Test subject: 0305
Sex: Male.
H/W: 5.7ft/142lbs.
Age: 23y.
Species: Humanoid.
Confrontation status: Passive personal.
Permit for rehabilitation: Accepted.
Reason:
“There was a breakout on the upper floors due to some misinformed paperwork written about a subject. While the area has been contained, repairs are in order because of the massive structural destruction that took place. Until it is deemed safe for you to return to your original quarters, you are to share a habitation area with subjects of the same confrontation status. You are not to make any physical contact with the other subjects, however conversation is permitted. Do I make myself clear?” As per regulation, the courier and the subject were to make no eye-contact during transferal. That didn’t mean he couldn’t take note of her tall figure, or her tinted glasses. How she wore the bleach-white lab coat without the sidgle of the company pinned to her shoulder. Of course, she was nothing more that all the other nerds that ordered him around. Not like he cared anymore.
“Do I make myself clear, Alexander?” She hissed.
“Yes sir.”
“Good.” The automatic glass doors slid open as they exited the hall and entered his temporary new home. “I will expect no trouble from you,” She said, remaining outside the room whilst he walked in obediently. He didn’t even flinch was the doors closed and locked behind him.
“Oh great, they brought someone else in.” He had a tendency to watch the earth more than the world around him, thus when someone spoke in the same room as he, his first reaction wasn’t to look up. “Hey, kid, you in there?” questioned the well-worn voice that had spoken moments before. They seemed to be addressing him, but why? What point was there to converse with a subject?
It was then that Alex realized that he was not in a room with two doctors or couriers, but with subjects like himself. Curiosity being the beast it is, he looked up to witness what strange being he was now in a room with.
“Wow, are you thick or what?” Looking at the damaged man who spoke, a few attributes struck out to him so loudly they were impossible to be ignored. Alex noted that the man’s dull gray sweatshirt had been lazily discarded onto the floor. The man only retaining his sweatpants of the same color and material. The two paired together was, presumably, the outfit that all subjects shared, considering Alex had the exact same attire. More importantly, the man had the arms of a wolf, or perhaps bear sewn into his shoulders.
“Staring isn’t polite you know,” the shirtless man growled.
It was than that Alex realized he hadn’t introduced himself to his new roommates. “I’m sorry, it’s just been a while since I’ve seen another subject is all,” the boy apologized, not hoping to make a bad first impression. “I’m subject 0305, who are you?”
“Geez kid it’s just us in here,” The man grumbled, though his displeasure was short-lived. “I’m Josh, subject 1207 if you want to be precise.”
“And I am Benjamin Goldsetter, subject 0946.” The other man in the room, although the could be detestably called a man, sat across from Josh, lounging on a side table. He seemed more eager to announce his presence than subject 1207.
Admittedly, the beings gathered in the small room were an exotic bunch. Although, despite any complaints they may have, they would be stuck together until the higher-ups managed to repair whatever critical damage had been done. With this in mind, Alex pulled up and chair and sat down so that he could face both of the other subjects. He put his back to the the only door in the pristine room, not caring if anyone were to come up behind him. Needless to say, he was excited to converse with his potential new friends. It wasn’t often that any of the subjects were allowed to speak with outside beings other than their caretakers.
Eager to get the conversation going, subject 0305 turned to Josh without hesitation and asked the first question. “So, how did you end up in here?” The quierey was simple enough, but it was more than needed spark the fire of the regret-filled tales that were to be inevitably spilled in their time stuck within the confines of this room.
“Gosh you really don’t hold back do ya kid?” Josh responded. When the man came to the realization that both subjects were eager to hear his story, he sighed and gave in to the peer presser set upon him. “I’m a veteran, managed to lose both my arms without even saving my brother,” He mumbled, just audible enough for the other two men to hear. “By the time I got home I had lost my wife, my job, and even my dog. Without arms I became pathetic and useless,” He snarled as he recalled his history, looking down at his hands with disgust. “They promised that they’d fix me, that they’d pay me enough to last a lifetime. And I fell for it. . .” He closed his eyes, visibly fighting against his own self-hatred. “They injected me with Lychan blood, claiming that, if it didn’t regenerate my arms, they could replace them. They made me into a fucking dog with my tail between my legs.”
The evidence behind his claims were visible. His arms were covered in course, dark-brown fur, his hands clawed at the fingers. He had a thick mane of fur running down his back and up his neck, causing even his ears to be morphed to match that of a wolf’s. It too was obvious that the blood alone had not worked, considering there were large, inarguable metal stitches running around his shoulders and the base of his new arms.
“Weeeeell, then,” transitioned subject 0946, transfuring the attention to himself. “I suppose I could explain my situation as well.” He sat up, his hairless form causing some curiosity to arise within Alex as he eagerly awaited the other subject’s story. “Well, I was a college student when I first arrived here, majoring in biology. I was in debt, having recently graduated. When I first heard of this place I was infatuated with animal composition and psychology. So when they offered to pay off my debt if I helped them with a test that happened to be related to my interests, my ignorant self could not refuse,” Despite the regret tainting his voice, he didn’t seem as broken as Josh.
“I just can’t believe they turned me into. . . this,” He lifted and shook a paw in grand displeasure, as if he wanted to shake off his own skin. “I wouldn’t mind as much, if not for the breed they decided to transfer my conscious into.” The man sat perhaps not even a foot off the ground, bound to the body of a sphynx cat. While he still, for whatever reason, had the same sweater the rest of the subjects did. Needless to say, the sight of a talking, hairless cat was something to behold. Although Ben was far from the most alien being in the facility.
“So what about you?” Questioned the wolf man, turning his and Ben’s attention to the unexplained subject. “You look like any normal kid to me. What they do to fuck you up?”
Alex opened his mouth when the electronic door behind him opened unexpectedly. “Do I make myself clear Subject 0139?” The same woman that escorted Alex now stood behind yet another new subject. His face, hands, and well, presumably everything was wrapped up in bandages. The newcomer’s eyes, hidden under his mess of dark hair, noticeably glowed a rich green. He was probably the smallest one in the room, with Josh being the largest. As soon as he stepped through the doorway he shouldered off the courier.
“It’s subject, 1135. And yes I heard you.” The newcomer hisses. “You can go now,” He said after a short moment. The courier nodded, and disappeared behind the automatic doors.
The three men previously now stared at the stranger. Though, it was Alex that took up the introductions, outstretching his hand to the boy. “Hi, I am Alex, Subject 0305. That is Josh, subject 1207, he is a veteran turned wolf. Over there is Ben, subject 0946, a scholar turned into a cat.” As he spoke, he tone was flat, but not unwelcoming. Calm and right to the point, the kind of behavior that got you the confrontation status of passive personal.
The newcomer glared down at Alex’s hand, around the room, and back at the man’s hand. With a sigh of defeat, or perhaps release, strangers shook hands. The boy also took the liberty of introducing himself, easily deducing that they all had already gone through this song and dance recently. “I’m Cody, subject 1135. They wanted to test a curse a group of archaeologists came across. Living in poverty all my life, the pay was an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“Preach,” Snorted the cat.
“What’s with the bandages? Keep the curse in or something?” Josh asked, tilting his head upward slightly as he did so.
Cody, having expected this, was already rolling up his sleeve. He picked off one of the thin linens that encased his arms, beginning to unwrap it. His skin was inarguable purple, quite a sickly purple too. I looked as if his skin was rotting from the inside out, concave in some areas. He unraveled his bandages until his hand and mid-forearm were exposed. He lifted his arm, leveling it with Ben’s head. “Envoshii kolaksst turenska, listen to me and obey. You are no feline, you are but a puppet on my sting. Rest your accursed soul.” As the boy spoke, his voice was not his own. It was morphed into a gurgling hiss.
Instantly, Ben collapsed. Completely still, his unmoving body seemingly lifeless.
“I could kill him, if I wanted to,” mumbled Cody. The cursed boy then snapped his fingers, causing Ben to stir once more. The sphinx cat unsteadily got to his feet, grumbling in confusion and dizziness. It was then that Cody decided to elaborate on his curse, rewrapping his arm while he spoke. “The curse is to motivate the human mind, the only problem is to do that I’m stuck with the soul of some evil god that can only suggest acts related to death. It also left me like this, claiming my physical form as its own. It would be pretty cool if it didn’t feel like it could almost destroy my brain from how much concentration it takes.”
“Seems pretty badass to me,” Josh shrugged. Around here, appearances meant nothing. For the most part. Purple, malnourished skin, wolf arms, a literal cat, you’d think that appearances would be the last thing subjects like them would care about. But Alex knew better. Despite this, as Josh, Ben, and Cody all turned their attention to him, Alex knew that appearances would be the first thing on all their minds. “You still haven’t shown us what they did to you, kid. Mind sharing?”
“Mmmm, yes,” Grumbled Ben, still somewhat unsteady. “Since I was part of that demonstration, why don’t you put one on? It’s only fair at this point.” The man thought about what he said for a moment, before reiterating his request. “If it is going to kill us then please don’t, otherwise why don’t you tell us why you’re here and what they did to you.”
“Okay, well,” Began Alex, having gone through this countless times before. Despite that, he felt like this time, something was different. “My parents divorced when I was six, and it wasn’t much longer after that I was sold off to this place for twice as much as they offer to adults. Children are moldable, adaptable.” Alex shrugged off the dull grey sweater that they were all required to wear. He swept back his abnormally long bangs to reveal the third, fourth, and fifth located on his forehead. Just under his normal pair of arms, tearing their way out from under his skin, ripping flesh, he sprouted another pair of arms. They weren’t human appendages either, they had three extremely long and flexible fingers, his new arms had almost twice as many bones as a normal arm would. His pale skin was littered in ridges and scales. Over his lunges were flaps of skin that functioned like gills. Alex tilted his head to the right, sprouting frills along the side of his neck leading up to his head and down to his spine.
“There’s more,” added casually, rolling his shoulders as newly birthed muscles pulsed and writhed under his skin as they grew and spread. “But I don’t feel like taking off my pants too.” He smirked, his wickedly sharp and venom-filled teeth revealing themselves.
“What. . .” Josh was speechless, as was Ben.
“The hell did they turn you into?” Questioned Cody, who was the least bothered by Alex’s true appearance.
“Alien blood, organs, DNA, tissue. They were hoping I could make more, but so far I’m the only one,” Alex explained, his entire posture having changed. While before his stance was passive and proper, not intimidating nor reserved. After his transformation, though, he stood taller and broader than Josh who, with his werewolf attributes, stood at an impressive size. Now Alex barely even resembled a human, his jawline altering to lengthen, his cheekbones becoming more prominent.
“How the hell could they to that to a kid,” Growled Josh, the fur on his back and neck stiffening in anger. How they could do such things to any of them was beyond their comprehension. But they were here now, and there was no going back.
The conversation was about to delve into more questions and queries about one another, when the alarm went off, painting the white room red. “ATTENTION! SUBJECTS ARE NOT TO BE PUT IN FACILITIES WITH ONE ANOTHER! ATTENTION! PEOPLE HAVE BEEN PUTTING MORE THAN TWO SUBJECTS IN A ROOM TOGETHER, THIS IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN AND AGAINST THE RULES! ATTENT-” The blaring voice was cut off by static.
Alex grinned rolling his shoulders in preparation as he made his way over to the unlocked door. Half the facility was already alight, warnings and alarms going off in every direction, fire lighting up any darkened halls. The four men glanced at one another as the realization of what was occurring sunk in. They all grinned, heading out the door and into the rebellion.
