The Upgraded Wolf: Chapter One
The Upgraded Wolf
The observation room was lit by a single row of fluorescent lights. The one at the end of the row seemed to flicker intermittently. There was only a simple wooden door at the back of the room; a large tinted window was the opposite wall. It angled away from the door at the top, and was a durable glass. It seemed to be nothing but blackness beyond. The only other thing in the room was a row of simple plastic chairs. The walls were an off white color, aged through the years, and seemed to match the paled tile floor.
The wooden door opened up, a large reptile of an undefined species walked in, wearing not only a fine business suit but an air of almost regal importance. He moved in and headed straight towards the windowed wall. The door closed half way before a shorter, business suited tiger came in holding a file folder filled with documents, pictures, and technical reports he was trying to review and follow the reptile at the same time. He stood in the middle of the room and looked up at the senior executive. "Sir, is it really necessary for the, uh... patient to remain conscious for the procedure? "The tiger asked.
The reptile seemed to make a noise indicating a yes, not even looking away from the operating room below. The large reptile shifted his stance a bit, and turned his head as the operating doctor began the procedure.
Tirran was naked and was laid out on the large table. The wolf was thankful that it was soft leather on the table instead of cold steel. He was a large wolf, broad shouldered and muscular with a slightly coarse fur. However there were steel cuffs that restrained him at the waist, the shins, neck, and forearms. To keep him from wiggling about there was an inflated bladder on the inner part of the cuff keeping his limbs from moving. It seemed as if there were a dozen spotlights of the wolf, and he could hardly make out anything beyond the brightness around the table itself. He heard a door opening and closing footsteps moving about the room and approaching. He tried to turn his head a bit to get a better view but the restraint dutifully did its job. "Who's there? " He called out to the darkness
"I'll be your doctor." A deep voice replied. There was some clanking of metal as a tray was moved up closer, on to the edge of the light. The doctor was in green scrubs and a white apron and face mask. The wolf couldn't make out the species, though he was strongly confident that it was a male doctor. "For the first part at least. "
"First part?" The wolf asked back, his amber eyes trying to watch the doctor as much as possible. He felt the latex glove move over his left ankle and foot.
" Yes, You were explained the procedure completely? " the doctor said before reaching back to the metal tray and picking up a metal instrument that the wolf couldn't see, nor name if he even saw it.
"Yeah... there were a lot of words I didn't know... "He said, catching only a glint of the polished steel before he felt clamp press down on the smallest claw on his left foot. " Then they had me sign some papers. "
No sooner than he finished the sentence that he felt the clamp pulling on his claw, with more and more force until the claw finally separated from his foot. The wolf yelled out from the excruciating pain. The doctor lifted the toe claw up into the light. Tirran could see the blood dripping off of the curved claw. He was horrified as he watched him drop the claw off into a metal bin partially hid by the darkness. He could actually feel his claw missing. "What are you doing?! " The wolf exclaimed.
The doctor seemed to nonchalantly look down to the wolf. "You signed the papers "was his only response. The clamp came down on the next claw in the sequence and pulled forcing it out of the flesh. The wolf screamed once more, trying to jerk and pull himself free. The restraints wouldn't let him move.
"This isn't what I had in mind! "He screamed out, hearing the claw drop into the metal bin with his other claw.
The tiger heard the third scream through the thick glass. He shuddered a bit. The scream was muffled, making it sound a bit distant, but it still carried that same feeling of pain. He paged past the waiver, and the came upon the first stage summary. The tiger looked up towards the glass, not wanting to go near it, and wasn't sure how the reptile could stomach it, knowing it was only the beginning. The reptile simply shifted and brought hand up to his chin rubbing the scales in thought.
The tiger was jolted out of his contemplation by the fourth scream. He gulped. "The... alloy is going to be copied from the claws? " He asked the reptile, and for the first time the reptile responded.
"The roots. It needs to be identical so that the flesh will accept it. The, business end of it will be mathematically formulated for optimal performance. "The executive reptile said with out even taking his eyes off of the subject below.
The tiger nodded in slow understanding and looked down into the papers again to a picture of the glistening alloy that looked like silver. "Titanium...Paladinium... "He said softly and shuddered, trying to pretend he didn't hear the fifth scream.
Tirran shuddered his whole left foot feeling a bit numb from the pain. He took several deep breaths trying to calm down. He didn't really feel any blood gushing out of his foot like he had expected. His chest moved up and down with the deep breaths. He closed his eyes and looked around for the doctor. Suddenly he felt the clamp on his right foot; the scream was pulled out of him like his claw. The scream was softer, weaker. The pain ebbed and flowed through his body as he felt the clamp on his other claw. He merely yelped out now.
The tiger stepped back into the observation room with a coffee and then took a sip. The reptile was watching from a different part of the window now. And it amazed him how stone cold the senior executive could be. The tiger flipped the next page for the procedure and read the paragraph. "I never quite understood why they didn't skin the subject all at once... "The tiger said and looked up to the reptile.
"Early subjects were, how ever the system shock was too much for most of them. It's also rather difficult to coat a full subject all at once. It's a learning process for us as well. "The reptile said with a smile. The eleventh scream was louder than the last ten, and was accompanied by a bit of a blood splatter that made its way up to the window. The tiger jumped slightly seeing the crimson liquid start to dribble down the window. He could see pictures of the most horrific scenes with out emotion, but could barely stand the sight of blood actually before him and in person.
The wolf looked up at the expertly skinned fur. It was like a little boot of his left foot. He looked on with abject horror, not able to contemplate the pain seeing his own fur removed from his body. He could feel every molecule of air that impacted his exposed and bare foot. The raw red flesh glistened in the light dripping with only a few drops of blood. The doctor was an expert in his craft and there would be little blood loss. Not like the first one. Canines were ideal candidates, both numerous and very similar to each other. The doctor deposited the fur in a second bin, the fur making a sickening squishing noise. The wolf groaned, his leg wanting to twitch and jerk, while his mind tried to contemplate ever walking again.
He didn't have long to contemplate as he felt the cold steel of the scalpel push into his calf again, below the restraint but above the ankle. He winced as the scalpel started to circle his leg. It wasn't deep, it didn't even feel like it was cutting any muscle but he could feel the skin pulled along softly. The knife had finished circling his leg, now he could feel tiny metal probes holding his fur beneath the cut and starting to pull. He panted faster and faster, his body preparing for the next scream now that he knew what would happen. The scream was long and powerful as his fur was pulled off of his right foot, a wet tearing sound as it finally came off, while droplets of blood flew outwards in a wide arc. Some of the droplets were even landing on the wolf. His breathing was quick and short, He wanted to claw at the sinister and quiet doctor. He heard the sound of his flesh dropping into the metal bin like a wet rag.
He felt like he could pass out, the numbness and yet the intensity of the pain from his feet percolated in his skull, threatening to control his consciousness. He felt the doctor doing something with feet, pushing something sharp like glass into the muscles. He didn't know what it was, wanting only to relax and pass out. His amber eyes gazed to the darkness beyond the bright lights. How long he stared off into the nothing he couldn't be certain. But he was jolted back once he felt a hot, sticky like material poured on to his raw flesh. He weakly cried out as each foot was lathered up with the tar like substance. It felt like it was contracting about his feet. His breathing became increasingly shallow as the darkness crept in around the edges of his vision.
The doctor turned and picked up the last tool for now and started to smooth out the black liquid so that it was an even base around the wolf's feet. One of the things he had done was leave small plastic fillers in the gaps were the toe claws would be. The synthetic material needed to be applied quickly and it would be some time before the new claws would be ready. The doctor watched with a hidden smirk as the wolf passed out; pleased he had made it this far while conscious.
The tiger looked about for a place to throw his empty Styrofoam cup out now that he had finished it. He didn't notice the reptile had turned away from the window and was heading to the door. "Best to get some rest Alec, phase two begins a few hours. " Alec looked to the reptile and then scrambled to collect the files and follow after him out the door.â€