by C C Sommerly
By the time we made it back to the house, the Jones were out on the patio. Ginger presented the body of the raccoon. Mrs. Jones took one look at it and instead of screaming, she spit on the body and started kicking it. Tears streamed down her face and she mauled the body. “That’s for my baby.”
Just as quickly as her attack started, it ended. We all just stood there in shock. “Thank you. I’ll just burn it in the grill. If you wouldn’t mind dropping it in. It’s a lovely night for a bonfire.” Reese carried the dead raccoon to the grill and Mrs. Jones brought out a lighter and set it on fire. Raccoons weren’t the only thing changing around here. Loss tended to bring out either an innate and primal warrior in a person or left them a victim that was ruled by fear. Since the demons came on the scene, it was a slow adaption for humans, who had too long been top of the food chain. We were no longer the top dogs and it was a hard lesson for humanity. Looking at Mrs. Jones in the light of the flickering flames, I could see a newly born warrior and was that much sadder for it. Not that I wanted people to become victims, but becoming a warrior meant battle and killing and she would never be the same as she was before this moment.
Chapter 25
We called the same driver and he took us back to the Museum. Ginger started texting on her phone and then led us to the back door that we previously used. The same guard that flirted with Ginger met us at the door and led us back to the restoration room. We took the portal back and met the Boss at the other side.
We sat heavily in chairs that had been pulled from somewhere and put into the Boss’ office. After being in this room several times, it still felt just as awkward and uncomfortable as it did the first time. I couldn’t relax in this room, so this debrief better be short. I needed some sleep. Now that the adrenaline from the encounter with the Demon and the zombie raccoons had worn off, I was in desperate need of some sleep. The others looked equally tired.
The Boss paced behind his desk. “I’d like to know what happened and why you all look like some critters handed your butt to you,” he said.
Ginger cleared her throat, “There was a demon too. A super strong shadow demon.”
He stopped pacing long enough to take a seat behind the desk, “Go on. I’d like to hear more about this demon. No mention was made of a demon in the initial report,” he said with a hint of steel in his voice. The Boss liked knowing what was happening and the added danger of a demon displeased him greatly.
Ginger shivered before responding, “He was one of the more powerful ones I’ve ever come across, but I can’t speak for the others. He could create nightmare visions and was found with the zombie raccoon. Also, he seemed to be controlling them?”
The Boss sat quietly for a moment before continuing, “Were these your normal garden variety of raccoons or could they have been some sort of demon? Did you by chance get a specimen sample for Dr. Mendel?”
Ginger pulled out a sealed vial filled with fluid and another with clumps of fur. “Here you go, figured the doctor would want to run some tests. But these weren’t a demon, they looked like mangy raccoons. They were missing patches of fur and their eyes glowed brightly. They also had some wickedly long claws. They had to be three or four inches long.”
“So, the zombies appear to be something new or something contaminated a regular raccoon. I’m not sure that’s an improvement to it being a new type of demon. I would also prefer that to be the case.” He rubbed his hand across his face tiredly, “This means that the demons have found a way to dement animals. So, we now have to worry about demented critters in addition to demented humans. I’ll make the proper agencies aware of this development. The lot of you need to get cleaned up and someone bring the vials down to Dr. Mendel.”
We walked out of the Boss’ office, “You can get some chow and head back to the quad for some rest. Ginger will handle the specimen delivery,” said Ruthie.
It still rankled to have her bossing me around, but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. The purple princess and I were stuck together for however long it took me to get fully trained, which I was desperately hoping was sooner rather than later.
“I do get it and I know what you are going through. Until you, I was the oldest inactivated. They found me at 21 during my birthday bar hopping and it was a good thing they did, but that’s a story for another time.”
“Why so late? I got the impression that most people are found much younger.”
“They are found much younger. My parents were killed in a car accident and I was adopted by my mom’s sister and her husband. They knew nothing about what was done to me. They never knew to watch for signs that I was having problems. As a star football player, I led my team to numerous state championships. I was being scouted for the NFL When the Boss found me.”
“What do you mean he found you? How would he know about you?”
“We have people that scan the news feeds, social media and such for stories of athleticism or other extraordinary feats. Any achievements that seem a little too difficult to be true. We’ll let you meet The Brain later. It is one of their functions.”
“I appreciate that and all, but I’m not sure I can handle any more revelations. Can we hold off on this brain thing?”
“Sure. I know the idea of being a hybrid is scary, but there are also some amazing things. You saw the Boss’ mage fire, right?”
“That’s what it’s called? Do all the hybrids have powers? What is yours? I haven’t noticed a tail or excessive hair.”
He laughed. “Heard Boss took you to the Salty Dog. You must have seen Janice and Jared. He runs the bar and is a werewolf. Janice can semi-transform into a demon, so you’ll see her with a tail, horns or a tail and horns. It depends on her mood.”
“But that could happen to me, right? Is there any way we can know what I might change into like a werewolf like those were demons? I know I will have to be activated, but some warning would really make things a little easier.”
“Unfortunately, there’s still a lot our doctor and scientists don’t know. Once they realized that the failed hybrids became Demented, they halted the project, but it went on over a decade.”
“So now what?”
“We are going to tour the lab. It will clear up a lot of questions and maybe we can meet with Doc and give you a chance to ask him about the project.”
Chapter 26
I stood outside the lab with Merritt as he scanned his badge at the door’s card reader. Besides the main entrance, this was the only other card reader I had seen so far. We stepped into a sterile and alien environment that smelled like a hospital or morgue. Neither of which brought pleasant memories to mind.
Merritt walked fast as we took the first hallway that we come to. We passed door after door until we reached the end and he swiped his card again. We enter an elevator and go down two floors or whatever counted as a floor in a cave.
The elevator opens into a long hallway with glass walls separating the rooms. It was so cold that I could see my breath. I peer into the closest room and large see tube-liked beds laid out flat on tables.
Mouth gaping, I turn to Merritt. “What are those things? You could fit a person in them and why is there a room full of them?”
He looks at me with something like a mix of determination and pity. “Welcome to the lab and the future home of the Super Soldier.”
“I think you need to explain after a statement like that.”
“Let’s go into one of the testing bays and I’ll explain.”
We go into the frigid room. It is filled with tables that were topped with the body-sized metal test tube-like things. Inside each test tube, there was a body and all the bodies were perfectly preserved — making the people inside look asleep. The stench of formaldehyde tells a different story and it makes my skin crawl. Only dead things were put into formaldehyde. Merritt walks right up to the enclosed tube and points within.
“This is one of our ‘volunteers.’ The government branch that we interface screens applicants for consid
eration in Project Genesis to become Super Soldiers. And I know this is alarming, but these are all consenting adults. They got a choice to be modified, unlike us, who were babies. None of these were soldiers that were forced or coerced in any way. At least they had a choice.”
“So, these are the bodies of all the hybrids or wannabe hybrids? People who just volunteer to lose their lives for science?”
“Look closely, Teagan. These aren’t bodies at all.”
I peer down at the closest body. The tube was transparent, so as I look closer, I can make out the smallest of bubbles escaping from the person’s nose showing he is breathing.
“Why are living people in a morgue? What have you done to them? We have to free them?”
Merritt takes my hands and drags me away from the container. He said, “Just stop. Are you always this rash? Teagan, these are the Super Soldiers I was telling you about. Each of these were soldiers who volunteered to help our people. If you look closely, you will see at the end of their holding containers is a monitor that controls their stasis, which is the how they are able to rest and still live despite being in fluid. Think of it as a controllable coma and like a medically induced coma. This allows the body to incorporate the demon DNA, while Doc tests to prevent them from Dementing.”
I did see what he was referring to, but rather than reassure me, I feel more unsettled. So, the experiments never ended as the Boss previously told me. They just changed in nature. How did they get so many people to volunteer? In this room alone, there were a dozen people.
We leave the tube men and women and walk towards a hall that I did not noticed when we first came to the sub-floor. Seeing my look, Merritt explained, “This is where we have our holding cells. And, where we keep the demons.”
“You have demons here? Live demons? Are you insane? Nothing can hold a demon.”
“That’s what Demons want us to think. We figured out a way to contain them. Look into this cell and I’ll show you.”
Inside the cell were red lines like the ones used in fancy alarms that activate when someone touches them. The lines form a barrier around a demon. The demon paces and smoke rose from its nostrils. Lovely.
“You see the red lines? These are a type of laser that seems to damage the demons. We are doing missions to catch what demons we can. So far we have five types of demons.”
“Why not release them back to the Demon Delegate or just kill them?”
“I’m going to introduce you to Doc. He’s at the lab at the end. He can better explain what is going on. If we’re lucky, he may be working on a volunteer.”
We walk back towards the “tube tombs” or incubators, as Merritt called them. They were glass sarcophagus and super creepy. I still wasn’t sure how truly alive those men and women were.
Merritt walks right in and I trail behind but stop just beyond the doorway.
“Ready for another treatment Merritt. You seemed to recover quicker after the last one.”
What treatment was he receiving? I didn’t know anyone required treatment. The Boss hadn’t said anything like that.
I must have made some noise since the doctor said, “My apologies. I didn’t realize you were not alone”.
Once inside, I am distracted by one of the most unearthly and beautiful man I have ever seen laying on the medical bed, where the doctor was working. His golden locks and deep blue eyes speak of mysteries and adventures waiting to be had. He glowed. I just barely restrain my gasp. I’d seen attractive men before, but he was on a whole different level. Glorious and god-like.
Shaking my head, I approach him, “Hi, you must be the volunteer.”
Merritt smacks my arm away from the man. “How are you missing the horns and scaled skin? And even if you somehow managed to miss those, then you’d smell the brimstone that surrounds the demon. This is no man.”
“What are you talking about Merritt? Is this some sort of joke?”
“Teagan, I know this is a shock, but surely, you know how to spot a demon after six years in the Marines.
“Just drop it.” I turn towards the gorgeous demon.
“Well, he says to drop it,” I said.
“It didn’t say anything.” He looks at me closely and frowns. “Teagan, I wanted to give Doc a chance to explain our experiments, but I’m questioning whether you can handle it.”
The doctor interrupts him at that point, evidently, he is determined to clue me without care about whether I could handle it or not. “Teagan, is it? I’m Dr. Mendel. As the foremost expert in demons and hybrids, I can guarantee that this one doesn’t talk. He appears to be a higher order demon, but mute through either genetics or sheer force of will. We don’t require speech for our experiments, so that is a pointless worry,” said the doctor.
Dr. Mendel certainly wasn’t given any favors in the looks department. He looked like a bald pit bull with saggy jowls and eyes shrunken deep in his face like pits.
“So, you are named Mendel, like after the famous geneticist?”
“That hack. No, I am so much more than a pea farmer. Here, I do the world’s most crucial work. I am forging the integration of two different species to create a new type of human — a species onto itself. Darwin would be awed by the way natural selection has worked to take the best of the Demon DNA and merge it with human DNA. And yes, there is good in there, the power and amazing things they can do is at our fingertips. What you previously only saw in the movies, comics and books was made reality by me. It was my mastermind behind the hybrid project, Project Evolution and now with Project Genesis, we will see that improved upon. It’s the upgraded version of what you and the other hybrids are. This is work that will revolutionize the world. We are just at the beginning of a precipice and my genius will ensure that we go over that edge.”
Okay, someone was a bit testy and potentially unstable. I figured it would be a compliment to share a name with the “father of genetics,” but evidently, I was wrong. And, not sure how I felt being considered a downgrade, but whatever. I could care less what he could tell me.
“Teagan, we can leave now.”
“No,” I said, in a tone sharper than I intended. “I want to stay.”
Ignoring the semi-tirade of moments ago, Dr. Mendel continues his explanation. “If you will save your comments and questions for the end, I can finish with the project explanation. Although, I’m not sure what you thought you saw and why you were having trouble recognizing the demon, but I assure you, we haven’t made a mistake.”
“But –”
“Sit. I will do my best to dumb down the specifics. I know that most human minds struggle to understand the intricacies of what Project Genesis entails. Everyone has endless questions and concerns after seeing the stasis chambers. It can be rather shocking, but I assure you that this is all for the best of intent. I wouldn’t be the best if I injured or killed my test subjects needlessly.”
My pointed look didn’t faze him as Dr. Mendel continued, “This is part of Project Genesis or the ‘Super Soldier Experiment’ as some affectionately call it, I prefer, ‘life’s work’. And, while this may seem like a Frankenstein lab, it is anything but. We aren’t mangling bodies or attaching demon parts to them. All our volunteers are exactly that — willing and in complete understanding of the process they would undergo as test subjects. And, to ensure they are physically and mentally stable enough for the rigors their bodies go through, we conduct rigorous physical and psychological testing on all applicants. We only want the best to ensure the highest survival rate.”
“Just how many people are signing up for this sort of thing? I mean I never heard of it at the Elite Guard and we were always informed about top secret efforts to combat the demons.”
“Most of the inhabitants of The Underground know about these experiments. We are never short on volunteers; however, because these are long-term experiments, we can only take so many new subjects each year. Potential subjects are screened through their medical records. We have technicians tasked with screening the
electronic medical records with all branches of the military. They flag any that are particularly noteworthy in terms of health and overall fitness level. We then work with our liaison with the military medicine from all the branches (Marines, Navy and the rest) to include psychological testing to short list the flagged potential subjects. Generally, once we find a subject, they are rather excited at the prospect of becoming more. With so many of our soldiers today raised in the superhero era and seeing X-men and all those otherworldly figures has inspired so many to desire their own superhero ability. And why not? Why shouldn’t we try to better our soldiers? We won’t always have peace with the demons. One day we might need to fight the demons who have such incredible powers. This is a sort of insurance policy in case the worst happens, and we find ourselves at war.”
There was so much to process in what the doctor said. He seemed all about creating more hybrids or now, these Super Soldiers.
“If what you say is true, then why doesn’t the government get more people involved and more experiments for Super Soldiers? And why not just let everyone be a part of this? Give everyone have a fighting chance if we do find ourselves at war?”
“You aren’t activated, so I you cannot fully understand what happens when the body accepts such a systematic change — your very DNA begins to mutate as it assimilates with the demon DNA. It can be uncomfortable. And, why would we risk everyday citizens having such powers? It should be controlled and only those worthy should be gifted with this. And, the risk is still statistically high. Until recently, every soldier we injected with the demon venom became a Demented,” said Dr. Mendel.
“If they become Demented, then why continue with the experiment. More Demented is the last thing we need.”
“We are working around that particular constraint. And have stumbled upon a rather surprising solution. Until now, of the five demon types we have captured, all have failed until this one,” as he points at the beautiful demon strapped down.
