Winged

t w o

Chapter Two

Missy 

      It was hot, uncomfortably so, and I was crammed into a very tight space with barely any room to even breathe. I shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a way to break out of whatever those four men had crammed me into, but I was so tired and so, very weak. I strained to break out of my confinement, but my muscles started to ache. Darkness descended upon me again and I allowed it to envelop me.

* *

     My eyes slowly peeled open, and I was dismayed to see that I was still inside of whatever was keeping me trapped. I struggled to breathe and I knew I had to get out of whatever was keeping me trapped. Suffocation was not the way I wanted to die. With renewed strength, I pushed against my confinements, feeling accomplished when I heard a crack and felt fresh air seep into my confined place. I paused, trying to peep through the crack I'd made, but to no avail. The crack wasn't big enough for me to see through. I listened for the sound of my kidnappers. Hearing nothing, I pushed again. My muscles started to ache and I started to feel weak again, but I had to get out of here. I had to escape. I gasped for air as I once again pushed against the box I was inside of, but my muscles were starting to ache fiercely.

     I whimpered, afraid that I'd never be able to escape. My voice sounded strange, but I chalked it up to me not using it. Suddenly, I felt encouragement seep into my mind. It was foreign, and it definitely didn't come from me, but I used that as motivation and gave one last push. I was instantly blinded by the bright light that suddenly surrounded me. I squinted my eyes against the light as I crawled out of the box. I was free! I lay on the cold floor, my eyes clothes as I breathed in the fresh air.

     "Are you okay?" I flinched as a voice that wasn't my own entered my mind. I looked around me, frowning when I saw a deep red tail. Why was that here? Upon further investigating, I found out that the tail belonged to me and that I was no longer a human girl, but a small red lizard covered in hard, red scales. I could feel the panic rising up within me as I frantically inspected my body desperately hoping that this wasn't real.

"Calm down, you're fine. Don't freak out, we're all the same." There it was again, that female voice in my head that certainly didn't belong to me. I looked to my left, my eyes widening when I saw a forest green winged lizard staring back at me. Yellow cat-like eyes analyzed me carefully. I slowly sat up, staring at the lizard who was lounging comfortably in her cage. It was then that I realized that I was also in a cage and that we were separated by a thin sheet of glass.

I went to ask if she was the one in my head, but I quickly figured out that I no longer had a human voice. Chirps and growls escaped me, and I immediately shut my mouth, embarrassment filling me. What in the hell?

     Soft chuckling entered my mind.

     "We can't exactly talk, but we communicate using the mind link. Try it. Concentrate on my face and think about what you want to ask."

     Following her instructions, I narrowed my eyes at her as I concentrated on her face. I felt silly trying to communicate telepathically with a lizard, but I gave it my best effort.

     "Can you hear me?" I asked shyly.

     "Good job!"

     I grinned and went to talk to her again, this time it is much easier. My green companion went on to tell me how to use personal mindlinks and the general mindlink that everyone used. It reminded me of a public chat room. Her face then turned sad, even as a lizard, I could tell. She gazed down at her clawed hands before speaking softly. 

     "We were all kidnapped, I'm sure you remember something like that. Well, we all recall being injected with a syringe and them waking up like this. We don't know why we were turned into these animals or what they hope to gain from stealing our lives away from us, but we do know one thing. Never let them know you still have your human mind. If they find out that you are aware, you will be put down."

     I could feel her anger and sadness through the link. I took her words to heart. She had no reason to lie to me about anything. We were both turned into mini fire-breathing dragons, what could she possibly gain by misleading me?

     Through our talks, I learned that Kate was a gymnast, and was kidnapped in the middle of the night when she was coming home from a late practice. When she'd woken up, she had just hatched from an egg and discovered she was no longer a human.

     "I wasn't kidnapped," I whispered.

     I closed my eyes as I replayed what happened to me in my mind, allowing Kate to see how I'd ended up here. She was stunned into silence, but I could feel her anger and sympathy for what I'd gone through. My heart clenched painfully as I replayed those horrible memories in my head. Unable to look into her eyes, I opted to stare at the many cages that were lined up side by side. There had to be at least a hundred of us here, some hatched and some who weren't.

     Slowly, just like Kate had taught me, I opened the mental doors I had put up, and multiple voices filled my mind all at once. As I sat listening, I learned that thousands of people had been kidnapped, but a very small percentage of us had survived. An ex-spy revealed that the government knew that this was happening to us and anyone who found out about it was sent here, hence why the secret agent was now a small, purple dragon.

     The scientists here were sworn to secrecy, the safety of them and their families hanging over their heads. A part of me felt sorry for them, but another part of me hated them for turning me into a reptile and being part the cause of the deaths of thousands of people across the world. I stood up and slowly walked around my cage, trying to get used to my new limbs. I turned my extremely flexible neck to look at my wings. I fluttered them softly, trying to get used to them. It felt so foreign having extra appendages. I swished my tail back and forth and extended and retracted my nails repeatedly. I knew just from looking at them that they were extremely sharp.

     The door to our room suddenly opened and people in white coats and thick gloves walked into the room. Immediately, the hatched dragonets hissed fiercely at them. The scientists were completely unbothered and proceeded to slide two small, white plastic bowls into the cages.

     I hissed angrily at the man who had approached my cage. I backed up, stepping on and cracking the egg I'd hatched out of. I wanted to scream at him, but Kate's warning swam in my head. Do not let them know that you have human intelligence. The man regarded me with a creepy expression before taking out a clipboard and jotting something down. Placing the pen in a pocket on his shirt and his clipboard under his arm, he slid two bowls through two slits on my cage and went on to Kate, who greeted him with a hiss and a swipe of her fully extended claws. As expected he ignored her and slid the bowls into her cage before moving on to the next dragonet.