Author's Note:

Heyo, here's the second chapter. Took a lot longer than I expected to get a chapter I was satisfied with. Anyways, the plan for the release schedule is me shooting for about 4 days between chapters, with a week being the maximum. Lemme know what you think, and thanks for reading.

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Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, we weren’t immediately shooting lazer beams and taking names. Instead the Professor -who insisted we called him Dr. C- decided it was much more important to begin to get us up to, as he stated, military grade standards of fitness. It seemed like a very good bonus to me, as it gave me an excuse to get back into shape, and also, time to inspect the facility. I knew I was basically operating under a time limit, until this Dr. C decided the experiment was successfully concluded. At that point in time, we very well could be considered liabilities. Liabilities with military grade training. And supernatural powers. The absolute BEST kind to keep alive.

So that’s how we operated for a few months. Waking up early to be escorted to the training facility. Training, interspersed with meal times and short - very short - breaks. Then came the mental aptitude tests, followed by what felt like more injections than there were stars in the sky. Then again, I was never in a good headspace when the injections came around, because they always seemed to be at least at the level of mind-numbingly painful, never quite the doctor’s playful pinch.

Anyways, in those few months, I realized two major things. One, the facility seemed endless, much bigger than the office building I had been abducted from. And two, whoever was backing this operation, was big. At first, I had assumed it was some sort of criminal organization that was running this, but the way they picked their targets, seemed too above the table. Also, I could tell by the level of technology in the facility that this had to be run by someone with both a lot of money and also no qualms about using technology, a trait that was rare to come by these days. Normal organizations barely used automated microwaves, much less fully automated doors, cleaning equipment, and highly sophisticated robots, capable of understanding human orders. Even with the rise of technologically-assisted crime, many criminal organizations would have difficulty buying or constructing one robot like the bodybuilder ones that floated freely around the facility, much less the dozens that seemed to occupy the facility. No, this facility was too high-tier for a criminal organization. And the last thing, was something that Dr. C had said.

He said they were making the future of soldiers. If that’s not a project a world government would be interested in, I don’t know what is. I thought.

Feeling firm in my thoughts, I decided to bring it to my fellow experiment subjects to discuss over lunch. We all ate our meals together, but up until now, we hadn’t talked much. Most of the time we had been too exhausted by the combination of military training and the various injections into our systems to spend much time on small talk. But I knew I needed to start building a rapport soon. Getting close to them would help me understand whether they wanted to escape or not, and if they didn’t, make them want it.

“So… I think I figured something out.” I started.

Donte and Ilana paused eating their meals to give me questioning glances. Zaida paused, but I couldn’t tell whether she was still staring at her food or at me because of the curtain of hair guarding her face.

“This facility… this experiment… it’s most likely run by one of the world governments.” I finished.

The two who had been paying attention, Donte and Ilana, looked at me shocked. I think Zaida may have slightly tilted her head in my direction as well, but then again, it was difficult to be certain. I allowed myself a small satisfied grin to appear on my face. Now to-

“It took you this long to realize?” Ilana rebuked me. “I had assumed you were able to use that brain for something. I may have to rethink that possibility.”

My grin left the area, and my brain went into overdrive trying to think of a smart comeback to her statement. With all my brainpower, all my comeback wit and ingenuity, and about 5 seconds to fully process what had just occurred, I gave back this smart retort.

“Wha-Wh-What do you mean?” I may need to retake Comeback 101.

“I mean, you should’ve realized something like that the moment you woke up, or at least a day or two in, not four months into the experiment.” Ilana replied.

I couldn’t believe this woman, after I’d done all that thinking, the nerve! When I get my vampiric strength the first thing I’m going to use it for is to strangl-

“But this is good right?” Donte interjected excitedly as I tried to control my temper. “If it’s run by the United Americas government, we know that they’ll actually keep their word on setting us free after the experiment is over.”

“Wrong.” Ilana stated flatly, her eyes flashing between me and Donte with a clear judgmental look. “Just because it’s a world government, doesn’t mean it is ours. There is another, Russo-Europe. If this is run by them, then there is no guarantee for our lives.” Donte shuddered a bit, while Ilana continued. “Even if it is the U.A., the fact that they are conducting this experiment in such a shady matter means a couple possibilities. 1. They are not certain of the effects of this experiment on people, but they needed actual guinea pigs to test on. 2. They don’t want Russo-Europe to know they are conducting these experiments, which means it is much more likely we may wind up dead at the end of this. 3. Our only options at the end of this will be death, or inscription into the military, or finally 4. All of the above. None of these likely options include us each walking out of here a million bucks richer with a nice story to tell our friends.” Ilana paused to look at me, a sweet smile on her face. “But I’m sure you already realized all of that though right Mr. Talbott?”

“Of course.” I shot back, followed by a small nod. Of course I hadn’t, but she didn’t need to know that. Oh wait, was her question sarcastic? Shit.

Donte began tapping the table, a small frown on his face as if he begun to seriously think about his situation for the first time since he got here. “If it’s like that, then what do we do.” He muttered.

“How’s about keeping such interesting table-talk for another time.” We all flinched a bit at the voice, turning to see Dr. C, in all his monocled glory. His eyes hummed with that strange intensity as usual, but his grin was unusually wide today, like when he had first revealed to all of us the extent of what had been done to us. He proceeded to point towards the door, and we all got up, recognizing the gesture as a sign to get to the training hall.

What we found there was quite shocking. Instead of the weights, machines and other items that had been there before to help us get up to military standards, it was a wide-open space, built to resemble a jungle ecosystem. The space also seemed much larger than the training room we had been in earlier. It was like comparing a small neighborhood drugstore to a football stadium. Dr. C skipped into place in front of us, gesturing to the space behind him.

“Welcome to the next phase, where we will have you master your abilities!” Dr. C shouted, his arms shaking wildly in the air. “Today we will be getting you accustomed to your abilities, because, excluding Ilana, none of you have been allowed to experiment with your abilities as of yet.” Donte, Zaina and I took the opportunity to gaze at Ilana, who continued staring straight ahead, unperturbed. “Since Ilana has the most experience, we will save her for last,” he continued, pointing towards Donte. “Boy, come over her, and get on all fours.”

Donte walked over, curious, but didn’t get on all fours like Dr. C had asked. Dr. C stared at him silently, but Donte still stood straight, waiting, probably disliking the idea of getting on the ground like a dog. It was only after the two bodybuilder robots began to walk over to force him to the ground that he assumed the position with only a slight grimace on his face.

Dr. C walked over to Donte in this position, putting his hand on his head, like one would do to pet a dog. Donte flinched, but knew better than to outright attack him from the display I had given on our first day here. Or rather, my first day with coherent thought. Dr. C leaned over Donte, into a position where one might whisper something, but just continued speaking at a casual volume. “Good. Good. Now you are simply going to turn into a dragon. It’s quite simple really, it’s all about image. Imagine yourself. What your limbs would be like to be those of a dragon. What your body would be like, covered in rock-hard scales, what it would be like to have wings grown from your back, extended from your shoulder blades. Imagine it, and then will it to be.”

We all looked at Donte expectantly. The act of stabbing Ilana through the chest certainly did a lot to allude our suspicions that we hadn’t become something ‘more’ than human, but at heart, like most humans when faced with the exceptional, borderline supernatural, we were still skeptical. At our core, we believed something like this simply couldn’t be done. I think that’s why when I saw the air around Donte begin to shimmer, white scales appearing on his body sporadically, my knees buckled and I fell to the ground, while my eyes stayed locked on Donte’s transformation, transfixed. Parts of his body would switch between enlarging and deflating, the white scales quickly begin to cover the whole of his body. It seemed like his clothing was considered part of the transformation, as the scales covered both his clothes and his skin, a small tail beginning to grow out of his butt, and the skeletal structure of wings beginning to protrude from his shoulder blades. The hairs of his afro were particularly interesting, as they uncurled slowly, laying down flat against the back of his head and neck, before becoming spiked scales jutting out into the air. His neck elongated, and the rest of his body grew slowly but surely, the scales that were awkwardly on his body, clicking into place as they became surrounded by their fellows. This whole time, Dr. C had not removed his hand from Donte’s head, only shifting it slightly, so at the end of the transformation, his hand was resting on the giant dragon’s snout. A genuine smile seemed to be on Dr. C’s face instead of his classic grin as he beheld his creation.

Dr. C removed his hand, and then Donte opened his eyes, inspecting us with his yellowish gaze. He carefully looked down at himself, then back at his wings and tail, before heaving a massive sigh, the air from it almost knocking down a couple of the trees nearby. I was tempted to ask what was wrong, but the words didn’t seem ready to jump into the fray. Donte answered my question soon enough anyway.

“I guess transforming into a black dragon is a no go huh.” He sighed again, and I couldn’t decide whether to be sorry for him, or disturbed that that was the thing that immediately caught his attention.

Dr. C walked away from Donte, towards the remaining three patients. “Feel free to experiment with your new body. Now that you’ve achieved the transformation once, it will come much more naturally to you.” Donte didn’t need to be told twice, flapping his wings and running towards the forest, attempting to fly into the sky. Well, not the sky of course, but the air above the trees within the facility. Even if it was the actual sky though, he wasn’t very skilled at flying, so the background became filled with the sounds of him crashing into the ground as the rest of us conducted our tests.

Next was Zaida, who he finally let take off the helmet that had locked away most of her eyesight for so long. He brought a dummy in front of her, and instructed her to turn the dummy into stone with her vision. She squinted for a while, probably because the helmet had darkened her vision for so long, but eventually she nodded, and proceeded to attempt the task. At first, it seemed like she was having difficulty manifesting her ability. We stood there for about an hour as she attempted it, the only sound accenting her training being Donte’s frequent falls. I had already given up on her succeeding, but Dr. C walked up to her slowly, grasping her by the shoulder and whispering something into her ear. Her body was soon wracked with shivers so intense that I could notice from my position a couple meters away, and it seems like Dr. C was having to hold her up. He whispered something else, but as much as I strained my hearing to attempt to hear what he said, I couldn’t catch any of it. Whatever he said seemed to calm her down though, as her shivers eventually slowed, then stopped. Dr. C let go of her, and pointed towards the dummy. She nodded, gave one glance to the dummy, and I watched as it seemed to almost instantaneously transform into stone, the environment nearby also being encroached upon by her stone-transforming ability. Whatever he had said had worked, the question was, why?

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I didn’t have much time to ponder the reasoning though, because after Zaida, was me. He simply told me to stand there, while he prepared my training. I stood there for a while, wondering what was up, until I heard the sound of struggling behind me. I saw a third and forth bodybuilder robot walking towards us, carrying a struggling man between them. He was yelling at them, making a ruckus, and I was having trouble keeping my cool. Dr. C walked towards me, using his hands to fix the position of the monocles on his face.

“The vampire has many useful abilities, some of which include superior strength and speed,” he started, his typical grin now plastered on his face. “Those aren’t the abilities I’m most interested in having you train right now however, as they’ve already begun to manifest throughout your military training.” He pointed towards the man, who had continued struggling. “You are going to use your hypnotic vision on this man, and then give him a few orders.” The robots proceeded to grab his head, forcing him to stare at me, as they gripped his eyelids open.

I looked at the man, not exactly sure if I wanted to proceed. The man also looked at me, but his eyes flicked to and fro, his body trembling in the arms of the robots. I couldn’t find it in my heart to even attempt to use my ability on him. What kind of facility was this? Was this man innocent? A criminal? Had he signed up to a sketchy advertisement like me, only to end up on the worse end of the experiment, as just a tool? I looked away slowly, then began turning around to tell Dr. C I couldn’t do it, before I felt an iron grip on my shoulder. Dr. C was there leaning towards me. He got to my ear and whispered. “Don’t think, just do. Think of this test like a job. You do what you are told, or you are fired. And trust me, death isn’t the only thing awaiting you if it comes to that. And I will make sure your family knows you’ve been fired from here as well.” He then leaned back and removed his hand, an expectant smile on his face. If this was something similar to what he told Zaida, I could imagine why she might’ve been so scared. I tried to keep a straight face, but I don’t know if I was successful, so I hastily turned back towards the man, his eyes still flicking about. 

I took a deep breath, steeling my heart. I couldn’t ignore the fact that this man could be innocent, but I couldn’t afford to fail now. I might’ve been able to find it in my heart to do it if it was just me he was threatening, but the threat against my family was clear. This man was nothing compared to my family, nothing was. Taking the example of what he had told Donte, I willed him to obey me, then attempted to lock him within my eyesight. When the man’s eyes next caught mine, they stuck there, and his struggling against the robots all of a sudden halted, as he grew slack.

Dr. C’s smile grew wide, and the robots dropped the man to the floor. Dr. C walked over to the man, prodding him a couple times, before turning back to me. “Good job Mr. Talbott. Now, it’s time for orders. Also, if it looks like he is resisting your control, make sure to do the same action, to regain control. Now, first start by telling him to stand up.”

I looked down at the man. “Stand up.” The man brought himself up quickly, standing and staring straight ahead at me.

“Good.” Dr. C’s smile grew wider. “I was afraid this man’s mental strength would be a bit much for your first time, but it seems you are doing wonderfully. Next, tell him a couple orders of your own, like dancing or what not. I’ll tell you when to stop, and I’ll give you the final order.”

I scratched my head, trying to come up with some orders. Shrugging my shoulders, I decided to just wing it.

“Jog in place.” He jogged in place.

“Salute.” He saluted.

“Pick your nose.” He picked so hard I was afraid he would get rid of all his boogers.

“Do the stanky leg.” His stanky leg was horrific.

“Now the macarena.” As he did the macarena, I hummed the tune, and became impressed once he actually began following along to the beat I was humming. I almost forgot the fear I had at controlling this man, until Dr. C told me to stop, so he could give me the final order.

“Now,” Dr. C said, his eyes piercing me. “Tell him to kill himself.”

I almost immediately gave the order, until I realized the weight of what he asked me to do. I believe the man also began to realize the weight of that order as the dull light in his eyes became bright and focused, spasms rocking his body as he began to fight vigorously against the control, all while maintaining the beat of the Macarena. My mouth was dry. I looked at Dr. C, trying to see if I could find some mercy from him, but his eyes and body language told me there would be none. The man’s spasms were getting much more frantic, his eyes beginning to twitch slightly. I didn’t have much time to waste, if I lost control of the man, it would be the same as failing. Failure wasn’t an option. It would mean failing both me, and my family. I locked eyes with the man, and willed him back under my control. His spasms grew much less frequent, and his eyes regained their dull light.

I inhaled.

I exhaled.

Then I gave the order.

Nothing happened at first. I would think about this in detail later, but it must’ve been because he was attempting to figure out the best way to carry out the order. Slowly but surely, he reached his hands to his head, gripping the top of his head with his left, and his chin with his right. I saw the muscles in his arms tense as he prepared himself to crack his own neck. I couldn’t breathe, all I could do was stare into this man’s eyes as he carried out this grim order. I think that’s why I was able to notice the slight flicker behind his dull demeanor. To see the parting of his lips, and the beginning of an attempt to form words. His voice did not reach me. But the word he said did. Those four letters. It was a hard word to forget.

“…H..el..p.”

Then the order was executed, and a corpse fell to the floor. I thought I would throw up, but I didn’t. I felt like I should’ve cried or something, but I couldn’t. All that I felt in my chest was a burning well of anger at Dr. C and the people running this experiment. Well, them and myself. I gazed at Dr. C, and he gave me a nod of approval, which burned my soul more. I looked at the other three. Zaida was shivering slightly, looking away from the man. Ilana looked on towards the body, nothing in her expression let me know whether she felt anything. Donte had by now turned back into his human form, and the way he looked at the corpse, as if he couldn’t process it, churned my insides. I walked over to where they were, and collapsed on the ground.

I couldn’t focus on the words that were said next, but I saw Ilana move over to where Dr. C and the corpse were. Ilana raised her hands towards the corpse, and appeared to concentrate. What seemed like dark purple mist began congealing around her body, as sweat began to trickle down her forehead. The mist quickly covered her form, forming a dark aura around her. Then all of a sudden, it began condensing, gathering into a clump until it was a small black marble floating in the palm of her hand. She grasped the marble, then placed it onto the chest of the corpse. It entered the corpse’s body, and then Ilana walked back over to us, as if she already knew the result of what had occurred. Dr. C also nodded, and then gestured for us to begin heading out of the training hall. Donte and Zaida rushed out of the facility, no doubt happy to get as far as possible from the body, while Ilana followed with a brisk walk. I raised my body, trying to lift myself off the ground, and glancing at the body one more time. I knew by this point in the day I had seen a lot of improbable things occur, but the next thing I saw, was the body of a dead man twitch.

I stood still, staring at the body, hoping that what I had seen was a lie. But no, it twitched again. In fact, the twitches changed to spasms, and then abruptly, the corpse stood up. There was no hint of light in his- it’s eyes now, it’s mouth hanging open as it stared at Ilana. Ilana paused her walk to glance at the corpse, before directing it towards the wall. It proceeded to shamble over, I assumed intending to collide with the wall. It wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong today, as the wall proceeded to open, revealing dozens of the shambling corpses, some more rotten and decayed than others.

My mind ran into overdrive as I thought of what this entailed. Dr. C said Ilana had more experience than the rest of us. She raised that corpse like it was nothing, like she wasn’t even concerned. Then all these… they’re all… I couldn’t bear to think anymore. I didn’t want to. I flew at Ilana, gripping her by the shoulder and turning her towards me. For the first time I think I saw genuine surprise in her eyes, but that didn’t matter to me.

“How many!” I roared. She didn’t seem to comprehend me. I shook her, my grip tightening on her shoulder as my anger at her continued to grow.

“How many have you killed and brought back to life!” I shouted, my spittle bouncing off her face.

“Ah.” Was her response. Her eyes lost the light of surprise and grew cold again as she looked at me.

“27.” Ilana started, wiping the spittle off her face.  “I’ve killed and brought back to life 27 people since this experiment began.” She tested my grip, attempting to push my hand away, but I just tightened it further. She looked back at me. “Yes. I’ve killed 27 people, and no doubt will kill more. You know why? Because I want to live.” My grip loosened. “Just like you.” My anger turned inward, at myself. “You killed that man because you didn’t want to die. At least, not yet. And while I’m the only one here directly dealing with the dead, you should know that testing your vampire powers won’t be done with a dummy and kiddie gloves, so stop getting on your righteous high horse every time something immoral is done. It’s our life now.” The sadness in her eyes struck me, but I wasn’t able to look long because she took this opportunity to pull herself out of my grip, proceeding out of the room. She paused in the doorway though, looking at me. “Although, I guess it’s really 27 ½ people now.” Ilana then walked out, leaving me alone with a cackling Dr. C, and a bodybuilder robot.

I was soon returned to my room, shaken at my core, feeling more defeated than I ever had in my life. Ilana was completely right. I was hypocritical, doing what it took to survive, then blaming others for choosing a similar route. I punched the wall. It didn’t so much as shake, but my knuckles came back with torn skin. I did it again. And again. I did this for about two hours, before collapsing, staring up at the ceiling.

This facility wasn’t just trying to change me physically. It was going after my mind, seeking to break my spirit. But I didn’t care if I was broken. I had one goal in mind. I would escape, hopefully with the other patients. I’d now killed two people because I wanted to survive. But I now knew there was one man that, before I escaped this facility, I would kill in the coldest blood my body could produce.