HUNT, OR BE HUNTED

CHAPTER 45: THE SPECIMEN

The first thing he saw was light. A bright white light that did not help him regain his vision at all. He squinted, trying to focus on something else. But he couldn't-it was just the same white light. It was all that he could see.

"Stop trying," he heard the voice...his voice. "You can't see, so stop trying." Then the scrape of shoes on the hard stone floor.

"What did you do to me?" he blinked, again and again. "What did you do to me?" he was yelling now, feeling angrier by the second. He tugged at the black leather straps that held him down to the cold table, probably the ones they used to operate on dead bodies. Was that why he was on one of those tables? Because he was going to die?

"I simply injected you with one of these," the man said, then chuckled. "But you can't see it, can you?"

"You son of a-" 

"Now, now...You won't be cussing those words at me when you realise what I had done to you-or am doing, to you."

"Then would you just tell me what the hell you're doing to me?" he was losing his patience. He could feel himself turning, but there was something wrong. He felt trapped. No-the beast felt trapped. It was as if...he could no longer turn.

"You will thank me," the man hissed. "You will thank the scientist who made you stronger, the scientist who gave you power."

"I don't need power," he was struggling to speak-whatever that was in him, it was working fast. "Why do I feel so powerless if you've-" he coughed, and blood sprayed from his mouth. "-injected me with whatever that was supposed to make me stronger?"

"Everything comes with a price," the scientist said, clicking his teeth. "You can't just get something you want without losing something of yours."

"What are you talking about?" he was confused, so confused. His head hurt, he felt as if someone had turned on a heater in his gut, and his eyes...he still couldn't see a thing. "What do you mean?"

"It's pretty simple, actually. Just think of it this way," the scientist took in a deep breath. "You are one of them. The panthera. And I, am a hunter. What does that look like?"

"You're going to kill me?" 

"Ha. Killing your kind is what I want. But I am not going to be the one going after you monsters and killing you one by one. That would be boring."

"What...so what are you saying?"

"I am taking your memory. You will lose all the good you have in you, and I will fill your mind with my thoughts, my ideas. You will lose everything."

"No," the operating table shook as he tried once again to break free. "No. You can't do this. You can't!"

"I will make you one of us. I will make you a hunter. Only that you hunt...your own kind."

###

"Hey, I'm sorry," Dave nudged Lisa with an elbow. "I'm sorry, okay? Forgive me, please?"

Lisa pouted, folded both arms in front of her. "I can't forgive you for what you did. But I can't make you apologize either."

"I just apologized, babe," Dave said. "I'm sorry, I really am. I should have told you."

"You told me you and her were over. You said you were never going to talk to her ever again. But you lied," Lisa pulled away from him. "You lied to me, Dave. How...how would I ever know when you're telling me the truth?"

"I am telling you the truth now," Dave said in between his teeth. He hated being pushed like this. "I swear, I never knew she was going to the party. I told Mason not to bring her along."