The vicious cycleFamily.Just the thought of it made my insides bubble up and my feet bound along the level after the man who considered me worthy enough of such a thing.What did family do anyway? Did they go hunting for fish and race along the hills like I had once done? Did they huddle together in a burrow and protect each other from the elements outside?Somehow, I couldn’t see this guy doing that. What exactly did he do? “In here” his voice commanded before he stepped inside a room with no door and marched upstairs. I slid inside and watched him go, inhaling the clinical scent of cleaning chemicals and soap. I could hear the mumbling above of conversations as I slowly crept upwards while reading the paper signs on how to identify different types of poisonous plants stuck along the wall.The room I walked into was lined with single beds on every available wall, with only a tiny gap between each one for a person to fit sideways, and a shower curtain to give them some
Out with the oldDisappointment in my lack of success with the family led me back to the closest one I had in here, only to find Pablo’s room completely deserted. It looked like things had been gathered up hastily in an effort to leave something, a syringe of swirling cobalt liquid sitting on a table pushed beside an empty crib.Of course it had been too good to be true. Anything I got close to always had a habit of disappearing when I needed it most.The early morning did nothing to warm the cold floor I crossed when I found myself wandering to the windows on the twenty-fifth level. Cosmo and Inoxia hadn’t returned here either; the only people around being the early morning stragglers that kept to themselves.I was alone again. I had fucked up so badly that no-one wanted to be with me anymore. I wasn’t worth the hassle.The silent, bitter tears snaking through my plastic-speckled fur flowed freely as I turned to watching the few people training below. No-one down there co
Lost Souls dividedThe cold rain that pelted me was the only thing I felt when I arrived as a free man into the world. As soon as Eagle was gone, so was Stripes. Just like that, his promises to stay together were broken as he ran off into the rain and towards town.I only chased him for as long as I could see him before I was forced to find shelter. The relentless waves drowned the roads and hammered against the windows of the cloaked houses. I had never felt this cold or numb before. I could see my warped skin under my drenched fur plastered to my shaking body. My fingers and toes had lost their feeling long ago, the skin peeling from itself when I forced them through the flooded roads towards the nearest house.The veranda was being brutally beaten when I managed to drag my feet through the pouring water cascading down the stairs. Rain was being blown with such force that it was misting through the flapping flyscreen on either side.The veranda was lined with wooden board
Bloodlust and betrayal“Hey! Hey! Wake up!”Something slammed my side, to jolt me from sleep immediately.I tried to find my feet, while my brain was trying to snap from the haze that blanketed it, which only left me scuttling around uselessly.When I could function, I bolted to the side of the crib, only to find it empty. The bright afternoon sunlight streamed through the open window, but its warmth only filled me with dread.She was gone. She was gone!“Honey” I blurted, without looking to see who was in the room with me “where is she?”“Out” Rolf’s voice came, to force me to acknowledge him.Honey was still alive? What a relief.“What are you doing here?” I asked while eyeing the necklace now draped around his neck “where the hell did you go?”“Out” he huffed and leant against the door frame “why do you ask so many dumb questions?”I didn’t answer. Rolf was far too irritated to try and pry information from. It was a wonder he was even here after the shit he pulled
A Not So Silent NightAfter that night, I didn’t see Stripes again. Everything was finally normal. Stripes' belongings were packed away in a box and stored in a cupboard to most likely never be looked at again. The family photos always felt a little bit empty without him, but it was as if he never existed in the first place.I always prepared myself for him to come flying up the stairs each week that passed, ranting on about how we had ruined him, but it never came.Stripes was gone.Even though we were a family now, I still couldn’t bring myself to call these people ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’.What if they didn't want me, like my real mother; or tossed me into the back of a van, like Stripes? I didn't want to get too attached, just in case.Royce and Rolf had the same issue, but only because they still had their parents around. The man with the black fingers who had been at the Base doors before my Hunt turned out to be their ‘father.’ Gerald was the one who found the twins out on
ConsequencesKorvin was already walking down the top of the road when we exited the house.The creature truly was elegant and didn’t seem phased by the commotion on either side of him. He was easily as big as a horse and covered in short glistening silver fur. His black forked feet lightly touched the ground as he walked, making it seem like he was weightless.Around his neck was a silver mane that matched the masses of fur around his wrists and ankles. Each mass had white balls forming a halo around each joint. There was a larger ball on each of his thighs that was the size of a soccer ball.Korvin’s long snake-like tail easily reached his shoulder blades. It curved when some children ran up to him to hang baubles from his gigantic swirling antlers that reached his flank. I could see thin, black sticks of incense poking up from tiny holes that had been drilled along them. His soft purple eyes looked into each child’s, before they ran back to the crowds.The spiralling gre
The bloodthirsty prisonerInstead of waking to freedom, I woke to everything around me darkened so I couldn’t see my surroundings at all.I wasn’t in the cage anymore. Instead, I was lying on cold tiles in an empty room. To my right and left, thick glass walls had been placed, but each had six tiny breathing-holes drilled in. Each one was only big enough for a finger to pass through, so escape was not possible. I did notice that there was the faint outline of a door in the right side of the glass in front of me. There was nothing blocking my path to a vast aisle of tiles that was brightly lit between this row of rooms and the next across it. If I could get to that door, I could get out of here.I looked down at my broken arm, to see it had been cleaned and shaved. There was no blood, only stitches, where the bullet holes had been. A thin, white webbing had been anchored to my arm to strengthen it and alleviate any pain.With tender steps, I went to inspect the glass door
OmenDiesel became my mentor in teaching me the ways of my new life.Since time no longer existed, each day was broken into three sections; morning, afternoon, and night.Mornings were dedicated to fighting the strangers that walked through the front doors. If I didn’t fight, I didn’t eat; it was that simple. The Food Givers always made sure I was fed to the point of vomiting, so I wouldn’t murder the visitors. Morning was the time for our fortnightly bath as well, which was just water blasted through the roof to fill the room up to a metre. The water was brown, but it was the only thing I had to soak in for the day. If people wanted to fight while you were bathing, you lost the opportunity to wash for another fortnight. You couldn’t bathe in the waterhole out the back since people drank from it. Tainting it would be the end of our only water source.Afternoons were for talking with our neighbours and forming bonds with the people we saw every day. It was also the scheduled