Headache, it's the first thought on my mind, the absolute splitting pain of waking up after a long night of sleeping wrong. The type that makes you afraid to move from the thought that your neck may snap in stiffness.

My eyes are all out of focus, it's pitch black, I can't see. But I am faintly aware of a red light in front of me. Bright red and green, like Winter lights decorated my vision. I try to open my eyes to see what may be the cause, but I have trouble opening them. They seem glued shut, rather as if they aren't there at all.

Feeling the first prickling of panic in my chest, I try to get up, only to find this equally troubling. My body is entirely numb, I can't feel anything at all. I try to scream, but my voice fails me, the same way my muscles are.

'This isn't happening' I think, 'there's no way this is happening, oh lord what is all this? Why can't I call for help?'

As if answering my prayers, I hear voices. Faint murmuring, the voices seem to come from within my own head. As if they're talking to me from the inside out.

Realizing that there's nothing else around, I focus on the lights in my vision. Despite my eyes being closed, I seem to be able to dilate my eyes unreasonably short. Allowing me to slowly fade the display into view.

On the bottom left there was a small box of green outline, inside of it was text in bold Red. "ERROR: NO FEED LOADED".

This text was the type you may see on a faulty computer program. On the right side there was a large, Green bar, which stacked my entire vision in width. Somehow, it seemed straight, and yet my vision was rounded. It was a weird feeling.

On top of my view, was a clip of text in red reading "ALERT: DAMAGE TO CHEST, HEAD, LEFT FORELEG".

'What? Is that talking about me? How can I even see this, and why can't I look away?'

In the dead center of my vision was a large blurp of Red text, which in order read the following:

"ERROR:

DEFECTIVE INTERFACE

INVALID ARGUMENT (LINE 75239)

DEFECTIVE HARDWARE (COMPONENT 9)

RETRYING...

RETRYING...

RETRYING...

FAILURE TO CORRECT, CODE

INCORRECT (LINE 75239)"

These were computer commands, without a doubt. But I had no idea why I was seeing them, or what they meant. More pins stabbed my heart with fear, as I began to become aware of the voices that were growing in my head.

"-ective. Our mistake, sir. We'll go back, fix the string, and restart the program. May we shut them down now? They're using up energy." It was a sweet voice, calm, sing-songy. It definitely was a female.

"Alright, power it down. But this will be fixed by this weekend, no later. I can't afford to postpone this project much longer. If it's not all working perfectly by then, you're all fired." A much deeper, threatening voice seethed at the previous speaker.

I became immensely dizzy, as if I was afloat on ocean waves. The text faded, as did my consciousness.

Again a felt the blasting of a headache, as if someone drilled out the insides of my brain. I felt much as I did before. Alone, afraid... You panic very quickly when you're stuck with nothing but thoughts.

I directed my attention to focusing my eyes on the text again, it wasn't much, but it was something.

The lights looked the same as last time, save for a few differences. The error and alerts on the top and center of my view had disappeared, leaving only the one inside the Green square to my bottom left.

"2249, apply." The rude voice from before spoke, it sounded louder than before, yet still appeared to originate from inside my skull.

"Please use the command bypass password." A brand new voice spoke. It was creepy, eerie, robotic. It sounded as if it were coming through an old radio. Like a cheap recording. I didn't know who was speaking, but I didn't like their voice. It gave me chills.

Several voices murmured in response, resulting in an eerie silence.

Just as I feared the company had left, the voice responded. Scaring me.

"Carpenter1848"

"Password correct, please state name, age, birth-date, gender, sexual preference, and all other available information." The radio voice spoke again.

There was a silence.

"Uh, well. Study White, twenty-seven, April ninth, male, female, and..... Well.... Hmm...." He was quiet.

"Information saved, hello... Study White. Do you wish for this unit to apply?" The robotic voice sounded.

"Yes." The stallion replied slowly and clearly, as if they were talking to a child.

"Multi-Purpose Biorobotic Unit 2249 is running nominally. No damages, no software malfunctions, currently under protocol seven." It answered swiftly. There were slight imperfections in the robotic voice, bringing me to believe the speaker was a machine, not a stallion on a radio.

"What is protocol seven, 2249?" He asked the machine.

"Protocol seven suspends visual, external auditory, gustaoception, olfacoception, somatosensation, and enduces a state of paralysis." The system replied.

"2249, initiate protocol one." The deep voice ordered.

"Affirmative."

My eyes opened instinctively, blinking several times. The light was blinding.

Author's Note

Looking for a better cover photo, readers! If you have any better ideas or images for a cover please message me! Mine was scrapped together in MS paint, so any improvements are appreciated!