Experiment

Chapter 3: Friends

Laura awakened to the sound of her cage bars being rattled. She tried to open her eyes, but winced and blinked them shut when they were met with harsh florescent lights.

"Wake up, subject." Laura heard someone say with disgust. "Your testing day's today." Whoever it was walked away.

Crud. she thought. It wasn't a dream.

"No, I'm afraid it wasn't." A girl in the cage in front of her sighed unhappily.

Shocked, Laura sputtered, "What the - you heard me?"

The girl turned to her. "Oh, sorry for frightening you," she smiled sheepishly. "I'm a fox hybrid." She pointed to her tail and fox ears. "I can hear people's thoughts."

Laura's eyes widened. How was that possible?

The girl was very pretty. She had almond shaped green eyes, brown red-tinted hair, and the swishing tail and pointed ears of a fox.

"A 'fortunate' as they call it, a side affect of the serum. It's second nature to me, really. I can hear thoughts so easily it's like everyone's talking to me. But anyways." She smiled. "I'm Trudy. What's your name?"

Laura gave an awkward smile back. "L-Laura." she frowned and stared at the five small bruises on her forearm from yesterday. "I guess you could say I'm new here."

"That over there," Trudy pointed at the cage next to her, "is Benjamin - I've talked to him a little."

Laura looked over and saw a boy with dirty blond hair, and a somewhat bigger cage to accommodate the brown, mottled wings potruding out of his back, their stiff feathers hovering around him, almost encasing him.

He gave Laura a cold, piercing stare, and then looked away. It was the glare of a person who takes no chances and trusts no one. He was fiddling with a small necklace of wooden beads and mumbling.

"He's a hawk hybrid, and kind of strange." She shrugged. "When I got here he had already been here for a while, but he talked to me some. About hybrids that escaped." her voice had gone down to a whisper. "The Unchained."

"Really?" Laura said.

Trudy put her finger to her lips and shook her head. Not here, she mouthed.

"My father said this would protect me." said Benjamin, still staring at the beaded necklace. A tear slipped down his cheek, but his face remained hard.

Laura jumped as someone unlocked and slid open the doors to the cage room. Two armed guards came briskly through the metal doors, keys jingling. They both had glazed, dull, eyes that looked much like her parent's eyes. So strange . . . Laura thought.

"They're going to choose a test subject," whispered Trudy, scooting herself backwards into her cage.

Most of the children cowered in fear as the guards passed them, scanning the room and looking for someone to experiment on.

She noticed, though, that Benjamin did nothing of the sort. On the contrary, he sat up straighter, leaned forward, and turned his piercing stare into the eyes of those who had imprisoned him. One of the guards noticed, laughed roughly and kicked his cage.

Don't pick me, don't pick me. Laura prayed silently.

The guards continued and their eyes centered on a little boy, no more than nine, and decided to take him first. They each grabbed one of his arms and dragged him toward the door. He screamed and resisted until they had to half-carry him. The pleading shrieks stopped when the door shut with a clang.

There was stony silence in every part of the room until an hour later, when they came back. The little boy was nowhere to be seen.

"We need another subject." They sounded like robots, cold and lifeless.

They walked through the room, considering each one. Laura could feel her heart pounding and she shrunk back as heavy boots passed her cage and paused for a moment. The guard motioned to the others and they all came to her cage. "This one."

Never had Laura heard such terrifying words in her life.

They opened her cage with a key and took her roughly by the arms.

"No! No!" She shrieked as they dragged her out of her cage.

They pulled her towards the cold, hulking door and the last thing she saw was Trudy's despairing face.

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Ooh! Cliffhanger! :D Vote, comment, and share!

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(picture is of Trudy)