Chapter Text
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Tara’s POV:
The 5:30 alarm didn’t wake me up.
The front door exploding open did.
I jolted upright at the kitchen table, heart slamming against my ribs as the sound echoed through the house. For a second, I just sat there, staring at nothing, waiting for my brain to catch up. Then I heard his voice.
Dr. Jedidiah Quinlan—my dad.He never used the front door. That was the first red flag.
The second walked in right behind him.
“Will any of the process hurt?” the boy asked.
I turned in my chair.
He was… normal. Too normal. Brown hair, freckles, tall—maybe a few years older than me. But his eyes—
Amber.
My stomach twisted.
“Eh. You’ll heal,” my dad said, already walking past like it didn’t matter.
The boy hesitated. His eyes darted around the room before landing on me.
“Who’s that?”
There was a pause.
A weird one.
Like my dad had to remember I existed.
“Oh,” he said flatly. “That’s-nobody,” He said quickly, because apparently he does that now.
The boy frowned, confused. “Oh. Uh… okay. Are you a patient?”
“No.” I replied before my dad could answer.
“…Alright. Well—see you later, I guess.”
He gave this awkward half-smile—like he didn’t know if he should be scared or polite—and followed my dad toward the lab.
The door sealed shut behind them.
And then the machines started.
Louder than usual.
I didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
Because something was wrong.
Not just wrong—*off*.
I turned slowly and looked at the old photo on the wall.
Me and my dad, years ago.
I looked back at the door.
Then back at the picture.
Same eyes.
Same voice.
Same face.
“…No,” I muttered. “No way.”
A clone?
That’s insane.
That’s not possible.
…Right?
Then something clicked.
My dad never brought patients through the kitchen.
There’s a back entrance. Always has been.
So why him?
Why this one?
“Okay,” I whispered, standing up. “Nope. I’m done not knowing things.”
The vents were a terrible idea.
Cold metal. Dust everywhere. Way too loud.
Every tiny movement echoed like I was announcing my location to the entire building.
I crawled anyway.
Because curiosity is a disease.
Eventually, I reached a vent overlooking the main lab.
I peered through.
Empty.
“…That’s new.”
Carefully, I pried the cover loose and dropped down.
The air hit me first—sharp, sterile, electric.
Then I saw him.
The boy was already in the tube.
Strapped in. Mask on. Wires everywhere.
“Oh no.”
The Surge.
Final stage.
No going back.
A sound behind me made my entire body lock up.
A slow, dragging, *slithering* noise.
I turned.
And immediately regretted it.
It was… a person.
Kind of.
It was more of a creature- a creature with dark green skin, Three arms, Spikes running down its back, and a massive tail instead of legs. Glowing lures hanging from its head like some nightmare anglerfish; And it was holding a clipboard.
“Okay… Robert Brooks, Patient 29—”
It stopped, staring at me.
“…HEY. What are you doing here?”
I opened my mouth to scream.
It moved fast. “Shh!” it snapped, clamping a hand over my mouth. “Do you want to die today or later?”
I froze.
“…Who are you?” it asked.
I slowly pulled away. “…Who am *I?* Who are *you?!*”
“Rude,” it muttered. “I asked first.”
“I’m Tara. Quinlan’s daughter.”
That made it pause.
“Oh. *That* Tara.” It leaned back slightly. “The ‘insignificant variable.’”
I blinked. “…He calls me what now?”
“Vernon,” it said, tapping its chest. “Unless he’s mad. Then it’s ‘Vermin.’”
“…Wow.”
“Yeah.”
I pointed at him. “Okay—questions. What are you, how long have you known my dad, and why does that kid look exactly like him?”
Vernon stared at me.
“…That’s not a few questions.”
“Answer them.”
He hesitated.
“…He *does* look like him?”
“Yes!”
Same eyes. Same voice. Same everything.
Vernon’s expression shifted—just slightly.
“Huh.”
“Huh? That’s your response?!”
“I mean—Doc *did* say he was ‘special.’ Like a son or something—”
“WHAT?!”
The word echoed louder than I meant it to.
Vernon flinched. “Yeah, that’s about how I felt.”
“VERNON!”
We both froze.My dad.
“Oh, great,” Vernon muttered. “You need to hide. Now.”
“There are more of you?!”
“I’ll explain later!”
“VERNON!!”
“Behind the desk. Go!”
I didn’t argue.
From the floor, everything sounded worse. Machines screaming, Metal rattling, Someone yelling.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN A VIRUS?!”
My heart dropped.
A virus? in what?
“GET THE OTHERS IN HERE—NOW!”
Others.Plural.
I shifted slightly, just enough to see, And then I saw them. Different shapes. Different sizes.All wrong.
All… aquatic.
What is he doing?
What is he *making?*
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Vernon’s POV
When the room starts to smell like ozone and panic, It means something’s about to go very, very wrong.
“Vernon! The sequence is collapsing!”
“Yeah, I noticed!” I snapped, slamming keys. “Maybe don’t shove unstable DNA into a human body next time?!”
“The buffer should be holding!”
“Well it’s not!”
The code on the screen twisted—rewriting itself faster than I could lock it down.
That’s when I knew.
This wasn’t normal.
“The virus is alive!” Current shouted. “It’s adapting!”
Oh, that’s bad.
That’s *really* bad.
I leaned closer to the desk, lowering my voice.
“Kid,” I whispered, “if you’re gonna pass out, do it quietly.”
No response.Good.
“VERNON! Who are you talking to?!”
“MYSELF!” I barked. “It’s the only way I can get any intelligent conversation around here!”
“FOCUS!”
“I AM FOCUSED!”
The readings spiked.
Heart rate. Oxygen. Neural output.
Everything.
“All right, that’s it—divert power!” Quinlan shouted.
“TO WHERE?!”
“ANYWHERE!”
Then—
Silence.
Power cut.
For half a second, everything stopped. Then the explosion hit.
Light. Heat. Smoke. Pink. Bright, violent pink.
When the systems came back online, I looked at the tube.
Still intact.
“…Well,” I muttered. “That’s new.”
Because I already knew, the boy inside— wasn’t a boy anymore.
He was one of us now. Greaaaat...