“In front of that caterpillar which got pushed around.”

***

Yaweh 2^nd 347567 10:51AM

A powerful uppercut to the jaw sent teeth and green blood flying, followed by a gurgling hiss.

His pain was my pleasure. It gifted me with renewed energy.

“Come on Terrowin, you are my son, do not lose to that thing!”

That thing?

His insults lent flight to my feet and I charged giving Terrowin another well aimed punch to the face. I would show him what this thing could do!

His forked tongue s out and twitched in protest. His saliva became a deadly green. Then he spat, launching a blob of acid strong enough to corrode steel right at me.

I smirked.

Nothing to worry about.

I relished the moment I could use my own gifts. I felt my hands heat up until fire engulfed them. In two swift motions I sent a fireball careening into the acid, destroying it and another into Terrowin’s chest. He went down, flailing in agony.

The smell of his charred flesh was the sweetest scent to me. He deserved this. All the ridicule I’d had to put up with. They all deserved this. The last nine had gone down in much the same way.

“Half-breed wench!”

The burning resentment I felt from the memory gave me more power.

“Get up! Didn’t daddy teach you to fight!?”

The tips of my fingers tingled.

“What, you can’t stand? You’re sorry you were born? It’s not your fault? That’s cute, but I don’t have any mercy for half-breeds.”

A bright streak came down and struck Terrowin in the head.

“What!? Stop her! She can’t do that!” Terrowin’s father.

Oh, but I very well could.

In a fight nothing mattered.

You didn’t have a name. Didn’t have a face. Didn’t have a family.

In battle all were equal.

The only proof of status was strength and I was nine for nine.

Terrowin was a reptilian god. He was half dragon, half chameleon. His father had been a general in the army as well, fifth highest rank, and because of my father’s duties we would often cross paths. Our encounters were never friendly. Always ending up with me being beaten by him and several of his heartless friends.

I had never wronged him personally. My only crime was being born the way I was. Over the years I had pleaded with my tormentors to stop and I had never laid a violent hand on them. The thing that finally pushed me over the edge was how they disrespected my father’s final wishes.

These pathetic excuses for gods had hurt me for the last time.

I hungered for respect and they would give it.

Words didn’t work. They never did.

 I would teach with blood and fire.

 I was stronger than most of them even though I was only half. It was something my father had told me years ago and that is why he instructed me to not use my powers on them.

My breeding was quality if my race was not. My mother a dignified Chinese princess, my father a god of war. I had learned what my skills were from an early age. I was an elemental. I had the power to control lightning, fire, and earth coupled with super strength as well as flexibility. I knew I was powerful, but never knew just how powerful until recently.

I was going to join Epica’s army just like my father had done, but for a slightly different reason. I didn’t care about this place or anyone in it. All I wanted was to climb the ranks, make some money, and piss off the higher ups who didn’t believe a half-breed was worth anything.

 Today they were having a tryout of sorts. If you could defeat ten consecutive opponents you were automatically in and I was so close to being there I could practically taste it. All I had to do was go through Terrowin.

I walked over to the reptile, the lightning still playing between my fingers. I reached down and grabbed the nearly three-hundred pound lizard God by the throat. I lifted him three feet in the air, forcing our eyes to meet.

There was fear. Real fear.

I loved it.

“Are you sorry?” I taunted. “Do you wish you had shown me more respect than you had in the past?” He nodded. “Good.” His amber eyes widened as I tossed him in the air.

As he fell I hit him twice in the ribs. When I heard the crack I felt a wonderful feeling of satisfaction course through me.

“I submit!” He shrieked, sliding across the stone ground. His weaknesses, his blood, his defeat were my repayment. I was finally able to collect on his debt.

I looked at the recruiters who were sitting not too far away from the circular pit that we were supposed to duel in. Had they not been there I would have killed him and felt no remorse.

“Welcome to the army, Ms. Song.”

I did it.

I was in.

“Thank you, your nobleness.”

Today it was Terrowin.

Tomorrow it would be them.

I would earn their respect and they would grovel, begging for my forgiveness. Yet, there would be none. Soon I would be a commanding officer, then a general, and finally top general like my father. In that position I would control the military and have access to all the leaders who dared to take what was mine.

Nothing would stop me from carving out my place with violence and fear.

***

Wednesday May 13^th 2042 11:43AM

They led me outside. Two in front, two behind. It was standard procedure here. Whenever one of us had to be moved between buildings extra guards were a must.

I only had a brief moment to steal a glance. I wanted to see the sea. The water was so pretty. It danced and reflected the sun in a magical way touching every corner of the world. It saw all and knew all. The sea could be gentle or violent. It had choice. It had freedom.

Things I didn’t.

The Korea Human Defense Organization’s main base was stationed just offshore of the continent settled on a large, craggy island that stood ominously above the sea. The island that once teemed with life had been taken over. Destroyed and malformed by three of the Organization’s buildings.

Nature had lost.

This place was so dreadful that even insects wouldn’t go near.

The largest building was huge, with nearly thirty stories. Windows were scarce, only adorning the areas where humans frequented most. Around it were docks full of cargo ships that contained anything from food, to weapons, to us. The island was closely guarded by cameras, electric fences, barbed wire fences, searchlights, and snipers patrolling the grounds.

While there were several other islands with other buildings for similar or different purposes this place was the largest.

The main base. To be taken here you had to be either very unlucky or a major threat to the Organization’s regime.

Perhaps I was both.

I was taken when I was a baby. I have no memory of my parents or any knowledge of their powers. Powers? I didn’t have them. That is why I was given better treatment than the others. I had nothing inserted into or around me that was designed to control abilities or humiliate. A handful of others and I were only here, because of our genes. Something in our blood made us different.

We were all young, all naïve having grown up here and willing to absorb all that the Organization taught us. We could read and write and were somewhat educated. I knew of animals and of plants. Of war and of peace, but I could not truly understand. Could not comprehend. All I knew was this place.

Blooming.

The act of finally gaining ones powers. All of us special creatures are believed to be born with powers. The manifestation is the hard part.

As a child whenever someone would bloom they would be taken. We were told that they were being put in a “place that was more suitable for them.” We never thought much more about it. We spent our days together in our little exclusive group. We could go outside and play on the roof of the buildings with supervision.

Testing? All we were subjected to were blood tests, urine tests, and weekly trips to the psychologist. We accepted things here as normal and that we were better than the freaks who dwelled inside.

However all that changed when I met her.

It was strange, because we had never been allowed to meet those freaks before. We were placed in a caged rec room and were told to just go talk to them. I don’t know how or why things happened the way they did.

Maybe fate.

Looking at it now it seemed too good to be a mere coincidence.

Her.

I remember it like it was yesterday. She was a tough – almost boyish - looking girl with short-brown hair and a large scar that started on her cheek and ended at her collarbone. She was in a corner with her back turned to everyone and a collar around her neck.

Her name was Liu Yiyun, but she preferred to be called “Amber.”

My best friend.

I approached her that day, without fear. No one else would go near her, because she was “dangerous” and “evil.” However when I actually spoke to her I was not met with any evidence of danger or darkness in her heart

In fact she was quite goofy.

She was a shapeshifter who opened my eyes to the world. The one who turned me into a dreamer.

The Organization allowed us to meet with these “freaks” many more times and from her I learned so much.

She was a Taiwanese-American who grew up with the knowledge of her powers. One night her and her older sister, Jackie were abducted by the Organization and brought here. She does not know why anyone from Korea would’ve been looking for her or her family, but they were. She hated how they striped her of her culture and language, forcing her to learn Korean.

She spoke of her hometown Los Angeles, California with such pride. She told me about the place that seemed to be stuck in a perpetual summer, the beauty of the beaches, the smell of the exotic food stands that graced the boardwalk near where she lived, and the diversity of people. She spoke of ice cream, the guitar that she was addicted to, her friends, and how she was learning Taekwondo.

Camping in the forest, skateboarding, and basketball. She told me she wanted to become a rockstar.

I was intrigued with all that she spoke of.

I wanted to be like her. To have funny stories to tell and adventures to go on. To make music with my friends and to eat junk food.

Before I was content to be here for all my life, but she had given me something that I didn’t know I was missing.

She was talking about the world.

The real world and I wanted it.

I didn’t just want to be here anymore. Since meeting her there was always something wrong with this place. The rooms too bright, the cells too suffocating, the food too bland, the guards too ambiguous.

I had lived here for all of my eighteen years.

These people had pounded their lies and ideals into my head, but now I wanted more. I wanted to be like the sea.

As our four year long friendship matured we became nearly inseparable. We would spend days just talking. She swore that if we ever got out she would take me to America with her and we would travel the whole country. It was all I wanted now. To see and experience the world with her.

 However the Organization became less interested in the idea of allowing us and them to meet. Amber and I were some of the few who were allowed to maintain contact with each other.

I was initially led to believe that it was, because I had a calming effect on the once difficult to handle shifter, but Amber believed they had a higher purpose.

“Power Baiting.”

She thought that they were trying to use her as a way to bring out my powers. The more “freaks” I was around the more comfortable my body would instinctually feel. So I would bloom, because my body was tricked into believing it was safe.

It had made perfect sense, but I never bloomed as the Organization had hoped.

Or at least not until recently.

I was a telepath and the only reason I had bloomed was, because of her. Some “freaks” tried to take advantage of me and Amber had come to my rescue, but they her. All I remembered was being scared and a pink light enveloped them before they were flung against a wall, knocked unconscious.

The Organization hadn’t found out about me yet and that was only, because on that day they were doing maintenance on several of the cameras around the facility.

That was three months ago and the security of the place had only gotten weaker.

Yet my powers grew stronger.

I found that if I willed it I could make the guards do as I wished. If I wanted them to be nicer to Amber or myself it would happen.

Mind Control.

Amber saw it as our way out.

If I could influence them to take her collar off and get them to open the gates for us, we’d be free. Amber could transform into an animal and we could swim to the shore. All we needed was the night and a storm.

…And judging by the clouds we just might get one.

***

Wednesday May 13^th 2042 1:30PM

“Do you feel it?”

“The power? The strength?”

“You walk between the world of the living and the world of the dead.”

“Do you feel it?”

“You are everything. Everything is you.”

“Everything has a pulse, an energy.”

“Feel it, absorb it, channel it.”

“Everything has a pulse, an energy, a soul.”

“Do you feel it?”

“You have control. You have power.”

“This is your gift. This is your purpose. This is you.”

“You are everything. Everything is you.”

“Open your eyes.”

Darkness.

Darkness everywhere.

The only light came from the five candles and the glow of my specter servant’s eyes.

The room was gone. There was nothing, but black.

“Where are we?” I breathed in awe at how easily things could change.

“We are at the hotel.”

“We are?”

“Yes, but merely on a different plane. We have descended.”

A withered woman appeared before me. Her features pointed and her frame skeletal. Her skin clung onto her in vain. It was rotting. She was rotting.

The corners of the woman’s lips turned up. A smile. A horribly wicked smile.

She moved towards me with a demon-like hand outstretched. Her nails were hooked talons as she slithered around me. She sought freedom. She sought power.

All gifts I could provide.

The hopeful ambition in her black eyes told all. I had power, but I did not know how to control it.

She had not come to me upon invitation.

Her body coiled around mine.

Our faces were near.

She opened as though she were screaming, yet I heard nothing.

Another woman.

Cloaked in leopard skins and blood. Everything from the nose down bore no flesh. She was all bone. This woman did not walk, for she had no such limbs. Instead she had to glide through the darkness. Where her legs should’ve been was nothing but a black cloud.

Darkness.

Evil.

This was her.

These creatures held onto an ancient wisdom. An ancient power. One that I was ignorant of. I was at their mercy.

“Do not fear the hags from hell’s hills. Their ambition is futile and everlasting, but they cannot harm you.”

Then a third hag. This had a human body, but the mutilated head of a goat.

An eye dangled from the socket, its ears were ripped, its face covered in massacred flesh, and at the top were ten horns.

“I am the devil.” She seemed to say.

Yet she was naught.

A poor imitation. Powerless. Designed only to scare children.

Her hand grabbed my leg, her nails dug into my flesh and blood began to flow.

Blood.

The precious life force.

My blood.

Spilling, leaking.

An illusion.

There was no pain, no fear. They could not hurt me. I had control.

I had control.

“Yes.”

"Phantoms begone!" I commanded and just like that they were gone, fading into oblivion.

Power.

I had control.

Me.

“Look beneath you.”

The pentagram had opened and below me was a dark world. A world of smoke and fire. A world of torture and suffering. A world of demons and victims. A place where twisted lands danced with poisoned oceans. I heard the cries of pain, the pleas for mercy. I felt the joy of hunger, the pleasure of power. I hovered above it all, yet I did not fall.

Corpses.

Amongst the dying forests were corpses.

They were alive. Coming together, crawling atop each other. They were climbing upwards. Moving towards the sky.

 Climbing towards me.

Demonic birds of prey swooped down, picking off anyone who was unlucky with their fanged mouths and eyeless faces.

“Luna w-what is this?”

“It is the underworld. Hell, if your religious beliefs dictate it to be called as such.”

“What are they doing?”

“Those corpses want to be saved.”

“Saved?” I looked at the banshee. Something else had changed in her. Her appearance was more ethereal, her body almost translucent surrounded by a strange glow.

“Yes. The suffering is too much for them. They want to be free and you have opened up a portal for them.”

I saw the face of a man. He was the closest to me and still trying to ascend. He was starved. A skeleton with skin. On his chest rested a wound in the shape of a cross. His stomach was gored, his entrails exposed, and one of his eyes was missing.

Yet I could still see the emotion he had. He was pleading with me. Begging. I couldn’t imagine the horrors he had experienced. He needed to be saved from that place.

I would do it.

I could do it.

I had the power.

I had the control.

I reached out to him.

“No.” Luna grabbed my wrist and I looked at her in surprise. “But-”

“Forgive me, master."

“Luna?”

“While some are accidents, most deserve to be down there. You do not want to resurrect a serial killer or a child molester and even if on another plane he may possess enough power to touch the living. We need not trade one suffering for another.”

I looked down at the man whose eyes clouded with realization.

“He may seem sorry, but the moment he is released he will turn on you. I cannot have you hurt.”

The corpse’s entire facial expression changed. He was glaring murderously at the banshee and spitting out curses in a language I couldn’t identify.

She was right. I couldn’t just go bringing anyone back, because of naïve compassion. I knew better now. I would grow stronger and I would learn even more. Until I had the ability I would reject the underworld.

“It is time to close the portal. If enough of them come together neither of us will be able to overcome their might.”

I nodded to her and relaxed. I closed my eyes and felt everything slip away.

When I opened them the hotel room had returned to normal. I stood up and walked to the window, pushing aside the dark curtains to gaze out into the city.

It was a bright, sunny day and people went on about their lives. It was as though nothing had ever happened. No one knew what Luna and I had done. No one ever would. This world was ignorant to it all.

Time was immortal.

Life’s only absolute.

It didn’t care who lived or died. It just continued on.

How long would I have to train before I would be able to bring my sister back? Slowly, but surely I was becoming aware of my inadequacies. Could I really bring her back?

What would happen if I failed again?

Would my life be the next thing to go?

Perhaps it would be better that way. Jessica and I could finally be together again, I wouldn’t have to live as a vagabond hiding from the Organization or risk being discovered just to get a meal every night. I had nothing to live for aside from this one goal. Yet why should I live when death would allow us to meet even easier?

“Do not be sad, master.”  I looked behind me to see the little banshee returning to her usual self.

She was floating again, this time with a small smile on her face. “You can do it. You just have to believe in yourself.”

“Thanks, Luna.” I muttered, forgetting about the fact that she could sense my emotions. When I summoned her I didn’t know it, but I had bound our souls. It didn’t work both ways though. She said it was “All for my protection” and that “a master need not be bothered by the emotions of their servant.”

To me it just seemed a little unfair.

“Master?”

“Yes?”

“I know I am not your sister, but I am here for you. I understand your feelings, because you are the only thing I have. Do not give up. We shall complete our quest. Please remain in the world of the living.”

I was touched by her words. We were more alike than I thought. We both only had one reason for existing. Without that reason we were lost.

Or perhaps I only thought I had one reason for existing.

This banshee from the past would find it hard to live in the modern world. She had lived in the underworld for hundreds of years without a friend or anyone to care for. Another responsibility indeed, yet she gave me something in return.

Another reason to stay alive.

I smiled widely at her. “I’m not going anywhere, so long as you still wish to stay with me.”

Immediately I was assaulted with a bone-crushing hug. “We are friends, master?”

“Yes, Luna we are friends.”

“Then that means we can have the pizza tonight, right!?” She pulled away excitedly.

“Of course we can have the pizza tonight.”

***

“Hey Liu, get your up!”

At the sound of clanging metal and the opening of my cell I rolled over.

In stepped a man with red hair, clad in his decorated military attire. Behind him I could see at least three others just outside the cell.

Metal.

The pungent scent of their weapons reached my nose.

They were packing more heat than usual.

I slowly sat up, instantly on alert that something was very different today.

“You here to kill me?”

“You have been selected.”

Wednesday May 13^th 2042 3:08PM

From the moment I stepped onto that island I couldn’t relax. Something was off about this place and not in the way I had become accustomed to. It was as though a cloud of malice and anticipation had been cast over it.

I had no idea why I was brought here. I’m sure the six others didn’t either. None of us asked questions. I’m sure they felt it too. This place was different.

We had been selected.

For what we didn’t know, but it was highly important.

The Organization was taking us by boat from the main base to another island. We had no idea why and that anonymity was frightening. We were hushed and obedient, expecting death to come at any moment.

Once on the new island the guards guided us to a large building. It was the only one here and was ten stories tall seeming to form a triangular shape. Wider than it was tall and completely white. In appearance it seemed to me like any other building the Organization had built.

However it was enclosed in a glass cube. As we approached it could be seen that the building only had one way in or out. A thirty foot tall doorway that was twenty feet wide and made of the same glass. At either side rested a watch tower with three…five…six snipers above.

Our guards held their papers in the air and the door was pulled up, allowing us to enter.

I didn’t want to.

I was scared.

The last time I had been so afraid was when I was abducted and brought here. I knew the Organization was evil, but usually it was hidden. I had never felt it as boldly as this before. It seemed as though this place was daring someone to challenge its might. I couldn’t move as fear had rooted me to the spot. As I gazed upwards all I could do was gape.

“Impressive, huh shifter?” A guard with black hair and a scar on his eyebrow asked. He was smiling. Smiling knowingly and viciously.

“What’s the matter? I keep hearing stories about how full of fight Amber Josephine Liu is, yet now you seem like an ordinary freak. You scared?”

I was too intimidated to answer.

“Move it!” I felt someone shove me from the back and I obeyed.

The door closed behind us and I felt trapped. Now there would be no escape. I looked everywhere. Surrounding the building was turf. Real grass wanted nothing to do with this place. The roof of the cube was dappled with extremely tiny holes, probably for oxygen. I didn’t think a fly could even get inside.

Once in the building the words “Advanced Research Facility” on a sign greeted us.

A nauseating feeling settled in my stomach.

What were we walking into?

We scaled stairs and trekked down hallways and the higher up we went the more nervous I became. I felt trapped, short of breath, it was hard to focus. I wanted out. I needed to get out.

I whimpered. An animal noise that was welcomed with electricity. I grunted from the pain.

At my side a guard laughed.

We passed through doors with a sign that read “Active Testing Ward.”

What assaulted my senses next would be forever burned into my memory.

I heard them.

The screams.

Screams of agony.

Screams of pleasure.

We were walked past cells on either side of us.

“Who the are you!? Who the are you!?”

“They’re in my body! They’re in my body! Get them out! I feel them! They’re in my blood!”

“Daddy loves his kitty, daddy loves his kitty…”

In the cells, freaks. Freaks with their deranged eyes and malformed bodies.

Blood.

Blood was everywhere.

A man with bloodied towels wrapped around the area where legs should’ve been threw himself at the cell bars. A woman, with yellowing skin sat in the corner near the toilet eating her own excrement. Another man stripped down to nothing gripped himself.

More screams, more rattling of cell doors.

This place was hell. Every sound made me jump and each sight instilled an even greater fear. Fear was like a disease. Taking hold of one of us and then spreading to the others. It was the kind that you felt in your bones. The shouts made us gasp, the noise let us know that we were not welcome here. Everyone wanted to flee and those who dared to turn around were punished. The guards used the barrels of their guns like cattle prods. We were being forced to parade through this hell.

I was alert to it all and the passageway seemed to stretch without end.

These creatures…their bodies were here, but their minds they were gone. Lost to the Organization. This place had brought me back to the day when they had taken my sister and I into an operating room and let us watch them mutilate the fully conscious victim until the poor creature died.

They wanted to break us.

They were trying the same tactics here. With that knowledge I had to block it out. The pain here was real, but I could not let it affect me. I had to be strong. I had to rise above their tricks.

We passed through several more halls with the same kind of horrors.

Yet with each new hallway the screams would seem less…natural. As did the creatures.

The ones in the previous places were all clearly ill and crazed, but at least they were still physically themselves.

These cries sounded abnormal, almost robotic. These freaks were missing body parts as well, but they were not forced to be without them. A leg, an eye, a hand. All replaced, all mechanical.

Torture was normal, but this…this…

Something seriously strange was going on here and I wanted to find out what.

Finally we were free from that God forsaken place. We were brought above it, on the roof and ordered to stand in a line.

There were snipers here and a wave of fear descended when they readied their guns. Were we going to die? I couldn’t die now! I had to take care of Jinri and avenge my sister! I sent up a silent prayer that this was not the end.

“Go!” One of the snipers ordered ruthlessly and the guards began retreating back into the building.

However they stopped and lowered themselves to the floor. I looked around to see the snipers get onto one knee before quickly righting themselves. This was a very unexpected, very humbled display.

The guards parted as three people made their way to stand before us. The one in the center was the shortest.

“All welcome the sagacious and gifted founder of the KHDO!”

There he was.

 That killer.

Chairman Lee Jin.

 I forgot all about my fear and allowed hatred to take over. He was here. Right in front of me, it would be so easy to strangle that fat piece of here and now. Vengeance dripped like venom from my teeth. I would take revenge for Jackie and for everyone else who had fallen victim to his cruel experiments.

Only I couldn’t.

I had to be smart. There were highly trained marksmen here. I had an electric collar around my neck that prevented me from shifting and could deliver a paralyzing sting. Then there was Jinri. We were going to escape soon and I wouldn’t be much use to her as a corpse. I would avenge my sister. I just needed to take care of other responsibilities first. The Chairman was also being guarded by what appeared to be two of my own kind. A man and a woman.

The man’s real eyes had been replaced with thin, black rectangles and slabs of metal that seemed to cut into his cheeks. He was strange, but it was the woman that really intrigued me.

I was not sure why. She certainly was pretty. Her skin was pale, her hair blond, and her features soft. Perhaps it was her clothes. They were different than ours. She did not bear the pure white garments of a prisoner. She was wearing a pink t-shirt with skinny jeans and what appeared to be pink, three-inch heels. Yet, beauty wasn’t what captured me. There was something about her presence. Something dangerous. Something otherworldly.

She scrutinized us with an icy glare. She made my skin crawl. I sniffed. She smelled off.

Like death.

Sacrilegious? Dark? Evil?

I didn’t know, but around her I was very uneasy.

Her left arm was altered. Everything from the shoulder down appeared to be metal and what skin was showing had some tube or wire jutting out of it.

What was going on here?

“Hello, freaks.” The chairman greeted with a wicked grin. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve brought you all here today.”

I wanted to speak, to cuss him out, scream, do something, but I held my tongue. I would only draw unnecessary attention to myself even though every part of my body hungered for me to take his head.

“You have all been selected to participate in a special program.” His eyes scanned each one of us.

Special Program?

I glanced at the others and they appeared just as confused as me.

“You will have the unique opportunity to benefit the human race. In doing so you will be given special privileges.” His smile was wicked.

“You will no longer be forced to stay at the main base. You will be removed from your cells there and given rooms here with any luxuries you desire. You can have a flatscreen, a Jacuzzi, or designer clothes. It matters not to me. You will be allowed time outside and be free to wander certain floors of this building whenever you like.  Guards will not follow you and you will have no cameras in your rooms.”

The others whispered excitedly amongst themselves.

I did not share their enthusiasm.

Nothing good ever came without a price. Would we have to become like those people in the lower floors? Diseased, mentally unstable, or even cybernetic?

“All you need to do is agree give your bodies up to us.” He smiled.

Wait what?

“We have a choice?” I asked despite my previous thoughts of being silent.

“Ah, Ms. Liu somehow I just knew you’d be the first one to ask questions.” He chuckled. “It’s why I brought this guy.” He pointed to the man. “His last name is Liu too. Isn’t that ironic?” His voice was light, but I saw past it. “And yes my dear. You have a choice. You always have choices.”

No I didn’t.

“I have selected you, because of your good choices. You have been quite cooperative these past few months.”

No I haven’t.

“You said this would help people? Save lives and stuff?” I asked feigning interest. Maybe I could get to know more about his plans.

“Yes. You will have a chance to benefit children, isn’t that wonderful?” There was something bloodthirsty in his gaze.

“I suppose. Children are innocent in our issues aren’t they?”

“Ah, Yes indeed!” He seemed to become excited.

“Tell me, what I would have to do, then.” I said. If he wanted to play pretend I could too. “It depends. We would inject you with certain things or help with new research on prosthetics, robotics…”

“Injected with things? What things?”

“Medicines, diseases, drugs. We have to study and find cures.”  He let his fingers touch. “I know it might seem bad, but at least if you do die you die doing some good for the world and you can get what you want in turn. What about a Stratocaster, hmm? I know you like music.”

This guy…

“What kind of diseases?” I continued my questioning. I noticed the others around us had gone quiet. They were listening and letting Jin and I fight our battle of wills. If I could get him to talk enough, maybe I could get them all to refuse. That would really tick him off and I loved the thought. Any way to get to him would satisfy me.

“Herpes, Ebola, Hepatitis, HIV…keep in mind this is all your choice. Sacrifices must be made in order to have a better life.”

I glared angrily at him.

Were our kind really consenting to this!? I couldn’t believe it.

 Were they so desperate!? A life here was no life at all!

And the chairman.

The way he smiled when he said it. He loved to do this. He wanted to see us suffer.

“What if I refuse?”

“Why would you refuse!?” Asked the dark haired guy beside me.

“Yeah, we’re dead anyway, why not enjoy our last few moments?”

“You always were different.”

I suppose that even among freaks there was no honor. Everyone was willing to sell their bodies and do so selfishly. They were willing to help their tormentors, the killers of their families. I was disgusted. These freaks were no better than the Organization.

“See, Liu, they all understand. Why can’t you?”

I clenched my teeth.

This was unbelievable!

“It’s not so bad to be with me. Give it a chance and you will see.” I could hear the self-assured tone in his voice. He was so confident that I could be swayed. That I could be bought with things after all he’d done to me and my sister.

“Just who do you think I am? I would never lower myself so much as to ally with you. My body is not a plaything for you or your buttboys to experiment on!”

“Don’t delude yourself, we’ve been experimenting on you since day one.” He tapped his cheek as he spoke, clearly indicating my scar.

“Yes, but I would never consent to it!” I snapped feeling anger begin to cloud my mind. I would kill him and then I would kill those sorry, freaks who dared to submit to his will.

“Are you truly refusing?”

“Are you dumb!? Hell yeah I’m refusing!”

“Then you can go back to the cell I selected you from, but maybe that’s too good for you. Maybe you need other arrangements. Crematorium B is still open.”

My sister.

That’s where he dumped my sister.

When she was still alive.

I lost it and went for him.

“Liu, Jung punish her.”

Then his two protectors went after me.

The guy – Liu – reached me first, and instantly I whirled around, letting the side of my hand meet his neck.

He went down unconscious.

I turned to the woman. “I don’t need to be able shift to fight! Come on!” Jung glared spitefully at me and lunged.

Punch, dodge, kick, dodge.

I was alive! I was fighting against the Organization! I could shed their blood. If I won I would send a message to them that they weren’t all powerful. Watch me Jackie. Look over me, because I’m doing this for you.

The woman was much more skilled, much more powerful, and much more dangerous than the man. She was almost supernatural. She was more than what I saw.  Vision was blindness when gazing upon her. Despite her unsettling aura in hand to hand combat I could win. I was winning. She had a bruised cheek and I’d managed to knock her on the ground, delivering hard kicks into her ribs. I punched her in the nose and it smashed beneath my hand.

Yes! I was doing it! The Organization would see!

“Are you stupid!? Don’t let that beat you! Use your powers!”

I smirked. So I’d made the chairman angry, did I?

It was time to end this and deliver a message to everyone that the Organization did not have to control us.

She was weak and on the ground. I was about to knock her out as well, but just before my hand could meet her neck she was gone."

Huh!?" I thought and looked around.

"Where did she go!?"

Laughter from the chairman made me turn my head.

“It’s over, Liu!”

I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed.

My eyes traveled to the ground and I saw a strange circle begin to appear beneath me. Within the circle a star formed.

Pain.

Something was biting me, stabbing me in the legs.

I glanced down and saw six little creatures that could only be described as devils prancing around my feet.

The lines of the circle turned to fire.

I had never seen anything like this before. A blend of panic and admiration ran through my veins. What was this? My pants were becoming stained red with blood. What was happening?

“Up here, shifter!”

I looked up.

That woman!

She was coming out of a hole right above me. My ears were assaulted by a strange drilling sound and suddenly I was on the ground.

I felt it. My head hurt. Something cracked, something broke. Every fiber of my body screamed in protest at the sudden onslaught. The circle was gone, and the devils had disappeared, but I was in so much pain. I couldn’t move.

“ Ms. Liu back to her cell.” Jin’s voice.

“Does anyone else have problems with my program? No? Good! Now come with me.”

The guards had to literally pick me up and carry me, because I was still reeling.

“Good work today, Jung.” Jin said and I managed to raise my head.

That woman was staring right at me. I watched in awe as her nose began to change shape and her bruises begin to disappear. She was healed.

Completely healed.

 “Wha-What are you?” I panted.

I watched as her pupils and irises disappeared.

 “An evil witch. One you cannot defeat.”

***

Not much to say here, but um this is chapter two o.O

Thanks for reading!

~AnthroOutlaw