Project Blood Moon

Chapter 2

I was splashed back to life, finding myself and Slash at the beginning of a dark maze. Slash held out his hand, offering a hand up. The moment I stood, the maze came to life; trap doors opened, spikes stuck out of the wall, screwed experiments were spotted lurking in mist.

Slash and I exchange a glance of concern before morphing into our large wolf forms. We spread our wings and shot up into the air, over the maze, but were quickly pulled back down, a pain shooting into my body from my wrist. I looked at it to find a silver bracelet perfectly shaped around my wrist. The red light in the center turned to a flashing green. I noticed Slash examining a similar one on his wrist.

            “Nuh uh, you gotta run, dogs!” a deep voice bellowed over the loud speakers. We shook off our fall and forgot about the bracelets and ran into the maze. We were easily able to scale the trap doors, spikes, and heated springs; only able with the ability of seeing through the fog with our sharp eyesight.

The loose experiments were our only problems. They were tall, blue ogre-like creatures with beady red eyes, devilish ears, and green boils all over there slimy bodies. But thanks to them, we learned the DNA injected into us a few short hours ago was lizard DNA; allowing us to regrow parts of the body that had been ripped off.  One of the nasty experiments got a hold of Slash’s ankle, making a clean cut straight through. After a few minutes of crying and panic, his foot grew back, good as new. I agree that’s sick but stuff like that comes in handy in a place like this.

We continued our way through the maze, becoming more aggravated at every wrong twist and turn we made. My feet were blistering from the heated springs and my body was nearly ripped to ribbons from the experiments. Our sprints started slowing to trots and eventually to a saggy walk.

Out of nowhere, an experiment jumped out onto Slash, its claws digging into his back. Slash let out a whimper and tried to bite the experiment, failing. I darted at the creature, ramming into him and tossing him of Slash’s back.

I bounced off the creature and tumble sorely into the wall. Slash jumped on the creature’s back and sunk his teeth into the creature’s neck, causing the creature to let out a terrible, high pitched screech. The sound rang in my ears, pressuring my brain. I put my paws over my head and covered my body with my wings, trying to block the sound out.

The screech was replaced with a choking sound and I looked to see that Slash had ripped a chunk out of the thing’s throat out. It clasped its neck, stumbling over. Before going down it swung its arm, smacking Slash roughly at the wall. He hit off it and lay motionless on the floor, changing back to his human figure, his white uniform turning red.

I pounced over to him. He was alive but his breathing was shallow and scarce. In wolf-form, I was slightly larger than him and was able to toss him gently onto my back, my wings covering him. I tried my best to sprint through the maze. I could feel fresh air rush through my fur and feathers; the opening at the end was close.

I pointed my nose in the air and tracked where the air was flowing from. I followed it and found the end of the maze, leading outside with the sun, grass, birds, and ocean. I slowly crept towards it. It couldn’t be real, could it? It had to be a test; they wouldn’t let top secret experiments like us out into the world.

As the beautiful scene neared, I could hear the shrieking of seagulls, the crashing of waves, and the whistling of the wind. It was nothing I’ve ever heard before. The only sounds I’ve ever experienced were screams of terror, moans of pain, cries of hatred, and much more along that line.

I squinted at the blinding sun and took my first step onto real grass and soil, feeling it sink between my paws. I looked up into the sapphire sky freckled with screaming seagulls and chirping sparrows. I gently set my brother down beside me and shifted to my human figure.

            “Slash, hey, wake up.” I gently shook his shoulder. He murmured a bit and brought his hands to his face, not expecting to wake up to the bright sun. He sat up, squinting, and looked around. His eyes grew wide with amazement and a smile appeared on his face. He looked at me and motioned towards the sky, a smile still on his face. I nodded and we stood up, shaking off our wings. Without a moment’s hesitation, we shot towards the sky.

For about two seconds, it seemed we were free until the terrible shock was back, reminding me of the bracelets. Slash and I came fumbling back to the ground, dirt and grass turning or white, blood stained uniforms into a weird collage of colors. No matter what form I took, the bracelet would fit around my wrist just right.

I shook myself off and stood back up, my body eight times sorer than it was before.

            “Hey, dogs, liking the weather?” I heard a man hiss. I turned to see blurry figures approaching. Three had the white scientist-coat outline and one bulky man wore black. I could feel myself swaying back and forth. Those freakin’ bracelets pack a punch, enough to have knocked out injured Slash.

My legs, unable to support me any longer, dropped me to my knees, then to all fours. I heard the Scientist scribbling down notes and discussing something with one another as I fell; falling into a hole of darkness.