Chapter 2: A Quitter Who Won't

White light is harsh, ugly, and cruel. The dried blood stained the floor light brown, and it was a welcome relief to Levitan’s tired eyes.

The room was almost completely bare. Originally, they’d had a small side table, a couple books, notepads, writing utensils, and a private shower. Over the course of their stay here, the room had been completely stripped except for the mattress, the sink, and the toilet. Even the mirror had been removed after last week’s incident.

Whatever. Not like they needed a mirror to know they looked like shit.

Lev stood by the window to the cell and watched the people in labcoats walk by. They took notes on their clipboards, and they glanced fearfully at Levitan as they moved past their little porthole.

“Yeah, those fuckers better be afraid of me.”

They probably regretted fucking around with them. Good.

Honestly, Levitan’s sense of time wasn’t the greatest. Days passed and merged into weeks, which merged into months probably, which most likely merged into years. The light always stayed the same down here, at least in their cell. Last time the scientists had dimmed the lights for them to sleep, they’d bitten into their arm and used the blood to write cryptic messages on the wall. “Redrum”, satanic symbols, shit like that. Not because they were crazy or anything, just to fuck with the bastards keeping them there. Seeing their horrified looks was the only entertainment they got, these days.

If Levitan had to take a wild guess at the time, they’d say it was probably later in the day. Not many people were around, and the noise from outside had quieted down a bit. Not as many voices. Not as many screams. The sounds of the machines were quiet and faraway.

They stood there and watched the hallway empty out. It was fairly quiet. They considered going and lying down on their cot for a while, but that was mildly more boring than standing there watching the scientists take notes on their behavior.

Levitan looked down at their hands. Blood was caked under their nails. They knew for a fact that it wasn’t their own blood.

“... and this is Subject Seventeen, one of the most successful case stories of the facility.”

Levitan looked up and grimaced. One of the top scientists, who Levitan knew was named Dr. Roche, seemed to be leading a tour group of newly indoctrinated members of the company. There were about half a dozen people in the group, all wide-eyed and curious.

Except for one.

It was that kid from a few days ago. His eyes were wide behind his glasses, but they were wide with fear rather than curiosity. His bowtie bobbed against his neck when he swallowed. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from Levitan.

Lev knew how this whole process worked. It was simple and fiendish. After all, no one in their right mind would willfully experiment on human beings… at least, not right away.

The younger scientists were lured in slowly, under the pretense that the only genetic engineering they would be doing was to plants. Then, they moved up to animals. After they were experimenting on chimpanzees, it wasn’t much of leap from ape to human.

They stared through the glass at the tour group. Slowly, they raised their middle finger.

Dr. Roche gave an exasperated sigh. “Subject Seventeen is… very volatile, which is why they’re in this high-security cell. As you can see, its room has been stripped bare.”

Levitan ground their teeth together and bristled. It? Had they no dignity left?

“Fuck you, old man,” they snarled.

Dr. Roche didn’t change his facial expression. “Seventeen, please. We are trying to have a civil discussion.”

Levitan raised both middle fingers and brandished them threateningly. “Why should I give a fuck? Kiss my ass, you cocksucking, cunt-slurping, asshole-licking piece of shit! If we ever find the two of us on the same side of this wall, I’m comin’ for ya!”

Dr. Roche turned back to the group. “As you can see; very volatile.”

The kid still hadn’t looked away from them. He looked vulnerable, like a bunny rabbit in a cage or a little kid who’d just found out there was no such thing as Santa. The tour group moved on down the hallway, chatting and discussing scientific things that were somewhat beyond Levitan’s grade-school understanding of chemistry, but the kid lingered behind for a few moments.

Noise was slightly muffled through the glass, so Levitan couldn’t hear what he said. However, they were very good at reading lips.

“ You’re real, ” he mumbled.

“Damn right I’m real!” they snarled, slamming their fist into the glass. “I ain’t some fever dream! If you’re here to gawk at me, you can get the fuck out!”

“A-and if I’m not?” he asked, clearly trying to sound braver than he felt.

“Well, if you ain’t, then you can key in some kind’a code that’ll open this fucking door,” they said. “But we both know that ain’t ‘bout to happen. Move along, before I break this glass and break your neck! Don’t think I won’t go for it, I got nothin’ to lose!”

The kid lingered for a moment.

For a split second, Levitan wondered if they’d been too quick to judge. Maybe there was one good person in this whole facility.

“Sato! Are you coming?”

“Be right there!” said the kid. He turned and started to walk away.

Levitan clicked their tongue and went to flop down onto their bed. Typical. There wasn’t anyone with a sense of morals in this whole fucking place.

Lev didn’t see Akio turn back to the cell and stare at the steel door before finally walking away.

Akio’s heart refused to slow for the rest of the tour. He was sickened by what he saw, but he felt even worse when he realized that his cohort wasn’t as disturbed by this as they ought to be.

Well, he was the only one who’d moved straight from plant research into human test subjects. The rest of his coworkers had been dabbling in animal subjects for a few months now. They’d all been lured with promises of grant money and prestige for their work, and punished with ridicule and wage cuts whenever they publicly questioned the ethics of what they were doing.

Akio was a coward. He didn’t know the code to Subject Seventeen’s cell. He knew it wouldn’t be difficult to find out. He had the full power and potential to free them.

But Subject Seventeen was right. He wasn’t going to do it.

The Subject seemed dangerous. What was to stop them from butchering him alive as soon as they stepped out of the cell? Plus, they were bound to get caught the second the locks turned off. Akio had too much to lose. He was poised for a promotion, he was finally making a hefty salary, he’d just paid his car off, dammit!

Guilt gnawed in his chest as he climbed back up the stairs.

Yeah. He was a coward.