Stalking Death (Sinister 1.30)

Chapter One Price of Life

Dedicated to: CristeneMankasingh, abbyforbes101,
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October 5, 1982, Dr. Vera Mitchell's POV

Groans dripping from sheer anguish echo down the halls. It's wrong what he is doing. She is an omega. But Devin refused to give her pain meds. He was so upset at all those miscarriages and blamed the pain meds instead of himself. She searched for him, ached for him and he never came. If anyone... it's his fault.

"I want to push!" Letica screams and I hear it as loud as if I were right next to her. A part of me wants to go to her; to hold her and let her know all is okay. But I can't because this project matters more. I have to trust Devin knows what he is doing.

"Okay, today we are going to test you with this," I tell the patient in front of me showing her the murky red Beta Serum in the syringe. 'I have to think of them as patients, people I am helping.'

"What does it do?" The lady asks me while holding out her arm.

"It makes you stronger, more resilient to illnesses and in some cases, it has boosted intelligence." I tell her while thinking, 'yes in a dolphin.' The woman looks at me with her expression blank of suspicion in total trust of whatever I wish to do. I wish I could say she must be drugged to get this way... but in reality, the brain and how to control the mind and thoughts it creates is relatively simple. 'She believes we are a cult. She believes she is in control. She believes in a bigger and better tomorrow; and as long as she believes these things, I can exploit her.'

"Is that lady in pain?" My patient asks and I give her a disarming smile.

"Only the natural kind. She is giving birth." I say and the woman nods because we all know it hurts to give birth. 'But I do wonder if it hurts worse than when every time Letica tries to push her body frantically tries to heal itself. For her, it is beyond the pain of pushing out a child but more every adaptation her body must fight. All the science the A.I. must reject for her to push, just once. The only way we knew to force her delivery was to tell the A.I. she was carrying a parasite and not our future. And suddenly she could push. But it came with excruciating measures... frightening measures that made me second guess our goal.'

"Of course. I can't wait until my little one comes." She says patting her pregnant belly. 'Normally when a patient is brought here, we are to ask them if they are pregnant before we begin. But in this case, it wasn't needed because only pregnant women will go through this process. It is a test run of sorts. If this A.I. will thrive better in a high complication pregnancy or a healthy one. We need this answer, to answer the question 'does the A.I. need to constantly fix to thrive, or does it demand a healthy host?' For that is all these women are... hosts. Host to bring in new life. We are the beginning of a new age, and already we are beginning to mutate. Beta to Omikron was never met to be, but now the science is new. And the science is shaky. To start, we have to begin with a blank page and start again from nothing. To properly treat our patients, we need to start the A.I. when our patients are in the womb.

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January 17, 2018, Diana's POV

"Hello, Ms. Cannon. My name is-" The guy begins to speak but I cut him off. Jules stays in my room for almost twenty-four hours per day. Never leaving my side except to relieve himself. When he returns, I grill him for everything he knows and why I am here. And each time he has insisted this guy simply wants to help... that Betim had contacted him. Suspicion is my first nature; I don't completely trust anyone now.