No Escape

Ch- 1

Many things you are told are not always what they seem. The reason your being fired is because you're going on retirement, not because the county's short on money. Your generation owned restaurant is shut down out of bad health, not because the city is tired of a crummy old building taking up space for skyscrapers. Scientists create dogs with wings and can talk like us humans that will be released as a new species eventually, not because they just are examining them then killing them off.

It's true, you know, about the dogs? Scientists took a breed of dog, a type of bird, and human's genetics and combined them into a super breed of dog. Many times they tried, almost 200. But finally one day one of the winged pups awoke. The combination of a female shiba-inu, a female blue jay, and female human became the first fully operational experiments. They called her JAY-N201. They had officially created an amazing hybrid. It was a few weeks before they tried again.

Over time they gained more and more experiments. Some of them failed, but that was expected. They created KAT-N202, TRO-N203, RUB-N204, ROS-N205, DAI-N206, and SEH-N207.

Today they are conducting a test on agility. Ruby, or RUB-N204, the youngest, is first. "2-O-10 experiments. Today is an agility test," says Dr. Swartz. Dr. Swartz is the main physical scientist of the Hybrid Association, or HA for short. He's the one that evaluates the dogs' skills and strength. "RUB-N204. You're up first," he says. "My name is Ruby!" Ruby yells back. "Whatever," he says.

Maybe today will be easy Ruby thought. She looked over to the obstacle course. First on the course is a pit of mud, who knows what's in it. Then there is a net wall. Then she would have to go through a dark tunnel at the end. Also the whole time things like arrows and stuff will be flying towards her. So much for an easy day.

She lined up at the start line. Bitter silence fell over all the entire room. A bell should sound off soon. Ruby braced her wings up high above her head, and waited. Katie glanced to up to her brother. Tory was intensely focused on Ruby. Katie, reassured, turned back to her sister.

BING! The bell. Ruby shot up at full speed just barely avoiding a gunshot, and dived right into the mud pit. She comes out, soaked and cold to the bone but manages to life her wings into the air. Ruby had been combined with a seagull for her wings so she was able to adjust to the dampness. Another gunshot. Ruby darts forward so quickly that she cannot stop fast enough, and gets stuck in the net. "Help!" she yells. But no aid comes to her side. Thrashing her wings, she made the hole bigger and bigger till she could just make it through. With all her energy, she makes for the dark tunnel. Just before she makes it, an arrow penetrates her side.

"Ruby!" Rose yelled. She scrabbled around the edge of the course and ran up to her sister's side. "Step away!" yells Dr. Sawyer. Rose stays put. Jay came up next to her and held her with her wing. She pulled Rose away. "She'll be fine," Jay reassures the young puppy, "They'll help her. They always do." Dr. Sawyer orders a couple workmen to take Ruby to the infirmary.

He turns back to the group. "That's just great," he says, "Now because of her you six are gonna miss out on training!" He stops in thought. "To your rooms! Now!" Damien, Tory, and Jay fly away quickly. Being the oldest, they know what's best for them. However, Katie, Rose, and Seth don't. "What are you doing?!" he screams. Seth speaks up, "Do we have to do this tomorrow?" Dr. Sawyer looks at him with a sly grin. "Why, Seth, you're so smart. Of course you are. And in addition," he looks to all three of them, "You are all going to do an IQ!" IQ's. The weird test that should be easy but is hard when you know that when you get an answer wrong, you get a small electric shock from a device attached to your collar.

With that, Seth, Katie, and Rose all return to their rooms.