Breached Experiment

Tazuna slowly opened his eyes, the darkness surrounding his vision like a veil. The vividness of the nightmare remained a part of his subconsciousness. He knew if he went back to sleep, he would be plunged back into a world of a series of unfortunate events.

As his eyes adjusted to the interior of the cave-like structure, the outline of two shadow figures stood out against the darkness. Huddled near the back of the cave, laid his two best friends. Quiet snores intermittently quietly through the, otherwise, peacefulness of their makeshift home.

Seeing the comfortable silence of his only two friends, Tazuna was reminded of her. The mother who raised him. His foster mother, Cher Harrison. She'd been the one who rescued him. She'd been the one who nurtured and cared for him. And it was thanks to this heartfelt kindness, Tazuna managed to survive.

But barely.

Cher had loved Tazuna, from the moment she rescued him. There was no doubt he was a survivor and a fighter, in his own right. On the contrary, despite this second chance of life, Tazuna felt something that stirred inside the depths of his spirit. Cher was the only Human Tazuna had ever grown a strong attachment to.

And because of this, Tazuna felt loved and equally respected, even though he knew these feelings were supposed to be nothing valid.

Physically, Tazuna was ordinary looking. He was very large. Larger than most his age. His fur was a ghostly, porcelain white. His eyes were a hypnotizing oceanic blue. The type of blue that shimmered like sparkling diamonds in the daylight and became bioluminescent at night. But despite his outer appearance, he was mature. Much more mature than others that were of the same age.

Tazuna took a step outside and breathed in some fresh, winter air. He walked slowly across the snow, the pleasant crunch sounding with every step. His gaze shifted from the bland, grey winter skies to the large, wrap around, one-sided window. He couldn't see the person on the other side of the window. But he knew he and his friends were being observed.

Cher Harrison raised her right hand and touched the moon shaped locket that hung around her neck. A gentle, bittersweet smile appeared on her lips; this smile was as vibrant and equally as heartbreaking, as the memories that flooded her mind.

The woman closed the locket, took a sip of coffee, before she tapped on the holographic keyboard. Cher began to look through her files, just as a door opened behind her. In walked her research colleague named Kim Yeong.

He graduated from the same college as Cher and was even hired to be a part of the same research team. According to those around him, Yeong was aloof and indifferent; the type who's opinions were bold and unnerving. He was only in his early thirties just like Cher, and looked relatively simple and plain with hair as dark as ink; his eyes as brown as mahogany.

Yeong stood by her side, as he stared at Tazuna who was seemingly staring back at him.

"If you stare any longer at your screen, you'll burn a hole through it." Yeong spoke, plainly.

Cher gave Yeong an irritated side glance. Yeong sighed before he took a sip from his teddy bear shaped mug. The blonde woman silently went back to typing on her computer, making Yeong break the awkward silence again.

“Always as studious as ever.” Yeong joked.

"Did you come here to criticize my work ethic? What do you want?" Cher questioned in irritation.

Yeong sighed again and silently slid an envelope towards Cher, who gave it a questionable look. She took the envelope and was about to open it to read the contents, when she was stopped by a sudden request.

"This report needs to be given to our director."

"If you're going to be that lazy and not deliver it yourself, can you at least tell me what the report is about?"

"There's going to be a meeting held tomorrow evening, in regards to the report. Surely you can wait, right?"

The woman gave Yeong a sour look as she was perplexed with how laid back and calm he was. So taking the envelope in her hands, Cher took another sip of her coffee and walked out of the room. Yeong stayed behind, waiting for the perfect opportunity to walk closer to the window. He placed his hand against the ice cold glass.

We’ve caused you an awful lot of inexcusable grief and suffering. Yeong thought to himself. And yet, after all this time, you still chose to remain here after all this time. Why is that?

By this time, Tazuna was joined by an indescribably large Grey Wolf. He was rugged yet wild. Untamed to a default. His glaring peridot green eyes held a mix of feral, dignity, and protectiveness. As he walked across the snow, the Grey Wolf alluded to power and strength, unlike anyone had ever seen before.

“The winter season is upon us again.” the Grey Wolf growled, as he looked around his immediate surroundings.

“Riku.” Tazuna acknowledged, as he turned and walked to meet with his close friend.

“If they can't stimulate a proper seasonal change, then they're no good for anything.”

“Hm.”

Riku circled Tazuna, as if inspecting his body for any unattended injuries. He took his place next to Tazuna, his eyes now focused on a squirrel, who wandered into their enclosure. Seeing the snowy environment brought back distant memories of a past that he couldn't get back. All he could see were better and brighter days. All he could smell were the fresh mountain air and spring flowers.

All of it was ripped away from them, thanks to the unprovoked invasion of Humans. Riku wanted to snap. Everything in their current lives was a scale of grey. All of the colors they had grown to appreciate and love had been bled dry.

“She has left again.” Tazuna announced, as he casted his eyes back towards the window.

“That Human again.” Riku snarled, his eyes now following Tazuna's.

“Hm.”

“Why do you put so much trust in that woman? She may have helped you heal, but you rely too much on her.”

“We would've died without her inference.”

“And you've blindly accepted that? It was because of them that is the reason why we're in this situation!”

Cher held the envelope by her side; the woman had walked silently through the facility corridors. Her slender fingers grazed the envelope, her curiosity growing by the minute. Kim Yeong had been on the research team for just as long as she was. However, his activities in the field were different from her own. While Yeong worked with internal matters and researching various factors in the natural world, Cher worked with internal affairs and conducting welfare checks on Tazuna and his two friends.

Yet, today felt different. Much different than any other ordinary work day. Cher felt her chest stir, as if something from within her threatened to burst. A sudden shift had seemed to occur in the atmosphere.

Her heart rate suddenly began to increase. The words of her college friend repeated like a broken record in her mind. These words held an unnerving dread that had preoccupied the woman's way of thinking logically. With every step she took down the hallway, the more convoluted her thoughts became.

For as much as Cher rebutted what Yeong always said, she had been subjected to strange circumstances. Strange circumstances that could be described as supernatural or through something of unidentifiable means. But could these "feelings" be seen as a sign of paranoia?

Her curiosity for what was written in the reports that had been conducted were too much for her brain to withstand. So she stopped, turned, and stealthily ducked into a side hallway. Cher felt hands shake and tremble as she withdrew the report from the envelope. Blue eyes swept over the report that was printed in front of her; and immediately she felt as if time had come to a standstill.

No. This… can't be! This has to be some kind of mistake in the report! Dr. Yeong wouldn't dare write a report like this!

The report had thrown the female woman's entire perspective of what she thought she knew into a whirlwind of never ending questions.

Wolves.

How could Wolves still be alive? They'd all been wiped out of existence. Exterminated. Eradicated. No one had seen a Wolf in nearly 200 years! The last one had been recently killed during a series of lengthy experiments, just a few years after the initial founding of the Black Lotus Research Center.

So how could they have resurfaced again?

That’s when Cher’s brain began to function properly again. As she got over the initial shock of the report, her mind immediately went to Tazuna. Frankly, no one knew what a Wolf even looked like anymore, the memories of their appearance seemingly had become forgotten over time. Which meant, neither Cher or Yeong has ever seen a Wolf before. To them, Wolves were nothing but large dogs. Or at least, that was the largely accepted response.

But how has Tazuna and his friends have been Wolves this entire time? The one she dedicated her career to rescuing and forming an unbreakable bond with. The one who taught her the meaning of respecting wildlife for what it was and gaining mutual respect for.

But that doesn't make sense.

It shouldn't make sense!

Cher shuddered, her mental state was overcome by the initial shock that slowly turned itself into anger, frustration, and an extreme sense of guilt.

Tazuna wasn't just an ordinary animal, who miraculously survived a terrible fire. Nor was he simply adopted by a woman who gave unconditional love to an abandoned dog. Tazuna was a Wolf.

Tazuna was a Wolf, whom Cher had knowingly been performing dangerous and life threatening experiments on. Experiments that he'd been subjected to since the day he was brought under her care.

All these months spent raising him, Cher had discovered a sense of joy that she couldn't verbally explain. And everyone around her saw how attached she was to that three week old Cub that had been struggling to survive. He was a survivor. A little warrior who refused to give up on his last chance at life; even when it felt like the world had turned its back on him. The woman could only offer comfort and encouragement to Tazuna. The courage to fight through the pain and the suffering he had endured for so long. But she had no idea, the one she'd been raising, the one who saw her when she was at her most vulnerable state, was a Wolf.

But there was one thing she did know. She was also responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Wolves over the past ten years.

All these years, I've been conducting experiments on Wolves. Of all the things I could've done. I had to hurt the one who I loved the most. And in return, I helped to bring an entire species into extinction!

Memories of a young, ambitious researcher cherishing the gruesomely injured puppy sprang back into her mind. She'd only just finished graduation when she was approached to be an assistant researcher for the research center. While the first impression was inspired with the intent of helping animals who were in need of rehabilitation, no one would've ever guessed they were being hired for morally life altering purposes.

And yet, even after she began to discover what she'd actually been doing for all these years, and even after discovering the identity of the one she raised with her own two hands, it's not like she could simply quit. Her supervisors wouldn't allow that. In fact, she, and every single other researcher, scientist, and medical professional, were permanently stuck in a binding contract.

Taking a strained and shaky breath, the woman straightened her back and shoved her emotions into the back of her mind. She carefully resealed the envelope the best she could, and silently straightened her glasses. The research center would only prolong her scheme to expose whatever judgments she had, she knew she had to take this information and make the situation better.

Cher walked down the hallway to the boardroom, where the meeting for the researchers and staff were scheduled to take place. The room was plain, even when there weren't any lights on. The only objects were a large table and chairs. The entirety of the room looked more like a boardroom for a large conglomerate or company, rather than a science lab. As the woman clutched the envelope in her hand, her anger seethed into her fingers as she carelessly crinkled the papers it contained.

Off to the corner of the room, she found the small, built-in incenarator. It was typically used to burn miniscule pieces of trash. With a flip of the switch, the incinerator roared to life. Reddish orange flames hungrily climbed the walls of the incinerator, eagerly awaiting the meal that it'd soon receive. Without any afterthoughts behind her actions, Cher tossed the envelope containing the reports into the incinerator and watched as the flames devoured the report before her.

All her years of studying and mentally exhausting work to be hired into the field of science and biology, was now the same profession who managed to tarnish her reputation without her even knowing.