Glen

Chapter 2: Anna Tomilin

Anna Tomilin  was the first Russian Dark Kind to be captured and held in a lab against the advisory of The Agency. Despite all of the warnings The Agency gave to the government, the Russians had a knack for not believing in the supernatural. Not that it had always been that way, of course every human civilization at one time was very close with the Dark Kind and often communicated and accepted them. However, times changed with the discovery of science and "the greater universe", whatever that was. Anna Tomilin had lived her life very happy and very peacefully until she was nabbed right off the streets and thrown into a laboratory.

All day long, all night, every day, tests. Anna had no idea why she was even in there, she didn't even know that she was considered 'Dark Kind'. After all, she had naturally been born from a human mother and father with no Dark Kind ancestors. But that was how all Dark Kind began, save for a very few, was from humans. All that made Anna unique was something special in her blood that made her live, extensively, as if her body did not know how to age. When she was captured, she was very young and The War had just started. 

However, by the time Anna Tomilin was a fully grown woman The War was very much alive and very violent. After the fiftieth year of the war, the world had stopped counting casualties. With The War continuing to rage outside, no Dark Kind to be found in Russia by those that believed in such a thing, Anna Tomilin grew into old age. However, her skin never wrinkled, never blemished, she stayed as though she was only twenty something. The only thing that changed was her eyes, still emerald, the look of innocence was long gone and replaced with a fierce fighting instinct. No one dared to touch her, thinking that she had some horrible hidden power. 

All except Zakhar, of course. Zakhar was a guard who made sure that all of the humans, and Anna, were safe and sound. It was his job to make sure that no one left and that no one abused the patients in the lab. There would be no horror stories of a doctor abusing a patient or horrible experiments gone awry, not on Zakhar's watch.   One patient that was really fond of him was, actually, Anna. Likewise, Zakhar thought that Anna Tomilin was swell and beautiful to boot, even in her old age. The thing that Zakhar loved most about Anna was her smile, the way she batted her blonde eyelashes when he smiled at her. 

She just looked so soft, so kind, and her voice was a sliver of light in total darkness. When he looked at her, The War simply didn't exist. Even though the scientists couldn't find what made Anna live for so long, much to Zakhar's dismay, they would not let her go. They also wouldn't risk letting them live together, because perhaps a pregnancy would ruin her longevity before they could find a cure. So Zakhar lived the next five years, barely able to touch her through the small window on her door and only seeing her smile at his own risk. 

After those five years, the scientists were getting desperate. The War had reached an all time high, casualties were rolling in, and no one was winning. It was a stand off where everyone went home in body bags. In the past, this would have been considered a valiant and honorable death, but now it was just a waste of resources and time. They were wastes. This could not go on. 

So the scientists developed something that would make a man into a monster. It had worked on the rats, the rabbits, even the pigs with little chance of side effects. Now it was time for a human, no need to waste time on the monkeys, it would take just as long. Zakhar was the first and only to volunteer for it, knowing that then he could be with Anna in the patients ward. Reluctantly, the scientists accepted this and began their tests on poor Zakhar. 

Zakhar and Anna were able to be together, and Zakhar was able to take the serum that would turn him into a monster. Even with this mysterious chemical solution flooding through his veins, Anna was still able to secretly get pregnant. Zakhar was good friends with a doctor in the lab, who made sure that Anna's child would be healthy if anything were to happen to Zakhar. Everything in Anna's seventieth year of existence was perfect, until one morning Zakhar woke up but could not move. 

That was when Anna had to turn to the doctor that promised to keep her safe.