Seeing Wings of Green

Chapter 13: An Unwelcome Change in Location

A wierd sense of deja vu hit me as I struggled to regain consciousness. There was a dull throbbing pain at the back of my skull and as I managed to semi-open my eyes, I was greeted by semi-darkness that blurred at the edges of my vision. The effects from the Psy Fish were still there, but they weren't as strong as before. The only hint of their effects manifested in the form of fractals that appeared in my field of vision if I remained staring at any one spot for a just a little too long. One of my wings was uncharacteristically sore and I was struggling to figure out why, as I couldn't hold on to a single thought for longer than thirty seconds at a time. I had clipped a tree branch once before while I had been performing the acrobatics of the Morning Song one day. Did I do that again, perhaps?

With a muffled growl of annoyance, I began the daunting task of trying to stand. For a brief second, I wondered if I was back in the research facility; as their tranquilizing spray had made me feel very similar to the disorientation and slight panic that I was feeling now... until I thought back to the pile of concrete, reebar, glass, and metal that had once been the building where I- and the other original Dragonets- had spent living in hell. If the lab (and Humanity) was truly gone, then where in the actual hell was I? 

I did a quick scent check and alarm bells immediately started to go off in my head. This was most definately not my tree hollow or the park where I had resided with my flock. This new scent smelled artificially floral along with an undertone of something heavier and more musky. Now obviously panicked, I gathered my limbs under me and forced myself to stand; only to lose balance seconds later and I hit the strangely soft ground with a muffled thud. A mental string of cusses floated through my head and after I took a few minutes to calm myself, I decided to do another scent check; this time, I inhaled more deeply than I had before. The Blood Memories were telling me that I should know this scent, but I was unable to still my wandering mind enough to identify it clearly.

Thankfully, my thoughs were starting to become more clear an concise; though they were still slow and didn't really last too long, either. I blinked lazily as I just now decided to try to make sense of my new- and might I add very unwelcome- surroundings. Under me was some sort of soft cloth; its' texture reminded me of the faux fur blanket that I had back in my dorm at school. I looked behind me to see that the cloth- a presumed blanket of some sort- extended back behind me by around two feet. A heat lamp hung in the back left corner through a hole in the ceiling of whatever room I was in; though this supposed "room" was most likely a cage. To my immediate right was a shallow, plastic-looking tray that was filled with a grainy, unscented substance that reminded me of cat litter in terms of appearance and- when I reached a forepaw in to feel it out of mild curiosity- texture as well. There were two small, shallow bowls in front of me; one was filled with water and the other was filled with an assortment of meats and veggies based on scent alone.

With an annoyed huff and a head shake in an attempt to shake the fog of sleep and the remnants of my psychedelic trip from my mind and sight, I tried my best to focus on the walls that kept me enclosed, but unfortunately had no success due to the fractals that still dotted my field of vision. After a few seconds, I tapped my tail against one fo the walls; which produced a sound similar to fingernails tapping against thick glass. Here I was, in a cage once more. Are you freaking kidding me?! I thought as the panic started to build within me. No, no, no, NO! The cloth or fabric that covered the cage was thin enough to let in a minimal amount of light, but it didn't allow for me to see the world beyond my (probably bulletproof and shatterproof) glass prison cell. I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes for a brief monent and slowly started to count to ten in my head in an attempt to calm my frazzled nerves as I allowed the scent of Kymari, furniture, water, meat, and veggies to fill my nostrils.

As if it was reminding me that it was there, my stomach growled in its' demand of nutrition and my tongue and throat felt cracked and dry from the lack of hydration. Finally, my memories of what happened came back and I stiffened with widened eyes as I recalled them: the Psy Fish, the Kymari child, the Sicora and the following assault, my broken wing, and the Kymari that had approached me. I blinked again and turned my attention to my gimpy wing, which had been carefully folded up in the resting position at my side and had been covered in an odd, hard, light grey material; a cast, I reasoned. The wing inside the cast was cushioned and further supported by what felt like gauze and cotton and had been medicated based on a quick scent check. Cautiously, I tried to move the affected wing and the resulting movement hurt, but it wasn't enough to cause me to black out. If anything, the pain felt similar to when I had pulled a muscle in my arm while playing basketball in Middle School.

Finally, I managed to get to my feet. My injured wing throbbed with the movement, but the dull pain wasn't anything that I wouldn't be able to handle on my own. At least I'll be able to walk without it dragging along the ground. I concluded as I rocked my body back in a cat-like stretch. A few seconds after I had completed my stretch, a sharp pain shot up my spine from my haunches and I hissed out loud quietly with the pain. Stupid Sicora. I thought as I recalled that the cursed creature had managed to hook its' claws into my backside and drag me to the ground before it had pinned me. I looked over my haunches in order to inspect the puncture wounds. There were four puncture wounds on each side of varying deepness. The outermost punctures were merely superficial wounds and had completely scabbed over; however, the puncture wounds got deeper the closer they got to the middlemost wound. It appeared that the scabs on these deeper wounds weren't quite thick enough; as my movement must've unintentionally re-opened them. I could smell the small amount of resulting blood as it trickled from the freshly torn scabs. I'd have to be very careful in my movements until the puncture wounds fully scabbed over. Ugh.

Annoyed, I opted to take a closer look at the cage that I had been placed in. It was bigger than the one I had been in during my stay with the scientists, but was also undoubtibly stronger as well. The bowls of food and water had been placed near the cage's entrance and I eyed them suspiciously until the call of nature surfaced. I turned my attention to the tray of assumed-to-be pet litter and mentally sighed; it would have to suffice for now. I took care of my business and was careful to not make too terribly much of a mess as I buried it.

My stomach protested again from the lack of food. Unlike my peers, meat was actually higher up of my list of edibles. As for veggies? Not so much. I slowly approached the filled stainless steel bowls and carefully lowered my head to give the contents of the food bowl a cautious sniff before I cautiously decided to try one of the diced chunks of meat. The taste reminded me of duck meat and after I finished the piece, I ate another chunk of meat; this one tasted vaguely like the dark meat of a turkey. As for the greens, there was chunks of what resembled purple broccoli, slices of what I figured was a cucumber-esque veggie that had been crossed with a starfruit, and some sort of earthy root veggie that I couldn't identify by appearance alone. I cleared the food bowl entirely of meat and left about half of the original amount of veggies before my need for water overruled my desire for food. So, I moved on to the completely filled water bowl and greedily drained it; as my body felt like it would shrivel up and blow away on the wind due to the dehydration that I was feeling.

By now, I had been up for quite some time and was starting to feel exhausted and the dull pain in my injured wing had now become much more hard to ignore. My legs had also started to tremble with the effort that it took to keep me standing upright. Deciding to give in to my exhaustion, I made the journey back to the corner with the heat lamp and after some slight pawing in order to create a vaguely bowl-shaped nest, I curled up with my injured wing on top as to not accidentally jostle it or roll over and crush it. I mentally groaned as the mental fog started to roll back in while my physical pain started to ease up slightly. Something I had consumed had been drugged with some sort of tranquilizing pain reliever; either the water, meat, or veggies had been tainted and I had been too famished and parched to even bother checking beforehand. What a surprise. I thought dimly as I tucked my head under the cast in order to shield my eyes from the dim red light that shone overhead and welcomed the warm embrace of sleep.