Boy Meets Beast

✧ 22 ✧

IVs lay flat on the floor. The smell of chemicals hung in the air. An injection here. Some pills there. And a cabinet flipped over after what appeared to be a struggle from the looks of the condition of the room. One bed was covered with a rotten yellow substance, the other was painted in dry blood.

A hospital? Ilya's eyes grow wide. What if this is where it all started? What if all these monsters were created here?

Ilya gulped and hoped that he wouldn't encounter any more of those heinous creatures.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Beast sing-songed.

Ilya jumped and turned. The gruff voice scared him. It felt like it was right outside the door.

Ilya quickly crawled under one of the beds and pulled the sheets over the sides, hoping it was enough to conceal him. Fearful eyes focused on the light from under the door. Sweat coated his temples. Every intake of breath rattled his chest.

Ilya waited until a shadow peeked from under the door. He held his breath and kept quiet, praying that this was not the end of the line for him.

"Hmm," Beast playfully said from the other side. "I wonder where he could be?"

Tears filled those innocent green eyes. Ilya knew that Beast was just toying with him. It was only a matter of time before that giant monster broke in and tore his flesh.

Ilya closed his eyes and rested his head on the tiles. His hands uncontrollably surrounded his head. He braced himself, waiting for the door to shatter.

Heavy footsteps alerted Ilya. However, they were heading away from the door, not towards it.

Ilya finally breathed and couldn't believe what happened. Did God just answer his prayers? Whatever it was, Ilya was grateful, but he knew he couldn't hide here forever.

He wiped his tears and that was when he noticed he was lying on a pile of papers.

Under the dim lighting, Ilya picked up a paper that piqued his interest. A photo was attached to it. Twin girls in their late teens standing side by side with their arms wrapped around each shoulder. They looked happy.

But more importantly, they looked familiar.

Ilya squinted his eyes and took a closer look; long dark hair, blue eyes, and old-fashioned dresses.

His eyes widened when he realized, "Maggie and Martha."

Of course, they look very different now. No one could ever tell that they used to be identical twins. Maggie looked almost the same, except for her colorful hair and pale skin. Martha, on the other hand, was unfortunately a decaying werewolf.

Curious, Ilya removed the photo to take a glimpse of the twins' medical records underneath it. On top, was the company's red logo with its name, "Minsk Labs." The written date was "November 13, 1992."

That was 30 years ago, and Maggie didn't age at all. The effect of her vampirism, Ilya thought.

Then he moved to the brief description of their case:

The symptoms of the viruses V and W in identical twin human females were recorded weekly from the first IV dose until its completion to show the direct difference between the two viruses on two identical human subjects. The results showed that the vampire disease needed 8 doses of virus V exposure to transform Maggie Atwood, whereas the werewolf disease needed 10 doses of virus W to work on Martha Atwood.

Ilya was baffled. This hospital was conducting human experiments on the residents of this village.

The question that lingered in Ilya's mind was: How did they convince all those poor people to be their lab rats?

The footsteps came back.

Ilya panicked, but then he gazed at Maggie's photo, smiling at him. He remembered the dagger she gave him. Ilya quickly looked for it in the pockets of his poofy jacket and took it out, seizing it in his hands for a false sense of protection.

"Are you in here, kid?" Beast said in a mocking tone.

The door was slammed open, causing Ilya to flinch and cover his mouth.

All Ilya could see were Beast's feet. They were hairy with claws, but still human.

Beast walked slowly around the room until he was in front of the bed Ilya was hiding under. His feet stopped there for a moment, then they moved on to the other side of the room.

Ilya felt his heart slamming against his ribcage. He tried to calm his shuddering breaths by clutching his mouth too tightly. He couldn't see Beast's feet anymore, but he heard steps.

Ilya didn't move. He was afraid to make even the slightest sound that could give up his location to the beast.

Suddenly, a big hand grabbed his leg.

Ilya screamed as he was being dragged from under the bed and flipped over.

Souless hungry eyes stared at Ilya. A big grin on a half-transformed maw drooled on him. A long thick tongue stuck out, licking around Beast's lips.

"Gotcha!"

Wow. Hold on now! 😳

A secret lab? Human experiments? Viruses? What is going on??

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