The white cloaked man lifted the purple haired boy, holding him like a baby as he stomped out of the room. The kittens’ meows mixed in with the clanking of metal chains that dragged behind him as he left the room.

The man had no trouble carrying the small boy as he walked up the steep stairs. He didn’t want to use this room as an experiment room for humans, but he couldn’t think of any other suitable place; even with the mold problem, to start this experiment, Oren figured he would have enough time before it started messing with some of the results. Every room in their main facility building, Station Harbinger, was full, and holding the amount of kittens that this basement held would be no simple feat for those small cramped rooms.

As the man reached the top of the staircase, low voices vibrated through the wide worship-like room. Light from the stained glass windows drew onto him, accenting his light skin and messy red hair. As soon as the assistants saw the man, they rolled a worn down stretcher towards him.

“Oren, what are the plans for this procedure?” Fern, one of the assistants dressed in black asked as she removed her mask and fluffed out her long blonde hair over her light skin.

“I’ve been thinking, and I think I am going to steadily add the DNA to him over time and observe how the cats react. Of course, I will be tampering with some of the cats as well. I’ve recently received medical samples from headquarters that are supposed to increase the strength output of any living creature. They said they seem to work, but they are still fairly new so they don’t know any of the long term effects, or any immediate side effects that could happen.” Oren laid the body on the stretcher and jumbled through a box of medical supplies from a suitcase that lay on an immaculate table.

“A supplement for strength?” Arlo, a man with tan skin and dark brown hair, stood next to Fern, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You think that crossing DNA is possible but not the possibility of increasing one’s strength, Arlo?” Oren asked.

“It’s not that…” Arlo looked down at the boy before them.

“I’m with you 100 percent, Boss! We need to do all we can in preparation for the new world!” Iven, an assistant with dark skin and curly light brown hair, shouted and gave an approving nod.

“Aye, well let’s restrict this boy’s limbs down and give him a small dose, shall we?” Oren said as he began fastening the ties around the boy’s left arm. “Say, did you happen to ask for his name?”

The three assistants stayed silent and shook their heads.

“We’ll have to do that soon, we need to cover up his disappearance. You know what happened last time when we waited too long,” Oren said.

“Yeah,” Fern said. “At least we managed to get out of that though.”

After they strapped the boy into the stretcher, Oren pulled out a syringe and flicked it. He lined it up to the boys arm and pushed it in. He pressed down on the syringe and an orange liquid flowed into the boy’s arm.

His arm trembled, very slightly, but within a few seconds a violent thrashing clamored around the straps, knocking the metal buckle beside it against the frame of the stretcher.

“So far everything seems to be going smooth,” Oren said. “I figure if we start with less and have them build up to more, we have a better chance at not having them lose their humanity. Our first few patients we just got a little excited with, I think. This procedure is brand new after all, we are some of the first people to experiment with it. Who knows what is the most effective way to use it.”

“You say that, but you know all the other countries are doing it too…” Arlo said.

“You know what he means, Arlo! Don’t downplay the boss! The other countries may have these kinds of biological advancements as well, but you know we don’t truly know what others have discovered! We can’t fall behind! The next war is going to be worse than any previous, we have to take all precautions!” Iven said.

Arlo shook his head. “As long as we don’t sacrifice too many people... “

“If it’s for the good of Nhaja, it doesn’t matter how many lives we need to take.” Oren stood above the boy tracing his fingers over the convulsing muscles in his arm.

“We don’t know if there is even going to be another huge war like the Nimalstic War though.” Arlo took a seat on the pew.

“I have a bad feeling,” Fern said, studying the boy. “Things seem too peaceful right now, as if the war never happened.”

“It has been about twenty years now, maybe people just decided to forgive and forget. Life is hard enough as it is, all this hatred just makes it worse.” Arlo stretched his legs out in front of him. “Although, I do understand how everyone feels. You can’t just forgive people for killing your loved ones.”

“Which is why we need to get ahead of everyone.” Oren smirked, now watching the boy’s nails grow into miniature blades. “It’s only a matter of time until one side feels confident enough to get revenge.”

“Child soldiers though?” Arlo scoffed. “I’m not sure that’s the right answer.”

“What would be a better answer then?” Iven persisted, his face scrunched up at the hostility towards the boss.

“Experimenting on ourselves? Using the people who want to fight for their country? There are plenty of better options.”

“Arlo, why are you even here? You question our morals almost every single day,” Oren said.

Arlo slammed his fists against the wooden seat. “You know why I’m here. I don’t really have a choice do I?!”

“Oh yes, that’s right.” Oren stretched out a sardonic grin. “Well, looks like the first injection went well. We’ll just keep giving him regular small doses daily and see what happens from here on out. Hopefully he doesn’t end up like some of the mindless others at Station Harbinger.”