The Others?

"The others?" Adrian asked with curiosity obvious in his voice.

"Yes, son. There are many others like you. They were mostly volunteers who had no family, no single person to care if they're alive or dead. Well, after injecting them with the serum, the results weren't what I expected.

It gave the white mouse wings. I was expecting wings from the other guys, but instead, they began replicating traits of other animals.

I remember Trina. She was someone who had a really dark past and was always on black. When I injected her, she took the form of a black eagle. She had black wings, slightly smaller than yours, Adrian.

I was scared at first, but I was delightful the next minute. That was the first time I saw Trina smile since I took her in. She was flying like she was a natural; like she knew how to do it beforehand. In everything, I was happy for her.

There's also Jake. His transformation was the scariest. He expressed the traits of a grizzly bear when I injected him. Normally he was a buff guy who liked to lift weights. He got into a bad gang and was being wrongly influenced as a kid and got into a lot of fights too. When he transformed, he thought about taking revenge on the drug cartel that killed his parents and took away their wealth. Till now, I don't know if he's done with that mission.

And there's Wolfe. He's actually a dog. A homeless husky I found hungry, shabby and on the verge of death while driving home one rainy night. He became my best friend after Boris left. He would wait for me to come back from work, cheer me up whenever I'm sad and even assist me whenever I'm washing my car.

On the day I gave him the serum, his change was remarkable and scary. His pure white fur turned pitch black and he grew in size. He looked more like a wolf than a dog. At first, I thought he was going to go berserk like the mouse injected with the black serum. He walked slowly towards me, then bowed at my feet. I fearfully touched his head. He gave a gentle whine, which I guessed was his approval.

And of course, Leon. His trait is the scariest of them all. If not really unusual. When I injected him, he started thrashing so much that I had to look at the syringe again to make sure I used the right serum.

Looking back at him, his hands have turned into pincers and six giant insectoid legs came out from his back. A giant stinger came out if his butt region. He looked more or less like a scorpion. His stinger was dripping with fresh venom and that was the scariest part.

Minutes later, he returned to normal and thanked me for giving him power. Ever since he was a kid, he'd wanted to end wars since he lost his real parents in one of those wars.

I met your mom after creating this big hybridized family. She took them in and became especially fond of Perry, the mouse."

Adrian was amazed. He thought he was the only one. Knowing there's a whole other bunch with powers like his gave him a joy he couldn't really explain.

"Where are they?" Adrian asked.

"In a place where human beings are afraid to go due to the fear of dying just by breathing in the air around there." Cedric replied.

Nancy and Adrian bore a look of confusion on each other's faces.

"What do you mean? They're living in toxic environment?" Nancy asked.

"Exactly." Cedric confirmed.

"But where's that?" Adrian asked again.

"You'll find out when the time is right, son." Cedric replied.

"But what exactly happened to Adrian's mom?" Nancy asked, curious about that part.

Adrian's face fell. He remembered every detail of what happened to his mother because sadly, he witnessed the whole scene play out. And it was a really saddening and gory event.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO...

Two years after Adrian's birth, one of Boris' moles in Alexis Genetics informed Boris of the effects of the luminescent serum in Cedric's possession that they discovered.

This piece of information relayed to Boris piqued his interest.

One night, while Cedric was in the lab, he received a video call from Boris. The latter asked about the serum. Cedric knew the secret would've already been leaked since Boris didn't even exchange any such pleasantries and went straight to request for the serum.

"I have one cannister left. The rest has been used judiciously to improve certain genes on selected voluntary subjects." Cedric answered nonchalantly.

"I'll be coming for the cannister tomorrow. And if you refuse to hand it over, I'll use force." Boris said.

Cedric said nothing as he completely ignored Boris presence and kept tapping away on his keyboard.

"Did you hear --" Before Boris could complete his question, Cedric hung up and switched off his phone.

He ran upstairs from the basement he was in to his bedroom, where Florence was feeding little Adrian.

He opened his wardrobe and took out a box and started stuffing it with his clothes, Florence's and Adrian's.

"What's wrong?" Florence asked.

"Babe, it's Boris. He found out about the serum. He said he'll be here tomorrow. I'm sure he must have put someone to keep watch on the house now. I'll contact Tommy to get the helicopter ready."

Florence wasted no time in getting ready. She knew all about Boris Dentine. She knew he was a psychopath whose greed was endless and could do anything to get whatever he wanted. And his patience was unwavering.

About an hour later, a military helicopter landed in the middle of Cedric's parking lot. It appears Cedric called Tommy to bring in help. Tommy was his old time friend who he also enhanced even before meeting Trina. His transformation was more werewolf-like.

The military helo whisked the entire family to a faraway military base where they were taken good care of and kept under 24-hour surveillance, in accordance with Tommy's orders.

After about seven months, they heard no news either from Boris or from the authorities. Also, Alexis Genetics was also doing well because Cedric's personal assistant took his seat in his stead.

Discreetly, they returned to their house, then began planning their way to Rome so they could further hide from Boris' reach.