Coward
Legacy Name: Coward

Lawrence Whiting is a monster - albeit a rather harmless one. That doesn't stop people from being afraid of him, though; it isn't easy to befriend a killer, even one who hasn't killed yet.

You see, it starts like this: Lawrence is the only child of a rich aristocratic family. They have power, influence, wealth. Lawrence is studying bionics, ready to become an engineer, when he's drafted into the army.

That isn't as simple as it sounds, because where Lawrence comes from, to become a soldier, you have to become a soldier. You get two injections that will increase your strength and ability to heal, but also decrease your cognition and mutate your appearance; in short, they turn you into a monster. And an army of monsters can be much smaller than an army of humans.

Now, plenty of powerful, influential, wealthy people have gotten out of their service, and Lawrence's parents think he should do the same. But Lawrence doesn't think he deserves special treatment. He goes to get his injections, starting with the one that will make him heal faster and look like a monster. He's spending the night in the processing facility when it's attacked by an anti-mutation group. The place is all but destroyed, and Lawrence, dazed and in more than a little pain, runs to the first place he can think of: home.

He should have gone back the next morning; he could have gotten his second injection and been shipped off overseas with no trouble at all. But he doesn't, and so he's counted among the many others who died that night. The injections affect everyone differently, and Lawrence gets fairly lucky: he still looks mostly human. At the same time, though, he looks unmistakably like a soldier, which means he can't go out anywhere. He has to hide away in the attic, and hope his parents can find a cure for his mutations.

He still has his bionics studies and the company of the rats he sometimes uses for experiments, but that's about it. Everyone's first reaction is to be afraid of him even though he isn't a proper fully mutated soldier, and it's turned him rather timid. Mostly, though, he's finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that this monster's face is now his face, and no one is ever going to see the old Lawrence again.

Art by Sky_842 • Photos from family
Story & Profile by Syfyri