Then, she was left staring at the screen of her laptop with the generic Your Meeting has Ended screen. This was the worst day of her life. She slid her arms from her white coat, folded it and set it on the desk chair. She needed to breathe, and she currently felt as if she were suffocating. She slowly walked back to the clear doors. The access pad glowed and almost begged her to scan her badge. She wasn't sure she wanted to enter the habitat tonight. Emotionally, she knew she needed to distance herself from Apex. It might be easier to euthanize him in a few days if she didn't spend time with him tonight. But she loved this creature, and she loved her time that she had invested in him.
She surveyed his enclosure; it was massive. It was about the size of an outdoor enclosure at a zoo. This entrance was one of two. The other entrance was an emergency pen entrance that was only accessible from the outside. The other part of his enclosure backed up to the Florida swamps, part of the protected wildlife sanctuary that surrounded the University's research center. Apex had access to all the native trees, food, materials and just about anything else natural Florida wildlife had. He was still in his enclosure, but he was wild. It had been several weeks since she had last been in the enclosure and she hadn't been in the enclosure with Apex for months.
She looked a little deeper into his enclosure and spotted him on his 'bed'. It was a mass of leaves, bark from some of the trees in his enclosure and blankets (that she had provided during a winter cold snap). One of the first instinctual drives he displayed- even before he was finished bottle feeding, was to build a bed and find comfort. It is a natural drive for most creatures to do this, but no one was sure what Apex would be like, so it was interesting that the drive to find protection and comfort ranked so high and developed so early. It was also one of the early indications that told them he would be more domestic than he needed to be.
Apex was curled up on his bed, sleeping soundly. When he was curled up like that, it wasn't obvious how big he was or even exactly what he was. He just looked like a large Akita that was sleeping curled up on a dog bed. But the truth was stranger than fiction. Apex was a Lycanthrope- he was essentially a werewolf- but he did not have a human form. He was a nearly perfect blend of dog and human. He was created to be the first of his kind- a prototype that would eventually give rise to a select breed of super soldier. But Apex- while he was incredibly strong, fast and intelligent- he wasn't enough of those things. He needed to be bigger, stronger, better, faster, smarter and deadlier. That last one was an especially difficult trait to find in Apex. He was nice. He was tolerant of people and never bared his teeth at Anna. He had never bitten her- despite having twice the number of teeth as a wolf. He had never scratched her- despite having 4-inch-long claws on the end of each finger. He had never knocked her down, despite his speed. He had never bumped into her, despite being over 8 feet tall and over 450 lbs. and he had never scared her- despite all the fact that he looked like an actual nightmare.
The goal was to get an all-black or very dark coated creature, because the Super Soldiers would be working mainly in the dark, so they would be difficult to see. But Apex came out with markings similar to an Akita. His base color was a very light cream color, and his markings were brown and black. They grouped along his back and on his face. It made him look like a regular dog when he was laying down or on all fours. But when he stood up, he was terrifying.
Apex's natural state was on all four legs, with his front legs longer than his back legs. His back feet were long, with 3-inch claws on each toe. They were more dog-like than human and he walked on his toes. The front feet were really hands. There were 5 digits, with long 4-inch claws on each finger. He was able to strip bark from trees with no effort and he was able to dig Burroughs easily. He was also able to shred food with his hands, instead of relying on his teeth to do all the work- which they could because there were a lot of them. He had two rows of teeth, which didn't all fit inside of his lips, they protruded and pointed in different directions, which gave him a slightly snaggle-toothed look.
An interesting trait, that the researchers had not predicted was the look of his eyes. They were amber-colored, sometimes a bright yellow and sometimes a slightly warmer tone. They always glowed- as if they were lit from the inside. In the dark, his eyes glowed, which was problematic for the type of work for which he was being created.
She stepped closer to the sliding doors and narrowed her eyes to get the details of the enclosure. The lights were low, but not totally dark. She wanted it to replicate the light levels in an actual cave. Since Apex was nocturnal, he would be sleeping in caves or darker areas during the day- but finding complete dark spaces in the middle of the day would be rare. So, this part of the enclosure was usually left with dim lighting. As she looked at him, yellow flickers illuminated in his space.
Those were his eyes. He was awake. He had always been able to sense when she was looking at him. Even when he was a puppy, he could sense her and he would wake and fuss if she were nearby, even if he couldn't hear her or see her yet. He had imprinted on her quite early. Her connection to him was stronger and more profound than any human she had ever met.
She scanned her ID over the access pad. The doors' lights changed to a bright blue and she heard the familiar 'pop' of the lock of the glass doors. She took a step forward and the doors glided open. They barely made a sound, but Apex heard them. He raised his head, with his eyes still glowing. Anna froze. She had only entered his enclosure a few times in the past. There wasn't a real protocol for entering his enclosure. It was very much 'at your own risk'. But she wanted to be close to him now, as they were in the last days of their time together.
She walked through the doors, and Apex tilted his head to the side like any other dog would do. He analyzed the situation, as it hadn't really happened before. He trusted her, but she didn't enter his space. He raised his nose and moved his head in her direction. He was smelling her. She took a cautious step forward and he didn't startle or move at all. He just continued to watch her and smell the air in the enclosure. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. She tried to be calm, because excitement or fear could trigger a bigger response from him. She took another couple steps forward. Now, she was about 6 feet away from him. He locked eye contact with her- which was not something most dogs did- unless they were domesticated. That was his other 'tell' that he was far too much dog to be a good soldier.
She moved to take another step, but suddenly, Apex shifted and stood up. Even on all fours, he was about 5 feet tall. The enclosure was still very dimly lit, and she couldn't see much, but she could see his eyes and she could see how he held his head. He wasn't threatening, but he was very interested. He stepped closer to her and she took a step forward as well. She cautiously reached across the darkness. She was nearly touching him, but she couldn't make herself reach any further. He closed the distance for her. He put his forehead into the palm of her hand. Something he hadn't done since he was a few months old. He remembered that was how they connected. He leaned into the contact and she instantly felt sad for him that she hadn't allowed him any affection- for fear that he would hurt someone. And he didn't really strike people as the type of animal that wanted to be cuddled. He sighed under her touch and she gave him a couple scratched on his head. For a moment, it felt like she was with a family pet. She was almost able to forget what he was.
Then, his eyes darted to the side and then narrowed at the sliding doors- which were still open, which was breaking every single protocol that had been set up for Apex's handling. Anna turned around to see Stephn in the doorway. Apex stood up on two legs- which was his secondary position. He assumed this stance when in protection mode, intimidation mode or when he needed the height to retrieve food or other resources. As he stood, she could hear his hips click into their secondary sockets. It sounded like someone cracking the worlds largest knuckles. Apex stood straight and he towered over Anna at about 8 feet tall.
"Anna, are you okay?" Stephen spoke very low and very calmly. He knew was Apex was capable of. If Apex saw Anna as his mom, Stephen was like his dad. They had both created and raised him, but Stephen hadn't been around much in the last year or two. "Hey, Buddy. It's okay." Stephen used his soothing dad voice to settle Apex. When he realized it was Stephen and not someone else, Apex relaxed and lowered himself back onto all-fours.
"I'm fine." Anna's tone was slightly shaky, but still calm. Because she was forcing it to sound that way.
"I just came to check on you. I heard about the... decision."
"No, I'm not okay." Anna was honest. She could be honest with Stephen, he had been in this with her since the very beginning.
"I know. I'm sorry." He was sincere. He was as sorry for her as he was for himself.
They had both put everything into this project. He had gone on to other projects, but Anna refused to be reassigned. She absently rubbed Apex's head, who was still next to her.
"I know you are. He's our baby."
