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 Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:11 pm
His heartbeat was now returning to normal and all that was left was the nervous twisting of his bag strap. This werewolf wasn't so bad. Kind of intimidating to see the real thing all of a sudden, but he seemed harmless. Could he really be responsible for the horrific boar attacks? Maybe there were other werewolves on the island and he was one of the nice ones? Perhaps Ambrose was an unfortunate soul who got bitten by a werewolf?
"No, it's okay. Er, yeah I was startled, but..." he trailed off.
Crouching down near Ambrose, Lucas scrambled for something to say. Finally he laughed and ran fingers through his hair. "I can't believe I'm talking to a real live werewolf."
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:16 pm
Ambrose was quickly overcome with a small coughing fit at Lucas's exclamation.
"Werewolf?!" He spluttered. Great, this again. So he was wrong, this likely wasn't a person in the know. "I'm not a werewolf!" Ambrose protested indignantly. Not... that he wanted to get into the full truth of the matter right then and there. And... admittedly, not that he blamed the man. After all, it was night time, he had just seen him change, and... he lifted his eyes to the skies... yup... there was even a full moon out tonight. A small part of Ambrose wondered whether or not that was even a coincidence.
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:23 pm
Lucas blinked and then gave Ambrose a confused look. "You're not?" Maybe the man was in denial? He felt badly for him. "You certainly look like one to me. If you aren't a werewolf, then what are you?" He raised an eyebrow.
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:27 pm
Ambrose sighed heavily, ears flicking back. "It... is a long story. And like it or not you'll soon be privvy to the whole thing." He leaned back against the tree, wrapping his arms around his torso. It felt so thick... He brushed the thought from his mind, refusing to dwell on that sort of thing right now.
"I am... or at least I was... a person. I was brought here for a medical study that Feral Labs was conducting. Instead, they've... slowly been changing me... into this." He nodded down to his furry lupine body.
"Everyone they bring here they're bringing for genetic experimentation... I'm sorry to have to be the one to break you the news."
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:41 pm
"Feral Labs...?" he mouthed quietly and continued to listen to Ambrose. Once the wolf-man had finished, Lucas' eyes were wide. "Feral Labs?!" Lucas sat upright, recognition and shock clearly written on his face. Genetic experimentation? Feral Labs. His mind started racing, recalling everything he'd heard about the place all those months ago. Running fingers through his hair, he stood up and began pacing. After several turns he came to a stop. "Oh s**t... ....I was right," he gaped, then clapped his palm to his face. "God! I'm dumber than dirt." He wanted to kick himself. How could he be this dumb?
Finally he lowered himself back to the ground and sighed. "Great." 'Now what?' he wondered. He looked over at Ambrose and felt a pang of sympathy for the man.
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:44 pm
His forehead creased as he watched the man pace and mumble to himself.
"What... what do you mean? Right about what?" He cocked his head. "Did you... know something about what is going on here? Is word spreading?" His ears lifted, wondering if just maybe Moreau's cover might be blown.
"Why... or how did they get you to come here?" His mind was eager to latch onto a distraction like this.
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:59 pm
Lucas chewed his lip. "Whispers, really. For a while I've been talking on and off with fellow investigators online and I heard about a few things. Feral Labs has come up in different conversations. Nothing really specific, and most of it was pushed aside as being just more crackpot theories." He looked over at Ambrose, then down at the ground. "I looked into different things, and looked into Feral Labs. I also posted some of my findings on my site." He looked around at the trees around them, then up at the moon. "I guess this is what I get for being too curious."
He pulled out a piece of caramel candy from his bag and sighed again.
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:06 pm
"Damn." Ambrose grumbled. "Well.... your theories weren't as crackpot as others would have you believe, in that case..... that... really is a pity that there aren't more people in the know. Someone needs to blow the lid on this place. But as long as Moreau has money to keep peoples' mouths shut, or to whisk the others off here to his twisted playground that he can't shut up."
He leaned forward snapping a small root out of its fix in the ground, tossing it aside. "I'm sure your site will be taken down by the end of the week, if it isn't already. Maybe... some of your internet buddies will question your absence...?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:16 pm
"I bet they have. Or they have at least already concocted some story about me perishing in some accident and it's on it's way to Nonie now." At this point, the realization that he would never see her again had yet to sink in. Right now all he could think about was what was happening at that moment. He was still trying to absorb the news that this place was performing experiments on human subjects and that he'd pretty much handed himself over to them.
"I hope some of my friends will notice. It might raise questions." But how long would people stay interested? Would anyone really look into it?
"How long have you been here? How long have they been doing this to you?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:23 pm
"More likely than not... they have somwhere in the neighborhood of fifty of us here.... they have to be practiced in the art of 'disappearence' or else they would have been caught already." He felt sympathetic for the man... how long had it been for him now...?
"It's been... wow... just about a year now.. it's mid-August, isn't it?" What would his parents think by now? His professors, the fencing team? Did they even still miss him, wonder about him, or had he already been written off as yesterday's news?
"There... are a series of four changes.. from what I've gleaned from the labs. This one was supposedly my last." He looked down at his hands again. They were thicker, more pawlike than before. What did that say about the rest of him?
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:38 pm
"Fifty?" He could feel the key in his pocket pressing against his skin through the fabric. Duplex 57? Did that mean he was experiment 57?
Experiment...
"So... everyone gets experimented, huh?" Dumb question. There was little doubt in his head that he'd be spared. The tone of his voice was even and there didn't really seem to be any signs of anger or even worry in his voice or on his face.
His mind flicked back to earlier with Sabin and a realization came to him. "I take it that immunization shot wasn't an immunization shot, either?" He wondered how hard Mr. Duvert was laughing now. At the moment Lucas wasn't all that upset with Feral Labs or Sabin. Most of his anger and frustration was focused at himself.
Lucas looked at Ambrose's paws, er, hands... paw-hands. Then he lifted his eyes and looked over Ambrose again, this time with the knowledge of what he really was. Or once was.
Chewing the inside of his cheek, Lucas looked down at his own hand. He did just have a shot. "Am I going to start changing now?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:44 pm
"Something in that neighborhood... they just built another fifty duplexes to add to the original fifty... so I'm sure that Moreau's project is going swimmingly" Ambrose rolled his eyes with a grunt.
He nodded. "Unless you work here, then yes. And if you worked here... I'm sure you'd have known what they were doing here before now. And... no... the immunization was likely your first injection. But from what I know that one doesn't actually change you.. just... prepare you or something. You might start having some strange food cravings, nightmares, maybe a fever. That's what happened to me. But you've likely got a couple of weeks to wish your humanity farewell before you change for the first time."
At least he was listening rationally, and believed him. He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders despite being apparently into conspiracy theories. And if he was right... who's to criticize? It was just a real misfortune that he wound up here instead of blowing their cover.
"They must have felt threatened by the information on your website if they went out of their way to get you here." Ambrose said quietly.
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:01 pm
"It can't always go swimmingly."
Lucas rubbed his chin and remained silent while he thought. In order to shut him up and keep him from discovering the whole truth he'd been lured to the island. There was little chance that they'd ever let him go, especially know that he'd seen the island and an experiment with his own eyes. So he was a prisoner. Not only that, but he'd been pumped full of whatever they were working on. He was an experiment.
"What exactly are they turning people into? Are you all wolves? Or are their other tests? What does," he searched for the name, "Moreau, is it? What does Moreau hope to achieve with these experiments?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:10 pm
"Your guess is as good as mine as far as his ultimate goals. Some rumors say that he's excercizing his dominion over the genetic code - to learn its ins and outs so he can manipulate it to his hearts content - whether rumors be to use that to cure cancer and other ailments- feeding some of the research to his company where they can do some more legitimate productions with it..... or more nefarious purposes." He shrugged.
"And... everyone's different from what I've seen. I was... well, I am fairly certain that I was their first... though others have now completed their changes as well... an iguana... a cheetah, a coyote.... others are somewhere in the process: a genet, a hawk.... and then other... less fortunates.... like an octopus." His ears flattened. "But... it doesn't seem that they have all the kinks worked out, or at least didn't. I'm fairly certain I'm complete... at least I can still stand... I have hands. But Pyroth, the coyote, I don't know if I would be able to tell the difference between him and a full-blooded coyote if I didn't know any better."
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Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:27 pm
Lucas nodded, but he could think of nothing to say for what felt like the longest time to him. He twisted his bag strap unconsciously as he stared blankly at the ground. He scratched his cheek. He would need to think about this more, but later. He couldn't deal with it at the moment.
Turning his attention back to Ambrose, Lucas smiled at him, trying to change the mood. "I appreciate you letting me know. I feel like an idiot." He offered his hand in a handshake. "My name is Lucas Wickham. Your's was Ambrose? Do you need any help?"
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