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            “What the hell happened?  Where am I?” Martin thought while he tried top get his two bleary eyes to focus.  Martin remembered coming out of work and walking into the parking lot, thinking mainly about the term paper that was due tomorrow.  Then he felt a little sting and looked down at his arm to see a little dart with fuzzy feathers sticking into him.  Then he began to feel really dizzy and weak before finding himself in a car with the scenery whizzing by, and then he was here wherever here was.
            Martin looked around at the strange room and then he saw two strange looking men towering over him.  Both of the men were dressed in long white coats with blue breathing masks over their noses and mouths, amber goggles over their eyes, and green kitchen gloves on their hands.  The shorter one had a gentle matter of fact voice.  The tall one didn't say anything, he just wrote everything down on a clipboard.
            “Ah, now what do we have here?” the short one said.  “Oh yes, this must be Specimen 187B.”
            “I'm not a specimen!  My name is Martin, and I'm a college student, and I have a part time job, and I want to get out of here!” Martin tried to tell the two strange men, but the sticky tape that was covering his mouth and the soft cloth wedged in between his teeth and his tongue wouldn't let him make any more than frightened humming sounds.
            The short one ignored Martin’s panicked sounds and studied the clipboard the tall one was holding for him.  “Yes, here it is.  Medium height, medium build, brown hair and blue eyes; yes, that all checks.”
            This couldn't be happening to him.  It had to be some kind of nightmare!  Martin began struggling against the tight ropes and kicking his feet against the floor in his desperation to be recognized as a real person.
            “Now 187B, none of that,” the short man chided him gently. 
Then the tall one grabbed Martin’s legs with his strong hands and held them together while he wrapped more rope around to secure them.  Martin tried to resist, but he was still feeling kind of weak from whatever stuff was in that dart.
            “Really 187B, there is no need to get so excited.  We're just going to ask you a few questions before we take you downstairs for your detailed physical examination.  Now I know that you can't talk properly with that gag in your mouth, but I want you to nod your head, okay?”
            Martin was feeling very confused so he began dumbly nodding his head at the short one while he studied the tight ropes the tall one had used to weld his legs tightly together.
            “Now have you had all of the usual childhood diseases?  And would you describe yourself as being in fairly good health?  Any history of mental illness in your family?  Oh, and would you say that you are a sexually active person?”
            Martin didn't understand.  Why had they taken him?  Why were they asking him all of these strange questions?
            “Very good Martin.  Now if you can just pass your detailed physical, we can have you on a ten-thirty flight tonight.”
            Martin started making choking sounds back in his throat and wrestled against the ropes.  He wasn't going flying anywhere!
            “Now don't make a face 187B.  The new cargo holds are much more comfortable than the old ones.  Now we're going to have to ask you to wait here awhile until they finish examining the Specimen ahead of you.”
            And then the two strange men just walked away and left Martin there all alone.  Martin couldn't believe it!  He wasn't going to wait anywhere.  He was going to get out of here now!
            But no matter how much Martin struggled and rolled around on the floor, the tight ropes just gripped him tighter and tighter, and the sodden cloth in his mouth just kept on getting bigger and juicier.  And then he heard footsteps.
            “No, no 187B, you mustn't struggle around like that.  You might injure yourself and we can't have that, can we?  More rope please.”
            Martin watched helplessly while the tall one drew more strong rope out of his pocket and then began lashing it tightly between Martin’s wrists and his ankles until the poor student’s hands and feet were almost touching each other.
            “There really isn't any reason for you to be afraid, 187B.  According to our Customer Satisfaction Reports, the Client who selected you usually keeps his Specimens comfortable in the big house for two months or more before he tires of them and sends them out to work in the fields.  And less than two percent of those died from snake or alligator bites.”

            Bites--!  Martin didn't want any bites!
            “Now do be patient, 187B.  They're almost ready for you down in Exam.”
            Then the two strange men walked away and left Martin shaking tears out of his eyes.  What had Martin done to deserve this?  He had always tried to be a good boy?  Martin looked up at the ceiling and tried to ignore the pain of the tight ropes that were digging into him everywhere.  And then he heard the two men coming back.
            “See 187B, that didn't take long.  Now they are ready to give you a nice detailed examination.”
            Martin shook his head from side to side and made pleading noises into the juicy cloth.
            “Now don't carry on so, some of our young men find their exam to be a very pleasurable experience.  That’s better, 187B.  Now just as a precaution, we're going to give you a little something to calm you down while we get you ready for your exam.”
            Martin huffed into his gag and begged them not to give him anything, but the tall one just wrapped his strong hand around the back of Martin’s neck and then started moving a big snowball of damp cotton toward Martin’s nose.
            Then Martin only had a few moments to notice the strong smell of wild cherries before he started feeling really dizzy and then everything started getting very dark.
            “Martin…!  Come on Martin, wake up!  You're going to be late for work,” an angry voice yelled at him in the dark.
            Martin struggled to open his eyes and was surprised to see the familiar surroundings of his off-campus apartment.  And then he saw his hairy roommate drying himself off with a big towel.
            “Come on, Martin.  You promised to pay your share of the rent on this dump, remember?”
            At first Martin was very relieved to discover that it had all been just some kind of weird nightmare.  But then he began to wonder, why was he having dreams like that?

Martin played by Jake
Photography by Caitiff