KIRA'S POV
I couldn't remember how to breathe.
My chest moved—up, down, up, down—but it felt mechanical. Wrong. Like my body was doing it automatically while my brain screamed that humans don't breathe like this. Humans don't have three hearts hammering in different rhythms. Humans don't—
I looked down at my hands.
Four of them. Black. Shiny. Each finger ending in a claw that could punch through steel.
No. No, no, no. Wake up, Kira. This is a nightmare. Wake up.
But I'd been telling myself that for the past ten minutes, curled in this cramped ventilation shaft, and nothing changed. The nightmare was real. The nightmare was me.
I lifted one hand—which hand? Upper left? I had to think about it like I was learning to use my body for the first time—and touched my face.
My fingers found ridges where my cheekbones should be. Hard plates instead of soft skin. My nose was gone, replaced by slits that sucked in air and told me everything. I could smell the oil in the ventilation fans three levels down. Could smell Atlas's aftershave still lingering in the lab below me. Could smell my own blood—except it wasn't blood anymore. It smelled like copper mixed with acid.
What am I?
A piece of polished metal reflected my face back at me. I almost screamed.
My eyes were huge and black, like a bug's eyes. My mouth was too wide, stretching almost to my ears. When I opened it, I saw rows of teeth that belonged in a shark's mouth, not a human's.
I tried to say my name. "Kira Chen. I'm Kira Chen. I'm twenty-nine years old. I'm a xenobiologist. I'm engaged to Atlas Vance."
What came out was clicking and hissing, like an insect's legs scraping together.
I clapped all four hands over my mouth, feeling the tears come. But even crying was wrong. The liquid that ran down my face burned like acid, hissing when it hit the metal floor.
Atlas saw me like this. He saw me kill those guards.
The memory hit me like a punch. Martinez's face as my claws went through his chest. The other guard's scream. The blood—so much blood—and I couldn't stop myself. Subject Zero's instincts had taken over, turning me into a killing machine.
I murdered them. Oh God, I'm a murderer.
My stomach cramped so hard I doubled over, all four arms wrapping around my middle. The pain was worse than the transformation. Worse than dying. This was hunger—pure, animal hunger that made my entire body shake.
I needed to eat. Not human food. Living tissue. Meat. Organs. My alien body was demanding fuel, and it didn't care that the thought made me want to throw up.
I won't. I'm still human inside. I won't become an animal.
But the hunger grew sharper, more desperate. My enhanced hearing picked up sounds from the deck below. Squeaking. Dozens of tiny heartbeats. The animal testing lab where we kept rats for research.
My mouth watered. Acid drool dripped from my teeth, sizzling on the metal.
No. Those are research animals. They're for science, not food.
Except I wasn't a scientist anymore. I was the experiment. The monster in the vents. And if I didn't eat soon, my body would shut down or I'd lose control completely.
I crawled through the ventilation shaft, moving on four legs like I'd done it my whole life. My body knew exactly how to move, how to flow through tight spaces, how to be silent. Subject Zero had made me perfect for hunting.
I'm not hunting. I'm just... surviving.
The vent cover over the animal lab was easy to remove. Too easy. My claws punched through the screws like butter. I dropped down into the dark room, landing without a sound.
Fifty cages lined the walls. Fifty rats, sleeping peacefully, unaware that a nightmare had just entered their world.
I approached the nearest cage. Inside, a white rat with pink eyes twitched its nose, sensing danger. It looked at me with those tiny, innocent eyes.
I can't. I can't do this.
My stomach cramped again, harder. Pain shot through every nerve. My vision went blurry. I was starving. Actually starving. My three hearts were pumping slower, trying to conserve energy.
I opened the cage. The rat tried to run. My hand—not my hand, some monster's hand—snatched it up so fast I didn't even see myself move.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, and clicking sounds came out. "I'm so sorry."
I closed my eyes and bit down.
The taste exploded in my mouth. My body screamed YES, every cell lighting up with satisfaction. The hunger eased. My hearts beat stronger. I felt warmth spreading through my limbs, felt my body processing the nutrients and using them to stabilize the transformation.
I ate three more rats before I could force myself to stop.
When I opened my eyes, I saw my reflection in the cage glass. Blood on my mouth. Claws twitching. Eyes gleaming with predator satisfaction.
This is what I am now. A monster who eats living things.
But worse than the horror was the small voice in the back of my mind whispering: It wasn't so bad. It felt good. You need more.
I backed away from the cages, shaking. I had to get out of here before I lost control and ate them all. Before I became something that couldn't think anymore, only hunt and consume.
I climbed back into the vents and crawled deeper into the ship's walls. Away from the labs. Away from Atlas and his hunting team. Away from everything human.
My stomach was full but my heart was empty. I'd killed three people. I'd eaten rats like an animal. And somewhere in my changing body, buried under alien instincts and monster parts, the real Kira Chen was screaming.
How long before I forget her completely? How long before I'm just the monster?
I curled up in a junction between three vents, making myself as small as possible. Through the walls, I heard boots running. Heard Atlas's voice giving orders to search every level. Heard Captain Cross on the intercom: "All personnel, we have a hostile specimen loose. Shoot on sight. It is extremely dangerous."
They were hunting me. The man I loved was hunting me.
And the worst part? They should. I was dangerous.
A sound made me freeze. Footsteps directly below my hiding spot. I looked down through a grate and saw Yuki—my best friend, my research partner—standing alone in an empty corridor. She held a tablet, reading something that made her face go pale.
"It can't be," she whispered. "Kira, what did they do to you?"
She knew. Somehow, Yuki knew I was still me.
I wanted to drop down, to show her I was still here, still human inside. But the memory of Martinez's dead eyes stopped me. I couldn't risk it. Couldn't risk hurting her.
Yuki looked up suddenly, staring right at the vent where I hid.
"I know you're there," she said softly. "I know you can hear me. If you're still Kira—if any part of you is still my friend—meet me in Lab Seven at midnight. Alone. I think I can help you."
Then she walked away, leaving me shaking in the darkness.
It's a trap, my alien instincts screamed. Don't trust humans. They want to kill you.
But my human heart whispered: Yuki never lied to you. Maybe she really can help. Maybe you don't have to be a monster forever.
I had six hours to decide. Six hours to choose between staying hidden and safe, or trusting the one person who might save whatever was left of Kira Chen.
And in my stomach, something moved. Something that felt like it was growing.
Something that definitely wasn't human.