It was a Monday. I think. Mama had woken up about an hour before. I wanted to play in the bush, so mama took me outside. When I heard a faint roaring sound and smelled gas."Now.. what do we have here?" The hunter said, staring out his camera in his truck.
The hunter slowly drove up close enough and got out of the truck. He slowly crept onto the bushes. As I was playing in the bush the hunter reached down and snatched me from the grassy area. My mother had not noticed the man until I was being put into a cage and into the truck. before my mother could run after me the truck drove away " MAMA! " I yelled. mama came running as fast as she could right after the truck. the hunter groans and says with a very deep and rough voice " shoot it. " The other hunter pulled out some long mysterious thing that made a loud sound " BOM " mama fell on the floor. I cried for hours and hours until the truck came to a complete stop.
I was taken to a strange building and put into a small cage above a goat and next to a big fox. "W-What's going on? Hello?" I stammered. "Don't bother, no one's here but us animals. We're in a lab" The large fox said to me while staring at the edge of his cage. "B-But my mum-" I Quickly added. "You'll probably never see her again. We'll never get out of here... I think." The small goat said to me, looking up in a sorrowed and small faint voice. "I was born here, I've never seen the outside." The goat said. "What's it like?". "It's- It's marvelous. There's birds and such, I miss my mom.." I said somberly. Then I fell asleep.
It was the next day, and I was somehow tired. I had slept, but I was restless. Like I hadn't slept at all. I awoke to the sound of drilling and commotion around me. I looked around and found people walking back and forth across the room. "Hm?" I groaned. "Good morning," the goat beneath me said. "Who are they?" I asked him. "Those are the bad men," he said. "Bad men?" I asked. "They are all men," he said. "But they are bad," The small goat added. "Aren't all men bad?" I asked him. "Not all of them," he said. "I've only met one. But they took him." he said, "took him away from me." He added. "Where did they take him?" I asked. "I'm not sure. All I know is they took him and he's gone," The goat said to me. I thought about where he might be. Could they have done to him what they did to mama?
Years and years of pure hell passed. It was the same routine every day. I'd wake up, go outside, lift the heavyweight stuff, go back in, and they'd run what they called "tests". "Tests" are painful. They'd shock you and make chills and aches go up and down your legs. There are needles and Poke-y things everywhere. I was sick of the same routine every day though. I had become friends with the fox and the goat. They stuck out to me. I was moved to a different cage, though I grew fast. Everything had fallen apart the day mama let me go. The day I let myself know, I would never see her again.
It was now a Wednesday, And unlike usual, they took me straight in for "testing". They put me in a weird box and chained my legs and put a muzzle on my mouth, preventing any biting. They left the room for about 5 minutes and came back with a series of bottles and needles. Not needles. I hated needles so much. They stuck the needle into the first bottle. It was a blue liquid. And it burned like hell. It gave me a scar on my right wrist. I think they were making a hair remover. Why me though? What sick kind of chemical is this? The next bottle they put on the table was a yellow substance. They injected it into my hip. I wanted to die right there. I thought it was killing me. It's all too loud. What is going on? A mark that looked like a lightning mark appeared on my hip. I tried to scream, but the muzzle was preventing that. They took the muzzle off and threw me back into my cage. They've never thrown me before, why now? Was i... different now? It was now a Thursday morning. This time, There was yelling. During this time, I've noticed that the fox beside me now has mechanical parts, 2 parts of his legs, his face, his left arm, a piece of his right ear, his wrists, and his wings. He used to only have his wings and face. But they've destroyed him. There is no need to hurt an animal to the extent of this. Though every animal in this lab has been abused and experimented on. Last week my good friend kara, she is a sloth, was dead in her cage. Don't ask me how I managed to make friends in a science lab. Someone had to occupy me, y'know? Suddenly, someone burst into the room– no – many someone's. A group of people came into the room. Kicking open all the cages. Either finding a key, prying off the doors, or kicking or punching it until it broke. All hell had broken loose. I quickly tried to find Cyrus, The fox. And Hoof, The goat. He found them in a crowd of running animals.* This is our chance!* I thought. I threw the goat onto his back and picked the large fox up with my mouth. And I ran. I'd never run any faster than I had that day. It was a very long day, indeed it was.
I finally stopped when I reached the jungle. The Jungle.. My home in which I grew up. I wanted to run, run and look for mama. But I was exhausted. I walked into a cave and set the goat and fox down. Cyrus was snoring. I had noticed he was abnormally big. I laid down and fell asleep.
The next day I awoke to birds this time. What a difference, eh? It was peaceful. I would have been better if I hadn't been exhausted. I felt horrible. Like I was hanging on to my soul, clutching onto my chest as hard as I could, pulling on my ribs and my heart aching. I thought I was going to die. I noticed the goat in the corner of the small cave, just big enough for 3 animals including, a huge tiger, an abnormally large fox, and a small goat. I looked over at him. "Is everything alright?" I asked him. "I- Are we really... free?" he asked me. I stood in shock. I realized I wasn't sure. Though I couldn't show him that. I have to be holding this together right now. Me. Not anyone else, me. It's my job right now. "Yes," I told him. "You think?" He replied cautiously. "Of course," I said. "I'm glad I got you out as soon as possible," I smiled. Though it was fake, it looked real.
The fox awoke. He sat up shocked at what he had seen. "A dream. That's all it ever is" He said as he looked around him. "Not this time," I said with a careful and gentle face. The fox stared at me. He Wouldn't talk, though I knew his words. He wanted to look for a sign that it was all a dream. But it wasn't. "It's not a dream, Cyrus..." I said to him reassuringly. "It isn't, It isn't a dream is it?" He cried. He was happy, i saw it. Though he did not express it, I saw his inner emotions and thoughts. I knew he was happy, I wasn't wrong. I was the first to realize what was happening back there. So I acted. Quickly. I knew that this was our only chance. It has been years and I knew I had to get them out. This wasn't about me. This was about them. They are everything to me. They made me and shaped my person and personality with their emotions and how they treated me. Cyrus hugged me. For the first time. In 7 human years. Cyrus hugged me. Hoof walked up and joined. I felt... loved. "It's okay... you're safe now" I reassured them. I hope they are safe.I hope everyone is safe. I'm what they call a gentle giant. I am a teenage tiger, the size of an adult. But bigger. Cyrus is almost as big as me. Though I am the biggest of our group. I looked around and saw birds; "Look, Hoof. Those are the Birds I told you about whilst we were younger."
Hoof turned and looked at the birds. He walked and tried to hoof one. "You can't touch them, or they'll fly away," I told him. He looked confused. "They scare easily," I walked up to paw a bird. It quickly flew away. "See?" I asked him. He nodded. He stared at the bird from afar, pondering whether to try and take it for himself. "You can't catch a bird without killing it," I told him. He looked terrified. "Kill?" he said looking back at me. "Oh, yeah... they die easily," I replied. He seemed mildly scared and definitely confused. "They are weak, fragile beings," I told the goat. "Why?" he asked me. "No one knows, and I certainly don't," I replied. He Hummed "Hmm...".
"Maybe it's because their bones are small," he told me. "Maybe so," I said. "Or, maybe it's because their legs are so small that they don't run well, '' he told me. "Could be," I said. I looked at Cyrus. Who was eating a couple of plants. I wondered if he was a vegetarian, I'd never see the scientists feed him any meat. I asked him, "Cylus? Are you a vegetarian?". "no" he replied. *oh* i thought. I was a little confused. "If you've never eaten meat, how are you not a vegetarian?" I asked him. "Well, I ate meat once before. And it was good. So I'm not a vegetarian." he told me. "Oh, that makes more sense now," I said. And I went back to playing with Hoof. I noticed that Cyrus wanted to join us, but I didn't mention anything. It was an hour or two later, I and Hoof went back into the cave, and sat down to rest. Cyrus thought it was nice to be free and not kept in a cage. I'm concerned that I can read his mind. For I am always right about him.
He smiled at us And realized he had hardly spoken to hoof. So he asked him, "Hey Hoof? What do you think about the forest?".''New setting huh?" He spoke. Hoof replied to him, "Yeah it really is. It's really nice though. There are lots I've never known, '" The goat said. Cyrus nodded along to the goat's statement. "It's quite nice, To be outside. I like the air." He told Hoof. Cyrus looked at a bird that landed in front of him. "What are you doing?" Hoof questioned. "I'm studying these things. They have wings, just like I do. I want to learn how to fly." Cyrus said. Hoof stared at him, puzzled. "Didn't your mom ever teach you?" He shook his head sadly. "I was born in captivity just like you. Never got the chance. " He laughed and stood up. He observed more of the area. Behind Him, there was the cave we took refuge in. The spot we were on now was rock, but there was plenty of dirt and grass in front of us. There were flowers scattered across the ground, and leaves were falling slowly from the trees. They were tall and came in all shapes. It was interesting to look at. The sky was a nice shade of blue, and you could see a few clouds strewn here and there. The wind was blowing softly through his fur. Looking at us, He smiled. *I did my job, and I got them out.* I thought. We're going to be just fine.
