The Human Genome Project

Prolog

Ashes fell from the sky slowly, gently mixing in with the first snow fall of the year. The smell of smoke was thick and suffocating. Watching the town burn as the screams and cries of agony pierced my ears but not my heart. The flames were raging but grew peaceful as it inched towards me.

I sat under a tree holding my hand out catching a snowflake mixed with ash. My other hand gripped onto a stuffed animal of a leopard so tight I had hardly noticed it shaking. Looking up the town had been swallowed by the fire and I could feel the heat of the flame against my skin, almost in a caressing way. My eyelids were like bricks and my lungs were collapsing yet I stayed still. Unable and unwillingly to move as the flames walked towards me.

I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist and begin to drag me away from the warmth of the fire. I heard popping noises before I was lifted onto a soft, but firm, pillow with fur that bristled against my skin. I held onto my stuffed animal for dear life and gripped onto the neck of the pillow before it began moving and the wind was rushing through my hair. I slipped in and out of consciousness before going under; only to wake to find myself at a house full of human children.

I was six when my parents were murdered. I was seven when my village was burned down leaving me in the care of humans with no idea what I actually was. They had no idea that I was the first fourth generation of my species to be born after being created a little over 100 years ago. They had no idea I was going to play a key role in the war that had been brewing for almost a century. They had no idea I am Liliana Delmar one of the few human leopard hybrids left of this Earth.