Prologue
Wicked Game
Rain fell from the clouds, crashing to the streets of the beautiful city of Sanctuary, California. Cars drove through the streets, splashing water onto the sidewalks and weary pedestrians. It was one of the coldest winters the city has had in ten years and well deserved. It emphasized the Christmas season for those that enjoyed this time of year.
The full moon rose above the city, illuminating the landscape when it broke through the dark thunder clouds. Lightning struck in the distance, behind the large mountains that surrounded the municipality, and the canals that crisscrossed through the city raised several levels due to the constant rain for the last week.
People rushed into their vehicles, homes, or apartment buildings just to get out of the rain. Some did their Christmas shopping while others felt that it was too cold and headed home for the night. Some stopped at electronic stores to watch the news from their display televisions to get the reports of the possibility of snow for the next few days. Sirens echoed in the distance as many on the wrong side of the law felt; that during weather like this was the best time to work. Firefighters had hoped to sleep peacefully due to the weather, but car accidents were their number one priority during this harsh weather.
With it being the week of Christmas, the MediDyne building was dark, with the exception of the guard shack. Only two guards were on duty this night, but there were five cars in the secured parking garage. Any business going on in this pharmaceutical building was taking place in the basement laboratories. Two men garbed in surgeon gowns stood on each side of a metal slab where a pregnant lady lay unconscious. One wore a black surgeon cap over his brown hair while the other wore a white cap with a design, much like an ink-blot test. The one with the black cap held a needle steady that punctured through the woman’s belly button. The other man monitored her vitals on a computer monitor.
A door opened, emitting light into the dark room, and a man, dressed in an identical gown with a green cap, walked in carrying a tray. On the tray were a series of vials filled with liquids of sorts.
The man in the black cap looked up “Ah, glad you could join us Dr. Jaeger.” He pressed the needle farther into the lady’s abdomen.
“Of course I would be here,” he set the tray down beside the unconscious lady, “She is my wife, after all.”
The man in the black cap gave a slight struggle as he steadied the needle, “Well then, will you do the honors?”
“Her vitals are steady, doctor, we may proceed.” stated the man in the white cap.
The husband gave a nod before taking one of the three vials from the tray and placing it into the syringe. He was sure to be gentle as he was in the process of operating on his pregnant wife. After the vial was in place he took a deep breath and gently pressed in on the syringe, injecting the fluid into his wife’s abdomen, and ultimately, the fetus.
It wasn’t visible, but underneath his surgeon’s mask, a grin crossed the face of the man in the black cap as his eyes watched the fluid flow from the vial and into the lady’s belly. The same process continued two more times with two separate vials before the needle was removed, placed on the tray along with the empty vials, and removed from the room by a nurse.
The three men exchanged glances between each other and the unconscious woman. All three removed their masks. The man in the black cap held a smile while the one with the white cap remained stoic, expressionless, and their colleague appeared melancholic.
“Well, how well did it go?” asked the man with the black cap.
The man in the white cap evaluated the monitor before giving a nod to his colleagues, “She and the fetus are stable. No complications, at all.”
Dr. Jaeger released a sigh of relief as his hand took his wives and held it tightly. He looked to his employer, the man who still held a smile on his face, and gave a nod.
“On that note,” the employer began, “I’ll be retreating back to my office, where I’ll reflect on this procedure, in my report.” as he said that, the two remaining men watched their boss leave the operating room and vanish behind the door.
“I understand how you must feel, doctor.” the man with the white cap sympathized.
Without looking to his colleague, “You have no idea how it feels to be doing this to your own wife.” Dr. Jaeger retorted.
“I’m sure in the end it’ll all be worth it.”
“Graham, when you’re forced to conduct scientific experiments on your wife and unborn child, then you can talk to me about how I feel.”
* * *
Dr. Zane Delphian, strategist, entrepreneur, scientific innovator, and genius sat at his reclining chair behind his desk in his large office that took up half of the top floor of the MediDyne building. His elbows rested on the arms of the chair, interlocking his fingers together, brown eyes gazing at the computer monitor while his mind worked, searching for the right way to type up a report on a project that wasn’t supposed to be taking place.
It would be much easier to create a cloning production plant he thought before his fingers met with the keyboard and rapidly began typing.
He had brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and due to the amount of mousse he chose to use; it shimmered when light hit it at any angle. Many people thought he was a beach bum due to his hair style and how tanned his skin was, but Delphian made it a personal goal to never have enough time to go to the beach. He enjoyed keeping himself busy with his many projects and isn’t a fan of hobbies that doesn’t benefit him in the end. His hobby was the constant creation of new and exciting things. Things that he could create and use in the future were his only interest. His current project, he hoped, would benefit all of humanity.
His office was dark with a single lamp, beside his desk, lighting his room. An entire wall was a compilation of windows overlooking the large metropolis called Sanctuary. His desk, two chairs, a couch, and several filing cabinets occupied his room. As far as furniture went.
His eyes marveled at the computer monitor as his fingers slammed to the keyboard, concluding with a 3-d double helix DNA strand being projected. It was projecting the final product of his project or at least what his goal was for the final product.
* * *
“It’s okay now, baby.” Dr. Jaeger sat at his wife’s bedside firmly gripping her hand.
“Is it over?” she asked, slowly coming out of the anesthesia, her vision still blurred as she tried to look at her husband of three years.
“For now. There are still a few more tests that need to be conducted before you are cleared to go home.” he stated with his eyes scanning over her face. He never wanted to forget that face. It belonged to the lady that he fell in love with during college.
She was a nurse at the community hospital while he was an undergrad at the university. They met while he was doing some volunteer work at her hospital. In the cafeteria, of all places, was where they first ran into each other, literally. After a short conversation and the exchange of phone numbers, they began dating, and the rest is history.
“More tests? I don’t like the way I feel afterwards. And what is this going to do to our child?”
“Try not to worry yourself. I have gone over the numbers myself and if my math is correct, and it usually is, no harm will come to our baby.” he assured her, patting the back of her hand.
Graham Fisher was in the next room going over the results of the current tests. He watched as a digital double helix formed on the computer screen. Specific strands broke away from the DNA strand while others appeared and filled in the gaps. Graham rubbed his eyes, removing his reading glasses.
“Becoming stressful?” a stranger asked with the glass door behind him swinging closed.
Graham turned to give a half smile to the man “Yeah. I feel for Madison. I’m, frankly, surprised that she agreed to these clinical trials.”
This man wore a thick black and grey ski jacket with a hood over his head and sunglasses hiding his eyes. A green sweatshirt was worn under the jacket and pleaded pants buckled by a brown belt at his waist with rubber boots nestled around his feet.
“May I have a look?” he pointed at the computer screen.
Graham nodded to watch the man take a step closer and lean over the desk, his shaded eyes scanning the monitor.
“It seems that everything is running smoothly, so far. The DNA is compatible.” the stranger remarked.
Graham nodded.
“I wouldn’t worry about Madison Jaeger. She has her mate to protect her.”
“What about their child? What could some of the side effects be?” Graham asked with a troubled tone.
The stranger contemplated for a moment, “Deformity is my primary concern. But if you keep an eye on the fetus, it shouldn’t come to that.”
“What are the odds?” Dr. Fisher asked.
His apparent friend contemplated more for a moment before answering, “Not good?”
Silence deafened the room that these two men occupied, glaring at each other.
* * *
Three months later
Madison Jaeger screamed at the top of her lungs. Dr. Delphian tried his best to hold the needle, piercing Madison’s swollen abdomen, steady. Walter hurried into the room with his tray of syringes and vials. After slamming the tray down on a little table he looked to his employer.
“Can’t we sedate her? Why does she have to go through so much pain?!” Walter exclaimed.
“Sorry, but she has to be awake!” he replied, shouting over Madison’s screams of pain.
Dr. Fisher observed the monitors, “Her heart rate is too high and blood pressure is rising.”
“Then I suggest we hurry,” Delphian looked to Walter, “Don’t you Dr. Jaeger?”
Walter and Zane stared each other down momentarily before Walter gave his attention to his part in the tests and connected one of the many vials to a syringe. He hurriedly walked to his wife and tried to calm her, but to no avail. Quickly and carefully he connected the syringe to the needle and slowly injected the liquid from the vial. Madison’s screams intensified.
“It burns!” she shouted with her eyes locked on her husband and full of hatred.
He shook it off and removed the syringe from the needle and placed it back to the tray. Walter then connected an empty vial to another syringe and looked to his watch, but not to check the time. He counted the seconds in his head before connecting the syringe to the needle and filled the vial with cloudy liquid. Without a word spoken between the doctors, Dr. Delphian removed the needle, placing it on a tray, and the three went into the adjacent room where they could only be seen through a window. Madison fell back in the bed relieved as the pain slowly wore off. She shifted her eyes to watch her husband and his colleagues through the window. She was unable to hear any exchange of words between them.
Graham Fisher had placed the extracted liquid under a microscope where he observed it through the lenses. He adjusted the magnification on the microscope a few times before sitting back in his stool. The other two doctors leaned on the counter with their elbows. Their eyes on Graham.
“So far, everything is okay. The tests are successful.” he said.
* * *
Two Months Later
The operation room was brightly lit with several overhead surgical lights. The three doctors garbed in their surgeon gowns occupied the room, with Madison. There was her husband, Walter, whom was currently holding her hand and encouraging her to breathe and push. Dr. Graham Fisher was present, keeping an eye on the monitors while Dr. Zane Delphian was in the process of scrubbing his hands with soap and water, in the next room.
Sweat gathered on Madison’s brow, her golden hair hanging down to her shoulders, as her husband tried his best to pull it from her eyes. Walter guided her in her breathing that they had learned from Lamaze. She glanced around in silence, looking to her husband, then to Graham.
Zane pushed the door open with his back and slipped two layers of latex gloves over his hands. Given to him by one of the two nurses present, Zane shot a smile at everyone from behind his surgical mask. His squinting eyes being the only indicator of the expression.
“Are we ready to give birth?” Zane asked, taking his position, opposite of Walter Jaeger.
She nodded.
Madison was remembering the conversation her and her husband had on the way to the hospital. She had wanted her regular OBGYN, but Dr. Delphian overruled her request, and brought in his own doctor. She was frightened, rightfully so, since she had yet to meet the OBGYN employed by Zane.
The doors to the operation room swung open with the fourth doctor entering. The doors had never been there before. Madison was introduced to him as Dr. Zen. A light green surgical gown covered his thin body with a matching mask and cap over his face. Tinted safety glasses shaded his eyes as he took his position between Madison’s legs without speaking a word to anyone.
Screams erupted from the bowels of her inflamed stomach, piercing the ears of everyone in the room. Zane Delphian removed a needle from the tray behind him, in sequence with Graham, as the two connected a vial to the needle. Madison couldn’t see the doctors approach her with the needle due to her eyes being closed, caused by her torturous screams.
The needle pierced through the knot in her belly button and continued its way to the child. It was an unorthodox procedure and everyone in the room knew it, but no one spoke up in opposition. Not even Madison. It took only a minute for the doctor to inject the fluid from the vial into the baby’s bloodstream, but it was a minute too long for the mother.
“It burns!” she screamed.
The screams continued as she forced her child through the birthing canal. And how desperately she wanted him out after all of this pain she was going through. The anguish was unlike any other that Madison had been through.
“Why isn’t the epidural working?!” she managed to ask.
“We’re not sure, but you’re almost done sweetie.” Walter Jaeger said, his eyes locked on his employer, Zane Delphian.
One last push and their newly born son was in the arms of Dr. Zen. The child was covered in mucus and blood. Silence fell through the room as no cries came from the newborn. The four doctors jerked their eyes to each other.
Dr. Zen was the first to react to the situation. He quickly cut the umbilical cord and took the child to the side, followed by the other three doctors. Madison watched from her seat feeling helpless. She wanted to ask questions, but knew her husband wouldn’t allow anything to happen to their child. The OBGYN mumbled something just out of ear shot and Madison saw Dr. Fisher grab another syringe filled with oddly colored liquid. She couldn’t see what was done with the syringe as her line of sight was obstructed by Graham’s back.
A few quick motions by the four doctors and suddenly the baby’s cries filled the room. Tears of joy swelled up in Madison’s eyes before falling down her cheeks and a smile crossed her mouth.
“Congratulations, you have a baby boy.” Zane exclaimed as he brought the boy to his mother’s arms.
Walter and Madison exchanged smiles. Zane and Dr. Zen exited the room while Madison cradled her son in her arms. Only the gleeful sounds of a baby were heard in the operation room and all attention was on him. Then, Dr. Fisher approached the family.
“Well? Does he have a name?” Graham asked with an empathetic smile.
“Brody.” Madison said without taking her eyes away from the baby.
Dr. Zen and Delphian watched from the next room, through a window.
“What’s your prognosis?” Zane asked his colleague.
Dr. Zen removed the latex gloves and tossed them to the trash bin, “A healthy boy.”
“I mean, do you think he will make a difference?”
“It is a possibility, but only time will tell.” Dr. Zen turned and started out of the wash room.
Zane shook his head, clenched his teeth together, and grabbed the doctor by his arm, “I wanna know if my procedure was a failure or not.”
“I gave you your answer. You just don’t like it.”
“You know the truth, I know you do.”
In the blink of an eye, Dr. Zen rotated his arm around to grab Zane’s arm, while bring his right hand to wrap around Zane’s neck. He gently tightened his grip around Delphian’s throat as he leaned forward, arching Zane’s back. The two were nose to nose now. Zane stared into the tinted shades with horror on his face while, unknowingly, Dr. Zen shot back a look of aggravation with his hidden eyes.
“Never grab my arm out of frustration, Zane. I would deeply appreciate it.” Dr. Zen said and dropped Delphian to the ground.
Zane watched the man exit through the double swinging doors. He rubbed his neck, never having seen such speed and strength. That’s when serenity and reassurance crossed Zane’s face.
