MARLOW
I’m closing in on the facility early in the morning in a rental car.
I could’ve flown and taken a taxi from the airport, but instead I chose to torture myself with a drive across half the country, spending countless hours behind the wheel with a grim expression and enough determination to burn it as fuel in my tank.
The long trip from Florida gave me plenty of time to reconsider, but second-guessing myself wasn't part of it.
My decision is final.
I've signed up for a small, controversial program called Alpha Activation, run by the Welrun Corporation, designed to alter alphas’ hormonal profiles.
The map on my phone leads me practically into the middle of a giant green blotch.
Forested hills surround the area, and the road winds through a corridor of trees while sunlight flickers across the asphalt in shifting patches. Eventually, something begins to emerge beyond the wall of greenery.
I slow down when the trees abruptly give way to an open stretch of land. The road continues toward a security gate, but off to the left there's a large parking lot holding at least a hundred cars. Many likely belong to employees, but some are probably program participants’.
Most of them have already been here for three months, while I'm arriving late. My brother-in-law, Blue Lowen, arranged a place for me through Dr. Lee, a physician working at the facility.
For a moment, I remain in the driver's seat, staring at the building.
I'd imagined something very different. Maybe a sleek glass structure straight out of an architectural magazine, or at least a stylish administrative building surrounded by charming cottages where participants lived, scattered across the grounds with little gardens, and a barbecue area.
In reality, the building looks like a massive gray concrete block with narrow windows. Hidden in the forest, it feels less like a research center and more like some grim military installation or a government secret site.
But well, maybe that’s how scientific facilities should look when they run very contentious programs?
And the work being done here is downright bizarre.
The entire program can be summarized in a single sentence: they're trying to turn alphas into omegas and make pregnancy possible for them!
Weird enough?
I’m one of the misfits that are all for it.
Resting my chin on the steering wheel, I continue staring at the building because this is technically the last moment when I can still turn around and leave.
My dad would love it, for sure! He’s been agonizing for weeks over my crazy idea, but I just need to try it or I’m done with this fucking miserable life, this time for good.
I’ve already spent enough years suffering because I felt like I was born in the wrong body, and I've come all the way here to change that.
Finally, I climb out of the car with a deep crease between my brows. I text Dr. Lee, who's acting as my contact here, to let him know I've arrived.
He promised he'd come to meet me personally and show me around. Thanks to that, I won’t have to meet the infamous Dr. Lomax, the program’s scientific supervisor.
I lean against the side of the car and wait, blankly staring at the facility's massive gray facade.
The place isn't located anywhere near a major city. It's buried deep in the western forests of North Carolina, almost as if the people running it have something to hide. Which they do.
After all, at the center of their research is a mutant who agreed to undergo experimentation in exchange for his freedom, allowing scientists to investigate the source of his unusual abilities and find a way to replicate them.
To the outside world, he is known as the Monster of Calsing Island. On occasion, The Rapist from Calsing Island.
The facility is surrounded by high fencing, with a guard booth near the entrance.
A man steps through the adjacent gate, and I immediately guess he's Dr. Lee, a beta in his forties with closely cropped black hair, thin-framed glasses, and an average build.
He looks neat, professional, and unremarkable. A white lab coat completes the picture.
At six foot six, I tower over him by a good head.
"Marlow Nolan. Good morning."
"Welcome to the Alpha Activation facility," he replies with a formal smile, extending his bony hand.
I shake it and give a polite nod.
"I hope you had a pleasant trip. The weather is still quite nice this time of year…" He trails into the kind of generic small talk people make with strangers. But I have zero interest in talking about any of that. The only thing on my mind is why I came here in the first place.
"Everything was fine," I say, cutting the subject short.
"Ready for the next chapter of your life?" he asks in a strange tone that somehow manages to be slightly formal, and just a little overdramatic all at once, if that’s even possible.
"Absolutely. I can't wait."
I offer him a fake smile. I'm here because of him, but we've never actually spoken face-to-face before, so it's not like there's much for us to chat about.
Dr. Lee glances at the luggage I’ve already pulled out of the car. Since I look like an alpha, he doesn’t even offer to help. Of course.
If I were an omega, he’d probably be rushing over to take a couple of bags off my hands, but instead I get to carry all four myself, which looks ridiculous. Not that I’m surprised. People only ever see what’s on the surface.
"Let's head inside," Dr. Lee says, leading me toward the guard booth. "We can talk comfortably in my office."
The security booth isn't huge.
Two bored-looking middle-aged alphas sit inside, and the whole thing takes maybe thirty seconds. They punch my name into the system, remind me in the flattest voice imaginable that weapons and other dangerous items aren't allowed on the grounds, but I'm only half paying attention.
A moment later, Dr. Lee swipes his badge and the gate slides open.
We follow a concrete path toward the main building. Huge glass doors lead into a lobby that feels way too big for how empty it is. Every footstep echoes. Aside from a tiny reception desk shoved into one corner, there's basically nothing there.
The beta behind the desk gives me a slightly more interested look than the guards did, but he doesn't stop us. Dr. Lee heads straight for the elevators. There are six of them lined up against one wall.
Neither of us says anything as we step inside. After a short ride, the doors slide open again.
More emptiness.
Just a long hallway with rows of identical doors stretching in both directions.
Dr. Lee walks to one of them and stops. A room number is mounted beside the door, along with a small plaque bearing his last name.
We step inside.
Carrying so many suitcases feels awkward, so I set them down.
The office is spacious and surprisingly modern, furnished with an examination table, an ultrasound machine, several computer stations, and a collection of medical equipment whose purpose I can't guess.
Yellow afternoon sunlight streams through a narrow rectangular window, drawing a long glowing stripe across the floor. I step over it as Dr. Lee takes a seat in front of one of the monitors.
As far as I know, he's one of the lead scientists here, specifically the deputy to the head researcher, Dr. Lomax.
Dr. Lee used to work in another fertility program that specialized in betas, one owned by my brother-in-law.
He's already got plenty of experience when it comes to activating fertility in betas, but what he's working on now is a whole different beast.
Shifting an alpha into an omega hormonal profile is way out on the edge of what science can currently do, which is why they're relying on… mutants in the first place.
I take a seat across from his desk while Dr. Lee spends a moment clicking through something on his computer, the dry tapping of keys carrying through the office.
There's a small organizer on his desk with a cup full of pens. One of them has a long chain hanging from it with a fluffy pink ball attached to the end. My eyes keep drifting back to it, and I have to fight the intense urge to bat at it.
A moment later he turns back toward me, wearing that same odd smile of his, the kind that looks like somebody printed it out and glued it onto his face.
"I'll admit, you're the first participant who's shown up here without knowing who he'll be paired with. Most people are extremely picky. They want to review candidates, compare them, reject unsuitable ones, and they’re rarely fully satisfied."
I stay quiet for a second because I simply don't know what he's expecting me to say, then I decide to just tell the truth.
"That's probably called desperation," my tone is blunt. No point pretending otherwise.
Dr. Lee blinks, one of those strange half-blinks that barely seem to involve his eyelids at all, and for a moment he just studies me.
The silence stretches. Weird guy.
Then he looks back at his screen and opens his mouth to speak, but his face suddenly tightens, and he lets out a huge… sneeze!
Yeah. I know that one.
People sneeze around me all the time.
"Excuse me," he says, then continues in a tone that sounds like he's reading facts out of a report.
"I've gone through the questionnaires you submitted. I read them very carefully, and I have to admit they concerned me."
The room goes quiet.
I'm pretty sure I know what's bothering him.
The word that starts with an S. Everybody reacts the same way. Big eyes. Awkward sympathy. Are you okay now, sweetie? That sort of thing.
For a few moments, Dr. Lee keeps staring at the screen as if he's trying to decide what tone he should use now out of his repertoire. When he finally turns toward me again, I see something that looks suspiciously like a rehearsed expression of concern on his face.
"From what you described, you've spent many years struggling with the feeling that you were born in the wrong body, that you never really fit into the world of alphas or into relationships with omegas, and that you've received very little understanding from the people around you."