Of Birds and Wolves

Out in the open sky, Leara felt weird. She was up in front all on her own. No strong, tan, well-built guy with a beautiful smile and…

“Now you’re not so alone,” Toronto interrupted her thoughts as he flew closer to her. Leara gave him a warm smile back, her mind still wrapped around Fang. Finally, she decided to focus back on the random route they decided to take.

But something new came along their path; a huge gray cloud.

“Clouds aren’t normally lumpy, right?” Kaylee asked. “More fluffy; and white.”

“That’s because it’s not a cloud,” Leara frowned. “I think it’s… a cloud of flying Erasers. Get ready for a fight.”

“You guys are still on the move after your beating?” a familiar voice cackled. “Never knew you were on the ‘Wanted’ list, Leara.”

Huge, gruesome wings were patched onto Ari’s and the rest of the Eraser’s backs. It startled Leara, but she kept her face stone cold. “What do you mean, Ari?”

He gave another evil, wolfish grin. “When the white coats heard I found you, they were ecstatic. Turns out they weren't finished with you and want you back just as bad as Max and her flock.”

“They can have me when I'm dead,” Leara spat. She noticed the look on the flock's faces. They were either shocked or just as angry as her own.

But in response, Ari smirked, “That can be arranged.” With a snarl, he lunged towards them, followed by the other Erasers.

It turned out the flock had the upper hand in the sky; flying Erasers had a tough time staying in the air. They seemed to have to remember to flap their wings so they wouldn't make splatter art on the ground.

For awhile, the flock was doing great and had the upper-hand in the fight. Until four Erasers flew into Leara at once and pinned her limbs and wings against herself. A helicopter was soon heard, on its way. Struggling to break free, Ari snatched Leara's face, his claws scratching her cheeks.

“Sad to say, but I won't be joining you on your ride back home. But I'll go check up on your boyfriend for you. Give him a nice present.” Turning to the Erasers who were getting ready to attack the stunned bird kids, he commanded, “Go ahead and kill these other mutant freaks. They're not from our lab and none of our concern.”

“Flock! Straight up and at 'em!” Leara managed to yell, before an Eraser covered her mouth. But what she actually said was, “Scatter on three.”

“On three!”

Like in the blink of an eye, the other six bird kid scattered and escaped into the woods below. Ari frowned, but said, “Forget them. One freak down, six to go.” As soon as Leara was chucked into the helicopter that pulled up nearby, her hands, feet, and wings were bound with duct tape.

Lying against the cold floor, Leara realized how much she already missed her flock. They had only been together for a little while, but it was like she knew them for ever. It was amazing how fast they got along. To be taken away from them so soon and sent back to her nightmare was worse than imaginable.

“Heh, she's nothing like the other bird freaks. They normally try to wriggle and squirm, but she's pretty calm. Knock her out anyway,” an Eraser laughed. Without a second thought, a cloth was shoved in her face, a strong scent filling her nose. But she passed out before she could even figure out what it was.

The dreams were a blur. Everything that happened in the past few days were playing on fast forward, times six-hundred. Occasionally, it slowed down; mostly when it was about Fang. Coming closer to the present, it was to be expected that it would stop after she was knocked out.

Instead, images went reeling through of a beach with sand stained with blood, hospital beds, blood bags, and the worst: someone’s side was ripped apart, almost in shreds. As if they were mauled by an animal. The pale skin was so familiar, and the more she thought about it, she could almost see their face.

“This isn’t good. Clearly while it escaped, it’s been damaged. There were never spots on its wings. Don’t they look a lot like leopard spots?” Voices woke Leara up, to find she was strapped down to a table with an IV attached. A couple white coats were in the corner of the dark room.

“Look, I’ve got the DNA results!” Another white coat came in, waving a handful of papers. The others each took a sheet of paper and began reading furiously.

“So when we tried to put lupine DNA into her,” a female pondered aloud, “some of her DNA was erased. Somehow, snow leopard DNA took over the missing gap.”

Someone stomped their foot. “This will not do!” He roared. “This will never work anymore! It’s the entire damn lupines fault for letting it escape. It could go clinically insane now. We'd have to euthanize it after it’s been so successful.”

“Who said we couldn’t try? It could prove to be better than you think,” a voice spoke. “Besides, Max and the flock is our main priority. It doesn’t matter if we lose this one.”

Finally, Jeb came into Leara’s point of view, her eyes narrowing with hatred.

“So no one cares if I go mental by mixing my cat genes with a dog’s?!” Leara growled. Great to finally figure out what they think of us experiments…

Jeb frowned in return but wouldn’t catch her gaze. “Compared to Max, you’re an utter failure. If we have to euthanize you, it won’t change anything else around here.”

Knowing he struck a cord, he turned and walked out the door, followed by a couple other white coats. So no one here believes that I’m good for anything. No one likes me…? No one… loves me? Slowly, her mind felt like it was literally falling into a depression. This is what it feels like to be completely alone and unwanted. And like anyone will ever come to save me. Maybe this will be better for me anyway.

When the white coats came back, she didn’t struggle against the needles or the Velcro, giving into her depression. Her eyes were hazy as she stared into space, not taking the needles protruding from her skin into notice; until it was a few minutes later in the transfusion.

Something inside her brain felt like it snapped, releasing new feelings, new scents, and a new vision. She felt weird, but good at the same time. Looking at the white coats, she realized how pale they actually were. Faintly, she could see their hearts beating against their chest, could hear their every breath. And then she remembered what she was doing here, what they were doing to her.

Growling, she flexed her arms and pulled herself away from the cold table, feeling the Velcro bonds snap and fall to the floor. A couple white coats tried to get her to calm down, not looking into her eyes; just like a weak little scrap of prey would do. Instinct told her to slice their throats, feel their warm blood trickle down onto her fingertips.

Whatever humanity was left had a good fight, until she gave in to the instincts. Leaping off the table, she knocked one white coat into another as she dove for another. He found out that her regular fingernails had hardened into cat-like claws as she let them tear his face.
Erasers and more white coats came rushing in after hearing the banging and crashing, but stood frozen when they caught Leara’s eyes: her pupils were in slits, like a cat’s.

“Experiment AREA7 has breached the lupines! Lock all the doors and windows! It’s gone insane!” The ceilings were yelling these words at Leara as she heard sirens go off and doors beginning to close. Again, her instincts took over and told her to run. Get outside where it’s open and she could fly free.

Leaving the bloody bodies behind, as if they were only play toys, she sprinted out the door and down the hall, pushing white coats and Erasers against the wall and out of her way. At the doors to the outside, there was a pack of four Erasers, ready to push her back.

“C’mon, man. You don’t want to do this. You’re almost like us; stay here with us. It’s not so bad,” one Eraser had a grimace on his face as he shook his head. “Out there… It’s just too dangerous.”

Without a word, Leara frowned and attacked, taking down the Erasers without a problem. The doors that were once locked were easily broken with her foot and she was soon in the air.

In the operation room, Erasers lay scattered around the room, knocked out and bloody from ragged scratches and black bruises. One white coat had managed to hide underneath a table and after taking in the scene, pulled out his radio. “Code Red,” he whispered into the speaker. “Experiment AREA7 has breached the entire security system and is out in the open. It needs to be brought back dead or alive. And Jeb, you better be listening. Forget Max for a little bit; this experiment has a bigger blood lust than the lupines. She’s our new top priority.”