Noctis Lupus

The Experiment

Benseti stirred on the white tile floor; his sleep beginning to wear off. Slowly he opened his eyes, quickly closing them again from the brightness of his surroundings. After a while, he opened them again, taking everything in one fell swoop.

Men in white lab coats looked on at him, their gaze with that of analyzing curiosity before looking down upon a small electronic notepad that they carried in their hands. The process repeated for what Benseti thought was an eternity.

Look, analyze, type.

Then he noticed something even more unusual. The surrounding walls seemed to be enforced to what he thought was steel bars, similar to those of a prison, but much more longer and thicker.

And then there was the unusual vividity of the colors. Everything was brighter, bigger than he remembered. Benseti could hear the tapping of the styluses on the electronic pads as if it were happening right next to his ear.

And then he looked down onto his hands, and that was when all hell broke loose.

Benseti jumped back as he saw what looked like two wolf paws covered in a dark grey fur. He noticed that he was standing on four limbs, not the typical two that he was used to. Slowly, he backed up to a corner of the room, shaking his head from side to side, not believing what was happenening. Refusing to believe what he was seeing.

And then he heard the men in lab coat talk.

"The subject seems to be aware of his new form."

"Yes, yes," murmured the other men in agreement.

Benseti's eyes widened, tears swelling up in them. "What have they done to me," he thought to himself; then added with a yell. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!!!"

"Subject is barking... seems to be in a state of shock," said one of the lab coat men in response to his noises.

"Huh, they can't under what I say," thought Benseti to himself. He sat down in the corner and looked down onto the cold, hard, white tiled floor. His eyes looked at his chest, his paws. Everything covered in a dark grey color. "What have they done to me?"

His ears pickked up a hissing sound. Benseti looked up to sew a segment of the wall split into pieces that moved off to either the left or right until there was a rectangular hole where there used to be only white.

Out from the hole came a man, in his late fifties. His grey hair neatly tucked backwards. Small wrinkles crossed his face along the fore head. His sunken eyes seemed to stare right into Benseti's soul. He immediately recognized the insignia on the man's shoulder. A general.

The general walked over in the direction of Benseti. His muscles stiffened at his approach, but quickly relaxed as the general knelt down in front of him and put out his hand.

"I'm not a fucking dog," thought Benseti to himself. He slowly backed up more towards the corner, showing that he did not want to approach the general.

The general's face stiffened. He pulled back his hand while looking straight at Benseti in the eyes.

"Private Alfanzo L. Benseti. 7th Armoured Division. Stationed in Afghanistan for three years and Iraq for two."

Benseti nodded his head in agreement.

"Your brother was part of the 82nd Airborne Division. Killed in action nine months due to an IED."

Benseti nodded once more, surprised at how much the general knew about him and his family; how blankly he stated the facts. "What have you done to me?" attempted to ask Benseti, but he knew that the general would not understand him.

"My name," continued the general, "Is Garcia Rover. You are in a research and training facility. The location for now is to be kept secret from you.

"Research and training?," thought Benseti to himself. "Is this guy for real?"

"We found you dying over at the Atacama Desert. The rest of your squad did not make it, you were lucky it was just a flesh wound; that arrow head was smothered in poison."

Benseti did not attempt to say anything. He looked on at General Rover with curiosity.

"Those thing that almost killed you are a new threat to humans. Thanks to the recording we got from your helmet, we managed to identify them. Everyone knows that they are a major threat," said Rover just as he lifted his hand to his left ear, touching a small electronic devise positioned there. "Go on ahead and talk, this devise will help me understand."

Benseti looked up at him, rage slowly building up inside of him.

"What have you done to me," said Benseti in a near whisper, almost to himself.

"I don't think that you would like to hear the procedure now," replied General Rover in a deep, monotone voice.

Benseti looked on a the General with hatred. A low, menacing growl came form him. "WHAT. HAVE YOU. DONE. TO. ME!!" he screamed at the General.

General Rover gave out a long sigh. "When we found you near the point of death, like I told you before. But you were attacked by one of those large wolves."

"I remember," said Benseti calmly.

"We brought you here, managing to keep you away from the grasp of death. But when that wolf bit you, it got some of it's DNA mixed in with yours. Don't ask me about the details on that, that's the job for those guys over there," said the General, nudging his head in the direction of the scientists.

"Anyways, long story short. The gene began to mutate your body into that of a wolf, but at a really slow pace. So we decided to 'help' the gene in the mutation. Again, don't ask me how we did this."

"So you mean to tell me," began Benseti, "that you used my body in a freak science experiment while I was unconscious?" stated Benseti, a small tone of anger in his voice. His muscles tensed slightly at the thought.

The General stared at him blankly.

"And now I am this... this wolf."

"That is correct," replied General Rover.

"Well tough luck," continued Benseti. "I don't think that I belong here any more."

General Rover smiled deeply at Benseti. "I am afraid that you have no choice. Leaving would mean us hunting you down and killing you." General Rover got up from were he was and began to walk towards the now forming hole in the wall.

"So that's it? I am just going to fight this new threat for you?!" inquired Benseti as he moved away from his corner. "Do you know how crazy this whole thing is?"

The General stopped in front of the doorway. He glanced back at Benseti and smiled. "Your meal will be here shortly. Get used to eating raw meat on a regular basis." He turned around quickly and tossed a file out towards Benseti.

"What is this?" asked Benseti as he nudged the file open. He saw a picture of himself whent he was human, along with a full medical record. Then he saw a picture of a wolf, a very large wolf. Immediately he recognized it as himself. Right next to it was a name.

"Fang," he muttered to himself.

"All known records of you have been wiped out. Your real name is no more. Everyone who even had the slightest connection to you before this day thinks that you have been KIA."

Benseti watched in disbelief as the general turned back to the doorway. "They took my life from me," he thought to himself.

General Rover stopped for a moment before saying his final words to the once former Benseti. His life stolen by an uncanny twist of fate.

"Welcome to Project Wolf Fang."