Freak of Nature

Chapter Five

Lucas would rather be going anywhere else tonight, but he hadn’t been able to say no. Professor Adams insisted, and when that man got something in his head there was no changing it. He was like a bulldog with a bone.

Lucas held up two shirts: a light blue oxford and a white oxford. He eyed them warily, lifting first one then the other up to the light. He wished he had someone to help him make these decisions. His cat, Domino, rubbed against his leg. “What do you think, Domino? Blue or white?” The cat purred. 

“A lot of help you are.” 

He could compute equations in his mind, but couldn’t decide what to wear. Ridiculous. 

Picking out a shirt shouldn’t be this difficult, he told himself. Hanging the white shirt back on the rack, he shrugged into the blue. He always wore white to work, so blue was the logical decision. He briefly thought of expanding his wardrobe, but since signing on with IFICS his social life had taken a back seat. 

Fumbling with the buttons, he wondered, What could be so important that Adams couldn’t talk to him tomorrow during work? Didn’t they see enough of each other as it was?

He hoped there weren’t more big changes in store for Kaitlyn. Every time they did an upgrade, she became less and less human. They were robbing her of her life experiences—memories of old ones, and the pleasure in new ones—they were piece by piece removing her soul. Soon, all she would have left was the technology and not the person … if there was even anything left. After the first operation, she still smiled at him, still let out a half-amused breath when he tripped over the power cords. After the second upgrade, she stopped laughing. By the fifth, she stopped smiling entirely. Guilt washed over Lucas, and as hard as he tried to push it away, a permanent, low level of uneasiness stayed with him.

It was an hour’s drive to the compound, which was ridiculous since it hadn’t even been an hour and a half since he’d left work. Yet here he was, headed back in the same direction. On the bright side, IFICS reimbursed him for mileage and gas.

The job really was a dream come true, and IFICS did a lot for Lucas. Great pay, generous benefits, and work he loved. Seriously, what more could he ask for?

If only his conscience hadn’t started to bother him. Without knowing why he was doing it, Lucas had begun planning escape routes for Kaitlyn. He shook his head at the thought, gripping the steering wheel tighter and turning his knuckles white. He must be losing his mind.

Every time he saw her, he wanted to whisk her away from the life she was headed toward. Hell, the life she was living. Who was he kidding? Knowing he was practically the mastermind behind morphing her into a cyborg, guilt wrenched his body. If it weren’t for his coding, they wouldn’t have been able to get as far as they had. 

He felt repulsed by himself; for what he had done, and for the fact that he was so drawn to her in her half human form. 

It didn’t help that she was gorgeous: those long legs, dark hair, athletic body, and incredible mind. It was the last one that made his heart trip up. God, she was so intelligent. The amount of information stored in her beautiful brain was mind-boggling. It was like she was a living, walking encyclopedia. In his eyes, she was perfection … at least until they kept stripping away who she had been little by little. Now she was an empty shell of what she had been. 

Lucas shook his head. He definitely had issues.

He drove the rest of the way lost in his thoughts, and before he knew it, he saw familiar the sign: Private Property Trespassers Will Be Shot. The sign was not a joke. Lucas looked up and saw the silhouette of an armed guard patrolling the grounds. Well-trained guards stood on alert throughout the property, most of them ex-Special Forces and armed with the kind of weaponry that was probably illegal in seven countries. It was a constant reminder of the importance of the project.