Bix’s nights had been restless since they’d moved into the Underground Base. It wasn’t that he couldn’t sleep. It had more to do with all the people and the snoring and the whispering, every once and a while you’d hear some muffled couple trying to hide their fooling around. It was easy enough to roll over and ignore it but waking up every couple hours every single night was tiring in itself. One particular night he woke up with a start, sweating. The albino hunter kicked off his blanket and wiped his face on his pillow.

Someone next to him was snoring, snorted loudly, then rolled over and just as it happened he was sure he’d seen something out of the corner of his eye. His sleepy eyes dragged to a darkened corner of the room. It seemed like there was someone there, a figure in a white coat. That wasn’t so strange in itself but it was hooded and… well it looked like Dr. H. But instead of fading into shadow he faded into grey and there was something strange about him. Stranger than the maniac grin that slowly formed on his face. Then the lips were moving but Bix couldn’t make out what it was saying.

“Wah?” he felt sluggish, like he was in slow motion. The Doctor seemed to be getting closer and saying something. “Speak up..?” Bix tried to sit up but he felt heavy when he turned his head. The Doctor was reaching out to him and Bix could see his hand, grey and crumbling like shadow and stone combined. “What are you?” He tried to get away, pushing backwards while the hand reached for him, grabbing his sheet-

Bix awoke by almost falling out of his bunk. Thankfully it was close to morning so he didn’t bother trying to go to sleep again. Something about the phantom Dr. H in his dream wouldn’t leave his mind. It was disturbing, shadowy and twisted. The words were unintelligible but the very keen and obvious glint of red eyes under the hood wouldn’t let go. Did the doctor really have red eyes like some sort of shadow beast? Bix couldn’t even be sure he’d seen the other’s face close enough to tell what color his eyes were. The thoughts bothered him, the twisted grin cemented in his mind as the sun rose and everyone roused for another day. There wasn’t really a way to tell it was morning in the underground bunker but a dozen simultaneous phone alarms were enough to rouse him to breakfast.

He looked ragged, unkempt after his nightmare. Bix felt bogged down by it and dragged all day until Before happily bounded over and insisted he come on a cleansing mission in the dorms. Incentive? Everyone was going. Everyone that mattered of course. Before, Gale, Tori, Molly. All his best friends would be tagging along and he had a hard time saying no when Before looked so excited about it.

Their small crew slowly slipped into the dorm building, weapons summoned and ready for combat. The mist was thinner for the most part but many corner rooms were still swirling strongly and shadow monsters still roamed the halls. It wouldn’t be long before they would move back in.

Something moved in the corner of his vision about three-quarters down the main hall. He turned quickly, ready for anything. Shadows and mist but nothing else. Bix was sure there had been a figure reflected in a dorm window, behind him, with red eyes.

“Hold on guys…” Bix spoke softly. Their joking and laughing had ended at the door. He peered into the dorm room in question.

“What’s up bro?” Before held Vanna defensively.

“I thought I saw someone. A reflection. I just want to check it out. “ Bix cast his eyes to his friend and noticed he seemed to have something heavy under his shirt, a soft glow. It was like he was wearing some sort of glowing necklace but with the mist and the whispers he found it hard to see. Whatever was in the room was more important.

He slipped into the dorm , peering into the closet, around the bed and under it. Nothing.

“Clear.” Bix moved to the dorm door and heard a boom as he rounded the doorway. Suddenly he felt himself covered in something warm. “What..?” Tori and Molly were screaming and Before’s headless body collapsed to the ground.

Gale was dead eyed, mouth gaped and govered in gore. Bix just stared as Vanna flashed and turned into a stone tablet at their feet . Bix was now sure he knew what the sound of death was. It was the definitive thrum as the living, bonded weapon turned into nothing but useless stone.

Down the hall he saw the figure again. The smile. The eyes.

“You!” He knew the truth, as rage filled him. “YOU!” And he started to run. He heard screaming behind him, Gale was asking him where he was going but he thought it was pretty obvious.

Bix reached the end of the hall and found nothing. No figure, just shadows and mist. He was breathing hard, eyes brimming with tears, veins straining as his rage was contained. He could barely think, his hands shaking. When he turned he saw the others running towards him. Tori was crying and so was Molly but she seemed to be comforting the other girl as best she could.
“It’s Dr. H!” He screamed in rage. “I saw him! I DID! Before had on a pendant! I saw it under his shirt.. I think.. they explode and..” He seethed, breathing heavy. “DIDN’T YOU SEE HIM?”

Gale seemed to have gathered himself, though he was shaking. “There wasn’t anyone here Bix you just started running towards the end of the hall. We should go back. We have to find out what happened to Before. It was so spontaneous..”

“IT WAS H!” Bix yelled. “I KNOW IT WAS!!” He knew it. He was so sure. He looked behind them and saw him again.

“LOOK! THERE!” The hooded figure, eyes glinting, smile twisted. It came closer and Bix shook Gale, spinning him. As he touched his friend’s shoulder he felt the heavy necklace under the fabric. “Gale? You have one too…”
“I don’t see anyone Bix. You’re in shock.. what pendant?”

“A pendant! Glowing blue.. controlling.. explodes your head!” And then Gale’s face was slime and Bix was clutching the slumping corpse of a 17 year old.
The girls screamed again, more, and ran. They ran straight at H and then through him and he was only mist. Was Bix crazy? Didn’t they see him? Feel the pendants around their necks?

The whispers were behind him and he turned to find the Doctor there now. The girls sobbing voices echoed down the hall behind him and then he heard two bangs in succession. BANG. BANG.

Bix flinched as each pendant exploded. He was glad he didn’t see it. The whispering figure moved forward and Bix began to cry. His face twisted in anger and sorrow as he imagined the terrified last thoughts of the girls who’d just died. His friends.

“Why..?” Bix barely could keep his control long enough to form words. “Why would you? Everything is just an experiment to you.. isn’t it Dr. H? Even people’s lives. They don’t mean anything to you in the long run.”

The figured was smirking now and as it grew closer Bix watched it become more of a real person. He knew he’d been right, it was H. He couldn’t see his face but the fabric rustled the mist around it, the stubbled chin quirked into a cruel smile. He saw the glint of the red eyes, dangerous and clearly enjoying this.

“You just.. use everyone. We’re numbers.. genes.. cannon fodder. Like the breeding thing…” Bix clutched his arms around his own neck, fighting to find a proper channel for what he was feeling. It was then he felt the chain, the heavy weight of a pendant. He glanced down and was sure his heart had actually stopped for a moment. Terror seized him.

He was going to die and he knew it.

“Bix.” The shadow had an indistinguishably raspy voice and sounded amused. “Ferdinand is preferable, I think.”

Bix stared in horror as the man came closer to him. He gripped the pendant, struggling for any feeling besides terror and revulsion.

“As usual you are foolish, impulsive, and most importantly,” Bix felt uncomfortably warm breath on him. A predator’s breath, “wrong.”
The figure straightened and began to grin. It was maddening. Huge. The teeth were so white. So mocking. “I’m not Dr. H.”

Bix didn’t have time to question what that meant. The glowing red eyes pinned him, boring into him and never forgotten. The last words he heard, before the BANG of his own pendant, would haunt him for weeks once he awoke from this nightmare.

“I’m your father.”