Mutt

Chapter 1

Artificial yellow light, thin amounts of oxygen, and complete silence had been the only things that surrounded Arthur Holmes for the past several hours. The poor man had no recollection of how he had ended up completely naked, tied with thickly coiled ropes to cold steel bars by his ankles and his wrists, caught seemingly several feet underground in a room supported only by an overgrown stalactite, where his only companion was a silent leak of what appeared to be water, creeping into his presence from a crack in the earthy ceiling. His mouth was completely unrestrained, for had he screamed, no one would come to his aid through the thick, flawless iron door. He had already tried yelling for help, but alas, he was left with the burning question as to whether he was the only functioning organism among the earthworms in a feasible radius, or if he was being ignored; tolerated by abrasive jerks with bad intentions.

Arthur was a man of order; of routine and class, and he was so desperate to keep himself knowledgeable of how much time was being wasted, that he had formed a clock out of the liquid leaking from the ceiling; every 5 drops, approximately three minutes passed by, if he had counted correctly. Of course, it would be impossible to tell how long he would be asleep, but the dim yellow haze of artificial light screwed with his head enough that he wouldn't be able to sleep if he tried.

It was 45 minutes— 75 drops— until he could hear a commotion of any sort. His weary eyes laid their gaze on the iron door as the sound of high-heeled footsteps came closer and louder, accompanied by a hideous rattling that Arthur had inferred would belong to a gurney or cart.

But, unfortunately for Arthur, it was neither. In fact, it was something much less imaginable. A woman in formal attire, black heels, black skirt, black polo shirt— the only things she showed of herself (aside from her skin) that weren't black were her bright red lipstick and her cold blue eyes. Furthermore, the very minerals hanging from her dynamic earrings were unmistakably pure, black onyx. She brought with her a large black carrier, wheeled over-excessively, consisting of nothing but framework and animal cages.

     "W-What.. are.?" Arthur stuttered, attempting to ask the lady what she was doing.

"Arthur Holmes, do you know why you were brought to our facility?" The woman spoke sternly, strongly, yet unemphatically— powerfully, but unenthusiastically. Her hands, coated with black gloves never strayed from her sides, and her posture never succumbed to the waking call of gravity.

     Arthur shook his head in concern and fear.

     "You, young man, are currently the most fertile man on the planet," said the woman.

"I-I am?" asked Arthur, partly in surprise and partly in sheer uncertainty.

"You are. We were shocked as well. We figured you'd be an imbecile, but frankly, you're a dream come true: tall, healthy, left-brained, with a genuinely average, ideal appearance and body type compared to your peers. That's why we need you to cooperate with us, Arthur."

"H-How do I..?"

"It's simple. As you probably are aware of, our use of pesticides has started to have some... detrimental effects on the land. We want the land to be stripped of man-made products so that we can fully assure ourselves that it will repair itself naturally, to the best of its ability. But we still need crops for our growing population."

The woman wheeled the cages to face Arthur.

"These," she said, "are field animals. We want to make humanoid hybrids of them— to cross our kind's superior intellect with their kind's superior instinct. They can work the farm, partly because they know our land more than we do, and partly because we can teach them how to farm."

"B..but, won't some of them want to stray from that?" suggested the brilliant, naked man.

"Elaborate," demanded the woman.

"We, as humans, have dreams that we follow... Shouldn't they?" asked Arthur.

"Ah, but they can't do anything if we enslave them!" exclaimed the woman.

"That's.. not very fair, we wouldn't want to be enslaved by them, I mean.."

"There's no other way, as of now, at least. Now, I tell you this as a government official. I want you to know that if you do not follow my orders, I can and will kill you right here. Before I ask my next question, do you understand the consequences of your refusal? You have one chance," explained the woman.

     "I-I-I..." stuttered Arthur.

"You understand, Arthur?"

"Y-Yes, I do." Arthur's eyes puddled up with fear. He anticipated his fate as the woman untied him and allowed him to move his limbs.

"Now, we have gathered a selection of unusually fertile yet very healthy female animals— these desirable traits are much more common to find in animals than in humans. We've put all of them into a slumber that will last for two more days. Now, you know the rules... I want this experiment to be as painless as possible for you, but a lot of pain will be involved either way, now. I want you to pick which animal you are to attempt to impregnate first, Arthur..." explained the woman, with an earnest and apologetic, yet cold and analytical gaze.

"Oh, God!" gasped Arthur. He had hoped his hypothesis wouldn't have been half as true.

"Make your choice, Arthur," demanded the woman.

"I-I-I," stuttered Arthur.

"Do you want me to kill you?" asked the woman, suddenly very abrasive and forceful.

"N-No!" wailed Arthur.

"Then make...your damn... choice!" demanded the official yet again.

"Uh..Can I-...see the fox first?" asked Arthur, analyzing his options to see what would be the easiest choice. There was no easy choice.

"Yes, you may, Mr. Holmes," the woman stood and advanced towards the cage, wherein lied the comatose, female, red fox.

"This is bestiality.." said the captive man.

"It is for the common good, Arthur," sighed the official.

"Is this not against the law?" asked the poor soul.

"We are the law! Your life is in danger, now save it! There are cameras in the room, and if you are not going to do what you are supposed to, then I will come back and put a bullet between your eyes. Do not stop until you are done. You will rest, and you will pick your next choice," explained the woman.

"What if the child isn't what you want?" asked the wise man.

"Then we will keep breeding it with its own kind and with you until we have every damn combination in the gradient! I will leave now and let you do your job," declared the official.

And she was gone, straight out the iron door.

Arthur looked down at the creature and wondered who the real predator was, in a relationship in which they were prey to each other.

"I'm sorry," he sniffled through the tears that leaked out of his body, along with his purity and innocence.