Werewolf Hierarchy

First Test

Ethan's POV

I woke to the cold press of steel against my back. My head was aching, and my limbs were heavy, like concrete had been poured over them. The overhead light burned my eyes, and I struggled to sit up, but metal chains held me down.

“Jason?” I croaked, my throat raw and dry.

I heard a muffled groan from somewhere nearby.

. I turned and wrestled with the chains. Jason was trembling with his arms and legs tied to a table like mine. Wires ran across his body and were attached to machines which buzzed and flashed in a disturbing rhythm.

"Jason! Do you hear me?"

He gazed at me faintly and said, in a low voice, "Ethan, what is going on?"

I did not know, I said, and my voice shook with anger and fear. But I shall see us out of this. I swear."

The door hissed open, and a man in a clean lab coat came in. He had neat dark hair and a blank face. He had a clipboard and walked like he saw us as mere specimens.

"Good. You are awake," he said in a sharp, clipped voice.

Who are you? Who are you? I spat and tugged at the chains.

He did not answer my question, and instead, he approached Jason. I went wild at the sight of him crouching over my brother.

You are not obliged to do it! I shouted. He's still a child!

The man looked at me. His face was unreadable.

And you are a teenager. Both of you are anomalies, potential keys to unlocking a power humanity has only dreamed of."

What are you talking about? Jason's voice was barely audible, low, and even trembled with fear.

The man stood up, and his cold eyes darted between us. I am Dr. Westbrook, the chief scientist in charge of your evaluation. They brought you here because of what you are.

You carry something extraordinary in your DNA, something we intend to study and harness."

"Evaluation?" I barked. You mean torture!

He lifted his eyebrow indifferently. You see, I am not much of a drama queen.

Dr. Westbrook’s POV

You could expect them to react similarly: fear, anger, defiance. Such young subjects never had the maturity to understand the value of their abilities. No one could deny the promise in them, though.

The most interesting subject was Subject 02, Ethan. He was sixteen, and his abilities should have started showing at that age, but they did not. His younger brother, Subject 07, was not ready. Jason would not reveal his powers until years later, but his genetic material was equally special. The two of them symbolised our future as researchers.

I noted their physiological responses on my clipboard. Increased heart rates, adrenaline surges, and elevated cortisol levels were normal.

All right, start it, I said to the assistant at the console.

The room hummed, machines grumbled, and lights flickered. They tightened the cuffs on Ethan’s wrists and ankles and pressed electrodes onto his skin.

Jason whined, and his little body shook against the table.

It will be painful, I said, detachedly. But pain is passing. Change is everlasting."

Jason's POV

My body was filled with pain as though a thousand needles were sticking into my body simultaneously. I yelled, and I could not prevent the scream tearing out of my throat. The machines that surrounded me were beeping more loudly, more rapidly, like feeding on my pain.

"Stop! Stop it!” Ethan rasped, his voice hoarse and distant, barely audible over the electric hum surging through me.

I tried focusing on something, anything other than the pain. My thoughts grabbed images of me running in the woods with Ethan, the way he always stayed close when I was scared. But even those thoughts were fading, swallowed by the overwhelming heat spreading through my veins.

Jason, hang on! Ethan yelled, his voice penetrating the smoke.

I wished I could have told him I was doing my best, but I could not.

Ethan's POV

It was worse to see Jason screaming compared to the pain I experienced when they switched the machines on me. As electricity surged, my body arched against the table, setting every nerve ablaze.

But it was unbearable to watch Jason, his small body convulsing, his face twisted in pain.

Leave him alone! I yelled and lashed at my bonds.

Dr. Westbrook barely looked at me, his attention drawn toward the monitors, which showed our vitals. Interesting, he said. Even at this age, their resilience is outstanding.

"Shut up!" I spat, my voice breaking.

The room smelled of ozone and fear. I heard Jason crying between breaths, and it broke something in me.

Suddenly, the machines around Jason emitted a sharp, high-pitched whine. The monitors went crazy with flashing lights, and the assistants looked at each other nervously.

"Doctor, the younger one's readings are unstable," one of them said.

Dr. Westbrook frowned and approached Jason. He studied the monitors for a moment before gesturing for them to stop. The hum of the machines died down, and Jason went limp.

His abilities are not active yet, Westbrook muttered to himself. It's too early.

"Too early?" I growled. "What the hell did you think would happen? He's thirteen!"

Dr. Westbrook ignored me, turning his attention to the assistants.

We will need to keep them here under long-term observation.

They won't be able to demonstrate their abilities until they are older, but the genetic signs are undeniable. Prepare their holding cells."

Holding cells?. I felt sick in my stomach.

Dr. Westbrook’s POV

The younger subject's condition stabilised as soon as we stopped the test. However, his brother showed increasing signs of aggression, which is a good sign.

The fact that Ethan was also protective of Jason was a variable that I wished to take advantage of later.

“Sedate them and take them to confinement,” I instructed.

One of the assistants was reluctant. “Doctor, if their abilities are dormant, should we continue testing? It is a risk-"

I said, “Risk is out of the question.” They will be under observation until they are ready. And when that day comes, we will bring out the best in them.

Jason's POV

I was fainting and waking up, and I was not sure it was my body anymore. I heard voices: Ethan's furious screams, the scientist's ice-cold voice, and the whir of machines shutting down.

I wanted to hold Ethan and express my fright, but could not move my arms. I felt airborne, floating in a vacuum where nothing was logical.

Then I felt it, a hand on mine. It was warm, bringing me back to reality. “Jason,” said Ethan, more quietly, with a note of anxiety. I am here. “

Tears slipped as I whispered, "I'm sorry."

Why? he said, with a cracking voice.

I replied in a low voice, “Because of being weak."

Ethan said fiercely, "You are not weak." You are my brother, and we will get out of this. I swear."

His voice was uncertain, and I could sense the fear he was trying to hide.

Ethan's POV

They sedated us again and rolled us into separate rooms.

My head seemed heavy, my limbs did not obey me, and I struggled to open my eyes.

I would not surrender Jason without a fight, even though I did not have the strength to resist them.

As they wheeled me down the sterile, white hallway, I saw the other half of the lab through a glass window. The walls were lined with rows of containment pods, each containing someone similar to ourselves: people with abilities or who had been taken.

Others were older, scarred on their bodies from who-knows-what kind of experiments. Others appeared to be younger, with pale, lifeless faces.

I felt a shudder. This was not a lab; it was a jail.

And now, we were trapped in it.