Species Unknown [Book 1: Aves]

SIX

Day 07
C.R.O.S.S. LABORATORIES
Aves Department
Section 3

Earlier that day...

DR. JEANINE PIERCE was finishing up with Subject A 43 for the day. Preparing him to retire for the night, she filled a syringe with his routine dose of melatonin. Being that the subject is housed inside a closed facility for the majority of the day, he never got the chance to see much sunlight except for during his break in The Observatory. Thus, despite the subject's usual protest of the pricking part, she continued the dosage of melatonin to keep his biological clock in check.

Turning to face the subject, she cringed at the sight of cold steel trapping his arms and legs against the cold examination table. He usually didn't put up a fight, but for days like today, he made too much of a fuss and had to be strapped down.

Uncapping the syringe, she held the needle up to the light. It's long thin body glinted under the fluorescent lights as she pushed a test droplet out of the shot, tapping it a few times to make sure there were no air bubbles before approaching him. The subject noticed her approaching and began to struggle against his restraints, his biceps bulged against the cold steel in a fruitless attempt to get away. Her heart clenched. She didn't want to be the bad guy, but sometimes she felt like she had no other choice.

"Shhh," she cooed. "Just one more prick and you will be done for the day," she said as she came up beside the subject. She felt him relax slightly and with her free hand, she reached out and brushed some of his raven hair from his forehead. She took her hand away and positioned the needle at the crook of his elbow. Pressing forward, she winced when he let out a soft whimper as the needle pierced his flesh.

When she finished, she applied pressure on the spot before tossing the syringe. After a few minutes, she saw the subject's eyes begin to soften and blink with sleep.

Unstrapping the subject from the testing table, she led him out of the Testing Room and back into his glass cell. When he realized she was leaving without providing him with dinner, the feathers on his wings prickled. She retreated faster when he began fluttering his powerful wings and striding towards her. She just managed to close the door behind her when he body-slammed it.

Pushing away from the door, she let out a shaky sigh. She couldn't look him in the eye as she left the room, ignoring the sound of his fists banging on the glass.

Walking towards her office, she thought about the subject's behavior. Like many other days, he acted poorly during all his testing. Throwing a fit, he flat out refused to cooperate for his training or when it was time to collect him from the observatory. In the past, this type of rebellious behavior could be attributed to his teen years and could thus be corrected with some psychological intervention. However, despite growing older, he has only become more defiant and aggressive.

As an example of his growing aggression, today when a Section 3 researcher dared get close enough to pluck one of his feathers for testing, the subject grabbed him and flew him to the top of a tree in the observatory. He left the frightened scientist up there and flew around the dome ignoring Dr. Pierce's pleas to come down.

Eventually, a group of specialized high-security guards came with rope and electric nets to subdue him. After some struggle, Dr. Pierce closed her eyes as the subject was caught and dragged out thrashing and screaming at the shock nets blanketing his body. She was too busy trying to block out the sounds of his pain that she didn't even notice her fellow scientists had taken out a ladder to help the man in the tree down.

The guards dragged him to the Testing Room and strapped him down on the examination table for her. She couldn't bear having to do it herself. She hated that he hated her, but his behavior as of late had been abhorrent. So, she hoped that a night without dinner would be a light enough punishment to teach him a nonviolent lesson.