Awakening

“WARNING. WARNING. NO PULSE DETECTED. MOVEMENT DETECTED. OPENING POD.” A robotic voice sounded loud throughout the lab paired with a flashing red light. Inside a stasis pod, there was a humanoid cat hybrid, banging on the glass. The medical equipment that had been put on her as she was developing were torn off and floating in the fluid as well as her oxygen mask. She kept banging on the glass before something flew through the air breaking the glass. She fell out with the fluids getting a cut on her leg after she hit some of the glass. She landed on the floor soaking wet as the fluids that came out flowed into a drain. She coughed and, desperate for air, took in quick deep breaths. She looked at her thigh as it bled. ”Fuck!”

She looked up and found a towel folded neatly on the counter. It had some dust on it but it was dry and new. She looked at the lab around her as she struggled to stand up, having no clue where she was or what she was doing there. Finally, she stood up, trembling in place, quickly grabbing the counter, not quite accustomed to balancing. She grabbed the towel, shaking it, doing her best to get the dust off it. After she got as much as she could off, she started to dry herself off avoiding the cut. As she dried herself, she looked up at the pod she was just in. At the top it had the numbers “1170” lit up.

“1170 eh? That’s my name? What a shitty name.” She looked back down at her bleeding leg and tied the towel she just used around it tightly trying to stop the bleeding. She winced a little as it got tighter but pulled it as tight as she could. “Fuck… whose idea was it to smash the glass holding me in?” 1170 started to limp around inspecting her environment. She saw this screen marked “1170” with this thing bouncing around in the middle of it. She looked down on the table and saw a keyboard. There was a layer of dust on it as well. She looked around noticing there was a thick layer of dust really everywhere. “How long has it been since this place has been cleaned?” She blew on the keyboard dust flying everywhere, causing her to sneeze. Once the dust had settled, she hit a button, looking up at the screen. The screen became way brighter as a person appeared on the screen. He looked young and femme but was definitely a guy. He smiled at the camera and waved.

“Hello! Welcome to this wonderful world! If you are watching this, I am not here at the moment. But, I will be back momentarily! I couldn’t exactly predict when you were going to be ready. I mean, your expected development time was all over the place! We will decide on a name for you when I get back. You should have the mental capacity to understand common vernacular and what I am saying. If we’re lucky, you’ll be pretty smart! If you aren’t and have no clue what I’m saying… then this is kinda awkward. Either way I should see you soon! I will explain everything then! Toodles!”

“Right so this twink is going to be my like owner or something? Fun. Real fun.” 1170 rolled her eyes as she looked at the screen in front of her. She hit a key on the keyboard again and this time a login screen popped up. “’Username: researchsubject1170’? How original… This guy has like, no imagination.” She looked at the entry below it. “Password? Hmm let me try ‘1170’… damnit… thought that’d work. Maybe it’s on a paper somewhere here.” She decided to look and spent a whole five minutes looking in drawers and cabinets before she found some clothes in a drawer. 1170 looked down at her body and shivered slightly. She was a little cold so she decided to put at least something on.

She found some underwear and a large shirt to put on. “Thankfully this guy is similar to me in terms of size. But why does he have this baggy shirt? It wouldn’t fit him at all.” She shrugged and put on the clothing she found. She looked around more, taking in more of her surroundings. “Now where does he have a mirror?” She limped around looking for a mirror but found a door and tried to open it. It was locked. She looked at the top and there was a sign that said ‘Taiga’s Crib’. 1170 started laughing loudly stepping away from the door. “‘Taiga’s Crib’?! Ok this guy has the mental capacity of a 5 year old who thinks they’re cool. Who uses the word ‘crib’ to describe a room?” She continued laughing as she walked to another door. This door was unlocked. When she opened it, she found out it was a bathroom.

The bathroom was very clean and tidy despite all of the dust. “You know after seeing him, this shouldn’t surprise me. I can only imagine his room is the same way.” She walked in, turned the light on and looked in the mirror. She pulled the shirt from the back to make it press against her front. She smiled as she looked in the mirror. “At least he made me look damn good!” 1170 had an ample bosom, with a nice figure. It wasn’t hourglass like but she had a slightly curvy body. Her eyes drifted upwards towards her head and she saw her cat ears. It took her a second to realize what they exactly were. She looked down at her waist and saw a tail too.

“WHAT?! I’m a cat? No I’m a human… but I have cat ears and a tail? What? So I’m… a cat human? What kind of sick tastes does this guy have?!” She went to touch her ears and when she rubbed them and felt them she got flustered. “Y-YEP! Th-They’re real alright!” She went and touched her tail making sure that was real too. “A-And that!” She leaned up against the counter, her hand slipping due to the dust on it. She managed to quickly recover and stand back up straight however wincing as she does. “OH SHIT! Agghh my leg… I-I guess I have cat-like reflexes though…” She turned the light off and limped out of the bathroom going back into the main room. “So I guess Taiga lived in his lab… where are we though?”

She continued limping around, looking at lab equipment, medical instruments and the like. She found a door that had a sign on it. It had a cartoon character dressed up in a heavy jacket and read, ‘Don’t forget your winter gear!’ 1170 chuckled at it before opening the door. Once she opened it, she was met with a white wall as well as a very cold draft. She shivered and looked at the wall in confusion. “A-Am I blocked in here?” She pressed her hand into the wall. Her hand sunk in a little and it was freezing to the touch. She quickly took her hand back, almost instantly figuring out what this wall was. “I-I’m snowed in?!” She shut the door, looking at the sign again, sighing. “Oh god… when is he going to get back? How long has he been gone? I feel if he left recently he must’ve had to shovel that snow… but there is no trace of him shoveling that!”

She backed up and noticed a closet to the right of her. She opened it and found a bunch of winter clothes. “Wait, what if he’s out there right now freezing?” 1170 quickly put on some heavy clothes and a pair of oversized boots. She opened the door again and grabbed a shovel out of the closet as well. “That twink isn’t going to survive out there. Maybe I can get to him before it’s too late?” She started to shovel the snow wall, the snow getting into the lab. After a few seconds she already got through to the other side. “I just need to make the opening big enough for me. Hopefully he’s ok. Maybe someone else took him in?” She kept shoveling until the hole was big enough for her to fit in. She quickly jumped through landing on the soft snow. It was incredibly windy and as she looked back at the lab, she realized just how covered it was in snow.

“Oh my god! How long has it been since anyone has been here?!” She started looking around at the huge, dead, snow covered trees around her. “Where am I?! How did he even get power here? How is this lab running?” She got up slowly, her leg still in considerable pain. Once standing, she struggled to keep her balance in the strong wind. 1170 started limping through the snow around the building trying to find anything that could resemble a path to civilization. As she limped around the building, she found on the side of the lab, a plug that was locked in. 1170 saw the wire disappear into the snow. She took the shovel she still had in her hand and started moving the snow. She found the wire was covered with something, but it continued. She continued to dig around it following where the wire led to. Eventually, 1170 found a tall white structure. She couldn’t see to the top due to the heavy snowfall. She figured it was a windmill judging by how wide the base of it was and how tall it seemed.

1170 sighed as she understood this seemed to be his way of getting power. “I don’t think we are even remotely close to any civilization.” She decided to turn back around to go back to the lab. She thought to herself that tomorrow might be better suited for coming out here. “It’s freezing and the wind certainly isn’t helping.” She quickly retraced her steps and limped back to the lab. She found she left the door open accidentally, causing some snow to get in. 1170 crawled her way back into the door, the snow still built up quite high against the lab. Once in, she did her best to shovel some snow out before closing the door. She dropped the shovel and started stripping off the heavy clothing. As 1170 took off the pants, the towel she had around her thigh came off with it. She took this opportunity to inspect the wound. It looked like it had already started to heal itself. “Already? God damn… is not even bleeding anymore… is just there now. I mean I’m not complaining.” She decided to get another towel and wrap the wound up again like before, just in case something else happened.

1170 yawned and looked around the lab looking for anything to entertain her now. She started looking through drawers and cabinets for just anything until she found a pillow and blanket. “Maybe if I go to sleep, Taiga will be back by the time I wake up. He’s probably smart enough to not get caught outside in a snowstorm. So I shouldn’t worry about him.” 1170 looked around for a nice spot to lie down. She found a vent where heat was coming from and set down the pillow and blanket right next to it. Once she lay down she almost immediately fell asleep.

———————

1170 woke up with a jolt. She shot up and looked around at the lab. “Nope… still here.” She looked down at her leg and took the towel around her thigh to inspect the wound she got. To her surprise it was already fully healed. She quickly ran over to the front door opening it. She was met with the same wall of snow as earlier, the hole she carved so she could get out was still there so not much time had passed. She let out a sign of relief but was still confused. “How is it already fully healed? I’d say only a few hours had passed…” 1170 noticed the snowstorm had died down. The visibility had greatly increased, and the sun was finally visible. Her eyes widened and she quickly put on the clothes she had earlier.

She ran out and looked at her surroundings, finally able to see far into the forest. She eventually spotted a shed that she had missed earlier. She ran back to the door, quickly grabbing the shovel and ran over to the shed. Its door was covered in snow like the lab’s door had been. 1170 cleared a path for the door to open before yanking the door open. Her eyes went wide as looking a what was sitting in the shed. There was a snowmobile. She went inside inspecting the vehicle thoroughly, mainly inspecting it for any damage. After determining nothing significantly wrong, she opened the gas tank. For her this was the moment of truth, she stuck her finger in and felt an extremely cold liquid, but it wasn’t frozen. 1170 jumped with excitement. “Yes yes yes yes! It should work!”

1170 hopped onto the snowmobile and found the key in the ignition already. She held down the start button and hoped it would start. It started chugging trying to turn over but after a few seconds it didn’t start. She sighed, immediately got to the ground and started rubbing the engine trying to get it to heat up a little. After a few minutes of trying to heat it up, she got back on, holding the button again. A few seconds pass before it roars to life. 1170 lets out a happy yelp as it turns on. “YES! Time to go explore the forest while I still have daylight!”

She didn’t even question how she knew exactly how to operate this thing. All she cared about was exploring her surroundings more. 1170 drove out of the shed heading off in a random direction. She kept driving in that one direction for a while, taking in the white landscape. She eventually arrived at a clearing. She slowed down to a stop and got off the snowmobile, looking at the very flat landscape now. “What a huge lake! He’s bound to have some ice skates at the lab. I’ll use them lat- Wait! What if he’s back now! The snow storm has stopped, he might be back now!” She quickly ran back to the snowmobile, turning it on and driving back to the lab.

As 1170 headed back, it started to become dark about half way. She looked up at the sky as it became darker and darker. Soon she realized she saw many stars. She stopped the snowmobile and decided to wait until it was darker. As the minutes passed, more and more stars appeared. 1170 sat there looking up in awe at the amount of stars that were up there. She decided to start moving slowly, still looking up every now and then as she drove back to the lab.

By the time she got back to the lab, it had gotten significantly colder. She stored the snowmobile back into the shed and quickly ran back to the lab. She opened the door and was met with incredible warmth. 1170 walked in and closed the door behind her, immediately striping down to her light clothes. “Taiga? Taiga you here?” She called out hoping for a response but was met with nothing. She sighed and walked to his computer. She tapped a button and the screen turned on. It popped up again with the login screen. The username field populated with ‘researchsubject1170’ again, the password field being blank. She started opening drawers and cabinets again. “He has to keep a paper around here somewhere with the password.”

After looking around for a few minutes she sighed and went back over to the computer. 1170 looked down at the keyboard for a few seconds before lifting it. Right below the keyboard, there was a paper that read, ‘password: govrnmtsux69’. “Of fucking course. It was right in front of me the whole time. What a password too.” She punched the password into the field and it worked. The computer’s desktop honed into view and a window popped up. It was a search engine. It read ‘Poogle’ on the front. Under ‘Poogle’ it had ‘Taiga’s own search engine!’ In a rainbow color. She chuckled and shook her head. “God he’s such a child.” As she laughed to herself, another window opened up. It was a few files. Their names were ‘Daily Life!’ ‘Zoom Zoom!’ ‘Crowd Control.’ ‘Forever and Ever!’ ‘Dark Matter.’ and ‘1170: Mew Mew!’

1170 looked at the file names in front of her with confusion. “What the fuck are these names?” She went and clicked on the file that said ‘1170: Mew Mew!’ first. There was a list of videos with Taiga on the thumbnails. She clicked the first one and a video player opened up. The video played and Taiga started talking.

“Welcome to project 1170! This is the start of something truly insane! Something I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do! Human x animal hybrids! I’ve always wanted to do something like this but those stupid like organizations kept coming after me when I tried before I was proclaimed “dead.” Well now, that doesn’t matter! I have a private client within the government offering me two TRILLION Units! I mean. I don’t even know what’d I do with that much! Anyway that’s for when this project is complete. I didn’t get a degree in biology for nothing! The time for experimentation is upon us!”

“Now the client has requested something that is classic. A neko! Human-cat hybrid! He said he wanted a neko maid for his home. Basic necessities? She needs to be sassy, but obedient. Very kind natured though, almost motherly sometimes. Strong but very pretty. He told me, and I quote HIM, ‘she needs to be well endowed and hot.’ HIS WORDS NOT MINE! I told him I will see what I can do to help out. Can’t wait to get started! I just need the stasis pod I just commissioned to be made. Big thanks to the government for that one! In the meantime, I’ll start on figuring out the maths for creating an actual being. And then the program to change how it will end up and such. One of my personal goals is to make her be as smart as me. Perfectly understand everything I understand. It’ll be hard but I want to try. Anyway, that’ll do for this entry! Stay tuned for the next one! Maybe I’ll think of a name by then!” He laughed to himself before the video ended.

1170’s ears perked up at the end there. “Name? I might have a different name than ‘1170’?! I need to know!” She quickly clicked the next entry,

“Hey! Taiga again! Who else would it be than fabulous ole’ me! Anyway, I got together with the client again to discuss more features. He told me he’s fine with the whole knowledge aspect. He just wanted the other criteria to be met and he’d be ok with anything I did. So I thought of something else I can possibly include, for scientific purposes of course! I’m thinking of a rapid healing kinda thing that happens in her body. I’ll have to configure a way for it to happen but I think I can do it! I think I could configure it to have her basically be immune to any and all diseases. From the top of my head, the only thing that will be difficult to include in that is radiation, with how it works and all of that. But she shouldn’t be exposed to it in any way in the first place so it shouldn’t matter. If it comes to it, I’ll probably figure it out.”

“So I’m sure anyone viewing this would be curious as to how exactly it works! Not… that anyone should be viewing these… they are kind of only for my eyes after all. But anyway, here’s how it would work, in my theory at least: say she gets a slashing wound for whatever reason. It will still bleed at first for a few minutes, but if the right procedure is performed, just what you would do with a normal body, her body will recognize the issue and create a kind of ‘road block.’ It will basically reroute all the blood she had going through that area, to a part that isn’t cut so circulation is kept and very little blood is lost. The body will start to repair the wound once that happens. After that, if she goes to sleep soon after, her body will kick it into overdrive. Depending on how severe the cut is and how much sleep she gets, it could be healed in a day or two! It’s that simple! I also think I’ll make it so her blood can be recovered really quickly. Her body will recognize when she’s lost a large amount of blood and immediately start replenishing it. Ok, I’ve rambled on too much now, that will conclude this video file! I’m still thinking of a name though.” The screen went to black as the video stopped.

1170 looked down at her essentially fully healed leg and nodded. “Yea, I guess that makes sense then… but where is that name! I hate 1170. It makes me feel like nothing more than an object.” She clicked the next video file. It started out with one ecstatic Taiga.

“SAKURA! I think we might name her Sakura. Or Lexi… sorry Lexi just came to me though. I’ll ask the client when we reach the end of the program. She will be his of course so he should decide. Anyway, to the main point of this entry. It’s crazy what Zawkaundium stuff can do. I mean I’m the first to discover it, which is surprising. There was so much of it in that cave! Either way, it is really the core of this project. It has some crazy properties. First off, it’s liquid at room temperature. On top of that, it poses literally zero threat to contact. You know how mercury is toxic in certain ways? Zawkaundium is completely inert to any contact, open wound or not. Watch.”

He had a beaker full of this magenta liquid in front of him. He cut his finger and stuck it in the beaker. Taiga didn't flinch as he felt as if it was water. He pulled it out and showed it off to the camera. “See? No reaction!” He looked at his finger realizing it wasn’t bleeding anymore. “WAIT! IT HAS MINOR HEALING PROPERTIES! This is incredible! I ought to do more tests. See what its limits are. Uhhh ok yea that’s the end of this entry! I’ll come back with more results after!”

“Sakura… or Lexi. I think I like Sakura. Until further notice at least.” Sakura looked at the screen smiling. “Sakura. Finally something other than a number!” She went onto the next video somewhat relaxed now.

Taiga showed up on the screen with a Band-Aid on his cheek. “Alright, Taiga here again. I tested Zawkaundium on my cheek with a deeper, more severe cut. Well let’s just say, this isn’t a miracle product. I do have an idea however that may or may not involve immortality. We can get to that in another project though. Anyway! 1170 is coming along nicely for the time being, calculations wise at least! I don’t have the pod yet. But I should have it soon. Once that is secured, I’ll go to the cave to get more of the Zawkaundium. I’ll fill the pod with it. My theory is that this is the liquid that she will be growing in.”

The video cut and when he appeared on screen again, he looked exhausted and was bleeding a bit from his nose. “Fuck… Some people found this location. They aren’t even supposed to know! The government is supposed to be protecting me anyway!” He squatted down for a few seconds before an alarm sounded, “INTRUDERS INTRUDERS INTRUDERS.” He stood back up, a Karabiner 98k in hand. He loaded the gun and ran off screen. A few seconds pass before a few loud gunshots are heard.

Sakura looked at the video confused. “Is this what happened to him maybe? Well no that wouldn’t make sense… how would I be here if he had died here.”

A few minutes passed and Taiga came back into frame, covered in blood and dragging a body of a woman. He set her down and looked at the camera. “Is this thing still on? Oh it is, perfect! I was going to need a body for 1170 anyway! Too bad she got roped into this whole fiasco by her friends. Well that’s what you get when you mess with government property these days!” He put the sniper back where it was before and smiled at the camera before the video cut off.

Sakura looked at the screen in disbelief. “Holy shit. He…” She went and opened a drawer below the computer, and before her eyes, there was the same Karabiner 98k next to a PSG1. “This guy is crazy. I want him to come home and meet him already!” She clicked on the next video.

Taiga appeared on the screen with a woman next to him with her eyes closed. She didn’t look to be in the best shape. “So this is the body I managed to snag yesterday! She’s perfect! It was a struggle to get her all cleaned up, but I managed to do it. She stepped on a mine, passed out because of it, and then later died from blood loss. Well that’s what happens when the government decides to install human activating mines around your property. Anyway, I digress. She will be the basis of this experiment!”

Sakura paused the video looking at the woman. Her eyes were wide as she started walking towards the bathroom. Once she reached the bathroom, she turned the light on, looking into the mirror. In front of her, was her reflection. Sakura, to her dismay, looked exactly like the woman that was killed. “…oh fuck.” She slowly walked back to the computer before pressing play to continue.

“I’ll… have to make sure, if this experiment is successful, to not show 1170 these files. I’m sure she might start having an existential crisis or something!” He laughed to himself. “Moving on, however, I’ll need to get a cat now. Shouldn’t be too hard, I mean the hardest part was just taken care of! Obtaining a fresh enough body is hard as it is. This one was just handed over to me! Happy experimenting!”

The screen turned black and Sakura just looked at the black screen and her reflection in it. “It… it sucks that he was right… I uhh…” She patted her face, shaking it too. “I-I need not to dwell on the past! But… I think I’ll skip around, there are a lot of entries.” She scrolled down a little and selected a random one.

Taiga had the camera set up differently in this one to include the stasis pod. There was a figure about the size of a small child in the pod with a gas mask and a bunch of other things connected to it. “So it’s been awhile. Last prompt I said I’d update when something big happened or when just enough time passed. I guess something big happened. We moved her from the large chamber, finally into the stasis pod. This Zawkaundium stuff is insane. I figured out that for the purposes of our experiment here, it will match the old DNA perfectly. So essentially, when 1170 here makes it to the same age as the original DNA holder, she SHOULD wake up! I tested it on a smaller animal and it worked, so in theory it should work here too! However, like I said in the last entry as well. The splicing of the DNA proved to be very difficult. I mean human DNA is just so much more complex. I tried to get a mouse-y human assistant… but… yeaaaa. There were a few mishaps.” It was at this point, Sakura had noticed his PSG1 was out on the desk. “But! Alas! It was successful! Lexi come here!” A small human mouse hybrid came into view and she smiled and waved. “Hi! My name is Lexi and I’m very happy to be here!” Taiga smiled and hugged her tightly. “Yes yes! Welcome to the lab! Soon we shall welcome 1170 here!” He gestured to the stasis pod containing baby Sakura.

The video just ended after that. Sakura clicked on a few more random ones. But she noticed one thing, Lexi wasn’t in any others. She went back and clicked the one right after Lexi’s introduction and opened it.

It opened with a very depressed looking Taiga, who had a bruise on his head. “They took her from me. They… just nabbed her from me. I didn’t even have her for a day. We both went to sleep, and she was gone when I woke up. MY experiment. MY result. MY ‘daughter’. I don’t know who. But they were well trained. I couldn’t even fight back. I… I’ll probably take a break for a little. I need to process this.”

The video cut to Taiga panting heavily, a very dead Lexi in his arms. “Sh-She’s gone. Just gone! She’s no more! Th-They killed her.” He paused for a while just looking down at Lexi. “I’ll give her a grave… it’s what’s best. A-At least we know S-Sakura will work! Y-Yea!” He just sat there laughing a little before the video turned off again.

Sakura stood there at the desk, eyes wide. “Holy shit… I-I’ll try to find her grave to visit…” She decided to scroll all the way down to the last entry, and clicked on it hesitantly.

Taiga was on the screen with a big smile. “Alrighty! So here’s the plan. I will update this again when she is finally out. I don’t really have any more to report on for this. So the plan is to move to another project as 1170 is forming. I’m thinking about the immortality experiment. That should be fun! Anyway! Toodles!”

It abruptly ended there and Sakura sighed. “So at least this didn’t get him killed.” She navigated over to what she’d expect him to name immortality. ‘Forever and Ever!’ She chuckled to herself as she clicked on it. She noticed there was only one video in it.

“So I did a little bit of experimentation on immortality with Zawkaundium before. I tested it on Lexi before she was humanoid and she lived far longer than any mouse should. So essentially what my plan is, is this!” He took a big syringe full of the Zawkaundium and injected all of it into a vein. “Now, we just wait! The government faking my death about three years ago will really help with this too. As of this recording, I am 23 years of age! It’s going to be cool to see what will happen with my body over these next few years so I guess I’ll just upload any kind of results. Bye bye!” It ended right there.

“Well that was anticlimactic.” She went over to another folder that was labeled just ‘Diary’. She scrolled down to the bottom and clicked on a few before the last entry, wanting to know what happened to Taiga.

Taiga, looking the same as he usually did despite this entry being about seven years later, looked at the camera in disbelief. Behind him was an older looking Sakura in the pod. “You know how, like, the government thinks it’s all pompous and shit. Yea well I can almost guarantee you that will be the cause of our downfall. Because of my high clearance in the government, I know what’s going on and shit. So the inevitable happened. The universe is… very big. It’s obvious we wouldn’t be the only living things in the entirety of the universe… Well guess who decided to show up? That’s right. Aliens. Now they aren’t the most friendly creatures, these ones. They know of a power source that we have. I don’t even know what it is yet but I will be told soon. They want to set up a pact with us. We give some of this power source to them, while they supply us with some of their high tech shit… welllll the government being the government, ignoring my recommendations too, decided they wanted more in return, profusely refused and requested we have more gain in this.”

Taiga chuckled to himself and put his head in his hands. “God why are they so stupid! I have yet to hear what will happen next, but I can only imagine it won’t be good. I’m assuming the government thinks they can take them on? Even though we don’t even have the tech yet to reach them? Well whatever, I’m prepared for the worst. In all honesty, ‘the worst’ is probably death. Will update when I hear about the next course of action.”

The video ended and Sakura looked paranoid. “Death? Oh no. Now I’m assuming the worst case scenario, I-I mean… that’s the only… plausible explanation right? N-No that’s a pessimistic way to think. He’s fine.” She took a deep breath then clicked the next video.

It opened with a distressed Taiga, hair messed up, bags under his eyes. “God why why why WHY! Why are they fucking STUPID! They just, are too full of themselves! I try, I try and try to have them make an educated decision. Yet they don’t! They don’t ever make a rational decision. This happened with the dark matter experiments too! They never listen to me. The aliens countered us with a threat, because why wouldn’t they? I’m sure the government wasn’t kind about their counter offer. And of course they asked me, ‘Oh what would you do?’ I told them I’d accept the first offer. They laughed at me and escorted me back to the lab immediately.” He paused for a little while looking at his gun. “I’m going to go to bed. I haven’t slept in about three days thanks to this shit. I swear if they fuck up again, I’m going to shoot someone. Good night.”

The video abruptly ended and Sakura looked at the screen worried. “I hope… that someone isn’t… no. He wouldn’t. I-I mean there are two other entries! Y-yea he’s fine!” Her voice started wavering as she got more worried. She clicked the next video hesitantly.

A more put together Taiga appeared on the screen. He let out a sigh. “So, I haven’t heard from the government in about a day. I kinda expected this… but I do have that feeling that I am being watched. It’s… a strange feeling. I really don’t like it. I’m really anxious and I want that feeling to go away. I just want this whole thing done with. I want to not worry anymore, simple as that. Why does it…” He was cut off by a bang at the door. He tensed up and immediately grabbed the gun on the counter, made sure it was loaded and called out, in a very nervous tone, “Wh-Wh-who’s th-there! I fucking knew I was being watched.” He walked off screen and a few seconds later the sound of the door opening was heard. After a few more seconds, Taiga walked back in frame with a piece of paper in his hand. He looked mortified. “I-it says ‘You’ll be spared.’ WHAT? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?” He looked terrified as he started panting, panicking. The video ended soon after.

Sakura, herself, looked terrified. She started shaking a little. She stayed silent and clicked on the final video.

It started off with Taiga laughing hysterically, hair messed up like before. “THEY LEFT ABOUT 0.01% OF THE POPULATION ALIVE! THAT'S LIKE A MILLION PEOPLE” He kept laughing and looked at the camera. “This is the last message I’ll put here. I’ll do more updates on my phone. But I’m abandoning this facility.” He looked over at the stasis pod Sakura was in. “Listen. Or well. I know you can’t hear me. But I was really proud of you. I hope you develop fully. There is no telling if they will decimate more people or not. You might be involved in that. I wish you the best luck and I’m sorry I can’t be there for the potential of you coming out. Hell… you might emerge to a completely desolate world. Good luck out there.” He turned back to the camera and chuckled. “Well, you know what they say. You fuck around, you find out. I guess humanity fucked around too much. Anyway, I’m Taiga, and it seems that this is goodbye. Toodles!” He saluted and the camera turned off.