Monsters

Chapter 1- NOVA

Nova didn't flinch as the needle entered her body unexpectedly. Nor did she care when they manhandled her face to choke down a new concoction that smelled like piss and tasted like shit.

In the beginning she had fought, she had kicked and screamed, and did unspeakable things to keep them away from her. She quickly learned that fighting wasn't a path worth taking. Within the first two days of being in the lab she had been beaten so bad she couldn't move for a week, and that was before the trials started. Everyday she was inspected and injected. For ten years she was shoved outside to see if the radiation of the world would melt her away, and for ten years she prayed that it would.

During that first test it almost had. She could still remember the subtle fire in her veins, the screaming in her ears as she felt her body being cooked from the inside out. The white coats were quick to grab her, suited head to toe in their protective gear, less they suffer the same fate she would. Then it was back to testing, more medicine, more needles, more pills, she could feel herself becoming less human and more other.

It started with the small scars that began growing up the left side of her body. When she first saw them she screamed, she was becoming one of them. The white coats screamed too, screamed in joy and amazement as they threw her outside and toasted to her survival. It wasn't till later that she noticed her eyes were no longer the bright and brilliant blue of her mother, or rather, one was not. Instead a muted brown had occupied the left side of her face. Staring at her from the tiny mirror she was allowed.

She didn't feel uncomfortable laying bear on the metal table. Didn't flinch as they measured and groped her until they had their measurements. Rough gloved hands grabbed her forcing her into a sitting position. Nova was hunched, like a broken doll, her muted black ringlets of hair framing her golden brown skinned face. She was staring at her knees, the bare beautiful one on the right, and the scarred swirls that marred her left. Her wrist was being taken then, and she watched as the man ran a knife right over the scars on her wrist. Red blood leaked onto her, warm and sticky it trailed down the slip of her arm splattering in beautiful circles on the floor. Her gums burned as canines half the size of her pinky sprouted to. The lab workers nodded their approval, their faces reflecting the low light of her now luminescent scars, paired with a glowing brown eye turned gold. A raw tingle began itching her arm as the cut began to scab over before disappearing wholly.

"You're progressing quite well Nova," The woman with golden hair praised. Nova never bothered to learn their names, though they never offered them to begin with. To her they were all white coats and clipboards. "I think you're ready for your final test."

"Then what?" Nova whispered. Her voice was barely a croak from her tired lips.

"Excuse me?" The woman bent down to level with Nova. It was surprise that rode the woman's features, surprise that their lab rat was speaking.

"After the last test." Nova croaked, keeping at her sudden bravo, "Then what? What will become of me?"

The woman gleamed at her speech, jotting down notes on her clipboard, "Well, you're property of the republic I'm sure they have some very special plans for you. Though, I suppose, it all really depends on this final test." The woman said thoughtfully her voice trailing off. Property, not human, Nova had no rights. The woman's blond hair shook with the shaking of her head, "Any who! If you'll go right through that door, there are clothes we wish for you to put on before the trial." Nova didn't hesitate at the order, she was on her feet and heading for the door right as the last word was slipping from the woman's mouth.

Nova rolled her neck, flipping her long black hair away from her face. She surveyed the room with cool, calculated eyes. This was the first time in a month she had a room wholly to herself, no matter how briefly, and no matter the eyes that surely stared at her from the mirrors that lined the walls. The room was completely empty except for a small pile of clothes stacked neatly in the middle.

It was the finest clothes they had ever given her. It wasn't extravagant by any means, but it certainly wasn't the thin sheet of fabric they usually had her occupy. She slipped on the white shirt, atop the under garments she had already dawned on. She immediately let out a sigh at the softness of the cotton fabric brushing her skin. Paired with black leggings that touched her ankles, and a loose brown jacket. Lastly she slipped on the socks, and boots on her achingly cold feet.

Ten years, and this was the first time in many that she was starting to feel somewhat human. The room began shaking, and Nova grabbed for a ledge that was not there as the walls fell.

Nova's heart was racing in shock, adrenaline quickly filled her blood in a matter of moments. Her scars glowed in anticipation as her canines punctured through her gums. The lab was gone, the four walls that now lay scattered around her, with the forest greeting her ahead. They had moved her, somehow they had tricked her senses and moved her deep into this forest.

Her breath caught as she noticed the stars, they were breathtaking. She reached a hand to them, wishing to hold them, to disappear to the heavens, and be among them. A large branch interrupted her thoughts, and she suddenly remembered why all of humanity was hiding in their domed society.

Nova sank onto her hunches, she was too out in the open. A light breeze licked her face, the smell of the monster licking across her senses. She'd handled these beasts a number of times as a child, and the smell was like a familiar ghost. Coming back from the depths of her memory to haunt her. The white coats hadn't given her any weapon, but she praised them on their insistent training as the beast slunk from the shadows.

Fear and calculation bombarded Nova's mind at the sight of the male that glared at her with flashing teeth. She didn't bother to bare her own canines as she charged. She would not allow him to make the first move. His intent was clear enough. To him she was just the next meal. Claws flashed in green whirls across his body. She dodged easily sliding in the dirt to hook her boot behind his leg, quickly setting him off balance. He caught himself easily, his dark claws digging into the mud before jumping to his feet once more. He lashed out his claws slashing across her chest, just barely missing her abdomen. His gold eyes pierced her own as he continued in rapid speed.

He was fast, faster than anything she had ever faced. She was in the dirt desperately dodging every hit that was thrown. She was playing a dangerous defense as the bulky man hovered over her.

Her back hit a tree, and he paused. A wicked smile playing his features. She was trapped and he knew it. He took a step toward her, then another. He was in no rush to kill his dinner, not as he paced in front of her. His boots stopped just a few inches from her. She lunged, grabbing at them. With every ounce of strength she could muster she yanked on the beasts ankles and rentched them from under him. He had made the mistake in thinking she was done fighting.

In a matter of seconds she was astride him. He thrashed and clawed at her, and she let him. Blood dripped in rivers down her arm as she wrapped her hands around the monster throat. His eyes bulged in panic, his features turning red and purple under her grip. Blood covered her new attire as the beast continued to claw at her. Then he was limp, not dead, but unconscious.

Nova stood, whipping a hand across the sweat on her brow. Her skin itched as wounds healed. The glow of her scars slowly dying after the heated brawl. She walked a few feet from the beast ripping a branch from a tree before trekking back to the lying male. She flipped the thick branch in her hand, once, twice. Then with a heaving blow drove it straight through his throat. She watched his eyes pop open, the gold in them dying in his final moments of labored breathing, and watched him slowly choked on his own blood.