Dawn

Chapter 1

        I’m not sure if I’ll make it through what’s coming, so I’ve decided to tell you my story. Just to warn you before you read this, it’s not for the faint of heart. And I don't recommend you read this if you have a weak stomach either. You’ve been forewarned.

        My world probably isn’t really like yours. My name is Alexander James Phoenix. I live in a kingdom called Valkyrie. I’m seventeen. I had Canis Lupus DNA mixed with my own when I was a baby because of my father’s job. My twin sister was implanted with Vulpini, or fox, DNA when she was a baby too. That DNA was the only type that was compatible with her. My sister is Violet Grace Pheonix, my mom is Lynn Lavoris Phoenix, and my father is Grey Phoenix. He has no middle name.

        I’d like to tell you that we’re the heads of a major corporation or something, but in all actuality we’re really kinda poor. My mom stays home and watches us kids while my dad goes off to work at the enhancement facility. That’s where the experiment is occurring. They are trying to make a new breed of animal-enhanced human beings. They have already been very successful in that field, hence why so many people ages nineteen and below now have animal traits or anatomy. I have wolf senses and ears. Violet has fox ears and a tail. This is normal in my world. Now I’ll tell you my story.

        “I’m leaving Sherri!” I shouted to my boss.

        “Ok. Be careful, ya never know what’ll happen to ya when yer alone out there!” she shouted back.

        “Nothing ever happens around here.” I said to myself as the glass door to the restaurant where I work closed silently behind me. “The only reason people live here is because they want to be in the town where the DNA transfer began. If the facility wasn’t here this place would be a ghost town.”

        I got into my truck and started it up. The roads were empty just like they always were as the sun goes down around here. Nothing good happens outside at night here. People have even gone missing. I rather enjoy the night, however, so after everyone else goes to sleep, I come outside and sit on the front steps of my house.

        The sky glowed orange and pink as I drove home. When I got home I parked the truck next to my dad’s car as I always did and thought about my day, as usual. My days were always very repetitive. Too repetitive. Nothing ever changed around here. I got out of the truck and walked to the door.

        When I walked into my house, almost immediately, my acute wolf sense of smell picked up a horrifyingly strong, pungent smell of blood. I heard my sister, mumbling incoherently, through the ringing in my ears. Her voice barely reached me, even with my enhanced hearing. I tracked the sound, blocking out all other thoughts. When I found her,  she was almost unrecognizable. She was covered in lacerations all along her body, only tatters remained of her clothing, her hair was matted with blood, her fox ears torn in multiple places. Her face had two symmetrical cuts down each cheek. Above all, however, were her eyes. Those bloodshot eyes were engulfed in a look of pure terror. My sister, who was always happy, was terrified to her core. The fear I had been holding back since I entered my house began to enveloped me. I dropped to my knees and began to pick her up when she spoke.

        “Alex,” she rasped, almost to quiet for me to hear again. “Mom…. Dad…. Gone…” was all she could say before she collapsed in my arms.

        I set her down, pulled  my shirt off, tore it into strips, and began to cover the worst of her wounds so I could move her. Then I lifted her as gently and quickly as possible, trying not to cause her too much pain, and hurried to the bathroom. I took off my makeshift bandages and replaced them with real ones from behind the mirror. After bandaging all of her wounds I lifted her gently over my shoulder so as not to reopen her healing wounds and went to find my parents, unknowingly following the scents of their blood.