Of Monsters and Humanity: The Genesis

Chapter 23 - Xander

Fifty-three days before....

Hours and hours passed, she didn't come back.

I kept asking the doctors what time it was, but they never told me, and I knew that getting mad wouldn't do anything to benefit me at all so I eventually stopped asking. I accepted the fact that I might not see her for a while as the lights went out, the building commanding me to sleep before the lights would go on again and command me to wake up.

I laid back and rested my head on the cold, hard floor.

She was real, and she was coming back, I knew it.

The lights turned on. It was a new day, and the interns didn't come back.

On the menu today was diabetes. It wasn't so bad, and it didn't take too long.

A few hours later, I was thrown back in the Pit, and the lights turned off.

The lights turned on.

"Good morning, Experiment X."

A human. I sat up and squinted to see Agent Byligan sitting at the control panels, giving me a grossly optimistic look. I hated him, but today, he was the sight before heaven.

It took me a moment to swallow my excitement. Having someone talk to me like this means that something would be happening to day. They could be coming back.

"Morning," I groaned and rubbed my eyes, even though you normally do that after a long rest and mine was short-lived and horrible. He couldn't see my emotion.

"The interns you met two days ago will be back in a few moments to study you. You'll be seeing the psychology and surgery teams today."

Surgery. "Oh, joy."

"The only teams you will see normally are the psychology, surgery, and injection teams. You'll see psychology every day, though, and that's me and one intern," he went on.

Terra.

"Chief intern and the data team won't be in here as often as the rest. Surgery and injection teams are the ones you'll see in the lab."

"I figured."

"Be nice today. It's my intern's first day and she's extremely unprepared," he said then, his voice asking and apologetic.

A crooked smile stretched on my face as I looked at him unapologetically. "No promises."

His face dropped just as the sound of a group of people started coming closer from the door to the room he was in.

My eyes followed as Terra walked in the room, hair pulled back into a braid today. She was clutching a thick file, a folder, and a notebook in the crook of her arm. She kept her head down, even when pulling out a chair next to Byligan.

"Hello, Terra. How are you?" he asked in his nice voice but only giving her half the gaze.

"I'm well. How are you?" she murmured as she set up her supplies. Still, her eyes were on the papers and the controls.

"Doing well, thank you. Would you like to greet Terra today, Experiment X?" he asked me, his attention given all to me as he raised his brows and awaited my answer.

I didn't want to greet her, or I moreso didn't know what I would say if I talked to her. But, like always, the cameras were watching, and I needed to play my role.

"Do you do your hair in different styles everyday or is it just here?" I asked.

Her head jerked up and her face turned crimson as her wide eyes stared at me.

"Do you do it to impress Damian?" I inquired, smiling while rolling over onto my stomach and resting my chin on my hand. "Does it work?"

She shook her head gently. "I...." she started, her face somehow turning more red, but Byligan cut in.

"That's enough, Xander," he pressed almost as a threat.

She was too, too easy. Almost a joke. She's worse than Faye.

"Sorry, sorry. Just asking. It gets lonely in here, boring even. I need entertainment where I can get it," I explained, laying on my back now and resting my head on my arms.

I looked over to see Terra looking down at her notes, her mouth slightly gaping as if she didn't know that it was noticeable. She was trying to look busy, like my comment had no affect on her. I knew differently.

"Are you guys dating?" I asked, realizing that I wouldn't be able to contain myself today. I smiled and batted my lashes like a schoolgirl.

"Xander--"

"Does he like the braid? Does he like the way it's swept back so he can see your neck?" I pressed.

Her gaping mouth started frowning on the sides and a sense of being upset started to set on her face.

"Or does he like it like that for other reasons? Does he like how he can easily ball the braid up in his fist when you guys are together before coming here?" My voice was unforgiving now as I stood up and looked at her straight in the eye. "Does he like to talk about it afterword? Or does he have a girlfriend, and while he's fucking you, he tries to convince you that he loves you?"

"Back away from the glass now, Xander," Byligan's voice cut in as he was standing now, his finger on the button that would set off the machine guns.

But I only glanced at him for a second. My eyes were focused on her, on her pretty little face twisting in horror and confusion.

"Or are you fucking Balcom? Is Damian your key to getting to the top, to fucking your way to success? Is that how you got here?" I asked her. I almost shivered in excitement. I felt alive. "Don't pretend for one second you got here because of your good grades and leadership skills; you got here because of your bedroom skills. Or maybe you cry your way to success. When Damian mentioned the thought of joining his dear uncle's 'Project X,' you just had to jump on it. You cried about how you're disadvantaged. Maybe because you're a girl? Maybe because you're a spoiled brat who gets everything she wants?"

"I will press this button if you do not back away from the glass now, Xander! This is not a suggestion!" Byligan threatened as armed men flew into the research room.

In front of them sat Terra, alone, horrified. Her eyes didn't move from my face. Her shoulders drooped, defeated, disgusted.

I smiled and raised my arms quickly in the air, commanding the bullets sitting in the guns to quickly pelt me.

I fell over with a smile on my face. I got to her.