"Kill it."
The man twisted a strange black knob upon the side of the new weapon, causing a red laser to point straight at the pink hide of a lone benevolent pig across from me. I blinked unsurely, sniffing the strangely enticing lump of prey, but the more I stared the more guilty I began to feel.
Did I have to kill it? I thought to myself, I already ate a handful of discarded bones and carrion, including an entire slab of meat. Was this necessary?
Nevertheless, humanity couldn't understand my pleads or voices of concern. All they wanted was progress, 'successful' progress, and by any means available they'll fight to gather it. It was like milking a dry cow, and just as to me they were striving for the same result. The man, oblivious of my confusion, soon lifted his finger toward a bulged red button and pressed hard.
I heard a twisted noise, like nails on a chalkboard. The sound was disgusting and painful, but as much as I wanted to turn away from it I was forced to listen. I didn't have ears like humans, or flaps to cover them up. This was the torture I had to face on this particular day.
"C'mon, kill it!"
The noise fired again and I growled even louder, shaking my head with refusal. Both claws sank deep into the cold metallic earth below and my poor teeth shuddered and squeezed tight. All of this felt unnatural, yet all I could do to avoid following through was wince, whimper, and watch my poor body get wrecked by the rippling effects of the noise. And yet, I was somehow strong enough to resist its hold...somehow...
"Kill it you bloody bastard!" The human snarled, moving toward me with the noise gun at his side while my tail curled in with worry, "Now!"
The pig looked at me once more, his eyes looking somber and his face was filled with fear. He knew I had to kill him, just to show Wu that his invention worked, while in truth it didn't. The noise did hurt my eardrums, but it had no control over me and my decisions this time. I hissed with a retorted snarl, scrambling away from the scene and took a defensive stance into the corner. The man above me turned to me, dropping the gun and pulled out a metallic stick.
"Bad choice..."
It was ironic to see the pig sigh in relief, though I began to whimper even louder, much like a dog would in the shadow of his owner. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, nothing to do but accept my fate as the man lumbered forward, hatred sealed within his irises. I tried to retaliate, jerking forward with wide jaws to try and kill the man, but had I moved just a bit closer perhaps his plump meaty calf would've become my third lunch of the day.
"AH! You Mother-"
I was met by a sharp boot to the chin. My jaws slammed shut hard, and even a few pieces of teeth shattered from that sudden jerk. Terrible pain found its way to my maw, and my drool began to turn dark red as it splattered upon the floor. I gasped slightly in the shock of it, stumbling backward as the human lifted his foot back and swung.
I struck the wall hard. A blast of crimson from the violent slam coated the stone walls with blood, now reeking of my smell as my mind screamed with horror. I groaned, swaying from the siding of the rocks and not long after surrendered to gravity, collapsing to the floor with a sickening thud.
Giving me no time to absorb the excruciating wound I just sustained, a glowing hum came afoot behind me, before stabbing at my exposed flank. It was more than just a tingle that ran underneath my skin, much more than a simple jolt too. No, it was as though someone had attached a live wire to each one of my nerves and turned the power on to its maximum level. And just as so my body convulsed as the most vicious electrical current pulsated through me. I opened my jaw in a silent scream, my tail and limbs thrashing wildly on the ground, tears in my eyes as my vision began to blur. My claws dug into the ground, dragging backward and cracking at the seams as crimson ooze found its way to the surface.
"Hey, hey! That's enough!" A distorted voice suddenly muttered, scratching off something on his paper, "That's enough. It didn't work...we'll try again later."
You just stood there... I whimpered quietly to myself, and watched me get pummeled by this man. And rather than protect me you wish to try again, as if my pain and my flesh spoiled here means nothing...
"The event's tomorrow night, sir," the monster above me grunted, slowly beginning to pull the electric stick away after noticing steam drifting from my hide, "We still have millions of other noises to examine, w-we still don't know which one will work."
"It'll work," the scientist grunted, looking down at me, "It better. After the event showcase, we can test further. Find something rudimentarily acceptable that will do the trick. I already implanted the plasma from Blue's blood yesterday, so it should start working its magic."
I let out a painful wheeze, shuddering from the aftershocks of electricity in my body and turned toward the man, who's back faced me. And that was a mistake he should've never made.
Perfect...
"Yeah, yeah," The man grunted, giving Wu the gun, "Seems like it's trying to reject it more and more- GAH!" He let out a terrified shriek as my jaws suddenly sank into half of his thick calf, splitting the skin from the real flesh, and digging into his arteries. Henry Wu stumbled backward with shock, gun still in hand, and watched with interest at my brutal display.
"No, no! Henry! Henry help, please!"
I jerked the man onto his chest, hearing his pathetic screams fill the night, and tore into his soft skin. His own blood was fatty and disgusting, but I didn't care much about the taste, I care about the suffering. My jaws found his love handles and I ripped backward, causing a horrific bend of his muscles and exposing a strange gap that revealed his inners. I continued to drag him back into the darkness, hearing his pleading cries echo the cage walls as he struggled against me. But I didn't expect that he'd fight back.
His hands found the handle of something metallic at his hip, and in a matter of seconds, I was held at gunpoint. There was nothing more I could do, other than drop his limb to the ground and watch him pull the trigger.
"NO!"
Wu suddenly screamed, slamming into the cage walls, but by then it was too late. The gun jerked with a loud bang, violently rocking my body. A second one hit my underbelly, forcing me to squeal in agony. But the third one wasn't from his gun, nor was it as painful as the first or second. The third shot was silent, thin, and colorful, finding the perfect shot at hitting my neck.
The world went foggy, and once more I collapsed, now a bloody weakened pulp on the ground. My eyes were barely open, my breathing now slowed, and stared out from the ground as Wu helped the man to his feet, carrying him outside through a trail of red. His eyes turned to me, eying my broken figure on the ground and for a moment I expected fear or anger.
But he just smiled.
A sinister, dark, and cruel smile as if suddenly pleased with my action.
"Save that energy for the real audience old friend," Wu rasped. He raised his dart gun again, moving closer to the cage and fired.
BANG!
I awoke with a heavy flinch, failing to make any sound. But through the darkness of the previous vision, I was met with no sense of relief. The sky was pitch black, lifeless and dull, like that of the cage that trapped me. The world was etched in charcoal, the once vibrant hues of the plants were no more than a vivid dream. And the ground was cold as if the earth had died alongside me.
Perhaps I overestimated the moment.
There was a warmth pressing against me, and the scent of a female raptor's hide. Her eyes glistened in the nothingness despite no light to be found, and a short rumble caused me to turn to her.
"What's wrong? Ripper?"
"It was...just a nightmare," I muttered to her, pressing my claw on my chest, "Nothing more. Go back to sleep."
Blue gazed into my eyes, unable to notice the spilled tears against my cheek, and obediently nodded, laying her head down next to me. I was reluctant to fall asleep again, looking into the darkness, tense and waiting as if expecting the sound of a gun to be fired.
But all I heard was silence.
I lowered my head slowly, resting it against the back of Blue's next and sighed quietly. Surely I was falling apart and losing my sense of reality. That could be the only explanation for it. But I knew full well that the moment earlier wasn't that of a nightmare. It wasn't even a dream or a vision. It felt too real. And that's because it was.
Forget about it, I muttered in my mind as I closed my eyes, the memory will pass on.
And I fell asleep once more.
◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥
"Excuse me, sir," Doctor Marion called, slowly trotting down the stairs toward the infamous InGen doctor, lounging upon his chair as he stared down at the abyss that held NH41-2. The balcony from which he sat was clean and seemingly evacuated, and nothing but the sound of a wind generator in the backdrop of the padlock vibrated the area like a bass drum. Upon hearing her words, Doctor Wu lifted his eyes up and turned his head, taking one long look at the intruder before turning back.
"Yes?"
"There was a heat and infrared check early this morning in the area moments ago as you've instructed, and I just came back with the results."
"Well?"
"It came back positive."
Wu was still for a moment before spinning around with wide eyes looking down at the ground, "Positive?"
"Two inhuman figures are in Palo Alto," She rasped, checking the paper for a brief moment, "Moving toward our location."
But as she looked back at the man, Wu's face curled into a deathly smile.
"Well I'll be. He's here."
"Sir?"
"Prepare the men," he ordered. "Get everything ready -- a cage, tranquillizer darts, guns if we have to-"
"But-"
"I want him dead or dying, but not destroyed," Wu growled at the woman before his eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. He turned back to the hidden creature in the containment area and asked the doctor a question.
"Is NH41-2 stabilized?"
"Y-Yes?"
"Interesting," Wu began to grin devilishly, curling his lips in a dark and eccentric smile. "Now then, since my creation wants to pay a little visit, quite frankly to kill me, I doubt any of the InGen containment crew alone could withstand such a one-sided fight. All of my men keep failing. I need something else. Something...big."
"Then...what do you propose?" Asked the woman. Wu thought for a moment, then lowered his eyes to the luminescent screen and nodded.
"Open Padlock C," Wu grunted. Marion stumbled back in surprise.
"What?"
"Release it into Palo Alto for a trial-run. I want it to finish my creation right here and now."
"Sir!" The doctor gasped in shock, almost dropping her papers, "But we...we haven't even tested it around humans, it's response could be negative-"
"We have the sound guns do we not?" Wu hissed, beginning to move away toward the nearest exit door, "Stop fearing its escape when we can control it for ourselves."
"I beg to differ."
"Release it with the men," Wu ordered again. "I don't care how many buildings fall or how many people stand in my way, I'm finishing this, hybrid to hybrid. Either they both fight, or they both fall."
◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥
The forest was an orchestra of chaotic winds and sounds, playing one enchanting symphony after another. The leaves around us danced to an unheard pulse, whispering the lyrics to their songs into the wind. In this peculiar sanctuary, we wandered in, sheltered by the mighty redwood trees, frolicked every kind of life possible- from the humble beetles that crawled through the moist undergrowth to enchanting birds of every color. Through the scent-dominant forest, we both felt the cascading light of the heavens, a brilliant white shaft that illuminated the path that would indeed direct us onward to our destination. I just prayed I got there in time, noticing that the charred wounds upon my flank didn't get any better, constantly twitching and shaking as if they had a mind of its own.
Surely, without a doubt, I was losing myself piece by piece. I was connecting the dots to my own corpse, which I felt would come sooner or later. But despite being feared that death was upon me, no other reaction came about. I didn't feel sad or worried, neither did I feel like the sky was falling all around me. I just accepted it, and I was certain that this acceptance bothered Blue as well.
Thirty minutes thereafter detecting the human scent growing closer, I had asked a question.
"What were your sisters like?" I questioned. Blue turned to me as we walked and flared her nostrils, almost as if she had inhaled the question and struggled to hold back where it would lead. She gritted her teeth for a moment, then lowered her eyes.
"They were extraordinary to me. At least that's what I think."
"How do you mean?" I muttered back, tilting my head to the right.
"I-I looked up to them," the velociraptor sighed, hopping on one lonesome rock that seemed to be buried halfway into the depths of a fallen redwood tree's rubble, "And I know it sounds odd, being the Beta of a pack, but I didn't see myself any more important or superior as they were to me and to the world. They were loyal and strong and powerful. But in the end, I let them down."
"Let them down?" I shook my head and smile, watching her balance uneasily upon the sloped rock, "I'm sure you did nothing of the sort."
"I did," Blue grunted, lunging and landing with a sharp exhale and flickered her tail back and forth to appraise her success, "You look at me Ripper, and you see an ally and a friend. But what kind of friend turns on her own alpha?"
"You...turned?" I slightly gasped, feeling my tongue twitch as my beady eyes watched her. Blue, suddenly accepting this grief-like stance, nodded weakly. I frowned and somewhat winced from her response. It didn't seem like her to do such a thing, and yet she stood in front of me with an honest tear trickling down her own heartbeat.
"I did."
"But-"
"I made a bad choice, Ripper," She whispered, closing her eyes and sighed, continuing the never-ending stroll under the green haven above, "I betrayed Owen the day I lost them. The creature, the one that smelled of you-" she hesitated for a moment, staring deep into my yellow eyes, then looked away with one swallow of saliva tumbling down her esophagus, "She offered me a choice in exchange for protection."
"And what was that?" I asked next, feeling even more uncomfortable when her orbs had fallen upon me earlier. I wondered if she'd continue glancing awkwardly at me because of her own self-fears.
Indeed, Blue turned her head to face me once again and clenched her claw during her response: "Freedom."
"But you are free, Blue!" I grunted, "Are you not?"
"But this wasn't what I wanted," Blue hissed back to me, "I never wanted to be alone! I never wanted to hunt Owen, but I did. And I had to suffer the consequences because of it!" She inhaled, blinking back tears, then sighed, "I turned right back against the hybrid when I found out the truth, lost consciousness, and when I awoke...they were gone."
"But....your freedom!"
"Ripper..." Blue gritted her teeth again, pausing in her walk and turned to me with a hint of seriousness flashing in her eyes, "I might've survived three years on an island ruled of our kind, but one's life is not worth all the freedom in the world. I swear every second on that island was more painful than a mere bullet stuck in your heart. And every day thereafter antagonized me. I suffered this great burden because I was alone, with nobody to love and nobody to hold onto."
"So even freedom has its consequences," I muttered, snorting softly as I raised to my two hind legs. Blue tilted her head and mocked a wince.
"Strangling yourself to achieve your desires has consequences Ripper. Freedom's just a part of the greed."
"I...I see."
"Haven't you ever felt alone?"
"Well, I've been alone all my life," I snorted back, almost wishing to tell her how much I had enjoyed it when nothing else mattered but my own primal lust for power. Blue could sense something twitch inside my body, and flared her nostrils with interest to see how I'd respond.
"But have you ever regretted it?" croaked the velociraptor, glancing at the nature around us for a brief moment, "Being alone?"
No, my brain snarled, you know she's using you to get to your heart.
I know. But she speaks of a wisdom that even I cannot bestow upon myself. In truth I am not alone, I grunted back to my mind in silence, though still, you are a part of me, and speak for me. But that doesn't make you any different or independent from the others.
You can't regret the silence! It is what has fueled you from the start! Because of these distractions, you've lost your way.
Well, maybe it's time for a change, I huffed back, narrowing my eyes as I faced Blue, I won't find peace if I am alone forever my dear friend.
"Yes," I whispered finally, "I have. I've regretted leaving my hopes behind my back and accepting what society wants me to be, what Wu wants me to become. I've faced my nightmares alone and abandoned life so I can work with Death. But I think now it's a good time for change."
"Well," Blue tilted her head slightly and quietly began to smile, "I think we have something in common then."
I nodded, smirking only slightly, then gasped. An odd and powerful scent rushed into my nostrils, forcing me to inhale quietly before narrowing my eyes as the strange human and gasoline odorous air.
"What is it?"
"We're here," I called back, my toe claws twitching violently at the thought of Wu entering my mind, "I know it."
"How?" Blue muttered, sniffing the air, her snout flexing and straining to catch the strong whiffs that fluttered by, "It's a faint smell for sure, but I can't tell-"
"I can," I snarled back, clawing at the earth and moving back to all fours, "Because I was born here."
"Here?" Blue's eyes widened, stunned and surprised from the sudden confession of my past life. She turned to face the forest, watching the area around us in a perplexed face, then spun her skull back to me, "I thought Wu made you in the mansion!"
"He finished me in the mansion," I snarled, "After a lifetime of torture. I never wanted to come back to this forsaken place. The stench....it brings back bad memories."
"Well, we finish this quick then," Blue reassured my growing fear, starting to pace ahead of me, while her overconfident self sparkling like wildfire ablaze within her core, "And find a way to get you out of this craziness."