Nevermore

Chapter 4

I sit in the elevator, listening to this guy moan about piña coladas and getting caught in the rain. I watched the meter thing showing the different floors go higher and higher. I wonder how many floors up this thing can go. Finally after what seemed like forever the elevator stopped.

Floor 18. Damn, that's high up. Also, I came into the elevator for safety, I should have been thinking about escape. Now I was about 18 floors from my destination.

I thought about all my possible escape routes I could take. Jump, run, hide, trick and so on. I didn't want to see what would happen if I was caught.

The doors slid open with an ironically pleasant "ding!"

Immediately my heart started racing. As soon as the doors were open enough for me to squeeze through I made a run for it.

I wove through surprised business men and women. I spotted two doors. I didn't know where they led, but the business people were starting to grasp awareness of the situation. I burst through and was immediately grabbed by two burly, mean looking guards.

One had bright green eyes with a heavily buff body who was on my right. The other looked like the first guy but with dark skin and dark black eyes there were light golden flecks. They both didn't look very happy to see me.

They were both a good 2 feet taller than me and I had to look up to see them.

"We've been expecting you." Goldie rumbles, "He told us to expect you."

Just the 'we've been expecting you' is enough to set someone on edge. And 'He'?! Really? Was that necessary? Is he going to be like Voldemort's "he who shall not be named"?

I choose not to talk as they drag/walk me down hallways and up stairs. Finally we arrive at a fancy door with a simple plaque, "Mr. L. Grayson". The door swings open and my breath catches as I take in the most beautiful office I have ever seen.

There is one big wooden desk in the middle of the humongous room, it curls around a huge leather spin chair. There are dozens of light blue sconces lining the top of the side wall. There are two [ -shaped couches on either side of the room. The back of the room is by far the best. There was an glass wall that separated the room from an outdoor patio that showed the skyline of DC.

" Hello! This is Mr. Grayson's office, how may I help you?" A voice interrupts my thoughts. I look around for a minute to see where the voice came from. I see a young woman with light brown hair and crystal blue eyes smile at us.

"We need Mr. Grayson to," Greenie pauses, obviously searching for the right words, "sort things out."

"Alright, just wait a moment," she leans over her desk and presses a button on a grey box, "Ahem, Mr. Grayson? Your presence is required." She smiles at us over the intercom.

"Just a minute, and he will meet with you." She scampers from the room. I can hear the clicks of her heals as she goes off, presumably to get Mr. Grayson.

We wait, the silence is deafeningly. I hear footsteps from the hallway, "Mr. Grayson? You have guests."

The door swings open without a noise. A well suited man walks in. He has a close cut beard, dark curling hair and dark eyes, he walks as if he owns the world, both guys on my side let go of me as he walks in. I rub my arms to try and get the blood moving again, this guys could work as human tourniquets.

"Ah, here's our little escapee." He smiles but there is no warmth or humor in his eyes. "Come, sit." He gestures to a seat by the desk.

I have a feeling it isn't a question, but an order. I slide in the seat, it's cold and hard. He sits in the chair across from me, the two guys who first got me stand silently in the corner.

He sits forward and crosses his hands in his lap. "Do you know what we're doing here?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure its bullshit."

He smirks, "Its not bullshit, its to help humanity survive."

"Thanks for helping us survive by shooting us and kidnapping us." Sarcasm drips from my voice.

"We run tests on human beings to help them mutate in accordance with how the climate is changing."

He must have noticed the disbelieving on my face, because he holds up a hand to stop what ever I'm going to say next.

"Here, watch," he beckons the two guys with one hand as he pushes himself up with the other.

Goldie and Greene come over, Grayson gives them another signal with his hand. Together both Goldie and Greene sit down.

I don't see anything new going on, so I look at Grayson with an I told you so look. He doesn't seem to notice or care.

I look back, horrifyingly Greene's skin started to peel off, it resembled a snake shedding its old skin. Much to my surprise, there was no grisly things going on, but instead of what I thought and feared to see, I saw a scales start to appear. Goldie was doing the same, much to my horror, they seemed to mold together as one, both become taller and wider. It threatens to burst through the ceiling. As more of the skin pealed off, more scales appeared. I took a step back, as the rest of the skin slid off, a new creature was present. Not quite finished, thin web-like frills of green sprouted by where the ears would have been. Two more webs burst from the back of the creature, almost like wings.

Finally finished with the transformation, I was confronted with a tall, green dragon. It was at least 10 feet, I couldn't quite tell how tall it was because it was hunched over to avoid bursting through the ceiling.

"See?!" Grayson says, gesturing to the hulking dragon that was once two men. "This is your potential, you could become invincible, powerful, hell! You could take over the world!"

All of them seemed to leer towards me. "All you have to do is go through some tests to complete the transition." His voice was dangerous, "The only thing we ask is that you follow everything we ask,"

"No! What the hell?!" I gestured angrily to the dragon, "This isn't natural! What you've done here isn't supposed to be done to a human being! Are you guys even sane?!"

Grayson signed and ran his hands through his hair, like he was annoyed to have to explain this to me. "If you must know, you have more potential then any of those others. We ran everyone's DNA mutation patterns, and your is .068% faster than theirs."

I looked at him uncomprehendingly, "So?"

"That means that you can become more powerful than anything we have every created!" His pupils dilated with excitement, "You could be the new generation! A new hope for the human survival!"

I was finally beginning to understand what he was saying. They wanted me to go through tests to become a mutant human, or creature. I was never going to leave here the same, and I don't even know I'm going to leave with my life. I couldn't afford to think about what would happen to me if I went through with those tests.

A bolt of rage went through me, I wasn't going to let them turn me into a monster. I wasn't going to let them take me away from all that I know to help them take over the world. They would never get me back alive.