Hybrids: An Indoraptor Story ✓

Failsafe

||𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 20𝐭𝐡, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎||

"An alternative to what?" growled Click, still drawn to the erratic story his jailor had given. The frazzled doctor, now perched upon the ledge of the nearest wall, stared blankly ahead into the darkness, letting only a slither of light touch the fuzz of his flesh. He didn't give a response for some time; perhaps he was considering what to say after recalling his daughter's death. Her memory still fogged his mind, too much to function as he would himself. Wu exhaled in grief, only allowing his eyes to falter toward the voice behind the wall.

"To fate," Wu whispered miserably. "To life."

Click's brow raised.

"A wanton choice to better another, yes..." His head turned to Click. "No miracle or nightmare ever comes without a tradeoff. That's just how life goes."

"Oh, is that right?" Click gritted his teeth. "Death is a failsafe to joy -- how stupid are you? If I thought like that-"

"Then you wouldn't have met Seven."

"Seven and Janet do not, and will not replace each other," retorted the frustrated trainer. "They are two lives that I valued for an eternity, and one is no better than the other. Goodness, Henry..." Click shook his head, "the more you talk, the less human you sound. You lost your daughter, and you call it a blessing in disguise?"

Wu flinched. "That's not what I mean."

"But that's what I hear," Click snarled back. "You saw her as a profit for your own interests, you didn't even mourn her."

"I did mourn her, I loved her!"

"Then why is she dead?!"

Henry whirled around, eyes growing red with tears. For a minute nobody spoke; Wu stared upon the angered trainer, listening to his prior words with hatred and pain. He parted his maw, thinking to Autumn once more, then shook his head. And then, just through that haze of anguish, came a speck of light. A twinkle, something that set Click on edge.

"She wasn't."

Click's eyes narrowed, hands raising toward the glass. "But you just told me-"

"Because you jump to conclusions too often," he said softly, slumping back onto the ledge. "Everyone believes that what's put in the ground... stays in the ground. That a skeleton is just another amusement for the public eye in a museum, but the past..."

Wu paused. A flutter rushed into Click's stomach, heaving his soul until his legs dared quake. Click drew closer to the wall in interest.

"If she's not gone, then where is she?"

Henry didn't reply.

"Henry..." Click pressed against the wall. "Henry, what did you do?"

Wu took a second breath, lips quivering and pursuing as his words broke free.

"The indominus rex..." He began, "was made of many DNAs. That of the past; Carnotaurus, Giganotosaurus, Majungasurus, Rugops, Therizinosaurus, Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus Rex. As well as modern animals; cuttlefish, tree frogs, and vipers."

He slowly stood up to look upon Click.

"But I left one out. The worst one of all..."

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With skin stained in blood and swarmed with sweat, Doctor Henry Wu slowly motioned toward the gateway of the hospital, letting the neon glow of the sign above to shroud him in blood red heat. Each step was a painful one, riddling his soul with the guilt he held, and the misery yet to come. Nobody seemed to notice him as he walked through the gateway -- he had switched his outfit to that of a doctor's whitecoat, enough to fit in with the crowd of madness. Nor did they question the strange needle he gripped in his right hand, trembling against the seams of his pants. His shoulder was bruised by countless civilians and doctors swarming the area; new victims of the prior stampede flooded through the gates, screaming for help. But all Wu heard was the pounding blood in his ears, and the shakiness in his breath.