Freak of Nature

  Once they passed the large birch tree—their normal point of safety from prying eyes—Kaitlyn looked at Quess and smiled dropping the mask she usually wore. There were only heat sensor cameras beyond this point in case anyone tried to break into the secure facility. The heat sensors made it possible for the guards to make the distinction between humans and animals.

  “What did they do to you today?” Quess asked, her pretty freckled face tilted up to meet Kaitlyn’s eyes.

  Ever since Quess had warned her not to show any emotion around the staff, she’d considered the girl a companion. Kaitlyn shrugged. “Nothing interesting. More testing and physical activity.” She remembered her stray thought about the ‘rolling of eyes’ and added, “But I do have a question for you.”

  “Sure.” Quess slowed her pace.

  “Quess, what does it mean for me to ‘roll my eyes’? The phrase crossed my mind today at the oddest time. I felt like I should know what it meant, but I couldn’t figure it out.”

  The young girl giggled. “It’s so funny when you ask such strange questions. How can you remember you should wear pants, but not what rolling your eyes means?”

  Kaitlyn sighed. “I wish I knew. My mind is a mess. I seem to only know what they want me to know. It’s very frustrating.”

  “Well, that’s where I can help out.” Quess touched Kaitlyn’s shoulder, a brief show of solidarity, or maybe, sympathy. “Rolling your eyes is just a saying. Well, really it’s an action. Like if you think something is ridiculous, you roll your eyes. Watch.” Quess came to a stop. She demonstrated, her hazel eyes making a full circle.

  Kaitlyn thought about it for a moment, her mind categorizing not only the verbal definition but the visual. She grasped the meaning, but she couldn’t understand why ‘rolling of the eyes’ had anything to do with it. She didn’t bother to press the girl any further.

  Who knew? A lot of sayings didn’t make any sense to her logical, mechanical mind.

  One time, Kaitlyn heard the professor say it was ‘raining cats and dogs’. When she was relieved from the laboratory, she had rushed back to her room to look out the window. She wanted to see the animals falling from the sky, but there was nothing but a lot of rain.

  Another time, she heard the Professor’s wife tell him that he was ‘going to hell in a hand basket,’ because of his latest experiment. Even Quess didn’t get the logic of that statement. The going to hell part made sense, but why in a hand basket? There were many mysteries in the english language.

  “How much longer will you be here? Don’t you start school soon?” Kaitlyn asked quietly. She hated the thought of being alone, and once Quess was gone, she really would be alone. No one else talked to her like she was a real person, like she was a human being. She was a machine to them. Just an experiment, with a more human-sounding project name than most.

  “I’m staying here for school this year,” Quess said. “Boarding school didn’t agree with me.”

  Relief flooded Kaitlyn. She had been surprised that they would even let Quess near her, what with Kaitlyn’s very existence being ‘top secret.’ Quess had explained that the professor and his team had used hypnosis on her; she would forget Kaitlyn whenever she stepped foot off the compound.

  They’d thought of everything….

  “What about your parents?”

  Quess shrugged. “They don’t care as long as my grades are good. It’s not like they are ever around anyway. They are always traipsing around the world at some archaeological dig site or another.”

  Kaitlyn could tell the girl was upset, but had no idea what to say. Times like this she wished she were more human.

  They walked in silence for a while.

  “I heard some of the guards talking about you the other day.”

  Kaitlyn didn’t care if she was talked about, but she knew that Quess enjoyed to gossip. So she tried to humor her when possible.

  “What did they say?”

  “Jimmy thinks your sexy and Terry says he would give his right arm for a fraction of your skills.”

  “His right arm?” Kaitlyn asked confused.

  “It’s just a saying. He wants to have your skills no matter what the cost.”

  “The cost is too high.” Kaitlyn said sadly. She had often wondered if she were the only one Harrington had created.

  “Are there any others like me?” Kaitlyn asked. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, the computer within checking over everything for potential threats as they walked.

  Quess shook her head. “Not that I’ve seen. I think you’re the only one. All of the other experiments I’ve seen have only been with machines. Not humans.”

  Kaitlyn had thought that was the case, but hearing it said out loud only made her loneliness that much deeper.

  “I haven’t been sleeping well.” She wasn’t sure why she told Quess, but it had been on her mind. Anything out of the norm always caught her attention.

  “Have you had that dream again?” Quess looked up, her eyes wide.

  Kaitlyn gazed across the green courtyard. The sun was setting in the distance, turning the sky a dozen different shades of red. “Every night that I can recall,” she murmured.

  “I wonder who the guy is. He must be important if you keep dreaming about him.”

  “I have no idea. Perhaps someone from my old life.” A life she could not recall.

  “Maybe we can find him,” Quess said excitedly.

  Kaitlyn laughed. Her friend was so young and human. “I don’t think that is likely, Quess.”

  “You can describe him to me, and I can make a sketch, and we can run a search. I bet he has a Facebook account.”

  Kaitlyn had no idea what a ‘Facebook account’ was, but she did know she could describe the stranger’s face, down to the small scar on his chin. Shaggy dirty blond hair, emerald green eyes, an infectious smile.

  “If he even exists, he thinks I’m dead. Besides, they would see,” Kaitlyn told her firmly, refusing to allow even the smallest bit of hope to emerge from her human side. “They see everything, Quess.”

  “Not everything,” Quess cooed, skipping a few steps. “There are a few hidden spots that the cameras don’t reach.”

  Kaitlyn stared down at the beautiful young girl. “And how do you know that?”

  “I’ve been watching the gardeners.”

  “The gardeners? What do they have to do with anything?”

  “Well, they always take their breaks at the same spot. Behind one of the large oak trees.”

  “So?” Without prompting, Kaitlyn’s machine kicked in, offering an alternative explanation. Sometimes she hated that thing inside her, kicking out logical commands so that Kaitlyn hadn’t a clue if the thought was even her own. “Maybe they just like to be in the shade.”

  “Kaitlyn, come on. You’re the one that told me to look at the little details. How many trees are on this property? Countless, and yet all three gardeners rest in the same place. I’ve even seen one napping.”

  Kaitlyn grinned at her astute friend. “You’re going to make a great spy someday.”

  “Maybe, or an artist. I haven’t made up my mind,” the fourteen-year-old said matter-of-factly.

  “Where is this tree, and do you have paper and pencil on you?”

  Quess walked backwards, smiling proudly as she pulled a small notebook from the back pocket of her jeans. “An artist always has something to write on. Follow me.”

  Chapter Three

  Outside, the rain poured on a dreary early morning. It had taken everything in him just to get out of bed and come to work. He wanted to blame his foul mood on the weather, but he knew that wasn’t it.

  “Lower extremities fully functional,” Lucas checked off the box. He pressed harder than he meant to, and his pen ripped across the paper, tearing a hole in the document. Sighing, he smoothed the ragged edges down.

  Get a grip, he chided himself.

  Looking up from his clipboard, Lucas sneaked another look at Kaitlyn. God, she was beautiful.
Just one glance, and he felt weak in the knees. He tapped his pen on the page and willed his mind to get back on task. “Heart rate sixty.” He jotted down the number.

  She’s a piece of machinery, no different from half the computers that fill this room. His thoughts made him feel sick to his stomach. What was wrong with him? He tossed the clipboard onto the desk.

  There were days he wished he had never crossed paths with the master mind behind this project. His conscience had been bothering him more and more lately. The closer Kaitlyn got to completion, the more he questioned the morality of the project. Sure, it was astounding the way the human body could adapt to the merging of electronics, but still—the poor girl never gave her consent for this. When donating her body after death to science, well, more than likely, she would have thought she’d be dead. That fact alone told a lot about her personality. Not many seventeen year olds would even consider donating their body to science. But that was the type of person she is… or was.

  “Kaitlyn, we need to go outside today,” Lucas spoke into the stillness of the lab, his voice barely audible above the steady thrum of rain on the windows. “To make sure none of your hardware shorts in the rain with the new protective shields. We want to make sure they seal properly.” For some reason Harrington insisted they change the clear covers for teal. It wasn’t like she was going to color code her outfits to the mechanics.

  “Okay.” She didn’t bother to look his way. She rarely looked at him. Of course she didn’t—they had taken anything human about her and destroyed it.

  He grabbed his keys off the edge of his desk.

  Lucas was probably going to need a psychiatrist after this job. How had he even gotten himself into this madness? He knew exactly how—the eccentric billionaire, Dr. Harrington, who shared Lucas’s obsession with electronics and science. His thesis on genetic mutation had caught the attention of Harrington. Cornell happened to be Harrington’s Alma Mater, and as one of the largest contributors, he got tipped off to promising students that could be a match for IFICS.

  Unlimited funds and cutting edge science. Lucas couldn’t turn down an offer that had seemed so much like a dream come true. Just the thought had sent a shiver through him. He didn’t even think twice about accepting.

  But Lucas never dreamed that the job would entail taking a human’s life away from her and making her into some kind of combat robot. If he were honest with himself, given the chance, he would accept again in a heartbeat. He hated himself for it.

  “The track or obstacle course?” Kaitlyn asked, her voice monotone. It wasn’t that she cared one way or another, he knew. She was scanning her hardware, preparing for what her body would need. That was how she was wired—know the challenge, meet it, succeed.

  For a brief moment, their eyes met. Lucas had never heard her with emotion in her voice. How would she sound if she could feel happiness? Sadness? He would never know.

  Lucas turned roughly, giving her his back but not an answer. He closed his eyes, and grabbed the discarded clipboard laying on the desk.

  Why was he drawn to her? Every time he was near her, she sent him into a tailspin. He hadn’t expected something meant to be a cutting edge science experiment to affect him. After all their time together, it should’ve worn off. He shouldn’t still think of her as human. What did that say about him? Nothing good he was sure.

  The guilt had not left him since she arrived. If anything, it had increased. She was a person. A human. A beautiful, living, helpless girl chosen to become Dr. Harrington’s lab rat and have every ounce of her humanity erased. He wished he had known her before they altered her personality.

  How many nights had he lost sleep searching through her old social media sites and reading the newspaper clippings? He had longed to know everything about the girl whose life they were going to alter in the name of science. It tore him apart seeing the person she once was come to life on his computer screen. She had been kind and adventurous, and there were hundreds of pictures of her with her friends. In her pictures, she looked much like she did now, with long dark hair that spilled over strong shoulders. But there was a big difference–she smiled. And it radiated real, true happiness. Her smile was contagious, her eyes bright and intelligent. He smiled at the thought of the image of her giving the thumbs-up before she dove from a plane. The same friends mourned her enough that they still kept a memorial page for her on Facebook. They still posted about the fun times they’d had.

  They missed her because she was more than a body donated to science. And Lucas read every post.

  The way she lost her life was tragic. But it was yet another example of the personality they took from her. She lost her life trying to save another.

  Pull yourself together, Lucas warned himself. There was work to be done. He had to find a way to keep professionally detached. Yeah right.

  Leave it to him to fall for the one girl who wouldn’t—and couldn’t—give him the time of day.

  Enough already. Lucas shook his head. He was wasting time with his daydreams.

  Standing up, he reached over the back of his chair and grabbed his jacket. The rain was really coming down. He should dose up on Vitamin C when he got home, to be safe. He couldn’t afford to get sick. Not when they were so close to completion.

  “We’re going to the obstacle course,” he finally answered.

  When he turned back around to face her, he found she hadn’t moved. Not even an inch. Her unflinching, impassive face just stared at him as he shrugged into his jacket. What had they done?

  He longed to see something human from her, but all he got was that familiar blank stare. He wasn’t sure why he hoped he’d one day see something different. It wasn’t like she could think for herself or even feel. Not after all they had done to her. He missed the days before the upgrades. Early on, he’d wondered if she would be able to keep part of her personality, but it was soon obvious they had stripped any remaining spark out entirely.

  They drove in silence deep into the woods. He longed to talk to her, but he had no idea what to say. A flash of lightning illuminated the sky filled with grey clouds. Lucas thought the whole thing was a horrible idea, but they needed to know if the elements would affect the project. They had already done a shower test, and she’d come through that fine, but they needed to see if the wind and rain would affect her abilities. If she shorted out, it would be a potential nightmare on a contract job. He zipped his jacket and jumped out of the Jeep, then rushed around to open Kaitlyn’s door, but she had already exited the vehicle.

  He hoped she didn’t short circuit and get hurt. He felt a sudden urge to turn around and tell Professor Adams he wanted nothing to do with this craziness anymore. But doing so would mean leaving her to the Professor and Dr. Harrington. He couldn’t do that. He felt this overwhelming need to protect her, which was ironic since he had played a huge part in turning her into a cyborg.

  Frustrated, he ran his hands through his wet hair and glanced over at Kaitlyn. He watched for any sign that the weather was affecting her mechanics. She stood still and ready in nothing more than miniscule running shorts and a tank top. Sexy as hell.

  She didn’t appear bothered by the cold; all systems must have been working, her body adapting and regulating her temperature as needed. Lucas, on the other hand, was wet and freezing and longed to put his arms around her and force warmth—or maybe humanity?—into her.

  In that outfit, it was obvious that large sections of her body no longer contained skin. Patches of transparent teal plastic displayed the parts of her body where humanity and technology merged. They could have designed her body to look more normal, at least to the naked eye, but Harrington had wanted it to be obvious she wasn’t human. Lucas thought it was pure arrogance.

  Thankfully, her face was untouched, and the sections were strategically placed so they could be covered up if needed. Lucas pulled the stopwatch out of his jacket pocket and hit the start button. “Go,” he yelled.

  She took off like a rocket. She had run
this course so many times that she could probably do it in her sleep. He never tired of watching her.

  Lucas stared, mesmerized, as she catapulted over the log walls and shimmied down the rope obstacle. His heart caught in his throat when she jumped from one log to the next, and she lost her footing in the rain, spiraling down towards the ground. At the last second, she lunged forward with inhuman agility and grace to grab a rope that swayed in the wind. It should have been a nearly impossible feat, but somehow she managed, and all without breaking a sweat.

  She truly was a magnificent creation. Lucas felt his heart swell, partly with pride that he helped build her, but mostly with admiration.

  A cold chill ran down his spine, and he was quickly as troubled as the stormy skies as he caught himself thinking of her as a thing he made, rather than a young woman that once was human.

  Twenty minutes later, Kaitlyn barreled towards him in a full sprint, her feet sliding in the mud as she came to a stop. He clicked the stop button, and wiped the rain off the screen. A slow smile spread across his face. The recent upgrades had decreased her time by a full two minutes.

  “Are you okay?” Lucas asked. “Did you feel anything short out?”

  She stared back at him with her vacant, haunted stare. “I’m fine.”

  “Let’s get you back inside so you can get dry. Then you’ll need to get a physical to make sure everything is running smoothly.”

  For a split second, he thought he saw something in her eyes. Some emotion. Boredom maybe? Irritation? He was really losing it. Kaitlyn couldn’t feel boredom—or anything else for that matter.

  Shivering, he turned back towards the Jeep, trailed by the obedient robot. He opened the passenger door, and she slid into the seat. He wanted to wrap his jacket around her shoulders, but the thought was absurd. Her body was equipped to handle changes in temperature.