Chapter 2

Chapter Two.

Abraham's POV

It was a very cold day. Everything was freezing. I shivered in my coat. Little bits of white fluffy snow fell from the sky landing on the window. Everything was covered in the fascinating cold white substance , I thought as I looked out the window. It reminded me of her, Martha. It always did.

"Mr Wilde, come quickly" Rob shouted from outside my office door. I then heard his footsteps backing away and quickly moving towards the lab. I put down the steaming cup of dark coffee I was leisurely sipping and hurriedly left my desk. I guessed my lunch break was over. With Martha and Bryan aside, the only thing I always loved was my coffee, black with no sugar. It keeps me awake. As I opened the door to the lab where all our work is done , I immediately saw Bryan and Rob standing over the subject rat, Subject 416. They were so engrossed in observing the rat that they failed to notice I had opened the door. Yesterday, we injected a serum into the rat. We thought it would be dead latest by today but here it was looking okay and munching on some nuts in it's cage. I approached them and then they turned around. Bryan was gradually becoming accustomed to the lab each and every day. "Reports on subject 416", I asked them hopefully. " It's vitals are okay, better even . Tissue regeneration excellent and its experiencing some DNA changes which is the effect we had hoped for. It's amazing doctor", Rob said. "How about stimuli? . Any improvements?" "Yes , in the aspect of sensitivity, it seems more sensitive and agile, faster in all movements and it reacts quicker than normal. What is most interesting is that it almost seems to understand what we are saying" ,Bryan added. It was the first time he had spoken since I came in. When I introduced him to the lab team a few days ago , everyone seemed to like him immediately.To my greatest joy, he had even started warming up to me , a little. "That's great , son , Rob , good job. Why don't we monitor it for a few days to be precise and then we shall begin with human trials" . "Okay Sir" , Rob replied with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

A week later.

Standing in front of the large glass wall of the lab , I noticed the lab was unusually quiet , very quiet. I gave everyone some days off. It was after all the holidays. A few of them even gave me some presents. I chuckled remembering how I used to celebrate my Christmas with Martha.She always insisted that I was home by 6 pm on Christmas Eve. The other reason was that I thought they all needed it. The last few days had been a bit ... disappointing.

After the success with the subject rat, we tried performing a human experiment . A young homeless woman in her 20s volunteered. I made sure everything was in place before we started the procedure. Everything was going great for a while until she went into shock. The team and I tried as much as we could to keep her going but it seemed we just didn't try hard enough. She was gone after a day. I promised myself I wouldn't lose another person in such a manner. Great thing about this glass wall is it lets me get an inside glimpse of the lab without anyone inside noticing. I looked on as Rob talked with a new volunteer who surprisingly looked calm.

Human Experiment Test 2.

I was confident that would work this time. After the demise of Miss Tina Troque , we found out the reason for the failure and this time we solidified the chances of success by utilizing the already modified genes of subject 416 . The current volunteer was a Mr Perry Blankson, 43, an army veteran. He

had lost his wife and two daughters in the American-Russian war. His reason for volunteering was that he had nothing to lose anymore. In the lab , following procedure, we stabilized him with an anaesthetic and once he was unconscious, we secured him with straps. "Proceed and be careful" , I told Rob who nodded and slowly injected the green jelly-like liquid serum into Perry's neck. For a minute, everything was stable. The heart monitor showed a uniform pattern of heartbeats. Could this be it. I was about to give Rob and Bryan handshakes and hugs to celebrate success when all of a sudden, the operating table started shaking . I looked at the monitor. Perry was going into shock. It seemed his body was rejecting the serum. We rushed to his side immediately. "Oxygen now", I shouted to Rob. I put the oxygen mask on his nose and after a few minutes he stopped shaking. From the monitor , his vitals were okay. He had stopped shaking. That was close . I was about to take off the oxygen mask when .. 'Crack!' . The operating table and the restraining straps on Perry broke. Slowly he opened his eyes. I couldn't stop staring. They were a bright brown before but now I couldn't believe my own eyes. They were completely yellow with green slits , the yellowest colour I had ever seen. In a lightning like motion he got up and grabbed Bryan who was very near to him and bared his teeth at him in a growl. Alarmed, i reached for the nearest weapon I could find, I saw a lab stool and picking it up, i raised it high to throw it at him but before I could, he caught it easily with his other arm and raised it with me holding on a few metres above the ground. Growling at my face, he tossed me away . It was like I weighed almost nothing. He glanced around and fixed his gaze on the serum cabinet and before I could even react , he took a vial and stabbed Bryan in the chest with it . 'Bryan!!! No!!' , I screamed. Wasting no time, he grabbed a terrified Rob and was gone the next second like he was never here. I rushed to my son barely in time to see him close his eyes. He was bleeding profusely . I had to get some help. I had some injuries too but he was my priority, nothing else mattered. I looked up at the now empty cabinet. I winced, what had I just done.