Pike went into what could best be described as panic mode and swiped at her earpiece, activating the direct controls over the dragon-monster. The beast’s collar lit up like a beacon, and Pike grinned, back in control of the situation. She lifted her right hand and opened her palm, mimicking a mouth opening. With very little lag time, the dragon-monster’s mouth opened, and a torrent of fire spewed out and directly at the harpy-monster, obliterating the creature in an instant.
When the dragon-monster’s mouth closed, its teeth clenching shut, Jer could see that the beast’s eyes were wet from sorrow. He didn’t want to attack his harpy-monster friend, but he was left with no choice.
There was no way for Jer to defeat the dragon-monster. Nor did he want to. It was time to risk everything. Instead of trying to skirt by and sneak into the headquarters building, Jer went straight for the beast.
Streams of fire rushed out of the dragon-monster’s maw, tearing into the ground all around Jer as he dodged, swerved, and leaped. Once he got close enough, instead of going for a kill-strike, Jer thrust his arm into the dragon-monster’s collar.
For several seconds the collar fritzed as Jer’s arm burned hot-white. When the burning finally stopped, Jer dropped to the ground, and the collar cracked and collapsed to the ground, rattling on the concrete.
Pike’s eyes flickered as the dragon-monster roared and swooped up into the air, wings spread to full length. He came down in a terrifying and thunderous crash, his massive jaws snapping Pike in half, then swallowing her whole.
A tense moment passed as the Pharma police and GenAdvance soldiers stared on in disbelief. Their commander and CEO were dead, and their strongest weapon had turned against them.
Jer wanted to calm them, stop the violence, but he had to make certain the formula was sent out first. He got up to rush for the building and only then noticed that his left arm was burnt to a crisp. That was when shock started to seep in, and his vision began to blur. Insane vertigo overtook him, and he stumbled but continued forward, willing himself to get to the entrance. Just a few more steps and he could send the simplified formula.
His body collapsed to the ground, but he kept going as feet swarmed all around, rushing to and from the bridge. He couldn’t make out what was happening through his blurred vision. When he managed to reach the entrance, the doors slid open, and he pressed his earpiece. The simplified formula appeared in front of him. He hit send and rolled over onto his back, the pain overtaking him. A few seconds later, the sky lit up. He couldn’t tell if the searing light was from an explosion or the satellite relay station sending out a message to the whole world. All he could hear was a ringing in his ears. Then he passed out.
33
Doctor’s Notes
When he came to, the transparent interface displayed multiple newsfeed directly in front of Jer’s eyes. Before him, Corporate Congressional hearings were taking place. He could hear Lavenza speaking before a committee.
“I understand your concerns, Congressman,” Lavenza said, “but imagine for a second that you’re one of the individuals whose manifestation of Transhumana Monstrare is deemed too dangerous.”
The panel grew uneasy. Murmurs filled the chamber.
“You’re saying it could manifest at random and indiscriminately?” a Corporate Congressmember asked.
“Yes,” Lavenza answered. “That’s my understanding. If you deem a person, such as the dragon-monster who was forced to commit crimes against his will, as an enemy of the state and a danger to the public, then you are potentially signing your own arrest warrant for something beyond your control. I would also point out that Plucky, that’s the dragon-monster’s real name by the way, had no record of violence before being taken forcibly from his family and used as a weapon.”
“But he killed so many,” another Corporate Congressmember said.
“Against his will,” Lavenza replied.
A gavel struck against wood. “I’m calling a vote,” the Chairman said. “All those in favor of condemning the dragon-monster…Plucky, and others with pronounced Transhumana Monstrare features as enemies of the state, say AYE.”
The chamber fell silent.
“All those in favor of a pardon based on irrevocable proof that Plucky was forced against his will, say NAY.”
“NAY!” said everyone present, causing Lavenza to light up with pride.
On another newsfeed, Jer made out an image of a human being examined by doctors in a hospital emergency room. The tops of horns were beginning to manifest on a young man’s head.
On a third newsfeed, Alderman Max was in the middle of accepting the keys to a Unified North and South Brother Island Incorporated City. Barely noticeable but present, cat ears were growing on the sides of his head.
On a final newsfeed, the barriers at Purgatory Bridge were being removed by what was formerly Pharma police, who were wearing new patches on their shoulders. The GenAdvance Hermes logo was replaced by the image of female monster silhouette wrapping her legs around a male human’s torso.
“Geezus,” Jer said. “They jumped straight to the most fundamental instinct, didn’t they?” He chuckled.
A muffled voice from below drew Jer’s attention. He looked down and saw that Damiana’s horns were moving up and down just below his waist belt.
“I thought I was having a wet dream,” Jer said.
Damiana shook her head as she continued speaking in between sucks. “Nope…I…love…morning wood.”
Jer leaned back and tried to relax. So much had happened, and he was nervous about what was next. There was no telling whether some other opportunistic and corrupt weasel like Perle and Jakoff would try and take advantage of the amorphous times they were about to enter. It was a new frontier of sorts. They were going to be pioneers as humanity and monsters reemerged as one. If nothing else, times would be exciting. He went to put his hands behind his head as Damiana brought him to a climax, but caught a glimpse of his left arm and went into semi-shock.
“What the—”
Damiana pulled up and slid along his chest. “Relax, big guy,” she said. “Everything’s fine. Just take a deep breath.”
“But my arm,” Jer gasped.
“Is better,” she said.
“Define better.”
“Ambrose, turns out, has a knack with cybernetic enhancements. Everyone pulled together our funds to get the parts he needed. We couldn’t afford all of them, but Evangeline used her underground network, and Matthias used his to get the rest on the black market.”
Jer forced himself to look at his new arm again. The underarm was ribbed. He wondered how the thing would function during sex and battle for that matter. The fingers resembled a cyborg’s. The forearm had multiple touchscreens that were currently dormant. There were glimmers of blue light shining through parts here and there.
“The touchscreens are made of spider silk,” Damiana said. “Practically shatterproof. The blue light is from your new arm’s energy source.”
“Energy source?” Jer asked. “Why would a prosthetic arm need an energy source?”
Damiana smirked. “I think you’re going to like what you’re capable of now.”
“If it shoots plasma blasts, I’m more than ecstatic.”
The door to the hospital room opened, and Mira flew inside, landing on Jer’s new cybernetic arm. “As long as it doesn’t shoot blanks, I’m happy.”
“He’s good,” Damiana confirmed.
She and Mira shared a wink as Evangeline joined them in the room.
“It’s a party,” Jer said.
Evangeline pulled his stethoscope out of her back pocket. “Here you go,” she said and wrapped it around his neck. “Didn’t want you tangling up in it while you were unconscious.”
Jer started to smile but then remembered all they’d lost the past few days. Jasper’s face flashed before his eyes. Then, he remembered Dakota’s human-like eyes as she glanced back at him one last time before sacrificing herself. He hung his head, lamenting their loss.<
br />
“Hey,” Evangeline said. “There was nothing you could do to save them.”
“That may be true,” Jer admitted, “but it still hurts.”
Evangeline placed a hand on Jer’s cybernetic arm. “It’s up to you what happens next.”
“Come again.”
Evangeline reached out and popped open a secret bell compartment on Jer’s stethoscope. Inside was a tiny chip that had burn marks on the edges. “It’s her, Jer.”
“Who?”
“Dakota. We salvaged her chip. She’s alive, as alive as a Synth can be. It’s up to you if you want to bring her back or not.”
Jer’s fingers fumbled as he pulled the chip out and slid it into a slot on his cybernetic arm. The blue energy swirled inside, and a second later, a projection of Dakota appeared as a semi-transparent blue holo.
Her eyes darted back and forth as if she was confused. “Where am I?” Dakota asked.
“In a hospital,” Jer answered.
Her see-through eyes met his eyes. “What happened?”
“You sacrificed yourself so we could finish the mission.”
“I died, didn’t I?”
Jer nodded. “But your memory chip was saved.”
Dakota looked around, noting that Evangeline, Damiana, and Mira were present in the hospital room and that Jer was lying on the bed. She then looked down and took in Jer’s cybernetic arm. “This is pretty cool,” she said. “Am I inside you?”
“Inside my arm,” Jer replied. “My new arm.”
“Have I been brought back to pay for my betrayal?”
“No,” Jer said with kindness. “We just missed you is all.”
Dakota blushed, her blue light projection burning extra hot on her cheeks. “What’s next?”
“Good question,” Jer said. “I have no idea.”
“Yes you do,” Mira interjected. “You promised.”
“I did,” Jer said, remembering that he had a job to do – repopulate the furies. “And I can’t wait.”
His harem of powerful and beautiful women laughed in sync.
“Don’t forget,” Mira said. “You’ll have to be shrunk down permanently. Otherwise, the furies will be giving birth to giants.”
“Understood,” Jer said but then got a look of sadness in his eyes.
“We’re coming with you,” Damiana said.
“All of us,” Evangeline added.
“Seriously?” Jer asked.
“We’re a family,” she replied. “Being small isn’t going to get in the way of that.”
“What happens with me?” Dakota asked.
“Your chip is powered by Jer’s arm,” Damiana answered. “The way Ambrose built it, you’re essentially free to create a mini-universe inside the arm’s software. Any world you like, you can create. As long as you’re attached to its power source, you’re safe.”
“So I get to come too?” she asked.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Jer answered.
Mira clasped her hands together, and purple dust mushroomed up, filling the hospital room. Several seconds later, the crew was out of sight. They’d been shrunk down to fury-size.
The four of them, plus Dakota inside Jer’s cybernetic arm, slipped off the side of the bed and climbed up the side of the wall to the window sill, where the miniature zeppelin airship was waiting to ferry them to their new world.
THE END
Afterword
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…where authors and readers help me become better as a writer and where you can find amazing stories by some incredible authors.
What happens when you place an idealistic but damaged hero in the middle of a monster world run amok with the misuse of technology, an imbalanced dichotomy in society, and a decaying sense of hope? Jer was essentially without a reason to truly believe when his story, this story, began. He’d lost his family, but he was dead set on making the world a place where the tragedy that befell him wouldn’t be as likely to happen to others.
As things got worse, he found he really did have reasons to hope, and he had a new kind of family, a harem of loved ones that he both cared for and who cared for him. While so many were left behind in the broken society that separated monsters and humans, Jer sought and fought to bridge that gap, reuniting what was never meant to be torn asunder.
Jer’s journey takes him through a lite-cyberpunk world divided within a dystopian near-future. It’s a world that turns what we think has value on its head, and, I hope, provokes questions for all of us. I chose a psychiatrist to take us through this world so we could catch a glimpse of how the same things, events, and individuals can be seen through different perspectives.
Thank you for joining me on this journey! Writing started as a hobby and has evolved into a personal passion and opportunity to grow as a person and as a storyteller. It’s my hope that you’ve enjoyed this story and had a bit of fun along the way. Again, thank you! I cannot express how grateful I am that you came on this adventure with me and that you’re reading my thoughts on telling the story itself.
Your kind words and encouragement motivate me as a writer and as a person. Your thoughts and engagement also help me become better. It’s my desire to take things to the next level based off our shared discussions!
Thank you again with all my heart for taking the time to read my story. Nothing happens without you. Thank you to my editor who deserves all the credit in the world. And thank you to friends and family for putting up with me disappearing into the story world. Writing this story was truly a pleasure and adventure, and my biggest hope is that you came away with a fun experience!
All the very best,
Leighton Lawless
About the Author
Leighton Lawless grew up in the countryside and had her first taste of life through stories and characters. It was an escape into other worlds where she got to meet exciting and interesting people who were birthed from the imagination of creative authors.
Her first job was traveling between restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, truck stops, and pharmacies to stock novels on those old-fashioned metal book racks that you can swivel around until you find one to your liking. Leighton devoured the books while stocking the racks and recommending her favorite stories to readers she met out on the road.
The second she turned eighteen, she was off to explore the rest of the world and moved from country to country devouring experiences and folklore from any person who would share, from Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, Central America, and The Middle East. Along the way, she collected insight from their stories and from meeting interesting people in every corner of the world. Eventually, she applied her love for the tales of others and began editing short stories, non-fiction biographies, and poetry for several magazines and publishers.
There was still one thing she’d always wanted to do but hadn’t even thought possible. She wanted to tell stories too. So, she started sharing what she’d experienced with anyone who would listen and found that if she could apply oral storytelling traditions to the written word, the stories and experiences she’d had could be brought to life inside the world of books.
While some of the books are grounded in reality, others explore exciting new worlds with elements of pulp fiction, steampunk, cyberpunk, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, superheroes, villains, and the supernatural. The settings and themes may differ in the books, but all of them share one thing in common: they focus on powerful but flawed individuals who aren’t afraid to stand their ground, rely on their natural abilities, and develop a team of friends and allies to he
lp them achieve their goals, all while trying to stay true to what they believe is right in this world. If you enjoy exciting stories that push boundaries, it’s Leighton’s hope that you’re about to begin a journey of adventure and excitement that opens up a new world of imagination.
Acknowledgments
All the thanks and gratitude in the world goes out to the editors, advance copy readers, and workshop writers who have given their support and encouragement. This story isn’t possible without all of you.
Equally, it’s barely possible to express how much gratitude and thanks goes out to family and friends who have been so supportive, encouraging, and kind throughout the journey that a writer goes through in pouring one’s heart and soul into a story. You keep the world going.
Lastly, all the thanks and appreciation that can be mustered in the known universe goes out to you, the readers, who have given this story an opportunity to open up worlds of possibility. None of this is possible without you. You are the reason for this story.
Monster M.D.: A Monster Girl Harem Mystery Thriller (Monster M.D. ) Page 26
