Hatchling

Chapter One: The Facility

Running as fast as I could despite the wound in my side still bleeding. My lungs burned,and I was starting to get a cramp in my right leg. Weaving in between the trees I urged everybody to keep moving, hopefully to escape the people trying to catch us. Up ahead the trees clear and as the moon begins to reveal itself from behind the clouds. My stomach dropped when the cliff came into view. I hit the ground and slid to a stop inches from the edge. I quickly scramble to my feet and look around. To my right was another drop. To my left was a slope covered in twisted pieces of broken metal, almost as if a helicopter or plane crashed there. A twig snapped behind me, "You can't leave, you won't survive out there." I whip around to see the Director, the man who runs this sick, evil scheme. "Come back inside the facility and let us treat your wounds and we can forgive this ridiculous endeavor of yours." But I know its a lie, I can see the evil glint in his eyes from here. I wanted so badly to wipe that smirk off his face, but before I could open my mouth to reply the moon fully came out from behind the clouds. That's when I felt the first blast of pain.

I woke up to a knock on the door. I sat up as it opened and in stepped Serena, the beautiful crimson haired assistant assigned to me. "Good morning Lucy, hope you're well rested because you have a lot of tests scheduled for today." She knew I hated the nickname they gave me. I stood up and put on the provided black spandex jumpsuit with built in sensors to monitor me as I performed their tests. I followed her throught the stark white concrete halls that were almost identical. This place was built like a maze, if you didnt know where you were and where you were going you'd get lost. We walked up to a bulkhead with an electronic card reader lock. Serena flashed her card at the scanner, the light turned green and I heard the hydraulics hiss as they opened the bulkhead. She gestured for me to go inside. As soon as I stepped through, the bulkhead slammed shut behind me, trapping me in total darkness. I froze and started listening for any sounds. I heard slow soft footsteps, five of them, circling me. I slowly walked to the middle of the room, waiting for them to get closer. As soon as I got to the center of the room I stepped on a pressure plate and the lights came on. I quickly looked around, ready for the others to attack, but there was no one in the room with me.

The speakers squealed out feedback as someone tapped on a microphone. I heard someone clear their throat "Good morning Lucy I hope you're ready for todays test, because depending on your performance in these tests will determine the amount of food the others get." I clenched my fists and tried to control my anger. The others he was referring to are the 5 younger kids and another the same age as me. Since I was the oldest male, it was my responsibility to protect and provide for them by being the only one having to endure the more difficult and excruciatingly painful tests, that was the deal between me and the Director. I stood up straight as another door opened and in came two scientists pushing a covered table each. They placed the tables in front of me and lifted the coverings to reveal several vials and other apparatus. I looked down at the table on the left, on it were several tasers and knives coated in a viscous green slime. On the table to the right there was a chest with a crest in the shape of a dragon. Inside the chest there was a vial filled with a purple liquid. The speakers boomed again with the Director's voice, "You may choose between these two tables. Choose wisely" he chuckled at his thinly veiled threat. I clenched my fists and took a deep breath before looking at the tables again.

Noticing a quiet sizzling sound coming from the left table, I saw the slight curl of smoke. So they coated them in some kind of acid I thought. Raising my hand, I pointed to the chest on the right table. "Excellent choice, despite it not being the one I expected" the Director said, disappointment evident in his voice. One of the scientists covered the left table and wheeled it out of the room as the other scientist pulled out a syringe gun and  loaded the vial into it. As he approached me I tilted my head to the left and prepared for the injection. The scientist pressed the needle into my neck and started releasing the liquid in the vial. My veins felt like they were being filled with ice. After the scientist finished pulling the needle out of my skin, I rolled my head around and massaged the injection site. Suddenly I dropped to my hands and knees as fire burned throughout my body. The pain was like nothing I've experienced before. I couldn't breathe, and when I tried to scream no sound came as my vocal cords were frozen in excruciating pain. Suddenly my muscles contracted violently as I felt a surge of electricity flowing through me. My vision began to swim in and out of focus, my head felt like it was splitting open. My eyes burned as they teared up. I clenched my jaw as my teeth started to ache as my canines lengthened. I clawed my hands and watched my nails fall off and razor sharp six inch claws take their place. My skin itched and writhed underneath the jumpsuit. I shut my eyes trying to brace against the pain, when just as quickly as it appeared it had vanished. I opened my eyes and looked at my hands. Everything was back to normal. "*wait, not it's not*" I thought as I noticed my senses were heightened. My eyes picked up the miniscule scales covering my skin like an invisible armor. I took a quick breath through my nose and almost gagged at the assault of scents. My mind raced to identify the smells, bleach, steel, sweat, the metallic copper of blood, and *I sniffed again* was that fear? If that was the case, then the staff was afraid of me for some reason. I stood up and looked around the room. Security guards surrounded me, guns pointed at me. "Half are real, the other half tranquilizers" a voice in my head spoke up. Startled, I flinched an looked around. All the guards raised their guns higher aiming at my chest and head. "Relax, I'm your other half. It appears they forced my awakening before you were ready. Very well, well discuss that later. Now FOCUS". My eyes narrowed and time seemed to slow down. What is this I thought, "this is the power of the eyes of a dragon. Your perception and reaction times are adapting well, now behind you" I turned quickly to see a tranq dart flying at me in slow motion, almost as if it was traveling through molasses and not air. I plucked it out of the air. Time, or rather my perception of it, returned to normal. The guards jumped when they saw me holding the tranq dart in my hands. "Stand down everyone. Well done Lucy. You did better than expected. Everyone will be well fed tonight." I gritted my teeth knowing the Director was toying with me. "Now on to combat training." He said, malice evident in his voice. The bulkhead opened again and Serena was there with her clipboard and smug smile. "She looks tasty, let's sink our teeth into her and rip out her jugular" the voice inside my head said. I wish I could I thought to him. "Then do it. Show them their place on the pecking order". There are others I'm protecting. I cant go Rouge. At this point we had started walking down several halls towards the open roof combat training area. "Oh I see, there are other hatchlings here." Yea I thought, not yet. Let me get stronger then we'll all escape. "Good idea". The voice went silent as we entered the dirt arena. It was a massive area, 100 yards wide and almost just as long. On the far side there was a semi truck with a trailer filled with weapons. The truck and trailer belonged to the combat instructor, a man only known to me as Truck. He was the only person that was kind to us in the experiments.

He looked at me with a worried expression on his face. "You look rough, do you want to take it easy today?" He asked me, but before I could reply Serena spoke up. "That won't be necessary. The subject will train at full capacity as per the Director's orders." I hated when they objectified us but I bit my tongue for fear of what they'll do to the kids. Tuck nodded and lead me to the trailer and stepped inside. I followed him and began scanning the various weapons along the walls. He had every weapon imaginable, from daggers to Sheridan, staves to staffs, guns to bows. If it could be classified as a weapon, he had it in this trailer. But judging by the look on his face, todasys training will be different than what it usually was.