A wire stuck in her arm!
Just my luck, she thought drily, next I'll slip and fall onto a saber.
Camila turned to take a look at her wound, albeit slowly and carefully, so she didn't actually skewer herself on a sword by accident.
Camila could see a small scarlet droplets of blood where the wire had pierced her skin. A wave of nausea shuddered through her as she inhaled its metallic tang. She had to get to the surgery. She had to get to the medics.
Gritting her teeth, Camila pulled the wire from her arm. There was a burst of pain and a small flush of blood. She clutched her arm, trying to staunch the flow, and stumbled out of the house. Relief coursed through her when she saw the tall, spacious medic building.
I'm lucky that I live so close to the surgery, she thought, walking in through the high arched doorway.
There were four people inside. The two adult medics were helping a woman who looked frighteningly pale. Suddenly, she started spasming, her arms jerking wildly.
Camila looked away. Her small injury was nothing compared to that affliction. She had to come back later. Then she noticed a boy. He was standing next to the patient, and grabbing equipment when the two adult medics instructed him. Camila realised that he was their son. Maybe he could help.
"Excuse me," she said, "I've cut myself. Is there anything you can do? I'll understand if you're busy right now."
He glanced at his parents, asking a question with his eyes. They nodded.
"Sure," he said, "come to the bathroom. I've got some medicine and first aid there."
He lead her out of the surgery and to a nearby house. Then he took her into the bathroom. He opened a cabinet and took out a vial and a bandage.
"Thank you so much," Camila smiled. Her arm was still hurting, but she was feeling reassured.
"Sorry, this is going to sting a bit," he said. Camila nodded grimly. She winced as he poured some of the antiseptic on her wound. As he rubbed it in, she cried out in pain.
"It's OK," he reassured, holding onto her hand. After her cut was cleaned, he got out a small bandage that went over it.
"There you go," he said. Camila smiled.
"Thanks... what's your name?"
"My name's Lance. You?"
"My name's Camila."
"Well then, nice to meet you, Camila," he said, holding out a hand. She took it and shook his hand. Then they sat quietly for a few minutes as Lance tied on the bandage.
"I just want to say thank you. For helping me. That cut could've gotten infected," she mumbled.
"It's OK. It's my job. I'm a medic. Well, an apprentice one," he said. They sat in silence for a while, then he spoke again.
"Have you ever thought about what it's like beyond the wall? What there is to discover in the desert?" he asked slowly. There was some fear on his face.
Why would he be afraid of me?
He's afraid that I'll tell someone, she thought, that I'll tell someone that he broke the taboo.
Camila kept quiet for a second, thoughts whirring and clicking in her head like panicked cogs in a wild machine.
Is this a trick, a trap? Is he faking the question? Is he going to tell Mayor Norwood if I reveal my thoughts?
"Nevermind," he muttered, "it was a stupid question anyway."
"No!" Camila exclaimed. Then, more slowly, "I think about it all the time. It's my dream to go out there."
"Really?" he asked, shocked.
"Really! I've always wanted to go out and search for ancient machinery from before the Great Deterioration. There's just so much old tech that I could fix to help the city!"
"And I want to go and discover animals and plants and maybe even make new medicines to help against diseases," he said. A smile was spreading on his face. Camila felt joy bubbling up inside her. Here was someone who thought the same way as her about the wall laws!
"We should go out there! The laws and taboo are stupid. We'll always be at risk from the unknown if we hide here, never seeing the outside world."
"But... well..." Camila said. Fear had suddenly seized her at the thought of breaking the law.
"It's completely illegal to go out there," she said.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. I'm willing to risk it. I don't know about you, but I'm going out there."
He said it with a steely resolution, but also with hope that she would join him and go outside the wall.
Camila pondered it. What was the worst they could do to her if she disobeyed? Kill her? No, the Mayor would be rebuked by the public if she killed a teenage girl. Imprison her? Well, she was already imprisoned here by the wall, trapped in her own home. The city she lived in wasn't really a city, it was more like a cage. A cage for birds. But the birds in this cage didn't have wings. The buildings were like pitiful birds nests and the walls were like looming metal bars.
Camila nodded to herself. She had made her decision. She wouldn't be like the rest of humanity, oblivious and stupid and blind in their puny cage.
"I'll do it. I'll do whatever I need to go out there," she said.
"That's great! But even so, it is dangerous, with the mutated monsters. We don't have much to defend ourselves," he said.
"Then we can wait until we're Chimeras," she suggested.
"Well, I transformed yesterday," he said proudly.
Camila was a bit surprised. She didn't know many people her age that had already transformed.
"What animal?" she asked eagerly. He smiled. Then he began to change.
It happened in a few seconds. There was a dazzle of brightness that momentarily blinded her. Lance's teeth seemed to enlarge in his mouth, until they were fangs. His ears became pointed and furry. His finger became sharp black claws. A silvery tail appeared.
"You're a... a wolf morph," she said in wonder, eyes wide. Seeing someone transform into a magnificent canine in the space of two seconds seemed to have that effect on people.
Lance changed back as quickly as he had morphed. The light faded, like a dying star.
"But a Chimera form isn't enough to fight off bandits, especially if they're Chimeras too. We need more weapons," he said.
"Come to my house, I've got some weapons there," she said.
Camila smiled. Forget using rifles to shoot at peccaries. They had a new use now.
It only took Camila and Lance a few minutes to run to her house. They greeted her parents and then went into her room. There, on her bed, were five rifles. They were the ones she had been able to find in the dump insidethe walls. She could only imagine what was outside.
"Are those... guns? Actual guns that can shoot things?" he asked in wonder.
"Yes," she said proudly, hefting one of the rifles up.
"I tried shooting one earlier this morning and it destroyed a pumpkin."
"That's amazing... but wouldn't all of them have been broken? Since they were made so long ago?"
"I'm a mechanic. I was able to fix one of them, and now it works."
"We need a group of four people to go outside the wall. So far, we've got you, me and my friend Jaylin. There's more than enough for all of us. When do you think you'll finish fixing them all."
"I can do it in two days," Camila said, calculating the time it would take to modify the rifles, as well as do other tasks that the Mayor assigned her.
"I can't believe it," Lance said, "we're actually doing this. We're actually going to go outside. I always dreamed about it, but I never actually thought that it was possible..." he said.
"Thank you so much," he said to Camila, "you've made it possible. We'll discover the outside."
It was true. It was amazing. They were actually doing it.
She could imagine the remnants of the old world, the amazing technology, the disobeying of the wall laws.
Some of the adults said that a rush of adrenaline was all you needed to transform.
There was a crazy, powerful feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was like fire, it burned her heart. She felt herself withdraw from everything around her. Her senses dulled. Nothing was recognizable.
Then everything came back to her. It was like breaking the surface of the water after a long swim in the lake, when your body is begging for air and you take a deep breath in.
Camila turned to the mirror in her room in an instant. She had sharp teeth and knife-like claws and ears shaped like triangles. She had fur, a bright russet color. She had a tail. It was glossy and scarlet, and tipped with a band of white fur. A spray of whiskers came from her small, black nose.
She was a fox morph! She was a Chimera!
Her parents rushed in.
"Mr and Mrs Rodriguez!" Lance said excitedly, "Camila transformed."
Camila beamed, leaping into the awaiting arms of her smiling parents.
She was a Chimera!
Thoughts were already whirring around in her head. Now that she was a Chimera, she was stronger. She would be safer once she escaped into the rough outside world.
Here I come, she thought, a smile slowly spreading across her face.
Dear readers: Hello, Sylver here! So the idea of a better future, the goal to go beyond the wall, has started to build within our heroes. And now that they have Chimera forms, we're one step closer to that goal. But how can they ever beat the Guards, who are all experienced fighters with Chimera forms of their own?
If you like this story, don't forget to vote, comment and add it to your reading lists. I will be adding a new chapter every day. If you have any tips for how I can improve my writing, please feel free to tell me (in a nice manner). Thanks so much for reading my story!