Patient Zero: The Shadow's Fate

Gunnar walked slowly home on his last day of classes before graduation. His pensive stroll reflected the nostalgia he felt for the years he was leaving behind; each step seemed steeped in memories. He was only a few blocks from his home, about to cross the gloomy but familiar alley that led to the old colonial house where he lived with his parents. He remembered the last five years he had spent in this small town, his new classmates, and wondered how long it would be before he forgot their names and faces. He pondered whether he should have tried harder to get to know them, but it was too late for regrets. He decided it was best to enjoy these last few days as a student, savoring the final walk in uniform, with the expectation that his parents were waiting for him for dinner.

The alley, with its time-worn stone walls and wrought-iron lampposts, had always held an air of mystery. However, despite its somber appearance, for Gunnar it was a comforting place, a constant reminder of his home and the life he had led until then in that quiet town.

As he crossed this stretch, he heard noises. They were subtle sounds, barely perceptible, but enough to make his heart race. He associated them with cats, as crimes didn't happen in the rural area where he lived; only a few disappearances, which people attributed to lovers eloping. However, the frequency of those sounds put him on alert. He looked from side to side, trying to discern what was around him, but could only make out difficult-to-define silhouettes. Little by little, the noises seemed to get closer. He tried to convince himself that they were just cats, but the heaviness of the footsteps worried him, as if something else was lurking.

It all happened in an instant. He felt a warm liquid running down his back from his shoulder. Thanks to a stroke of luck, the attack didn't impact his head as an enormous shadow glided past him. It was the strangest creature he had ever seen. Although the gloom enveloped it, he could distinguish its prominent stature: a figure that resembled a man, but with claws instead of fingers, disproportionately long and wide arms, and thin legs that seemed to be reversed, with inverted knees.

Faced with this disturbing vision, Gunnar was paralyzed, unable to believe what was in front of him, something he hadn't even imagined in his worst nightmares. What felt like minutes of terror to him, actually lasted no more than a second. A sharp pain and a numbing sensation in his arm jolted him out of his state of shock. At that moment, he could only think of running with all his might.

However, the alley, with its uneven path and loose stones, was not the most suitable place for a quick escape. His usual clumsiness in speed sports became evident, and a few meters after he started running, he tripped and fell heavily onto the stones. He tried to protect himself with his arm, but the injury limited him, and he ended up hitting the ground face first. Dazed by the blow, he could only hear a loud crash that made him turn around. There, among the bricks of a destroyed wall, he saw that strange creature that had been stalking him.

Gunnar slowly got up, every muscle protesting as if needles were being stuck into him. The pain that ran through his body was a constant reminder that this creature—this thing—could still be after him. But when he turned his head, he found only the empty alley, illuminated by the flickering lampposts as if they too were scared.

He didn't know how he got home. One moment he was running down the alley, the next he had his hand on the doorknob of the familiar door, his knuckles white from gripping so tightly. The sound of his own breathing, ragged and wild, deafened his ears.

As he crossed the threshold, the warm air of the house hit his face like a reproach. The dim light of the hallway cast long shadows that twisted on the walls, but nothing was as unsettling as what he saw in the kitchen: Alana and Erik, sitting rigidly at the table, their forgotten teacups in front of them. The grandfather clock ticked seconds that sounded like the beats of a dying heart.

Alana stood up and quickly approached him, taking his hands with obvious fear.

-That... thing almost killed me- Gunnar mumbled, rubbing his bloody shoulder as his voice broke. -And now you two look at me as if you already knew.

Erik lunged towards the window, scanning the street with a military gaze before turning to the young man. His fingers inspected the wound with surgical precision, but it was the tremor in his hands that betrayed his feigned calm.

-Listen closely,- he whispered, lowering his tone as if the walls could hear. -What attacked you was a person. A test subject from Laboratory 7 who escaped seventy-two hours ago.-

Gunnar's eyes widened, reflecting the yellowish glow of the lamp. -A human?- The word burned his tongue. -What kind of monstrosity...?-

-Project Chimera,- Erik interrupted, wiping his hands on his pants with spasmodic movements. -Human DNA recombined with animal sequences, life-support nanotechnology...- A calculated pause. -We call them 'hybrids,' but they breathe and bleed like us.-

The silence that followed was so dense that Gunnar felt the weight of every dust particle floating in the air. His mind replayed every encounter with the creature: the vertical pupils, the smell of disinfectant mixed with animal pheromones...

-And how do you know so much?- he managed to articulate, noticing for the first time the purplish bags under Erik's eyes, the wrinkles that weren't there last week.

The man exchanged a look with Alana before answering, while outside a lightning flash illuminated the family portrait hanging on the wall.

-How is it possible that something like this is happening? Why didn't you ever tell me before?- Gunnar asked, his voice trembling between disbelief and anguish.

-Son, I wanted to protect you from all of this- Alana replied, her gaze full of concern. -I never thought we would have to face the consequences of those experiments. The truth is, we believed we had left that dark chapter of our lives behind. But now that you're involved, you need to know the truth.

The world crumbled around him. The revelation hit him like a punch to the solar plexus, leaving him breathless. Atrocious questions sprouted in his mind like poisonous mushrooms: Would he also be a monster? Why did those he called parents hide the truth from him?

Alana exhaled slowly, as if the weight of her words needed all the air in the room, and said: -Gunnar, there's something you need to know.- Alana's voice cracked like glass under pressure. -We are not your parents. We found you as a child... lost and alone in the world.

The clock ceased to exist. Alana's words were not sounds but blades slicing through his past, turning every family memory into a carefully stitched lie.

-What do you mean?- he murmured, unable to process what he was hearing.

-When you were just a baby, we had the good fortune to find you. We were part of a group of scientists who opposed the experiments in the laboratory. Originally, the purpose of the research was to help humanity, but playing God blinded the government. We worked in a section where we experimented with adults who voluntarily offered to modify their bodies, but one day, while we were investigating, we heard your crying. Discovering that babies were being kidnapped for samples terrified us, and we didn't hesitate for a second to rescue you. From that day on, we considered you our son and have tried to protect you from your origin.

The ground beneath his feet ceased to be solid. Every memory, every shared laugh, every "I love you" received, everything disintegrated like burned paper. Gunnar stared at Alana and Erik, digging into their pupils, searching for a glimmer of truth. He found only the same panic that now chilled his veins. His hands, were they even his hands?trembled like leaves in a storm. His throat closed, swallowing impossible words.

-What... what the hell am I then?- The whisper tore at his throat, a mixture of acid and desperation.

-Will I end up like that... thing?- His voice no longer sounded human. It was the shriek of a cornered animal smelling its own slaughterhouse.

-The truth, son, is that we don't know. We've given you medical check-ups ever since we rescued you, and we haven't found any anomalies in your body. It seems as if the experiments they did on you had no effect.

Unable to believe what he was hearing, he stepped back, supporting his hands on his shoulders as if seeking comfort in his own embrace. Strangely, he no longer felt pain, but that worried him even more; he associated the lack of pain with the hard blow he had received against the stones and a growing sense of disconnection from his own body.

-What if something changes?- he murmured, his voice barely a whisper, as he struggled to process the new reality unfolding before him.

His adoptive mother approached him again. -Son, we need to check that wound on your shoulder- she said in a soft but firm voice.

Touching her son's back, she slowly guided him to her office, where she kept the first-aid kit for dressings. As she soaked a gauze pad in povidone-iodine, she uncovered his shoulder and realized her mother was approaching with the gauze in her hand, but she suddenly stopped, as if something had paralyzed her.

-Son, your shoulder...- she murmured, but Gunnar had already noticed something wasn't right.

Confused, he looked at his wound for the first time, which he imagined must have looked horrible from the creature's claws. However, upon inspecting his skin, he realized there was nothing. His clothes were bloody, his skin too, but there was no wound; his skin was smooth, without even a scratch.

Scared, he began to touch his face, looking for scratches from hitting the stones, but he couldn't feel any either. Unable to contain the growing anxiety, he quickly ran to the bathroom to get a better look in the mirror. When he looked at himself, he could only see dirt and blood, but his face was intact.

-What's happening?- he asked aloud, feeling reality fading around him.

His parents followed him, running into the bathroom, looking at him scared in silence. Erik, after seeing him, looked lost in thought.

He remembered his beginnings as a scientist. Back then, he was a professional highly motivated to save humanity. When he was hired at the association's laboratory, he experienced great happiness, as they were dedicated to finding cures for incurable diseases, and terminally ill people volunteered to be test subjects. During the first few months, Erik witnessed the great advances that patients experienced. However, little by little, he began to perceive that something dark was hidden behind these improvements. Despite the advances, he never saw anyone discharged. They simply stopped seeing them one day.

Intrigued by what was happening, Erik met Alana, another researcher who worked in an animal testing section. Alana, realizing that Erik's goal was genuinely to help people, introduced him to a group of scientists dedicated to revealing the company's darkest secrets. Together, they discovered that, although patients showed improvements in their diseases, weeks later they began to show signs of violence and deformities in their bodies. It seemed that, over time, they could transform into savage creatures. Furthermore, rumors arose that these mutations occurred due to the incompatibility of genetic modifications in adults, which led the company to kidnap babies to investigate this problem.

Erik, worried, began to look around. -We have to flee this place. If that creature found you, the association will soon realize that one of the babies who disappeared years ago is hiding here.

Gunnar, confused, stopped looking in the mirror and turned to his parents, trying to put aside the idea that he would transform into a monster for the moment. His father was behaving strangely, running from one side of the house to the other. He went into the kitchen, turning on all the gas taps, while his mind spun in a mixture of panic and bewilderment. Then, he went to his study and began to gather some briefcases.

-What are you doing, Dad?- he asked, feeling the situation becoming more and more chaotic.

Erik looked at him briefly, concern etched on his face. -There's no time for explanations, son. We need to get out of here before it's too late.

Erik leaned forward, his knuckles white, gripping the edge of the table. Every word came out like a shot: -The experiments share a genetic link. They smell each other like animals. A nervous tic ran across his left eyelid. -Today there was a breach in the laboratory. They warned us... but not in time. That monster that attacked you wasn't a coincidence. It's a hunt.

His fingers traced circles on the wooden surface, as if he were already calculating the explosion radius. -The house must disappear. Every trace. Or they'll come for what's left... and for us.

The air suddenly thickened. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. The walls that had seen him cross this last stage of his youth, the floor that memorized his footsteps, the corners filled with familiar echoes... all turned to dust. But Erik's eyes—hard as red-hot steel—left no room for rebuttal.

-Are you sure that's what we have to do?- he asked, his voice trembling between fear and disbelief.

Erik nodded, his expression grave. -There's no other option. If they find us, not only will we lose our lives, but you could also be captured and subjected to more experiments.

Gunnar looked around, feeling the weight of the impending decision. The house he had known all his life, full of memories and happy moments, now became a place of imminent danger.

-What if there's another way?- he insisted, desperately searching for a way out that didn't involve destroying everything he knew.

Erik approached, placing a hand on his shoulder. -I'm sorry, son. Sometimes, the hardest decisions are the ones we have to make to protect those we love.