Anthropology
By: Austin Gardner
CHAPTER 1
I couldn't believe it. One day I'm sitting at home doing nothing, the next, I'm a human experiment inside a transformation capsule. Did I mention I'm only 15? The government came to my home and offered me the chance of a lifetime. They said my DNA was compatible for what ever they were about to do. I asked them what and they said, "We are able to change the molecular compound of the human cells to transform them into different ones. Archer, we can turn you into a dragon." I have no idea what I was getting into when I accepted. I thought, "Hay, things can't get any worse."
So, I got taken to their laboratory (blindfolded), shoved into a glass cylinder, and was told to wait. The glass tube was in the middle of a large room that was three stories tall and filled with monitors. On the second story was a window that had news cameras all pointing at me. What the newswoman was saying was broadcasted over the PA system.
"We are here live at the White Sands Laboratory where history is being made. Young man Archer Smith will go through a transformation unlike any other. Unfortunately, that is all we are being told. We will get you more information shortly."
It was about this time when the senior scientist walked up to my glass "prison". In a muffled voice he said, "Ok Archer. We're ready. Are you?" When I nodded, He motioned to a scientist nearest to him. That scientist than yelled out "Clear!" and then pulled a lever. The room came alive with lights, buttons, and people franticly moving about. In my capsule a headset lowered down onto my scalp. I then felt a very powerful shock and yelled out because of the unbelievable pain. At one point I passed out. When I woke up I heard a voice: "Breaking News from White Sands. It appears that the experiment was a failure. We are trying to confirm... oh… We have just received word that it was a success and…" At that point I passed out again.
CHAPTER 2
I awoke a couple of hours later. I was out of my glass cylinder and in a hotel-looking room. I was lying down on a bed in a white short sleeve shirt and white nylon pants. After I got enough strength I got up and walked over to the mirror in the bathroom. What I saw shocked me.
I looked completely normal. Still a little confused, I washed my face off and took a quick shower. After I got out and put my clothes back on the senior scientist and three government officials walked in. What timing they had. "Son," said the scientist, "How do you feel?" After I told him that I felt fine and just a little confused he replied, "You are wondering why you aren't flying around and breathing fire? Haha! Well it is quite simple really. Your metamorphosis takes a process that will require a time period of 7 days. Furthermore, you will be kept in this facility for that process to take place safely. In order for you not to go insanely mad we have other test subjects that you will be able to become quite acquaint with. You will be kept under optical observation for the time being. If you have any questions, please ask them to me or one of my colleges." And then he left. After a while of lying down on the bed, a siren went off and the back wall started to slide to the left. It revealed a hexagonal hallway. I started to walk down this hallway and it lead me to a very large room that had a gym, cafe, workout room, entertainment center, and a bunch of other rooms. I felt a little hungry so I headed over to the cafe. The food was delicious. As I started to walk over to one of the tables, I finally realized that there were three boys and a girl my age sitting at a table staring at me. Not wanting to look like an idiot, I walked over to them.
"Hi, what's your name?" The girl asked. I told them my name and they told me theirs. The short chubby one was Dave, The freckled one was named Robert, the tall skinny one was Phillip, and the girl's name was Ember.
In their experiments, Robert drank a cup of radioactive liquid, Phillip was testing a microchip implanted in his brain, and they were trying to raise Dave's IQ. I decided not to tell them mine. I was about to ask what did they do to Ember, but a siren rang out meaning that we needed to go back to our rooms. I was heading back to my room when suddenly I felt very strange. It felt like a seizer. I toppled over and vomited in the hexagon hallway. Then I blacked out.
CHAPTER 3
When I awoke it felt like morning. I wasn't in my room but in a completely white operating room. A bright light was shining down on me. I tried to move my hand to block the light but I found them to be restrained. I yelled out for someone to let me out and two scientists walked in. They unbuckled me. But when they were, I felt like they were trying to avoid my gaze. One of them got a mirror from a nearby table and said very calmly, "Son, be prepared for what you are about to see. This might come as a shock to you." At this point I felt very annoyed with the guy and snatched the mirror away from him. What I saw was indeed a shock.
My nose and my mouth were extended to create a short snout. Also, my skin had small black scales growing on it. When I looked down on my chest I saw that I have gained a lot of muscle. When I ran my hand down my back, I felt little spikes running down my spine. And when I got farther, I could feel the spikes keep running down, a short tail? Yes it was a tail. I looked down to my bare feet and realized that I only had four toes on each foot and my nails were gone but instead replaced with stubby claws. I looked at my hands and it was the same story.
All of this came to a bit of a shock to me and I felt a little light headed. The scientists steadied me as I got out of the bed. I got lead out of the room and put back into my own room. I went right to the bathroom and threw up. After a while I fell asleep on the bed. But, I felt very hot and had a splitting headache.
The next morning I got up early because I couldn't sleep well. I got up and looked in the mirror. Everything that I mentioned before just got bigger. In addition my eyes took on a yellow luster and my iris became vertical slits. As a result, I looked like a dragon-human hybrid. And there was still 4 days left before my transformation was complete!
CHAPTER 4
Knowing that I would probably shock the other test subjects, I walked down the hallway and into the café. And of course, I was right. What I wasn't expecting was that Ember looked exactly like me! I walked over to them, still a little speechless, and sat down. Ember told that she was tested on a little bit before I was, but kept secret. It was to find out if the machine didn't just kill me on the spot in front of the whole world.
After we talked about each other's lives before this, I started to feel a little queasy. I went over to the nearest scientist and told him that I felt sick to my stomach. He then took me to an X-ray machine and told me to lie down on it. I did and then he turned it on. He looked at it for a few seconds, then over at me and back to the monitor. His body was blocking my view of it. He turned around and said, "You might want to take a look at this." He moved to the side and I saw what my organs now looked like. My lungs were bigger and moved down to where my stomach should be. My stomach was now two separate compartments and moved to where my lungs were suppose to be, and my heart was right underneath my neck.
Once again I felt very queasy. The scientist steadied my as I got out of the X-ray machine. He took me back to my room and told me to lie down and try to get some sleep.
I tried but I had that same feverish sleep that I had the night before. In the middle of the night I woke up and found that my bed was all torn up because of the spikes on my back and my claws. So, still half asleep, I walk over to the corner of the room and curled up like a dog. The fever was going away and I finally got some decent sleep.
CHAPTER 5
When I awoke I, as usual, went over to the mirror. I found it was a little easier to walk over there on all fours. When I got there I found out why. My hind legs looked more like a dragon with the knee bending backwards. The same thing with my arms, they too bent the wrong way. I was turning around to walk out when something in the mirror caught my eye. I looked at my back and I had two little bat-like wings! This got me excited because I always like flying and now I will soon be able to do it any time I want! It still was a little freaky, but I was happy. Over the past few days I have been more aggressive and my head felt like it was on fire all the time. Also, I couldn't stop thinking about Ember. I don't know why. Shaking off those thoughts, I walked down the hallway. I was about to head over to the café when I realized that I had no idea what the world was like nowadays so I walked over to the entertainment center and turned on the news. The anchorman was saying, "….no idea what is going on in White Sands but we will give you up to date information shortly." To his other anchorman he said, "I can't believe that they would turn harmless little children into mindless, deadly, killing, monst…" I didn't get to hear his last word because Ember walked in and sat down next to me and changed the channel. It appeared to me that she transforms at about the same rate that I do. Her scales were a dark silver. A few days ago I would have thought that was weird and disgusting. But now, she seemed more…attractive to me. She told me to never watch the news because of people like that. I agreed and she put on a history channel. I was about to drape my arms over her dragon shoulders when someone cleared their throat behind us.
CHAPTER 6
Robert told us that the senior scientist wanted to see Ember and I. We made our way over to his office. Before we knocked on the door we overheard a conversation with the senior scientist and someone on the phone. "…just monsters? We made them to unlock the secrets of humanity! …Sigh…No, of course not. They will be delivered on time, don't worry. Ok… Ok, bye." At this time we glanced at each other. Then we walked in. At first the scientist was startled, but when he found out it was just us, he calmed down. We decided to keep what we overheard to ourselves. He proceeds to tell us that we would be taking part in a press conference. He said we would be shown to the world. I asked if we should wait until our transformation is complete, but he denied. We got sent back to our rooms worried about our future.
It was now two more days before our transformation was complete. Today was when we reviled ourselves to the world. I woke up not wanting to. My voice changed literally overnight. Now it was a deep growl-like voice. I would probably have to make a speech. I crawled over to the mirror finding that my wings were bigger and my neck was a lot longer. I look so dragon-like that almost everything human on me was gone.
I crawled out of my room and to the senior scientist's office. Ember was already there. I still couldn't stop thinking of her. I caught my self staring at her and looked away quickly. She must have noticed that because he looked at me and blushed. Then I realized the scientist was talking to me. "Archer, you will be the one talking. You will be coming out first. You will be saying how you feel staying here and how much you have changed. Then you will introduce Ember. Then she will walk out. You then end your speech. Then you will walk back to the waiting area. You or Ember will not answer any questions. Do you understand?" I nodded. Then I asked about that phone call last night. He looked at me quizzically and said, "Oh, well, umm. He looked at the camera in the corner of the room and pressed a button underneath his desk. The little red light on the camera went off, showing that the camera was offline. He leaned in real close and whispered, "You two were made for more than science. You were made for a weapon." Before he could elaborate, a government worker walked in and asked if we were ready. Angry, the scientist walked over and told him we were. We got lead out and into a room behind the pressroom.
We could hear the press yelling out questions. We were so nervous that I wouldn't be surprised if they heard our scales rattling. The senior scientist walked out and we heard him try to answer all of the press's questions. He than said that he would now bring out the test subjects. He walked back out with questions trailing behind him. He told me it was time. I walked out rather unsteadily because I was nervous, plus it was getting more and more difficult for me to walk on two legs.
When I walked out, everybody went deathly white and quiet. I knew they were afraid of me because of the rumors the news anchormen were telling. It was weird because I liked it that way. When I started to talk they all jumped with fright. I told them not to be afraid and told them about my time at the observation facility. Also that I have been going a lot of changes. I even told a joke about how normal kids have to worry about puberty. That got a very awkward laugh. Then I said that it wasn't just me but someone else who was going through this transformation. Then Ember walked out. I talked a little about her, and then started to walk out. With my gaze away from them, they start back up with the questions. I turned around very annoyed and they became completely silent. I snorted with satisfaction.
CHAPTER 7
The next morning I did my normal routine. I got to the mirror before I realized that my feet weren't touching the ground! I was flying and I didn't even realize it! This gave me an uncomfortable thought. Maybe, all of these thoughts, can't stop thinking about Ember, misplaced aggression, all of these actions, were from instinct. I wasn't just becoming more like a dragon physically, but mentally as well. Deciding to let it go, I floated out to the high-ceiling gym were I can practice my flying. And did I practice! The only thing that bothered me was that I still haven't breathed fire. When I cough a black puff of smoke comes out, but no flame.
It was about a few hours of this when I felt suddenly very sick. Luckily, I wasn't flying very high because I fell out of the sky, completely cramped up. I was squirming on the ground for awhile before someone came out to get me. I soon blacked out. Later I learned that the same thing happened to Ember at the same time.
When I woke up, it felt like I got hit with a semi-truck. I felt sore and tingly all over. I was laying on my back with a sheet over me. I looked around the room and found that Ember was in a bed next to me, blacked out. I also found that we were in an operating room, the same one I was in the day before yesterday. They added a two-way mirror to one side of the wall. At the angle I was looking at I couldn't see myself. On the other side of the room was a small window. It looked like morning. If that was true, my transformation into a dragon was complete! I got up slowly to get a better view of the mirror.
Yes, indeed I was complete dragon. I had shiny black scales, my tail was fully grown and had a dagger-like tip on the end of it, and my head was completely dragon with small slits on the side for my ears, my snout was more sharp then that of the dragons I have read about, and I had sharp horns facing backward on the back of my head. My wings were huge! They were bat-like and were about the length of my body. My arms and legs looked very powerful and my claws have grown to a decent size. The spikes running down my back looked very sharp. I bared my teeth and they were not too long but still looked very deadly. I smiled at myself thinking that I look like a very good looking dragon.
CHAPTER 8
I looked over at Ember and, from what I could see, she looked like me but just a shining silver and more feminine. Again he caught himself staring at her. As she was coming to, a voice over the intercom said, "Now that you are both awake, we can tell you why you are really here." The voice was disguised so we couldn't tell who it was. I went over to Ember and helped her up. After she was done looking at herself, the voice continued, "You were both made to be weapons for our government. And now that you are fully grown, that time is here. Soon, you will be deployed to attack a city overseas as a show of strength. You are just animals now, you probably have no idea what I am saying." He said in a mocking tone. But we did understand. And we were angry.
I roared at the two way mirror wanting to startle anyone behind it. My head got really hot and I could have sworn I saw a little flame come out. But Ember came and calmed me down. She was angry two, but she didn't want to confirm their last statement. So, we sat on our beds thinking of what we could do. Then, I thought that we could try to escape. Ember was about to protest when I explained how we could do it.
When we finally finished our plan to get some privacy, we put it in action. I roared at Ember and then she growled back. When I bared my teeth she jumped on me. I struggled and got her off. Then, she jumped up and pushed me right into the two way mirror. The spikes on my back cracked the glass and the whole thing shattered. That was when we heard a hissing sound like air under pressure was being released. We both got very sleepy and blacked out.
CHAPTER 9
When we awoke we were both on the floor and in a different room. This one was solid all the way around. There was no window. And, more importantly, there was no two way mirror. The only things in there were a vent in the top corner, some chairs, and a camera in the corner. We got up at the same time and hugged each other in celebration. Our plan worked perfectly! We hugged each other for a while before it got kind of awkward.
Over the intercom the same voice started talking with us again. "I hope this time you will not decide to kill each other. In the meantime, you will be kept here until further notice. I know what you are thinking. There is no way out of this room. It has solid foot thick steel walls, concrete floor, and we have gas in the ventilation system in case you both get rough again. You are never leaving." What they didn't know was that dragons have a very large lung capacity. We could hold our breath for five minutes if we had to. This gave me an idea.
After we got done discussing our plan very quietly, we put it in motion. First we got right underneath the camera so they couldn't see us. We both took a very deep breath and I cut the wires coming out from the wall to the cameras. Almost immediately we could hear that hissing sound coming from the vent up in the wall. Ember and I covered our mouth and nose to make sure nothing could get in and sedate us. We flew up to the vent and Ember cut off the bolts holding it in place. It fell to the floor with a bang. I could tell it was going to be a tight fit. Ember grabbed on to the ledge and folded up her wings. Then she climbed inside. I followed.
I was right about the size. We definitely weren't making progress silent. After we got passed the air cylinders, we could breathe because of the draft heading into our cell. We went a little farther and found an opening. Ember cut the bolts off of this one also. Ember stuck her head out and looked around. She nodded telling me that the coast was clear. As we both climbed out a siren went off. We then knew they were on to us. We jumped up and flew down the hallway not knowing where we were going. We hoped that Lady Luck was on our side. She was, until we went down a dead end. We turned around and started to go back. We got about halfway and a whole battalion of government workers with guns pointed at us blocked our way. We flinched for a second and one of them noticed the opportunity. He pulled the trigger and shot Ember in the shoulder.
I roared as she fell to the floor. I took a four legged protective stance over her unconscious body and growled, daring anybody to try it again. All the workers did was move aside for their commander to walk up. He said calmly and clearly, "Look at you. You used to be a human being. Now, you are just a savage animal. Don't worry, I won't kill you. You cost this project too much already. But your friend didn't. You will be taken to a secure compound were you will be tested on. She will be dissected for science." Sometimes you know when your life has boiled down to one moment. This was it for me.
CHAPTER 10
The commander pulled out his gun and pointed it at Ember. I was about ready to lunge at him when I smelled something familiar. "They aren't going anywhere." It was Robert, Dave, Phillip, and the senior scientist! They showed up and started shooting at the government workers. They dove for cover and the commander turned around to see who it was. I took that opportunity and jumped at him.
It would seem that the commander was prepared for something like this. He had on a vest which was made of a material that my claws couldn't cut through. Plus, he was very strong for a human. I tried to claw at his face, but he kept it out of reach. I lunged at him again but he grabbed my leg and pushed me down to the ground. He was lying on top of me, suffocating me. He said, "Maybe I should kill you. It would be easier." And with that, he pushed down even more. I could feel myself starting to lose conciseness. I was about to black out when my head felt really hot, and that got me thinking. With my last breath I opened up my mouth and let out a huge fireball right into the commanders unprotected face. He had just enough time to yell out in agony before the fire consumed him.
With their commander struck down and chaos all around them, the government workers were unorganized. I blew a stream of fire right into the middle of the group to open a way out. After I picked up Ember I took to the air and flew to where my steam of fire left an opening. I got through and turned around to see where my allies were. They were right behind me but the turned around to make sure that Ember and I were not followed. I heard Robert yell, "Keep going! We'll hold them off!" After a moment's hesitation, I flew down the hallway leading to the exit. I never again heard from them.
I reached a large hanger were there was two giant doors at the end. The only thing is was that the doors were closing! I kicked in an extra burst of speed. About twenty feet from the door I tucked my wings in and squeezed though the door with inches to spare. Now clear of the building I gained some altitude and that was when I finally got to look around to see were we were. We were in a middle of the desert! But when I looked to the west I saw that we weren't far away from some mountains. Knowing that they would send somebody up in a jet looking for us, I headed in that direction.
Getting more and more tired, I had to land. It made me uncomfortable to be so exposed, but there wasn't any shelter around. Now it was time to tend to Ember. I looked at her shoulder to see what it was like. It wasn't too good. Our scales might be hard, but not bulletproof. Around the wound were cracked scales, blue blood, and the bullet in the middle of it all. I was no doctor bet I knew that the bullet had to come out first. So, with my claws, I reached for the bullet. When I touched it, Ember shuttered violently. I grabbed the bullet and pulled it out very fast. Ember started to go into shock. I thought quickly, "If dragon stories were true, then dragons used to live and die in fire. Then maybe…." Without coming up with anything else, I breathed fire directly onto her shoulder.
When I stopped, her wound was gone. But was I too late? Ember was lying very still. For after what seemed like an eternity, she started breathing again. She coughed heavily for a while, but was alive. I hugged her and almost cried for how relieved I was.
Still very tired, she only had enough energy to whisper out a 'Thank you' before she blacked out.
CHAPTER 11
We stayed there for a couple more hours because Ember was still very weak. When she was asleep I went out to find berries or rabbits to eat. I came back with a couple of plants in one hand, a coyote in the other and five rabbits hanging from my mouth. Thanking my outdoor background I skinned and cooked the rabbits. I saved the coyote for later. It was a little embarrassing because I forgot about my fire breath and started to rub two sticks together. Ember looked at me and chuckled weakly. I looked down and realized what I was doing. Blushing brightly I threw the sticks away and breathed fire on the animals.
When she wasn't asleep we talked about what we are going to do now. I said we were headed to the mountains where it would be safe. Each day we would move closer to them, but only small flights to not exhaust Ember. I offered to carry her but she said she would not demote herself that way. One time we were talking and she asked what we planned to do when we reach the mountains. I said that I wanted to settle down and raise a family. It was her turn to blush. But before she could respond, I heard a jet in the distance. In the middle of the night we would have been safe because of our color. But, this was in broad daylight. The only way to make sure that we stay hidden was to take out the jet before the pilot transmitted our position.
Luckily, the jet was flying at an angle and not directly at us. I took to the air and flew low and fast toward the jet. When I was about right under him I flew straight up and reached him fairly quick. When I did I cut through his wing and his jet burst into a ball of flame. Not knowing if he already transmitted I flew straight back to Ember and told her that we needed to get moving. She was feeling a lot better so we took off and headed to the mountains.
The next day we reached the mountains. We set up a small nest on a cliff very far up so no human could bother us. Awhile later we were flying around the mountain and I noticed something. On the slope was a small house, but it looked like the residents were away. I flew down and found a newspaper saying in big font on the front page: "SEARCH FOR DRAGONS CALLED OFF." I flew back to where Ember was hovering and told her the good news. She was so happy that we weren't being chased anymore that she gave me a kiss on the cheek. I staggered for a moment, but recovered. I looked at her and she just said, "Race you to the nest!" And she took off like a rocket. Smiling at myself, I took off after her.
PROLOGUE
Where are we now? Nobody knows, and we are glad of that. Sometimes when I look at the house on the slope's newspaper, somebody reports seeing us flying around. But they are not taken seriously. How are we both doing? Well, let's just say there are more then just two of us now.