Freak of Nature

Chapter Fourteen

Lucas sat at his desk, tapping his foot. He was the only one left in the lab; everyone else had gone home. There was a reason for that, beyond his usual overworked, overachieving ways: He was dying to see Kaitlyn … alone. 

He wanted to make sure, to see for himself that the upgrade worked, even though the confirmation would tear him apart. 

What he needed was a legitimate excuse to go back to her room. Looking around the office, he grabbed a folder off the desk. It would have to do. He’d make something up if he was stopped; not that they would, the guards usually left him alone. With Harrington back, however, he’d rather play it safe. 

He hurried out the door and down the long hallway. 

He was anxious to see Kaitlyn, but there was a twinge of fear in his chest. He didn’t know if he could handle the probability of a completely blank stare. Seeing her look at him like that would be like a bullet through his heart. Self-inflicted. Would she remember what had happened between them last night? The coding should not have erased the memory, but she could be confused by it, or just write it off as insignificant. He wasn’t sure how her brain would access the information. 

She hadn’t acknowledged him all day, not that she’d really had the opportunity. If she was still in there, she would have found a way to let him know. A glance, anything, but she had been robotic all day. 

As he turned down the J-shaped hallway that led into the dormitories, his step faltered. A janitor stood in the middle of the walkway, pushing a broom. The older gentleman glanced up and acknowledged Lucas with a tip of his hat.

“Evening,” Lucas responded, sidestepping around the man and clutching his folder. Nothing more was said, and Lucas left the janitor behind, the sound of the steady swish of the broom fading the further he walked. When he finally stood in front of her door, he closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. 

Before he had a chance to knock, her voice filtered through the door. “Come in, Lucas.” 

Of course she knew he was coming; she most likely knew before he made it down the second hallway. It was one of the things she was programmed to do. She could detect motion and potential threats. Her mind filtered sounds at an unprecedented rate, and her body was always on alert. 

They key scraped the lock and Lucas pushed open the door, his body tense.

Kaitlyn was sitting on the edge of her bed with her feet planted on the floor, staring straight ahead. The TV was on and she was watching a National Geographic documentary turned down low. She reached for the remote and clicked it off. Lucas rubbed his arms as goose pimples formed on his skin; the room was cold—colder than would be bearable for a normal human, though Kaitlyn’s thin cotton dress showed she was unbothered by it.

“Kaitlyn, would you come with me for a walk? I’d like to ask you some questions.” He opened the folder to punctuate his statement, but closed it quickly when he realized there was nothing in it. Smooth.

“Okay.” Kaitlyn stood up and smoothed her dress down before slipping into her shoes. 

Lucas fought the urge to tell her to grab a jacket, that it was cold outside. It stung him that he so often gave her human characteristics. He wanted her to be fully human; to react to the weather. He had never seen her shiver.

“How are you feeling?” he asked as he held the door open. She slid past him, causing him to inhale sharply as her skin touched his. Even though he knew she could no longer feel for him, she still tied him up in knots. He would probably never get over her. And he had done it to himself. That was the worst part.