FENN DRAX
I open my eyes slowly. Above me, I see the blinding light of a medical lamp.
Marlow? Where are you…
I try to jerk forward, but there’s a tube down my throat.
I struggle and realize my arms are secured with something, probably some kind of metal restraints. This time, not only are they on my wrists, but they're also around my elbows.
Where am I? What’s happening? That’s what I want to ask, what I want to say, but I can’t.
Dr. Lomax’s ugly face slides into my field of vision.
"Hello, Drax. Looks like we’re destined to work together after all… And this little escape stunt of yours? Oh, a bad idea, very bad. Do you know what that means? Something that makes me extremely happy. The official termination of your contract with Welrun!"
I try to say something, but the tube in my throat prevents it.
"What’s that mumbling? There’s nothing you could say now that would get you out of this.
Still, it works out quite nicely that by breaking your contract, you’ve also freed me from having to justify why I need to shut down this damn program and why it’s a failure…
So I’m very pleased that you decided to make that idiotic escape attempt. "
The doctor circles my bed and stops on the other side. He adjusts his wire-rimmed glasses and tilts his head slightly.
"But do you know what’s even better? The judge agreed to let us create a different kind of deal.
You see, we’re finally opening a completely new program here at this facility, dedicated specifically to oddities like you.
We’ll be studying your abilities, talents, and mutant bodies, trying to learn more about your kind and perhaps replicate some of your abilities that might be reproducible in a laboratory.
We already have a few candidates, but you’ll make a wonderful addition to our menagerie! "
A nasty smile spreads across his face.
"Oh, where’s that panic in your eyes coming from? Aren’t you happy? We’ll be spending even more time together than before, except this time Marlow won’t be around. Sorry to tell you this, but he stayed at the airport, probably already on his way to Florida."
Then he snorts with laughter, a genuinely sadistic grin twisting his face.
His good mood is clearly connected to the unexpected termination of my contract.
I try to answer him one more time, but of course the tube stops me.
Right.
Did I dare to forget, blissfully happy in Marlow’s arms, that monsters don’t get happy endings?
Monsters get cut open, vivisected, and… killed.
Or they spend the rest of their lives in underground laboratories while people experiment on them endlessly, until they bite off their own tongues and choke on their own blood because they can no longer endure this life: the absence of a gentle hand on their face, a warm gaze, an embrace.
The tragedy and the weakness of every monster is having a human soul. It makes us silly longing for human things. To dream about things we simply cannot keep.
In one waning burst of effort, I try to tear the metal restraints off my arms, but pain shoots through my body. Fuck, they shot me, and apparently more than once…
The doctor leaves, and I close my eyes. I really don't want to, but a lonely tear falls down my cheek. My fate is sealed. All I have left are memories.
To comfort myself, I summon Marlow’s face in my mind, the way I saw it through the mantis’s eyes: beautiful, multidimensional, whispering words that could have become my hope, my salvation.
I choose you.
So I was picked after all? A beast chosen by a beauty, even if just for a second. It means the world.
But that dream is impossible now. Dr. Lomax will never let me leave. They will hunt me down wherever I go.
Oh, Marlow, our paths must part here. In that brief time we knew each other, you gave me more than you ever realized, the precious feeling of being loved.