Page 137 of Wicked Nightmare

We all turned to see him hunched over his laptop, his face a mask of concentration. Fuck, I'd almost forgotten about the USB he jacked.

Kyle's fingers danced over the keyboard, connecting invisible dots. "These breeding records... they're not just about genetics. They're trying to create something specific. Something enhanced."

I leaned in, morbidly fascinated despite myself. "What kind of enhancements are we talking about?"

Kyle's eyes met mine. "Strength, speed, healing... and if I'm reading this right, some kind of heightened sensory perception. Each bag baby was injected with a different serum, and each has its own benefits. Well, purported benefits. There's a stack of files in here following two separate cohorts. One was injected with something called AL1991 and it supposedly made them have increased sensory perception while dulling emotional intelligence. That cohort is around six now. The second was injected with RJ298C. It just lists: healing and breeding, Project X. Seems to be the third batch of this stuff, just labeled 92B. They're unstable, their minds having been split into fragments that don't communicate with each other. That cohort is almost extinct, with three remaining. It says one is thirty-three and runs a police department. Report says: successful implantation."

The room tilted around me. I gripped the edge of the table, my knuckles turning white. Part of me wanted to laugh, to brush it off as some ridiculous sci-fi bullshit. But the evidence was right there in black and white. A police department. Someone walking around in the world right now, running a department full of cops, with a fragmented brain and Chimera's fingerprints all over it. That person probably didn't even know. Probably thought they were normal. Probably thought their career was earned, their decisions their own.

The thought made my stomach turn.

"Well," I said, forcing a brittle smile, "guess that explains why I've always been such a freak. I wonder what they did to me."

Sarah's face hardened, her usual calm replaced by a steely resolve. "We need to shut this down. Now. Before they can do this to anyone else."

I nodded. The idea of other kids going through what I did made my blood boil. And not in the fun way. Not the kind of heat that made me want to play, to hunt, to carve pretty patterns into skin. This was the sick kind. The kind that made me want to curl into a ball and scream until my throat gave out, except I'd never done that before and I wasn't about to start now.

Rose slammed her hand on the table, making us all jump. "Fuck yeah, we do. I say we go back and rip their scrotums from their bodies!"

I blinked at her, then a slow grin spread across my face. "Damn, Rose. Where's this energy been hiding? I like it."

For a moment, I was right there with her. The thought of watching Chimera go up in flames was enticing. But then reality came crashing back.

"And how exactly are we gonna do that?" I asked. "Walk right in the front door? 'Scuse me, evil scientists, mind if we just destroy your life's work real quick?'"

Kyle cleared his throat. "Technically if we go at night, there's less chance of getting caught, but after our break-in, I'm sure security enhancements have taken place. So, while I share your sentiment, Rose, we need to actually find the head of the snake. That's the only way."

Sarah came up behind Kyle, placing her hands on his shoulders. "And Lakey, you might be able to help."

And just like that, all eyes were on me again. My stomach twisted into knots. They wanted me to remember. To dig into the cesspool of my fucked-up mind and fish out whatever horrors were lurking there.

I glanced at Sarah, then Rose, anger boiling in my gut that Cam was off doing God knows what and not standing with me. Protecting me. He'd been disappearing more and more over the last few days. Taking walks, he said. Checking the perimeter. But I knew what he was really doing. He was running from the same shit I was, just in a different direction. I ran my mouth. He ran his legs. Same coin, different sides.

Their faces were a mixture of concern and determination. They believed in this hypnotherapy bullshit. Believed it could help.

Part of me wanted to tell them all to go to hell. To grab Cam and run as far and fast as we could. But another part, a tiny, annoyingly hopeful part, wondered if maybe this could give me some answers. If maybe, buried under all the blood and darkness and blank spaces, there was a memory of who I was before they got their hands on me. A memory of something that wasn't pain.

I chewed on my lower lip, tasting blood. The sting of it centered me, a small hurt in a world of big, unknowable ones.

"I... I don't know if I can do this. Don't know if I want to."

Sarah leaned forward, her eyes soft and understanding. It made me want to punch her perfect face.

"Lakey," she said gently, "we can create a safe space for the hypnotherapy. Somewhere you feel comfortable and in control. And remember, you can stop at any time if it gets too intense."

I snorted. "Safe space? What, we gonna make a pillow fort and sing camp songs?"

But Sarah didn't rise to the bait. She just smiled, patient as a fucking saint. "We'll do whatever makes you feel secure. This is about helping you, not pushing you past your limits."

I hated how her kindness was getting under my skin, making me actually consider this insanity. My eyes darted around the room, looking for an escape route, when they landed on Cam who had finally come inside.

He stood silent in the doorway, a looming presence of barely contained violence. Dirt on his boots, a scratch on his forearm he hadn't had when he left. His dark eyes were fixed on me, intense and unwavering. I could practically hear his thoughts: I've got your back, babe. Always.

But there was something else there, too. Something he was trying to hide behind the hard set of his jaw. He wanted me to do this. Not because he thought I was broken, or because Sarah had talked him into it. But because he was drowning in his own memories and he needed me to go first. To be the brave one so he could follow. He'd never ask. He'd sooner cut out his own tongue than admit he needed anything. But I could see it, the way I'd always been able to see every ugly, beautiful, terrifying thing inside him.

My heart did that stupid flutter thing it only does for him. Cam might be a sadistic bastard to the rest of the world, but with me? He was my anchor in the storm. I was still pissed he'd left me alone for this long, but I'd forgive him later, after he kissed me better.

I took a deep breath, the scent of Cam's cologne grounding me. Pine and something darker, something that was just him. Maybe I could do this. If it meant protecting what was ours, if it meant burning Chimera to the ground...