Freak of Nature

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 snuck another glance at Kaitlyn. God, she was beautiful. Just one look, and he felt weak in the knees. Tapping his pen on the page, he 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 of 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 mastermind 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 stated 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 did. 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. 

However, Lucas never dreamt 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. 

Turning abruptly, Lucas gave 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 of 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.