Torn

Chapter 14

Lynz opened her window and peered out around the property. No shadow guy, no douchebag guy, she checked off of her mental list. She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard an echoing "ooooo" sound coming from outside. Lynz steadily made her way out the back glass door and tracked down the howl. It was consistant and her hearing's volume seemed to have been turned up significantly. The location in which the howl came from was easy to point out; exactly the same direction as Daniel had led Lynz in to reach the clearing.

She took off in a sprint, feeling a burst of energy to move faster and hunt down the sound. Once she was within about fifteen feet away, the howling ceased, but Lynz kept going in the same direction without pausing. Daniel was just shifting back into his human form when Lynz saw him. He stood by a small half circle, to the left of the remnant ashes of the campfire and bowl that had held water. The clearing was covered in light brown mulch, and the half circle was a darker brown, revealing younger soil; someone had been sitting there. Without saying anything, Daniel sat there, the circle measuring from hip to hip, a perfect match.

"This is where you fell after you injected yourself," he said, and pointed to two obtuse-angled, thick lines. Lynz looked down at her legs, then felt the force Daniel controlled bring her closer to him. She lay down, gently placing her head on his chest, matching her legs with the lines made on the ground. Her muscles were stiff coming toward him, but soon relaxed as she rested against Daniel. "After you took the Intradeanim, you passed out from the anesthesia. That was an extra thing I added into the mixture so you wouldn't feel any pain." He looked down at Lynz, waiting for a response.

"What is Intradeanim?" She said after a brief pause.

"It's the stuff you injected yourself with. The name comes from root words, 'intra' being 'within', 'anim' short for 'animal', and 'de' as in 'deoxyribonucleic acid'."

"'Within animal DNA'?"

"Yeah. Intradeanim is what caused us to be able to shift into animal forms."

"Who made the Intradeanim? You guys?"

"No...it was a man named Pascal Fitzgerald."

Pascal Fitzgerald had two desires in life: children of his own, and his career as a genetic engineering scientist. At age 26, Dr. Fitzgerald came to the conclusion that he could not pursue both of his dreams; his career was at an early stage that steadily progressed, therefore, the idea of having children was tucked away in his mind.

After thirty years of dedication and focus on attempting to extract live animal DNA and successfully clone another animal, Dr. Fitzgerald was able to create a concoction that allowed for one to have the ability to be partially an animal. Immediately after his discovery, his initial desire came flooding back into his head. Children...you can create your own with this substance. They will be grateful for the uniquity you blessed them with.

"How did you get the Intradeanim then? Are you his son?"

"He likes to believe I am. It was him that held me down and injected me with that Interdeanim when I was little..."