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Daniel watched Kyle through the one-sided window and couldn’t suppress his guilt. A lump tightened in his throat. He reached for the doorknob and his hand shook. Kyle was so different, nothing like Daniel remembered or imagined except that he was cleaner than the day Kyle had helped save Julia. Daniel closed his eyes and shook his head. Fighting nausea, he turned the knob.
“Are you okay, Dan?” Helmsby asked. He placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “You don’t have to go in.”
“Yes, I do. I’m responsible for this.”
Morton looked up at Daniel. Daniel took the cat into his arms and held him against his chest. He stroked the back of Morton’s neck. The cat didn’t protest.
“I should’ve fought harder to get Kyle through the fallout door. He didn’t deserve this.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Helmsby said, shaking his head and squeezing Daniel’s shoulder. For the first time, he saw remorse in the professor’s eyes. “This is my fault more than anyone’s. I should have warned you of the possible attack. My ego got the best of me, and everyone else suffered for it. I’m sorry, Dan. I truly am.”
Daniel wanted to say it was okay, but his own remorseful fire stoked deep inside. Nothing said or done changed the past. It was too late to make amends. Words meant nothing. What happened had happened. No words undid that.
“He can’t see us through the glass, Dan. It’s mirrored on his side. It’s the best way to evaluate him. We have a hidden camera in the room, too.”
Daniel watched Kyle. After a few seconds, Kyle cocked his left brow and faced the window with curiosity. He peered at the window as if he could see through the mirror. His gentle stare turned into a fierce glare. Daniel swallowed hard. He anticipated Kyle bolting toward the glass like a ravenous animal. Daniel knew Kyle sensed his presence.
Morton noticed it, too. “He knows you’re here.”
“But how?”
Morton purred beneath Daniel’s nervous hand. “He’s not completely human anymore. His hearing and sense of smell are keener. Like mine, but not as refined. In time, perhaps they will increase.”
Helmsby protested the comment with a sharp shake of his head. “At the rate his brain is deteriorating, he’ll be dead in weeks. Sooner, if he’s lucky.”
Kyle lunged at the window. His eyes were dark and crazed like a hungry predator.
Morton hissed and said, “Perhaps. Being caged like this has probably made him more dangerous. The degradation has stressed his mind and the confusion makes him prone to violence. If he ever escaped, you’d have no choice but to kill him. Otherwise, he’d kill dozens of people.”
“What makes you so certain?” Daniel asked.
Morton glanced at Daniel. “It’s in his eyes. He’s becoming an animal. I calculate he’ll be a vicious one.”
Helmsby was intrigued. “This is the first time you’ve seen him, and you can make such an assumption?”
Morton jumped to the floor. “You created my genome, how perfect it is, but what Kyle possesses is from all the various shifters he fed on to survive. Thousands of imperfect, inbred strands of mutant DNA have meshed with his human sequences. Virtual trash. I never fed on other shifters. I did like Daniel and Lucas. I found canned or packaged food to eat. I didn’t want to taint my system or accidentally grow extra legs or succumb to other possible side effects.”
Helmsby glanced at his watch. “Dan, you need to hurry if you’re going to see him. I’ve other things to show you.”
Daniel took a deep breath, twisted the knob, and pushed the door inward.
“Be careful,” Helmsby said. “He’s not the Kyle you once knew.
“I know. I understand.”
“I don’t think you do,” Helmsby said. “He has violent fits at times worse than an unruly child and his strength is unbelievable. When the mind loses rationality, aggression takes over. Here, take this, just as a precaution.”
Helmsby handed him a syringe. “It’s a sedative, in case he gets out of control.”
“I don’t think he will.”
Helmsby forced a grim smile. “For your sake, I hope he doesn’t. But whatever you do, don’t let him see the syringe.”
“Why?”
“It sends him into a rage. He put one of my assistants in the emergency room. Broke both of the man’s arms, and it only took a few seconds for Kyle to do that. Had we not incapacitated him with a dart gun, he’d have killed the man.”
Daniel frowned, looking at Kyle’s frail, emaciated body. “How is that possible?”
“Extreme fear can turn a weakling into a monster. You know that. You did things on your scavenger trips that you couldn’t have done under normal circumstances.”
“That’s true. But he was outside the research center nearly three years. He had to kill and eat shifters. Why would a syringe frighten him?”
“I wish I had an answer for that, but to be honest, I can’t get him to talk to me. He just keeps calling your name. Maybe he can tell you something before it’s too late.”
Daniel tucked the syringe into his back pocket out of Kyle’s sight. He stepped into the room and his knees suddenly weakened. He leaned against the only table in the room for support. Kyle sat on the edge of the bed. At first Kyle deliberately ignored Daniel’s presence. His arms were bound together at the elbows with leather restraints. His feet weren’t bound, so he did have the freedom to pace around the room.
Helmsby stood at the door.
“Are the restraints necessary?” Daniel asked.
“For your safety, yes.”
Kyle’s tired eyes blinked slowly.
“Kyle?” Daniel whispered.
The absent look in Kyle’s eyes drifted. He cocked his head and studied Daniel’s face.
“Do you remember me?” Daniel asked.
Kyle focused a frozen frown at Daniel but gave no reply.
“It’s me, Daniel.”
A wild expression crossed Kyle’s face. His lips opened wide, and he gnashed his teeth, emitting a low growl. His hand tightened into a fist.
“Careful,” Morton said. The cat leapt onto the table beside Daniel. “He’s more animal than human. Don’t forget that.”
“Why should I fear him if he keeps asking to see me? There must be a reason why he asks.”
Morton said, “Revenge could be a possibility, if he believes his condition is your fault.”
Daniel fought tears. “Nothing about him resembles the Kyle I once knew.”
“He’s as feral as the wild shifters. See it in his eyes? I’ve killed less hungered shifters,” Morton said.
Helmsby opened the door and said, “I’ll be down the hall if you need me. One of my guards will be outside the door should Kyle get out of hand.”
“Thanks.”
Morton glanced at Daniel. “Why is this so important to you?”
“He’s like this because of me,” Daniel said. “This is my fault.”
The cat shook his head. “This? No, that’s not your doing. You can’t blame yourself for what happened. You tried to save him. It was the others that prevented you from pulling him inside.”
“I should have tried harder.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered.”
Daniel clenched his jaw tightly. “If I had just been more forceful, or he had come back five minutes earlier. Maybe if I hadn’t sent him to the cafeteria . . .”
“You could play the “what if” game for the rest of your life and nothing will change. Face the fact that this was meant to happen.”
Daniel frowned and ran his hands through his hair. “If he hadn’t gotten to the fallout shelter door, he’d have survived and none of this would have happened to him.”
Morton sighed. “His condition has nothing to do with being left outside. You heard Helmsby. Hundreds of students were never found in the halls. If the missiles were fully charged, everyone outside would have died or be in the same condition as Kyle. They weren’t. There’s no proof to show Kyle’s degradation was the result of chemical fallout. Think about it.”
Daniel’s eyebrows rose. “What are you implying?”
“Shifters never evolved on their own. Neither did Kyle. Talk to him. Tell him what you truly want to say. If it’s an apology you wish to give, do it now. Helmsby’s right. Kyle doesn’t have much longer to live.”
Tears burned Daniel’s eyes. He said, “Kyle, I’m sorry for what happened to you. I really tried . . .”
A tear edged down Kyle’s deformed face. His eyes were sunken inside their sockets. The thick cranium reminded Daniel of prehistoric men in biology textbooks.
Kyle’s lips quivered. “It,” he said. “Not your fault. You not do this.”
Kyle tapped the side of his misshaped head with his maimed arm. The missing hand made Daniel wince. Thick, coarse skin covered the exposed wrist bone. A black layer of thick fur covered his forearm.
“This not your fault.”
Daniel looked at Morton.
“It’s a start,” Morton said.
Daniel stepped closer to Kyle. “What happened to you after the missile struck the ground?”
Kyle looked away and chewed on his lower lip. His eyes indicated he was thinking about the question. Perhaps he even remembered something.
“Something happened. Do you remember?”
Daniel reached into his back pocket and placed his hand on the syringe.
“Daniel, what are you doing?” Morton asked. “Are you actually going to show him that? You heard what Helmsby said.”
“Yeah, I know,” Daniel replied. “But like you said, the shifters were created by strange science. Maybe there’s a reason the syringe frightens him. Maybe showing him will make him remember what happened.”
“Or,” Morton said. “He’ll try to kill you.”
“You can stop him if he tries.”
“Maybe. Who knows what his reaction will be or how fast he grabs you.”
Daniel slid the syringe from his pocket, cupped it inside his closed hand, and slowly showed it to Kyle. “Did someone hurt you with one of these?”
Kyle shook his head as if awakened from a deep trance. His eyes narrowed like an angered monster at Daniel.
Daniel stepped closer with the syringe. “Did they use one of these on you?”
Kyle’s eyes widened like a trapped animal. His teeth clenched tightly, making a harsh grading sound. He screamed, “No!”
“Easy, Kyle, I’m not going to hurt you,” Daniel said.
Kyle raised his bound arms and rushed at Daniel. He growled. Frothy spit dripped down the sides of his mouth. Daniel stepped to the side and slung Kyle’s body across the table. Daniel put his weight against the small of Kyle’s back and pinned him down. Kyle’s feet dangled several inches above the floor. He had no leverage to push Daniel off.
“No,” Kyle pleaded with slurred words. “Don’t hurt me. Please don’t.”
“I won’t hurt you. I promise.”
The guard pushed the door open with his weapon raised.
“No,” Daniel said, waving his hand at the guard. “It’s okay. Everything’s under control.”
“You sure?” the guard asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay, but if you need me, I’m right outside. Just yell.”
“Thanks.”
The guard nodded, stared a moment longer, and closed the door.
“It’s apparent,” Daniel said to Morton. “Someone injected Kyle with something.”
“I agree.”
“Hospital,” Kyle muttered with a frail voice. “Nurses. A doctor. Gave me shots. Lots of them. They fix bleeding arm, then hurt me.”
“Why?” Daniel said aloud.
Morton frowned. “Perhaps to test their genetic enhancers? To see if they could make his hand grow back?”
“And when it didn’t?”
“They discarded him as a failed experiment.”
Kyle’s body eased. His fear subsided to sadness. He whimpered softly.
“It’s okay, Kyle. I’ll let you up. No one’s going to hurt you again. I promise.”
Daniel helped Kyle back to the bed.
“This is all strictly speculation,” Daniel said.
Morton nodded. “With Idris, anything was possible, and from the sound of it, still is.”
Mentioning Idris’ name brought a high-pitched wail from Kyle. He huddled on the floor and hid his face.
“It’s no longer speculation, Daniel.”
“I can see that.”
Kyle growled Idris’ name.
Daniel placed a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “I can’t undo what they did to you, but I promise you one thing. Idris will suffer for what he’s done. I’ll make him pay. Trust me.”
Kyle stared into Daniel’s eyes. A childlike smile curled on his lips. “Thank . . . you.”