Animalia // Barnes

Chapter Four: Escaping Monsters

~MEL~

Two agents drag me back to my cell. The cruel, daunting hallways seem to be laughing at me, their menacing smiles gleaming in the light. I can't go back to my cell, or stay here any longer. The weight of the world seems to rest on my shoulders, bringing me closer to the ground, closer to my grave. It pulls me down, under the surface and away from humanity, suffocating in my own madness and guilt. It's killing me, as it has been for years.

I start to focus on my power, testing it out. I grow spines all over myself like a porcupine, using them as daggers to cut the men's hands. Each spine forming feels like knives are cutting my cells into little pieces, what should give me agony proving to be completely painless to my body. I feel the first thick drops of blood fall from their wounds, touching my flesh.

They rip their hands out of my bloodied spines, leaving me unrestrained and powerful. I feel a strange urge to hide myself and kill them at the same time. The animalistic urges of the prey and predator. Each pulling down on a scale that must tip one way or the other. I turn my arms into barbs like a sting ray, striking them both in their lungs. They start to suffocate, so I turn and sprint as fast as I can down the familiar hallways.

I come across a window and estimate that I'm about thirty metres from the ground below, making it impossible to jump. I run to the nearby elevator, only to have it open and reveal six HYDRA agents. They all raise their guns, none shooting. I let my body grow smooth, blue skin all over, poisonous mucus coating it so they cannot touch me. It happens in an instant.

I run back down the hallway, shots being fired in a blue blur. Using my animal reflexes I dodge the shots and make it up the wall and onto the metal roof before they've rounded the corner. They keep running down the hallway, one speaking into a dark com strapped to his shoulder. Sirens start to blare, ripping through the normally silent facility. I have to get out of here before all hell breaks loose.

I run down to the staircases, trying desperately to get to a lower level. I have no idea what any of the other levels look like, so finding an unguarded exit is going to be hard. My great speeds of running down the stairs causes me to trip, my body battered as it goes flying down two whole flights. I groan. I hear the thundering footsteps of more HYDRA soldiers, meaning that I can't go any further down.

I run through another corridor, the emotionless maze walls staring blankly at me, refusing to help. I try to taste where they are using a snakes tongue. I let out a surprised gasp at the familiar taste of Melony Vandenburg, the latest psychopath that leads HYDRA. I frantically look around, trying to find some form of escape. I see a window about ten metres away (32 feet), but jumping from this high will still kill me. I'm at a dead end.

Melony rounds the corner, followed by a troop of HYDRA agents, all armed and at the ready. "Subject K041," she says, her grey eyes scanning me. "You don't need to escape here, we're helping you learn about this gift we have given you. You wouldn't last a day out there, alone, with no money or food. Come back to us sweetie, this facility is all you've ever known. Your training is almost over. You'll be free to explore the outside world, have a job and settle down after that."

I stare down her kind, caring composure. "A job working for HYDRA? Settle down my corpse in my grave? Explore the outside world as an assassin? I'd rather you shoot me on the spot to get this over with." I retaliate. Melony smirks. "Set you guns to stun," she says to her troops. I turn, sprinting for the window. "I want this one alive."

I hear the loud click of about twenty guns  changing to stun. As if in slow motion, all of the agents fire their guns. My ginormous wings start to protrude from my back, enveloping me. I need to know how to fly. I crash into the glass just as the first blue bullet of energy hits me, causing me to fall straight out of the window. I scream in agony, the bullet causing fireworks to dance across my skin. I pass out for a second, but quickly awaken. I can see the ground before me, now massive in size and not too far away. I stretch my wings, praying that I don't fall. They catch the icy night air and I feel my wings starting to beat down at the right times. I laugh frantically, glee filling every ounce of my being.

I was free.