Inhumane

David Ennova

April 25th

Humans, a fleeting flicker of life and stupidity in the seemingly endless passage of time. Humans, with their pointless and illogical sense of morality and the difference between good and bad. Humans who fail to realise there is no objective meaning or purpose to life, would they dare judge me for what they believe to be wrong? When in actuality, none of it holds any meaning, neither my actions, nor their reaction. It's pointless to defy me. Learn to welcome absolute destruction, learn to bask in the intoxicating scent of madness which oh so magnificently dominates the air, and grows even better in the presence of the likes of me. I'd say worse but. . .get my point?

Dressed in a gold and green tuxedo, I silently kept talking to myself as I peered out of the side window of my Cadillac XTS Limousine, stretching out my legs as i poured myself a glass of wine from the minibar. It was getting darker and darker, and I hadn't heard from Farren since three days. Now, I may have placed Farren there in the Human Testing Facility so she could aid in the research for Human Enhancement after certain friends from 'work' informed me of her potential, but I didn't like the excess of her investment in the research one bit, she can't find time for her father no more. But I knew better than to complain, I've been informed she was able to biologically enhance some lad without him going crazy like the rest, that was a great step in my ambition to form a force of brainwashed superhumans that would help me in so many ways; Assassinations of business rivals, influence over the higher-ups, illegal but money-making acts. And once the perfect serum would be developed, I'd inject myself with it. At the moment, it was too risky. I liked everything secure and painted in certainty.

Then there was the case of that lad. It took me a few long minutes to recall his name. Dean Archer. I pulled out my gold-plated iphone 12 from the folds of my coat and opened up the messages, scrolling past them, ignoring the majority and tapping the 'Daughter' contact. There I found a picture of the lad. Short black hair, he looked like the korean version of Tailor Lautner, despite the similarity he was. . .a bit uglier. Which didn't matter to me and fortunately for him, it won't hold any meaning for him either, not in the life that awaits him. Now we just need to brainwash him, make him work for me, bring down the rival businesses as i take care of placing the blame on anyone other than Ennova Arms.

I had a lot of plans in mind, the better thing being that i had also come up with ways to carry them all out, smoothly and effectively. You could say it was like a talent of mine, and boy was i skilled at it. I knew because, all the time, i constantly carry out plans, none of them ever fail. Luck seems to always be at my side, as well. And as someone who despises the idea of objective morality, I wouldn't hesitate from doing anything wrong to get what i want. No, never.

Just as I was about to put down my phone, vibration spread through my fingers and my phone began ringing, it was a call from the Facility's manager. I took it.

"M-Mr. Ennova. . ." He stuttered. Which meant the existence of a misconduct, fortunately for him I wasn't in a bad enough mood to scold or fire him.

"Speak." I snapped briskly.

"Dean Archer, the human subject, escaped the facility and seems to have stolen the formula for the Human Enhancement Serum, along with vials of it, it all occurred yesterday night but the facility was in too unsettling of a turmoil for us to make any calls." The words came out in a rush, despite the fact that it seemed like he had rehearsed them a thousand times before bringing himself to call me. For real though, why wouldn't he? I was outraged to hear this, I gritted my teeth and threw away the glass of wine as it shattered. That brought me little satisfaction.

"Put. Farren. On. The. Line." I said, briskly, barely able to control myself from snapping at the manager.

". . ." The manager gave no response.

Frustration spiked the core of my being as i yelled; "Put her on the li-"

"Your daughter, sir, went missing along with him."

I immediately informed the driver to stop the car, didn't even wait for him to open the door for me before i stepped outside and felt as if the ground beneath me was like a rug getting pulled from beneath my feet. My head was emptily spinning. I felt as if I was showered with panic.

'Daughter, please be fine, please be fine, please be fine.' I kept repeating the same sentence in my head again and again. Clinging to those words as my heart felt so heavy i was nearly sure my bones would shatter. It may have seemed odd for someone like me, but even i could care deeply for someone, it's something i didn't expect even from my own self. When i looked up i realized there were a lot of people jostling down the sidewalk, a middle aged man holding the hand of his spouse as their children walked alongside them, the daughter hopping like a rabbit, smiling up at her father as he beamed at her with equal genuineness as the daughter smiled at him with. Just from his gaze i could tell, he was armed with the purest of intentions. In him I could see the resolve to guide his family through a happy life.

A part of me hoped for that, for a life full of certainty and happiness, with normal problems. Normal problems almost seemed tempting. No illegal research, no threats to the lives of people i care for. And me neither. But another part of me knew quite well that i deserved this and brought a life like this on my own shoulders, willingly.

My greed for power, influence and money always took over. And as you would easily be able to tell from my mentality, I wasn't exactly a caring and loving person. No benefits, or meaning to it. But, readers, sometimes, no, most times, certain things are just out of your control.

You could think things through and find out what's the better thing to do, what would be better in the long term, what's temporary and what's long-lasting. What's pointless and what's beneficial/useful. What you would do that may unlock more opportunities or set you on a path to achieving what you would take pride in, what would give you a sense of satisfaction and happiness. But what you can't fathom even through logical thinking, is how you love and care. It would be difficult enough for you to give up on someone, abandon them, it's utterly impossible to change what you hope for, or how you love them. All you can do is come up with ways and do things to satisfy that care and love, some people are lucky enough to be able to do so, some are just unlucky. And it's quite disheartening that often, there really is no point to their suffering.

I rushed towards the car and seated myself in the backseat, shutting the door before i yelled at the driver to set out for the facility. I wiped my forehead and licked my lips in worry. If she went missing during the escape of the human subject, would she have gotten kidnapped? The thought of that possibility sent chills down my spine.

The engine roared and the tires screeched. "Where to, sir?" The driver asked.

"The facility." I said after a gulp.

It was quite fascinating. Someone like me, who was obviously somewhat of an existential nihilist who didn't believe in morality. . .was shaking with worry for someone else. In the absence of her well-being and safety, my love for her was incomplete. It was unsatisfied and the thing I feared the most was that it was irreparably broken, split in two. No, no, she can't die, he wouldn't kill her. She would be an important asset to him. Would he. . .torture her? Or abuse her? No, no, no, no way, my heart felt like it would go through my throat and leap out of my mouth. It pounded so heavily and loudly i could feel the best in my ears. I curled my fingers into fists and punched the seat, tears welling in my eyes as it took everything in me to not let them escape.

Just not my daughter, at the moment i had gotten so emotional i swore to myself that once I retrieve her I'll immediately get her to safety and never let any sort of tragedy befall her. Even though i had been an atheist, I found myself silently praying to God for her well-being and for me to find her as soon as possible, alive and well. Ah, that seemed too good to be true.

But like I said, readers, you can't change what you hope for and want. And at the moment, i desperately wanted and hoped for nothing other than my daughter in my arms, safe, without as much as a single scratch on her body.

As the car skidded to a stop right at the edge of some commonly visited glade, which was bristling with camouflaged cameras, my trembling gaze roamed the tall, rectangular shaped building. It looked like a legalised pharmacy at first glance but a Human Testing Facility lay right underground. The pharmacy's stark white walls glimmered under the moonlight. There were just the right amount of windows, the building was visually pleasing. The glass doors had intricate designs of red and gold. And there was a massive red cross right in the middle of the front wall. For some reason, customers and employees were sprinting away.

I walked hurriedly atop the cobbled footpath that lead to the entrance door for the pharmacy. And although i had no time to contemplate or admire them, the beauty of the gardens and the bushes were worth noting. I pushed open the door and a wave of coolness washed over me, along with the soothing scent of medicine.

But the unpleasant sound of the sirens filled the air, I needed to find the Facility manager for further details regarding my daughter's disappearance and act accordingly, but why was the building in such turmoil? Employees rushed here and there, storming out of the building.

I ran over to the nearest worker, a pharmacy technician, and gripped his arm. He was one of those who had known about the underlying Human Testing Facility.

"What's all this fuss about?" I yelled.

"Sir, the fire alarms went off, from inside the Facility." He paused, then gulped, breaking a sweat. "But i was there, and i know they were false alarms." He stopped talking, as if what he would say after this would be an embarrassment to him.

"Speak!" I rasped.

"I-I-I'm sure it's that black-s-suited guy's doing. H-He's after the Human Enhancement products!"

My eyebrows shot up in pure perplexity and a certain amount of shock, followed by what could potentially be panic.