Chapter 4

W-17-D was running laps with a few other hybrids. It was a test of speed and agility for them, but they were supposed to think of it as a game. He didn't think of it as a game. He just knew that the director himself asked for this test and the gym, and so he had to perform at his best, dodging obstacles that were put in his way as fast as he could. It felt natural to him, even though this was his first time. He knew that it was something deep, something instinctive. Something that he wasn't supposed to have, but had anyway. Whatever made the director happy.

Michael was indeed very happy. W-17-D was by far his best product made yet. The boy was fast, smart, strong, and agaile, and he would sell for a hefty price when only fifty remained. The perfect combination of man and wolf, Michael was almost tempted to buy the boy himself as his guard dog. Eventually, when they were all sold, he would have to make more, and who better to show them their purpose and protect them than a former experiment?

It didn't matter what they were being sold for. They were all going once their numbers dwindled. It was happening in all seven contenents and across all one hundred ninety-five countries around the world. Hybrid trading had been a big thing since humans started messing with animal DNA and making the first hybrids. Back then, they were called Chimera's, but it was such a duragatory term. Hybrids quickly became the new word for the new pets popping into the world. "Alright, that's enough! Back to your rooms, children."

They all did as they were told.

W-17-D was in his room, on his bed, thinking. He was imagining the world outside, not for the first time. The green grass. Blue skies. White clouds. Tall trees and animals that lived in them. The vast wilderness that stretched as far as the eye could see. He sniffed the stagnant air, hoping to smell the wild that was told about in books. Alas, there was no such scent. He was still trapped, with the slightest glimmer of hope given to him by Dr. Hughes. It was her that but these thoughts in his head, his imaginings.

A soft knock woke him from his slumber. His ear twitched, and he turned his head to the door. It was the doctor. He could smell it. "Come in..." He called sleepily. He curled in on himself more, shifting to a position in which he could rest and watch her. He could admit, she made him curious. "Good morning, 17. Still asleep, I see." She mused as she came in and helped herself to his chair, trusty notebook in hand. "I'm awake now, ma'am." W-17-D replied with a small wag. She chuckled, "Good, I'm glad. Let's talk about you know, yes?" W-17-D nodded. It was time to talk again.

"You know it's not you?" Dr. Hughes asked. W-17-D had told her of the dreams and daydreams he'd been having of the wild and told her of the exercise they'd done earlier in the day. How he'd been so good at it despite never doing it before. "Sure, it's me, but it's not the human side of me..." He replied quietly. "I think I'm becoming more of an animal than a human..." His hears folded back into the pillow of his bed as he looked up at the white ceiling. "You are still human, 17..." His golden gaze darted to the therapist. "I am hardly human. The other day, I heard them say I was 53% animal now. I'm more wolf than human..."

"But you are still human. That's the important thing." Elaine was firm on that, making W-17-D sit up and look at her fully. "... Thanks, doc..."

Dr. Hughes was the only one he could trust.

Elaine needed to get them out soon. If she was gonna get those three out, it had to be before they could alter W-17-D anymore than they already have. If they went too far, he probably could lose his humanity. It was dangerous knowing he was already more than half wolf. She didn't even think that was possible. W-17-D really was something special. She knew a place she could safely remove them with a small team of other agents simply waiting for the plan. All she had to do was convince the director to let her take them to the gymnasium. There were a few sealed off doors in there that they could bust open, and the guards should be minimal if it was just her and the three chosen children. She just needed to work out the kinks.

That's what Elaine spent her whole night doing. She didn't even go home to Jon. "Woah, someone pulled a wicked all-nighter. I assume you're going to be saving Wild and the other two soon, then?" Elaine paused, looking over at Richard. "Wild?" She questioned in slight confusion. "Yeah, that kid with the absolutely gorgeous mug. The one we can't get info on."

"W-17-D?" Elaine confirmed. "Yeaaaah, still not calling him that. I like Wild better, which is sort of what W-17-D spells out." Richard explained. "How's that?" Elaine asked skeptically. "Give me that paper, and I'll show you." Elaine gave him paper and a pencil and watched as he wrote down W17D. "Ok, so we already have the W and the D in Wild. Turn the 7 upside-down to make an L, and the 1 already looks like a capital I so what does that spell?" Realization dawned on Elaine. "WILD..."

So now Elaine had a name, or at least a better placeholder, for a name for W-17-D. Wild was much better than 17 anyway. It suited him. So, in three days, Wild, Weston, and Tiffany would be freed from the W Series, and they would save the rest of the others in the W Series, maybe even across the world. Elaine sighed. Ok, maybe not the rest of the world. She certainly wished, but they had homes to go to. Families to see that their children weren't dead. There was still debate on if parents would even take the genetically modified kids back. She was just hoping for the best case right now. For the sake of everyone who had suffered. For the sake of Wild and his peers.

Elaine wanted to get everyone back to the homes where they belonged.