The Zodiac Project (#Wattys2017)

The rabbit

"Alarms." Rabbit said. "There are alarms going off. I can hear them."
"Alarms?" I wondered aloud. Why would there be alarms going off? We were all here.
We stood there for what felt like an hour in total silence. I could feel the remaining scientists eyes peering at us. I didn't dare give any indication of where my mind was going.
I remembered when we were little, the emperor didn't think much of us. He would let us talk for quite a while before training started.
"One day, I'm going to break us all out of here." Dragon had decided on that fateful day. He had never been one for rules and cages.
"Like you could break us out." Tiger had scoffed.
"You think you could?" Dragon asked.
"I'd have a better chance than you." Tiger replied.
"You're both idiots. No one gets out of here." Rooster had said.
"Not alone they don't." I agreed. "But maybe if we worked together, we could."
"How would we manage that?" Rooster asked, doubting our combined intelligence and strength.
"Whenever we flush the toilets in our room, that water has to go somewhere. Somewhere out of here." Snake mused. He was always thinking about the strangest things.
"So we flush ourselves down the toilet?" Pig asked.
"That would hurt, wouldn't it?" Dog asked.
"I don't think I would fit." Horse mused. "Though, pig definitely would. And maybe Rat, if it tried hard enough."
"No one is flushing themselves down the toilet." I said.
"No, definitely not." Snake agreed. His bright red eyes were thoughtful as he flicked a stray strand of green hair out of his eyes.
"It was your suggestion!" Rooster exclaimed, raising his voice a little. Sheep flinched at the noise, and Rooster automatically apologized, grabbing her hand and holding it, as if he was promising the older girl that he wasn't upset with her. Sheep, Rooster, and Monkey had all been best friends even back then, the same way that Ox and I were close.
"I think you're forgetting something." I had said. "The emperor told us that we're weapons. That one day we'll be more powerful than any army."
"So we wait until that day. We wait patiently, acting with no hint of rebellion." Dragon said.
"And when that day comes, we fight our way out of here." Tiger agreed.
"But what about the guards?" Dog asked.
"I'll kill every one of them if I need to." Tiger said. Sheep gasped, grabbing Monkeys hand, who hadn't been paying attention.
"We can't kill people!" She exclaimed.
"If we don't get out of here, we'll be forced to kill whole armies. We'll be killing less people if we escape then if we stay." Rooster reasoned.
"And what if we stay and refuse to fight?" Sheep asked.
"They'll deem us useless." I said.
"And then?" She asked.
"I don't know." I answered honestly. "But I won't risk it."
"So, when this day comes, how will we know?" Dragon asked.
"I'll know. When you hear me say 'the great race has begun', that's when you'll know. And then, as the guards come to take Pig, he'll grow. And then he'll shrink very small. By the time he gets small, I'll be there to kill the guard." I decided. I could feel Sheep tense up, but she didn't complain. "We'll just go from there."
And, as I stood there, getting ready to be taken back to my room on that day, I began planning for that day.
Today.
I stood there, in line with my friends, many years after that conversation. Hoping they remembered it as vividly as I did.
"The great race has begun." I said, just loud enough that everyone could hear. I heard Pig inhale sharply, a small gasp that no one else would notice. I heard Sheep began shifting uncomfortably. She was afraid.
But then she stopped. She stood, perfectly still.  I let my gaze wander to her. She was looking at me out of the corner of her eye, as I was her. And then she nodded ever so slightly.
It was time.
After what seemed like hours, the emperors voice returned over the speaker.
"You will now be escorted back to your rooms. Pay no attention to anything you may see or hear, as it is merely a system malfunction." He said.
I didn't believe him. A system malfunction would not cause him to disappear in the middle of a group training session, or set off alarms loud enough for Rabbit to hear, no matter how good her hearing was.
Whatever it was, it wasn't a system malfunction.
Because a system malfunction wouldn't have his voice shaking with fear and rage.
The first guard entered, walking towards Pig. The glass shard felt like it was burning into my skin, but I didn't touch it. Not yet.
The guard readied the handcuffs. Pigs eyes drifted to me, his head never turning my way. I nodded, ever so slightly.
And then it happened. He started growing and in seconds he was nearly touching the ceiling.
I raced towards him. I stood on a block directly behind him, which got me to about ten guards height. I tapped the back of his enormous leg. I heard the guard take out his gun, but Pig slapped it out of his hand as he began to shrink. By the time the guard looked back to us, it was too late. Pig was a few inches tall and had moved away. The guard didn't even have time to scream before I lashed my hand towards him, slashing his throat with the glass shard. I felt warm blood splatter onto my shirt, and some even hit my face. I wiped it away as the door burst open. A dozen guards, one for each of us, swarmed in.
"Give up now. Resistance is futile." The emperors voice boomed over the speakers.
"We'll see about that." I growled. I heard Tiger growl behind me.
"You are surrounded. Give up." The emperor repeated.
"What happened to the rest of your guards, emperor? Did they run away with their tails between your legs?" I yelled at the one way glass. I turned my gaze on the dozen guards standing before me. "Looks like we have the stupid ones here."
"Bravery, not stupidity, my dear rat." The emperor announced.
"Same thing." I sighed. "And do you want to know why? Because either way, brace or stupid, you're all going to die." I could see that I terrified them. They knew I was smarter than them. They knew that Ox was stronger, Tiger more powerful, Rabbit more agile.
"You can run now." I said. Ten guards stood their ground. "Fine. If that's how you want to do this, let's go." I said. I waved my hand, signaling for my friends to attack. And oh, did they ever.
Tiger ran in first, an animalistic determination in her eyes. She sliced the first guards throat with ease.
Rabbit raced towards the crowd, becoming a blur. One guard shot at her, but instead hit his fellow guard in the leg. The second he turned the help his friend, a giant white block hurdled towards him, knocking him to the ground. Dragon was next to attack, flying over the heads of the guards and torching their hair from above. One guard made the horrible mistake to take a shot at the young flamethrower. Smirking, Dragon dove towards him. He was dead within seconds.
Rabbit grabbed one of the men's helmets, and Dog stepped forward.
"Shoot him." She commanded. The helmet-less guard turned and did so, shooting one of his comrades square in the chest.
One guard stumbled out of the fray, aiming his gun at the remaining experiments. At poor, innocent Sheep. I barely had time to react before a blood curdling scream erupted from Rooster, causing the man to drop his gun. I lunged at him, stabbing the glass shard into the back of his neck. He fell to the floor as I removed the shard. I turned back to the group, looking to see if more of my friends had joined the fight, only to find that Tiger, Dragon, Dog and Ox, with the help of Rabbit, had finished off the rest of the guards.
The pristine white walls, block, and open door were stained red.
"Two of them ran." Tiger said, wiping the blood off of her claws. "Do we go after them?"
"Leave them. Unless they get in our way, which they won't, they won't be any use to us." I decided, heading for the door.
I was one step out when I realized that my friends hadn't followed. They stood, silent, staring at open door like they didn't know what to do.
"Come on! Let's go! I don't know where the rest of the guards are, but they'll be back. We leave now, we're free." I pleaded. No one looked convinced.
No one but Ox. He nodded and followed me. Then Tiger, and Rabbit, and Dragon. Soon I had eleven human weapons following me, the smallest of the bunch.
We ran past our old homes. Not one of us had any possessions. Except for my book, of course.
"Rat!" Horse called. I stopped and turned to her.
Snake extended his hand toward me, revealing a staff key card.
"The book looks interesting." Snake mused.
"We don't have time for that." I said, continueront forward.
"Rat, I really want to read that book." Snake insisted. He had the weirdest priorities.
"Ok, fine." I relented, walking towards the door. I scanned the key card, but realized I needed a password.
That's when Snake began humming a robotic melody. I hit one of the buttons, realizing it made a sound. Hitting another, it became apparent that they all made a different sound, higher or lower depending on their order.
I punched in the code that matched Snake's melody, and I heard the familiar whir of locks opening. The door swung open and I entered, picking up the book and exiting the room for the last time. I tossed the book to Snake and never looked back.
We found the end of the hallway as the alarms blared. Using the keycard and Snake's melody, we got through the massive steel door into uncharted territory. I went for the first door I saw, opening it. Two guards blocked our path.
"Ooh, let me take these ones!" Monkey pleaded as the guards cocked their guns at us.
"Fine." I sighed.
Giggling, he made the guns fly out of the guards hands and pointed them at the two men.
"Now how do you make them go boom?" Monkey wondered aloud. Before he had a chance to figure it out, Tiger leapt up and grabbed one of the guns, knocking the two guards unconscious. I swiped the keycard one last time, and we stepped out into the sunlight.
The street looked abandoned, but we knew that there were people somewhere, watching. There always were.
"So, what do we do now?" Pig asked.
"When toilets flush, the water has to go somewhere." Snake mused.
"Back to this? Seriously snake, no one can fit down a toilet! It's just not possible!" Rooster exclaimed.
"No, I think he might be on to something." I said. My mind began working at top speed. The water couldn't go up, that just wouldn't work. It had to go down.
"Tiger!" I exclaimed. "Listen for rushing water. Probably below us."
She stood for a moment, concentrating. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "I heard something. It's louder this way, come on!" She said, leading us into the street to an iron manhole cover.
"Ox, get that off." I instructed. He did as he was told, prying the iron circle out of the ground. Below it, in the darkness, I could hear water rushing by.
"Alright, let's get down there. One at at time." I decided. One by one, they dropped into the cold, wet darkness, until only Ox and I remained.
He jumped down, and I jumped after him. He lifted me up so that I could replace the iron cover, and we plunged headfirst into total darkness.
If this is what freedom looks like, I thought to myself, then maybe this was a bad idea.