Chapter Text
In the middle of the night, the halls of Utopia Industries remain alive with activity.
Scientists, engineers, and security guards continue their work long after sunset. Some monitor complex machinery, while others conduct experiments involving chemicals and genetic samples.
Walking through the facility's corridors is a short woman with gray pigtails and glasses. Attached to her lab coat is an identification badge displaying her name:
Dr. Frakes.
She approaches a reinforced door labeled:
BIOLOGICAL GENETIC EXPERIMENTS
The door slides open.
"So... how is the project going?" Dr. Frakes asks.
A scientist turns around from her workstation. She has blue hair, an average build, and an ID badge that reads:
Dr. Terri.
"Project Arachne is going well, ma'am. Soon, the human trials will begin."
"Good. Our investors are eager for results. It's our responsibility to deliver. This project will not only represent the next stage of human evolution... it will be the breakthrough that pushes science itself forward."
Terri hesitates.
"Ma'am... with all due respect... who are our investors? I've never seen them."
Dr. Frakes remains silent for a moment.
"Their identities are not important," Frakes answers in a cold voice.
Terri tenses for a moment but eventually nods.
"Now... why don't you finish your shift and go home? Tomorrow, we have a school tour to guide."
Terri nods.
"Yes, ma'am."
She steps away from her workstation and walks toward Frakes. Together, the two scientists leave the laboratory.
As the door slides shut behind them, the room falls silent.
On Terri's workstation sits a glass enclosure containing several genetically modified spiders.
One of them slowly crawls across the enclosure's wall.
It reaches a section of glass hidden behind a decorative rock.
A crack.
Small.
Almost invisible.
The spider squeezes through the damaged section and disappears into the darkness just as the laboratory lights begin to dim.
The Next Day.
It was a normal day at Saint James High School.
Students sat in their classrooms, listening to lectures and counting down the hours until the end of the school day.
In History class, however, two girls were far more interested in chatting than paying attention.
One of them was Marcy Wu, a Taiwanese-American girl with short black hair cut into a sleek pixie style. Sitting beside her was Anne Boonchuy, a Thai-American girl with tan skin and bushy brown hair.
"Anne, aren't you excited?!" Marcy whispered, barely able to contain herself. "Today's your birthday!"
Anne Chuckled.
"Yeah, of course I am, Mar-Mar! In fact I have a plan of what to do today."
Marcy looked at Anne with curious eyes “Really? i though you parents would make a party like always.”
Anne shrugged “Yeah, it was strange for me too” anne looks at her friend “Like they always have times that they have something to do and then let me with their friends and sometime later comes to get me but never on my birthdays”
“What could they possibly be doing?” Marcy puts her hand on her chin “Maybe they are like… having trouble in the restaurant?”
“Nah dude, i dont think it is something from the restaurant. but enough about that because i can fina-”
“Miss Boonchuy”
Anne stops mid sentence to look at the teacher who was not happy
nervous Anne asks “Y-yes teacher?”
“I would like that you have your conversation after class, understood?”
Anne nodded quickly
“As I was saying, today's visit to Utopia Industries will begin immediately after lunch. Please make sure you've turned in your permission slips before we leave. Anyone without one will have to stay behind.”
"Wait, that's today?! We're actually going to Utopia Industries! This is amazing! Do you think they'll show us their robotics lab? Or their genetics division? Maybe both!"
Anne scratches the back of her neck
“Well…”
At lunchtime, the cafeteria was buzzing with conversation. Students laughed, chatted, and enjoyed their break. At one table, three girls sat together. One of them looked completely shocked.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T WANT TO GO?!" Marcy shouted, causing several nearby students to turn and stare.
Anne jumped at the sudden outburst before quickly regaining her composure.
"Not so loud, Marcy!"
"But why? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! You're not going to get another chance like this!"
Anne sighed.
"Look, Mar-Mar... I'd rather spend my birthday hanging out with you guys than walking around a bunch of labs."
Sitting across from Anne was a blonde girl wearing the school's uniform with a red jacket over it. Her name was Sasha Waybright. Leaning back casually in her chair, she raised an eyebrow at her friend.
"I'm all for celebrating your birthday however you want," Sasha said, "but I'm with Marcy on this one. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I mean, if it were some lame museum, I'd skip it too... but this is Utopia Industries!"
“I know… but-”
“Anne. Please re-consider this. You can do what you want after the fieldtrip! It is literally in school hours!”
“But-”
“Anne, you are not going to ditch us at this, End. Of. Discussion.”
Anne closes her mouth, looks at Sasha who has a commanding stare and looks at Marcy who has pleading eyes.
frustrated, she sighs at this ”Okay. Okay I'll go…”
Marcy gets very happy at this and warps her arms around anne and Sasha “Oh today is going to be AWESOME!”
Sometime later
"Remember, everyone: stay with your tour guides and don't wander off, okay?"
“Yes teacher!” The students shouted
“Okay now then, everyone please follow me to meet the tour guides”
The Utopia Industries headquarters towered over the surrounding buildings, its sleek glass exterior making it look more like a skyscraper than a laboratory. Giant letters running down one side of the structure spelled out its name: UTOPIA.
When everyone entered in the building there was two persons waiting for the group, one was a woman with blue hair wearing a lab coat and didn't looked it wanted to be anywhere but there, and there was another who has a long hair with a bun looking formal, she is still another scientist but she looked formal like she already anticipated everything for this
The one with a bun noted the students and the teacher and turned at them, prompting the one with blue hair to look at them too
“Hello students from Saint James High School, my name is Olivia Terrence” Olivia presented herself and gestured to the blue hair scientist “and this here is Terri Jones, we are your guides for this field trip, we hope you all have a good time on this trip, we are going to see everything utopia industries has to offer, before we go anyone here have a question?”
one student have her hand up
the teacher knew who it was and sighed “...yes ms.wu?”
“Are we going to see what utopia industries have? like the announcement of the machine that is supposed to help with the treatment of cancer? or the creation of medicines to help disable people that were in the test phase? or…”
Olivia chuckled at the student antics “who are you?” she asked
the student stopped her rambling and looked at olivia “My name is Marcy wu miss Olivia”
“Well marcy to answer your question, yes we will see some of the things we have to offer during this trip, some of them are projects that are known to the public, others are not permitted but we can give hints about what the project will be if some of you are curious about it! now then everyone follow us”
With that out of the way everyone followed Olivia and Terry through the building passing to know creations of the utopia industries such as the marcy mentioned and other that where in the making that was until they reached to a door of a room called BIOLOGICAL GENETICS EXPERIMENTS
“and here we have our room dedicated as the plaque says ‘Genetic experiment’ this is where we go to test our medicines,and search for the cures for diseases and more study on the new things about the recently discovered X-gene”
“What are you guys workin in there?”
Olivia looked at Terri who shakes her head
“I'm afraid that project is classified. Only authorized personnel are allowed inside. Now if you all be kind and follow me…”
Every student goes with her…
Every student except anne boonchuy
“Anne?” Sasha seeing that her friend wasn't with them turns around and see her staring at the room they were supposed to go out
“Anne, what are you doing staring at the room?” Sasha asked
“I don't know... something about this room just caught my attention. "Anne sighed “Its.. probably nothing…”
Sasha raises an eyebrow at this “You thinking there more about this room?”
“Well… i-”
“Then go inside. ”
Anne looked surprised “...What?”
“You heard me.”
"Sash, that's against the rules."
"Exactly."
Anne looks at her confused "...You're serious?"
"Come on, Anne. Since when do you care about rules?" sasha asked becoming annoying by this
"Think of it as your birthday challenge. Sneak in, figure out what they're hiding, and if your guess is right... birthday wish granted."
“I…”
"I'll keep watch. If someone's coming, I'll warn you."
anne seeing she cant goes back this sighs and reluctantly enter in the room
"If I get caught, I'm blaming you." anne warned
“deal.”
Anne stepped into the laboratory and immediately froze.
It looked nothing like the science classrooms at school.
Sleek machines lined the room, their displays glowing with streams of data. Robotic arms moved with incredible precision, while rows of glass tanks held strange plants, insects, and other biological specimens. It felt less like a laboratory and more like something straight out of a science-fiction movie.
"Whoa..."
The word slipped out before Anne could stop herself.
Maybe Sasha was right...
Pulling out her phone, she began snapping pictures of everything she could. The machines, the glowing monitors, the strange-looking specimens... this place was incredible.
As she wandered farther into the room, something caught her eye.
Unlike the other tanks, one glass enclosure looked... empty.
Inside, there was nothing but a small rock tucked into one corner and a delicate spider web stretched across the glass.
Fixed beneath the enclosure was a small metal plaque.
PROJECT ARACHNE
Anne tilted her head.
"Arachne...?"
She frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Anne!" Sasha whispered from the hallway. "I think now's a good time to get out of there!"
Anne glanced back toward the door.
"Alright! I'm coming!"
She slipped her phone back into her pocket and turned to leave.
Crunch!
"Ow!"
A sharp sting shot through the back of her neck.
Acting purely on instinct, Anne slapped the spot where it hurt.
Smack!
She pulled her hand away and frowned.
"...A spider?"
The tiny creature lay motionless in her palm.
"Seriously? You scared me for nothing..."
Anne flicked it onto the floor without giving it another thought.
Rubbing the sore spot on her neck, she hurried toward the exit before anyone caught her.
Anne quietly closed the door behind her and looked at Sasha.
Sasha simply smirked and motioned for her to follow.
The two girls quickly walked away before anyone noticed they were missing.
"So... what did you find?" Sasha asked.
Anne's face immediately lit up.
"Nothing too crazy, but dude, there were so many machines in there! Like, stuff that looked like it came straight out of a sci-fi movie!"
"Really?"
"Really!"
Sasha crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I hope you at least have a theory about what they're working on. Because now I'm curious."
As they rejoined the group, Anne tried to act like everything was normal.
For the most part, she managed.
But little by little, she started feeling different.
Her head felt slightly dizzy, and a thin layer of sweat formed on her forehead. She tried to ignore it and keep walking like nothing was wrong.
She could handle a little discomfort.
Probably.
"Anne?"
Marcy's voice pulled her back.
She looked at her friend with concern.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling okay?"
Before Anne could answer, Sasha noticed it too.
"Yeah, you're sweating a lot. And it's not even hot outside."
Anne quickly wiped her forehead and forced a smile.
"What? Me? I'm fine. Totally fine."
Neither of them looked convinced, but they decided not to push the subject.
However, as more time passed, Anne's condition only got worse.
The dizziness became stronger.
She started hearing things she shouldn't have been able to hear—the conversations of students several feet away, the hum of the machines around them, even the faint buzzing of the building's lights.
Her heartbeat grew faster and faster, pounding in her ears.
'What's happening to me...?'
Anne tried to focus, but her vision began to blur.
The voices around her became distant.
Her legs felt weak.
And then...
THUD!
Anne collapsed onto the floor.
"Anne!"
Marcy and Sasha shouted at the same time.
Anne barely registered what was happening around her.
Everything felt distant and confusing.
She could only make out small details—the worried faces of Marcy and Sasha beside her, the teacher calling for help, and the voices of the Utopia Industries employees rushing toward them.
Everyone seemed to be saying something, but their words became harder and harder to understand.
Anne tried to focus.
Tried to say something.
But she couldn't.
Her vision faded.
And then...
Everything went black.
????????
There were sounds everywhere.
Voices talking nearby.
The steady beeping of a machine.
The distant footsteps of people moving around.
Slowly, Anne began to open her eyes.
For a moment, everything was blurry.
She tried to understand where she was, looking around as her vision slowly came back.
There were curtains surrounding her bed, a monitor beside her, and several unfamiliar machines connected nearby.
Anne blinked a few times.
Then she finally realized.
Oh.
She was in the hospital.
'Okay, Anne... think. What happened? How did you end up here?'
'You were on a field trip, you got curious about the biological experiments, Sasha convinced you to sneak inside because she knew you couldn't resist, and then you got sick and collapsed.'
'Ugh... so much for my birthday plans.'
'Seriously, Anne? You couldn't even make it through your own birthday without getting yourself into trouble?'
She stared at the ceiling for a moment.
'...Also, why are my thoughts so loud?'
'I mean, I think a lot, sure... but not this much. Why does it feel like my own brain is shouting at me?'
"Anne!"
The familiar voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
Anne turned her head and saw Marcy and Sasha standing beside her bed.
"Uh... hi, guys? Sorry for—"
She didn't even get to finish her sentence.
Both girls immediately wrapped their arms around her in a tight hug, holding onto her like she might disappear if they let go.
Anne blinked in surprise.
"Whoa..."
"Never do that to us again!" Marcy said, her voice shaking as tears formed in her eyes.
Anne's expression softened.
"Hey, calm down..."
Anne tried to reassure them, but Sasha immediately looked at her in disbelief.
"Calm down?!"
Sasha crossed her arms, clearly frustrated.
"Anne, you passed out during the field trip and you've been lying in that bed for three days!"
Anne's eyes widened.
"What...?"
'I've been here for three days?! That... that doesn't make any sense! It felt like I was out for, what, an hour? Maybe two?'
'Oh man... Mom and Dad must be worried sick...'
Anne quickly scanned the room.
Marcy.
Sasha.
No one else.
'...Wait.'
She looked around again.
'Where are my parents?'
"Anne?"
Marcy's voice was gentle.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her expression filled with concern.
Anne barely looked at her.
"Marcy..."
She swallowed.
"Where are my parents?"
Marcy and Sasha froze.
The two girls exchanged uneasy glances, as if silently deciding who should answer.
Neither of them spoke.
Anne's stomach tightened.
"...Guys?"
She looked back and forth between them.
"Come on... where are my parents?"
Marcy lowered her head.
Sasha let out a quiet sigh.
"...Anne..."
Marcy's voice trembled.
"Your parents..."
She couldn't finish the sentence.
Sasha closed her eyes for a brief moment before speaking.
"...They never made it to the hospital."
Anne frowned.
"...What are you talking about?"
"They were driving here..."
Sasha continued quietly.
"...Their car was found on the highway."
...
"...There weren't any survivors."
The room fell silent.
Anne looked from Marcy to Sasha.
Waiting.
Hoping one of them would laugh.
That one of them would say it was just some stupid misunderstanding.
'...What?'
'No... no, this has to be some kind of joke.'
Anne forced out a nervous laugh.
"Guys..."
"This isn't funny."
She looked at Marcy.
Then at Sasha.
"Where are my parents?"
Silence.
Anne's smile slowly disappeared.
"...Guys?"
Her voice cracked.
"Please..."
"Tell me this is a joke."
Marcy covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face.
Sasha looked at Anne with an expression she'd never worn before.
Pity.
"I'm sorry, Anne..." she said softly.
"...But it's true."
Anne just stared at her.
Waiting.
Hoping Sasha would suddenly smile and say it had all been a misunderstanding.
She didn't.
The room felt impossibly quiet.
Anne's lip trembled.
Her eyes began to water.
Then...
She broke.
A sob escaped her before she could stop it, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
Without saying a word, Marcy threw her arms around Anne once again.
A second later, Sasha joined the hug, resting a comforting hand on Anne's back.
Neither of them knew what to say.
So they simply stayed with her.
'...Happy birthday to me.'
To be continued