Story Snippets

Energy Experiments

The flowers died on Monday. There was no explanation for it. They just all wilted, sucked of their life and vibrancy. No one knew why or how...except for me.

I wiped my hand on my suit, the sweat from my palm making it slick. I wasn't supposed to be here. He said to never come down here, but the flowers...they were just the beginning. I didn't want to see what would follow. I walked through the halls, my other appendage wriggling as if it could sense the danger.

"Sir?" I called as I pulled open the door to his lab, my fangs pricking my lips. My tongue flicked, sensing the faint scent of something burning. I hissed softly, knowing exactly what he was doing, and slipped in like the snake I was made into. I swallowed my fear, running a hand along the little scales that were my skin on my arm. "Sir?!" I called a little louder and the burning scent diminished.

"You're not supposed to be down here..." A voice echoed through the large room, the source blocked from my sharp view by large cabinets and equipment. I glanced at the chamber I was made in, liquid bubbling inside as something I didn't want to see floated in there.

"I'm sorry sir...but I'm not so sure about this plan of yours..." I called, my tentacle twitching madly as if to warn me.

A sigh floated to me and something was placed on the table in what sounded like leashed anger. I felt my muscles tighten, ready to fight him off if I needed to run. The owner of the harsh voice came into view and I once again felt my fear come rushing back. His dirty blonde hair was a mess like he had been down here for days, working, and his lab coat carried to scent of gore and fear. His scars on his cheek stood out like a proud medal against his pale skin. I had given him those, when I first emerged from my growth chamber. I keep forgetting how much power radiates off him...not the physical kind, but the kind that makes people follow him. Those cold, dark brown eyes stared at me as his face radiated the annoyance I sensed in his posture. I sensed blood on the hands that were behind his back with another flick of my tongue and I felt my heart quicken.

"I'm in the middle of something, we can speak of your mutiny later Aradia..." he said in a voice that made my scales rattle. I resisted the urge to bare my teeth and bite him, injecting him with the venom that was sitting in my fangs. He was my creator, but he still scared me. He made me want to kill him, rip him apart with the inhuman strength he gave me. The flash in those eyes made me pause though, knowing that he could easily tear me apart just as easily as he put me together.

"Sir...this can't wait." I responded, the quiver in my voice betraying my fear. He knows I fear him, and he revels in it. The smug smirk that passed over his face said it all...how much he loved my fear, my submissiveness that infects me when I see him.

He sighed and sharply turned, "Come with me and we can speak while I work. I don't want this one to die like the last three did..." He gave me a dangerous look that spoke the threat he wanted to voice. "Do not touch anything and do not speak of this to anyone or you will be the next corpse I burn." I clamped my mouth shut, wrenching my eyes away from his threatening stare. I followed him back to his work and the smell of blood and what I realized was burnt flesh overpowered me. I pressed my lips tighter together, hoping to block most of it. I then saw what he was working on.

An animal that looked like it used to be a dog lay on a table, still twitching as it lay in its own blood. Metal appendages were where it's legs used to be and something metal beeped inside its chest. Smoking flesh sat where metal met it, fried from the wire that lay in it. I avoided the head, knowing that something was being inserted into it, though I didn't know what. I heard a whine and I swallowed my pity. I knew that pain, that need for it to end, but I could do nothing for the poor creature that was begging for the death that loomed so near.