A.S.H

Prologue

"It's done." Although a whisper amongst the pouring rain, those words seemed the loudest amongst the carcass-littered field he stood in, and what a sight it was. The pungent stench of burning flesh bitterly lingered in the air, almost making it unbearable to breathe, without feeling the need to throw up; bloodied corpses filled the compass of the naked eye, not hesitating to filter the horror of the reality before his eyes, as if to say, This is what you wanted, no?

He'd never have thought so much blood could stain his murderous hands, but what's done was done. The droplets from the sky, seemed to be the clouds mourning what he could not- he was far beyond lost within his own, unwelcomed guilt. Lifeless eyes sunk their sharpened daggers deep within his back, twisting with the same remorselessness he had given them, at the point light still glimmered within them. 

And one by one, the hopeless shrieks of every creature he'd slain that echoed in the walls of his mind, transformed into heartless laughter, mocking him for the audacity he had to show even a shred of guilt. They deafened his ears, and slithered around every one of his organs, squeezing like a snake catching it's prey - he grasped onto his torso, attempting to hastily scratch out the venomous banter, feeling numb to his own blood that poured out of his self-inflicted wounds, which poisoned the blood of his murders that had not been washed off of his clothes by the rain yet.

"Good," he almost missed the words that spoke at the other end of the phone, "Make sure all the bodies are nothing but dust. Leave no evidence." And the call ended. Those few words succeeded in snapping him back into reality, the reality in which guilt was not an option, and death was always the answer. He grimaced, as he stared at the scratches he'd given to himself; "A small punishment," he pondered, "not nearly enough to rid the unwanted weight of dead souls, off of my shoulders." He'd killed before sure, but nothing like this. 

No this, this was a massacre; it wasn't just one or two people with a swift shot of a sniper, nor a quick injection of suicide root. It wasn't a break in the neck, nor a fluid stab to the heart. No, it was all and more.

Hundreds of these creatures, perhaps even a thousand, lay slaughtered, with their blood drowning the once pure green meadow. Maybe it was the fact that they resembled humans so much, that made the strings of his now black heart twinge ever so much, or maybe it was the shock of the killing rampage he'd never had wanted to experience, but either way, he'd done what he was ordered to do.

"Henry," The man regained his hardened, cold posture, and whipped around to find the source of the voice, which of course, just had to be the Doctor, "I happened to score a jackpot." His mouth twisted into a cruel smirk, but what could anyone expect besides cruelty from this man. For as long as Henry had known him, that cruel smirk was always present; being the Doctor, or rather the scientist he was, his only goal was to experiment in ways laws forbade, purely for his own, and occasionally the Boss' interests. 

"If I were to take a wild guess, I'd say you look a little upset Henry," His brows furrowed in fake concern, "Did their deaths mean that much to you?" He snarled at him, disgusted and replused by even speaking such a thought. Henry remembered in that moment, just who he worked for, and what was expected, 'sympathy is for the weak, and guilt is for the unworthy'. They were not human, he repeated to himself, realising his mistake of feeling guilty and remorseful towards the monsters he'd slain; they were monsters not human.

"If I were to take a wild guess," Henry began, "I'd say you're a little concerned for me. Whatever happened to no emotions?" He mimicked the Doctor, which an unbothered manner. He had numbed even the slightest flicker of 'weakness' within him. The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Like I was saying earlier, my jackpot." He gestured behind him, where one of the lab guards, where the Doctor worked at, held a young, unconscious boy over his shoulder, as though he was carrying a rolled carpet, that was ready to be discarded. 

"A boy?" Why was a tiny thing like him, a jackpot? Henry thought to himself. The Doctor made a noise of disaprovement, "A hybrid- half of each breed's blood flows in his veins." Even more puzzled, Henry asked, "He needs to be dead if he's one of them." "Dead? He's not just one of them, he's both. Mostly immune to both vervain, and wolfsbane, and what's more, he's a child. He won't remember any of this, which is more than perfect to work on at the labs." His eyes glazed over with a certain psychotic excitement, that sent shivers down Henry's spine, although he knew better than to showcase his inner turmoil; "What's the point of experimenting on him?" He wasn't going to lie and say he wasnt curious as to what the Doctor had planned for the boy's future, after all, he looked merely around the age of eight.

The Doctor tutted him, dismissing the question completely, "Never you mind. I will return back to the labs. Return, when you have finished with your...work." He said, turning and leaving with the lab guard following closley behind. Henry watched their retreating figures, for only seconds more before noticing the rain had ceased.

"Spread the oil," He shouted, for all the other guards to hear him, "spread the oil!" It took at least up to an hour to make sure the gasoline was spilt over every body- the putrid smell of the bodies had started to worsen, which made it difficult to concentrate, however now that they were smeared in oil, all that had to happen, was light and dropping a match and hopefully, no rain would stop it this time. 

Several guards spread out, with a lighter each, in order to get more bodies to burn faster, and one by one, they all lit, and released the lighters before running to the top of the nearest hill, where all of them, including Henry, watched as the flames engulfed the corpses.

Little did they know that the young boy had stirred awake, and helplessly witnessed the burning, as he was carried away, unable to do or say anything, as the fire became larger and larger.

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"A hybrid, you say?" The Doctor nodded eagerly to answer the question, "Possesses the blood of both species. Healed from both the vervain and wolfsbane, so we gave him two shots of each, twice, plus a few blows to the head since he wouldn't shut up. But, it knocked him out just long enough- well he did wake up in the car, but like I said, we gave him another two shots of each." 

The Doctor had never been this ecstatic about anything. Albeit, there were a couple of times he thought he had gotten somewhere with his experiments, but this was something completely new. He'd never tested on a live patient, although the boy wasn't really human, but that only made it more worthwhile. The best part, the Boss agreed to have him take charge of the boy, or better yet, the subject, meaning that whatever experiment he condoned worthy, he could carry out.

The subject was a little thing, too young to be able to clearly remember his past, and in the near future, he'd most likely not remember any of it. To the Doctor, that would make the boy- the subject, become familiar to his surroundings at the lab. He'd get so used to the experimentations, that he'd think it's normal. He'd think that is how a 'normal' life is lived, which increased the chances of his compliance.

In other words, he was the perfect catalyst for the Doctor's work, so absolutely perfect.

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Prologue complete!

This is a rewrite of my original book, 'Subject A.S.H', that was written on my other account, @sleely_panda3

I'll be sure to write a note at the end of the original, just to show that I'm not plagiarizing, in the case that it will ease any of your nerves.

I was going to edit the original, but then I though 'Nah, there's too many things I want to change', and thats starting of the the mc's name - I don't think Lexi suited my character so I was more than willing to change it for this version. If you have read the original, some things will stay the same, so please don't spoil anything about anyone. 

Also can we talk about the blurb, like that took braincells to write. I think this rewrite has been long overdue and even if it has taken a couple years, I'm excited to restart the journey.

That is until i get a writer's block and it all goes downhill...but we don't talk about Bruno so nvm that. That's a me problem though, nothing to worry about.

I love you all for reading, ❤✌