Humanoid

The 1st and only chapter

The air was sticky and humid, the scent of salt forced into my nose with the strong winds. I wouldn't be surprised if it rained, the sky was grey cloudy, typical of Scotland's weather. I stood on the line of transition between the grass and sand of the beach, MI5 members and people in lab coats brushed passed, yellow tape marked off the premises.

"Jasper, get moving," the supervisor's gruff voice commanded. I gave a short nod and stepped off onto the beach and propped the clipboard into the corner of my arm.

I'm wasn't sure what to expect, the training hadn't prepared me for this. I knew how to deal with humans, but this was new territory. Completely new, in fact, unheard of. Well as far as we knew.

I rounded the few body guards facing away from the scene, flashing my I.D. as I stomped around them with heavy feet. My nerves were on fire, my stomach churning furiously. I attempted to steady my breathing and focused my eyes at the mass on the ground, I could only catch a few glimpses between busy lab coats and crouched bodies. It was varying shades of brown in color, and as I approached, it became clearer. A human face, slender and dark, it had no hair, not even eyebrows or eyelashes. It lay sprawled on the beach, flat chest facing upward. It's muscular torso connected to a mass of brown scales and trailing pieces like kelp. A mermaid. Or merman? It lacked gender determining markers, its features were truly androgynous. I scooted forward and brushed the palm of an upturned hand.

"Hey, you, start taking vitals," A voice ordered, I pointed nervously to myself and the person nodded in confirmation, "do the best you can, I assume it can't be too different from humans."

The supervisor began to clear people from the area, I assume it was to give me more space to work. I wrapped my fingers around its wrist and pressed in gently, I waited a few seconds and was about to declare that there was no pulse, when I felt the faintest thump beneath my fingers.

"I found a pulse," I whisper, setting the group around me into a frenzy. I flinched at the loud voices, almost expecting the creature to awaken, to see those lightly-veined eyelids slide open.

I timed the pulse with my watch before jotting down jotting down the numbers on a clip board. I went over the other aspects without much trouble, aside from the people leaning over my shoulder, they gave a gasp of excitement every time I made a statement. Not that I wasn't excited, I was barely hiding the tremors that went through my frame.

Low body temperature, signs of good hydration, respiration rate incredibly slow. Besides its features, This creature did not seem particularly similar to humans.

"Move, your job is done, we don't need you here anymore," a dull-featured man sneered as he shoved past me, armed with a syringe. "Thiopental," He stated shortly, answering my concerned and questioning look. "Now that we know it's alive, we can't take a risk of it waking up. We don't know what it's capable of."

I stood there stunned, I looked at that lanky humanoid body on the sand and felt pity for the creature. There was no telling what would happen to it. Countless animals were dissected and slaughtered and tortured in those cold white rooms that I knew too well. The rooms where I had been trained, where I became callused to the sight of flesh splayed open on a metallic table. That was where this creature was headed, and maybe it was for the best. But maybe it had a life, maybe it had a level of consciousness similar to ours.

The limp body was loaded onto a stretcher, the tail forced to curl awkwardly on top of itself. I followed behind, up until the white van, or should I say Hearse, then I took one last look and headed to my own assigned vehicle. I sat in the very back of the van, unlike the one the creature was in, this one had all seats in and the windows were left unpainted.

The ride back was uneventful. Each van took a different route as to not look suspicious, mine just so happened to take the longest route. Twenty minutes after the first van arrived with the creature, my van pulled up. The lab was discreet, hidden in an underground section of a little town's only hospital. Due to the lab being in such close contact with regular civilians, the security to get inside was rigorous, yet barely noticeable. Fingerprint scanners on door handles locked and unlocked the door, there were five sets of doors, two staircases, and a bit of a maze before the sanitization room could be accessed. I stripped and stepped into the tube and held my arms above my head, as depicted by the diagram on the wall. I was sprayed with various fluids before being provided with a plain white jumpsuit and a dust mask.

I headed to where I knew the creature would be, room 215. I stepped into the room, the mer-person was laid out on the table, already they were taking blood samples. On closer inspection, the fluid being drawn up through that needle was a faint purple color, almost lavender. The room was bustling, and once again, I was hit with that punch of guilt in the center of my chest. My heart squeezed painfully, though I guess it wasn't an uncommon feeling, morals don't exist within these white walls. I've seen countless humans and animals open-chested on these tables, yet nothing upset me like this has. Maybe because it was so humanoid.

I was assigned night duty. Watching vitals carefully and injecting more Thiopental at signs of awakening. It happened twice, the heart rate monitor sped up rapidly, but I pressed that red button and sent down another dose. The third time I realized they were coming more frequently. I left the monitor room to do a physical exam of the body, something could be going wrong.

I cracked open the door, flashing my I.D. at a passing security guard. The room was dark besides the monitors. That lone body lay in the middle, I approached slowly, slightly paranoid that it would spring up at any moment, wide awake.

I choked on my breath. The body turned from a deep, rich brown, to a pathetic grey. The skin was tight and dry, the creature's arms had begun to curl up on themselves as the skin constricted. Its lips were cracked and bleeding, at least I assumed it was blood. I reached out to stroke one hollow cheek, feeling flaky skin beneath my fingers when its eyelids flew open, pitch black irises rolling wildly, searching for some sense of place. I gasped and fell back onto the floor. It locked me in its gaze, and propped itself up on whitened elbows.

"Please, help me," it murmured. I didn't think it was possible for a voice to be so compelling. As those words were spoken, the rigorous training and secrecy was pushed out of my mind.

I pushed myself off the floor and fumbled around in the dark room before finding a pile of white sheets. I detached the wires and cords from the body and pushed it to lay back on the metal gurney. I draped the sheets over the body and before covering its face, I placed a finger over my mouth. I assume it understood the gesture. I pushed the gurney out of the room.

"Didn't survive the vivisection," I playfully told the guard through a tight-lipped smile. He gave me a cautious nod, but didn't pester any further. Most of the security personnel didn't wish to know what went on inside those rooms.

I went the traditional way to the back room before skirting around the edges of the lab and back out the front. I loaded the still body into the back of the van and fetched the keys from underneath the mat. Not very secure, I know.

I took off down the dark roads. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, I glanced over my shoulder. Still covered and perfectly still. I arrived at the beach and parked carelessly. I throw open the back doors and gripped onto the gurney. As I wheeled it to the sand I realized I would have to carry the body. I pulled back the sheets.

"I'm going to have to carry you from here," I whispered. I received a concerned nod.

I slung the body over my shoulder, receiving a hiss of pain on both ends. It was heavy, ridiculously heavy. I trudged the length of the sand and collapsed just before the water. I dropped my burden.

"Thank you," that light voice murmured.

As I lifted my eyes from the ground, I caught a glimpse of that graceful tail sliding back into the depths.