[Dream] - All right, okay, no more time for yesterday
There was a vivid stench of chemicals and a room of white. Everything was sterile and uncomfortably bright. There was cold metal beneath her, chilling the joints on her back, pressing something into her spine.
Hybrid.
The word echoed off the bare walls, the only sound was the slow beeping of machines and a higher-pitched beeping that seemed much more rapid, but still steady at that pace. She peeled back her eyes, only to shut them again.
It seemed her body fell away from the room, through the floor, and into the air. She felt her muscles all moving at once, and the wind in her face. Her hair twisted and pulled free, whipping her in the face as she flapped. She gently allowed herself to relax mid-flight, causally glancing around. A dark boy, dressed in black. A fair-haired boy with another, smaller, blonde-haired boy laughing around him. To her left was a black-skinned girl and a curly-haired blond one. All with wings.
Me and my merry band of mutants.
After flying until she was exhausted, she landed on a beach, now alone, looking out across the expanse of water. Above her, birds soared. Her eyes watched them. As she did, they seemed to multiply, one at first, then more until it seemed the sky was full of them. Then they began to meld together, forming solid letters, black against a bloody-red sunset sky.
SAVE THE WORLD,
She squinted but the other words were blurred out into three black smudges, as if the other birds hadn't gotten the memo. Then, the bird scattered over her head. The dirt below her bare feet began pitching and buckling, threatening to toss her to the ground. She leapt into the air, trying to get away, but a golden net descended from the air, trapping her against the moving ground that wanted to eat her alive.
As soon as she looked up, the ground stopped moving. Before her stood a group of wolf-men, each growling with hungry looks in their eyes, blood-red and eager. In their arms were a group of bird-kids, some she recognized from before others were completely new. One wolf-man stepped out from the group, not quite human, not quite wolf, with a seven-year-old boy's face torn and stretched across the muscle and bone. His claws came forward, pulling off the net. She scrambled to get away, but he grabbed an ankle and drug her back.
"Let's have a chat, you and me," he sneered, gripping the ankle harder. Blood poured forth from it until he reached her neck, placing the huge hand around it. She was lofted into the air. "For old time's sake."
Immediately, she began fighting it, kicking and scratching. Stars bloomed over her vision as she did so, losing oxygen as he cut it off. She kept fighting as the breath left her body, but nothing seemed to affect the grotesque figure. A single thought bubbled to her mind:
Am I going to die?
The stars grew bigger, her struggles weaker. She could still barely see the trapped kids, watching her with some sort of weak hope in their eyes. Her eyes rolled back into her head. Then, in her mind, a voice that was neither male nor female, machine nor human resonated.
Yes. There was an explosion of pain in her head so bad she couldn't focus for a second on its words. You are going to die. Just like everyone else.
There was a single, sickening snap.
And everything went black.
Hybrid.
The word echoed off the bare walls, the only sound was the slow beeping of machines and a higher-pitched beeping that seemed much more rapid, but still steady at that pace. She peeled back her eyes, only to shut them again.
It seemed her body fell away from the room, through the floor, and into the air. She felt her muscles all moving at once, and the wind in her face. Her hair twisted and pulled free, whipping her in the face as she flapped. She gently allowed herself to relax mid-flight, causally glancing around. A dark boy, dressed in black. A fair-haired boy with another, smaller, blonde-haired boy laughing around him. To her left was a black-skinned girl and a curly-haired blond one. All with wings.
Me and my merry band of mutants.
After flying until she was exhausted, she landed on a beach, now alone, looking out across the expanse of water. Above her, birds soared. Her eyes watched them. As she did, they seemed to multiply, one at first, then more until it seemed the sky was full of them. Then they began to meld together, forming solid letters, black against a bloody-red sunset sky.
SAVE THE WORLD,
She squinted but the other words were blurred out into three black smudges, as if the other birds hadn't gotten the memo. Then, the bird scattered over her head. The dirt below her bare feet began pitching and buckling, threatening to toss her to the ground. She leapt into the air, trying to get away, but a golden net descended from the air, trapping her against the moving ground that wanted to eat her alive.
As soon as she looked up, the ground stopped moving. Before her stood a group of wolf-men, each growling with hungry looks in their eyes, blood-red and eager. In their arms were a group of bird-kids, some she recognized from before others were completely new. One wolf-man stepped out from the group, not quite human, not quite wolf, with a seven-year-old boy's face torn and stretched across the muscle and bone. His claws came forward, pulling off the net. She scrambled to get away, but he grabbed an ankle and drug her back.
"Let's have a chat, you and me," he sneered, gripping the ankle harder. Blood poured forth from it until he reached her neck, placing the huge hand around it. She was lofted into the air. "For old time's sake."
Immediately, she began fighting it, kicking and scratching. Stars bloomed over her vision as she did so, losing oxygen as he cut it off. She kept fighting as the breath left her body, but nothing seemed to affect the grotesque figure. A single thought bubbled to her mind:
Am I going to die?
The stars grew bigger, her struggles weaker. She could still barely see the trapped kids, watching her with some sort of weak hope in their eyes. Her eyes rolled back into her head. Then, in her mind, a voice that was neither male nor female, machine nor human resonated.
Yes. There was an explosion of pain in her head so bad she couldn't focus for a second on its words. You are going to die. Just like everyone else.
There was a single, sickening snap.
And everything went black.