Escape from the Lab
By: Catia Grayton
Chapter 1
After my lengthy ordeal with the city's cruel form of animal control, I have a newfound respect for the common house pet.
I, Reikon, am ashamed to say that I have been caught by the city's animal control. It all started one night when I was rummaging through some old woman's trashcan. Because of the heavy stench of the garbage, I was not able to pick up on the scent of the approaching humans. Now I know that I should never eat out of trashcans again.
Suddenly, some strange sort of noose on a stick was cast over my head and tightened. Immediately, I spun around, releasing the pole from its owner's hands, and lunged forward with the intent of sinking my teeth into any available body part. My teeth made contact with his forearm, sending my attacker flailing to the ground, with me still attached to his limb. As we hit the ground, I heard another man approaching from behind. Wheeling around, I bared my teeth in an attempt to intimidate him. It worked, for the man stopped, a gleam of fear in his eyes. Looking back, I see that that may have been done as a distraction, for I was shot with a tranquilizer dart by the man that I had previously attacked. Of course, I didn't go down without a fight, landing several more bites here and there, but after a couple more minutes of struggling, the tranquilizers kicked in and everything slowly faded to black.
Waking up, I found myself in a cage in the back of a van. There was a strange device around my mouth that restricted me from biting. The van was still moving, alternating patterns of light and shadow passing through darkened windows. I noticed that there were other creatures in the vehicle. After only a few minutes of fumbling, the device was off, freeing my nose and mouth. Taking a whiff, I realized that they were all dogs and I had no doubt that I was mistaken for one.
After what seemed like an hour, the vehicle came to its final destination. The doors were opened and a human reached in only to snatch his hand back, saying something about a broken muzzle. Another man came to the back of the vehicle with a gun. I pulled back my lips in a snarl, but before any sound came out, I was shot with yet another dart. Stumbling around and fighting unconsciousness, I slumped to the bottom of the cage as the darkness finally won.
When I woke up again, I found myself in small white room with a fence for a door. The overpowering scent of dogs was emanating from everywhere. Wasting no time, I began to gnaw on the chain link door until I heard a door open. Two men walked in, one with a noosed pole and the other with the mouth-covering device and another gun. They walked over to my cell. One man stuck the noosed pole through the fence, fishing for my head. The other reached to open the cage. I saw my chance. As soon as the man removed his hand from the now opened lock, I pounced out of the door and onto his chest. Tumbling over the ground, I reached out and tore out his throat. As I savored the warm flow of blood gush over my tongue and lips, I also felt the pinprick of yet another tranquilizer dart imbed itself into my flank. Turning around to face the one who shot me, I bared my teeth and widened my stance, my orange eyes glowing ferociously, trying my damnest to scare off my attacker. When the perpetrator showed no sign of backing off, I attacked him as well, lunging straight for his throat. After dealing with him, I began my search for the exit.