Loosing Her Number »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

FOUR

FOUR

They were going to put me down like a dog because I wasn't a pedigree. Now I knew how a dog felt. Not betrayed because they'd never promised that I would live. But I felt a sadness for all that I wouldn't know. And I felt happiness at knowing that I would soon be joining my family in whatever afterlife was ready to take us. But another thing I felt was anger and fear, it was so unfair to end a life because it wasn't what you wanted it to be. Because it wasn't perfect.

And it was the fear of the unknown that made me try to fight the bonds that held me to the table as the injection got closer. Surely, if I was a dragon as they said, I could breathe fire. Right? But no, nothing. Not even a flicker of a flame. I thought they said that dragons were strong.

But before the injection pierced my flesh in inject it's poisonousness fluids, the doors to the lab opened on a bang. The doors smacked into the walls at the force of entry. A group of men entered the lab. Some had guns, some had blades, some had their fangs and claws out.

The urge to scream rose within as a fight went under way and Sone put the injection down to join in the fight. But surely, if they were fighting against the scientists that meant that they were on my side. Or would they kill me too? And who the hell were they?

A guy with long, warm brassy coloured hair came over to where I was shackled down. Unable to flee. Eyes the colour of molten metal looked over me as he broke the first shackle around my ankle.

"My name is Onver. Can you understand me?"

I nodded in response, unable to form a word.

"Did they inject you with anything?"

I shook my head.

"Can you speak?"

I answered his question with one of my own. "Who are you?"

Since he'd given me his name, he seemed to realise that that wasn't what I was after. "We're here to get you guys out and to somewhere safe."

Looking around, I saw that Stwo and Shree were dead. Their chests didn't move. Sone was unconscious. And the others that had entered with Onver were checking things around the room.

As the last of the shackles was broken, I heard snarl from the hallway, but it was too far away to be from the hallway, so my next guess was that something was happening in the kennels.

Looking at Onver showed that he was now standing to the side as though waiting for his next order while staying close to me. Sliding off the metal bed that made the cage feel comfy, I jogged to the kennels. Onver called my name, but followed as though he knew where I was heading.

Peaking my head into the kennels showed that every time one of the shifters that had come with Onver tried to get near the cage, the shifter inside swiped at them.

One of the guys looked at Onver when we entered. "They won't let us get them out."

"Number 18," I called out loudly so that I could be heard above the snarling. "Stop snarling. They're trying to get us out of here. And if you all keep making such a racket, we'll never get out."

I watched as the shifters in the kennels thought and debated my words. The ones who'd shifted into their animal forms, shifted back, the ones who'd just been attacking moved their hands away from the bars. And the shifters who stayed in their animal forms stayed the way they were. Moments later all the shifters were out of the cages thanks to the larger male shifters who had helped.

"How many of there are you?" one of the men looked us over as though shocked by the amount. Once he mentally counted, he shook his head making his yellow green bronze hair swing with the motion.

"Forty-two," the jaguar, Number 18, replied.

The multicoloured haired guy looked at her. "And what's your name?"

"Number 18."

He looked at her, as though waiting. When she said nothing more, he looked at me.

"I'm Number 12."

The eagle spoke up. "They gave us something before we came here which made us forget everything but the last event that had happened."

"And what's your memory?"

I spoke this time. "The same as everybody else's in here. Watching the one's we love die."

The sound of someone sobbing reached my ears... and then someone growled.

"That's it!" the jaguar swirled to face the lynx, Number 42. "I can't take it any more!"

Reaching out, I wrapped my arms around the jaguar, trying to stop her from murdering the lynx. The wolf, Number 23 helped.

"You can't kill her!" I shouted at the jaguar.

"I wanna go home," the lynx, Number 42, wailed.

"Sure I can," the jaguar smiled that creepy cat-ate-the-canary smile. "Just a couple of scratches, I promise."

Onver, the guy who'd broke the bonds holding me, picked the jaguar out our arms and breathed on her. She fell limp. As panic for my new found friend started to rise, it was soothed by a soft snore that told me he'd sent her to sleep.

"Could you do that to the lynx? Please," I asked pleadingly.

Another, with the same colour hair and slightly duller but the same coloured eyes as Onver, moved through the girls and breathed on the wailing lynx, catching her sleeping form before she hit the ground.

Looking at the other lynx, Number 8, I smiled. "Does this answer your questions?"

Knowing that I meant from her questions of what were we going to do once out, the lynx rolled her eyes as a couple of others chuckled. The males ignored us.

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