I

On the outskirts of Washington, D.C. was a large testing facility, appropriately named The Hamilton Research Center, nestled right in the center of a vast forest. The trees shrouded much of the facility from the sides, severing any ties that it had to the outside world. Only one way of getting to it and that was by helicopter, as there was a landing pad centered on the rooftop of one of the complex's five towers.

Things have been running smoothly at the Center, since it was first established back in 1972. But on the current evening of November 1976, there came a disturbance, as emergency sirens blared throughout the night air, disrupting any peace within the forest. Several scientists and military personnel within in the complex instantly went into frenzy, due to the nature of the emergency. It seemed as if two important volunteers for the research done at the Center had left the facility. And if they were not recovered soon, the "top secret" project would get out to the public for sure.

Unbeknownst to all inside, the two volunteers were already out of the facility, approaching the barbed-wire fence protecting it. The volunteers' names were Alicia Langston, an African American woman in her mid-twenties who was pregnant at the time of the escape, and Sergeant Henry Kelley, a Caucasian man with short, blond hair and sparkling blue eyes in his early-thirties. Henry was the one who orchestrated the escape, carrying a duffel bag filled with three groups of materials: food, clothing, and guns.

Once they got to the fence, Alicia sat down and held her expanded abdomen, taking deep breaths. Henry quickly set the duffel bag down by his side, reached into the left breast pocket of his dark green uniform, and took out a set of pliers that he had stolen from the maintenance room. He commenced in cutting a hole large enough in the fence to allow himself and Alicia to crawl past it and make their way into the forest.

Suddenly, Alicia began moaning in pain, while holding her stomach at the same time. "I think she's coming!"

"No, not right now!" Henry exclaimed, sweating profusely under the intense pressure and humid atmosphere. "We just need a little more time." He could almost hear the marching footsteps of his fellow comrades approaching in the distance. It would be extreme punishment for sure, disobeying a direct order from his superiors. "Didn't you have any idea what they were going to be doing to you here, when you signed up?"

Alicia shook her head. "They just promised me that I would be given the child that I always wanted…and how it'll be part of a 'new wave of the future'."

"In other words…a freak!"

Alicia glared at him; his words struck like a knife to her heart. "My baby is not going to be a…" Before she could finish her retort, she let out another moan, much louder than the one before. It almost seemed serendipitous that the sirens had stopped, once her moaning began, thus attracting attention to their exact position near the fence.

That was the time for Henry to panic; he was nowhere near done cutting a hole in the fence. And if it weren't obvious enough that things were not looking good, a spotlight shined upon him and Alicia from one of the towers, followed by a voice amplified by a loudspeaker. "Remain where you are! If you attempt any resistance, we will use extreme force!"

Inside the tower, the soldier with the loudspeaker was suddenly contacted by his superior via a walkie-talkie. Needless to say, he didn't sound pleased with the warning he just gave whatsoever. "You idiot! I want the woman alive! If that means having to take Sergeant Kelley alive with her, then so be it!"

"Yes, sir." The soldier acknowledged, as he watched Henry and Alicia down below. That was when he noticed Henry reach into the duffel bag and pull out something that looked like a handgun. Alarmed, he quickly switched frequencies on his walkie-talkie and alerted the soldiers who were closing in on their location. "Look alive, boys. Kelley is armed and dangerous. If he fires any shots, take him down. I repeat…take him down."

By the fence, Alicia continued breathing heavily, feeling the birth of her child coming sooner each moment her pains grew larger. She looked over to Henry and realized how he was holding one of the guns from his bag. Fear overwhelmed her long enough to take her mind off the pain wracking her pregnant body. "What the hell are you doing?"

Henry had his head down low, sweat and tears streaming down his face. "Fifteen years…Fifteen years I spent in the service…and it all comes down to this…very moment."

She was almost worried that these words would be that of a suicidal man. But from the short time that she got to know him, she was certain that he would never take his own life…especially not over a situation as bizarre as this one. Still, she was heavily concerned about the state of mind he was in.

"Look," she said through her panting, "This isn't as bad as it seems. I'm sure they'll understand why we tried to bail out."

"No, they won't." His tears began to overwhelm the sweat. His face was a moist mess of emotions. "You don't understand…the government made me a large piece to this puzzle…and now that it's been fitted in…I'm expendable now." He looked over to her pregnant form and smiled. "But you…you're holding the key to a new, better generation. You must live…or else we won't."

Alicia still had no clue what he was talking about. And before she could've asked, the sound of a door busting open robbed her of the chance. Several armed soldiers piled out of the building, all aiming their guns directly at Henry, who started climbing the barbed-wire fence the moment of their arrival. The soldiers screamed out his name a few times; but when he didn't comply, they opened fire on him. Blood sprayed everywhere, as the bullets were riddled into his back, some even coming out through his front. He was just near the barbed wires at the top of the fence when he was gunned down, and with the life quickly exiting his body, he drooped down over them, tearing his flesh open even more.

At the foot of the fence, Alicia screamed in both horror over Henry's violent death and pain from the birth she was about to give. The soldiers responsible for Sergeant Kelley's death looked on in awe and wonder, almost as if neither of them had ever seen childbirth before. None of them made any attempt whatsoever to help Alicia with either.

And then emerged a medical doctor, pushing his way past the soldiers to get to Alicia. He was dressed in a lab coat and carried a small, black bag in one hand, with a stethoscope hung around his neck. But the stethoscope wouldn't be needed for an occasion such as this. All he really needed were the rubber gloves he kept in his bag to help deliver the baby.

Within a few moments, Alicia gave birth to her baby: a girl with skin that was just as clear and peach-colored as Henry's was. She cried upon taking her first breath of air out in the new world, her small body covered from head to toe in afterbirth. The doctor wiped some of it off with a towel from his bag, before wrapping her up with it and carrying her away, much to Alicia's surprise.

"Wait!" she weakly said. "Where are you going with my baby?"

The doctor didn't respond, as he disappeared past the crowd of soldiers, who still look amazed by the birth of Alicia's baby girl. Another group suddenly appeared—paramedics who were rolling in two stretchers, one for Alicia and one for the dead Henry (with an empty body bag lying on it). While three of the paramedics were gently resting Alicia on her stretcher, the other four were removing Henry's ravaged body from the barbed-wire fence and placing it into the body bag, carrying it off to the Center's morgue area on the stretcher.

Alicia watched as they took him away, his final words to her echoing through her mind repeatedly. She wondered how her child would be a key to "a new, better generation." It was rather a surprise to see how she turned out, just as purely white as her father. But, then again, she was born under unnatural circumstances. Whatever the case, this was still her child and she hoped the doctors would let her see her, before they had done any of their tests.

The next morning at the Center, Alicia sat quietly in the bed of her room, which was designed closely to resemble a typical hospital room, supposedly to set up a sense of serenity. She was watching a news report on television about famed Metropolis superhero, Mr. Incredible, saving a train full of people before crashing off the tracks right after he prevented a man's suicide and confronted a villain known as "Bomb Voyage." Seeing how truly "incredible" Mr. Incredible was on television, Alicia wished that he was there to prevent the death of a good man on the previous night, so he would see how beautiful her newborn baby looked.

There was a knock on the door and Alicia muted the television set, addressing the person outside. "Come on in."

The door opened and a young, redheaded nurse with the name "Tracey" printed on a gold nametag pinned to the left side of her uniform walked in, carrying Alicia's baby as she was bundled up in a white blanket and fast asleep. "Here you go, Miss Langston." The nurse approached the side of her bed and handed the baby over to her. "The poor little thing had a rough night, but she's okay right now."

Alicia wasn't sure if the nurse's concern was genuine or not. She was not very pleased to see her there, considering all that she went through last evening, as well as the past eight months. But she was, however, delighted to see her new daughter back in her own arms. "Thank you," she told the nurse.

"Is there anything I can get for you, ma'am?"

She looked coldly at the nurse. "Yes…answers. Why are they doing all of this? What's the purpose?"

The nurse fretted with an answer for a brief moment. She then opened her mouth to give one, until a voice interrupted her. "The purpose, Miss Langston, is no longer any concern of yours." They turned to the doorway, where the same doctor that helped deliver her child stood, with a smile on his face. "Your services here at Hamilton won't be needed any more. You've done your part of the experiment, and now you're free to go."

Free to go? Alicia thought angrily to herself. She wanted to get answers from the doctor, regarding her daughter and Sergeant Kelley. But she worried that asking too many questions would result in having her baby taken from her. So she kept silent, as the doctor continued to fake his kindness towards her.

"We're sorry that you had to witness the actions of the recent evening." He stated. "The trauma Sergeant Kelley went through is normal for a project as physically and emotionally demanding as this one. To be honest, it was never in our intentions to cause such stress for him. But he did volunteer and knew the risks before he took them."

Alicia wasn't too certain if she should believe this doctor's words or not. All that she was truly certain about from this whole "experiment" was one thing. "Henry Kelley was the father of my little girl. You made him donate his DNA and mine to create what I'm holding in my arms right now. For what reason, I don't know. But I do know that she'll never get to see him or wonder why her mama looks nothing like her. What am I supposed to tell her when she asks? Huh? I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be too proud of being born from an experiment."

The doctor looked down in despair, but not possibly from the issues that Alicia had assessed. From her perspective, he seemed more disgruntled over something else…something that must've had a connection to this experiment. A few seconds of silence and then he finally answered her concerns. "My suggestion would be to just live your life and hers the best way possible, Miss Langston. She will grow up to be a wonderful young woman, just like her mother." With that friendly smile still on his face, he exited the room.

Alicia knew that he was being paid by the government to give her that little speech about living life to the fullest. It must've been the same one he gave to all of the other women involved in this experiment, after they had provided their "services." There was one in particular she met eight months ago that was part of the project, four years prior, and reappeared to have her second child, born from the experiment just as her daughter was, checked up on. Apparently this was a clause in the contract she signed before volunteering—every four years, the mother would have to return for their child to be checked up on. So much for living life to the fullest!

But Alicia made a promise to herself that she would in no way, under any circumstances, ever come back to the Center again. Once she was totally away from there, she would change her name from "Langston" to "Kelley" (in memory of her child's father), severing any ties she had with Hamilton. This would only be right for her baby girl, since she would already have enough trouble telling people that she was her biological mother.

"What're you going to name her, if you don't mind me asking?" The nurse inquired.

Alicia didn't mind much at all, since she would be done with that place, after that day. She looked down at her little girl, still sleeping in her arms, and uttered the first name that came to mind. "Heather. I'll call her 'Heather'."