Chance of Survival

Friend or Foe

At some point I must have fallen asleep as I had a dream. It was night but everything seemed to glow bathed in the light of the stars and full moon but it wasn't just that huge chunks of crystals rose out of the earth. I was standing on soft grass in my German Shepherd form in front of me stood a caracal and a cougar similar in appearance yet so different. They both had darker brown fur on their backs that lighted on their chests and stomachs turning to first pale tawny golden brown then to white. I could tell they were shifters swirling glowing patterns were on their legs and both had two straight lines running down their backs. Their eyes were different the cougar had green-gold eyes that were haunting in the way they reflected the light while the caracal had slate blue grey eyes that seemed to adsorb the light to make them darker. They seemed so similar that they could be siblings. Suddenly the enchanting land was bleached white with bright sunlight scorching the land, making it seem pale. The crystals had lost their glowing pastel colors and seemed dead and milky. But that wasn't the worse part the metallic smell of blood was every where. Hot sticky blood cling to my fur and soaked the ground. Bodies lay all around, the bodies of shifters and of creatures that weren't human or animal but something in between. Some kind of beast sat on the dead crystals observing the carnage. The cougar and the caracal were still there standing in the middle of the carnage as if it wasn't there. They were no long peacefully standing, they looked ready to fight. The cougars fur was drenched in blood but had no wounds. The caracal had one long bloodily wound across her chest and onto her leg. As I watched the caracal leaped toward the cougar and then it was all gone replaced with the cold metal of the room I had fallen asleep in. Breathing hard I scrambled to get up making sure that there was no blood on me or anywhere else. That there was no fighting going on. Jordan opened one eye to look at me so I forced myself to calm down so that she would go back to sleep. She didn't instead she opened her other eye and got up right as someone said something that I didn't understand. That someone was angry and screeching and I could feel their anger rolling off them in waves. Then came the panic, the flare of alarm that's cause was being trapped with a predator that was bigger and badder than itself. The feeling was not mine even if I was effected heavily it wasn't like I was panicking, yet. It wasn't until my control over myself was ruffly pushed aside and the the thing who was panicking took over. I was a spectator in my own body as the angry and scared creature took over. 'Was this what Jordan had been talking about?' I hoped not but I knew it had to be it as it flared our wings trying to spread them despite them being bound and leaped at the walls. Clawing at them trying to fly away like it knew it should but couldn't. I struggled to regain control only managing to sit down when it remembered Jordan and crouched stiffly ready to run or act. I noticed a faint purple glow and I wondered why it had lit itself up. Jordan backed away lowering her head calming the creature down as I fully regained control. 'What is going on?' The voice that I had heard faintly before the waves of anger and panic had been felt spoke clearly this time. 'What is going on? I should be the one asking that!' 'You're right I should explain. We are a chamrock. I'm assuming you already got the history lesson about shifters or as they insist on being called Crystalline shifters after their dear isle home. You are odd one not having been raised there they won't like that went we return home. But at least you were born their unlike that odd cat.'  'What are you going on about and why do know these things shouldn't you be more like-' 'a wild animals. You truly understand nothing of your kind. How could your aunt raise you like this knowing that one day you would shift and be part of our world. I am a chamrock spirit because I'm a part of you you can shift into a chamrock without me you would just be a German shepherd shifter. As much I am a part of you I am not you. When the shifters were new to the world and could barely survive some were desperate enough to allow spirits possess them. Because of their shape shifting ability the two souls combine allowing for another form. The shifters got control of themselves but the price of this was that once a month on the full moon the spirits would get control. They quickly found that their child too would carry a spirit and I am yours do you understand now?' I didn't say a thing for a while I just sat there taking in everything adding it to everything I knew about my kind before replying 'I guess I do unless there is more I don't know.' 'There will always be something you don't know. Now that you know this I won't be bothering you unless it's important and remember the full moon is coming.'  I shudder at the reminder that soon the spirit would take over but quickly push the thought at side and turn to Jordan. She had relaxed and shifted to human "you alright?" She asked seeming to know what had happened. "It must have been hard to hear your spirit for the first time without knowing that it would happen and especially here of all places." I nod not sure how to react or what to say. She suddenly tenses before shifting quickly shifting to dragon form. Her ears twitch like she is trying to locate the sound of something before I hear something too. It's was a loud hiss almost like the one you would hear when opening a soda bottle followed by the sound of metal on metal. It was a huge door in the wall straining to open. We both stare at it wondering what was going on before we see a tall figure in the darkness of the hallway. It was a women I realized as she walked into our cell. She had long pale grey almost white hair but it wasn't because of age she looked to be only a few years older than my aunt. Gleaming dark grey eyes watched us carefully before tears began to fall. Jordan shifted back and the second she was human she snarled "What are you doing here?!" She looked angry and betrayed to see the women while I tried to understand what was going on the women desperately tried to explain. "I'm sorry Jordan I didn't know that that stupid lab would even dare go near the Isle. I didn't want to see you again like this." She then looked to me "Oh this must be so confusing for you dear I'm sorry. I will explain everything in detail soon but for now all I can say is that I'm here to help all of you. Oh you probably want my name it's Amelia. Now come along everyone else is waiting."She walked further into the room and removed the bands and rope before quickly turning and walking out. I follow the women somewhat nervously. I didn't trust her but from all the new people I had met today she was the only nice one. She leads us outside where Jasmine, Miko, Bailey, and Zoey are waiting in a silver minivan. I turn to the Amelia giving her a skeptical looking. 'Who comes to get twice kidnapped shifters in a minivan.' I thought to myself before she said "I needed a normal looking car. Fireflare labs is most likely looking for all of you." Jordan looks at me before saying "I call shotgun." I climb into the back with everyone else as Amelia starts the car. "Feel free to take a nap it's going to be a long drive." I take that as permission to turn into a German shepherd and stretch out across the back sit. Jasmine shifts and jumps on top of me pushing me around to make room for herself. 'For a German Shepherd you are huge dog.' She growls over the mindlink I move a bit as she pushes me 'well your legs are too long they are taking up more space than I ever could.'  She pushes me off the seat and Zoey steals my spot. I hear Amelia chuckle and Bailey and Miko turn to look at us. They too had shifted but had the benefit of smaller forms so they could each have their own seat. I climb back on the seat laying down on top of both of them before going sleep.  I had only planned on taking a small nap but when I was being shaken awake it was dark outside. 'Are we here?'  I ask sleep making my eyes heavy, all I wanted to do was go back to sleep but the thought of leaving the car was better.  "Nope but we got a lot of fast food dig in you all slept past dinner." Jordan says loudly before grabbing food from a bag and passing more bags back. "Eat as much as you like. Shifters have to eat a lot more than humans. Oh and if you're still hungry afterwards I'm making breakfast when we get to my house since we probably will make it there around 7 am." Amelia tells everyone as we all dig through the bags happily munching on what ever we had claimed. I quickly finish my food happy to have something other than candy in my stomach. I yawned and stretched out as much as I could before going back to sleep only to have another nightmare like dream. This time instead of the pretty landscape I had seen last time I was in a place that reminded me of a hospital, sterile and white. The smell of chemicals burned my nose as I wondered the halls in shepherd form. It couldn't be a hospital I quickly realized as I walked into a room labeled holding cells. The salty, metallic tang of blood almost overpowered the smelling of chemical and cleansing supplies. Even a small glance into the room showed a horror scene but I walked in and regretted it. The whole place was a big maze of large metal dog crates holding horribly wounded and ill creatures. Some were already dead while others looked close to it. I froze in shock at the amount of them before quickly turning and running. I ran until I reached a new room. This one label experiment lab 1. I didn't want to look in but I had to know just what was going on here that had caused that kind of destruction. Were the creatures the experiments or the results of what the experiments could do. I slowly pushed the door opened only to be pushed completely over. I blinked I was no longer in front of a door in the creepy place but on the floor of a car. Zoey stood over me in her cat form 'we're here! Get up.'  She said before hopping out of the car. I rolled over and followed her shaking myself awake to push away thoughts of the dreams. I followed everyone else up to a relatively large house. It seemed strangely normal in the weak light of the rising sun. It was big enough for a large family with a huge yard that lead to a lake. No other houses were in sight making me wonder how far I was from my home. I glanced at the others before following Jordan and Amelia into the house. Once we were all in she turned to us and said "I know I promised to explain when we got here but how about you all clean up while I make breakfast. If you like I can put your clothes in the wash while you shower. Oh and everyone will be sharing a room. Bailey and Miko. Jasmine I will show you your roommate and Ace you can share with Zoey. I was glad I was in dog form or else I would have blushed the last time Zoey and I had slept close together when we had not shifted we had ended up cuddling. However everyone else seemed fine with it so I didn't say anything just followed Amelia to Zoey's and my room.