“Good god…” one research worker gasped, seeing what had unfolded live on the screen. They had stopped their work to view the day’s events, thinking it would be just another one of those days where the werebeings had to survive while looking for food and shelter.
They were more than glad that they had called for a break from the microscopes and centrifuges. There was a sizable crowd around the screen that hovered a few feet above the ground. Even Edith was watching in rapt attention, her mind churning with possibilities. The werebear was as amazing and as daunting as she had last seen it. It roared, causing birds to fly in scattered directions, all miles away.
She saw the others in the lab take notes, and she didn’t even need to tell them to. This was entertainment and work at the same time. She quietly slipped out and headed for Alexia’s quarters, knowing everyone was too embroiled in the games.
By the time she got to Alexia’s room, she saw the girl curled up in the corner of her bed, her back against the wall. She was reading a book and didn’t bother to look up, as if knowing who was outside her door already.
Dr. Delaney took a breath and strode for her, taking a seat across the bed. Alexia looked up.
“Come to bother me again?” Alexia said, her eyes narrowed.
Edith hid her smile. The girl had become quite spunky the past few days, after the werebear had shifted in front of everyone.
“I’m rooting for Ryker.”
“Ryker?”
“X014,” Edith told her.
“Because he’s got a chance?” Alexia said, disbelieving.
“Because he is the chance,” Edith told her. “They’re fighting now. He’s shifted, if you’d like to see.”
Alexia slowly put the book down, knowing she couldn’t deny herself this. She hadn’t seen him shift in person, only in videos that Edith had shown her. It was a replay, exactly twenty minutes behind the live footage. Alexia watched in rapt attention, seeing the brutality that Caliban wreaked among them. She closed her eyes, remembering how Caliban had always been such a hot-tempered subject, even as a child…
He had been test subject 1013 ever since she knew him. Destined to be put in the WereGames when he was deemed ready by the facility. It was no fair fight, but that was the whole point of it, to see if these genetically enhanced werebeings would come out as alpha among the others who were born as such.
Caliban had always been a serious child, one who’d had sparse interactions with her, but they spoke nonetheless. It was part of the testing, after all. She saw him first, as a bald, thin boy of about nine, dark hair and dark eyes, and with a multitude of scars on his back that wouldn’t heal, no matter what the doctors injected him with. They did skin grafting operations, but the scars resurfaced, as if in defiance to wiping his slate clean.
She had taught him to read in the rarest of moments when they were stuck in the same large room with the rest of the children who had been forcibly brought in or brainwashed. Caliban could not remember where he was from or what his family was like -- a story similar to hers.
He was a sad and angry child who would not hesitate to bite. His first kill had been at age ten, when he had shifted into a weretiger after a full year of testing. He had killed another research subject while she watched in rapt attention. A month later, he killed a new laboratory assistant who had ignored protocol. Blood was on his face and in his mouth, and he had been placed in solitary confinement until he learned who he had to follow…
That was the Caliban that was on the screen. He hadn’t been sent to war, not just yet. This was his final test before he was worthy of the titles that were waiting for him. He had told her as a boy that he would be the first werebeing General in the history of the country. He was going to be a weapon of mass destruction, useful alive and useful dead, as long as the collateral damage was there.
“Caliban is in his element now,” Edith commented.
“He’s always wanted that. I’d nearly forgotten he had a name, aside from the numbers you call us…” Alexia’s voice trailed off. “He was kind to me…”
“But not to the others,” Edith told her. “Who are you rooting for, Alexia?”
Alexia swallowed some saliva. There were childhood memories of her and Caliban, no matter how faint, but there was a part of her that wanted to see Ryker pull through. There can only be one winner, someone’s voice echoed in her head. It was either Caliban or Ryker as the champion, and it was something she had no hold against. She could talk to the werebeings, in their minds, if only for the briefest moment. She could hear their thoughts in close proximity, feel their pain -- and it was something she hated. She didn’t need to inflict more pain on them by letting them know she could peer into their minds.
“No one,” she said in a small voice, seeing Ryker shift into full werebear form on the screen. She knew Ryker could no longer control his rage. The other werebeings were dead. This was a showdown that guaranteed riches pouring into the government’s coffers. It was a display of power; something that the government craved, despite their already indomitable standing.
Ryker was now snarling on screen, and gone was that defiant young man who had desperately tried not to shift in the facility. She had been used as his weakness, made into one. She saw the weretiger claw at Ryker’s face, successfully scratching it. Ryker responded by throwing his large bear body against Caliban, pinning him down to the ground.
It was a vicious show of might and ferocity, with teeth bared and sharpened claws. Now that Ryker had shifted, he wasted no time pummeling Caliban with the same cruelty Caliban had shown him and the other werebeings.
Dr. Delaney saw it in Alexia’s eyes, and she knew right then who Alexia was rooting for. She said nothing about it, though. “Did you eat well?” she asked her seventeen-year-old test subject.
She nodded, not looking at Edith, still engrossed in the fight. Alexia saw Caliban swipe a large paw at Ryker’s snout, and blood began to drip from his injured flesh. In retaliation, Ryker bit the weretiger’s back, drawing blood as well. Caliban shrieked as Ryker bit deeper into his flesh, enjoying the taste of raw blood. The weretiger thrashed under his hold, snarling and desperately trying to shake Ryker off.
It had been years since Alexia had seen a fight from the WereGames, and this was a fight she didn’t want to see but couldn’t stop staring at. Blood left her face as soon as she saw Ryker on the ground, with Caliban pinning him down.
The games were ending today.
*
Ryker found himself under the weight of the weretiger. Thirteen wasn’t going down until someone was dead, and he knew Thirteen was making sure it was him. Thirteen’s saliva was dripping down his face and chest, and he saw blood on his mouth as well. He could smell the weretiger’s putrid breath, his cannibalism evident.
“I’m enjoying every moment of this, Fourteen,” X013 growled at him. “I’ll enjoy eating your flesh even more. I’ve never tried bear on my palate, yet.”
“Bastard,” Ryker hissed at him, thrashing underneath his weight.
“We gave them the show they all wanted, didn’t we?” Thirteen continued. “And despite your best efforts in shifting to a form everyone wants to see, I’ll still get to kill you.”
“You’re not trying hard enough,” Ryker told him, one paw wriggling free from Thirteen’s hold. With one powerful swipe, he knocked the weretiger away from him. Standing up, Ryker began clawing at him, each paw inflicting damage, and Thirteen bled heavily.
Thirteen roared as Ryker put in blow after blow, and he felt himself fall into a crumbling heap. He parried the werebear’s paws desperately, unwilling to accept defeat. The werebear’s anger had been awakened, and he was receiving the brunt of his rage. It was something he had never seen or felt in his entire life; even if he had spent half of his life tortured and trained to receive pain. In a split second, he found himself laughing -- laughing violently, waiting for Fourteen to tire out.
“Is that all you’ve got?” he laughed, feeling his jaw break. “Are you this weak? This pathetic?”
Ryker felt his jaw harden, his teeth were bared and his breathing was heavy. “I won’t kill you. You don’t deserve my mercy. You can go back to your facility and rot there in defeat.”
Thirteen’s eyes narrowed. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around? There can only be one winner, and you’re destined for a painful defeat, and an even more painful death…”
“I’ve got too much to live for,” Ryker retorted as A129’s face suddenly flashed in his face. Why her? Why not his mother or father? Why not revenge against those who had destroyed his life? That would come after his freedom… he would make sure they would suffer the way he did, traumatized for the rest of their miserable, human lives…
Then Thirteen’s hand shot out, grabbing Ryker’s face, smothering it in his claws. Ryker was momentarily blinded, and he struggled against the weretiger’s grasp. With one paw free, he wasted no time slashing at Ryker’s face, blinding him in one eye.
Ryker stumbled, seeing red in front of him, and he felt something warm ooze on his face. He couldn’t see in one eye. He snarled.
“There’s no one left to love you, and there’s no one left to love,” Thirteen hummed a song he had sung with Alexia as a child. They had made up songs in all those hours of confinement in the same room…
There was a sudden surge of strength in Ryker, and he heaved himself against the weight of the tiger, knocking his opponent over. X013 landed on the ground with a loud thud, breaking stone in the process. The weretiger found his bones breaking, crushed under the sudden weight of X014. He felt claws enter his chest, burrowing deep inside his flesh.
Caliban’s screams echoed throughout the forest.
*
One week later…
He heard the sounds of murmuring, murmurs that were distinctly human. There was little he could do; he couldn’t move. His body felt like lead, weighed down by something heavy. Was this what death was like? Shouldn’t it have felt lightweight? Like he was floating down a perpetual ray of brightness? Then he felt the pain, that stinging, stabbing, earthly pain. It was at that moment that he knew he was still alive…
He opened his eyes, surprised that he was in darkness. He felt something cold slithering on his body. He tried to move his head, but every minuscule movement hurt him.
“He’s awake,” he heard someone say.
He heard feet shuffling about, leaving him alone in the room.
“Ryker?” someone whispered.
He wondered if he was just hearing things.
He was not alone. His mouth felt dry, and he tried to lick his lips, but even his tongue felt dry, and his lips were cracked and bleeding. He was inside some chamber, specifically made to fit his body. The cold slithering things were wires and tubes. He slowly moved sideways, hoping it was where the voice had come from.
Inches away from him, he saw her. He saw the girl. She was surrounded by machines and tubes, and he saw blood trail out of her arm, moving its way into his body. Was he getting a transfusion from her? Wasn’t he supposed to be enjoying a victory over X013’s body? The last thing he remembered was standing over Thirteen, parts of his innards nestled bloodily in one hand…
And then he started remembering it, bit by bit, as he lay there nearly immobile, listening to the sounds the machines made. He had almost died, hadn’t he? He had shifted too fast, and his previous wounds hadn’t healed, and he fought with all he had, hell bent on seeing X013 dead. It was as if he stood in the way between him and Alexia. He had to see her again. See her again, like this? He was disoriented, nauseated. How long had he been asleep?
Ryker felt broken bones, torn muscles, and open wounds still healing. Was that why she was here? Was she another werebeing species? A werebear as well? She knew his name. How could she know his name? He looked back at her and saw her eyes looking at his. Those gray eyes he knew he couldn’t forget for the rest of his life.
Ryker.
He heard her voice again, and this time, he fought to focus on her, despite the pain that vibrated in his body. Was she really talking to him? He heard no other voice, except hers. They were alone, and he was probably left to heal while she gave him her blood. Suddenly, soft light filled the room, but despite this, Ryker found himself squeezing his eyes shut. The light was unbearable, and this, indeed, was no heaven.
There were other voices this time, a cacophony of different pitches and varying degrees of emotion. There was one soothing voice that stood out. His eyes drifted to it, and he saw the doctor that had caused him and the girl so much pain. Dr. Wallace, was it?
“We’ve been waiting for you to wake up,” Dr. Wallace said with a smile, as he looked down on his new favorite test subject.
The werebeing wasn’t enhanced, and yet… He had managed to defeat a weretiger that they had subjected to tests and various forms of training. Despite the fact that X013’s guts had spilled out, they had managed to save him. X013 was too expensive to let die, but they had to make it look like he had.
The ratings for the games had gone through the roof that day, and they had been careful to show that they were treating the winner as best as they could. Soon, publicity shows would start, and X014 would be given a plush home and other material gifts, if only for a little while. The public had to see he was enjoying his newfound fame…
Dr. Wallace saw the anger and confusion in X014’s eyes, but still he smiled, knowing X014’s DNA had to be studied and perhaps cloned, soon. He had thought of combining X014 and A129’s DNA for a new experiment, but he figured he wouldn’t live long enough to see that test subject grow up. This was now or never, and he would use Ryker Locklear until the boy’s body gave up.
He patted the boy’s arm as he stepped in to check on him. “Don’t go shifting on us now. The change may not work well with all your still healing internal injuries. We need you better tomorrow and on your best behavior. We’ll present you to the Head of State, who’s quite excited to meet you.”
Ryker wanted to say ‘over my dead body,’ but he couldn’t. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other doctor, the woman, who was kind to the girl across from him. She was whispering something in the girl’s ear, and the girl nodded, closing her eyes.
“Get some rest, Ryker Locklear,” Dr. Wallace said, injecting something into Ryker. Ryker felt his world grow dark and cold, the kind of place he didn’t want to be in.