Well, I knew there was a chance that this experiment would end up in failure but it was not in this way. Not it, backfiring on me.
The consequences were mine to bear.
One setback wouldn't stop me from seeing my goal until the end. But first…,
'I have to please this little devil.'
Creak!
That cursed sound broke off my line of thought.
I looked back.
Subject 001 the baggy pants and folded them at the ends and tightly fastened the belt around his waist, a wool sweater with longer sleeves than his hands but he ignored those and thick socks to act as temporary shoes, at least those that seemed to fit.
He truly was a child.
So small, so fragile…
'...but also capable of catching a bullet at close range with just his nails.''
I nodded inwardly, not letting the defenseless act fool me.
"Let's go down, shall we?" He said gesturing towards the stairs.
I was unsure of this, but a person desperate wasn't a questioning person.
I climbed down the stairs that now appeared to be glaringly steeper. Maybe my rose-tinted paranoia eyes thought of falling down those steps in a hundred different positions before I got to the last step. Thankfully, there wasn't anymore.
We got to the kitchen, and out of habit, I worked to make a cup of coffee.
The need for one was desperate.
My eyes stubbornly remained half-closed despite the looming threat to my life nearby. I was just not a morning person and that was biting me hard right now.
The tantalizing scent of burnt coffee beans wafted in the room making my body relax in the atmosphere. It was my own simple personal way to unwind.
When I was done, there was enough coffee for two people until I remembered there was a second person in the house. Normally this would be my double shot of a wake-up call.
'I should at least ask, right?'
"Do you want some coffee?" I said under my breath practicing how to say it without panicking.
"Sure, I will have it with milk please."
"..."
"Some sugar too, but let me measure that myself."
He answered!
No, not the point, he heard!
I hadn't heard it wrong. A voice from the seating area rang out answering my supposedly unasked question.
Just how sensitive were his ears?
"Okay."
'There goes my perfect blend…'
Carrying two large mugs of coffee, I placed them on a two-person table he had made himself home at. I went back to pick up some sugar cubes some milk and the newly processed milk powder.
"..."
I sat and grew silent. He looked around curiously sniffing the beverage as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. His tiny hands shook back the sleeves and held the sides of the mug but shrank back at the heat only to find the handle. He placed a sugar cube and a lot of milk in.
That was an interesting way to have your coffee.
He took a sip and seemed satisfied enough. His face lit up in joy. If you ignored the sharp shark-like teeth, then he would look like an adorable little boy. One that could barely reach table height.
"Vlad."
"Huh?"
What's that?
"My name…is Vladimir Wright."
"Ohh! I am-... you can call me Alexa." I finally managed to say.
He raised his brow but went back to his drinking.
"...I know you, you know, the scientist. The one overseeing this place…wherever here is. So, we all know what you did wrong. I will make it short. I will spare your life…, in exchange, I want you to take me with you…for a while, Alexa." He said, his voice was soft but in the creeping silence it was clear enough.
His uncalled-for pauses between sentences while taking sips of sugar milk coffee gave me an edge-of-the-seat kind of feeling.
"Okay, Vladimir Wri-"
"Just call me Vlad." He quickly cut me off.
How rude!
As if remembering something Vlad tilted his head and looked up. It seemed he was looking at a particular spot so I followed his gaze to the ceiling.
"Those guys… they are Dead." The emphasis on 'Dead' was clear.
Oh.
The thought hadn't crossed my mind.
In my defense, I was busy saving my skin from this little devil.
Plus, I wanted as little involvement with them as possible.
Vlad's voice, although hesitant, held a cold apathy that was unlike his age at all.
It made me wonder…
'Did I make him like this…a monster with no emotion?'
Was I any better than the rest?
I didn't even quite care about a few losses of manpower, that was all those men upstairs amounted to me anyway.
I cared more about this child…Vlad.
His creation seemed intimately intertwined to me. I created this little monster… my creation. His existence itself was proof of the success of my hard work.
An emotionless abomination would be a merciless killer. It came with all the characteristics to adapt to any condition.
The perfect organic weapon in the right hands.
Did I even have that right…?
As if sensing my gaze, he met mine with irises as red as blood tainted with a shimmering moist glow. An almost lifeless gaze of decay and death.
I had given him that gaze.
I was the sinner.
I didn't have the right to judge whether or not he turned out merciless or an abomination. I created him… it.
All without knowing.
I gasped realizing the truth.
I always avoided getting my hands into dirty business. I avoided meeting him and did everything using others' hands when convenient.
I always lived with the motif, as long as I wasn't doing it, it was fine.
I did it and turned my eyes away, never daring to acknowledge it. And now the truth was dawned on me.
"I see! I will clean it up, Vlad." I responded after a long silence.
"Uh? Do you still plan to stay here?"
"No, why?"
"Then we will be burning this place down entirely. I will bury my old self and its memories in those flames," he said as if speaking of another person entirely.
I guess it would be too much to keep this place running when the lab test itself was…complete.
There was no more need of the place and if that would help me atone, even a little, then I would do well to burn the place. It wouldn't cut me any losses anyway.
'Plus, it will also clear any evidence of this place…I should send some cleaners later though, just to be sure.'