Something had changed, day by day their training intensified and grew. Soon it had come to encompass weapons training. They were drilled with blades and the strange rifles wielded by the security officers. The rifles were difficult to operate and fired bolts of searing white energy. The weapons were powered by black vials that were fitted into the side and were good for about thirty shots before they needed replacing.
They trained on stationary and moving targets over all sorts of distances and their physical exercise now had to be done in a set of armor. The armor was not so different from that worn by the security officers, save that it was matte black with their number identification emblazoned on the breast in white. Their helmets were slick, lacking the extension on the back that the officers had, and sported a clear full-face visor. The armor's weight was not so much a problem as was the awkwardness of wearing it. But the more they fought and ran in it the more it seemed to become an extension of their own bodies.
As they trained and matured and their bodies hardened, 28 and 78 never gave up on 36. Constantly they spoke to him, receiving no response. At night 28 would read to him; tales of Perseus and Jason, Alexander the Great and George Washington. Whether the stories were fact or fiction he did not know, but the tales of great men who had gone on to do great things, things worth remembering even after the world has crumbled and burned, it gave him hope. Hope for what? He did not know. Maybe it was some desperate dream that his life would be more than tests and training and evaluations or maybe it was a hope that 36 could be helped. Whatever the reason, he read when he could and when he was done he hid the book beneath the mattress of his cot.
28's visits with Amy were tense, but not hostile. He would go and talk enough to appease her. Answering whatever probings she had for him. Oftentimes she would ask how he was finding his reading and after some prompting he would divulge his thoughts, his interest in the great monsters faced and wars fought and the heroes who triumphed above them all. And when they were done he would leave and push her from his mind until their next meeting.
Life was beginning to settle once more when Rinzlo came to them one night. His face bore a grave expression, graver than they had ever seen. And his normally cold eyes were filled not with malice, but what seemed to be pity. They rose tentatively from their cots, turning to face the man as he stood in the doorway.
"Fall in, the eggheads decided that it's time. I don't envy you sorry sobs to be honest. Follow me and I'll explain when we get there, it'll make more sense."
They followed, apprehension in the air. He took them down an unfamiliar route to a part of the complex they had never seen before. They approached a chamber marked only with a large X, and Rinzlo keyed them through the doors which opened with a quick hiss. Inside was a circular chamber lined with chairs, many of which were occupied by scientists and researchers. Security officers were on standby, the tension could have been cut by a knife. At the far side of the room was a singular, circular door with a large window set into it. Rinzlo directed the group into a set of empty chairs and cleared his throat before speaking.
"So, this is it. I've worked to condition your bodies and minds as best I could for this moment. As you may know, as your fellows died around you during development they underwent strange changes. These changes blossom and occur at the edge of one's life. When you've been pushed to the very brink. This chamber behind me is designed to take you to that point and bring out these changes, abilities. The final stage in your evolution begins now, and if you survive you will have left humanity behind forever. We will begin with Subject 28 and work our way up the list."
A hand brushed against 28's arm and he locked eyes with 78. He could see the fear and concern there and he tried to appear confident for her sake. His legs shook ever so slightly as he stood and walked towards the door. His stomach was filled with lead and his hands numb. Rinzlo was beside him and he found an odd comfort in that. The man's silver arm grasped his shoulder and he heard him whisper.
"Don't let my work on you be for naught, I don't train disappointments."
28 nodded gravely and steeled himself. Rinzlo opened the door and lightly pushed him through, closing it behind him. This chamber was small and round, strange vents lining the ceiling and walls and bright lights shining from all directions. 28 stepped out into the middle and turned to face the window. He locked eyes with Rinzlo as the man's hand hovered over a button on the control console outside. Rinzlo gave him a nod and pressed the button. At first nothing happened. All 28 could hear was the hammering of his heart in his ears. And then the air grew thin and the lights flared red. 28 gasped for breath as the temperature rose and the oxygen fled the room. Falling to his knees he choked up spit and bile, grasping desperately at his throat. His skin burned and sweat dripped from his brow, into his eyes, off of his nose. Then the cold, the blistering, freezing cold. He shivered uncontrollably as his lungs screamed for air. The temperature changed from one extreme to the next, it got to the point where 28 could not tell the difference anymore. He shivered and sweat and he gasped and choked. His vision dimmed and brightened and he fell, sprawled across the floor. Then the air hissed and a sickly green mist descended upon his vision. His skin boiled and seared and blistered and bled. He coughed up blood and drool as he lay shaking on the floor. Time was nothing to him, ten seconds or ten years, he didn't know the difference. He thought of 27 as the red mist had eaten him away, of 29 and the black mass that had shot from his body. 'Am I dying?' He didn't want to know the answer, it frightened him too much. 28's vision blackened once more.
'Hunger, excruciating hunger unlike any he had ever felt. He needed to eat, to consume, to devour. He opened his great maw to the black abyss around him. Shedding the last vestiges of his primordial womb. Before him was a great expanse, dotted with tiny pinpricks of light and life. Hunger. The pain filled his body and brought unyielding rage. He would feed and feed and feed until his hunger was satisfied. His maw widened as his cravings consumed his mind and body, stretching to consume the very sky. Who was he? A face appeared to him, a girl. Her emerald eyes filled the void. Who was she? He was in a capsule, hooked up to machines and wires with heavy yellow liquid pressing in from all sides. And still he saw her eyes across the way, staring from a capsule much like his own. Her name was printed across the glass, Dominion Subject: 78. So that means he was, he turned to look and there it read. He was Dominion Subject: 28. Hunger. A toothy maw to swallow the world. Ever consuming rage and hunger. But that wasn't him, he was 28. He followed the eyes, emerald guides in the dark. They lead him away from the beast and the great maw. Away from the devourer. And instead to a cot with a book. A book of heroes and legends of an age long past. A cot that while stiff had offered him a home. A room full of others like him. Who knew him. And to 78, his first and only friend.'