Chapter Text
"Alright, class! Let's do one final head count before we go!"
Keith listened to his teach call his classmate's names. She went alphabetically, just like she always did, and he was happy for the routine. Fairest was pretty early on the list, so it didn't take long for her to get to him.
"Fairest?"
"Beep!" Keith booped in response.
A few kids around him giggled at his odd speech and he lowered his hand in embarrassment. He could speak English, but sometimes a few beeps and bops slipped out before he could stop himself. It usually led to a fair bit of bullying, but for the most part he just ignored the idiots who mocked him.
His entire class was going to a lab in his city, although he wasn't entirely sure what they do there. He assumed they just mixed chemicals and all wore white coats and goggles, just like in the movies. After his teacher was done counting her students, she sat in the seat next to him and the bus started heading off. Keith smiled at his teacher when she looked at him, and she gave a warm smile back.
The ride was boring and he couldn't help but fidget the entire time. He's lucky he brought his fidget cube, or he wasn't sure what he would do. The building was massive. It looked like a giant skyscraper, but it had a much more open and childish entrance, most likely to welcome students. He grabbed his lunchbox from beside him and went down the isle, hopping off of the bus stairs and marveling at the tall building in front of him.
"Okay, children! Everyone stay close to me, and don't go running off! Stay where I can see you!" His teacher yelled over all the talking kids.
Keith's class was VERY rowdy, but he couldn't really blame them. They're only second graders after all. The teacher led everyone into the building. It was decorated plainly, but somehow still managed to be interesting with its little spots of color. A woman in formal attire met them at the front desk and told them that their tour guide would be out soon.
Just as she said, a large man in a white dress shirt came out of a room from behind the desk and greeted the students openly.
"Welcome, welcome! Who's ready to learn all about the scientific world of anatomy?" He said while pushing up his glasses.
Keith wasn't too sure how to feel about the man. He had gray hair and a matching well kept beard. He wore rectangular glasses, and the pocket on his shirt held a red pen. He seemed jolly and excited to teach, but something about him was... off. His classmates didn't seem to mind though, as they all yelled back at him with just as much enthusiasm.
"Wonderful! Come on now, everyone follow me! And try not to lag behind, I don't want anybody straying from the group."
The class followed him up a set of stairs and into a massive room. It had diagrams all over the walls, and there were some interactable displays scattered around. The guide encouraged everyone to find an activity, and kids ran in all directions to play. Keith found a mostly empty table with a flat image of a human male on it. There were plenty of arrows pointing to points of the man's bodies, along with a description of each part. Keith never was a big reader, so he just played with the mechanisms. He turned a gear that lied next to the man's ear, and he watched the fake eardrum in his head move in and out. It kind of freaked him out.
Keith continued to flick levers and turn cranks, watching as the fake body responded in weird ways. They were in the room for a while, but he didn't want to move to other stations. He enjoyed fidgeting with it, but became bored, and when his teacher called him over he went easily. They moved up another floor and down some hallways, each branching off to a strange room.
He couldn't really see much inside the rooms, but one caught his eye. There was a faint blue glow coming from somewhere inside, and he wondered what it could be. Keith's class turned the corner at the end of the hall, and he knew he wouldn't get a better chance. He slipped away while nobody was looking, and he ran into the dark room. He could now see that the blue light was coming from a control panel. It was just barely lighting up the object behind it, which looked to be a giant tube. He saw something moving inside.
Pressing one of the control panel's buttons, a few green lights came on in the tube, and the panel changed to match their color. Now the object inside was clear, and Keith gasped.
It looked almost... human.
Whatever it was had a human-ish figure, but looked more beast than man. It had large, sharp claws, and a swinging tail that was topped with spikes. It had a muzzle with a couple pokey fangs peeking out from the front of it. The top of its head was also spiked, but it seemed to resemble a weird mohawk of sorts. It was floating in some kind of liquid, and its arms were attached to long wires. This thing looks really sharp...
Keith heard footsteps come from outside the door and he panicked. He hid under a nearby desk and piled some empty Amazon boxes in front of him in order to hide better. Just a second later a tall woman in a white coat walked in. She looked a bit irritated.
"What are your lights doing on? You're meant to be resting. Ah well, I suppose this just makes things easier. Might as well begin your testing." She mumbled to the beast.
The creature didn't respond, supposedly asleep. Pushing a few buttons on the panel, whatever liquid the being was floating in began to drain. The lights turned red and the wires connected to it detached themselves. The beast looked much smaller now, almost the same height as Keith, although it was just a bit smaller. Keith couldn't help but wonder whether or not it was a child.
The woman opened a latch on the tube with some kind of pass code, then grabbed hold of the being. She held it gently and moved it to a table in the center of the room, one that Keith hadn't noticed before. She flicked on a nearby light switch and the room lit up brightly. Next she strapped the beast to the table with a few leather straps and grabbed a syringe from a tray on the table. She injected it with something and a few seconds later it's eyes blinked open slowly.
"Good morning, 81B."
The creature didn't respond. It seemed distressed, and it panickedly thrashed its head around in an attempt to escape.
"Come now. You know that will only make things worse. And don't act like you can't understand me, I know you can. Now, sit still!"
The beast ignored her, instead letting out a scared cry. The woman walked over to the table Keith was hiding under and picked up a muzzle from its surface. She wrestled with the beast until she got it in place, then locked it on. Keith swore he could see tears in the creature's eyes, and he felt his heart drop.
The woman picked up another syringe and stepped closer to it, causing the beast even more distress. Keith knew he had to do something.
"Leave it alone!" He yelled as he crawled out from under the table.
"What the- God damn it! Doctor ells must have lost another one of his brats... get out of here! You aren't meant to be in this room!"
Keith dodged her as she tried to grab him, and he bumped into the panel. It must have been connected to the middle table, as the straps holding the beast down released. It jumped up immediately and grabbed Keith in one of its large clawed hands, then ran out the door. Keith screamed as it ran, moving through the hallways with incredible speed. The woman couldn't keep up, and the creature ripped open a random door and ducked inside. Keith thought for sure that it was about to eat him, but when he peeled his eyes open a moment later, he realized that he was still alive.
The beast was staring down at him with white eyes, breathing heavily and looking over Keith. The boy froze, too scared to move. Then, the beast lied down in from of him and moved its muzzle into his neck, trying to comfort him. Keith squeaked in fear, but made no move to get away. He reached a hesitant hand into the air and lowered it to meet the beast's head, earning and odd purr in response. He giggled and scratched its head gently.
"You're not mean, are you? Who's a good boy?"
The beast's tail thumped happily, and it seemed to have calmed down for the time being. Up close it wasn't quite as scary, and it seems to still be quite young. Keith took in its features and noticed that it looked quite a bit like the dinosaurs in his picture books, although not as intimidating.
"Whats your name?" Keith asked.
It tilted its head and let out an odd squealing noise.
"Can't talk, huh? Okay. I'll call you... Pico!"
The Dino looked to be happy with that and nuzzled farther into him. Keith laughed and wrapped his arms around Pico's neck, pulling him into a tight hug.
"I won't let them hurt you. That lady looked mean."
Pico nodded with a growl. He looked angry and scared at the thought of her, so Keith tried not to bring it up again. Pico's stomach growled and Keith looked at his lunchbox. He didn't realize that he grabbed it when he confronted the scientist woman, and he opened it to show its contents to his new friend.
"Do you want some of my lunch?"
Pico sniffed at the food. He didn't seem very interested until he reached Keith's sandwich. It was ham and cheese, one of his favorites.
"Do you like sandwiches? Here, you can have it!"
They beast took the sandwich in its claws and sniffed it again. Keith helped it take the muzzle off with only a small struggle. It pulled the ham from it and discarded the bread and cheese, quickly eating the meat and licking its lips.
"Oh, you must be a... uh.... oh, a carnivore! I read about that in school when we learned about dinosaurs. So, you only eat meat?"
Pico nodded and pushed the rest of the meal back towards keith. The blue haired boy took it greatfully and put it back in his lunchbox. He stood up with the box in his hand and Pico followed him, only an inch shorter even though it was a bit thinner.
"So, are you a boy? Or a girl? or...?"
Pico held up one claw.
"Boy? Okay then, Mr.Pico! Do you know how to get out of here? I want to show you to my mom!"
Pico thought for a moment before nodding. Keith smiled and bounced excitedly in his spot.
"She's gonna love you! Let's go!"
The dinosaur led the way, taking the two of them back into the hallway. He looked around nervously before running down the hall. He went towards the stairs, almost making it when one of the scientists that worked for the building appeared. She screamed at the sight of Pico and called for security. The Dino panicked and ran back the other direction, turning down all sorts of halls and past many testing rooms. He tried to open some to find a hiding place, but they were all locked. Eventually he ran into a dead end, clawing at the wall desperately.
When security found them Pico squealed out an odd, terrified type of roar. It was too high pitched and quiet to be scary, but it made the security guards cautious. The guards put their hands on their tazers, making Keith scared. Pico kept making weird noises, now crying and pushing himself as far into the wall as he could in an attempt to get away. Keith's teacher came up behind the guards, followed by the tour guide from earlier.
"My god, it's got one of my students!" She yelled.
Pico got down onto all fours and bared his teeth.
"No, no! Leave him alone, he hasn't done anything wrong!" Keith yelled as he moved in front of his friend.
"Little boy, get back! You have no idea what that thing is capable of!" One guard barked back.
The tour guide moved to the front and reached out for Keith, trying to grab his arm.
"No, no!"
Pico watched in horror as the man tried to grab Keith, and he lunged forward, trying to grab the blue boy and escape. The man shrieked and pulled the pen from his pocket, embedding it into Pico's eye and making him let out an ear piercing scream.
"NO!"
"Keith ran forward as his friend collapsed, writhing in pain and clawing at his eye. Keith sobbed over the Dino as it bled onto the clean linoleum floors, screaming and growling.
"W-why would you do that?! He didn't d-do anything w-wrong!" He gasped out in between breaths.
His teacher grabbed him and pulled him close, shielding him from the bloody sight. The security guards and tour guide grabbed Pico and dragged him away as he struggled, still in agony. Keith sobbed hard into his teacher's yellow dress as she patted his back comfortingly.
"W-why... why did they hurt him?" He cried out.
The teacher didn't respond, choosing to stay silent. She led Keith out to the lobby where the rest of his class was. He made note of the blood droppings smeared along the floor as he moved towards the stairway. His classmates immediately bombarded him with questions.
"Did you really find a monster?"
"Was it scary?"
"Did it try to eat you?"
Keith didn't answer any of them, too numb to care about what they were saying. The class all boarded their bus and made their way back to the school, then went to be picked up by their parents. Keith's mother gave him a tight hug when she saw him.
"Oh my god, I'm so glad you're okay! I saw everything, it was all over the news!" She told him.
"He didn't do anything... he was just scared..." he whispered back.
On the way home he heard about it on the radio.
"...on another note, we've just heard about a tragedy at the local ------ science centre. There have been speculations for a while about that place doing weird experiments around children, and now a story's just come out relating to it. A little boy was apparently attacked by some sort of monster while on a field trip at the center. I guess they caught the beast, but the head of the company is trying to brush everything under the rug. Pretty suspicious if you ask me."
Keith frowned angrily, pissed that the story was making Pico sound so awful. He just hoped that his friend was okay.