schools gift

Assignment 3: Fiction: short story, Part 1

The path to life:

Word count:3617(total)

Screams rocked the air, everyone in earshot cringed. The screams were normal to hear, they went off every single day, but the doctors never got used to it. Some thought it was karma to hear those screams, others saw it as a reminder to not mess up or they would be the ones screaming. Doctors turned away as a struggling screaming girl was dragged down the hall. They couldn't bare the sight, whether it be out of disgust for the girl's appearance or out of guilt. The girl in question was eventually thrown into an open cage, it was a replica of the forest right outside the chain link fence. As soon as she was free she ran into the cage and away from her captors.

The girl running through her small forest eventually stopped to rest. She looked around and sniffed the air checking if she was alone, she was. *fizz* the girl looked up at a speaker "subject 362 your food has been delivered to the door" the girl, 362, moved in the direction from which she came. It took her a minute to get to the door because of her walking speed but when she did she was greeted with her normal food giver standing there with a plate of meat and lettuce. "Hello 362, I have your food and I added some fruit this time, '' the food giver said to the girl. 362 looked to the woman who had fed her all her life and gave her a rare smile while reaching for the plate. "Not so fast, what do you say?" the food giver said while pulling the plate out of the girl's reach. "Thank you," 362 said in heavily broken English. "Good girl, now you can have it," the food giver said and handed the plate to 362. 362 proceeded to chow down on the food without taking a breath. The food giver chuckled "Slow down there you don't want to choke '' 362 stopped and started to eat more slowly. The food giver took this time to study the girl. 362 looked human at a first glance but looking closer you can see that she has long silver hair, red-slitted eyes, slightly pointed ears, and purple scales all over her body, the food giver also saw her wolf-like teeth as she tore into an uncooked steak. 362 also looked to be around 10 years but her body was already littered with scars.

Once 362 was done eating the food giver took the plate back and stood up," well then it's time I go, I'll see you tomorrow 362" with that she was gone. 362 blinked a few times then ran off back into the woods. 362 had seen enough in her supposed 10 years of life to understand that the lab was no home and she wanted to escape. That day a plot was born, a plot that would set the unnatural free.

It's been 8 years since the day 362 last saw her food giver, the scrawny 10-year-old girl from back then had grown into a strong and beautiful woman. Her hair was still long and silver but was now styled into a single braid, her eyes had flecks of purple in them but they still were predominantly red and slited, her scales had now formed patterns on her body, I won't say where, her teeth were as sharp as ever, the only visible change other than her mature body was the ebony horns on her head. The horns had grown 2 years ago, and they were not as big as one might think, in truth they were only an inch long and grew from the top of her head pointing backward. It shocked the doctors a bit but eventually, they concluded that 362 was evolving in her own way. She also showed signs of high intelligence, some of the tests the doctor did were on logic and mental processing. Today's test was one of those.

362 was sitting strapped down in a wooden chair, in front of her was a screen displaying complicated math equations. The equation was designed to be impossible to answer but the doctors weren't testing to see if she can solve it, they were testing to see if she understood it was unsolvable. "Are you trying to bore me?" 362 said snarkily, the doctors just looked at each other with confused faces. "I can't solve this, it's impossible, but you know that," she said with a roll of her eyes. The doctors had decided to just put her back in her cage for the time being while they come up with more difficult mind tests. "If I'm going back to the cage can I go back without being dragged" 362 asked with a lazy smile, no response was given to her The doors to the test room were opened and two burly, curly-haired men walked in. They united 362 then dragged her up and out of the room. "Really, I can walk on my own!!" came the protest of 362 as she was dragged down the hall.

When the 'escorts' made it to 362's room they opened the door and threw her in. "Thanks for the walk boys," 362 said while lying on the floor. She got up and dusted herself off, can I not have one day where I'm not thrown, she thought. She looked around, noticing that the air in the cage was thicker than normal. Rain is coming, better hurry to batten down the hatches, she thought to herself while sprinting off into the woods. 362 made it to a big tree at the center of her cage. The tree had a crude shelter built in its branches, this was her home. 362 nimbly and expertly climbed the tree, to anyone who was watching she looked like a squirrel with how fast she climbed.

The inside of the crude shelter was quite homey, there was enough room for two people of 362 stature to comfortably sit, it had a nest of blankets in the center and a few candles for light, and the roof looked like it was wood branches stacked over a tarp. It was this tarp that 362 was currently checking. "Ok no holes, and it's secured" she muttered to herself. She dropped from the roof and entered her 'nest' as she had dubbed it in her mind. She snuggled under the blankets and settled for a night of storms. 

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AN~ well i updated, this is only one part of the whole story and i will post the rest soon. production might be slow for a bit, responsibilities have found me. THANKS FOR READING

~Duckling