A Twisted Tail

CLEANUP

BREATHING

She was asleep and he was relieved. For once the steady rise and fall of her chest was in such a rhythm that she had to be truly sleeping. He watched her closely wishing that she was in his prison or he in hers so he could help, if he could help. She had somehow survived being torn open and ripped apart by the creatures in white. The result, made it very clear what they were trying to do. She now had gills on the sides of her neck just like him. Her extremities that had moved her around in an upright fashion were now, different. He had watched while they removed the bones and put other bones inside her. He was not able to see what kind from where he was observing what they did. Nor did he make an effort to watch his only companion being killed. He had been surprised when they brought her back, bruised, bloody, and somehow still breathing. Disgust and grief flooded him at the sight of her and it doubled when he realized that they had reshaped her to take on his form. His heart wept as he pressed his hands and face on the glass. He no longer cared that the creatures in white were observing him. He was more concerned with staring at her, willing her to live. Each day, they came in, added more water to her prison and moved her. They were checking every spot that she had been opened and closed back up. The first time they did this while she was awake, she screamed, and his heart almost stopped. She sounded like his people. The reality of what he witnessed, told him one thing. They had put parts of one of his kind in her body. Who were they? Did he know them? Were they from his waters or another? He swallowed his revulsion, not letting himself hate HER for something THEY did.

They came back to rotate her and he was finally able to see her eyes. The look she gave was one of recognition. Slowly, her fingers curled and opened, curled and opened. He was so happy, her mind was still there. He thought back to the first gesture she showed him and he demonstrated it for her. She smiled. It was faint but it was there. He had no idea what he was saying with that gesture, but it had brought her peace. They stared at each other until she had fallen asleep.

The grinding groan of the prison opening drew his attention away from her. One of them was entering and was beginning to clean the water with his stick net. He watched them move around in a methodical manner, much like he would when he searched the bottom of his vast ocean home when he was hunting or foraging. They were careful not to bump or disturb his companion even though they kept looking over at her as if they were waiting for something. The water sloshed around as they moved through it towards the opening. The screech that always comes before they add more water, the groan of the opening being closed, reminded him of the large lumbering objects that drifted through his oceans. He watched as she slowly started to sink beneath the water as it rose, deeper and deeper. Despite the turmoil of swirling currents spinning her around, she remained asleep and oblivious. A sense of calm surrounded him as he watched her breathe underwater as he did. He was transfixed, fascinated by the white creatures ability to turn on of their own into something like him. IT was mysterious, magical, lacking explanation. If he had not witnessed all the horrors that it took to make her into what she was, he may have forgiven them. For now, he waited and watched to see what it was they would do next.

FELIX

Felix watched the woman carefully as he cleaned the excrement out of her tank. The water levels were not high enough for the filters to be used. Not yet. He was instructed to clean and fill the tank today. Breathing through the respirator, he was grateful that he could not smell the odors of infected flesh, waste, and whatever else was growing on the walls. This was not what he was expecting when he applied for the Marine biologist job. The job description boasted of opportunities to study recently discovered species and their behaviors. He was here for the Merman, not the human trainwreck of experimental surgeries that was free-floating in the middle of the putrid water. The job description had not mentioned that whom ever got the job would have to double as a zookeeper. He finished his task and stepped out of her tank, acknowledging that this would likely be the last time he used this door. Unless she drowned while he filled the tank. Then he would be right back in there disinfecting it for the next subject. The heavy metal door screeched and groaned as he forced it shut and locked it. Opening the water valve was almost as loud. He watched the woman swirl in the mini vortex the water shooting into the tank was making. She resembled a leaf caught in a storm drain during a heavy rain, swirling and bobbing. They had heavily sedated her for this on purpose. They wanted to make sure she did not die because she panicked in the process of being submerged. The sedative would make her woozy and she would wake up slowly. Their hope was that by the time she was fully aware of her circumstances, she would have adjusted enough to cope. She was not their first test subject. But she was the first to survive. So they were not quite ready to let her die just yet.

“Good luck” He muttered under his breath as he walked away. As long as she was sedated, there was nothing to watch. The choppy motion of the water made it hard to monitor her for breathing, so all he could do was wait for the water level to top off and settle and then check back. He yanked off his rubber suit and mask, hanging them up with a sigh of relief. A table near the tanks held an itinerary of sorts outlining their next plan of action. His face twisted into a scowl as he read it. They were going to open the hatch between the 2 tanks while she was still unconscious. This was not science. IT was reckless, dangerous, and compromised the integrity of the study. Groaning, he buried his face in his hands and rubbed furiously. Taking a deep breath, he plopped into one of the rolling chairs, making it glide backwards a couple of feet. He hung his head backwards as he reminded himself that none of their so called science was important. He was not here for that. He was not here for the Marine biologist job either. He took the job because it was at an abandoned aquarium bought out by a pharmaceutical company. They used an Umbrella corporation to do it, but the group he was a part of had spies, eyes, and ears everywhere. His only job was to locate the new species that they were rumored to be experimenting on and feed any intel he could get back to the organization. If they wanted to extract the merman, it would be more difficult with her in the tank with him. What he found most problematic was the mermans’ fascination with the woman. He stayed plastered to the glass between their tanks and watched over her religiously as if she were family or a just out of reach tasty looking chum snack. Which, he was unsure of, but he would find out as soon as they opened the port between the two. It would be interesting or bloody.

It did not take long for the tank to fill. It was a small holding tank and not the main aquarium, so he was not all too surprised. He opened his laptop and sent an email to the relevant parties interested in being there when it was time to let the merman in with their experiment. He stood up, closed the laptop and walked over to the valve and turned it off. The water continued to spin with her in the bottom of it like a doll in a jewelry box, spinning and spinning. The scientists that did the surgery, the lead researchers, and some other people he did not recognise came in to watch.

“Felix, go ahead and open the port.” John, his director, told him. He bristled inwardly and went to do as he said.

HE was pretty sure the only reason he was hired was because that fat bastard wouldn’t be caught dead cleaning tanks, climbing ladders, or wrestling with heavy doors, never mind squeezing into a rubber suit. He shuddered. That was a gross image.

Once he was at the top of the ladder he made his way across the ramp. His boots making hollow metallic sounds as he walked. He looked down and saw the merman looking up. It never ceased to amaze him how intelligent the merman seemed to be at times. He found the lever to unlock the pulley chain and then started pulling to open the port. He prayed this wouldn’t get messy. He did not want to clean human offal out of the crevices of the tank.