chapter 7

"Can we go now?" he asked. "That weird man keeps staring at us." I glanced over at Jonah, his face scrunched up and displeased. His laptop was open, but he was staring daggers at us. Axel still had five or so pastries left, but I was sure he'd eat them at home. We gathered up our belongings and went back to my apartment. I laughed a little bit at the memory of Jonah's face.

In the hallway I saw the man with the snow-white hair, Dr. Lawry. I hadn't expected to see him again. He looked at me, and then at Axel. His face registered shock and we walked by quickly. Axel walked close to me, his body pushing mine forward causing me to stumble. He was afraid. I didn't want that bastard anywhere near Axel. I had to keep him safe. "AX3!" Lawry shouted. "AX3!" Axel glanced back at him, but I told him to keep walking.

"I know that man, he works with--with Jomei," Axel said to me as I attempted to unlock my door. "He isn't nice. He is not nice Casey." My hands were shaking, and I was still balancing the desserts from the coffee shop.

"AX3!" he yelled again. "Perro de Presa Canario!"

Axel dropped his bags and turned towards the older man. His entire posture had changed. He looked ten times more aggressive, his hands in fists. Lawry smiled--before Axel lumbered over to him, lifting him off of the ground like a ragdoll. He threw Dr. Lawry effortlessly, the old man bouncing off the wall and hitting the floor of the carpeted hallway.

Axel turned towards me, looking the most frightening I'd ever seen him. This was different than the other times. He seemed removed from the situation, as if acting on a vicious auto-pilot. All of his muscles looked tensed and his nostrils were flared. I backed up slowly. He exposed his teeth, like some kind of dog. It couldn't have been the same person--the person who loved the color purple and cookies. I dropped the box, covering my face instinctively.

"Palos Verdes Blue," Lawry shouted. There was a loud thud, and when I peeked out from behind my arms I saw that Axel had hit the ground. He'd passed out.

"What did you do to him?" I shouted, almost crying. I felt the tears welling up. "What did you do!?" I ran over to Dr. Lawry, tackling him. I sat on top of him, and he smiled up at me. His smug face was infuriating, and before I could stop myself, I punched him. I had never hit anyone before. I didn't enjoy it, but he stopped smiling.

"Let's just go inside," he said, rubbing his jaw. I stood up, heart racing. I looked at him, and then at Axel, who was still unconscious. I grabbed all of the bags and put them inside. I picked up the box from the coffee shop and set it on the end table by the door. Hopefully the desserts were still edible. Dr. Lawry was only a bit larger than I was, so it took the both of us to drag him inside. Axel was so heavy, we couldn't put him on the sofa, so I just put a pillow under his head.

"It seems you've been feeding him well," Dr. Lawry said condescendingly, taking a seat on my couch after removing his suit jacket. I stood a few feet from Axel, hovering nervously. "You don't know about the 500-calorie restriction, do you? You've single handedly destroyed everything Jomei and I have worked for." He sighed deeply. "How did you let him get so big, so fast? He'll have to go down to 400 calories a day and be put on a strict exercise regimen if he's going to get back down to 230 pounds."

I was slightly embarrassed, like I had messed up somehow. Axel was such a big man, if he wanted to eat who was I to stop him? I looked over at him on the ground, his belly rising and falling as he breathed deeply. Compared to when we met in Mr. Tanaka's apartment that first day, he definitely was not his usual 230-pound self. I wondered if Axel even noticed. I think he enjoyed being able to eat whatever he wanted more than getting fat.

"No," I said angrily. "If he doesn't want to, he doesn't have to."

"If he doesn't, Doe will never reopen the project. We're too far in to start on a new specimen."

"Who gives a fuck? You have destroyed a person's life. You took his freedom, his sanity." Lawry was talking about him like he wasn't a person. Like he was honestly just a project. I looked down at Axel, still asleep. "Why can't you give him this chance to start fresh?"

"How did you come upon AX3?" he asked me, ignoring my question.

"Mr. Tanaka left me a note asking me to look after his apartment." I sighed. "So, you're Dr. Lionel Lawry, I'm assuming."