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Chapter 3

I check over my shoulder. There's a scattering of gunshots behind me, pinging off the cement. I run harder. Ahead is a staircase going up, sunlight streaming down from it.
You know how cats can run really, really fast when they feel like it? Welcome to my world. Since all my cat-like attributes are to-scale, that is too. So I'm pretty dang fast.
I sprint down the cement hall, urging myself to go faster. And no, I do not drop to all fours and run. That would be stupid.
Suddenly I feel a pang in my left calf, making me stumble.. I know I've been shot, but I keep running. Almost there.
Rooms and doors flicker past me. Exam rooms, branding rooms. And worse, the injection rooms. That's where I'm supposed to be going. They stick you with a needle, and you're out like a light, never to be seen again, except by the Predators and the Beasts.
The doors are all opening as alarms go off, red lights blaring on the wall every fifteen feet. Bam. There's a nervous wreck of a woman, getting branded with an 89. Her dog's nose is twitching, and she's emitting a high pitched whine that burns my ears. Bam. A smug looking little dude, with a newly burned 99 on his neck. Bam. I wish I hadn't glanced in that last one. There's a thing- I can't tell if it's male or female- With dragonfly wings jutting from it's spiny bare back. A descendant of injections gone wrong. It's seven black eyes blink at once and stare straight at me. It's tied down, but struggling, to an exam table, the Examiner getting ready to take it's blood. I wonder why they would even bother to test things like that.
More gun shots. I urge myself to make it the last few meters, though my legs are burning from the strain. So close to sunlight, to freedom... So close...
Suddenly there's a grating sound up ahead. To my horror, there're bars dropping from the ceiling in front of the staircase.
My ears twitch, rotating backwards, listening to the sounds behind me to find out how close my entourage is. Oh, yeah, forgot about those. Cat-like ears that rotate, pick up sound much better than human's? I believe I have cat in my blood. Obviously too much to be considered Man. When you're not allowed into any settlements, you're below Impure. You're a Beast.
The grate has closed more than halfway, and it's dropping fast. At the last second, I drop to the ground, tucking my arms in next to me, and use my momentum to carry me under the grate.
Behind me, the guards, Examiners, branders, everyone who wants to feed me to the Beasts. I look up at them, into their blank eyes. Suddenly I'm glad I don't have to live under the Order, obey the Rulers. These people have no individuality.
"Ash, you are branded. If you go any further, you will be added to the Wanted, the outlaw list, and someone will be sent to assassinate you immediately. However, if you turn back now, we may be able to make an... agreement." My Examiner says firmly, as if he were actually trying to convince me turn back now. Now that I was away. Now that I was free.
"Of course we will. Dead people don't argue." I respond tersely, picking myself up, and running up the steps. I would let him figure out what I meant by that. I might have to figure that out too.