Chapter 21: Ferral’s Siblings

“I know this must be quite a shock to you.” Victor said. Ferral walked over to one of the cages and looked at one of the experiments inside. It was one of the males lying against the wall, hunched over looking at the ground. “These are really my siblings?” Ferral asked. Victor nodded, “Yes, but they aren’t quite what you think they are.” Ferral looked at his father, confused. “You see, these five are merely clones of you, created from the arm you lost during that battle royal five years ago. A small group of our drones picked it up in the ensuing chaos.” Ferral walked around the room, looking at each one. “If they’re clones, why don’t they look more like me?” Ferral asked, “I mean, I can see a resemblance, but I figured we’d look more alike.” “That’s simple, we added minor DNA samples from some of the other scientists who volunteered. Make them look more unique. All with their own personalities, emotions, and thoughts.”

“But why? Were you just trying to make versions of me that were more obedient?” “Of course not. We simply wanted to further our cloning research and perfect it. This organization dabbles in more than just the experiments, you know?” “What else do you guys do?” “Come, I’ll tell you on the way back.” Victor opened the door and started walking out. Ferral looked at the clones one more time as he left. As they headed back, Victor continued their conversation. “Aside from the experiments and cloning, we were working on something VERY big.” “What?” “Reanimation, bringing the dead back to life.” “RE-REANIMATION?! Are you serious?!” “Indeed. It was a secret project only Jack, Armin, and myself knew. I proposed the idea as a way to bring back your mother.” “You say it in the past tense. What happened?” “Armin thought the idea of reanimation could spell trouble in the future. Cloning someone is much harder and takes more time; having to start from the ground up.”

As he walked into the room, Ferral noticed a small button on the left side that he hadn’t before. When he pressed it, holes in the front of each cage opened up, causing each of them to turn in attention. Ferral walked in the middle to see them all, each one getting up to go see him. “Uh, hello.” Ferral greeted, then two of the males and one of the females ran straight at the glass and snarled at Ferral. “GRAAAAHH!!!!” They roared, banging on the glass. “Figured, you guys aren’t the smartest. Yeah, I remember being like that.” “No smart,” A male voice came from behind Ferral, “Just no talk.” Ferral turned to see who said that, and it was the third male experiment. “You can understand me?” He nodded, “We all smart. Only we talk.” He pointed at himself and the other female in the cage next to him. “No talk good.” She said. “I see, so I guess you guys are just clones of me.” “Clones?” The male asked, “You original?” Ferral nodded, “I’m the reason you guys even exist.” The female howled at the other three behind Ferral, and they calmed down, laying back against the wall. “Why you here?” The male asked. “Well first things first, what are your names?” “9321.” “9322,” The female replied, “They 9323, 9324, and 9325.” Ferral rolled his eyes, “Should’ve figured.” “Why here?” 9321 asked again. “I’m here to help my father make a cure for experiments.” “Cure?” “Yes, you see, other experiments like you and I are out in the world suffering from prejudice of normal humans and I’m trying to stop it.” “Why no kill normals?” 9322 asked. “Because that’s wrong. Humanity may be terrible most of the time, but there’s still plenty of good to be found.”

“Normals bad.” 9321 said, “Normals hurt us.” “Pain,” 9322 added, “Lots of pain.” Ferral looked down, remembering all the pain he’s been through because of normal humans. “I know what you mean. But……” “But?” “But there’s still good with them, believe me.” They shook their heads, “No.” “Too much pain.” The three behind him whined and winced. “Guess I can’t blame you guys for how you feel. I’m positive this life is all you’ve know.” “You free us?” 9322 asked. “Well, I can’t do that. But I can do the next best thing.” The two looked at Ferral confused. “I can offer you siblingship and love.” “Love?” 9321 asked. “Yeah, it’s something I know that can fix pain.” “I want love.” 9322 nodded in agreement, “Me too.” She let out a softer howl at the other three and they got up and nodded the same as she did. Ferral smiled, “Alright, then starting today I’ll be your big brother and I’ll teach you everything I know.” 9321 and 9322 smiled enthused. 

Coming to this facility was somehow helping Ferral. Maybe once this was all over, he could go back to Central City and apologize to his friends. He felt like such a jerk for how he treated them, it was all that proto-cure’s fault. But once he’s finished this one with the help of his father, everything will be fine. He could go back to be with Everett. Ferral couldn’t wait to introduce his father to everyone, maybe even his five siblings could come if he trained them to be more civilized. However, Ferral might not be able to forgive humanity for the pain they’ve caused him, but he could try. It would take a while.

While Ferral visited his siblings, Victor and Jack were still inside the cure work room. “So boss, once this cure thing is finished what’d you plan to do with your boy?” Jack asked. “He wants peace but doesn’t know how to achieve it,” Victor replied, “And he’s got his mother’s kind heart. So I’ve got to find a way to fix that and have him see things my way.” “How’d you plan to do that?” “Despite that kindness, the seed of darkness is still there. I just have to grow it, and Project Extermination will go into full effect.” “I can’t believe after all this time, you’re still that. Talk about never letting go.” “Humanity’s a dead end. They don’t deserve to live. It’s time we swept them away and paved the way for the next step in our evolution. And that boy will be the centerpiece of it all.”