W-17-D was running laps with a few other hybrids. It was a test of speed and agility for them, but they were supposed to think of it as a game. He didn't think of it as a game. He just knew that the director himself asked for this test and the gym, and so he had to perform at his best, dodging obstacles that were put in his way as fast as he could. It felt natural to him, even though this was his first time. He knew that it was something deep, something instinctive. Something that he wasn't supposed to have, but had anyway. Whatever made the director happy.
Michael was indeed very happy. W-17-D was by far his best product made yet. The boy was fast, smart, strong, and agaile, and he would sell for a hefty price when only fifty remained. The perfect combination of man and wolf, Michael was almost tempted to buy the boy himself as his guard dog. Eventually, when they were all sold, he would have to make more, and who better to show them their purpose and protect them than a former experiment?It didn't matter what they were being sold for. They were all going once their numbers dwindled. It was happening in all seven contenents and across all one hundred ninety-five countries around the world. Hybrid trading had been a big thing since humans started messing with animal DNA and making the first hybrids. Back then, they were called Chimera's, but it was such a duragatory term. Hybrids quickly became the new word for the new pets popping into the world. "Alright, that's enough! Back to your rooms, children."They all did as they were told.W-17-D was in his room, on his bed, thinking. He was imagining the world outside, not for the first time. The green grass. Blue skies. White clouds. Tall trees and animals that lived in them. The vast wilderness that stretched as far as the eye could see. He sniffed the stagnant air, hoping to smell the wild that was told about in books. Alas, there was no such scent. He was still trapped, with the slightest glimmer of hope given to him by Dr. Hughes. It was her that but these thoughts in his head, his imaginings.A soft knock woke him from his slumber. His ear twitched, and he turned his head to the door. It was the doctor. He could smell it. "Come in..." He called sleepily. He curled in on himself more, shifting to a position in which he could rest and watch her. He could admit, she made him curious. "Good morning, 17. Still asleep, I see." She mused as she came in and helped herself to his chair, trusty notebook in hand. "I'm awake now, ma'am." W-17-D replied with a small wag. She chuckled, "Good, I'm glad. Let's talk about you know, yes?" W-17-D nodded. It was time to talk again."You know it's not you?" Dr. Hughes asked. W-17-D had told her of the dreams and daydreams he'd been having of the wild and told her of the exercise they'd done earlier in the day. How he'd been so good at it despite never doing it before. "Sure, it's me, but it's not the human side of me..." He replied quietly. "I think I'm becoming more of an animal than a human..." His hears folded back into the pillow of his bed as he looked up at the white ceiling. "You are still human, 17..." His golden gaze darted to the therapist. "I am hardly human. The other day, I heard them say I was 53% animal now. I'm more wolf than human...""But you are still human. That's the important thing." Elaine was firm on that, making W-17-D sit up and look at her fully. "... Thanks, doc..."Dr. Hughes was the only one he could trust.Elaine needed to get them out soon. If she was gonna get those three out, it had to be before they could alter W-17-D anymore than they already have. If they went too far, he probably could lose his humanity. It was dangerous knowing he was already more than half wolf. She didn't even think that was possible. W-17-D really was something special. She knew a place she could safely remove them with a small team of other agents simply waiting for the plan. All she had to do was convince the director to let her take them to the gymnasium. There were a few sealed off doors in there that they could bust open, and the guards should be minimal if it was just her and the three chosen children. She just needed to work out the kinks.That's what Elaine spent her whole night doing. She didn't even go home to Jon. "Woah, someone pulled a wicked all-nighter. I assume you're going to be saving Wild and the other two soon, then?" Elaine paused, looking over at Richard. "Wild?" She questioned in slight confusion. "Yeah, that kid with the absolutely gorgeous mug. The one we can't get info on.""W-17-D?" Elaine confirmed. "Yeaaaah, still not calling him that. I like Wild better, which is sort of what W-17-D spells out." Richard explained. "How's that?" Elaine asked skeptically. "Give me that paper, and I'll show you." Elaine gave him paper and a pencil and watched as he wrote down W17D. "Ok, so we already have the W and the D in Wild. Turn the 7 upside-down to make an L, and the 1 already looks like a capital I so what does that spell?" Realization dawned on Elaine. "WILD..."So now Elaine had a name, or at least a better placeholder, for a name for W-17-D. Wild was much better than 17 anyway. It suited him. So, in three days, Wild, Weston, and Tiffany would be freed from the W Series, and they would save the rest of the others in the W Series, maybe even across the world. Elaine sighed. Ok, maybe not the rest of the world. She certainly wished, but they had homes to go to. Families to see that their children weren't dead. There was still debate on if parents would even take the genetically modified kids back. She was just hoping for the best case right now. For the sake of everyone who had suffered. For the sake of Wild and his peers.Elaine wanted to get everyone back to the homes where they belonged.W-17-D's heart was beating against his chest. He wasn't sure why, but he was anticipating... something. He knew something was coming. He could feel it, and it made him antsy. He had difficulty sleeping because of the instinct that told him he had to be ready. It had been two days now, and he was still alert and wired despite the lack of sleep. He stared tentavely at the door, expecting someone to go through it. He didn't hear anything, though, nor did he smell anyone approaching. He supposed it didn't matter, though. It was gonna happen. He knew it. He recognized the lavender perfume and the Chelsea boots as they approached. The doctor wasn't supposed to be here more than once a month, but her prescence was a welcome surprise... and what he assumed he'd been waiting for. W-17-D was already on his paws and opening the door for her. "You heard me coming, 17?" He nodded. "Are you taking me out?" Dr. Hughes paused before nodding. "We are going to the gymnasium." She replied. He nodded an
Elaine sighed. She knew she had to give him answers. She would, Wild deserved to know the truth. "Finish your dinner, and I'll tell you the truth behind why I was at the W Series Compound." She said slowly. Wild stared at her with his dull yellow eyes. Debating on if she was giving it to him straight. After a few moments, he turned away, helping Tiffany nibble away at her own pizza slices. Westley was down a slice and halfway through the other with the napkin covering his nose. "I am not actually a therapist, if you couldn't tell. That was just my cover." Elaine started slowly. "So what, you're like a spy or something?" Westley asked. "Or something. I am an agent. My real name is Elaine Moore." Wild thumped his tail against the chair bars. "You couldn't tell us because we would tell the others. You chose us because we wanted out." He deduced quietly. "Yes, exactly." She smiled at Wild. He didn't return it. "I wanna go home, lady. Can I go home?" Westley pleaded. "Soon, but not yet. Th
Wild's sleep was restless that night. It was a new territory, new sounds that made him jolt up despite the closed and locked door. He knew there were still people there despite the early hour, and he was on edge because of it. All in all, he didn't sleep too well. It didn't matter too much. He'd gone a few nights without sleep before as an experiment. At around 6:30, there was a knock on their door. Wild knew I was the man that was with Elaine yesterday. He'd said his name was Richard? Wild also knew he had something. Food was his guess. Despite the conversation he'd overheard about his appearance, Richard genuinely seemed to like him, so Wild got up to get the door.The offer was poptarts, the smores kind. Wild didn't know there was such thing as smores poptarts. He only knew what smores was from the books. "Gotta be honest, I wasn't really sure if you even ate human food with your wolfish appetite!" Wild rose a brow. "We can eat anything a human can." Richard made a show of wiping h
They'd been here a few weeks now. Elaine took them to see the sunset and the sunrise each day. Give the poor hybrids some sun. Elaine and Richard asked questions on occasion about what it was like there. Wild was more vague than the other two at first. He just wanted to be done with that place. Wild knew he would have to talk about it eventually, though. Eventually, he started to tell them about the schedule that he'd grown so accustomed to. How they were always in their rooms as they were now and about the gymnasium that acted as their outside time. Then, there were the experiments. He didn't say much about them other than "It hurts."Richard was doing card tricks with Westley and Tiffany. Wild was watching, but he was more interested in the people with Elaine. A couple with Westley's scent on them. It was very old. Another couple with a boy, all carrying Tiffany's scent. The last was a man, nearly ten years older than Wild. "I'm very glad we found you, Mr. Thatcher. I'm sure you alr
Wild missed the others. Elaine knew he missed Tiffany and Westley. She knew that he knew they belonged where they were. They weren't as far gone as he was. He couldn't quite go back into human society like those two. He knew, and so did Elaine, deep down. That's why she decided that he would be the one to help save the others. That was the initial plan anyway. Now that the news of the hybrids were out, that meant getting the police involved. Get Jon involved. She was going to have Jon and Wild meet. She would invite him tonight and bring him over tomorrow if he agreed. Elaine stopped by his room, where one of the other employees had brought him something new to read every few days or so. He preferred books over the TV. "Hey, I might be bringing someone over tomorrow, and he's going to ask questions about the facility and the experiments. Is that ok?" Wild looked up from his book. "If it's the first step to freeing the rest, I'll do it." Elaine nodded quietly, bidding Wild goodnight a
"Jonah, Michael, age 43, height 5'9", hair brunette, eyes green. CEO to Algam Industries Co. Pioneer to genetic modification technology. This dude here is your classic evil villain. He's got a lot of influence on our world and a lot of money to put us all in the ground. It's like if Tony Stark and Wilson Fisk had a baby. That's this guy." Jon arched an eyebrow at Richard. "Did you just do a Marvel comparison?" Richard grinned. "I'm not sorry." Elaine tried not to chuckle. "Boys, focus. How do we get evidence linking him to the W Series?" Richard chuckled nervously. "That's the million dollar question, isn't it? I couldn't tell you. His record is suspiciously clean. Not even a DWI as a teenager." Jon hummed. "Safe to say this is a classic case of the Oliver Queen." Richard grinned. "DC, niiiice." "Can we stop with the hero talk and use normal words?" Elaine requested. "One, Oliver Queen is a vigilante. Two, he's saying that it's possible his family is powerful enough to pay off the po
Wild got a new read today. The Incredible Journey is what it was called, and it was the story of two dogs and a cat trying to go home to their humans by crossing the Himalayan mountains. They faced many dangers and hardships, but eventually, they got home. It was a heartwarming story that Wild enjoyed while he waited for Elaine and Jon to get back to the facility. It was nothing like Call of the Wild or White Fang, but the kinship was much appreciated, so he liked it. It reminded him of his own kin that he was going to save, one way or another.Wild's nose twitched at the faint, fresh traces of Elaine's perfume. He sometimes wondered if she would ever switch it up or if she used the same scent on purpose, so he knew when she was coming. Either way, she was here now, hopefully setting up that waffle maker. He felt like he hadn't had waffles in forever. Wild boosted himself to his paws and left his room in favor of seeing if that was indeed what she was doing. As he drew closer, he pick
Wild took in every sight and every sound with curious intrigue. His second time on a car ride and his first time actually seeing everything, he kinda held like a kid in a candy store. He looked like one too, with his face pressed up against the glass as he took in everything that he'd read in books and seen on cartoons but hardly ever saw himself. Jon was confused at first, but remembering the kids' orgins... it made sense that he was so excited about things people like Jon took advantage of every single day. Elaine said to him once that none of the hybrids had seen the light of day before. It made him wonder how they got the essential vitamins and minerals that one got when outside. Jon wanted to ask, but he didn't want to ruin the moment for Wild. Perhaps at a later time...They stopped at a Kwik Trip. "Stay here, I'll be right back." Jon left Wild in the car, moving to the back to refuel the car. Wild immediately recoiled at the disgusting scent of gasoline and covered his nose wit