Sequel: Of Birds and Wolves II ›
Status: Completed :)
Of Birds and Wolves
The Beginning of the End of the Nightmare
Hands shoved her into the small, cold, metal dog crate. She heard the door squeak and lock. Her dark brown eyes peered through the semi-darkness as the white coat walked away, swinging the key on his finger, and whistling a merry tune. Go ahead; keep thinking that it’s all okay and that your world is perfect. Just keep thinking that.
Leara placed her pale hands on the cool metal bars, letting her black hair fall into her face. Today had been just like every other day; the white coats tested and experimented on her. They liked to see which abilities she had gained ever since she became a freak fourteen years ago. She was faster and stronger than the average man, standing at 5 foot 9 inches and only weighing ninety pounds.
As she leaned against the back of the crate, she winced as a loose plastic tie from another crate pressed against hers poked her. She moved what the plastic had pricked, and felt the soft feathers. Yes, she had wings. This was why when you looked up “freak” in a dictionary; there was a picture of her. Her wings were blue-black and raven-like.
A door slamming suddenly caused her to jump and hit her head on the top of the crate. Her crate door swung open and a tray was slid into her “cage”. The crate door slammed and locked, and the meat-headed guard stomped off to take his duty back outside the door. On the tray lay the usual slop that was supposed to be a meal and a can of something that was orange, but tasted too sweet and bitter.
Leara curled her nose, but as usual, picked up the spoon and dug in. The slop was always tasteless, just as it had been for the past fourteen years. They really needed to get a cook or something. But, from retching earlier, she had been experimented on with an empty stomach. Any food was good at the moment.
As she set down her spoon and shoved the tray to the front of her crate, she looked up to see a girl being shoved into a crate on the other side of the room. The girl looked no older than six or seven, though she was a little taller than most. She had beautiful curly white blond hair, and she noticed something along her back; feathers. White feathers. Could this girl be like herself? Were there others in this place with wings? Leara never saw any other winged-people besides herself; though she did see some experiments with some odd mutations.
For some reason, Leara couldn’t take her eyes away from her. Something drew her attention to the new girl, but she didn’t know what. She was too far away to hold a conversation without the white coats over hearing them, so she didn’t even try. Once in awhile, she would see the girl’s eyes flicker over to her, search her face, then she would go back to sleeping, or crying.
Leara fell asleep for some time; she could never see the clock on the wall very well to keep track of time. She was startled awake as she heard a key click to unlock her crate. Hands pulled her from her cage, and lead her down the hall as she wiped sleep from her eyes. The normal stuff began to take place; her heart rate was measured, her temperature and weight taken. The white coats around her talked, but she could not make out their words.
Leara didn’t understand their words until one came up to her face, and said, “Well, you should feel mighty lucky. For the next couple of days, we’ll be getting the DNA ready. Your DNA is perfect to see if we can create a lupine-avian-human hybrid. We grafted the avian DNA into yours when you were only an egg, but I think we can get the right kind of things to get this to work. We’ll just have to perform surgery and such…” His voice trailed off as he walked away, taking a clipboard and beginning to write.
Leara’s face was flushed of any color it had. She had seen what they called their “lupine-human recombinant experiments”. Someone before had called the beasts “Erasers”. These beasts looked like normal men, and then morphed into a half-wolf, half-man. They were quite ugly creatures, and never seemed to last more than six or seven years. Erasers didn’t seem like the best experiments with the best results. That was why her heart sank through the floor at that moment when she received the news.
The next couple of days went by with tests after tests and experiments after experiments. The third day after her news, she was finally shoved in her cage about midday. She took in a deep breath and rested her face against the cold metal bars. She was tired and just wanted to sleep. But, there was a racket as three figures were brought in and shoved into cages. She couldn’t see very well, but the one girl with wings looked to the new girl that was shoved into the cage next to her. The new girl looked to be around Leara’s age and had dirty blond hair. She could definitely make out the shape of wings on her back. After the white coats and Erasers left, things settled down and no noises came. Leara soon fell asleep into a dreamless nap.
The sound of hushed voices slowly woke Leara up, and she blinked awake to see and hear the four figures conversing in whispers. She couldn’t make out their words as she strained to hear them. A couple of white coats and Erasers came through the doors with a push cart. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she could hear the Erasers laughing, then suddenly growling and snarling. She could hear the rattling of cages and she watched as the four cages were loaded up and pushed out down the hall.
Another white coat came in with a smaller cart and approached Leara’s crate. He muttered things under his breath as he loaded her onto the cart and pushed the cart through the doors into the bright hallway. She squinted to see, and the cart was brought to a halt. “What on earth is going on...?” The white coat asked aloud as he watched others running down the hall. The cart had been stopped by a huge window that looked outside. The four winged kids were beating up the Erasers and white coats; and some birds were there too! As white coats ran past her cage, one of their coats got caught against the clasp of her cage. As he struggled, it unlocked and he ran off down the hall.
Leara placed her pale hands on the cool metal bars, letting her black hair fall into her face. Today had been just like every other day; the white coats tested and experimented on her. They liked to see which abilities she had gained ever since she became a freak fourteen years ago. She was faster and stronger than the average man, standing at 5 foot 9 inches and only weighing ninety pounds.
As she leaned against the back of the crate, she winced as a loose plastic tie from another crate pressed against hers poked her. She moved what the plastic had pricked, and felt the soft feathers. Yes, she had wings. This was why when you looked up “freak” in a dictionary; there was a picture of her. Her wings were blue-black and raven-like.
A door slamming suddenly caused her to jump and hit her head on the top of the crate. Her crate door swung open and a tray was slid into her “cage”. The crate door slammed and locked, and the meat-headed guard stomped off to take his duty back outside the door. On the tray lay the usual slop that was supposed to be a meal and a can of something that was orange, but tasted too sweet and bitter.
Leara curled her nose, but as usual, picked up the spoon and dug in. The slop was always tasteless, just as it had been for the past fourteen years. They really needed to get a cook or something. But, from retching earlier, she had been experimented on with an empty stomach. Any food was good at the moment.
As she set down her spoon and shoved the tray to the front of her crate, she looked up to see a girl being shoved into a crate on the other side of the room. The girl looked no older than six or seven, though she was a little taller than most. She had beautiful curly white blond hair, and she noticed something along her back; feathers. White feathers. Could this girl be like herself? Were there others in this place with wings? Leara never saw any other winged-people besides herself; though she did see some experiments with some odd mutations.
For some reason, Leara couldn’t take her eyes away from her. Something drew her attention to the new girl, but she didn’t know what. She was too far away to hold a conversation without the white coats over hearing them, so she didn’t even try. Once in awhile, she would see the girl’s eyes flicker over to her, search her face, then she would go back to sleeping, or crying.
Leara fell asleep for some time; she could never see the clock on the wall very well to keep track of time. She was startled awake as she heard a key click to unlock her crate. Hands pulled her from her cage, and lead her down the hall as she wiped sleep from her eyes. The normal stuff began to take place; her heart rate was measured, her temperature and weight taken. The white coats around her talked, but she could not make out their words.
Leara didn’t understand their words until one came up to her face, and said, “Well, you should feel mighty lucky. For the next couple of days, we’ll be getting the DNA ready. Your DNA is perfect to see if we can create a lupine-avian-human hybrid. We grafted the avian DNA into yours when you were only an egg, but I think we can get the right kind of things to get this to work. We’ll just have to perform surgery and such…” His voice trailed off as he walked away, taking a clipboard and beginning to write.
Leara’s face was flushed of any color it had. She had seen what they called their “lupine-human recombinant experiments”. Someone before had called the beasts “Erasers”. These beasts looked like normal men, and then morphed into a half-wolf, half-man. They were quite ugly creatures, and never seemed to last more than six or seven years. Erasers didn’t seem like the best experiments with the best results. That was why her heart sank through the floor at that moment when she received the news.
The next couple of days went by with tests after tests and experiments after experiments. The third day after her news, she was finally shoved in her cage about midday. She took in a deep breath and rested her face against the cold metal bars. She was tired and just wanted to sleep. But, there was a racket as three figures were brought in and shoved into cages. She couldn’t see very well, but the one girl with wings looked to the new girl that was shoved into the cage next to her. The new girl looked to be around Leara’s age and had dirty blond hair. She could definitely make out the shape of wings on her back. After the white coats and Erasers left, things settled down and no noises came. Leara soon fell asleep into a dreamless nap.
The sound of hushed voices slowly woke Leara up, and she blinked awake to see and hear the four figures conversing in whispers. She couldn’t make out their words as she strained to hear them. A couple of white coats and Erasers came through the doors with a push cart. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she could hear the Erasers laughing, then suddenly growling and snarling. She could hear the rattling of cages and she watched as the four cages were loaded up and pushed out down the hall.
Another white coat came in with a smaller cart and approached Leara’s crate. He muttered things under his breath as he loaded her onto the cart and pushed the cart through the doors into the bright hallway. She squinted to see, and the cart was brought to a halt. “What on earth is going on...?” The white coat asked aloud as he watched others running down the hall. The cart had been stopped by a huge window that looked outside. The four winged kids were beating up the Erasers and white coats; and some birds were there too! As white coats ran past her cage, one of their coats got caught against the clasp of her cage. As he struggled, it unlocked and he ran off down the hall.