Hybrid: The Prologue (Watty Awards 2012)

Chapter Nine, My Unknown

Chapter Nine, My Unknown

“I know you’re awake, Xena.” I hear the wretched voice of old man Zavion. His sadistic voice all up in my ear. I try to open my eyes but I can’t seem to. There’s a blindfold. I feel cold at my back. It feels like cold steel and my hands and legs seem to be tied down with leather belts. They’re really tight and it’s digging into my skin. I feel sweat roll down my forehead as I realize that there’s light made to shine down on me. I use my ability and internally, my eyes turn silver. I smell blood. Everywhere. Also, I’m wondering why everything happened so fast. In three days, my life changed.

“You’re wondering that too, hn?” I hear the chuckling of Zavion. Can he read minds too?

“Yes. Yes, I can.” I feel his wrinkly touch on my sweaty face. I gasp. There’s a belt that ties me across the chest. It’s getting tighter and my heart and lungs are getting squished. I can barely breathe. My heart is beating uncontrollably fast. Zavion gets closer to my ear.

“Don’t you ever wonder why you’re like that?”

I stop gasping for air. Someone takes off my blindfold. The light glares into my eyes. I squint to my left. There are two boys at my side. The closer one has brown wavy hair with beautiful ocean blue eyes. He’s wearing a black shirt and seems to be a favorite. He has the mark on his left arm. So does the guy by his side. He also has brown wavy hair but he has brown eyes. Both seem to be my age and well body-built.

“May I introduce you to my two sons, Axis and Axel.”

I squint less. My eyes are adjusting to the light. I’m guessing the one closer to me is Axis. Anyway, he’s taking a vial with purple liquid from his pocket. He takes the lid off and throws it behind him. He holds the vial over his right hand. Then, suddenly fire forms on his right hand and it’s boiling the vial’s contents. Axis smiles in pleasure. I stare. It’s nothing I’ve ever seen any hybrid do.

“Like it?” I turn to Zavion, who’s on my right side. “It’s a natural hybrid.”

I’m shocked. Did he do this to all his kids?

“Did you do the same thing you did to Nyx and Avalon?” I look hard at him. “Your twins?”

He smiles mischievously, the way Nyx might smile after he plants a prank.

“Well, those are the kids of my second wife. And she was pure human so they’re not natural hybrids.” He sighed. “They’re failures.” He walks over to the boys and puts his right hand on Axel’s shoulder.

“These twins’ mother was a hybrid. So they have natural abilities. They’re gold.”

I stare in disbelief. What monster would use his children as science experiments?! I decided to tell Axis about what his father just called him.

“By the way,” Zavion turned from Axel to me. “Axis? Your dad just called you an it.”

Axis looked down and sighed. He stopped boiling the vial. The liquid is now clear. He shoved the vial to his brother. Axel shrugged and took his hand over the vial. The water just floated up out the vial. I was staring with wide eyes. Zavion saw me surprised.

“Amazing what the real thing can do, right?” He smirked.

I didn’t turn my head from the floating water. Axel took an injection from his pant’s pocket. He put the liquid in the injection and threw the vial behind him.

Axel looked repeatedly from me to the injection and from there back to me. Then he smiled mischievously at me. Come to think of it, this guy kinds of looks like Nyx. The face, I mean. I shriek. Axel just stabbed my arm with the injection. I feel the piercing pain in my arm. I look back at the injection. It’s painful and bloody. He extended the needle.