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Prologue
"...Ten years ago, Stuart and I founded the Science of Unnatural Realism, or SUR, as some of you know it as, in hopes of changing the world by taking what most to be considered only matters of science-fiction, and change that into forms of reality; Holograms, human-like AI, ray guns, y'know, the usual."
Ben Wood cleaned the sweat off his forehead and tugged at his shirt collar nervously as the auditorium softly chuckled. He looked over to his colleague, Stuart Durand, who could only smile and give Ben a thumb-up. He returned his view to the crowd, all of whom were wearing black suits or white dresses for the anniversary party, and continued onwards with his speech.
"To this day, we have never made a product that we are not proud of. To this day, we hold one of the highest success rates of any company in the United States. To this day, we thank our hundreds of employees for their hard work and determination. To this day, we are honored to have served for our country and its allies when they needed us most. To this day, we have, and still are, changing the world for the better!"
The room roared and echoed with applause. Ben anxiously and hastily moved away from the podium as Stuart took his position. Unlike Ben, Stuart had a more confident style and tone to this voice, "Again, thank you to everyone who could attend this ten-year anniversary of SUR, we couldn't have done it without you! Now, before we get back to chatting, drinking, and just having a good time, I would like to announce two new projects that SUR will be engaging starting next week on June 28th. On this day, we will also be temporarily dividing the company due to their massive scales. The first project will be involving teleportation of physical objects under Ben's supervision, the second project, however, will involve the experimentation of animal genetics and structures to make them more... human, if you will-"
Immediately after hearing this, an employee at the first few rows of metallic chairs raised his hand worriedly. Stuart, slightly annoyed, noticed and called on him. "Could you be more specific to as of what your project is and what overall purpose you have of such?" He asked unconfidently.
"Interesting things to ask... Anthony, is it?" The employee nodded in confirmation and continued, "Well Anthony, I'm afraid I won't be able to go into much detail until we have completely split into the divisions. As for the purpose of all this? I believe that these experiments will make professions such as zoology easier to obtain, and to create a better, safer environment not only for us, but for the animals as well."
Another employee, a woman next to Anthony, heightened her arm as well. Stuart caught the hand and released a sigh, clearly becoming impatient. He called on her. "If you plan on making these innocent animals be more like humans, do you think this will eventually lead into experiments of vice versa; making humans be more like animals?" She boldly demanded.
Stuart smirked. "When that day comes, you have full rights to call me a madman." The joke made the audience laugh, only it felt forced and awkward, especially for Stuart. "To be completely serious, after the amount of horrifying, inhumane destruction that occurred in World War III, I believe that even if I wanted to perform such, we should hold off any kind of human experimentation until further notice." There was a long, uncomfortable lapse of time as Stuart frustratedly glanced around the room, searching for another hand above the silent crowd. "...Ben! Why don't you come up here and explain your task for a minute or two!" Stuart rushed, finding an excuse to leave the gathering.
Later that evening, Stuart sat uncomfortably on his lonely bed, trying to forget the embarrassment he caused himself. He stared at the wall in front of him, covered with photos of people he could no longer greet. Amongst the pictures was a crude drawing of a stick figure; he had short, blond hair, wore crooked glasses and a lab coat that covered most of his body. 'I love you Dad!' was written on the bottom. Stuart jumped in surprise as his phone rang on the side drawer. He squinted at the screen. Ben.
"Hello?"
"Hi Stuart," Ben answered, not sounding like his happy, usual self, "how are you holding up? You, uh, you excited about next week?"
"I have no idea what I'm feeling, but it certainly isn't excitement."
"Oh... Did I call at a bad time? We can discuss this tomorrow if-"
"No, not at all. It's just that... I've been thinking a lot about my announcements."
"I was actually calling about that."
"Let me guess, you're going to ask me something that makes me feel like these experiments are twisted, cruel, insane!"
"Stuart. I've been your best friend for over 20 years now. You and I both know that this kind of thing, whilst not evil, is pointless. Anthropomorphic animals won't help zoologists, environmentalists, no one, yet you seem so desperate to create them anyways. My question is why are you really doing this? Why are you going out of your way for a meaningless consequence?"
A moment of silence broke into the conversation, as Stuart traveled through distant memories. "...You remember Jacob, don't you?"
"Mm, your son, right?"
"Yes. When he was around seven, he grew an obsession for cartoons, to a point where even your kid couldn't match up. I remember when he found out about SUR, he asked me if I could bring his favorite characters into the real world. At that time, and even now, such is impossible, but I lied and told him 'Yes.' After that, he'd ask me every day if they were here, and every day I had to come up with a new excuse, this continued on for longer than I anticipated for, even when I thought he had grown out of it...
"Then World War III happened. The NHA invaded the US by surprise and captured many towns and cities along the west coast, including Vidalia, where..." Stuart began to choke on his own words as his memories became more and more vivid, "...where Jacob, and I, were on vacation. I-I remember telling him to run, run as far away from the chaos as possible... he did so, but... then a gunshot rang behind me... and-and he... he stopped..." Stuart could feel tears run down his cheeks and drip onto his polyester shorts.
Another pause of quietness took control of Stuart. Ben wasn't certain of how to react. "I'm sorry for your loss." He forced out.
"...You couldn't have done anything about it. After the NHA were... defeated, I apologized to this grave for all my lies, and I promised to make his dream come true. Just two weeks ago... you have no idea how happy I was when I discovered a way to make a mouse walk on his hind legs, and move around like you and I. It meant I was one step closer to completing my word... for Jacob."
"Y'know, we can cancel this whole division thing so everyone in the lab can solely focus on your project. It clearly means a lot to you, and I-"
"Thank you, Ben, but you seemed just as passionate about that teleportation stuff. I'd hate to ruin your fun."
"Are you sure? If you change your mind, you know who to call."
"We'll talk next week, good night."
Stuart hung up his phone and placed it back to its rightful place. He rested, laying on the bed slightly jocund. He slowly turned his head to face the drawing once more. "I love you too, son." He moaned to himself as he drifted off to his illusions of fantasy.
Jerry
Soon...
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and this is the first chapter, what will happen in the other ones?? T~T
This is a great story, would rate 5 stars if it was in fanfiction. ;D
Thanks! Well... it has some elements based on... um... eh, I've got nothing. I mean, I guess my character and Scott are based on Foxy and Bonnie? At least for design.
It's really well done though! Looking forward for the rest! :O
Also, isn't Vidalia the "City of the Dead"? Are there any zombies in this?
Further evidence of possible zombies is the mentioning of the Ray Gun! :o
Yes, Vidalia is the location for CotD, but as for any actual zombies... yes and no. CotD is more of an... alternate reality, than an actual event. At least in Unnatural.