You're the one who's going to distract the zeppelin."
"How am I going to do that?"
"That's your business... The zeppelin is waiting there, and you're a winged mutant. Repeat after me... I am a winged mutant. I am a winged mutant."
"Are you giving a motivational speech? This is not pleasant at all."
Ever since we had spent time together in the mind tunnel, Rose had turned into a mind weaver who was more relaxed and fun than I ever expected. The mind tunnel seemed to have helped us build a bond of trust. But being close to Rose was a bit of a headache. Because Rose was a woman who never stopped. She was constantly making sarcastic remarks, constantly belittling, constantly shouting. In short, she seemed to have everything that was annoying. But... But as tiring as this was, at least it was sincere.
"I'll find a way to stall the zeppelin. What are you going to do?"
"I'll look for our friends. My brother is a mind weaver... And I'm a half-mind weaver. I think we can sense each other's minds despite all these living beings. Besides, the minds of most of these creatures seem completely empty. We'll be waiting for you as we sneak out of the town with our friends."
"I was going to ask how I'm going to sneak out, but I'm assuming you don't have an answer."
"Yes, I don't have an answer to that question."
"Great..."
"So, what's your plan?"
"To fly to the zeppelin... But first, I have to ask this: How do I fly?"
"These flying mutants are normally very light despite the metal parts on them; they can stay in the air by flapping their wings and with a few motorized propellers on their wings. You're quite heavy compared to them..."
"So?"
"I've added booster engines for you."
"Where?"
"On your ass..."
"On my ass?"
"Yes... If you remember, you were able to control the scenario by clenching yourself in the mind tunnel. Now I want you to clench yourself and fly up into the air. I think you can do it."
"So, I'm going to fly by farting?"
"Yes..."
"Fantastic!"