Hybrid: The Prologue (Watty Awards 2012)

Chapter One, Different

Chapter One, Different

I wake up panting. My heart is getting weaker, just like the professor said. My chest hurts. I look around slowly. Still in my grey, spacious holding cell. The moon light shines through the special unbreakable window and to my sweaty hand. It's quite humid in here. The area smells like the nice part of a hospital, if that hospital had the bloodiest disasters and the patients were dead.

“Xena. Are you awake?”

I turn to the barred side of the room as I hear a very familiar voice.

“Byron, you know I always wake up at this time of night.” I walk closer to his cell. Byron's emerald green eyes light up as i approach. His wet face, gleaming in the moonlight. His chocolate, brown hair, wet from the humid athmosphere. 

“Do you know where Avalon and Nyx are?” I ask as I look around to where their cells were. Both spacious cells were empty. I look slowly back at Byron. He smiles weakly and shrugs. He takes a deep breath.

“What happened to them?” I ask.

“The twins were taken for more tests.” Byron says softly. Then he takes another breath. I reach through the bars and touch his muscular arm softly. His green eyes slowly go from the ground to me.

“Its okay. They would never do anything to hurt them. After all, we're important parts of their project.”

I try to add a smile but its fake. My heart is so tight and guilty from this huge lie. My friends and I were abducted by this organization when we were little. Then we were all experimented on and they clashed our DNA with other animals. We are some of the only ones that survived the experiments.

   The sound of Avalon and Nyx’s cell door took away my trail of thought. A lady doctor dragged Avalon by the arm, lood trailing behind. A buff doctor carried the passed out Nyx over his shoulder. The twins’ gold hair was dripping with sweat. What scared me the most was that Nyx’s arm was wrapped in a bloody bandage. What did they do to them? My tears want to break out from the prison where theyve been forced to stay, but i have to stay calm.

    They usually experimented the most with him but never to the point where he would be dripping with sweat and blood. The doctor laid him on a thin mat, walked out and locked the door. I looked at Avalon’s gold eyes as the doctor threw her in the cell next to her brother's. I could tell that they worked her hard; she was sweating so much and her eyes told me she didnt get enough sleep at all. Her usually smiling lips, bleeding. She then collapsed to the ground, leaving my with a frown and a heavy heart. Then I looked at Nyx. His nicely chiseled nose is bleeding, I can barely see his light complexion from all the blood. His experimental uniform is messed up; his tight light green shirt was torn from the chest to his abs, and his pants were ripped and blood cam from the ripped parts. My door cell suddenly opens and lets out a steel sounding creak.

“Xena? Its your turn.”

I looked coldly at the saddistically smiling doctor in the white lab coat ,stained with Nyx’s blood. If only I could attack him. I cant because they’ll shock me with the blue, heavy taser brace on my leg. The lady doctor led me through the door by my right arm, dragging me as i tried to struggle. Her strong grip was hurting me. I glanced at Byron. He has a worried expression on his face, almost sad. I reassure him with a weak half face smile. I really do hate lying. This is making my heart so tight, I really want to burst out crying. As I turn to the direction I’m going on, they throw me in a huge glass room. I turn around to see that they've locked the door. I turn back around to my front.

     I see some doctors on the other side of the glass wall ready to take notes. Their faces are blurred but I dont want to know who these saddistic people are, anyway. I know what to do. I’ve been doing this my whole life. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. As I opened them again, my ocean-blue eyes turn to shining silver. That's what happens when I use my hybrid leopard abilities. I try to breathe more but I can't. Its pained from the guilt and torture. I clench my fists to calm my wounded heart, but nothing helps. I wish I had the life of other girls, being able to hang out with friends, free to do what I want, you know, all that stuff. But I’m different. We're different. There's nothing that can change that fact anymore. 

“This is the mix of human and snow leopard, ladies and gentlemen.”

         I see all the seated people nod at the comment of the presenter. Then the scenery around me slowly turns into a tropical rain forest. I suddenly see a giant boulder rolling towards me. I rolled out of the way and dodged it quickly. I spotted two daggers on the ground. I grabbed the daggers and ran around. A group of eight tigers suddenly attacked me and I started fighting them. I slashed my dagger deep into the first tiger's back. Then I circled around with my daggers to cut six other's necks. One tiger charged on me and i fell backwards.

       I try to get up, but the tiger's so heavy and strong. I stare into the growling tiger's yellow eyes. They're red with rage. What did they do to these animals? I close my eyes as I stab both my daggers deep into his neck. I felt numb. The feel is so frightning. If i had a choice, and I was alone, I'd let this guy kill me. But I'm not alone. I need to take care of my friends. I had to kill him or he'd kill me. Five more tigers attacked me all at once from all corners. Trapped.

I'm so sorry, I whispered with the imprisoned tears ready to leave my eyes. I slashed through a few tigers and most of they blood splattered all over my body. I heard bird sounds. When I finished off the tigers I swiftly threw the daggers to my left and hit two brown, medium sized birds. I had killed innocent animals that were driven by rage, to kill. My body felt even more numb and anxiety flooded my heart. I hear clapping and the scenery disappears. I realized that I was in a simulator. When the doctor pried the daggers from my clenched fists, I blacked out and lied on the floor.

“Well done, Xena.” I heard a faintly, familiar voice say. Will Avalon, Byron, Nyx and I ever have to stop suffering this? Its already 2038. I thought they solved the kidnapping problems back in 2018!

     I thought of Avalon. The way she weakly looked at me with her gold eyes. Her gold blonde hair was messy and all over her face. I also thought of the passed out Nyx. His left arm was covered in a bloody bandage. They probably injected another enhancer. And Byron. His expression when I left. His emerald eyes looking at mine as if to say “Come back soon.” Will we ever be free? The question echoes in my head as I completely loose consciousness.