Untitled Monster Project Ch. 2 (Original Sci-Fi) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Here’s chapter two! I spent last week building up a bit of a backlog so we’ve got at least the next few chapters locked in. Still not entirely sure this is going to be a full story though so keep giving me your feedback please!

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Despite the power now coursing through his inhuman veins, Kal does not immediately turn back around and go to hunt down the bluebloods who brought him to this place. While the temptation is strong and both his first and second instinct tell him to do so, he knows he needs to take a moment and assess the situation properly.

They might have taken his body and humanity from him, but they hadn’t taken his mind. Of course, that begged the question… was he supposed to have lost his mind? Maybe if he’d been given the original serum, the one that was supposed to mutate him into some sort of prey creature. Kal doubted he would have kept his intelligence intact then.

But even like this… was he supposed to still be him? Or was he supposed to just be some monster designed to wreak havoc and cause chaos? Who was Doctor Korai really? What did she want from him and why had she made him into this… thing?

All of these questions and more run through Kal’s head, his thoughts racing around in circles as he steadily makes his way further and further away from the group of men that will apparently be trying to hunt him come morning. Though to be clear, there’s a reason he’s moving in a straight line as far away from them as possible. And it’s not because of fear or cowardice.

No, rather… Kal is wondering exactly where he is and what’s supposed to keep him from just… escaping. After all, they seemed confident they were going to hunt him down and bag him at some point in the next five days. Which meant… they must have thought he couldn’t get away completely. Was there a wall? Or something else entirely?

In his new body, it only takes him another hour to discover the barrier keeping him contained in their hunting zone. Rather, it takes another hour to reach the beach. Kal isn’t truly surprised when he finds himself pushing out of the woods and onto sand. Nor is he surprised as he stares out at a massive expanse of water barely lit by the half-moon overhead.

Looking in either direction, all he sees is more sand. Traveling along the beach for a while allows him to feel the slight curve too, until the truth of the matter becomes inescapable. He’s on an island. Where that island is or how far from any sort of mainland they might be, Kal has no idea. Shit, he can’t even be fully confident that he’s on Earth anymore.

Admittedly, the place still looks like Earth but terraforming technology was pretty damn crazy these days. To say nothing of this possibly being a domed environment with a fake sky. Those with wealth and power could do whatever they wanted, after all. They could easily accomplish things that seemed utterly impossible to someone like him. Things that made them almost seem like gods.

Meanwhile, someone like him… Kal’s sharpened rows of fangs gnash together and his claws curl in to press against his palms. He stands there on the beach with the claws on his silver feet slashing at the sand and just… wrestles with himself for a moment.

It would not be a lie to say he’s been adrift since the day he was arrested and unceremoniously thrown in prison three years ago. He probably should have died that day or any day since, but somehow he’d continued to persist. He could have ended it a half a dozen ways, but doing so had felt like an affront to her memory.

Instead, he’d been… waiting. Waiting to die. Or maybe waiting for something to happen. Maybe he’d even been waiting for some sort of sign to tell him what he was supposed to strive for when his whole world had already ceased to hold meaning.

… And maybe this was that sign? Stepping forward until he can see his reflection faintly in the surf, Kal takes in the sight of his new body. He’s still bipedal but calling him ‘humanoid’ would be a bit of a stretch. His entire body is covered in silver and his now-bald head is stretched back against an inhumanly shaped skull. Four red eyes stare down at the water, while a too-long tongue slices out of his large, tooth-filled mouth.

He’s a monster now. Not a trace of the old Kal McKay remains save for his memories. A new beginning, perhaps? Except it can only really be a new beginning… if he survives the next five days. Bringing up his claws and flexing them, Kal considers his situation.

There were about a dozen bluebloods when he was dumped out of the crate back at their camp. Each of them was armed, probably with the best weapons their family’s money could buy. This was either some sort of rich person initiation ritual… or it was simply an entertaining way of passing the time for them.

Not every single prisoner offered a chance at freedom was probably subjected to this fate, right? Surely such a thing would have leaked by now. It had to be a mixture of this and other things … but certainly, some of the inmates who had never been seen again had to have ended up right where Kal was now.

Only… they would have been rather helpless. Mutated into prey animals that were only good for running away and not fighting back. Kal was different. Alice Korai had made him different.

The big question became; was it enough? Was this new form of his strong enough to go up against the rifles and other weaponry that the bluebloods were sporting? For instance, he felt powerful, more powerful than he’d ever felt before, but was he bulletproof?

Moving off of the beach and back into the trees, Kal swipes out with his claws at the nearest trunk. He slices right through the bark like it isn’t there and it feels like his claws are passing through softened butter. Kal blinks… and then goes again. Another couple of strikes and the tree literally falls over, having been ripped in half by his claws.

After the upper half lands heavily on the ground, Kal stares at it for a long moment before bringing his jaws down on the rest of the still-standing tree trunk. He bites into the wood and immediately has regrets… because even if he manages to tear out a much larger chunk than any human ever could have, it does still mean he’s got a whole lot of wood in his mouth.

Spitting it out with a growl, he considers the destruction for a few seconds before moving on. Next, he finds the biggest rock he can locate, a sizable boulder. Then, he attacks that with his claws. It’s a little harder, a little tougher… but not by much. His silvery-metal claws sink into the rock face relatively easily and carve away furrows of stone from the boulder. Biting it produces similar results… he can literally chew through stone now, it would seem.

That’s a lot of power. A godly amount of power, really. Next, Kal tests his speed. He’d been moving at a sensible lope after his transformation, making his way through the forest and focusing more on maintaining a straight line rather than actually measuring how fast he was going.

Now though, he pushes himself, running through the trees in the middle of the night, his ability to see in the dark helping him maintain his footing as he races forward with all his might. Obviously he doesn’t have any sort of stop watch or anything like that, but if his internal counting is to be believed, he’s easily several times faster than the fastest man alive.

This new body of his is strong. It’s a predator, through and through. He’s been turned into a weapon and very clearly pointed directly at the bluebloods who sought to make him their quarry. Doctor Korai’s intentions, at least as far as those men were concerned, couldn’t be more obvious.

The question then became… did Kal want to play into any of their games? Alice Korai had robbed him of his humanity… did he want to do her bidding? He could take his chances with the ocean. This powerful body of his could almost certainly swim and swim fast. If he lucked out and went in the right direction, he could make it to land and go from there, vanishing without dealing with any of this bullshit.

… He’d probably still be hunted though. Even if he escaped their ‘hunting grounds’, they’d keep coming after him. They’d have to, really. After all, while it was true that the wealthy and powerful got away with pretty much anything they wanted to, something like this… surely it would have to move the needle, right? If it got out that they were mutating and hunting people for sport… someone would care, wouldn’t they?

The pessimistic voice in the back of Kal’s head says he’s being foolish for thinking such things. However, the realistic voice in the back of his head that tended to agree with his pessimistic side most days wisely pointed out that it would already be common knowledge if they didn’t think they still had to hide it.

… They knew they were crossing a line with this shit. That’s why they kept it on the downlow. If he got out of here, if he found a way to communicate with others outside of this place, he could blow the lid wide open on this shit.

That might be worth living long enough to achieve. That might be something worth fighting for. Something she would appreciate and even commend him for.

… And yet, it still wasn’t very satisfying. Jumping into the ocean and hoping he picked the right direction? Running from the bluebloods who were going to hunt him no matter what he did? Why? Because he was worried their guns might hurt him even in this new form?

No… no, Kal knew what he really wanted to do right now. Truthfully, it was the same thing he’d wanted to do from the moment he realized the power of his new body. It had been his first and second instincts after all… take the fight to the bluebloods. Turn the hunters into the hunted. Cull them until he was draped in their fear and see where they ran to when everything seemed hopeless to them.

Turning the tables on the bastards who thought they were out for a leisurely hunting trip with their rich friends… that was what Kal wanted to do above all else.

Flexing his claws, studying the destruction he’s wrought upon both wood and stone, Kal tilts his head to the side and lets out a warbling sigh. In the end… this was only ever going to end one of two ways. With him dead… or him victorious.

Decision made and resolve rapidly growing; Kal turns back the way he’s come and begins to make his way deeper into the island’s interior. He still had plenty of time before morning. Time to prepare for what came next.

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“It’s done then?”

“Yep. It’s done. We’ll find out if it worked sometime in the next five days, I imagine. Or rather… you will. As for me… it’s time for my departure, isn’t it?”

“… I’m sorry it has to be this way, Alice.”

“I’m not. I’m actually quite excited for what the future holds right now. If this experiment proves to be a success, it changes quite a lot of things doesn’t it? For you, for me… for everyone.”

“Yes. But you…”

“Me? Yes, I’ll be hunted. But we both knew that would be the case. Frankly, I’m surprised you aren’t having someone put a bullet in the back of my head right now as we talk.”

“Alice-! I would never!”

“That sort of weakness is going to get you in trouble one of these days. If I’m captured, they won’t rely on conventional torture to make me talk, you know.”

“… You’re not allowed to get captured. That’s an order, understood?”

“Heh… yes ma’am.”

“Tch. Already so flippant and insubordinate. You’ll fit in well with the Resistance. They’ll be lucky to have you.”

“If they don’t shoot me on sight, sure. Fingers crossed.”

“Don’t talk about such things. Alice, I…”

“Yes, yes. I know. There’s no need to say it. Rather, you should start focusing on what comes next. If this works… you’ll have to decide what to do with the experiment. Are you going to extract or exterminate him once he’s done our dirty work?”

“The prisoner? I… he’s just some thug is he not? A murderer and a thief…”

“Your biases are showing my dear. Consider looking into his file a bit deeper when you have the time. Read between the lines of the after-action report surrounding his arrest maybe. His kill was not the only casualty on scene that day.”

“… For you, I’ll read up on it. I don’t know if it’ll change anything though. Father isn’t about to let such a creature live.”

“Heh. ‘Creature’. His name was Kal McKay, dear. Try to remember it, will you? He’s sacrificed just as much for all of this as I am… but he didn’t get a choice in the matter.”

“… Understood.”

“Then fare thee well, I suppose. May we meet again under better circumstances.”

“… Goodbye, Alice.”

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A/N: Excited with the initial response to this fic, but definitely still looking for feedback and continued interest.

Also consider this me asking for you guys to give me title suggestions at this point! Eventually I’ll settle on one I like.

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cblys4R7kK1aJfnBJovhawqIbCk2VHRq2Cjy6W_8ZvM/edit?tab=t.0