The half-forgotten
Other half of my short life
In short story form

 
The Reeskers
3-10-1998

I'm with this guy and this girl, just generic people, and we're in some barren wasteland of a city. For some reason we need to get out of there to a place very, very far away. We're running across the dry, cracked outlands when the guy stops and points out a group of strange people in the distance. Humanoid, but they have layers of scales, these layers varying from person to person. A couple have tails. "They only way we'll ever make it is if we join the Reeskers," he says, indicating the people over there. I'd heard of them...some high-tech gang that uses some bizarre technology...nanotechnology perhaps...to reinforce their bodies with a cybernetic layer of scales. Gives protection against blows and heat, and it's damn hot out there.

As we approach them, I'm reminded of another high-tech gang back where I used to live, called the (can't remember, started with 'E' and also ended in 'ers'). But they were different. They didn't look organic at all, just kinda chopped stuff on and slapped new devices on, selling their old body parts for equipment.

But those thoughts dissolved as we got inside. I was surprised they didn't want to kill us. I was also surprised at how many there were. And I was moreso surprised at how large their base was, and how fucking cold it was there. Like they were cold-blooded or something. The leader got the word that we wanted to join up with them, and made us sit down at a table, above the rest of the crowd of cajoling Reeskers. I sat down across from him, and he set down a glass full of some greenish liquid. Looked cold. He explained the process of becoming a Reesker.

"First you sit there, and brace yourself. Plant your feet flat on the floor, and lean up against the table. Flex your abs, and make sure your weight is totally balanced, because you're gonna be thrown for a jolt. Then, this glass here, you stick your fist in it and hold it there."

Seemed simple enough. The guy I was with was standing over my shoulder. I had to go first, I guess. I didn't see the girl ever again. I braced myself. I stomach was freezing...the table was cold. I looked over at one of the Reesker grunts...looked like a badass, but also like a kinda dumbass. I figured if he could do it, so could I. "Ready?" the leader asked. "Yes...wait, no...butt cheeks not level yet...ok..." I put my fist into the glass, and DAMN it was cold, but I forced myself to keep it in there. My entire body went numb and I passed out.

Later, not sure how long, I awakened, totally wet, naked, and freezing my ass off. The guy I was with was still there...he didn't do it! I asked him if he was going to do it, but after seeing what I went through, he said he wasn't gonna. I was kinda mad.

I then remembered what happened as I was passed out. After I collapsed, they threw my body into this entire vat of green liquid. A current carried my body through some kind of tunnel system. Lasers shot at me and shit...couldn't really remember that part. Oh well. I looked down at myself, and sure enough, along my arms, shoulders, and hands, green, metallic scales had formed, and my fingernails extended in a strange, streamlined way...not out and forward, but back along my knuckles, to a point. Pretty neat. I felt tougher, and I was beginning to warm up.

The leader came up to me with a jeweled pin and some HUGE scissors, asking if I wanted him to pierce my dick. I was like, "Um...no." He explained that they started doing it with the guy who became a Reesker before me. I declined, and noone seemed to really care.

I went and got my clothes back. As I was pulling on my pants, some little bald dude commented that I was a wannabe, or a wimp, or something like that, so I jumped over the counter and kicked his head in. He shut up. I vaguely remember being in a big fight, every blow glancing off me cuz of my scaly protection.

Next thing I know, I'm in an airplane, looking down over a town, watching this van go totally psycho, driving backwards over small cliffs, bashing into other cars, outrunning the cops, and so on. A taxi van, actually, with a bunch of passengers. I cracked up, thinking what poor customer service. The van screamed around a corner, changing into a white sports car, pulling around some other cars, trying to hide. The cops pass by. The passengers, two girls, exit the car and get into red sports car a few feet away. I can hear them (somehow), saying "we'll never make the plane."

My plane picks them up. I guess they made it. It was really cramped though, smaller than a real car, and I could barely breathe. When we landed, some people got a hold of us. They wanted to take us to church. I kept escaping from them and then letting them catch me, as if to say "I can get away from you guys anytime I want to."

I eventually did run away when we got to the church. I ran to the basement where there were a bunch of escalators and played tag with two people for a while. Some dude eventually caught me, but he was tiny, so I picked him up and continued to run towards the ceremony room (whatever it's called). He demanded I put him down, so I did, and he ran ahead of me. For some reason he thought I'd keep running. So I ran the other way, saw my dad sitting at a desk at the corner. I told my dad to get me some new shoes and to delay the little dude chasing me, then ran down the hall. I got back to the basement, but went down another level. A bunch of chemical engineering equipment there, along with a lot of people I knew from school. I sat down under a coat rack and started to shoot the shit with this guy named Ohm.

posted by Phlegm at 11/24/2003