CHAPTER 6 — The Experiment
CHAPTER 6 — The Experiment
The room spun around me.
I read the document again.
And again.
The words never changed.
Authorization for Experimental Biological Implantation.
Signed by Richard Hayes.
Dated forty-eight hours after Emily was born.
I couldn't breathe.
"This isn't real," I whispered.
"It can't be."
Dr. Carter gently took the file from my trembling hands.
"I'm afraid it is."
He flipped through several pages.
"There are medical diagrams."
"Surgical notes."
"Post-operative observations."
His voice became increasingly strained.
"Someone performed surgery on Emily when she was only two days old."
I covered my mouth.
"No..."
"There has to be another explanation."
Detective Bennett continued searching the cabinet.
A few moments later, she pulled out a thick envelope labeled CLASSIFIED.
Inside was a DVD, several photographs, and a leather notebook.
The notebook belonged to Richard.
His handwriting covered every page.
Dr. Reynolds opened it carefully.
The first entry was dated fifteen years earlier.
"Subject E remains stable."
"The implant has accepted the host without immediate rejection."
"Growth will remain dormant until adolescence."
My knees gave way.
I collapsed into a chair.
"Subject E..."
Emily.
My daughter.
She wasn't written about like a child.
She was written about like a laboratory experiment.
Tears blurred my vision.
Dr. Reynolds kept reading.
"If activation occurs naturally, survival odds are below twenty percent."
"Removal may become impossible after full integration."
Silence filled the vault.
Detective Bennett looked horrified.
"So Richard knew."
Dr. Carter nodded slowly.
"He knew from the beginning."
"But why?" I cried.
"Why would a father do this to his own daughter?"
No one answered.
Because none of us could imagine a reason terrible enough.
The DVD was rushed to the hospital's forensic lab.
Within an hour, technicians managed to recover the video.
The footage was grainy.
The date stamp read fifteen years earlier.
A newborn baby lay inside an incubator.
Tiny.
Fragile.
Covered in tubes.
I immediately recognized the birthmark on her left shoulder.
Emily.
A man's voice spoke from behind the camera.
"Proceed."
Several doctors surrounded the incubator.
One carried a sealed metal container no larger than his hand.
Another opened it carefully.
Inside was something dark.
Small.
Almost alive.
I felt sick.
The camera zoomed closer.
The object pulsed.
Very slowly.
Like a heartbeat.
One surgeon spoke nervously.
"Are we certain this is safe?"
Another replied,
"The sponsors approved human implantation."
The first doctor hesitated.
"The mother never consented."
Richard's voice answered from off-camera.
"She doesn't need to."
I burst into tears.
Detective Bennett immediately stopped the video.
No one in the room could bear to watch another second.
Back at the hospital, Emily's condition worsened.
Her fever climbed rapidly.
The strange movement beneath her skin became more frequent.
Every few hours, the bulge traveled across her abdomen.
Doctors documented everything.
None of it made medical sense.
Late that evening, Dr. Carter entered my room.
"We've made a decision."
I stood.
"What is it?"
"We have to operate."
My heart pounded.
"Can you remove it?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Finally, he admitted,
"We don't know."
"The implant appears connected to blood vessels."
"And possibly..."
He looked down.
"...to several internal organs."
"If we remove it carelessly..."
"We could lose Emily."
I closed my eyes.
"What happens if you don't?"
He spoke softly.
"I don't believe she'll survive another week."
At midnight, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered immediately.
"Hello?"
Heavy breathing.
Then Richard spoke.
"They found the files."
His voice sounded exhausted.
"I warned them."
"Richard!" I shouted.
"Where are you?"
"You have to listen."
"No!"
"You listen!"
"What did you do to our daughter?"
Silence.
Then...
"I was trying to save her."
I almost dropped the phone.
"Save her?"
"You experimented on a newborn baby!"
"They lied to me."
His voice cracked.
"They promised the implant would cure a genetic disease."
"What disease?"
"I don't know."
"They never showed me proof."
"I was desperate."
"You were unconscious after childbirth."
"They said if I refused..."
"...Emily would die before her first birthday."
Tears streamed down my face.
"So you signed."
"I thought I was saving my little girl."
His sob echoed through the phone.
"But I destroyed her instead."
Before I could ask another question...
Gunshots exploded in the background.
Richard gasped.
May you like
"They found me."
The line went dead.
