"After mixing the two chemicals together, you heat it up for ten minutes, then you add the last substance. When you finish, you write down your steps and observations. In about an hour, we will all go to the second floor and apply what we've made to the organisms we have recently discovered. We will be running tests to see what they are immune to, how well they react to certain elements and how strong or vulnerable they are." Doctor Maxine explained to the ten of us interns. The woman shifted her wheelchair to face the whiteboard and wrote down exactly what we need to do. Then, everyone got to work.

My partner, Rami, gathered all of our materials while I set up our work space.

After the incident earlier, I explained to Doctor Maxine what happened, that I was lost, and she nicely let me off the hook saying it is normal for interns to get lost on the first few days. I didn't exactly tell her what I had seen, because frankly, I wasn't even sure what I had witnessed. I just pretended it never happened. Also, it turns out, our room is located on the third floor. I don't know how my mind went from 3 to 6. I guess I should really get more sleep, so my brain actually does its job.

"This chemical burns a little, so we need to be careful." Rami warns, showing me a blue liquid. "My chemistry teacher in high school had one drop of this on her leather boots and it burned."

It burns a little, he says.

Before I had a chance to reply, a blaring alarm rang throughout the building. The lights had completely shut off and soon screams erupted from the room, and from outside in the hallway. I also heard footsteps sprinting out, which tells me that everyone had already ran out of the room. I pulled out my phone and used the flashlight to see what is around me.

"Doctor Maxine!" I gasped, finding the woman stuck. A table that has been pushed aside is preventing her wheelchair to move, making her trap.

I hurriedly moved the heavy desk out of her way and carefully pushed her out of the room. However, before I was fully outside, I was suddenly forced back in, as if a strong wind had hit me. My phone fell to the ground, but the light still faces up, allowing me to see a bit of what had tackled me.

Or rather, who.

My back hits the wall and my face meets the grey eyes from earlier. Two strong arms trapped me in between, and my heart is beating like there is no tomorrow. I began to breath heavily, not knowing what to do at the moment. My body is frozen, and all I could do is look back at the grey eyes that feels like it is staring at my soul.

Then, I was caught off guard when the boy leans in. I closed my eyes and braced for the worst. Until I heard him sniff. My eyes opened, confused, to find him sniffing me. He had his eyes closed, but he continues to lean closer until his nose touches my neck. My hands made a weak attempt to push him, but at the same time, I wasn't really putting an effort. I was petrified. I couldn't even speak nor breath.

I felt soft lips on my neck and my body grew weaker.

Then suddenly, flashlights shined on us. "17! Back away from the girl!" Securities and scientists rushed inside with their weapons and protective gears, as if this man in front of me is the most dangerous thing in the planet. Maybe he is.

The boy growled viciously, exactly like how I heard it earlier, turning his back towards me, blocking me from running towards the group of men. One of the securities, holding a gun, stepped forward, and the boy gnarled louder, backing me further against the wall and spreading his arms, as if protecting me from the armed man.

I don't know what to do.

Should I run? Should I hit him? Should I say something?

"Back away now." The armed man repeated, showing no sign of fear. Neither did the man in front of me. I then watched as one of the scientists, the same angry man from earlier, had thrown a white round device at us. It had landed on our feet.

My arms involuntarily grabbed onto the boy's right arm as we both back away from the strange object. It started to beep, and white smoke emitted from it. I remembered smelling something unpleasant, then my visioned quickly darkened and my body fell, not to the ground but on someone's rough arms.

***

I woke up to two mad scientists watching me like a hawk. I had been asleep on a black leather sofa, while the men are seated on the two silvered metallic chairs near me. Darting my eyes across the room, I see a massive cage that holds the sleeping strange boy that came to me just a few hours ago. Or was it? How long was I knocked out? How did I get knocked out? Where am I? Why am I here?

"Um..." I wrapped my arms around my body, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the two scientists. One of them is the angry one who I remembered sliding a white device that caused me and the boy to be unconscious. The other one is the less scary looking scientist, who always has curiosity in his eyes, just like right now. "Hi..."

"Miss Andromeda," I flinched at the name.

"Drew." I corrected, clutching on my ID that the angry scientist had just read.

"Drew." He nods. "We would like to ask you some questions." My stomach flipped anxiously, but gestured for them to go on. "Do you know him?" The white haired old man pointed at the caged boy. I shook my head in response. "Have you ever seen him at all? Anytime before today?" I shook my head once again. I can see the frustration growing on the angry scientist's face. "Have you ever worked with animals? Dogs? Wolves? Anything?" Animals? Dogs? Wolves? What does that have to do with anything?! I shook my head once again and he groaned loudly, standing up and pacing in front of the cage. The boy stirred, but remained asleep.

The other scientist, the nicer one, sent me a gentle smile. "It's alright, Drew. I'm Doctor Rai. Are you feeling alright, by the way? Here's some water." I took the water battle that is on the table and drank some. "Doctor Tarver had used a device on you that we've made. Its purpose is to use smoke, the air, to bring creatures, people, any living creature, to sleep. It's nothing harmful." I nodded, glad to know what had happened to me. "Now, we brought you in here because we wanted to know why 17 came to you. You see, ever since you stumbled in the room this morning while we were taking tests on him, once he had seen you, he hasn't stopped growling and trying to break free and escaping and being violent. I mean, he always does that, but not as much as he did when you came."

I bit my lip and furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "I don't understand."

"Neither do we."

I glanced at the sleeping figure and observed him. He looks like an ordinary human, may be muscular than others but not anything like the Incredible Hulk, so I don't know why they put him in a cage like that.

I took a deep breath and turned back to Doctor Rai, deciding it is my turn to ask questions. "Who is he?"

"He is.. Well, we call him 17. He is is an experiment of ours. A rather difficult one." He answers, also eyeing the boy. "We found him in California, by the Redwood forest, a year ago." An experiment on a human? This is some real science fiction shit. "You see, he's a very special kind of human. He is a werewolf."

I looked him straight in the eyes to show my 'I am not amused' face, but he didn't seem to be joking around. "Ha, you're funny."

"This isn't a joke, girl." Doctor Tarver sneered, crossing his arms and narrowing his evil eyes at me. "We found the beast in the forest and studied him. We've traced his DNA and sure enough, he is indeed a half-breed. Dog and human." Doctor Rai then handed me a folder that has a picture of the boy, a black wolf, and information about him.

Experiment 17

Male

Werewolf

Age unknown

Looking at the rest of the file, it looks like they don't know much about him. I handed the folder back to Doctor Rai. "There's not much there."

He nodded in agreement. "No there isn't. He has been in this lab for a year now and we know very little of him. He is extremely difficult to work with. As you have witnessed earlier, he is violent and brutal. Refuses to cooperate with us, even when we promise we won't hurt him. He's a stubborn man."

Doctor Tarver was holding a knife when I walked in on them. I'm sure that didn't look very promising.

"A werewolf." I breathed out, walking towards the cage and standing next to Doctor Tarver.

We know werewolves existed. That is a fact that everyone here knows. However, over the years, they have gone extinct. Based on evidence, they did exist, but so many years ago. I guess, there is still one alive today. It's impossible, but here he is. It is absolutely amazing.

As I took another step closer to the cage to get a better look at the werewolf, the boy's eyes opened, and my heart increased its phase, just like how it did when he came to me earlier. I watched the grey eyes lingered on mine for a long time, then it went to the person next to me.

That's when I heard that infamous growl again.

"What is wrong with you?" Doctor Tarver hisses.

17 stood up and gripped on the bars of the cage, baring his teeth at the mad doctor. He started to thrash around the cage, even coming to the gate and attempting to unlock it. The doctor then pulled out a small container and sprayed something on 17's eyes, causing him to hiss in pain. Still, he continued to fight and made attempts to grab the doctor. He succeed in clutching on Tarver's lab coat, allowing him to put a hand on the man's neck. When I was about to step forward, Tarver then took out a small knife, the same he held earlier this morning, and slashed on the werewolf's arm.

Tarver was freed, but the doctor didn't stop there. He launched forward and made another stinting cut at the same arm, this time longer. "Stop it!" I yelled while Doctor Rai tried to pulled Tarver away from the cage. "You're hurting him!" I watched the blood prickled down 17's arm, which did not seem to have any affect on the boy, at all. As if he was not just cut.

"Hurt him?" Tarver let out a laugh, a humorless one. "Child, you can cut him with a knife and he will heal in minutes. Though, he can kill you within seconds." He glared at 17, who glared at him with more hatred than before.

Tarver and Rai then went to another part of the room, leaving me and 17 alone. Out of curiosity, I hesitantly stepped closer to the cage, until he and I are face to face, with only bars dividing us. His growling had stopped, his angry appearance left and was replaced with the same look he had given me when he attacked me. I tore my gaze from his deep one and observed the scars that Tarver gave him.

It was gone.

None of it remained but dried blood. He hasn't got a scar on his body, except a couple tattoos by his right arm. One being a long symbol that I am not familiar with, and one that I am very familiar with. It's a geometric figure of the moon, stars, mountains, trees and lake all inside a diamond. It is so familiar that it gave me chills. Why? Because I have the same exact tattoo, by my right shoulder blade.

We have the same tattoo. That is some creepy coincidence.

My eyes returned to his, and I was surprised to see that he is still looking at me with those deep mysterious sea of grey. I found myself unable to look away, neither of us moving or blinking.

"I need to take another test on his blood."

Tarver interrupts, causing a growl from 17. The doctor reached out to 17 with a syringe, and the boy instantly screams and backs away. The angry doctor let out a loud, defeated sigh, before turning to Rai.

"We need the guards again. Call them."

"Why?"

"Because the filthy half-breed refuses to let us work." Tarver said through gritted teeth. "The little shit won't let us do anything to him, so we have to hold him down."

I can only imagine the pain that this boy has been through. They treat him so horribly.

"Let her do it." Rai blurts out. "Drew can do it."

"What?!" Tarver and I exclaimed.

Rai took the syringe from Tarver's hand and gave it to me. "You can do it. I have a feeling he will let you." He says quietly.

I shook my head. "I don't know. I'm only an intern. I don't want to do anything wrong. You should do it, Doctor Rai. You're much more experienced and -- "

"Just do it." Tarver grunted.

Gulping, I turned to 17, who is glaring at all of us. When I walked closer to him, he didn't make a move to go near me, but he didn't make any noise. Though, with that glare, he didn't need to make any noise to intimidate me. I took a deep breath and reached out to him with my shaky hands.

"17." I spoke quietly. "Do you mind if I take a sample of your blood?" That sounded strange out loud. "I promise I won't hurt you. This is only so we can know more about you. The more we know about you, the more we know what's good and bad for you. We can give you what you need. You can trust me. I won't hurt you."

17 closed his eyes and inhaled. When he breathed out, he opened his eyes and walked towards me within one step. As I wrapped my hand around his wrist, I felt him twitch and hold his breath. "It's okay. It'll be quick." I did what I needed and was very glad that he didn't push me or growl at me like he did to Tarver. "There. All good."

I sent him a reassuring smile, which he did not return. He just closed his eyes and rested his head against the bars of the cage. He also let out a quiet moan, which all of us heard. When I released his hand, he frowned and looked away.

I turned back to the two scientists who are watching us like a TV show. "Interesting." Tarver mumbled, glancing back and forth me and 17. He took the blood sample from me, giving me a weird look. A look that reads, 'What the fuck did you do?'

"Very interesting indeed." Rai added with a smirk.

I scratched the back of my head. "Well, um... I gotta go. Bye!"

That's enough science for the day.