Another six months had gone by and Yerin still hadn’t seen a single face of any of the subjects. By now she had memorized all the facts of their lives. She could rattle off their heights in centimeters and their different weights and cell conditions, but she didn’t know details like what their hair color was or the shape of thier face. It drove her a bit crazy. She preferred to operate on a more personal level.

Dr. Wang, on the other hand, loved Yerin's progress and suggestions as she analyzed their blood. A rapid difference after that first day, since she thought she was going to be fired.

Deciding to look over the blood cell slides before diving into the technical language of the files, she was surprised by what she saw. No one was lying when they said her suggestion on molding human and animal DNA together would fit right in here. But what she found scared her. The way the cells moved on the slide was not how she'd expected. Her research had been focused on mixing the DNA with that of those animals who fit in the same class, i.e. mammals. And that seemed to be their main staple for the foundation. Each subject had wolf DNA as the basis for the fusion, but that was where things changed between them.

Subject Zero-One had a donation from an unknown fish species while Subject Ten had a diverse range of reptiles in his blood. This mixture of classes was dangerous and unstable as their entire makeup was completely different and non-compatible. Yerin voiced her opinion to Dr. Wang, who started patronizing.

“I know you haven’t been here long, Dr. Lee, but trust me. We’ve been running these tests for years.” The way her tone was sent down made Yerin feel like a child being scolded for not knowing how the TV worked. “The subjects we have here are the ones who stabilized and have shown wonderful progress. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we expanded the results to start more trials on average humans.”

That expansion never came. Part of Yerin wondered if that little piece of information about moving on with the trials was really just something she made up to pacify the conversation. As the months went on, Yerin's rose tinted glasses that she’d been staring at EXO Applied Sciences with all these years were starting to fade to a less extravagant gray. 

One shining light, however, was the ever growing friendship with Nada. Although she was technically Yerin's senior, Nada treated her as an equal. Every Friday after work, the two of them would grab drinks at a bar, complaining about some of the nurses that worked down in their ward and gossip about the attractive security guards that checked in on the lab every so often.

“I especially think that Marcus is totally into you,” Nada giggled about three cocktails in.

Yerin waved her compliment away. “No way. He’s just nice. I wouldn’t be surprised if some lucky girl had already snatched him up.”

Marcus was anyone attracted to the male ’s dream. He was handsome, with a chiseled chin and well tone body and a tender personality to match. In fact, Yerin wasn’t entirely sure how he ever made it as a security guard. He was about average height and a slim build. His personality, thought, didn't fit that of a security guard. Yerin couldn’t quite believe that man had a mean or aggressive bone in his body. But somehow he stuck around. And while all that he possessed was like a perfect check list from a catalog, Yerin didn't stray that way with him.

Nada was only a little put out about that. “Well, if you don’t want him, than you wouldn’t mind if I tried to jump his bones?”

Yerin clinked their glasses together in a cheeky cheer. “You have at it.”

The playfulness of their friendship is what really made her excited to go to work every day. While the research was exactly what Yerin had been dreaming about doing, something felt wrong deep down. Just a year into the dream company and she were losing her way.

“Have you ran those tests on Subject Sixty-One yet?” Nada asked, not looking up from her microscope.

Crap. “No,” Yerin whined. This day had been overly frazzling.

Nothing seemed to go right and now she had almost forgotten to do her main project for the day. While writing down the planned process for the test, Yerin reached over with to blindly grab her drink. Apparently that was too much of a multitask as she managed to knock overher thermal cup, which in turn pushed the exact vial of blood from Sixty-One needed, sending it crashing to the hard tile floor, shattering it in the process.

“!”

Nada looked up to see what the commotion was about and saw Yerin close to tears. Yerin started cleaning up the mess, releasing a string of curses under her breath.

“Wow, now that was a klutz move,” Nada said with a laugh. Yerin sent her an evil glare. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve done it a dozen times. Just get a new vial out of the fridge.”

“I can’t,” Yerin groaned. “I have to use the latest sample and the next one in there is at least three months old.” And on top of that, Dr. Wang was in meetings all day and not available to get a new sample.

“What happened?”

Yerin shot up to her feet at the sudden appearance of her boss, now terrified of the consequences. “I’m sorry,” she murmured, tossing the glass from the dustbin into the hazard can. “I spilled the vial for Sixty-One’s test. I don’t have another fresh tester for the trial.”

Dr. Wang frowned, but she didn’t yell like expected. “Well, that’s unfortunate. I don’t have time to fetch it myself.” She walked over to a desk in the far corner, pulling out a sheet of paper and filling in a few blank spaces. “You’ll have to go get it yourself. I’ll sign off on it. Just show them this paper if they question you.” Dr. Wang handed over the slip. Yerin attached it to her own clipboard after gathering up a sterilized needle and clean vial.

“Was there anything you needed, Dr. Kher?” Dr. Wang asked. Nada shook her head. “Okay, I just wanted to come check on you two before my next meeting. Don’t be afraid to let me know if you do.”

Nada stared at Yerin wide mouthed as Dr. Wang left.

“What?” Yerin questioned with a shrug. She were just thankful she didn’t get a verbal beating.

“She’s never done that before. Usually, she’d make me put it off until she could fetch a new vial.”

Yerin picked up the supplies and head towards the door. “Well, first time for everything.”

The door to Sixty-One’s room was right in the middle of the first hallway. Yerin had never gone passed the first set of doors, too scared of getting in trouble to carelessly walk down there. It was never explicitly said that she weren’t allowed in this area, but since she’d never been given outright permission before now either, Yerin hadn’t wanted to risk it. Unsure of what the protocol was now that she’d made it this far, she swiped your badge and pulled open the door.

Instead of a bedroom set up, on the other side was a viewing area. A large glass window gave full sight of the white room beyond. Below that was a control board that stretch across the whole length of the window. Sitting front and center was an orderly in black scrubs, leaning back in his office chair, feet resting up on the board.

He immediately sat up when he saw the newcomer over his shoulder. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah,” Yerin said, herr entire body going into overdrive. She was about to come face to face with one of level sixty-six’s biggest secrets and she couldn't be sure how to handle it. “I need to get a sample of the subject’s blood.” She handed over the slip with Dr. Wang’s signature. “Dr. Wang has signed off on it.”

The orderly’s eyes flickered from the paper in his hand to Yerin and back again. “All right. He’s been sedated, so you shouldn’t have any problems. But I’d make it fast. It usually doesn’t last too long on him.”

A loud buzz rang through the viewing room as the locks on the thick metal door clicked back. The door slid open and closed with a loud bang as soon as she was in the room. Yerin bit back a gasp at the state of the room. It really was a jail cell.

In one corner was a porcelain sink and matching toilet. Shoved in the other corner and pushed back into an indention was a metal bed with a too thin mattress. The bed was welded into the walls, making it immovable. But what really broke her heart was the man who was strapped to the bed with thick leather restraints holding down his wrists and ankles.

The bed was just barely long enough to hold his tall frame. Thick, dark brown hair stuck to his forehead from the sweat dripping down his temples. His face was soft, save for the pinched skin in between his eyebrows. The sight of his large ears that stuck out from his head would have made Yerin chuckle if it weren't for his current condition.

Grabbing the chair from the other side of the room, Yerin tried not to dwell on the swelling sympathy in her heart for this person. She sat down by his side and started sterilizing the inside of his arm, right at the crease of his elbow. He thrashed at the touch, obviously familiar with the feeling of the rubber gloves against his skin. Making quick work of getting the sample, she put the vial safely in her pocket and removed her gloves.

The amount of sweat that covered the subject’s skin was worrisome. Placing the back of her hand on his forehead, she flinch back at the contact. He was burning up.

Scared at what was going on with the subject and thinking he might need immediate care, Yerin went straight into doctor mode. Thankful that she thought to bring it along, Yerin poured over his file trying to find the right way to treat his fever. Until she reached the third page. She’d never read that far into his file, all the main information needed in the past being on the first two. Near the bottom of the page was a note from Dr. Wang dated four months ago.

As of day 768, Subject 61 still maintains his internal body temperature at 40 degrees Celsius.

It didn’t make any sense. With a core temperature that high, he should have been dead. But there he was on the bed, breathing. Reaching out one more time, the moment her skin made contact with his, his eyes flickered open, making Yerin jump back and out of the chair.

Big, round brown eyes stared up in desperation. He only gave the restraints a few tugs before giving up. Without breaking his gaze, he parted his lips and let two little words escape before he drifted back to sleep.

“Help… us….”

Yerin put the chair back against the wall, and walked briskly up to the metal door, pounding on the glass to get the orderly’s attention. He opened the door and she ran back to the lab. Barely acknowledging Nada when asked how it went, Yerin got straight to work on the blood sample, wondering what the hell she had gotten herself into.