It was quite late. Giulia’s back and knees complained painfully to her about the position she’d been sitting in for the past few hours but she didn’t dare move. It was dark in the lab and some of the lights were motion sensitive. She knew Marisol would know someone was still inside the lab if the lights were on. So it was that Giulia stayed as motionless as she could, tucked down and out of sight behind her 3D printers. From her hiding spot she could just see the specimen’s tank.

She hadn’t been able to bring herself to kill the specimen, not yet at least. She had to know what Marisol was up to before she could make up her mind on what to do about the specimen. A part of her wanted to believe that there was nothing she needed to worry about. Just because Marisol was talking to the specimen and swimming with it didn’t mean there was cause for concern. Then again, if she really just wanted to check on the specimen’s progress why wasn’t she checking in with Giulia. It wouldn’t take very long for Giulia to get Marisol up to speed on the specimen’s development and there would be no need for Marisol to get into the tank with it.

All of those thoughts swirled around her head while she sat and waited in the dark, listening for the sound of approaching footsteps. As it was, she mostly just heard the ticking of the lab clock counting away the seconds. A few sloshing sounds punctuated the otherwise rhythmic tones emitted from the various devices that were connected to the specimen.

A sliver of light shot across the lab as the door was opened a crack. Giulia couldn’t see the door from where she was but she didn’t need to. She knew who would be coming. The sliver of light grew as the door opened wider and then shrank back again as the door closed. A moment later the automatic lights flickered on. The specimen sloshed around in its tank a bit more forcefully than usual, apparently disturbed, possibly awakened, by the lights. Giulia didn’t know if it ever really slept.

“Yes, I’m sorry dear,” Marisol said gently. “But this is the only time I can be with you.”

Giulia’s heart pounded in her chest. Did Marisol really just call the specimen ‘dear’?

Marisol stepped into view, carrying the ladder and setting it down in front of the tank. She was in her diving suit again and did a quick check on her scuba gear before climbing up to the grate and unlocking it.

“Hey you,” she called down to the specimen in gentle tones, “can you come up here for a bit?”

Giulia watched in awe and disgust as the specimen rose up in its tank until its head breached the surface. Marisol bent down and kissed it gently on the lips. The specimen didn’t seem to return the kiss, but rather it just floated there, head bobbing up and down, while she kissed it.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Marisol said to it and it was clear she was near tears. “I still can’t believe you’re coming back to me, but here you are. Giulia’s bringing you back!” She wrapped her arms around the specimen’s neck in a tight hug.

What was going on? Who was this specimen? Marisol had told Giulia that the body parts she’d been given to work on had been donated to science, and yet now it sounded as though Marisol had known whoever this specimen had been. From the looks of it, they had been romantically involved.

Marisol stroked the specimen’s bald head and continued to speak to it though what exactly she was saying Giulia couldn’t make out anymore due to the fact that Marisol was now just whispering. It didn’t matter. Giulia could surmise the basic content of whatever Marisol was saying to the specimen.

This went against everything Giulia stood for. Whatever Marisol was hoping to get from the specimen, it wasn’t going to become whoever she had known it to be in the past. That mind was gone, destroyed after it died. The specimen was nothing more than a husk, a shell that she had used and animated into some semblance of life. Even if it did fully regenerate its body and become a fully autonomous, living organism, it wouldn’t be the person Marisol once knew. That said, Giulia doubted very much that Marisol would listen to her if she tried to bring any of this up with her. She was living in her own alternate reality where she believed this specimen could be something it wasn’t.

After some time, Marisol climbed into the tank with the specimen and they both became amorphous shapes within the murky tank. Giulia didn’t want to even imagine why Marisol might be doing such a thing. Mostly she found herself worrying about how the fluids in the tank might be getting contaminated by Marisol. Any number of soap residues, lotions, or even body oils could taint the delicate chemical balance within the tank.

Giulia was just starting to consider trying to sneak away, she’d seen enough to be getting on with, when a loud thump and a garbled cry came from the tank. Giulia looked, but she couldn’t make out what was going on. The shapes within were moving quickly but what exactly they were doing she couldn’t tell. What she could see was that a dark cloud was growing like a storm cloud in the tank.

“Blood!” Giulia gasped with sudden dawning comprehension.

She struggled to free herself from her hiding place but she’d been sitting there for so long that her legs had gone to sleep and they weren’t responding like they should. Her back and arms were in terrible pain as well and now that she was trying to move and no longer ignoring her body she felt the full weight of it all bearing down on her.

Inside the tank, the struggle continued there as well, though the cloud of blood was making it harder to get any more details. The surface of the tank was frothing as the two inside fought. Giulia thought back to when the specimen had bitten her and she wondered if something similar was happening to Marisol. She doubted the specimen knew what it was doing, or knew what Marisol was doing. It could be that the specimen was acting out of basic instinct. Perhaps it felt threatened by her. Maybe it was just hungry. There was no way to know. All that Giulia did know was that there was an awful lot of blood in the tank now and she worried what would happen to Marisol if she didn’t get to her soon. She may disagree strongly with Marisol’s recent behavior, but that didn’t mean she was just going to sit there and watch her die.

At last, Giulia was able to free herself from her hiding place and she scrambled over on unsteady legs to the ladder. Pins and needles were shooting through most of her body but she forced herself to ignore them as she climbed the ladder. The grate was still open but the liquid was so dark now that even with all the lights on she couldn’t see inside to where Marisol was. The only other thing she could think of doing was to grab the bundle of cables and tubes connected to the specimen and to pull them up. She didn’t care if it damaged or even killed the specimen. At this point, she hoped it would.

She expected the specimen to be much heavier now than the last time she lifted it but it seemed to Giulia that it was far harder to lift than it should have been. At first she thought it was because her arms were still recovering from being so cramped up but as the head began to emerge she saw that, still clamped tight between its teeth, was Marisol. It had bitten down on her shoulder, just before it connected to her neck. It had a look of concentration on its face and tried to pull away from Giulia when it saw her. Marisol was still struggling but faintly now. Blood was pulsing out from between the specimen’s teeth.

It was all she could do to just hold up the specimen. She had no strength to pry it’s mouth open, or to heft Marisol up and out even if she did manage to free her from the specimen.

“Drop it!” Giulia shouted out desperately.

To her utter shock and amazement, the specimen did let go of Marisol. It looked as shocked as Giulia felt, perhaps not expecting to be shouted at so forcefully. Regardless of the reason, Giulia let go of the cables at once, allowing the specimen to sink back down into the tank. Marisol was still somewhat conscious and, with some help and prompting from Giulia, managed to get herself out of the tank. Giulia descended the ladder first and guided Marisol down as best she could. Once on the ground, Marisol collapsed in a heap. Giulia rushed to get the first aid kit and then scrambled to clean and dress the wound. It was a grisly sight. The flesh was torn and mangled. There were bits of tendon poking out here and there and the muscle was almost completely torn through.

Giulia applied pressure as best she could while she doused the area in iodine before flushing it all with a saline solution. Then she placed on the gauze pads and wrapped them as tightly as she dared.

“We need to get you to a hospital,” Giulia stated.

“Don ledth’m hurt ‘im,” Marisol murmured in slurred speech. “It wazzn hizzs fault.”

Giulia didn’t have the energy to argue. She just nodded and moved to grab her cell phone.

As she picked up her phone, Marisol slipped unconscious and a whole new worry struck her. If she reported this accident, there would be no way she could hide the specimen and that would bring up all sorts of troubles. She’d probably lose her medical license, and maybe even serve time in jail for unsanctioned medical experiments on a human.

Giulia looked back down to Marisol on the floor. Their arrangement had always been a sort of gray area as far as the legalities were concerned. There was no official record, as far as Giulia knew, of her working for Marisol. She just put together order forms for the materials she needed and Marisol saw that they were fulfilled. From an outside observer, it might just as well look like Marisol was the one doing the experimenting.

She could take her research notes, leave, and no one would be the wiser. She could even look for a more reputable lab to work for and continue her work there. She’d have to go slowly of course, she didn’t want to make it too easy for any curious investigator to put the dots together.

In the time she’d taken to consider all of this, Marisol had stopped breathing. That was it then. There was no point in trying to save Marisol’s life now. She even regretted cleaning and bandaging the wound now since all of that would be evidence of her presence here. Reluctantly, Giulia removed the bandages she’d applied. It was a slow and difficult task of lifting Marisol back up the ladder but now that she had had time to rest, her limbs had regained their strength. She flopped Marisol up the ladder one rung at a time and resting when she needed. Finally she reached the top and gently slid Marisol into the tank. The specimen moved suddenly, probably surprised from Marisol’s sudden reappearance, and then was still.

Giulia washed up the mess as best she could, cleaning everything with bleach and then throwing all of the evidence down the chute that led to the incinerator. With any luck, it would be a few days before anyone discovered her. By then, whatever other evidence there might still be of Giulia’s actions that night will have faded away.

She grabbed the laptop where she stored all of her notes and left the lab. From there she went to her room and packed the remainder of her belongings. She did regret having to leave. She’d loved the freedom she’d enjoyed to pursue her ideas, but there was nothing she could do now besides leave if she ever wanted to continue her work.

With that in mind, she left her room and, eventually, Marisol’s expansive complex. She walked a couple miles away before calling for a taxi. She’d go to her parents, explain that her job hadn’t worked out, and use that time to lay low while also looking for a new job. It wasn’t ideal, but it would get her through. She wondered how long it would take for the news of Marisol’s death to be made public and she hoped her involvement would remain unknown. It was that fear that kept her awake during the taxi ride all the way to the train station. It was that fear that prevented her from being able to sleep at all that night.

Every time she closed her eyes all that she saw was the bite wound on Marisol’s shoulder, the semiconscious terror in her face, the blank stares from the specimen. She hoped she would be able to expunge those images sooner rather than later. Only time would tell.