The humans found her all alone in a field, covered in blood and crying. She was thin and dirty, the only give away to her true nature were the two horns jutting from her skull. If not for those horns she would have looked like any other child who had just lost the only family she would ever have. The scientist who found her had wrapped a warm coat over her shoulders and offered sweet words of reassurance and sympathy. She had trusted them, believed them...That scientist had been her friend, until she'd discovered the truth. On her record it said she had removed all his fingers and toes, cut up his arms and legs into small pieces and hung them from the walls like grotesque decorations. Of course Lettie didn't remember this; all she knew were the cold sterile rooms of the lab. And the experiments. Miles of tubes and wires, a forest of needles, rivers of blood and bodily fluids, mountains of organs and flesh and the never ending flicker of numbers and words across the sickening glow of computer screens were what made up her existence.
Then there were the blood trials. The humans pitted the diclonius against each other, recording their individual variances and what they had in common. Sometimes they tortured one another and other times they performed mercy killings. It wasn't often that a diclonius begged for death, their determination and tenacity made them cling to life with a ferocity that humans could never match. Many battles ended in severe injury and loss of limbs. Until the facility began to run out of holding cells.
Lettie had killed fourteen other diclonius during experimental one on one battles. Their faces haunted her. Her monstrous sisters had taken a piece of her with them when they died. She managed to stay relatively sane, thinking it was kill or be killed. Never mind that they had been younger, never mind that they'd barely known how to use their vectors... On her good days she was relieved she had killed so many, better dead than trapped here forever.
Lettie sat alone in her cell, huddled in the corner with her knees drawn up to her chest. It was a killing day today and she was trying to prepare herself for it. Every time it came around a cold fist squeezed what was left of her heart, no matter how hard she tried killing her own kind never came easy.
Kill the humans. Kill the humans. Kill the humans.
The familiar voice chanted it's favourite song inside her head. Lettie smiled, oh how she wished she could. It was almost time, she could hear the click of their boots coming down the pristine white hallway. She sighed and stretched her stiff limbs. She mentally told the voice to be quiet. They always seemed to know when she thought about killing them, the torture sessions were always more inventive. Their favourite game was to make her watch them kill the infants of her race, the more twisted scientists did not do it quickly. Lettie punched the wall. It was barbaric! She shivered violently, hoping they hadn't seen her outburst. Her knuckles were swollen and red where she had punched the wall. She pressed herself against the back wall as they entered the code to her cell.
They were acting differently today, they seemed distracted and less jumpy. The tangible air of excitement put her on guard immediately. Lettie knew it would be bad. She wondered if they'd make her fight more than one diclonius at a time, she'd heard them talking as they passed her cell a few times.
She frowned as the corridors began to become unfamiliar, they weren't going to the usual place.
At last they arrived at a two story metal door, the humans stepped back. The door groaned and shuddered as it opened, the building vibrated with the noise. She looked back at the scientists. They waited for her to step through. She shrugged and walked into the bright light. Lettie blinked a few times, trying to get her bearings. The air was oddly warm and smelled different. As her eyes adjusted she realised that she was not standing on carpet but grass. Real grass! The blue sky arched overhead. She began to run for joy, but soon realised that impossibly high walls encircling the rough garden. It was just another kind of cell, even it was prettier. She thought about trying to smash through the walls but a sudden shiver ran down her spine. Then she heard it. A low growl that was wild and definitely not human.
She whirled around and came face to face with the most beautiful animal she had ever seen. It was sleek and covered in fur, muscles rippled beneath its skin as it stalked towards her. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Tears formed in her eyes.
For a long time the giant cat and the diclonius stared at each other. The moment only lasted a few seconds but it felt like eternity. Lettie took in every detail, the exotic black stripes, the white tufts sticking out of its ears as they flattened against its skull, even the mottling of yellow and gold in its wild eyes.
Then everything happened so fast as it attacked. Lettie took the first blow to the ribs, its huge paw was tipped with claws like daggers that ripped her flesh to shreds. It roared in warning or outrage when she remained standing. The pain was raw, it made her feel alive.. Lettie screamed as it leapt at her, she fell backwards just in time to avoid being killed instantly. Its jaws snapped as it tried to rip out her throat, she managed to hold it off with her arms and legs as fear gave her a burst of strength. Her injuries multiplied as they struggled. The beast was enraged, foam dripped from the corners of its mouth and she could see the whites of its eyes. She was going to die...
Lettie suddenly realised what the experiment was. Although her race was brutally effective at destroying human life they did not show the same kind of inclination to animals. They wanted her to kill this beautiful creature. She could do it, she knew she could do it. But she didn't want to. It was just like her; fierce, afraid and an enemy to the humans. It was as much a victim of their cruelty as she was. But she also didn't want to die.
How could they do this to her? How could she kill such a beautiful creature?
Lettie felt tears sting her cheeks. She didn't want to do this.
She didn't want to die either.
She screamed, it was filled with sorrow and rage as she ripped through the tigers brain stem with an efficient swipe of her vectors. There was no blood and no sound. She watched as its feral eyes turned glassy and unfocused. She managed to tip its body away from her as it went limp. Despite her injuries she lay next to it and wrapped her arms around its neck, her tears ran into its thick fur as the warmth faded from its corpse.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" she repeated it over and over again through her violent sobs.
When the scientists finished writing on their clipboards and came to put her back in her cell she killed them. All five men exploded in a shower of blood and bone. Many more were injured in attempts to subdue her.
In the end they had to shoot her in the back of the head with a tranquiliser.
When Lettie woke up she knew for sure that she had lost any attempt at sanity. She stroked the bandages around her ribs that hid three long gashes that would leave a scar forever.
Kill the humans. Kill the humans. Kill the humans.
She didn't know how or when but she would get revenge.
Kill the humans. Kill the humans. Kill the humans.
The janitor shuddered as he heard the soft song coming through the monitor in the observation room as he cleaned the floors. He was suddenly very glad that it was his last day, he didn't want to be anywhere near this place when the woman covered in bandages fully healed.