Days passed inside the lab, though GR1M1 had no way to measure when they would arrive and why else. He started to calculate with the fingers, more or less with hands he had on him. After he had more or less the time it would normally take for him to count when they would arrive. He started to form days and weekdays in his own mind to find out what time they would arrive and when they would leave. Taking in consideration how long they would be there. Then one day as he learned to count subconsciously he went a little beyond the shift of footsteps and the scrape of metal trays. Nothing in the room changed. The walls stayed the same color. The restraints on his limbs stayed in the same position. Only the alchemists altered their routines. They brought new tools, new mixtures, new bodies. He saw this change as an opportunity to learn more about them as they would return to their usual time after a few weeks. As time went on longer they worked on him when they felt like it and on other creatures when they did not. GR1M1 watched them move around him with the same steady rhythm. He sensed they were waiting for something. A result. A confirmation. A moment when the test on the other bodies proved stable enough to attempt on him in particular, as he felt their gaze upon him constantly as if being anxious for any of his actions.

  He wondered why they needed him for that. If they wanted to repeat their success, they could have done it with any of the other creatures. Yet they kept returning to him, like a drug and addict can't forget and keeps on returning every once in a while. They checked the parasite inside his back more often than they checked the others. As they took him to the table to examine him once again, they whispered to each other while standing near his table. He could not hear the words, but he saw the way their hands hovered over his spine. They acted as if he carried something they required.

  They planned to unite his body with the new parasite prototype. They had been trying to hold back their insatiable thirst for knowledge as to what would happen if both parasites would collide inside of him. The day was drawing closer. GR1M1 had given the creature a name in his mind. Flesh parasite. The words helped him separate it from the other experiments. He had seen the tubes where they kept the smaller ones. He had seen the bodies they opened to insert them. Likewise, he had no other way to understand what lived inside him. Naming it gave him a point of reference. He was now part of another organism, the flesh, and the bone parasite.

  He had grown used to the presence of the bone parasite. The parasite pressed against his bones in a way he could not describe. It wanted to leave his body, and he understood that desire. If it escaped, he would die. He knew that. Yet he still felt a strange connection was being built in both organisms subconscious. They were both trapped in the same place. They both had no choice. When the alchemists left him alone, he spoke to it in a quiet voice. The words came out rough. Only one word ever formed clearly. Why? He used the rest of his thoughts to speak inward, hoping the creature sensed something.

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  One night they left another body in front of him. This one carried two parasites. The chest had been opened and sealed again with metal clamps. The skin around the stitches looked swollen. GR1M1 studied the body from his table. The alchemists had found a way to control the parasites temporarily. They used the glowing instrument again. The electricity made the creatures inside the body react in strange ways. GR1M1 watched the movements under the skin. At first the parasites pushed against the tissue as if resisting. Then the movements slowed. The body settled. The parasites stayed still. He believed they had exhausted themselves. At that moment of weakness, the alchemists forced them into obedience.

  Later that night, GR1M1 spoke to the parasite inside him. He asked it if it ever felt the need to escape. He asked if it would help him if the chance came. Likewise, he did not expect an answer. Furthermore, he only needed to hear his own voice. The room stayed quiet except for the faint hum of the lamps.

  A sudden sound broke the stillness. A sharp tap against the glass of the containment tank. GR1M1 lifted his head. The dead creature inside the tank had moved its hand. The fist struck the glass again. GR1M1 raised his arm. He opened his hand and pressed it against the air in front of him. The gesture reminded him of the moment he once shared with the stranger who had touched the glass long ago. The creature in the tank lifted its arm again. The movement lacked strength, but it matched the intention.

  GR1M1 focused on his left hand. He told himself to raise three fingers. The creature responded. Its fingers rose in the same order. The motion came from the parasite inside it. GR1M1 felt a faint shift inside his own spine. The parasite in his body reacted at the same time. The two creatures behaved as if they shared a single will. A single mind of it's own shattered in pieces with the sole goal of control over it. GR1M1 had an idea of what they had tried with the parasite… Just like with him they needed something to control… an innocent being to be part of their chain of discoveries. A pawn in their internal game.

  He realized his earlier suspicion had been correct. The parasite had been divided. The alchemists had taken a piece of it and placed it inside the new body. Once they tamed the host, they gained control over both. The parasites acted as one. They followed the same impulse. But strangely enough each developed on its own.

  GR1M1 studied the creature in the tank. It had no memories. It had no identity beyond the parasite’s influence. Its movements came from instinct. Its knowledge came from the connection between the two halves. GR1M1 felt the parasite inside him shift again. Something inside his body changed. The sensation no longer felt like something consuming him, but improving him. It felt like a slow adjustment. A rearrangement. The change stayed internal. Nothing on the surface would reveal it. The alchemists would not notice until it was already too late for them…

  The realization settled inside him. He and the parasite were no longer separate. Their thoughts overlapped in places he could not define. The parasite had become part of his awareness. It understood the surrounding danger. It understood the alchemists were their common enemy.

  The possibility of escape formed between them. It came without warning. It came without planning. Not only that, but it existed now as a shared idea. GR1M1 kept his eyes on the tank. The creature inside lowered its hand. GR1M1 lowered his own.

  The only question left was when they would act.

  “???????? ??? ???????... ?????? ???? ?? ???????? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ?????????...”

  “Monsters are mirrors... showing only the darkness we refuse to see in ourselves...”

  How was it??