ANIMANS SHORT STORY
INTRO:
It’s about 20 years after the poison war and everything out here is either burned or toxic, but anyway I live a pretty good life considering everything that’s happened to our world. When i was born my parents, Mike and Tracy, said that they named me lucky because I was the first child born after the poison war. I hate my name though I prefer to go by anything else, I mean it’s a dog name! Why would I want that? When my parents died from what I believed was radiation, all they left me was a backpack full of supplies and a hug, then they set off on their last adventure and never came back. After about a week of them being gone I asked for help from Christian’s gang, they agreed to help me find my parents as long as I stopped taking from their supply bins they had hidden underground in a dried up sewer. Of course I agreed because I only raided from them when it was convenient for me. I guess now I will have to sneak to the other side of the valley to get stuff I need. When they came back from the mist grove where my parents went to explore the couple people who went to find them came back with some bags. When I ran up to the members on their way back to the hut, the place their gang meets up, they threw the bags my way with a step back. I ran up to the bags only to find the each bag full of the rotten head of both my mother and father, they were obviously attacked by a radiation beast but the strange thing was they didn’t have any wound marks on their faces, that’s surprising because all radiation beasts have claws of some sort, it’s just a fact. I stood there with a gaped mouth but soon noticed the heads weren’t the only thing in the bag as I rummaged through the bags the gang members limped away to their hideout. At the bottom of the bags there were vials of some kind of venom or poison and there were quite a few. I packed all 60 of the small vials into my messenger bag and left the rest behind, on my way back to the fat weeping willow I call home I think about what my options are, being as I am only 11 at that time. A few years passed by and my weeping willow grew larger as did I, I quickly learned how to fend for myself and where the dangerous places are along with who the dangerous people are. After some time alone I had gained a strange power, it let’s me manipulate my body on command to form certain animal features. At first i was freaked out and couldn’t control it but over time I got use to it and even used it to threaten people if they tried anything funny.
CHAPTER 1:
I woke up in the middle of the day to hear someone approaching the terf around my tree, I think they’re about twenty yards away. I make my way to a sitting up position and screech with my very much enhanced voice “if you come any closer you’ll be shredded” with that the footsteps stopped and I climbed down from my tree using my handy dandy on command claws. Before I reach the bottom I always put away my power in case it’s someone who hasn’t heard of me, when my feet hit the ground i felt a sharp pain run through my left big toe and it starts to bleed. At this point i’m cranky from being woken up and stabbed in my toe so i walk out of my little tree canopy to step into the heat of the sun and find two men with royal blue shirts covered in mud and grime.I only open the canopy for a second to slip out and blurt at the two men “so let me guess the Spider gang sent you or something?”, the two guys just stand there looking like they’ve seen a ghost so I irritatedly repeat myself and one steps forward only to have his foot caught in an old bear trap I found one day, so I say “I warned you not to come closer” in a sarcastic voice. The one with the bear trap just stands there like he isn’t in pain, I can see he is trying to act tough in front of his superior and give a kind smile. Next thing I know the bigger more muscular guy shouts out from a distance “Are you the monster?” I am so offended at his words I hardly know what to say. I lean back on my heels and think for a split second and decide to let them off easy by replying “Do I look like a monster? and if you couldn’t already tell i’m in a bad mood so choose your words wisely”. The younger man with the bear trap stuck to his leg has black hair with blonde streaks running down from the roots takes a step back while trying to hide his tears, as I stare him down I notice he doesn’t look that much older than me as I am looking at him The muscular man with brown hair and black jacket steps up and says “Okay, obviously you’re not a monster so why do you live out here? Are you alone?” with a concerned voice. I look the man down and he doesn’t look much different than the younger man, as soon as i see this minor detail i let out a hearty barrage of laughter and ask them “are you guys new around here? Wait wait let me guess Lucifer’s gang hired you to come TRY and kill me, is that it?” I can’t help but continue laughing while i speak to them. The younger man finally speaks up to say “Yeah we’re new here, we just came into town. How old are you?” as he says that last part I give him a glare that could kill and walk into my canopy of coolness. When I get in I let out a small squeal of excitement and climb up the tree with haste, when i reach the upper branches I hear the older man shout out “Excuse me but can you explain this situation to us? All they said was that they were the spider gang and that they would give us supplies if we could kill the monster that lives here” then he paused for a moment as I grab my first aid kit then the man continues to ask annoying questions “we have no idea whats happened here or who anyone is, please i’m begging you”. As soon as the man stops talking i poke my head out of the top through the leaves of my tree and look down “Okay hold on, let me take the traps out of the ground!” then pause for a moment to think about how to warn the two guys. After I finish eyeing them up I shout “If you do anything to make me think you’ll do any harm to me or my tree I will kill you on the spot, got it?” they nod with exertion. I put my head back into my home and put the leafs back into place so that the fresh air doesn’t escape, I climb down to the last branch jump down from there. When my feet hit the grass surrounding the weeping willow I give this whole thing a second thought and think to myself “why the hell am I doing this?! I’ve never let ANYONE come into my home!” just then I heave a heavy breath and quickly step out of my canopy back into the heat of the day. I start to pick up my many traps hidden in the ground but only enough of them to clear a walking path for them, when I finally reach the two men I grow my long thin tai from my lower back and reach it through the trap on his leg and pull the trap away from his leg and throw it across the yard. As I look up from the path i’ve been clearing the two men stare at my tail as it recedes into my back once again “okay! Yes i’m the quote unquote monster everyone hates, get over it! anyway your going to need some antibiotics please come into my home” I pause for a second then continue as they just stand there “yes i live in the tree, I hope you can climb but i doubt you will be able to climb for a while” as i spoke i point to the younger man. I ignore their gaping mouths and continue walking with the stack of traps i had pulled from the ground, when I reach the canopy wall I turn around to see them walking like nothing had happened. As I open the canopy a cool breeze flows out and I rush them inside by shoving on their backs. When we all enter I rush down to their feet and pull the rugged shoes off their feet and throw them outside when I pull the shoes off the older man he speaks up “h-hey what are you! Oh oh i’m sorry I didn’t realize there was grass! Quickly Leo take them off this instant!” then the younger one takes off the shoe from his hurt foot but has trouble taking off the other. I finish with the first man and go to the younger one he called Leo “hey go sit against the roots, they might be a little wet I just watered them but don’t mind it” Leo hobbles over to the big root sticking out of the ground and i follow quickly behind. As soon as he sits i throw his other shoe out as well as the older guy’s shoes, I let out a small sigh of relief and go to climb up my tree when I relize I have the med kit still hidden away in my shirt I quickly apologize while pulling out the med kit I had been storing away and say “now about that ankle, let me put some numbing ointment on it” and i continue to mumble out all the things i will be doing to help. When i go to reach down to Leo’s ankle he jerks his leg away then mumbles “how do I know it’s not poison?” with a look of distrust. I look at the older man and he just shrugs I raise my voice in frustration “okay then how about we leave it as is and wait for it to get infected by the radiation hm?” as I am speaking to him I sit down on another root and put the ointment onto my large toe that was cut earlier “okay you satisfied?”. This time when I reach for his leg I grab it with force and sit on his thighs to hold him down while facing towards his ankle, when I do this the older man standing lets out a small laugh as he just stands there. When i finish with the medicine I wrap the ankle and foot so that he can’t move it too much I shout out “ah okay there we go!” with a sense of satisfaction. I get up from his leg and put my supplies away into the tin i had been keeping them in and rush up the tree to hide them again, when I climb back down I see Leo trying to stand up. I rush over to him and shove him down to the ground and say “hey, you need to rest that foot while you can! Your lucky I even let you come in here, you might as well enjoy it while you can!” Finally the older man speaks up in a rough tone “thank you for your kindness, Leo can be a handful but you sure got him to shut the hell up!” as he talks i notice his voice is dry so I pat down the spot next to Leo and he comes to sit down. When Leo finally relaxes I start to relax too “I will be right back, you sound like you could use some water” I make my way around the tree and dig up some canisters from the ground and return to the two men “here they might need wiped off but they are cooled down, also i boiled them so don’t worry about the cleanliness of the water” as I speak the two men reach out for the canisters, I let the older man have his but pull the other one away from Leo. As he sees the older man drinking he finally speaks up “I’m sorry for being rude to you” I smile and hand him the water, he quickly chugs the water down like he hadn’t dranken in years. I put my jug up to my parched lips and drink, feeling myself hydrate as it goes down. When I get halfway through the jug I stop and look at the two strangers I let into my home. As I look at them I let out a sigh and finally ask “so what’s your deal?” while leaning forward “wait no first tell me your names”. The older man tells me his name is John and introduces Leo as his son, I can’t help but giggle a little at that. When they finish introductions they start talking “we came from across the desert in need of a new home, me and Leo use to be targets of some gangs over there but when we entered the desert they stopped following us. Nobody from there thought it was possible to get across, but as you can see we did make it somehow.” John pauses for a moment and Leo speaks up “we were the only survivors from the worm attack, everyone who had left with us got shredded by the giant worms who live in the desert” as they’re explaining the circumstances I lose track of the story because of my short attention span. I suddenly speak up while they are still talking “how old are you?” they stop talking and look at each other for a second just then Leo tells me “I just turned seventeen, up until now everyone thought I was the only child born after the poison war” I sit back thinking the same thing. After about two hours of talking back and forth I feel like these people are genuine and honest, when we finish talking about them and their past John asks me “so what about you? Why are you a monster?” I look at them and deep from within i feel awkward and race up the tree onto the second lowest branch and lay down in my usual spot hanging my arms down below and finally explain “I was born after the war just like you but my parents were explorers and died soon after i turned eleven while they were on a adventure. I have been fending for myself since then and i’ve gained some powers that let me manipulate my body, when i found out about that I went to my friend Christian and showed him but soon after people started to label me as a monster and claimed i would kill anyone who crossed my path. So after that I decided I would become what they thought of me as and stole from the gangs who live here just so I could survive” I paused for a moment to realize a tear had rolled down my cheek “Anyway you can see I am not that bad! I am going to be honest if you didn’t bring Leo I would have killed you on the spot!” I let out with a chuckle. I finally sit up and look down at them, what I see surprises me and I blurt out in shock “are you crying?!”. They are both sitting against the root crying their eyes out, Leo a little less then his dad. I quickly cover my face in embarrassment for them and go back to my resting position. After a little while I decide it’s time for them to go “sorry to say this but my canopy is getting warmer and the day is getting later so would you mind leaving?” the two men look at me in shock so i quickly snap at them “what? You thought i was going to let you stay here for free? No no this is my little paradise away from all the gang wars going on out there” I start to get a little heated as I talk and John nods his head and gets up close behind is Leo. Right before Leo steps out into the heat he stops and turns around with a determined look on his face and says “I know we can’t stay for free but what if we paid our share to stay here?” I jump down from my perch and walk up to him “what can you offer me that I can’t get myself?” after I say those words his dad pulls on his shirt for him to get a move on then pulls his arm away from his father and towers over me to say “an alliance, we can be here and help you gather supplies and in the mean while you will be strengthening your numbers against those gangs” Just as he is saying that he puts his hand on my head and manipulates his hand to make sharp talons, I jump away in surprise and take in the fact i’m not the only monster in this hell hole. While i stand there John walks back in and shouts at Leo “you idiot! You know you can’t show anyone that! What do you think she is going to do now? Huh!” Leo then whispers back “she will accept me and if I am right she will tell you to back off”. I look over to him as he read my mind and I stand up straight and repeat his words “leave him alone and I won’t repeat myself this time” John backs away from leo step by step and swears under his breath. I look over to Leo to see he has put away his power that was used on his hand. I quickly realized his circumstances “so where you come from nobody knew?” he nods “I assume you haven’t had much practice either?” he nods again but John quickly cuts in “Leo why can’t you just listen to me?!” just then Leo gives his dad a enraged look and shouts “I am done listening to you! You always tell me what to do and I have had enough! I finally find someone like me and you try to tear them away! You know what, no! Now it’s your turn to listen to me! I am going to stay here and you can’t stop me this time” he pauses with a stutter in his voice. When they are done yelling at each other I walk over to John and shove him out of the canopy and chase him away with my talons extended and tail waving behind me screaming at him “you can come back when you’ve decided to live a decent life!” as he runs away trying to avoid the rest of my traps laid out onto the ground. I turn around with a huff and walk back into the canopy, when i enter my home I don’t bother to look at Leo and go right up my tree to lay down on my perch. When i reach it I look down at Leo from above, he wobbles back over to the root he had been sitting on minutes ago and plops onto the grass. Just then I realize I haven’t gathered any supplies since I woke up, I jolt up and jump down with a thud, when i land I say “well you wanted to earn you living space, come on we’ve got to go get some food and water. Sorry i know your injured but if you really are like me it will heal while we’re out” He stands up and shakes his leg.
CHAPTER 2:
Chapter 2:
Soon after we leave with my canisters and cloth bags in hand I turn to Leo “have you ever stolen anything?” he shakes his head and I think about how wrong this could go for him “okay then your in charge of getting the water. There is a stream about fifty yards straight that way” he nods his head and takes the canisters heading away in that direction. When he is out of sight I continue sneaking up to a building owned by the spider gang, they always have their food in this building. I look around the corner to see that they went light on security probably because they thought I would be preoccupied with Leo and John. I quickly knock out the ONE guard at the entrance and find that they had just finished unloading some new goods, I quickly grab everything that will fit into my bags and make a mad dash for the exit. On my way out I noticed the man I knocked out was younger then all the others i’ve seen but not so young he could have been born after the war maybe right before. When I make my way back to my little home I see Leo walking in the distance with six canisters hanging from his shoulders dripping with sickly water. I dodge all the traps i had laid out and walked into the canopy, as soon as I enter I hear Leo shout from the outside “Hey! I don’t know how to get past the tr-” but is then cut off by something, I drop the bags of food I was carrying and step outside to see all twenty three members of the spider gang surrounding Leo and pinning him to the ground. I quickly put my new power i came up with to use and stretch out the skin on my arms into a very thin layer forming wing like extensions on my arms and jump into the air flying at the members holding him down. When I get close to the ground I heave my arms in a flapping motion to go back into the sky, soon after reaching the sky again my arms get tired as i look down to see a bunch of people scurrying around on the ground. I swoop down next to Leo and land, as I get angrier I start lashing out at the gang members who were still wanting to fight. It all ended after a few minutes and everyone was gone leaving me with an injured Leo and tired arms. After i make sure they are all gone I grab Leo with one morphed talon foot and fly over the traps with a struggle to carry us both but somehow we fall to the ground and fall into the canopy through the leaves hanging down. When we fall inside all my morphs go back to normal on their own, as I lay on the cool grass covered floor I start to go into a daze and pass out. After what feels like moments I come back to consciousness but can’t seem to open my eyes, I try to move my arms but when I do they ache so back I let out a yelp. Just then I hear Leo “hey don’t try to move! You over exerted yourself last week!” I try to scream back “last week!” but nothing comes out I can’t even open my mouth so I compromise and snort at him. Soon I feel my body getting pretty cold, I can finally open my eyes after about an hour and when I open them I see a shirtless Leo putting some dampened rags on my arms and legs. I start to mentally freak out since I can’t do anything physically I start to scream in my head “oh my god he is shirtless! Why is he putting rags on me?! What the hell is going on!” as i am freaking out the memories start to come back to me about the attack and that he was one of me, after that I calm down and try to sit up but Leo puts his hands on my bare shoulders, wait a second bare shoulders! Then proceeds to push me back to the ground gently, I can’t resist his grip since I am so exhausted from using my power without thinking of my limits. When I hit the ground I close my eyes and fall asleep as I feel the cool touch of the rags sitting on my skin. About five more hours fly by as I sleep, when i wake up I am finally able to move so I sit up to look around the metaphorical room and see that there is nobody here. As soon as I sit up the cloth covering my chest slips down a little and I slowly reach up and put it back in place and say to myself “well at least he is decent” with a groan in my voice. Wait a second, did he leave my pants on?! Then I realize I am still wearing my shorts and give a little sigh. Suddenly I hear Leo call from above “oh good your up, you were really out of it when i woke up. I was worried that you might not wake up after a few days” When he leaps down from the highest branch I see he is holding a womens bra and black leather jacket, he throws them at me and looks away. I quickly change and stand up to thank him, he is still looking away so I poke him on his bare shoulder and he jumps away. I back up and tell him “thank you for taking care of me” with a cautious tone, all he does is look down and nod his head while his black and blonde hair falls into his face. I turn around and climb to my perch as he just stands there awkwardly, okay enough is enough “hey you helped me that’s what matters, right?” he nods and i let out a sigh while saying “oh my god“ then I pause for a moment to think. When I finally come up with a idea I accidentally blurt out “have you never seen a womans bare chest before?!” just then his face goes completely red and he stomps off to the other side of the tree and flops down on the ground. Okay now i get it… “hey i’m sorry I made you take care of me” he jolts his head up still red as a tomato and whispers “you didn’t make me” not hearing him I ask him to say it again but he stays silent. I ignore him and climb to the top of my tree to find that all my supplies had run out, I quickly shout down to him “how long was I out?!” Leo stands up and walks over to the bags that were full of food when I passed out and said “about two weeks”. I make my way down the tree with some bags and tins being carried around my shoulders “hey I know you had to eat and all that sorry for reacting that way” he looks at me and smiles my immediate reaction is to say “what?” just as I say that he pulls out some paper from his back pants pocket and hands them to me saying “i’ve mapped the surrounding areas and there are some abandon trucks around this area” and he points to a spot near the misty lands and continues to talk “I think they left some stuff behind before they went in but I couldn’t carry the containers they were in” as he explain I nod and agree to go there and help get the supplies. When we are on our way to the area he pointed out we have to pass through Christain’s gang territory so we both put our guard up and walk past a couple stores. While we are walking I see an old T-shirt hanging out of a dumpster, I run over and grab the dark green shirt with some dirt on it and go back over to Leo and throw the shirt at him “put it on, it’ll hide the fact you have the upper hand in a fist fight” and i laugh a little at my comment. He puts the shirt on and we walk out of the town with no problems, when we are about half way there it’s already dark out and it’s gotten pretty cold, while we walk in the orange sand I start to feel rocks in the sand. That’s my indicator we are getting closer, not long after night fall I find myself using my power to create a bubble around me with my extended skin. When I look over to Leo he is shivering so I finally speak up “hey, you don’t know how to do this do you?” he quickly recipes “no” with a shaking voice. I try to explain to him how I do it “so I just imagine what i want it to look and feel like and slowly extend my skin in that direction” just then he starts to get it and not long before we arrive at the cite we are both warm in our bubbles. We finally see the trucks he was talking about and I lower my head and crouch down, Leo does the same copying me. We head over to the trucks and pop our heads from the side of the truck, there are some medium containers filled with some canned goods and medical supplies. We put as much as we can fit into the bags we brought with us and as we are heading away from the trucks they look like they have been dented but have no scratch marks, it starts to give me the willies and I get out of there with as much speed as I can.
CHAPTER 3:
A few days later me and Leo are sitting against the trunk of the weeping willow just relaxing, i’m sitting there eating an apple i found yesterday and Leo is resting his head against the bark of the tree with his eyes closed. We are enjoying our little break from the attacks and scavenging we had been dealing with lately, when I get up to burry my apple core outside I feel a warm hand grab my ankle and hear “Where do you think your going?” from behind so i show him the apple core and he lets go. For some reason it feels like me and Leo have a close bond already, as I leave to go outside I smile to myself thinking about it. When i step outside into the heat I see a small green snake slithering by slowly, I bend down and show his the juicy core of my apple. The little snake sniffs the apple then takes a small bite of the leftovers before he takes another bite he looks at me like “am i okay to eat this” I give the little snake a nod and set the apple core down in front of him and the little snake eats it whole with nothing left behind. I whisper down to him “glad you liked it little guy” with a smile I walk back into the canopy and make my way around the tree, as soon as I see that Leo isn’t there I hear a screech from above “snake! Watchout there is a snake behind you!” I look up to see Leo frozen on a branch he has made his own screaming at me showing no sign of coming to help. I look behind me to see the small green snake following me around the tree, I look down at the little guy and say “what? You wanna stay with us in the cool shade?” as if understanding what i said the snake nods at my comment. When i reach down to pick it up I notice he hasn’t been exposed to radiation at all but as my hand approaches the snake another scream from above hits my ears “don’t touch it! It will hurt you!” the snake looks behind me and gives a face with a little attitude and proceeds to slither up my arm. I spread my palm open for the snake to lay inside so he curls up in my hand and falls asleep, when I sit down by a large root Leo climbs down from his perch and makes his way over to me as I am staring in my hand at the small snake. I look up at Leo and ask “what should we name him?” as i spoke Leo just glared at me and talked after a little bit “we can’t keep IT” I scoff at his words and pull the snake closer to my chest. I think for a little while and Leo sits down next to me, as I am looking at the little snake he looks pretty young and when i was outside there were no signs of his family. I look up and cheerfully announce “I’m going to name him scoop!” Leo just sits there and nods his head knowing he can’t argue with me. When night time finally comes the little snake wakes up and slithers it’s way to my shoulder and suddenly grows four small claws and stretches out a pair of beautiful yellow and red spotted wings, in that moment me and Leo realize the small snake turned out to be a Mamba dragon I let out a small “oh crap” as I stare at the little dragon. Leo grows a worried expression and states the obvious “you just bonded with a mamba dragon!” I keep looking at the small dragon and Leo then finally grasp the situation “okay but I thought they only bonded to family members!” at this point we are screaming at each other in a panic.
“They DO only bond to family but i guess it thinks of you that way”
“What the hell are we going to do with a deadly dragon that grows to be thirty feet long!”
“How should i know! I’ve never met a killing machine that isn’t trying to kill me!”
By the time we calm down Scoop is just sitting on my shoulder watching us scream. I walk outside to get some fresh air and I don’t stop walking for some reason I walk my into a nearby town, when I come up to one of the buildings I start to shiver at the night air. As I go into the small building i see that someone had left a couple sweaters behind and I go up to them just laying on a broken shelf, as i reach out to the sweaters and pick them up a huge cage slams down and makes a click noise as it connects to the bottom part of the cage that had been laying on the floor just then I scream “oh shit! Why was I so careless!” as i shout I try pulling and yanking on the cage every way i can think of but it’s no use. When I sit down and give up I hear some people shouting outside and all of a sudden the roof explodes from above and gravel rains down on me and scoop, i quickly hold my hand over scoop and burry him in my jacket for safety. I start to feel the giant cage shaking and look up to see a helicopter lifting my cage out from the store and into the cold night air. Before i know it i am way above the ground and the helicopter starts to fly away from my tree, I quickly start to feel hopeless and look down at the ground as we fly away to hell knows where, just then I see a person running after the helicopter but losing ground between us the farther we went, as i was staring at the person i take notice to their clothes and see it’s Leo running after us! I found myself shout out to him begging him to catch up but it was no use he couldn’t keep up. With that I was left with nobody but scoop and my thoughts to keep me company. After a little while I started shivering so I threw one of the sweaters on and laid down against the metal bars and drifted to sleep. When i woke up i saw we were crossing the dessert coming from a different way i had never seen, before we got across the dessert i finally warmed up and took the sweater off, it was a hideous fluffy pink sweater but hey i was desperate! As we are leaving the dessert I start to see some greenery little by little we flew over patches of green land and after ten hours of flight I find myself flying over a forest like one i’ve never seen, it had plants growing fruit and when we got closer to the ground I put my arm through the bars and touched a tree with huge leafs. When the helicopter started to slow down i sat up to look around and There were people gathering around the spot my cage would be dropped but as soon as the cage hit the floor I heard people shouting “what the hell did you do to her?!” and “where did you get her from?”. I took a glance in each direction and saw some people gather outside the cage and to my surprise a lady tried to hand me a piece of some kind of fruit i’ve never seen but i back away from her and continue looking around me. After a little while the loud voices start to quite down and the lady is still holding out the fruit to me through the bars. I can only see her hand but her nails are so dainty and her hand small and soft, I reach out and snatch the yellow bent fruit and take a bite out of it immediately spitting it out because of the gros outer flavor. The lady on the other side laughs and says “take off the outer part of it then eat it” with a gentle voice, i do as she suggested and peel the layer off then take a bite. It has a sweet taste with a smooth texture, it was like nothing i’ve ever eaten before. After eating it I spoke up and thanked the lady after i said that i heard her gasp and shout out “she can speak english!” then she whispered “this is incredible” after the lady left me for a while I look in my jacket to see scoop with his wings out ready to attack at any moment, i rub my finger on the top of his head and swipe it down his back to calm him down and it seemed to work for the moment. I sat down on the bottom of the cage waiting for my fate to be revealed, soon after i sat down a small door opens up on the side of my cage. I walk my way over to the new found door with caution and poke my head out to see that there was nobody around. I step out of the cage to find myself standing on some gravel that’s in the shape of a huge cage around the cage, before anyone can jump out and grab me I decide to make my way into the forest area but when i reach the grass it’s soaking wet and i jump back onto the gravel and stand there staring at the grass. When i look into the forest I don’t see anyone pointing a knife or gun at me so I walk back to the cage where it is safe but before I reach the cage it’s lifted off the ground and flown away. I let out a huff and mumble to myself “oh great now how am i going to get home”. A little while after the cage left I see a tall building in a nearby part of the jungle and make my way to the edge of the gravel closest to it and plop down onto the ground
CHAPTER 4:
As i sit on the gravel I hear someone approaching me about thirty yards away and it’s coming in the direction of the deeper part of the jungle. I get into a fighting stance on all fours with claws morphed on my feet and hands, I put my tail in the air waving around wildly. To my surprise the figure gets closer and closer but just as i am about to pounce the thing coming at me I see it is a man with black hair and a tan hat. I get ready to attack him but he pulls out a large knife i have never seen before so i quickly jump back to the other end of the gravel quart yard and he looks at me with a surprised look on his face. I let out a sigh and stand up on my two raptor like feet and put away my claws that were morphed on my hands, just as i am doing that the man starts to walk again and just as fast i pull out my claws again. While the man is coming closer he starts to talk “hey, i’m not going to harm you. Your one of us!” i look at him with confusion running through my head but once he is in arms length away I scratch at him with fury, somehow he dodged it but it wasn’t quite dodging it’s like he passed through my hand. I jump into one of the nearby trees but find out too late it was soaked and slip off the branch onto the soaking grass. I let out a yelp as I got up to shake all the water off, before I knew it the man was right in front of me! He quickly grabbed my wrists so that i couldn’t lunge at him again and spoke up “hey you need to calm down, I’m not here to attack you im here to show you around unless you want to be out here alone?” I pull my claws back into a normal hand and he lets go of me. I look up at his face to see him up close and realize he doesn’t look as old as i thought maybe the same age as Leo. I take a step back and ask him “why am I here? Where am I? AND WHY THE HELL IS EVERYTHING SO WET!” he stands there listening to me freak out and responds to everyone of my questions “your here because you a special one, you in the middle of a rain forest and everything is WET because it’s a rainforest” I just stand there puzzled and repeat the words back to him “rain forest?”. He then speaks out of the blue “haven’t you been in one before?” i shake me head and he lets out a sigh “so then where did you come from?” i sharply replied “that’s none of your goddamn business” and he peers at me with sharp eyes “i guess your right but you might want to try being a little nicer to me” I look at him with disgust and snidely say “why’s that?”. Just as i finish he start morphing into some kind of large black cat right in front of me still wearing his sleeveless white tanktop and jeans, in that moment I see what he meant by special ones and gasp trying to grasp the concept there are more than two people in the world who can morph. “Okay i get your point but why didn’t you just show me a paw or something?” as he turns back into his human form he says “well up till now none of us could just morph parts of the body, it was all or nothing” then he points to me and continues “you know your something extra special, when the others come they won’t believe me! Hoo wee!” I start backing up when he mentioned others coming and by the time he was done hooting and hollering i was making a mad dash into the forest on all fours after a couple leaps i look back to see if he was following and of course he was in his morphed state chasing me down while letting out a roar. As i am running through the forest I leap to a branch and dig my claws into it to keep ahold and start climbing my way to the top of the tree just when i reach the top i see a beautiful large black bird sitting on the branch, i sit down next to it and it doesn’t budge so i look down to see the black cat stuck on a lower branch. when i look back up at the bird it’s been replaced with a man with only jeans on sitting next to me. I let out a scream and stretch my arms out to form the wings i had practiced so many times and made a huge leap off the tree branch and quickly flew about one hundred and fifty feet away to another tree, when i land i grip the branch with all the might i have left in my claws and sit down. After a little rest in the tree I decide to go to a lower branch, when i get about halfway down the tree i find a thick sturdy branch and started to carve a groove into the wood for me to lay down in. It doesn’t take long for me to finish and i place my back into the wood reminding me of home and i gaze at the sky soon enough i get a feeling i am being watched so i climb my way down to the jungle floor and scratch the tree a bunch so i know that’s my tree, my home for now. I start walking and soon the ground seems to be going up hill so i follow the slant to find a clearing with a crystal clear lake at the top. I quickly make my way to it and step into a shallow part of the lake, i take my jacket off and scoop goes along with it because his breed doesn’t like water. I make scoop a little bed out of my leather jacket and set it beside the lake, he quickly crawls into it and just lays there. The sun is starting to go down so i would assume it’s safe to rest, as i go into the deeper part of the lake the water rises and leap into the deepest part of the lake from there. As i swim my long blonde hair gently glides behind me and when i surface i suck in a deep breath because i can’t use my gills forever but am quickly pulled back under the water by something grabbing my ankle, I thrash to and fro not knowing what to do. Just then i see a hand holding onto my ankle and my eyes go huge, I start to reach for the hand but it quickly lets go and disappears into the water. As i am swimming in place dumbfounded by my new discovery i feel something behind me and quickly turn around to see a Mermaid! Wait not it’s a dude? A merman? But my gaze is cut off by the limit of my gills, i rush back to the surface and take in a couple deep breaths as i make my way to the shore. When i finally reach land i find scoop being jostled around by the cat man, just then scoop pukes acid onto his hand and i cant help but laugh at him “what did you expect attacking a mamba dragon?!” he rushes over to the water ignoring my words and puts his hand in the water just then i see scoop sneak up behind him and light his jeans on fire with a small cough, as soon as he sees the fire he jumps completely into the lake as i sit there laughing the merman pops his head out of the water and screams “hey dont pollute my lake you clutz!”with a pleading voice. at the point in time the bird from before perches itself on a nearby tree and morphs but as soon as he can he starts laughing and pointing his the cat guy. Just then i look around to see three other people like me, not exactly but kind of. A smile creeps on my face as i look around, when the breeze picks up i get really cold and start shaking as i sit on the ground soaking wet with only a bra on and some shorts. I quickly rush over to scooch and pick him up along with my jacket and run out of the area.
CHAPTER 5:
After a few minutes of circling to make sure nobody followed i climb up my tree i cover myself with my jacket and get a good nights sleep. The next morning I woke up to the sun shining in my face through the leaves, i let myself stretch before thinking about what my plan is. A few seconds later i hear those guys shouting throughout the forest saying stuff like “what the hell man!” and “you should have been nicer!” as i hear the looking for me i climb down with no sound and make my way back over to the lake. This time I look into the lake to make sure nobody is there and take off my jacket once again so that i can soak in the plethora of water. I decided while i am here i might as well improve my powers, I start by using my gills and staying under for long periods of time or until i cannot breath through them any longer. After a while of going up and down I feel like somethings not right. I start to swim towards the shore but am stopped by someones voice “wait! Please don’t go!” i quickly turn around to see the merman appear out of nowhere he just seems to come out of quote unquote thin air. As i look back at him he continues “i’ve never met someone who can swim like that! In fact i’ve never met anyone who can be under water for as long as me!”. As he is speaking i slowly swim backwards toward the shore behind me where scoop is waiting for me to return, as i head away from the merman he makes his way toward me but not in a hostile way. Just then i hear the other two loudly making their way towards the lake i rush to the shore and grab my jacket only to jump back into the water and swim to the darkest part of the lake. Behind me the merman follows and i motion to him putting my finger to my mouth with pleading eyes, he seemed to understand and swam to the surface where the other men were waiting. I could barley understand what they were saying “have you seen her?” next i hear the mermans soft voice speak up saying “no she hasn’t why though?” just then the other two say something i couldn’t quite hear with laughter they finally walk away. The merman swims up to me and points to the surface of the water and i quickly swim straight up needing air, when i get to the surface i take a couple deep breaths and look for scoop in the surrounding area. When i look up into one of the trees i see the little guys flapping his wings to let me see him and i smile with relief. I turn around to face the merman and say “oh my god thank you, you saved me back there” and he just nodded in reply as i make my way to the shore the merman stays in place and says “you sure do like water huh?” and for a few minutes i sit there thinking about what to say “well where i come from all the water is radiated and shallow so i can’t say it’s not fun to swim around” then i start to giggle. Just then he swims back into the lake and quickly returns with some clothes i guess he had stored away and he disappears right before my eyes but i laugh to myself as he struggles to put on the clothes while in the water. I quickly look away relizing he is getting dressed and call over to scoop with a whistle and he jumps off the small branch and glides down to me. He nuzzles his way behind my neck to warm me up and i put my jacket on while standing up. When i turn around the guy is gone, clothes and everything! As i start to walk away I see the merman come away from a tree but this time he’s got legs! As i look at the man i look at his silver hair hanging down his neck and he has on a soaking red t shirt and a pair of jeans. His sharp facial features pop out a lot more when he is out of the water, as i am standing there staring at him he speaks up with a gentle voice “i’m sorry for scaring you last night”. I look at him with pity and reply “oh your fine! I’m sorry for jumping in there like that” with a giggle. After a second i ask “hey, would you want to go on a walk with me? I dont know this place very well and i dont feel like asking those other guys for help” he nods his head and we start walking toward my tree and i ask him what his name is. He suddenly looks at me like i had a disease or something and replies “it’s poof, or at least that’s what i go by. I wasn’t really ever given a name but the guys call me poof since i can turn invisible and stuff. What’s your name?” as we walk i tell him that i’m Lucky and he nods. When we are close to my tree we wind up talking about the plants that grow around here and how some of them are edible and some are medicinal. We make it to my scratched up tree and I tell him this is where i will be staying then we continue walking around the area when i find myself suddenly alone. Just then i hear a howl come from a little ways away, I start to run the opposite way ditching everything i had just learned from poof. While i am hightailing it out of that area i hear the sound of a wolf barking and scream “of course he would ditch me when there is danger!” as i am screaming that to myself i get tackled by a huge timber wolf. I lay there and accept my fate of death but as i lay there i don’t feel any teeth chomping on my body so i open my eyes to see it’s muzzle right above my face and for some reason i shout out to it “if your going to kill me now’s your chance doggo!” but instead of attacking me it backs off and sits down. When i start to sit up i see what the wolf is staring at. Scoop has his wings spread out and fangs showing while he stands on my chest, i rub him on the back to tell him he is doing good. In that moment i see the wolf is wearing a grey sweatshirt and some shorts, when i see that i scream “not another one!” and jump up with scoop in my hand still facing the wolf. I back away with scoop in my hand and as soon as there is some distance between me and the wolf i turn around and dash up into a tree. As i sit myself down on a higher branch of the tropical tree i stare down at the wolf and it stares back at me. Just then i see some of scoop’s acid got on the wolf’s muzzle, i glance around and lucky enough there are some herbs that if split and rubbed onto a burn it can heal pretty quick and also numb it. I slowly make my way down the tree using my claws while scoop just stares at the wolf from my shoulder. I make my way over to the herbs and pick up a handful, when i’ve gathered enough i crouch down to the wolfs sitting height and make my way over to him. When i got about five feet away it started to growl but in response scoop spat some acid in his direction and that quickly shut him up. As i put my hands near his muzzle i saw it was worse than i thought, i quickly grabbed the herbs and ripped them apart and started to rub the on the wound. The wolf only whimpered once during the whole treatment and even i would have said some pretty nasty words if that happened to me. When i finally finish i back away with my hands in the air signaling to him i was done. As i grabbed my jacket from the ground and walked away i look back to see the wolf following me! I try to shew him away with my hands but that only made him wag his tail. “oh come on, i can’t have you following me!” i say with a pleading voice but he doesn’t seem to care “fine but you can’t attack anyone!” i say with frustration. I take a look around and see some of my scratch marks from when i first came here and from that i know i have to go to the left to get to the lake. I start to talk to scoop “hey scoop, you think our new friend here can get your approval?” scoop shakes his head and puffs up his chest “so your the only one for me huh?” the small dragon nods and we are back at the lake. When we arrive at the top i see some sticks shoved into the ground but each one of them is holding either a shirt or pair of pants so I shout out “hey poof! You drying some clothes?!” then i see poof’s head pop out of the water with a smile. When i emerge out of the forest the wolf close behind i stretch up into the air and yawn, when i reach the edge of the water i decide to lay down and take a nap in the afternoon sun, after i get myself nestled into the pebbles laying on the shore i feel the warmth of a dog laying by my legs. A few hours pass by while i nap on the shore, when i open my eyes i see those two other guys and poof talking in loud voices on the other side of the lake. I sit up and reach out to pet the wolf laying by my side, his fur is so silky and smooth when the sun hits it it gives a little shine, when i am done stroking his back i lay back down without a care in the world and smush my face into the back of his fur. Unfortunately not long after i got comfy i felt someone kick my leg. While i sat up i saw that the wolf and scoop had gotten cozy then i look up at the person who kicked my leg and punch their foot with a little more force then intended and i hear a crack come from the shoe. Just as i take my hand away a couple shadows envelope me and i find myself being surrounded by poof and the two other guys, i quickly reach for the wolf but get stopped mid stretch. When i look to see who stopped me it was poof to my surprise while i am staring at them with bewilderment i say “i can reach them without using my hand you know” in a rude voice but in reply the bird man covered my mouth and i let out a scream only to be blocked out by his hand. The big cat guy leans down to eye level and whispers in my face “that wolf has been trying to hunt us ever since it arrived and i’m not about to die at the teeth of a dog”i roll my eyes at him and quickly kick the wolf in it’s lower back, the wolf jumps up and starts growling at the men surrounding me. All the men back off and hold their hands in the air. When i rush over to the wolf i pat his head and whisper “it’s okay boy their just scared of you that’s all” and he stops growling and shuts his mouth “good boy!” i say as i turn my attention back to the other guys around the lake. I glare at them one by one and say “he only gets like that when your mean to someone!” and the guys just look at each other and the black cat speaks up “the dogs been tamed! He actually listens to someone!” and as they are spewing out all kinds of comments scoop hisses at them and i nod in agreement. Scoop quickly flys over to them and starts spewing acid at their feet and poof shouts out “hey! Hey! We didn’t mean to be rude! We’re sorry!” as soon as they all apologize he stops throwing acid at them. Scoop then flies back to my shoulder and lets out a tiny snort in their direction, at this point i start walking away from the lake spewing out all kinds of curse words and of course the wolf follows me. When i get back to my tree i sit down at the trunk and ask the wolf “you got a name mister?” the wolf sits there contemplating something then begins to morph, i shout “holy shit!” and jump away because he was right next to me. When he is done morphing I see a guy about my age with dark gray hair and gorgeous bright blue eyes staring back at me, in that moment i felt myself falling back and hitting the ground with a thud as i pass out.
CHAPTER 6:
When i wake up it’s already the morning of the next day, as i sit up i feel something soft under me, it looks like a leaf of some kind and a lot of them! I look around me and see the wolf gut in the distance picking up something off a bush, he turns around and heads toward me with long powerful strides. I quickly get up and see he is carrying two handfuls of berries and he speaks up with a booming deep voice “i picked some berries for breakfast, i hope you like them” i take a handful of the berries from him only making a dent in the amount he is carrying. I sit down on the soft leafs and pat the spot next to me and he quickly sits down right beside me. I look up the forest and say “i’ve never had a berry before” and he looks at me with his piercing eyes and says “it’s good to try new things, don’t worry they’re good”. I slip one into my mouth and chomp on it and it burst with juice that is sweet with a little acid in it and say “mmm it is really good!” while shoving a few more into my mouth. He smiles at me then eats his own in a few mouthfulls, as we sit there i pop one into scoop’s mouth and he pops the berry before it’s all the way in his mouth. I cant help but giggle at the little face he made soon after eating the rest of my berries i get up and stretch then I turn to the wolf man and say “thank you that was very good” he just smiles at my comment as i walk away to gather some herbs he is close behind. While i am picking some herbs i strike up a conversation “so what’s your name?” the guy is stunned for a moment then continues picking herbs and replies “gray, my name is gray” i look at him for a second then turn away with a smile “so how did you know what Scoop was?” then he tells me he use to travel the world before he got brought here and that while he was in the misty land he came across an adult mamba dragon and i let out a gasp at his words while we talk for a while about his journeys we slowly make our way towards the center of the forest when we got dumped. We come up to the gravel and stop to stare for a minute, then i flop onto the gravel and just lay there until gray says “your from the dessert huh?” i nod my head and he continues talking “it must be hard coming from such a dry climate” i nod my head again still while face down in the dry gravel. After a few minutes i get up and we head back to the tree with all the herbs still in our hands and pockets, when we get there i sit down on the soft leafs and start to separate the different herbs. After a little while i look away from the stack of herbs and see it’s gotten dark out already so i decide to call it a night.
The next morning i get up at the butt crack of dawn and head to the lake up the hill, when i arrive i am holding some of the herbs in a giant folded leaf and walk up to the lake “good morning poof! I brought you some herbs!” when i finish shouting Poof’s head sticks out of the water with a smile on his face. He swims up to the edge of the water and happily take the pack of herbs made and says “thank you! I’m just glad your okay to be honest, how is it out there?” i look off into the distance and sigh “it sure isn’t the desert” as i say it i think back to my weeping willow and how Leo must be worried sick, just thinking about it i start to feel queasy and sit down. Just then i hear a helicopter in the distance and hear Poof mumble “they never find special ones this quick” and as he says that i dart to the gravel square thinking it must be Leo, he must have let them get him! When i reach the end of the gravel i already see some people lowering the cage then disappearing into the forest nowhere to be seen. I hold my breath as Gray and Scoop come up behind me, I don’t care to look at either of them and keep my gaze on the cage in the center praying for it to be him. I decided right then and there if it wasn’t Leo i would kill them on the spot, when the cage door finally opens i see a clawed hand reach out from the cage and i know it is him! I run up to the cage and grab the hand with all my force i pull him from the cage and squeeze him into a hug, he quickly puts his arms around me and we start crying tears of joy and relief as we hold each other. After a little while we let go of each other and when i turn around i see everyone who lives here just staring at us. I drag Leo over to Gray and Scoop who were patiently waiting for me on the side of the gravel. When we reached Gray i hugged Leo again and said “Scoop you remember Leo!” and Scoop just glares at him as i remember they didn’t get along very well then i continue to say “Gray this is Leo my best friend from when i lived in the dessert” gray looks at Leo and walks up to him with open arms. As gray gives Leo a hug Leo just stands there awkwardly. I cough a little and speak up as Gray lets go of Leo “Sorry Leo, this is Gray he has kept me safe for the short while i’ve been here!” Leo looks at Gray and smiles. I can already tell they will have trouble getting along…