Chapter 16: War

11.4K 727 213
                                    

As soon as they came in sight of the guards, they charged, all of them running and flying at full speed, some yelling, "Death to the Facility!" When they were about halfway there, they saw us. They had the funniest look on their face - mouths dropped open, eyes huge, looking like they had seen something scary, but you could almost see wheels turning in their heads as they realized they were being attacked and got ready to fight.

The clash was immediate. Once again, tranqilizer darts flew in the air, but few finding any of the hybrids. Some of the guards had net guns, and then Laura was frightened.

How can I help? Laura thought. How can I do anything for anyone but myself?

A dart came at her, heading straight for her stomach. Laura gasped and closed her eyes, willing herself to be anywhere but there.

She felt the ghost of the dart pass through her, disappearing just in time. Laura opened her eyes, a few feet away but unharmed.

She hid behind a rock and watched the scene around her.

The hybrids were succeeding. One of the hybrids was lifting some guards up in the air, and Neo turned invisible and started punching every guard he could see. Chess grabbed a guard's face and stared deep into his eyes. The guard then turned around slowly and started fighting his own army! Hypnotism! No wonder Neo had chosen her. Dreida was again posing as a guard, and then started taking their guns and knocking them in the head with them. Neo was also also using a net gun (probably something Dreida got) to use on the men. Riley was right beside him, whispering in his ear so that he was always one step ahead.

Laura saw a lizard hybrid that was about to be captured, and she knew what she could do to help. She came out from behind her rock and flew up behind the guard that was attacking the boy and pulled some of the guard's hair, so he was distracted.

"Let go, you pesky bug!" The man growled, swatting at Laura.

"Neo!" Laura shouted. "Help m-"

"No, it's okay." The lizard hybrid said. He stared at the guard for a few moments, and then the man turned into a solid block of ice.

"Thank you for the help." The boy nodded at her and went back to the war.

Laura saw that a girl by the yard was cutting open the wire fence with a special laser tool and setting the hybrids free, many of them running estatically into the desert, getting as far away as they could. They were almost done.

Another boy appeared beside Laura, another one who could disappear, and she almost fell out of the air in surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry." he is a lion hybrid. He smiled. "I came to you because I need your help. I'm going inside to get the small hybrids and the double-dosed, and, well, I need to make sure the small ones like you get out, and they might be afraid of me."

"Alright," Laura said.

He turned invisible again, and Laura followed the shimmering in the air to find the other hybrids, and tried to hide behind him so no one would see her. They finally came into a blinding white experimentation room in the Facility, and in it were a few very small children, like her, all huddled together on a table, in a cage, scared. They were young children, all hybrids of various insects.

The lion hybrid forced open the cage and Laura fluttered down to them and stood on the table. "Do not be afraid. This boy and I want to help you. This place is being destroyed, and we're getting all the hybrids out. Will you come with us?"

They all gave a tiny nod, and she helped them get into the lion hybrid's palm, where he would take them somewhere safe. Sadly, she saw one of them was a butterfly hybrid, a Monarch, much smaller than her because it was a child and Laura had gained some height back.

Just then, a small hummingbird hybrid zipped in the room and opened the metal cabinets and with a maniacal grin, getting the vials of animal DNA and dashing them on the floor, sprinkling the floor with glass fragments. It was a big, colorful, genetic mess.

When they got back outside, the lion hybrid thanked her and ran back toward the Haven with the children. As for everyone else, they had pretty much restrained all the guards, and some of the cowardly guards had run away.

They were finished. Everyone joined together, cheering. They had set the hybrids free! They were about to walk away, but . . .

"Don't move another step." A gruff voice came from behind them.

Laura and everyone else whirled around. It was a nasty-looking man in a black suit with a syringe pointed threateningly at Benjamin. Benjamin looked horrible. It looked like they had double-dosed him. He had shrunk to three feet and he didn't have arms anymore, they had fused with his wings. His legs were remarkably short, his mouth also had shaped into a beak. But he still had that same wooden bead necklace dangling around his neck, limp like he was.

"Benjamin," Laura choked. "No!"

The man spoke. "My name is Mr. Black, and, as you can see, I have a deal to make with you."

Laura's eyes turned wild with fury. "You monster!" she screamed.

Mr. Black frowned. "Ah-ah-ah. I wouldn't do that. Now, if you want your friend back, you must turn all the hybrids over to me. You and this one," he gestured at Benjamin. "can go free. Either that or . . ." he smiled meaningfully, a dark glint in his eyes.

They would turn Benjamin into a hawk. No human left.

"Laura . . ." Benjamin croaked. "Don't do it. Go without me . . . the hybrids need to escape . . ."

"Shut up!" Mr. Black barked as he put the tip of the syringe on his arm.

Laura turned her tear-streaked face away and whispered, "I'm so sorry, Ben . . ." Then said louder, "No. You're not getting the hybrids."

His face pinched into a cruel smile. "Fine, then." Mr. Black injected the serum and Laura looked away.

"Let's go, everyone."

All the hybrids ran in the direction of the Haven, and somewhere behind them you could just make out the faint cry of a red-tailed hawk as it soared up into the sky, free at last.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Aww. :( Poor Ben. Hope you liked the chapter, and don't forget to vote and tell me your thoughts!

_pure_imagination_

ExperimentWhere stories live. Discover now