Dog - 5. The Proposition

Chapter 5

Max didn’t say what his proposition was, not right away. Instead, he had his butler Terrence take me to the room that had originally been mine, that night I had tried to escape.

“The Master wishes to speak with you tomorrow,” Terrence informed me. “In the meantime, please feel free to do as you wish. If you need anything, just let me know.”

He left, walking down the hall without even looking back. I opened the door to my room and realized it was just as luxurious as I remembered it, well stocked with food, warm, and comfortable.

I collapsed down on the bed and cried. The windows were open, but I knew they were a trap. I was a prisoner here, and nothing made any sense, but instead of feeling scared or angry, the emotion the bubbled to the top of my chest was shame. Shame, because I was just so damned grateful.

I was out of that horrible cell, finally, it was wonderful. Having a bed to lie on was beyond my comprehension, and I broke down crying again when I went to the bathroom and realized I could take a hot shower. I arranged a warm bath for myself and spent a long, long time in there. I washed myself over and over until I finally felt clean again.

Everything was confusing, and unbelievable in its wonder. The food arranged for me looked delicious, the carpet under my bare feet was soft, and the temperature of the room was just right. I turned on the television and spent hours mesmerized, looking at a blur of people and faces and images, and all of them were so different. Then I looked out of my window and felt fresh afternoon air with just a hint of moisture and it was unbelievable. The sky overhead was a shock of oranges and blues and impossibly complicated clouds.

I called out for Rex several times, but he didn’t come to the window. In a way, I was glad. That meant he had probably gotten away. He was free, unlike me.

A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over me before long, and I crawled into the bed, massaging my aching arms weakly. I was so warm. So comfortable. The mattress underneath me was soft, not like the unforgiving hardness of the metal floor in my cell. The covers were like clouds, I felt clean and I was full.

I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

The next day dawned cold and overcast, and I woke up to find that a new suit had been set out for me to wear. I put it on very carefully after showering, afraid of being sent back to the cell if I did something wrong. I had breakfast and then I waited.

Hours passed, but where before I would have quickly become impatient, now I was simply thankful for the time. I had so much to look at, so much to touch, so much to hear. I put on a random music channel on the TV and lost myself in the lyrics. When the knock at my door finally came, though, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Terrence walked inside, looked at me another at once. “The Master will see you now. Please follow me.”

He didn’t wait for an answer but left the room, and I bolted out after him. I expected him to lead me up to the office where I had first spoken with Max, but instead we went downstairs.

The ground floor of the mansion was as impeccable and luxurious as I remembered, but aside from a quick glimpse of a cook in the kitchen, I saw no one else around. I followed Terrence past the living room and through the main hall that led out. He stopped at the double doors, pressed his palm to a scanner, and they clicked loudly.

Terrence opened the door and stepped out into the gardens, me at his heels. It was cold outside, and the hints of moisture in the air had become faint drizzling that quickly soaked my hair and blazer as we made our way through the unkempt grounds in front of the mansion. From the looks of it, we were headed to the dilapidated shed I had seen earlier, which made me nervous. I had no idea where they had kept me locked up to begin with. What if we were going back there again? Just thinking about it… I shivered, and it wasn’t because of the cold.

A sudden gust of frigid wind seemed to want to remind me that winter wasn’t that far off anymore. Looking out beyond the fence that I now knew was electrified, I saw the tops of pine trees swaying back and forth whenever the wind changed direction. The forest surrounding us looked ancient, the trees much taller than I was used to seeing. I hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but now I realized that the mansion was truly isolated by nature. Sure, the town was nearby, but it was a long walk if you didn’t have a car, and if the weather was bad it would be even longer. At night, it would be really easy to get lost. Also, nobody seemed to come this way at all.

If I went missing, nobody would know.

I remembered now the casual question Max had asked me during our brief interview. He’d wanted to know if anyone knew where I was, and the answer was no. I hadn’t told anyone where I was going, not that they would even care. I was on my own, and I had the horrible nagging suspicion that Max had chosen me because of that. After all, how many people go missing in the US never to be found, even if there’s actually people looking for them? For homeless guys like me, with no family, no job, nobody would even ask…

I’d been an absolute idiot to come. I was trapped here unless they let me go. And if they put me back in that cell –

The sound of loud, happy barking approaching quickly tore me away from the horrible thoughts in my mind. We were halfway to the shed now, and I saw a ball of black fur come bounding through the overgrown plants and straight for me.

“Rex!” I shouted, and my voice actually broke from how surprised and happy I was. Rex collided against me and threw me to the ground, licking my face enthusiastically while whimpering, his paws on my chest. He was wet, and he didn’t smell great, but I was damn glad to see him and I hugged him fiercely, burying my face in his fur. “Missed you, buddy.”

He gave me a last lick and then bounded away, barking. When he saw I didn’t follow, he zoomed back, wagging his tail.

“The Master awaits,” Terrence reminded me. “You may bring the dog if you wish.”

I nodded jerkily. “Rex, follow.”

For once, Rex actually obeyed. He walked next to me and together we reached the creepy shed behind Terrence. The butler opened the door, which didn’t groan with corroded hinges like I was imagined, and gestured for me to go inside.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was definitely not an elevator smack in the middle of the room, looking freakily out of place among the old gardening supplies, mounds of dirt, and broken windows. The thing was a little taller than me, gleaming silver, with glass doors. It wouldn’t have been out of place in a luxury hotel, and seeing it here was really confusing.

“The elevator will take you to the Master,” Terrence told me.

I walked closer and the doors swung open for me. I stepped into the small, enclosed space and felt a moment of irrational panic at being trapped again. I would’ve gone right out, but Rex decided to follow me in and then the doors had shut of their own accord. There were no buttons on the inside that I could see, and I had just begun to wonder how the hell this was going to take me up if there was nothing about the shed when the elevator shuddered slightly and started going down.

The ride was short but terrifying. Being trapped like that reminded me of my cell, and I only managed to keep it together by holding onto Rex real tight and closing my eyes. When the motion stopped and the doors opened, I rushed out of there as fast as I could.

Rex followed me, sniffing curiously. I was in a small, narrow hallway with walls of stone that kind of looked like a medieval dungeon. There were electric lights on the ceiling, but their cold white glow wasn’t very bright and there were plenty of creepy shadows in hidden places. I had just begun to wonder where I was supposed to go when a door at the far end of the corridor opened and Max stepped out, wearing an impeccable black suit with a silver tie.

“Ryan, welcome to my lab. Please, follow me.”

Rex growled, a fierce and vicious sound I had never heard come out of his throat. He stepped between me and Max, hackles raised, changing from friendly dog to dangerous beast so fast that even I was scared.

Max looked at Rex and smiled. Then he… whistled.

I knew that whistling tune. I had heard it in my cell. And apparently, Rex had heard it, too, because now he rushed ahead of me and greeted Max with familiarity, wagging his tail and licking one of Max’s hands.

“Good boy,” Max told Rex. “This way, Ryan.”

I followed him down the hallway and through a door to the right which led into a room that looked like a cross between a laboratory and an OR.

The room was cold, and smelled like antiseptic. Several operating tables dominated the center of the space, each of them illuminated by complicated contraptions with lots of cables, tubes and screens displaying random-looking information. The forbidding ceiling appeared to be made out of stone, and it was closer to my head than I liked. Set on the wall opposite me, several big monitors were displaying more incomprehensible information. All along the other walls I saw medical equipment, cabinets full of little vials filled with mysterious liquids, and even a couple of bookshelves filled with thick, ancient-looking books.

The weirdest part about the place, though, was in the corner.

Some kind of robotic machine occupied the entire left corner of the room, all of it made of metal and glass. It looked big enough for a person to fit inside, and hundreds of cables of different lengths snaked out from its underside, vanishing into the wall. Several more monitors were arranged around it, some of them displaying images of the human body like you would see in an anatomy textbook, while others showed three-dimensional renderings of dogs of different sizes. I stared at the monitors for a while, looking at the disturbingly realistic images of different organs in dogs and humans. The 3-D simulations or whatever they were would cycle between them, almost as if they were looking for similarities and differences. I saw the muscles in the jaw of a person being highlighted, only for the image to flick and show me the same muscles highlighted in the muzzle of a dog.

“Interesting, isn’t it?” Max asked me. “Sit over there, please.”

He pointed to a small desk set opposite the strange robotic machine. He sat behind it, while I grabbed the chair he had pointed out. Rex walked over to Max, sniffing his leg.

“Sit,” Max said simply. Rex obeyed.

“I didn’t know he could do that,” I said.

Max looked at me. “He didn’t when he arrived. But it’s never too late to learn something new.”

“I guess.”

I waited for Max say something else, but he simply looked at me, absently petting Rex’s head with his right hand. The silence quickly became uncomfortable. I started sweating despite the clammy cold in the room.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted at last. “I shouldn’t have taken that money. I’m really sorry.”

Max nodded slowly. “Apology accepted. And you are right, Ryan. You should not have taken what is not yours.”

“What… What’s going to happen to me now?” I asked. My voice trembled a little in the end.

“That will depend on you.”

“I’ll do anything,” I said quickly. “I can work for free if you want. I’ll stay for the three weeks. I won’t tell anyone I was here after I leave, honest.”

“It’s kind of you to offer, but I’m afraid things are more complicated than that. You see, I have a proposition for you. Please, hear me out. I think you might find it interesting.”

He was so damn polite. Almost as if he hadn’t kept me looked up in a cell for two weeks.

“Do I have a choice?” I snapped before I could think.

“We always have a choice, Ryan. Even if the alternatives are not to our liking.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning you can agree to consider my offer, or go back to your cell. It’s your choice.”

He said it so casually, and yet, when I saw into his ice-blue eyes I could tell he meant it. He looked as if he knew exactly how helpless I was in here. Nobody would come looking for me. I was on my own.

Well, there was Rex. If he helped me, maybe I could take out Max before he could call for backup. And then…

Max smiled and unbuttoned his blazer, his eyes never leaving mine. At first I was confused, then I realized I could see a gun holster over his flawless white shirt. It was almost as if he were daring me to try and make a move.

I shivered. This guy was insane. And I couldn’t go back to that cell, not ever again.

“I’m listening,” I said at last.

Max nodded, looking satisfied. “I’m glad to see your time alone has made you more reasonable. Allow me, then, to explain.

“Who is stronger, Ryan? You, or this dog?”

I looked at Rex, then back at Max. “I’m sorry?”

“If I were to pit you against one another in a battle to the death, who do you think would win?”

Remember, this guy’s insane. Just humor him. “Um, I think it depends.”

“On what?”

“Well, if I have a weapon or something. And where we fight, I suppose.”

“Assume you have no weapons, then. Assume you are alone in the forest, just the two of you.”

I looked at Rex carefully. He was almost as heavy as me, and those teeth of his looked wicked sharp.

“I think Rex would win.”

“And you would be right,” Max confirmed. “Strange, don’t you think? The strongest creature in this room is also the most subservient. Rex, down.”

Right on cue, Rex lied down with his head between his paws. He looked up at Max questioningly.

“Do you see, Ryan?”

“How does he know how to do that? When did you teach him?”

“You’re missing the point. Why does Rex obey everything I say, even though he is stronger than me?”

“Because you’re smarter?”

“Precisely. Intelligence has made us lords of the animal kingdom, and yet we remain physically weak. A strange stroke of irony, don’t you think? Even those among us who are stronger, the fighters, athletes and soldiers, pale in comparison to a mere… dog.

“But what if we could change that? What if we could, once and for all, reach our rightful place both as the most intelligent and strongest creatures on this planet? What if we were to take the strengths of this animal and make them ours: its sharp hearing, its unmatched sense of smell, its endurance and deadly reflexes?”

“What are you saying?” I asked.

“The world is a dangerous place, Ryan. Despite the illusion of peace that is propagated by the media, out there it’s still kill or be killed. Of course, for the time being the conflicts of the world do not take place on American soil. It’s much more comfortable to hear about some distant land’s uprisings, drone strikes, and executions through the safety of a television screen. We work hard to keep it that way. You have no idea how much. Nevertheless, it’s a constant battle to remain the top dog in this fight, if you will pardon the pun. One moment of weakness is all it would take, and then the missiles would blast down our cities, destroying the mighty yet delicate machine that is our economic infrastructure. Can you imagine what that would be like? To be reduced to being sitting ducks for other nations to host their proxy conflicts on our land?”

All the while he had been talking, Max’s voice had gotten louder, and now his eyes had a manic intensity in them that I found very hard to ignore. If I had been anywhere else, I would’ve left the lunatic talking to himself, but I was trapped with him. I was forced to sit and listen, just like Rex with his strange and sudden obedient behavior.

“For a long time, we thought that the answer lay in technology,” Max continued. He gestured around the room with his right hand. “We built machines, complicated circuits, robots so complex it would shock the public consciousness if they knew how far we have come in creating true AI. Nevertheless, technology can be imitated. Machines can be corrupted, disabled, jailbroken. They are effective, yes, but only up to a point. When it comes to having the edge in a battle with equal levels of technology, it will always be the human element which decides who is the victor.

“But what if we could improve this human element? This was the question I dedicated my life and fortune to, and now I have found an answer. If we can make individual soldiers stronger, more resilient, with better senses than they were born with, then we can build an unstoppable army. No one will be able to stand in our way.”

“You want to make a super soldier?” I asked, unable to hide the tone of skepticism in my voice. “Like Captain America?”

But Max merely smiled. “That is, precisely, what I am trying to do, Ryan. And that’s where you will help me.”

“What?”

“I have been promised unlimited backing from the government, you see, but only if I can provide a working prototype for them. A true, functioning super soldier with senses as keen as those of the most sophisticated electronic sensor, stronger than a man twice his size, able to run tirelessly for days. I have tried… several times, but so far I have been unsuccessful. I think I know why, now. I kept trying to mesh the strengths of my subjects with those of a wolf, thinking it to be the most logical starting point. It did not go well. Of all of my prototypes, only one survived, and he… But I digress. I did not realize that evolution had already provided me with a more compatible blueprint to enhance a man’s senses. A creature which has changed alongside with us for tens of thousands of years already, and adapting itself to us even as we adapt ourselves to them.” He looked fondly at Rex. “You should be happy, Ryan. You will be the first man to have the strengths of a dog.”

“Um… Right. Not that it doesn’t sound crazy or anything, because it totally doesn’t, but no thanks. Can I go now?”

“Go where, exactly?”

“Go…” I was going to say go home, but I realize I really didn’t have a home. Not that I wanted to stay here with this rich nutcase, but…

Max nodded thoughtfully, almost as he you were reading my thoughts. “People in your situation often underestimate just how vulnerable they are. Remember what I asked you the first time we saw each other? I asked you whether anybody knew you were here. Your answer was no.”

Just what I had been thinking a little while ago. “So?”

“To put it bluntly, Ryan, you are now my prisoner. I’m sure you will have come to this conclusion based on your period of solitary confinement. If you were to try and escape, as you undoubtedly will, you will find that the grounds surrounding this mansion offer no place to really hide from me. My electronic surveillance network is extensive, and even should you manage to make it back into town, the people there will swiftly deliver you back to me. Each and every one of them knows that it is wiser not to cross me.

“I would prefer to perform the splicing with your voluntary participation, since my previous experience with the other candidates has shown me that it is greatly preferable. Nevertheless, I can and will perform it even if you don’t consent. I believe this experiment to be the most promising one yet, and even better, we have here a DNA donor with whom you have already bonded somewhat.”

Max patted Rex on the head as he said that. I looked from him to my dog.

“You want to combine Rex’s DNA with mine?”

“It’s much more complicated than that, but in essence, yes. What do you say, Ryan?”

Again, I looked around the room. Max had a gun, sure, but if I could just get closer… Then I remembered the way that Max had kind of wanted to sit next to me, and the way he looked at me, almost as if he was attracted to me. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.

Seconds ticked by while I thought. Then I buried my face in my hands and pretended to cry.

“I don’t know what to do!” I sobbed, trying to make it sound convincing. “I’m so scared, and I’m lonely, and I don’t want to go back to that cell ever again!”

That last bit, at least, was true, and the tremble that crept into my voice was partially real.

“What are you saying?” Max asked me, his tone guarded.

Still covering my face, I poked myself in the eye to make it tear up. It worked, and I was able to look up at Max tearfully, channeling my inner actor for all it was worth.

“I’m just so scared,” I said. Then I edged forward in my chair, made as if to reach out to Max, and then pulled my hands back, hugging myself as if desperate for comfort. I looked down again, shutting my eyes tight, and tried to cry some more.

I heard a chair scraping back, footsteps, and then the chair next to mine creaking. Cautiously, I peeked and saw that Max had walked around his desk to sit next to me. We were sitting so close now that our knees were almost touching.

I sniffled loudly and edged closer to him, ever so slightly.

“I’m surprised by this reaction, Ryan,” he told me. “What I have seen from you so far has led me to believe that you were tougher than this.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” I replied as I bumped his leg was mine, trying to make it seem accidental. He didn’t draw back from the contact, and neither did I.

Score. I looked up at him again, my right eye still tearing up a little from how hard I had poked it, and saw that Max was sitting very close to me indeed. I looked into his cold eyes and thought I saw a flicker of emotion pass behind them.

I edged close enough to smell Max’s cologne. He really was very handsome, actually. Perfect skin, chiseled features, and I could tell from his wide shoulders and strong chest that he would probably look amazing without that expensive, immaculate suit.

“It’s just… It’s so hard,” I whispered. I pretended I wanted to rest my hand on my knee and accidentally put it on Max’s leg instead. “Being alone all the time.”

Max did not react in any way whatsoever to the fact that I was now touching his leg, and even though I knew it was all an act I actually felt a faint stirring of arousal.

“Ryan…” Max said, but his voice was now husky.

I ran my hand up his thigh, just a little, drawing out the moment. I was rewarded with the unmistakable bulge of an erection in my captor’s pants.

“What are you… doing?” Max whispered. His breath smelled fresh, like peppermint.

I leaned forward, looking up into his eyes, aiming for his lips. Max did not move, and he was like a statue carved out of marble as I finally kissed him.

The touch of his lips was electric, and although at first he stiffened, soon the marble gave way and became soft, pliable male flesh. He kissed me right back with an intensity I had not anticipated, and the soft touch of his left hand on my face drove a shiver of desire right through the core of my being. I had never kissed anyone like that. The smell of him was in my nostrils, his breath urgent in my ears, and the warmth of him after having been alone for so long was shockingly wonderful.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the gun in its holster, black against the perfect white of Max’s shirt. I didn’t think twice. I reached for it, faster than thought.

Max was quicker. His right hand snatched mine out of the air and held it in a grip of iron, squeezing around my wrist with enough strength to make me cry out.

Max cracked a smile. “I wondered how far you would take the charade.”

“Let me go, you fucker!”

“Oh? I thought you wanted to be near me.”

“Let me go!”

Unexpectedly, he did, pushing me away just as I was yanking my hand back. The motion destabilized me completely and I went sprawling down on the floor, toppling my chair. Rex was on me immediately, licking my face with enthusiasm.

Whatever. I’d tried the easy way. It was Rex and me against him, gun or no gun. And I wasn’t going back into that cell.

I jumped back onto my feet with a move I had learned from a break dancer. “Rex, get him!”

Max didn’t even stand up. He simply whistled.

I froze right where I was and then shook it off, but Rex wasn’t moving.

“Rex, guard him,” Max said calmly.

Rex turned around immediately and started growling. At me.

“Rex? What is it, boy?” I made as if to move, but his growling intensified. He bared his teeth threateningly, like a snarling wolf.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” Max told me, standing up last. “And may I say, Ryan, that I am very disappointed. I knew you were resourceful; it is one of the many reasons why I chose you. I was expecting… More. Unfortunately, we run out of time now. You will be transformed, whether you want to or not. Greg?”

The door to the room opened and the hulking form of Greg entered. He was wearing jeans that looked way too tight on his huge legs, a sleeveless white T-shirt and a red vest that gave me a good look at his massive, hairy arms.

“Yes, Master,” Greg said, head hung low and shoulders slumped forward, looking up at Max almost as if he were afraid to make eye contact. I had seen that kind of body language in dogs, like when you catch them doing something wrong and are about to scold them. Seeing the huge man who had kicked my ass once already acting so submissive in front of Max was surprising.

More shocking, though, was the pure, unadulterated hatred I could see in Greg’s eyes as he looked at Max.

“Take him away and help Terrence prep him for the procedure.”

“Yes, Master,” Greg answered obediently.

“Don’t worry,” Max told Greg. “I have a feeling this one might survive. Wouldn’t you like that? To finally have another one like you?”

Greg nodded stiffly, walked over to me and placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. He steered me away, and it didn’t even occur to me to resist. He led me out of the room, pushing the door aside. Rex came behind me, snarling at my heels.

“This way,” Greg growled, yanking my shoulder to the right. It hurt, but I said nothing. I let him lead me to a gigantic door that looked like it must be guarding a bank vault. The door clicked open as Greg approached, swinging inwards noiselessly. Greg pushed me forward, before him, and I stumbled into a room steeped in shadows, except for the very center of it, where a floodlight illuminated an operating table.

Terrence was standing next to the table, wearing green scrubs and a facemask. As soon as he saw me, he loaded up a vial of strange purple liquid, held it up to the light, and nodded. Greg took me over there and made me sit down.

I looked from one of them to the other, panicking. “What’s going to happen? Greg? What are you going to do to me?”

Terrence acted as if I hadn’t spoken. Greg, though, caught my eye for an instant before looking away. He looked almost… Sad.

“Don’t fight it,” he said under his breath. “Hang onto a memory in your mind and don’t let it go. It helps when the pain comes.”

“What?” I all but screamed.

The sharp pinprick of a needle was sudden and really painful. I whipped my head around to see Terrence injecting me with the purple liquid.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Get away from m…”

I suddenly felt woozy. Panicking even more, I tried to cling on to awareness.

“Set him on the table,” Terrence instructed.

I tried to fight back, but my head was swimming. Strange thoughts floated through my mind, and the last thing I heard was the steady, threatening growling of a dog.