Better Off Dead

Chapter Two: Whatever it Takes

We parked in front of a charming blue bungalow that could have come from a movie set. I could smell one of the neighbors barbecuing steak, which never hurts.

It was the kind of house that literally backs up to the edge of a cliff so you have a perfect view over the water. The kind that's extremely expensive to buy. I'd never seen the inside of one before, but I have to admit I'd always wanted to. But something told me this wasn't going to be your run of the mill fancy residence.

"And this is the house. Come on in." Devon said.

The interior was just as nice as the outside, although I did notice that one of the walls was glass. Secret lab?

By the time I had managed to bring in my bags and take a seat at the table, all the groceries had been put away and Liam laid out a snack with iced tea and fresh thumbprint cookies. I don't even know how he made them. Instead of your thumb poking a whole in the middle, his thumb was the size of the entire cookie.

The cookies were amazing. I stuffed a couple handfuls into my face and tried not to think about the poor life choices that led me to this moment.

I chugged my tea and Devon refilled my glass for absolutely no reason. He started talking before I could react to how weird that was.

He held out open palms for emphasis. "This is how it all plays out. We are running Dr. Fisher's project. Did he tell you anything about it? No? Well, here it is. Another scientist from The Company, one Dr.Moore, got a hold of the serum your father created and has been using it. Then he disappeared. Dr. Fisher has hired us to discretely remove all traces of it. He recommended we bring you in, given your history with the serum."

"Right..."My dad was a scientist who worked for the company before he died, doing... whatever it was he did. One thing he did was create a serum to fuse muscle tissue onto living things to replace limbs or, say, 40% of a body in my case. Which was why I was a suicidal yet indestructible train wreck instead of being peacefully dead like people who lose 40% of their bodies should be.

I hadn't realized that the serum was still around, but since it had been like fifteen years, the fact that it could still be good was shocking. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to throw out medications after a couple years, but I guess when it comes to mad science there's no such thing as an expiration date.

"So... you're supposed to destroy all the evidence before anyone catches onto what is probably super illegal?" My impression of the company was something like 'science plus disregard for ethics and the law equals all the progress'.

"Something like that." He said.

"You're doing this why?" I mean, that sounds totally crazy, right? Not just me?

"Money."

I nodded. I supposed that explained it more than anything else possibly could. And the company had plenty of cash to burn. For a couple decades it had been a profitable and cutting-edge private science company. They managed to stay on top of the competition through illegal methods and bizarre cover stories, at least if you believe the rumors, and after the life I've had I believe every word. But hey, this is progress. They'd made some pretty amazing things to better the world, and as I was told repeatedly as a child, all that really matters is moving forward.

I don't agree with that, by the way. It's hard to agree with that kind of sentiment when half of you is made of meat. Just saying.

"This whole operation is super illegal, isn't it?"

"Sometimes it is best not to ask questions."

Well, that certainly answered mine. Not that it mattered. I was assured it wouldn't take the scientist long to make a cure once she had the serum, and if you're going to die in a week, legality is pretty irrelevant. And it's not like I was used to an upstanding life of morality.