Raptor Girl

New Life

I wake up in a small room, all of the walls so close to me that they feel like they might close in and suffocate me at any moment. It makes me feel claustrophobic, and I begin desperately looking for a way out. I can't remember anything about myself except my name: Callie. I notice that I have claws and a tail, so I start clawing at the walls and bashing my tail against them, hoping to get someone's attention so they can let me out. I hear someone approaching me, so I calm myself and listen instead. "Hey, it's gonna be alright. I'm Owen Grady. What's your name?" A kind voice asks me. "Callie. Just Callie," I reply. When he opens the door to let me out, I cautiously exit, unsure if I can trust his kindness. He sighs. "InGen just doesn't know when to stop their genetic experiments," he says, gently touching the top of my head. "What's InGen?" I ask. "InGen is an organization that aims to create a dinosaur theme park by reconstructing the DNA of dinosaurs, using the DNA of modern animals where the genetic structure is incomplete," Owen explains. "You mean, like me?" I ask. "Not exactly. From what I can see, you're half-human and half-raptor," Owen says. "That explains why I have claws and a tail, then," I say. "Pretty much, yeah. I'm here to bring you to meet your sisters," he says, and I grin at him.

Owen leads me to a large enclosure that resembles a forest, and there's plenty of space for me to run around and explore. He explains that the enclosure is for safety reasons. He also tells me that he was told that I may lose my humanity, but he's optimistic that it won't happen. He joins me in the enclosure and whistles. I start to hear rustling branches and footsteps from all around me, and before long, I find myself face-to-face with a beautiful dark green and blue raptor, who starts sniffing me for some reason. "Don't worry, she's just curious. She won't hurt you," Owen says encouragingly. "What is this creature? She looks like us, but she also looks like Alpha," I hear someone say from nearby. "What was that?" I ask, thinking it was Owen. "I didn't say anything," he says back. "She's funny, too. I like her," a different voice says, and I also hear a bit of a chirp mixed in. That's when I realize that it was the blue raptor in front of me. "I... did that raptor just... talk?" I ask Owen, now feeling a bit scared. "Must be a result of you being half-raptor. This is Charlie, Delta, Echo, and Blue," Owen says, pointing to each raptor in turn as he says her name. "Should I try and introduce myself to them?" I whisper to Owen. "Go ahead," he whispers back, and I clear my throat before turning back to the raptors. "My name is Callie. It's nice to meet you," I say, but it also sounds distinctly animalistic, much like the noises that Blue and Charlie made when they spoke. "Nice to meet you too!" Echo replies excitedly, barely managing to control her excitement. "Nice to meet you, sister," Blue says, and I can't help but smile. This is my family. Here, I can be accepted for what I am.

I grow close to Blue, and she becomes my favorite sister to hang out with. As the days become weeks, I start noticing things changing with me. I don't know if it's from speaking raptor so much lately, but my ability to speak English is diminishing. I can still speak, but only in simple sentences. I have also stopped retracting my claws, mostly because it hurts a lot to retract them. I look at my sisters, and Blue opens her eyes to look back at me. "Hey, sis. How'd you sleep?" I ask. "Not bad, you?" She asks. "I slept okay," I reply, recalling a dream I had. It was like an out-of-body experience, and I was watching some scientists running tests on me. After that, I watched as I grew a tail and gained my new markings on my body, almost like a time lapse. I also had a nightmare where I was alone in the forest, and I heard a thud that caused the ground to tremble, followed by several more. I turned around and came face-to-face with a large carnivorous dinosaur, like nothing I had ever seen before. It roared at me, and then its jaws closed around me. I tell Blue about my dream, and she tells me not to worry about it. I take her word for it, and we decide to go for a run together to pass some time. "I love going for runs with you," I said. "Same here, sis," Blue replies. After our run, Blue and I decide to play around for a bit. "Hey!" Blue exclaims angrily when I playfully throw some leaves at her. "I'm just playing," I reply. Blue growls softly at me, and I feel a sharp pang in my heart. I decide to lay down where I stand and go back to sleep, even though I'm not really tired.

"Is she dead?" I hear Charlie ask. "No, she's not dead! She's still breathing, you idiot!" Delta says. "Oh. She must be sleeping really deeply, then," Charlie said. "Callie, please wake up," Echo says, and I open my eyes. "What's wrong? You look like you're trying not to cry," Charlie asks me. I explain to them that I was just playing with Blue and threw some leaves at her. "That's weird. She's normally not like that," Echo says. "Yeah, I know," I said moodily, thinking of ways that I could escape from my prison.

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Hey. I decided to make a different version of my story "A Different Kind of Hybrid," since it progresses a bit too fast. I imagine the character of Callie being portrayed by Corrinne Foxx (pictured below).

Also, here are some random gifs I made recently:

Until next time!