Freak of Nature - By Julia Crane Page 0,6

windows. “To make sure none of your hardware shorts in the rain with the new protective shields. We want to make sure they seal properly.” For some reason Harrington insisted they change the clear covers for teal. It wasn’t like she was going to color code her outfits to the mechanics.

“Okay.” She didn’t bother to look his way. She rarely looked at him. Of course she didn’t—they had taken anything human about her and destroyed it.

He grabbed his keys off the edge of his desk.

Lucas was probably going to need a psychiatrist after this job. How had he even gotten himself into this madness? He knew exactly how—the eccentric billionaire, Dr. Harrington, who shared Lucas’s obsession with electronics and science. His thesis on genetic mutation had caught the attention of Harrington. Cornell happened to be Harrington’s Alma Mater, and as one of the largest contributors, he got tipped off to promising students that could be a match for IFICS.

Unlimited funds and cutting edge science. Lucas couldn’t turn down an offer that had seemed so much like a dream come true. Just the thought had sent a shiver through him. He didn’t even think twice about accepting.

But Lucas never dreamed that the job would entail taking a human’s life away from her and making her into some kind of combat robot. If he were honest with himself, given the chance, he would accept again in a heartbeat. He hated himself for it.

“The track or obstacle course?” Kaitlyn asked, her voice monotone. It wasn’t that she cared one way or another, he knew. She was scanning her hardware, preparing for what her body would need. That was how she was wired—know the challenge, meet it, succeed.

For a brief moment, their eyes met. Lucas had never heard her with emotion in her voice. How would she sound if she could feel happiness? Sadness? He would never know.

Lucas turned roughly, giving her his back but not an answer. He closed his eyes, and grabbed the discarded clipboard laying on the desk.

Why was he drawn to her? Every time he was near her, she sent him into a tailspin. He hadn’t expected something meant to be a cutting edge science experiment to affect him. After all their time together, it should’ve worn off. He shouldn’t still think of her as human. What did that say about him? Nothing good he was sure.

The guilt had not left him since she arrived. If anything, it had increased. She was a person. A human. A beautiful, living, helpless girl chosen to become Dr. Harrington’s lab rat and have every ounce of her humanity erased. He wished he had known her before they altered her personality.

How many nights had he lost sleep searching through her old social media sites and reading the newspaper clippings? He had longed to know everything about the girl whose life they were going to alter in the name of science. It tore him apart seeing the person she once was come to life on his computer screen. She had been kind and adventurous, and there were hundreds of pictures of her with her friends. In her pictures, she looked much like she did now, with long dark hair that spilled over strong shoulders. But there was a big difference–she smiled. And it radiated real, true happiness. Her smile was contagious, her eyes bright and intelligent. He smiled at the thought of the image of her giving the thumbs-up before she dove from a plane. The same friends mourned her enough that they still kept a memorial page for her on Facebook. They still posted about the fun times they’d had.

They missed her because she was more than a body donated to science. And Lucas read every post.

The way she lost her life was tragic. But it was yet another example of the personality they took from her. She lost her life trying to save another.

Pull yourself together, Lucas warned himself. There was work to be done. He had to find a way to keep professionally detached. Yeah right.

Leave it to him to fall for the one girl who wouldn’t—and couldn’t—give him the time of day.

Enough already. Lucas shook his head. He was wasting time with his daydreams.

Standing up, he reached over the back of his chair and grabbed his jacket. The rain was really coming down. He should dose up on Vitamin C when he got home, to be safe. He couldn’t afford to get sick. Not when they were so close to completion.

“We’re