Page 47 of Sergi
The shifter fought being put in the cage. If they had drugged him beforehand, it wasn’t very effective. But he was no match for four vampires, who removed his restraints before shoving him in the cage, stretching his arms wide, and latching the door with an audible click that seemed to echo through the lab.
He continued to thrash, as ineffectual as it was, and his eyes darted around, seeking any assistance he could find until they lit on S-272 and me. My chin lifted as we held his gaze, refusing to turn away from his plight. Neither of us would show weakness at what was to come. It was the only solidarity we could provide.
With his eyes locked on us. He understood his fate, and for some reason, perhaps the simple knowledge he wasn’t alone, he calmed and showed the last of his inner strength.
“Let’s get on with it.” The words came from the director, who appeared irritated and anxious, his hands never stopping as they fussed with his tie. He tugged at his lab coat before stuffing his hands in his pockets then quickly pulling them out. In. Out. In. Out. He finally found a pen in one of the pockets and twirled it in his fingers as a lab assistant picked up a syringe.
I wasn’t surprised to see Leonard, the sadistic assistant from the earlier experiments, as he held up the syringe so everyone could see it as he gave it a dramatic flick with his finger. The syringe was filled with a thick, bright pink liquid, and even from where I sat, I could see it ended with a long, large bore needle.
The female scientist standing next to the director tapped her hands along her leg. “It has to be given intramuscular, either in the bicep or the thigh.”
Leonard glanced at her, nodded, then moved toward the shifter. He bent as if going for the thigh, but the shifter moved his leg out of reach. The assistant stepped back, his expression one of irritation. He shrugged and went for the bicep, which was restrained in the arm clamps.
I questioned why Leonard had moved toward the leg first, and the only explanation I could come up with was that it would have hurt more in the thigh than the arm. The vampire was truly an evil male.
He jabbed the needle in, and the shifter jumped at the assault. Leonard waited a beat, a nasty grin on his face, before his thumb slowly pushed the toxic cocktail into the shifter. At first, the shifter remained calm, but then he began to scream. Throughout the entire long minute it took for Leonard to continue pushing the serum into the shifter, the screaming never stopped, even after the assistant removed the needle and stepped back.
I glanced at the people in the booth, who were smiling and nodding their heads. All except Gheata, who watched expressionless. Were they happy with the screaming, or did the continuing shrill wailing mean this was the outcome they’d hoped for?
I wanted to cover my ears so I couldn’t hear the painful sounds, the screams turning to howls. S-272 leaned into me. His earlier energy radiated through me, and I sat straighter while we watched in horror as the shifter began to morph.
He wouldn’t be able to shift properly in his current position. He might not explode like the others, but the way he was positioned in the cage wasn’t feasible for the structure of a wolf. It would kill him.
The first things that changed were his hands. Thick fur erupted on his knuckles, then the fingers and over his hands, and then up his arms to his elbows. His muscles bulked, and his fingernails changed to razor-sharp claws—long, thick, and deadly. Not the same as a wolf, but close. Thick hair covered his feet, his toenails changed to match the lethal claws on his hands, and his soles thickened into pads that were better for gripping the ground.
The howling continued as the male’s face turned next. A snout grew where his mouth was before his whole head turned into a wolf. Drool ran from his fangs as the shifter struggled in pain. His ears became pointed but remained without fur, leaving them with an eerie human appearance.
The howling ceased as the transformation appeared to stop.
His legs, arms, and torso remained in the form of a human male.
I turned to S-272, who was as shocked as I was.
When I turned back to the room, Leonard pumped a raised fist, and everyone behind the window were smiling and shaking hands. Except for Gheata. He stood like a statue, the only change in his expression was the slight squinting of his eyes. Then it came. The slow grin of satisfaction.
They had somehow managed to stop the transformation. When I forced my gaze to the shifter, my stomach twisted.
He was terrified.
He was aware of what had happened but couldn’t shift back. Was he stuck like that? Maybe when the drug wore off he’d return to his full human form. Or maybe that wasn’t the end goal.
“Well done, team,” the female scientist said. “Phase one is complete. Please record the final measurements, then we’ll proceed to phase two.”
The group behind the window began talking among themselves, ignoring the lab assistants as they reviewed their monitors and typed at their keyboards. The guards faced the wolfman, whose eyes skittered around the room, once more landing on mine.
I nodded to him, trying to keep calm for his sake. He tried to hold it together, but his gaze moved from mine as he searched for a way out. His body shuddered and strained as if he was attempting to shift back but finding the ability taken from him.
“We can’t allow this to happen.” S-272 spat the whispered words. “You need to find a way to free the vampire and get out. Find someone who can stop this.”
“What if the door isn’t there anymore?”
Before he could respond, the lab assistant spoke. “We’re ready.”
The group behind the window turned back to the lab, their expressions, still uplifted, turned serious as they readied for the next phase.
The female scientist scanned her team. “This is a momentous occasion. Let’s see it through.” She nodded at Leonard, who now held a second syringe. This one was a clear light green. “Begin phase two. This injection can go anywhere but to speed up the results, let’s try closer to the head.”
Leonard grinned and turned toward the wolfman, whose huge eyes pleaded for release. Without pause, he jammed the needle into the wolfman’s neck. This time the injection was quick and for several minutes nothing happened.
