A Monstrous End

"That can't be."

Kan stared at the man who had been his... what? Friend? Caretaker? Keeper? Jailer would be a more accurate term today, although none of those terms seemed to really fit the six foot four tower of muscle that stood before him.

O--which what how he was known--stood with his thick arms folded across his chest. His stance was rigid, his gaze piercing in a way that told Kan he was not joking--not that O ever cracked a joke. Kan was not sure the man even knew how to. But that was the thing about the Partwo--human words, traits, and mannerisms didn't always make sense to them because they just weren't human.

Although after knowing O for as long as he had, Kan sometimes forgot that. Well, forget was not the right word. Overlooked was probably more accurate.

In fact, as he gazed at him now, it was hard to miss that O was not human. Aside from being a bipedal and having limbs in roughly the same proportion as some very large humans he knew, O did not look like most people.

The most obvious of the differences was that the Partwo had black eyes--not just irises that were black. Their eyeballs were a solid black with a slight shine and no center of the eye could be seen, so it was hard to tell what they were actually looking at. That was what made conversations with them unnerving because you could be off to the side or right in front of one and suddenly have him or her comment about what you were doing or someone else entirely.

But their eyes were not the only thing that set them apart from humans. The also had nails that were more like stubby claws. And unlike most human inhabitants, the Partwo were not fond of summers. They preferred clouds and overcast skies. They liked the dark and the cold--not snow--just the cold. But that was probably due to the fact that their home world was a mountainous rock and they tended to live in large caverns. They didn't even have a proper sun for their planet.

O also had the typical skin coloration as the rest of his kind--a deep purple-brown that was thick and cracked like the scales of a reptile or mud that was too dry. His hair was black and long, almost stringy in appearance, and it usually hung loose down his back. Today it was pulled into a ponytail with small gold rings on either side. He also wore a pair of golden armbands and bracelets that looked as though they would snap if he flexed his muscles too much.

On any other day, Kan wouldn't have given the Partwo much thought, but today was his check-in day and for that reason alone he had reported to the research station as instructed. Well, that, and the fact that for the past week he had been having a lot of random pain in his arms and legs. There had also been that stabbing sensation in his chest and the chill that has started two days ago.

Kan knew that it was a result of the medication he was on wearing off, but he had never before had such a reaction. Symptoms of a depletion had always been mild, but this time...

He tired not to think about it, had tired to put any misgivings from his mind. But was hard, especially since there was the ever present nightmare of what it might mean.

A cold sweat broke across his forehead just thinking about it. Try as he might, the journey to the lab and effort to check-in had only given him more time to imagine the worst. So it was with some relief that he had made it to the examination room where O had been waiting with two human doctors and another Partwo.

Normally, Kan would just listen and then nod to whatever the Partwo and human doctors told him, get his injections, and then leave. But today was different. Today he had been shown in, his blood taken and then that was it. Everything had stopped. There was no reading of his pulse, further scans, or oral questionnaire about how he was doing. The normal routine had halted and then O had come in with the dreaded news.

"I am sorry," O said around his thick tongue, "but you cannot receive any more injections."

Kan blinked at him as his mind went blank. He had to get those shots. He had to. The regular infusions were the only thing keeping him from... it was the only thing keeping him human.

"There has to be a mistake." Kan licked his dry lips. "You didn't do any of the other tests. You have to finish that and recheck your findings. You've gotta be wrong about this."

The human doctor that stepped into the room carried a clipboard and wore thick glasses. He approached the bed where Kan sat, stepping around O's dominant and immovable form.

"There's no mistake," the balding man said. "The toxins in your blood have reach a critical state. We can't administer another dose of the suppressant without sending your body into shock." He looked over the rim of his glasses. "It could kill you. Besides, you knew that this was a possibility."

Kan shook his head still trying to grasp what the man was saying--what they were both saying. If he didn't receive those injections he was going to lose his humanity. He was going to become...

A sick feeling festered in his gut. "But I thought... I thought there was a chance..."

O shifted his stance though his solemn expression did not change. "There was a chance that the Partwo DNA could be suppressed for a longer period of time, but there was no guarantee. We had hoped it could be sustained until you were much older, but unfortunately it seems like the match of species is not a good one."

A good one? Kan snorted. The fact that they had even tried the combination after already determining that there was only a small chance it would work seemed ill-advised. The fact that he was the one paying for their choice was just cruel. He hadn't been the one to decide it was a good idea to cross Partwo DNA with human DNA to see what happened. He wasn't the one that volunteered for this experiment.

He was just the result, the product of a desperate attempt to revitalize the human race--a dying race--that would soon vanish if a solution to their genetic deterioration could not be found. Partwo DNA was known to be strong and restorative, but it was also aggressive. They had known this, and that it had a tendency to consume other forms of DNA and convert to its own. Still they had attempted to weed out most of those traits. They had created the suppressant to help maintain human characteristics and DNA in the body. For over twenty-seven years he had been able to live a mostly normal life--with the exceptions of his regular check-ins and shots. But now...?

The feeling of floating gripped Kan as he sat on the bed. His fingers curled around the coarse sheets until he could hear the plastic mattress beneath.

He was going to change. They were going to let him change. They would probably monitor his progress, seeing exactly how he changed and how long it took for the Partwo DNA to completely rewrite his system. They would observe the whole process and think nothing about what this was doing to him.

He wanted a life on Earth. He had wanted a family. But all of that had to be put off. Friends and acquaintances had to be monitored and approved. He was not permitted to like or even love anyone else because there was always the chance things could go wrong.

A cold knot built within his gut. He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. The nightmare of him transforming into a beast was coming true. Could he feel it even now? Was the sick feeling that made him want to vomit just emotional stress or was it the beginnings of a monstrous transition? He was going to be sick.

"Kan."

"Don't," he bit between clenched teeth. His eyes shot to O's with sudden hatred. "Don't tell me there's nothing more that can be done."

O's jaw twitched. "I am sorry."

"Sorry," Kan spat. "You're both so sorry, aren't you?" He jumped off the bed and immediately two men with tasers stepped into the room and closed the door. "So sorry that it won't be you that'll have to turn into a monster. So sorry that you won't have to go through all the pain and mutilation. You have no right..."

He shoved past the doctor, but O caught by the arm.

Kan swung back with a punch, but it barely fazed the Partwo. He grabbed Kan by the wrist, taking his other and holding him at arm's length.

Kan screamed and began to kick. "Let me go, you filthy--"

"Kan!"

"Don't you talk to me," he snapped at the doctor, "you who get to stay human!"

"We don't know the extent or how far this will go," the man said as he adjusted his glasses. "It may not consume you. You still have a good percentage of human DNA. We don't even know how long it will take before you'll see any physical changes." 

But Kan could already feel the ice in his sweat begin to burn. He could see it in O's eyes as he glared at the Partwo. Their DNA was too strong and it would act at the first opportunity it got. The lack of anything to fight against it would mean he could be converted by evening.

The thought of it made him want to wretch. They made him want to wretch. Playing with someone else's life--ruining someone else's future so that they could... what? Maybe they would find a solution to their problem of the human race dying off? Species lived and died. They went extinct. That was how things worked. Maybe humanity wasn't meant to survive into perpetuity. They'd had a nice run--longer than some creatures that had previously inhabited the planet.

Kan shook within O's grip. The doctor had left the room. The two guards had moved to the outside of the door and sealed it shut. It was just O and him and a whole flood of white coats and Partwo gazing at them from the observation windows. 

"Kan."

Kan shook his head as he tried kick, twist, and break O's hold on him. It made no difference, but he could not just stand there and let it happen. He was human--at least partly. And he wanted to stay human. He wanted to return home and live a life--his life. He wanted to remain on Earth and not be locked away in some lab or banished to another planet.

The muscles in his arms and legs seized. The pain of a cramp started. He pulled against O as he began to tremble. In his gut was a jumbled mess of bile and nausea.

"Please," he said as sweat beaded on either side of face.

O's face was impassive, their lack of expression normal, although in this moment it felt cold and dismissive. Kan's knees give way as his muscles began to spasm. He cried in pain then dropped. O held him up, scooping an arm behind him before carrying his smaller frame to the bed.

"I am sorry, Kan."

Kan writhed on the bed. It felt like a box of nails had been released into his arms and legs then electrified. It hurt to move. It hurt to breath. The thudding of his heart was so strong he worried it would break through his chest. Then something pinched the back of his neck and a streak of pain ran through his spine, causing him to go rigid.

"This will only change your appearance," O said in a placid voice. "You will still be you." He strapped arm and leg restraints around Kan's shaking limbs.

"No," Kan said as he tried to roll away. "I'll never be me again." Tears leaked from his eyes as the last band was secured about his torso. "I can't..." His back arched as a groan reverberated through his teeth. The gums in his mouth hurt. The nails on his toes and fingers burned. He had not changed in size or appearance yet, but he could feel it coming. This was only the beginning and once it was done... what would be left of him? Would he even survive the process?

The visions of him as a mindless beast returned to haunt him. Hated and cast out, no longer welcome on Earth, the deranged figure of his dreams pulsed through the fog that was taking over his mind. He would love the dark and run from the sun. His skin would dry and crack, his muscles growing hard and firm. From now on nothing would ever be the same. He--the person he was now and had always been--would be lost... and maybe so the hope of the human race. It was selfish and cruel, but in this moment, he didn't care.