Shifters

Chapter 10

I was rudely awakened by slamming into the floor at a high speed. Quite the pleasant wake-up call. I had fallen on my side, and my left shoulder was on fire. I tried to roll over and fell face first into the floor. That was when I realized something was wrong.

First of all, I was in the middle of a long, monotonous grey corridor. From where I lay, I could see a grate in the ceiling above me, probably where I had been dropped through.

But more importantly, I was not human. Of course, I should have expected it. Why else was I here but to be experimented on. I craned my neck and could see a lump of feathers behind my shoulder blades. Wings? But what used to be my hands were...talons. And my feet were paws.

A gryphon, I realized. They turned me into a gryphon. If they could turn people into animals, then why not mythical creatures, too? Using the wall for balance, I carefully stood, not fully trusting my new feet. Randomly choosing a direction, I set off into The Maze.

~~~~~~~

Right.

Left.

Left.

Right.

Left.

There! A flash of movement caught my eye as I turned a corner. I sped up, still careful of my paws (I had already tripped over them. Twice.). I rounded the next bend and a flash of movement caught my eye. No, more like a ripple in the air. I cautiously approached the spot where I had seen it, but whatever it was was gone.

Then, suddenly, a girl appeared. Long white hair with a pair of small cat ears peeking through was all I glimpsed before the darkness took over.

My human conscience disappeared. Food. Meat. Blood. The creature I had become opened its beak and screeched. The girl screamed and ran. I tried to stop myself, but the monster had other ideas. It (I?) charged down the corridor after the girl. I ached to spread my wings, but of course there was no room in the narrow corridor. Corner after corner we rounded, but I was closing in.

But when I skidded around the next corner, there were two more people there. James and Ivy stood, frozen, as I closed in.

"Run," the cat-girl squeaked, barely slowing.

"James-" Ivy began.

"Ivy. Run." James ordered.

I tried desperately to stop, but to no avail. The only thing on the gryphon's mind was its hunger, and the only food in sight was my friends. I screeched, a terrible, unearthly sound.

"Ivy!!" He grabbed her arm, dragging her along after him. In her eyes, I could see recognition. She knew it was me. My claws extended. I couldn't stop them. Then they met their mark, tearing through James's shoulder.

"Run!!" he yelled, the pain making his voice crack. Ivy finally realized the danger they were in as his blood splattered across her shifting suit. They ran, James leaning heavily on Ivy's shoulder.

I had almost caught up to them when a flash of movement caught my eye. I screeched around the next corner. The gryphon, apparently, had decided that the cat-girl would taste better than Ivy or James.

The girl looked back, and the fear in her mismatched eyes, one green one blue, tore at the last bits of my human conscience. What was I doing?

But she was never going to escape. I caught up in a matter of seconds. Lifting a taloned forefoot, I slammed into the girl. She flew into the wall with a scream and a sickening thud. She crumpled to the ground and

disappeared.

Vanished into thin air. The gryphon screeched in frustration and clawed at where the girl used to be. She was gone.

Food source gone, the gryphon's control over my mind began to evaporate. Slowly, I regained control of my limbs and set off back the way I had come, praying that I wouldn't run into anyone else. Hoping I wouldn't become a murderer.