Chapter 6: Father, Son

"I'm surprised, Vincent." Vincent got startled by the usage of his name. Jason hadn't ever used it until now.

"Why should you be?" he asked, his intuition telling him that what was to come was not at all pleasant.

Jason sneered. "They're usually unconscious by now" he said, "but you haven't even panicked, yet."

Jason's words were disturbing Vincent. Who are 'they'? Before he could ask another question, Jason was walking away into the forest. Vincent contemplated what was worse: going with this creepy man or staying in the dark forest. A low growl and a glimpse of red eyes in the shadows finalized his decision and he quickly strode over to Jason.

"What are you talking about?" Vincent asked, a tone of worry in his voice, "Who are they?"

Jason chuckled in his usual malicious way, though he offered no answer. Instead, he gave more vague and mysterious comments that severely disturbed Vincent. He was beginning to wonder if maybe staying in the forest and away from Jason would be the better choice... But the short man seemed to know where he was going and would certainly find him should he dare to escape, right? And those creatures he kept getting glimpses of... No, he wouldn't stay out here.

"You can't escape me, Vincent." Jason said as if reading his mind, "We're far away from any civilization... In fact, this island isn't even located on any map."

With this revealed, Vincent became even more frightened. This information just sealed away any chance of escape and now he realized just how foolish he was to follow his adopter. The feeling of promise was slowly being pushed down beneath the fearful and perilous feelings he had now, disappearing behind them and being smothered entirely.

The eerie silence that followed was unbearable, but Vincent dared not to speak. It seemed as if this whole island was dead except for the lush greenery. It was then that Vincent noticed just how healthy the trees and plants looked and he wondered how the soil could be so fertile if there was virtually nothing alive about this place.

He was shaken from his thoughts when they approached the building that he'd noticed while they were still in the jet. It looked like it was once a white building, but the years discolored and worn it out. It had no windows, but it had a glass dome on its roof. There was only one floor, but Vincent had a feeling that there was much more to the building below the ground.

They were now entering the building. The room that they entered was square in shape and had a low roof. There were only two window-less doors that stood side by side opposite the ones that they'd come through. There was also a pad on the wall beside the doors and a keyboard beneath it. Jason approached the pad and lay his right hand on it. It immediately gave off a green glow as it identified the hand. When it was finished, it gave a beep and Jason began to type something on the keyboard. There came another beep and the doors' lock released. Jason opened the door and they walked into a room that was pitch black.

Vincent found that he was frozen. He couldn't move his body at all. The inky blackness that he was surrounded in paralyzed him with fear. He knew not of what was beyond where he stood. His breaths were shallow and the silence around wasn't reassuring. Suddenly, he heard the patter of footsteps and something flicking on. Lights illuminated the blackness and momentarily blinded Vincent. Though the darkness was gone, he wasn't so sure if what he saw was any better.

In the room were many scientific instruments. There was a large computer screen on a wall and many panels of buttons beneath it. There was a large cylindrical instrument laying on its side while supported by a metal base. Then Vincent saw a metal bed-like structure that had leather straps and metal cuffs on it. Beside it was a device like a mask, melded into the general structure of the human face, that was connected to a whirring machine by many wires. What caught his eye, though, were the large cylindrical tubes that contained bubbling green liquid. Inside those strange tubes were blob-like shapes that weren't distinguishable, though Vincent swore that they resembled fetuses.

"Like my experiments?" Jason sneered, noticing Vincent's horrified expression. Vincent turned his eyes to the short man.

"What are you doing with them?" he asked, pointing at the green tubes. He'd been through any shocking events lately, but this was the strangest and most disgusting thing he'd seen so far. Even though he didn't know exactly what it was he was looking at, he knew that they were not made by nature's will.

Jason laughed and stalked away down a corridor and disappeared into a room. He came back out a few minutes later, his suit replaced by a lab coat and his medium length black hair in a pony tail. He had his usual creepy smile, but the sinister sparkle of triumph and cruelty gleamed even brighter in his eyes.

Vincent became even more fearful of the man before him. The danger was now more prominent to him and he knew that if he didn't act quickly, he'd fall into the hands of a madman. He surveyed his surroundings. Behind him was the pair of doors that they'd come in through earlier. Ahead of him was the hall that Jason emerged from in his new attire. There were no other escapes. Vincent turned quickly to the doors behind him and tried to pry them open, but they were fast shut.

Jason chuckled menacingly. "Oh, Vincent, how amusing you are!" he exclaimed. "I told you, there's no escape."

Vincent heard the older man's words and felt a wave of terror was over him. He knew what he said was true, but he was determined to escape. With his long legs, he bolted down the dark hall before him.

"There's no where to go that way, my boy!" Jason called to the running teenager. His voice echoed down the hall and rang in Vincent's ears. His taunting words just motivated Vincent's will to run, though, and he picked up the speed, urging himself to move on.

Vincent was running blindly through darkness. He didn't know how long or how far he ran, but the hall seemed endless. He continued to run silently except for the echo of his footsteps and the sound of his heavy breathing. When it seemed that he'd be forever trapped in the dark hall, a ray of light came into view. Full of hope, Vincent pushed himself to run faster. He slowed down when he believed himself to be close enough to the light.

He walked into the center of the light and looked up. He saw a small window on the ceiling, but it was too high for him to reach. Ruling out that point of escape, he looked around him. There was no other way to go except down a flight of stairs. He contemplated whether going down there was better than going back down the hall he'd come from, but the reminder of the menacing madman down that path made Vincent choose the stairs. He had entered the unknown once again.

He was calmer now, but Vincent's panic and fear hadn't left him. The silence was suffocating on this island. The feelings of dread, despair and hopelessness all washed upon him at once, smothering him under their black waves. By now he was wandering down the staircase to God knows where. The inky blackness below him was almost as forbidding as going back, yet still Vincent pressed on. He heard muffled sounds, but Vincent was too dazed to notice, the adrenaline rush long gone. It was only when he came to the landing that he realized that something was indeed alive on this island.

Vincent noticed a screen to his right on the wall. There were many screens, actually, but they were all blank and full of dust. He spotted a pad of switches, but nothing else. Trying to ignore the sounds beyond the large and foreboding metal door, Vincent approached the pad and flipped on each switch, curious to see what would come onto the screen, yet dreading what would appear, as well. They all glowed white for a while and this momentarily dazed Vincent since the only source of light on the landing was a dim, flickering pot light.

Once Vincent regained his vision, he saw something so hideous and horrible that it made him wretch right then and there.

'What the fuck is that?' he thought incredulously with the utmost disgust.

Though the image quality was low, Vincent could still clearly make out three figures crouched over a human. They, too, possessed the form of a human, though contorted in some ways. Their fingers were long and crooked-like and they seemed to have quite sharp claws. Their faces were elongated both from the chin and the nose, giving a severe and hawk-like appearance. Even with the bad quality, Vincent could see the bones poking through their skin, especially the nubs protruding from their upper backs. But it was not their deformed bodies that disgusted Vincent so -- it was what they were doing to the human.

The human was not alive... No, not alive at all. It was a corpse now. A corpse so bloody and ruined that you couldn't tell who they were or how they looked like anymore. The three humanoid creatures crouched over it were eating the flesh and meat of the dead body before them, scraping the extras from the bones and ripping out its internal organs. Their hands and fronts were all bloody and gory, and their mouths were smeared with the red substance. They looked ravenous, as if they hadn't eaten in days... Maybe even months.

Vincent never noticed the footsteps coming from behind him until their owner spoke.

"I see that you've found my experiments." Jason said, a note of pride in his voice. "The successful ones, at least."

Vincent said nothing, staring at the ghastly image before him. It was like one of the horror movies he'd watch at the orphanage with Tifa, only a hundred times worse and a million times grosser. It was not just an image on a screen, Vincent knew. Oh, it was real, all right.

"Aren't they glorious?" the crazed man beside him sighed as if talking about a masterpiece of art.

Vincent shuddered. "This is what you do for a living?" he asked hysterically, jabbing his finger at the screen. "You make these... these... THINGS?" He practically shouted.

Jason chuckled and responded in a low voice. "Now, now Vincent. We mustn't make much noise." He seemed out of his wits, staring at his 'successes' with glassy eyes.

"These are my lovely demons." He explained in a dreamy voice, "Creatures that belong to Hell, but I made them. I created them myself.

"I'm a father, you see, Vincent?" Jason turned to face the said boy. "I'm your father now, and you'll love me. You'll love me because you won't remember anything and they'll tell you about how great I am and that I saved you all from death...

"Because that's all they know now. They only know of Professor Hojo, their father and savior."

Those were the last words Vincent heard before feeling a sharp sting in his abdomen. He looked down to see a long and sharp needle injecting liquid into his body. A sudden wave of tiredness fell over him and he faded into the darkness all around.