The Five Giants

000 - Prologue

What's going on. . .?

Silence lingered in the air and there was very little light entering the cold room. He rolled aimlessly around on what he believed was a table. There was a pain in his neck which made the rest of his body feel numb as he awoke from his long-lasting coma. The ginger glanced down slowly, there were wires wrapped around his paws, blood oozing from where it dug into his flesh. He ignored the stinging pain that slowly grew, allowed the new scents to flood his nose as realization crept after him and he jumped up. The jump made the pain worse and hard to ignore. His fur raised as he shivered in fear. He allowed his eyes to adjust to the dark room. The tom glared around the room, growling loudly. "Come out!" He howled. There was a disgusting yet recognizable scent that was coming closer. He unsheathed his long claws and got down on all fours. . .

Click!

A blinding light flashed a few times before it stayed permanently on and the ginger charged, slamming head first into a window. He stumbled back, stunned by the sudden pain. He rubbed his head with one paw and shook off the vexatious feeling. Now his body wasn't numb but he felt awfully dizzy and weak. His ears lowered as he saw who was there - but he wasn't going to show his fear. It was the man - the human - who captured him and his friends. He been using them for tests. The ginger was the last cat of his species to be captured and while he tried to fight back, he failed horribly.

The human stared down with dark eyes. He wiped the blood off a scar on his forehead, and placed gloves onto his large hands. He laughed maniacally and looked at him. "Hello, there. Do you remember anything?"

The ginger shook his head. "Just how you humans took me from my forest!" He spat, his fur bristling. "Let me go!"

"Still feisty, so unnecessarily hostile." The human stared at him calmly but not welcomingly. For a crazy man, his face was quite appealing. He reached out to the animal, placing a hand on its head. He carefully scratched the back of the cat's ears and stroked its head as if it was a pet. "Do you at least remember your name?" The ginger cat stood still, frozen. What was his name? What was it? How could he have forgotten his own name? He was surprised at himself and was too embarrassed to speak. The human nodded. "It's okay, many animals here have forgotten their name. Some forgot where they've come from, their friends and family and some. . . Let's say it hasn't worked out well."

The ginger gulped. "What does that mean?"

The human hesitated but didn't answer the question. "Your new name is #809." The ginger blinked and cringed. What kind of name is that? The human walked in and the ginger howled at him, batting at his arms as he was grabbed. The human removed the wires and pulled out a long syringe, the needle at least the length of his finger. It was wide as well, #809 had never seen anything like it. He stabbed it into the resisting cat's back and #809 fell, weak.

He was only able to move his head up towards the human, his eye lids felt heavy and he whimpered softly. "W-what, why? Why are you doing this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The human murmured. He stood, pushing out his chest to make himself look bigger and smirked. "All animals are divided, correct?"

"Sure, but what-"

"We must all speak the same language and live as one."

The ginger stayed still as every drop of the substance reacted with his body, getting to his head. He whined, rolling and squirming on the table which he had been laid out on. He cried out in agony, not because of pain, but because of the fear of what he would become. He saw visions, visions of the forest he once knew being demolished by evil things, the things that humans created. Giant car-like objects crashed into the trees, dead animals would lay around with their bones poking out their bodies. Blood was splattered onto the grass and the silver rocks by the moors. His once green eyes turned into glowing, blood red slits. He scrambled to his paws and looked up at the human, allowing himself to break free from the wires by heating them up past their boiling points. He knew what to do, he suddenly knew what they'd done and took advantage of that.