Beautiful Monster

2. First Mission

Mordecai experimented on Reyna often. He discovered that she was immune to poisons, though they cause quite a bit of discomfort. He discovered that she could feel pain. He discovered that he could take memories away from her. She started to hate the lab, especially the table with the straps that she could not escape.

One day, Mordecai took her to the lab. “You know the drill Reyna, lay back on the table.”

Reyna looked at the table, fear racing through her, but she knew there was no way out of the lab until the experiment was over, whatever today’s experiment might be. She did as she was told.

“Good pet.” Mordecai chuckled, like this was a funny joke. He often did that, most often at Reyna’s expense.

She felt him fasten the straps around her wrists and ankles, and then she felt him pet her hair, as if she truly was something akin to a pet dog. She looked away from him, shame filling her at her lot in life.

“Don’t be like that, my dear. Soon, you will have more freedom. I just have to ensure your loyalty,” Mordecai tried to reassure her. The more he talked, the more she just wanted to curl up in a corner. Then she felt the needle penetrate her skin. She looked down. “There, now. I just implanted a device that will give you quite the shock if you misbehave.” Reyna must not have kept the look of horror from her face because he then said, “Don’t look at me that way, my dear. You will see that this is all for your own good. Now, I can send you out into the world to collect things for me. No more needing to be cooped up in the lab all day.”

The next few days went by painfully. Every minor infraction against Mordecai resulted in Reyna being overwhelmed with intense physical pain.

“Now that we know you can obey, I plan to have you do more of a variety of jobs for me. First, you will start feeding the other experiments.” Mordecai didn’t even notice that Reyna froze.

“Other experiments?” She asked. “I thought I was the only one.”

“No, no, no, my dear. You are the most successful one. The others are flawed, but all are important in that their failures and ineptitudes continue to bring me closer to what I have been striving to achieve.”

“What is it you want to achieve?”

“Eternal life, of course. What else did you think it would be? First, I had to conquer death. Thanks to you, I have done so. Now I need to dominate life.” Mordecai’s eyes are blazing with passion.

“I see. So the other experiments… are they…”

“Oh, you will see. Follow me, pet.” He tugged on the chain attached to her collar as if he was walking a dog, making Reyna feel tiny.

Reyna follows Mordecai to what looks like a cafeteria. “Go, mingle, eat. I will be observing.” Then, Mordecai leaves the room. Reyna grabs a tray and fills it with food. It isn’t anything elaborate, just a conglomeration of different mush. As she sits, an individual who also appears to be stitched like she is, comes up to her.

“Hello. I’m Experiment #92. You are?” he says to her.

“I’m Reyna. It’s… a pleasure to meet you,” Reyna says before her throat is suddenly grabbed by #92’s large hand. He lifts her up and squeezes. Reyna panics, then #92 drops her and curls into himself and shouts in pain. Reyna coughs as she gasps for air. That’s when she realizes that Mordecai must be watching everything and using a similar, if not the same, implant on 92 as the one she has.

“Why? Why do you hate me? I don’t even know you!” Reyna asks him. He seems to finally have been released from the pain and stands tall, looming over Reyna. He takes a lock of her hair and rubs it between his fingers and glares into her eyes.

“Go be a good pet… Reyna.” Then he stalks off.

All the other experiments keep their distance from Reyna. When she tries to speak with them, they ignore her and move away from her. At the end of an hour, Mordecai returns to Reyna’s side. “Take heart, dear. Experiment #92 is… a volatile one. The things I learned from it are what helped me perfect my technique to create you, my masterpiece. Jealousy is such an ugly thing.” He puts his hand on Reyna’s shoulder as if he is trying to console her. “Let us go to the lab, I have a new job for you.”

Mordecai leads Reyna to the lab in the basement. It isn’t one that Reyna often goes to. It is colder than the other labs, and there are many stains that she could only assume to be blood. “I have need of new pieces for my next procedure. I need you to go collect them. There was a radiation storm at a village nearby. There is a house there where the people did not evacuate, the imbeciles. Anyway, I need you to collect the bodies. They are fairly fresh, so don’t worry too much about the condition they are in. I can fix up anything that is broken.”

Reyna, although she isn’t thrilled with the nature of the job, is excited that this means she gets to leave the laboratory compound. “You mean, I get to leave?”

“I told you, you would have a little more freedom. Just remember, there is a tracker inside of you, so I will always know where you are. There is no point in running away. If you try, you will be severely punished. Understand?”

“Of course, sir. I would never purposely do anything to upset you.”

“I know, pet.” The scientist gives Reyna a device that will provide navigation to the location of the bodies. He also gives her 3 body bags and a cart to transport the bodies back on. It appears that it will be a three-day trip. “Now, be good, and away with you. I will see you in three days.” Then Reyna heads off on her first mission away from the lab.