Rating: R (For Strong Sexual Imagery and Language)

Genre: Action/Adventure

Overview: Frank awakens on a rooftop with a four inch incision along the right side of his gut. He finds a note that says he needs medical attention immediately or he will die. He later finds himself being tortured by two figures: one who isn't even human, and one who is his "best friend" William. William attempts to cure Frank of a "disease" he may or may not have, not knowing that he is risking his best friend's life by putting him through this tortuous procedure.

***

Frank was officially freaked out. He thought he had seen it all until they removed a creature the length of a snake from his stomach. The agonizing pain caused by a tenant who doesn't want to be evicted from its new home filled Frank's lungs as his screams were chopped down by the slithering pain that rose from his stomach to his throat.

Frank was wondering to himself how all this started. How did he get to this point where two shady men were operating on him with rusty medical equipment-and sometimes, no equipment at all.

It all started Thursday night. He had originally gone to sleep in the comfort of his own bed. He was dreaming about this guy he was confused about. The guy was his close friend-only he wasn't sure if he wanted to remain friends. William was the coolest guy he has ever met, but he also looked stunningly attractive. His smooth skin was accompanied by beautiful straight black hair with glasses that complimented his intelligence, especially his love of chemistry. His nose was small and cute and accompanied his boyish look. Staring into his caramel eyes was overindulging in the sweetness of his character. They were high school seniors about to graduate and move onto the same college. They have been close friends for three years now and each year Frank grew strangely more attracted to him.

Frank never told William about his deep feelings for him. He didn't want to ruin the friendship and he had reason to believe that William wasn't interested in dating men. Frank hated it. He hated loving something that will never love you back the same way. He would always try subduing his thoughts. Sometimes he dreamed of laying in bed with William. However, other times he had dreams of laying in bed with Cecilia, a mutual friend of both William and Frank. Cecilia was this precious girl who was always loud, laughing, and a wizard at math and the arts. Her silvery eyes made her look like some child of Athena. Her straight brown hair was never a mess, and her perfect figure and curves resembled none other than Aphrodite herself.

In this particular dream, Frank told William his feelings for him. William was silent-by far a worse response than simply saying no. Silence meant awkwardness. Silence meant confusion. Silence meant death.

That's all that happened in the dream, yet the dream seemed to have lasted for hours.

When he woke up he immediately felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He clutched at his right side and rubbed his eyes with his remaining hand. When his eyelids were able to break free of the crust that held them shut, he realized that he was in trouble.

For starters he felt a gust of wind blowing directly at his face. He was still beneath his sheets when the pain was simply too much for him to handle. He lifted his comforter and discovered that he was shirtless. Frank never went to sleep shirtless. Then he stared down at the area that caused him so much grief.

Fresh stitches occupied about a four inch long incision along the right side of his abdomen.

So many conclusions jump to his head. He was kidnapped and harvested for his organs, or injected with some sort of disease.

Then he tried getting out of bed. He dangled his legs over the edge of his bed and couldn't feel the floor. He peered over the side of his bed and realized that he was not in his room.

He was on the roof of a hotel.

He looked around him and found something else strange. The sky was a dark purple. Yet the stars still occupied the sky. Off in a short distance he saw a large ferris wheel that lit up the entire harbor. He recognized that ferris wheel from before. He looked towards his left and saw a large glass building-a resort. Then he saw dozens of boats and yachts docked in a harbor besides the ferris wheel.

He was at the National Harbor.

He crawled back into his covers and tried waking himself up from this weird dream.

"This can't be real," he muttered to himself.

Then he felt a piece of paper underneath his comforter. He picked it up and tried reading it in the dark. He was barely able to make out what the message on the paper said.

With the little bit of light from the purplish sky and the grand ferris wheel he was able to make out the following: "You are sick and in desperate need of medical attention. Please meet us by the Woodrow Wilson Bridge within three hours or the creature will consume you whole."

If Frank's pants weren't already soiled before they were definitely soiled now. His heart skipped a beat when he read "need" "medical attention" and "creature" all in the same sentence.

Immediately the anxiety of the situation caused the adrenal gland to kick in. His heart was beating rapidly and the pain from his lower abdomen was subsiding a bit. He knew something was inside him. He felt something swimming within his abdomen, something sucking the life out of him. But his adrenaline was helping him ignore the pain long enough for him to make a move.

He hopped out from the opposite side of his bed and spotted a fire escape along the side of the building. He ran barefooted along the grimy rooftop of the hotel and onto the rusty metal fire escape swinging around towards the ground. Towards the end of the fire escape he had to climb a ladder down to the ground and ended up slicing his left foot on one of the rusty rungs of the ladder. But if the cut hurt him at all he didn't show or notice it. The adrenaline was working magic for him. He ran bare footed along the concrete knowing exactly where he needed to go. He had just came here last week with his family and they did the walk along the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. However, where exactly along the Woodrow Wilson Bridge he had to meet these strangers was still of no knowledge to him.

He ran along the rocky pathway near the shorelines of the Potomac River. Driftwood lingered below him with seagulls and ducks perched on top of them. Frank checked the sky above him and saw that it was still a shade of purple.

The white shelly pathway eventually began to tear apart at his wound. No amount of adrenaline would mask that pain. His run slowed down to a jog, then a fast pace walk and eventually he was barely limping along. It got to the point that the shells were lodging themselves within his open wound tearing deeper into it. A trail of bloody foot prints followed behind him.

The rocky pathway eventually ended and continued with asphalt. The asphalt was much better on his foot, but he had to stop to yank out the white shells from his wound. He was like a dentist yanking teeth from gums, leaving a trail of blood tricking along the soles of his foot. Once the shells were removed his adrenaline kicked in again, but it only allowed him to walk fast rather than run. After all, the adrenaline was attempting to mask the pain of both the abdomen and his bloody foot.

He passed through an area treated with pesticides. Warning signs showed pictures of a child, a dog, and an adult with a slash against it discouraging people from walking amongst the grassy areas treated with the chemicals. The area reeked of a mixture of dead fish and wet paint. The smell was strong enough to slow him down a bit, but he managed to make his way towards the hill portion of his journey. The hill towards the top of the crosswalk to get to the other side of the highway (the pedestrian side) curved around like a circuit race or a strand of DNA. Once at the top he made his way across the highway and down another curved hill that led towards the entrance of the pedestrian walkway of the bridge. A large plaque with a bronze carving of President Woodrow Wilson's face stood in the center of the highway marking the great engineering feat crafted by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Now that he was at the entrance he stopped and looked around. "I'm here!" he shouted, but got no response. He felt a gust of wind coming from the direction of the bridge. He fought the wind and pushed himself onward. The wind was extremely strong that night. It was as if he was trekking through a wind tunnel.

He made it to the halfway point of the bridge when suddenly his adrenaline was running out of juice. He stopped at a vantage point where a small metal line beneath the ground marked state boundaries. One step behind him lied the state of Maryland. One step in front of him lied the District of Columbia via the Virginia section. A huge sign on the highway welcomed drivers to the state of Virginia where the motto below stated: "Virginia is for Lovers" with a heart replacing the "v" in "lovers."

Stuck beneath the metal boundary was an envelop. Frank wiggled it free and saw his name in the center of the envelop. He opened it up, freaking out. Whatever game was going on needed to end now.

But it was just getting started.

Frank open the letter and skimmed through the content of the letter.

His immediate reaction: "Oh hell no! I'm not doing that."

But then he reread the last line of the letter, "If you do not do this, you will most certainly die."

Frank cursed underneath his breath, "Fuck me."

He climbed onto the edge of the bridge, looked below the edge and saw the 100 foot drop into the freezing Potomac river. Even at Spring time, the water was still a crisp 45 degrees.

He wanted to back down. The guy hated water. He had already almost drown twice as a child. He has learned to swim since then, but he wasn't very great at it. He could swim about an eighth of a mile before tiring out. But the wind gave him a nudge and he lost his balance and fell into the water.

What happened next was almost supernatural. As he fell into the water he felt a splash of water surround him like a bubble. Suddenly everything turned dark and he felt like a dust bunny being sucked in by a vacuum. A portal seemed to open up within the water and drew him into a new space.

Suddenly he was briefly falling until his back smacked down against a metal table. With his arms spread out, he barely had time to react before metal rings strapped in his arms and one large metal ring strapped in both of his ankles. The metal straps coiled and tightened there grip around his wrists and ankles like a snake squeezing the life out of its prey.

Out of a blue, a bright light shone from above him. Frank squinted his eyes to block out as much light as possible while trying to figure out where he was. He saw metal walls all around him. His bare back laid on the cold metal surface. The pain within his abdomen was intensifying and spreading about his body.

Suddenly he heard footsteps approach him. He turned his head over to his right side and saw two things. He saw a table full of rusty medical instruments, a scalpel that was still covered in the hardened blood of its previous patient-or victim. A pair of scissors spotted with grease stains and a drill that was covered in pieces of flesh lied on the metal rusty table besides him.

The second thing he saw was a dark figure making his way towards the table. He had almost of a ghostly air to him. He hovered in such a way that his black robe ruffled like a flag in the breeze. His hood hid his face, but his glowing red eyes shone through the dark hole of his face.

"Where am I?" Frank struggled.

Then he heard another noise coming from his left. Frank didn't want to take his eyes off of the scary demonic ghost that was hovering to his right; but he needed to know what was approaching him form his left. He decided to try glancing over very quickly to get a brief look of what was approaching him.

At least the figure approaching him looked more human than anything he had seen today. Even coming to this place he had no contact with anyone until now, and he was scared out of his mind. However, the human-like figure was hiding in the shadows and slowly approaching him.

The figure spoke, "Don't be afraid Frank."

Frank recognized his voice, "William?"

The figure stepped into the light and Lord behold it was William. But as William stepped into the light Frank was stunned.

William's buff chest leaped out at Frank's eyes. Then his eyes followed the skin down and saw bare thighs. A few more steps into the light and he saw no pants, no boxers.

William was completely naked.

Frank thought to himself, "If this is some weird ass torture porn dream-please make it end."

Suddenly he felt a shock course through his body. Volts of electricity made his body shake like an earthquake. He couldn't control the motion of his body. The shock was coming from within.

William spoke, "Frank, just know that I'm doing this because you're my best friend-and I want it to stay that way."

William's hand slithered down to his snake and the palm of his hand wrapped around it. Frank grew excited as he saw the nose of the lower half of William's body expand.

Then Frank felt another course of electricity run through his veins. Foam began seeping from his mouth. Blood began tearing from his eyes.

When the shock finished Frank's head rested towards William.

He managed to mutter, "William-help me."

William reached down Frank's lower half of his body and began removing his pants, "I am helping you."

After removing his smoking pants he tore them apart and tossed them towards the side. William saw a sight that he was not pleased with.

Then another shock coursed through Frank's veins. Frank saw flashes of the dark hooded figure next to him. The red eyes appeared hovering over his.

When the shock phase ended he was barely conscious. He managed to huff out, "Will..."

William turned to the hooded figure, "I thought you said this will cure him."

The hooded figure waved his sleeve over Frank's body and an x-ray image of Frank's abdomen appeared. Frank glanced down at his body. He saw a three foot long creature inside him. It looked like a snake or maybe even an electric eel. The head was connected to Frank's heart, seeping blood from it. The tail reached down towards the small intestine.

With a wave of his second hand black dust fell onto Frank's abdomen. The dust seeped into his stomach and the eel absorbed the nutrients and grew longer. The eel doubled in size and its tail now ran down to Frank's genital area.

Then William taunted Frank even more. He got on top of the table and positioned himself parallel to him. He kissed the area around his stitches-where the electric eel-like creature was hiding beneath his abdomen. Then he worked his way up, kissing his chest then his neck and finally his lips.

William felt something poking him and immediately pulled back from kissing Frank.

William shook his head and got off of Frank while the electric eel radiated power from within and produced a strong voltage of electricity that fried Frank's insides. Blood seeped out from his nose and dripped from the tip of his penis.

When the shock was over William glanced down at a beaten Frank. William felt sorry for him and didn't want to go about this anymore. But he knew he had to cure him. He had to rid him of this disease.

"This isn't working," he told the hooded creature. "What else is there to do?"

The hooded creature reached for Frank's abdomen. Extending from his sleeve was a long rotten branch with critters slithering and crawling around it. Suddenly a black light bursted from the branch and tore into his stitches. The hooded creature followed his branch-like, laser pointer finger along the seam of the stitches-ignoring Frank's desperate cries. When the stitches were set free, the creature's finger retracted into his sleeve and then his sleeve opened up. Frank could feel a suction of wind above his open stomach wound. Suddenly he felt something detach from his insides and rip free of his body. The eel-like creature with no eyes leaped into the sleeve of the hooded demon and disappeared.

After the eel departed from his body the hooded creature turned around to William. In the screaming voices of millions of fearful people he whispered demonically to William, "Remember the deal. If he cannot be cured, I keep him."

William nodded, "Yes I remember. But you said you were able to cure people like this in many situations."

"Yes," the demon howled like the wind. "But he is not one of the many."

William shook his head fearing the worst, "No he can't be incurable. He just needs more treatment. Are you sure that creature of yours was able to remove any emotional attachments?"

"The boy is of no more estrogen. He is purely male-oriented. He is an incurable."

William had a hint of desperation in his voice as he whined like a sadden dog, "But you can't take him. He's my best friend. I was trying to help him."

"Some people don't need help," the hooded one whispered. "They simply need appreciation."

The hooded one turned to Frank and extended his sleeves out. One by one winged bugs trickled from his dark sleeves. Then suddenly a whole swarm burst like a ruptured pipe of insects surrounding Frank's body. Whatever life was left in Frank was used screaming for help. But the screams were eventually silenced as the insects filled his mouth. Within half-a-minute, Frank's body was no more, dissolved by the soul-hungry insects.

William cried in the background as the insects returned to their master.

The hooded one turned around and let out a bloodthirsty laugh that sounded almost like a witch screeching, "Foolish child. No one can be cured. It is not a disease."

William looked up angrily at the hooded creature, "You-you lied to me. It wasn't a choice then after all."

The hooded one laughed, "You are a chemistry lover, yet you don't realize that you cannot break apart an element."

With that a portal in the ground appeared and the hooded creature disappeared into the void leaving William alone with his tears.