Shai Soi

Chapter 35

I swatted the doctor's hand off of the button making sure to retract my claws. She wimpered but the smile on her face was triumphant.

Darlene glared at Nathaniel. "You will never make it to your friends. If you do, then it will be in chains."

Nathaniel advanced on the doctor with his shara bubbling. He had the same look he had that time he insulted Tyson House on my behalf. But instead of a simple insult, this was entirely more serious. I thought that this is how he might've looked to Riley who'd also set him off a year ago.

ROWR! I stepped in front of her. We don't have time for this. Let's focus on getting out of here and finding everyone. The Namuh called us beasts. Don't prove her right.

We glared at each other. Nathaniel's fists slowly unclenched. I could visibly see him restrain himself from attacking her... or worse.

Finally, he huffed and turned away. "Fine. I'll get us out of here. You deal with the blood and her." Through shoak he said, Surveillance hasn't seen your face yet. I'll keep them distracted up here. Contact me when you found them.

Wait how are you possibly going to-

Nathaniel tore a couple tables from the floor and threw them to the side. Even knowing he channeled animal strength, I was impressed. Then he backed up to the far wall and shifted into a great African Elephant. His back brushed against the ceiling. Tusks as sharp as razorblades stretched across the room. Trumpeting a battle cry, Nathaniel crashed into the opposite wall.

-get out of here.

Even with the crumbling concrete and my bad ear, I could hear pounding footsteps and shouting coming from down the wall. Maybe a couple dozen guards.

You can't possibly fight that many with those guns-

Go, Rebecca. Find your parents. Sadie. The others. I can hold them off. I'll come and get the others out if you find them. Now get out of here!

I didn't want to leave another friend behind-not again, but something about the way Nathaniel's shara swirled around him and shifted the debris and cracked the walls, I thought he could actually make it. He charged down the hallway to meet the Namuhi. Sirens screamed after him.

I turned back to the doctor. She paled. This was the first time she actually looked at me. I didn't know if a shai soi could talk to a regular person with shoak but I tried to connect with the faint energy I felt around her. We're not monsters. We're just like you... just with a little extra animal on the side. She must've heard me because she gasped.

I stared at her. I was mad, of course. She worked with the people who took away everything I had ever loved. I might not get them back. She was the one messing around with the needles and blood. But I also felt sad for her. She was afraid like me. I felt it through shoak. It was the fear lurking behind her actions that drove her to do this.

Maybe that's why I didn't let Nathaniel hurt her. We might be half animal, but we're half human too. I wanted her to get this, but I felt the shoak bond strain in between our consciousness. Instead I simply asked Where is my family?

Maybe it was the shock or maybe she had started to understand because her eyes drifted to the intact part of the wall. I looked after her and caught sight of a map. It was the layout of the compound. It was way bigger than the factory above it. We were on the top floor. I checked through three others. On the fourth layer a huge block of pink space was labeled Containment Facility. It ran right under the river as Nathaniel and I had predicted. With everything in emergency mood I probably couldn't use the small elevator. The only way in would probably be the staircase running down the middle of the compound.