The Forgotten Experiment: the beginning of the end?
Shad had the clipboard in his hand writing down the instructions as Damion gave them to him. He was sitting down at the Control panel of the huge chamber. Damion was over tinkering with the machinery, trying to reattatatch a "few things". He'd been at it now for almost an hour. Finally, he stood up wiping his face from sweat. Little black smudges of grease where on his forehead which looked like face paint. Shad giggled a little to himself, then stood up handing the clipboard over to Damion. The steps would help run the machine to its fullest.
"Phew..." Damion began catching his breath "...Thank god that's over with! You talk about a pain in the ass! That thing needed alot of maintanance."
"Do you think it's gonna work?" Shad asked scratching at his head.
"I don't know...but this is the state it was in when Iska and I did it before. So all we can do is hope. But as for now, I'm going to run a series of tests to make sure all the circuits are going to run properly. It might take a while, so why don't you and Molly take a little intermission. Hey, I've got an Idea! I'm pretty hungry after all that running..." He said laughing "...why don't you guys grab something. I should be done by the time you get back!"
"It's a blizzard out there! How do you think I'm gonna get there in that?" Shad said walking over to the couch.
"Hehe...kid, the blizzard is over by now. See...at the prison we could watch the weather on the news. So I had the weather in mind too! That's sorta why we picked a good time for escape." he said looking down at the clipboard, walking over to a panel on the wall.
Shad was once again astonished by the planning of his escape. This guy was one smart man. But he thought again, why didn't he try to bring some food? He remembered though, it was a prison...how would he go about doing that? Shad walked over and threw the labcoat on the rack and put on his fleece. "Alright then, what do ya want to have?" he asked slipping his boots on. Damion looked over to Shad and glanced out into space. "hmm...." he mumbled "...I think I wanna hotdog! It's been forever since I've eaten some "real food"." Shad smiled, it was true, he knew that prison food had to have been horrible. "Alright, I'll be right back then." he said waving over to Molly to follow. She quickly padded over to him and on up the stairs.
He was right, the blizzard had stopped! Shad shut the door behind as Molly came out beside him. Looking around, the snow was really deep, hitting Shad at the shin right above his boots. Molly was lucky, she was really light. So still she could easily walk above the surface of it. Shad made his way through the woods and down to the field and to the fence. Again, he used the usual routine and allowed Molly to spring off his back and over the other side. He climbed up and over, landing on the snow losing his balance. He flung his arms around, but this time he managed to regain his footing and stood up straight. "Hehe...gotcha this time!" he said to himself before walking onto the roadside.
The roads had been plowed since the blizzard had ended. So it was easy for him to walk among it. Still, it surprised Shad how no cars were traveling on the road. It used to have even some cars and trucks going through here. But still, none in sight. Shad looked down at Molly with a smile.
"Hey Molly, betcha I can beat you to the Mart!" he said walking a little faster.
"I don't know Shad, you forget, I'm a fox...and I'm pretty nimble". She said with a giggle.
"Oh really, well, let's see then!" he responded and began running.
Molly began to run beside of Shad, falling behind a little as Shad began to pick up the pace, running on his toes, picking up speed fast. However he was quick, he wasn't quick enough. Molly ran past him wildly on all fours, her claws clicking on the road in a rythm. Shad was huffing as he continued to run, slowly coming down in speed. "Alright...*huff*...you...win" he gasped as he put his hands to his knees, bending over to catch his breath. Molly slowed down and turned around to regroup with him. "I told you hun, I'm too quick for you!" She said, panting a little.
Shad kept walking on, seeing the mart in the near distance. He put his hand behind his head and began to hum a tune. Walking up to the door and pushing on it, making the bell ring as he entered. "Excuse me sir, there's no pets allowed!" The woman said pointing behind Shad. Shad felt a huge blush take his face. He forgot to tell Molly to wait! He turned around to see Molly sitting at the floor. "Shad, did I make a mistake?" she asked standing up. The woman's eyes grew wide and she stuttered.
"D....did that...dog...just talk?" she raised her eyebrows in astonishment.
"I'm a f...." Molly began, but was interrupted as Shad butted in.
"I'm sorry, I should've been paying attention! Actually, I'm a vintriliquest...uhmm...yeah, that's the voice you heard. I was acting silly is all!" Shad lied as he opened the door and walked out, Molly following behind.
"Molly, you need to stay out here untill I get back out okay?" Shad said pointing towards the newspaper rack. Molly nodded and did what she was told. He walked back into the mart and raced to the hotdog machine. Pulling out a bun and stuffing it with a hotdog, he sat the tong back on the rack. "That's a really pretty dog you've got there pal, what's its name?" said the women walking past him to a shelf. She bent down and began examining the shelf's contents. "Oh, her name is Molly, and she's actually a fox." he said putting some condements on the hotdog. The woman turned her glance over to Shad. "A fox? How did you manage to find and tame one?" she said glancing back at the shelf. He put the hotdog in a wrapping sleeve and walked over toward the cooler, pulling out a small soda. "Well, I was just walking along the road and she found me really. Just begging for attention." he said sitting the items upon the counter.
The woman walked up to ring up his items. "It's been a while since anyone's been in here...so I'll tell ya what, how 'bout I take care of the price?" she said putting the things in a bag. Shad smiled and looked at her. She was seemingly happy with a bright smile and a little blush. "Thanks, but why are you being so generous?" he asked curiously. The woman handed over his sack. "Oh, I think your cute is all!..." she began, folding her arms on the desk and resting her head on them. "...and you take such good care of your fox...I mean, how many people do you see put sweaters on their pets?" She said with a laugh. Shad laughed with her as he walked out the door, sending the bell ringing again. "Have a good day ma'am" Shad said waving to her. "you too kid!" she said waving with a smile. Shad looked over and saw Molly walking to him.
"I'm sorry If I messed up Shad, I forgot that I'm not in private anymore." she said looking toward the ground.
"No, it's okay Molly, she thought you were cute!" He said reaching down to pet her on the head.
They made their way back to the road. Shad raised his arm up, allowing his fleece to slide down revealing his watch. He glanced at it wondering what time it was. He had been there at the lab early, and he and Molly had taken a "little nap". Blushing as he remembered the experiance, he throught of what else happened. He had run into Damion, which took at least an hour and a half to get over. His watch displayed 8:22 pm. Was it really that late? It was slightly dark out, but usually it's pretty hard to see at this time. He shrugged it off as they made their way back to the fence. They went along as usual, getting over the fence with ease, and back toward the woods. This time, the obstacles that would normally get in their way were now no problem. they were covered in thick white snow and were easy to maneuver.
Shad saw Damion in the distance with a ciggerette in his hand, the smoke dancing in the air as it left the burning red tip. He was wearing his coat and leaning against the wall of the shack. They ran up to him and Shad handed over the sack. "Thanks Shad! Your a good kid!..." Damion said, flipping the ciggerette to the ground. "...let's go inside and eat up before we start shall we?" he said opening the door. Shad nodded and walked in, Molly following close behind. They all made their way to the couch in the lab and took a seat. Damion sat back and took the hotdog out of the wrapper and began to devour it. Shad figured that he was really hungry, he did after all manage to make it all the way back here. "So, you managed to get it fixed did you?" Shad asked leaning back, allowing Molly to jump up into his lap. "Fur did!" Damion replied, his mouth mouth full. Shad looked down and pet Molly softly on the back. It wouldn't be long now untill she would be transformed. And he worried if it would work out succesfully.
Damion finished up his meal and cracked open the soda taking a long sip before muffling a small belch. "Ahh....thanks Shad, you don't know how good it feels to have a decent meal after all this time!" he said wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He walked over to the control panel and picked up the clipboard. Bringing it over he threw it on the couch next to Shad. "Take a look Isk...I mean Shad...there's all the instructions as to how the experiment should work. It's ready to go when the signal is green." he said walking back over to the control panel. Shad looked at the notes and skimmed over the content. Then he glanced at Molly laying next to him.
"Molly, are you ready to go through with this?" Shad asked stroking softly at her fur.
"I'm ready if your ready hun!" she said sitting up and nuzzling him on the cheek.
Shad got up and walked over to the chamber. Molly followed behind slowly and padded up in front of the Machine and sat down. Shad was hesitant while walking down to her. He was worried that something might go wrong. And he was scared that he might never see her again. He kneeled down beside her and hugged her close to him as he felt tears form in his eyes.
"Molly...I...I love you! And I want the best for you. And if this machine can give you that...than I will make it work!" Shad said with his eyes closed, his heart dropping inside him.
"I'll be fine Shad, I promise. Don't worry, I'm confident in you, it will work!" Molly said before giving Shad a soft lick on the cheek.
Shad looked into her eyes and wiped a tear from his face. He reached down and slowly took off the blue sweater he'd put on her. Then stood up, looking at her the whole time while walking back up to the control panel. "Alright Molly, you see that chamber behind you?..." Damion said pointing to the doors on it. Molly turned around and saw them. "...I'm going to open them, and I want you to step inside. From that point I will begin the process of activating the machine. I want you to stay calm during the process okay? Everything should work out just fine!" he said pushing a button unlocking the doors. They let off a loud hissing noice as they slid open. Molly walked inside the chamber and looked back up at Shad. The doors slowly slid shut with a hissing. Shad looked down into her eyes once again before the doors shut and clicked in place.
Damion looked over at Shad and layed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry kid, I've made sure that this thing won't throw any bugs this time! Everything will be alright." he said bringing his hand back down to a switch on the board. Shad smiled back up at him and looked down toward the chamber. "So, are you ready to begin the experiment?" he asked. Shad nodded in reply. "Well then, I'll let you do the honors...push that button there to start it up." he said pointing to the green switch. Shad slowly reached down and flipped it up. A soft humming began to emmit from the machine and as it began coming to life. The humming grew louder as the process of the transformation began. It was the moment that begins a life or death situation for Molly. And Shad had faith in her promise to him.
A few minutes passed and the machine was still audioing a loud humming as it continued to transform Molly. The charts on the control panel were showing an image of two strands of DNA. The particles on them were being rearranged to show the progress of the machine. Suddenly a red light on the machine flashed. A loud buzzing was heard as the images flashed a warning sign. "What the hell?" Damion said looking down at the images. He quickly looked over to another screen. "What's happening? What's going on...TELL ME!" Shad yelled to him. Damion's eyes quickly read through the warnings on the screen and the errors that followed. "Apparantley the damn circuits aren't getting enough power! Something has gotta be wrong with the power box!" he said looking over to the panel on the wall. "NO!!" Shad said running over and opening the panel. "No, Shad don't!" Damion said reaching out to him.
Shad quickly looked at the wires that were twisted and knotted. He noticed that one wire was undone from another. He reached up and grabbed the ends and pulled them together. It was then he saw a huge flash and he felt his whole body shake voilently. He felt himself thrown across to the floor and he lost his breath. His body was stunned, shaking and he couldn't speak. He couldn't draw any breath and the light fromt he room was beginning to fade. "SHAD!!! DAMNIT GET UP!!...SHAD"! The words he could hear began to fade just as the darkeness was taking the room. The room went black and all sound started to fade to silence. Shad felt his eyes close as he lay there, stiff and not breathing.
"Don't worry, I'm confident in you, it will work!" were the last words he heard before everything went to nothing.