The Doctor's Monster

An Identity

Bruce carried Alan inside and put him in one of the two bedrooms inside the small cabin.
It's secluded, and hidden deep in the forest.
He lies on the couch after sparking a flame in the small fireplace.
Grace brings him a mug of fresh coffee.
She takes a seat next to him.
Silence falls.
Bruce shudders as he takes a sip of his coffee.
He doesn't normally drink black coffee, but he doesn't keep food here that can expire.
Mostly canned foods.
Beans.
Soup.
Fruit.
"What do we do next?"
His wife finally asks.
He looks down at his boots.
"We start a new life somewhere else."
Pause.
"Where will we go?"
"Somewhere he won't find us."
"We can't live on the run, Bruce. That isn't a way to live, especially not for Alan. He deserves better than that."
"I know he does but we can't afford to just settle somewhere what if he comes back? You saw him, Grace. I can't protect us from him. He's-he's stronger than me."
Another silence.
He's right.
She'd seen him kill those monsters by the dozen.
But she had never seen him lose.
Especially not to a human.
But what if Keepers isn't human?
He did augmentations on her husband, surely he had to have created some failsafe for himself.
It's foolish to think otherwise.
"We could go to the police."
She suggests.
He turns.
"The police?"
"Or even the Hunters. We could call your father, Bruce."
"What could he do?"
He asks, frustrated and desperate.
They both are.
Their whole life fell apart in just a couple of hours.
"I don't know, make a deal for us! Keep us out of prison!"
She pleas.
"I'm the one that would go to prison. You two would be safe."
He says quietly.
"You're right."
She looks at him.
He's thinking.
"No. I'm sorry. We'll run but at least we'll be together."
She says.
"Baby I need to do what's best for you. That's what I swore when I married you. I promised your father-"
"I know but it doesn't have to be that way! Maybe what's best is that you stay with us."
She says back immediately.
But her husband is no longer listening.
She opens her mouth to speak but he immediately places his palm over her lips.
The blood drains from her face.
Something has him on edge.
He quietly rushes to the kitchen and reaches under the sink.
Bruce emerges with a shotgun.
The hand signals he taught his wife tell her to grab Alan and hide.
He's not taking any chances.
She knows where the safe room is.
Without hesitation she obeys.
Bruce prepares himself for a fight.
A knife is strapped to his lower back as a backup, but that's all he has at the moment with which to arm himself.
Grace knows where the guns are hidden in the safe room.
He braces himself against the door, listening carefully to whatever is on the other side.
Seconds feel like hours.
His heart pounds.
Nothing.
Silence.
After a full minute, he takes a peek through the blinds, careful not to make a shadow on the window.
He immediately recoils.
In the darkness, something fast moves just out of sight.
His first thought is Keepers must have sent something to kill him.
But how did it find him?
He checked the car for bugs.
He ditched his gear.
Something crunches in the snow just outside the door.
To his right, about 7 feet away.
Close enough for a shotgun blast to have effective range.
He takes a deep breath.
The door flies open.
He swings his shotgun to the right, and to the left.
He sees nothing.
With the stock to his shoulder he ventures outside careful to close the door behind him.
The cold of the night begins to set in.
He feels chills.
His fingertips start to hurt.
Something crunches in the snow behind him.
He whips around and roars in anger.
But he doesn't shoot.
He's taken aback.
The beast.

G183 watches him.
Bruce aims a shotgun at him.
It fights the animalistic urge to rip the gun from his hands and attack.
Someone is pointing a weapon at him.
It's his primal instinct to counter strike.
Literally written into his DNA.
Instead he sits like a dog.
His shoulders are dropped and his tail is curled around his body in its natural form.
His body language says 'I'm not a threat'.
Bruce keeps his guard.
In his head he runs through a thousand thoughts.
"What is he doing here?"
"How did he find us?"
"Is he here to hurt us?"
"Is he a threat?"
"Was he followed?"
G183 lowers his head below Bruce's.
A display of submission.
Slowly, Bruce lowers his weapon.
He extends a hand cautiously.
The creature opens its eyes.
There's a slight orange glow in them.
It's eyes meet his.
Suddenly he understands.
It's lost.
He has nowhere to go.
"Dad?"
A small voice asks.
Bruce turns to see his son and wife, standing in the doorway.
Grace holds an assault rifle to her shoulder with her cheek resting on the stock.
Her gun is trained on it's head.
"Grace, it's okay."
Bruce says.
She doesn't relent.
The beast looks over at her.
Behind her, poking his head out, is the child.
G183 tilts his head, puzzled.
It looks like the Captain, but smaller.
Paler.
Grace follows its line of sight.
"Alan get back in the house."
She growls.
"Grace, he's not going to hurt us."
He says.
"How do you know?"
He walks towards her, slowly.
"Because he saved us. He saved me. This is G183. He's saved my life so many times. They tortured him for it. I owe him this at least."
He says quietly.
She looks at him.
She stares into his 'trust me' eyes.
Her weapon points to the ground.
Alan cautiously steps out from behind his mother.
She scoots him back behind her.
"Go inside, Alan. Your dad and I need to have a talk."
Grace growls.