Another day. Another step for science.
Jeb Batchelder breathed a deep sigh as he passed through the sickly clean corridors of the School. A new child had arrived at the labs today. The most beautiful little girl with perfect black skin and a crop of gorgeous brown hair. She couldn't be any older than a year old, maybe two. This one didn't come with parents, and he knew for a fact that no money had been given, so the child had most likely been stolen. Yet another couple had lost a child.
Walking quickly through a few more corridors he finally stopped by a lab door. Bold letters were marked the door informing passer-by's and seekers what the room held:
'Room 11: Avian-hybrid preservation.'
Yes, this was his stop.
Pulling out a set of keys, he quickly unlocked the many locks which kept the door tightly locked. Finally, he stepped into the pitch black room and flicked a light switch. Over head fluorescent lights flickered and turned on, illuminating the room. It was quite a small room. Various pieces of scientific equipment sat on high benches and on the opposite end of the room, aligned perfectly together, were three large dog crates. Smiling gently, he closed the door quietly behind him and headed towards the crates, putting his keys away as he went. As he reached the first dog crate, its occupant was already awake, and staring up at him with big brown eyes.
"Jeb." She murmured happily, a little smile passing over her tiny lips as she reached through the cage bars towards the man.
"Hello sweetheart." Kneeling down, he gazed into the cage fondly at the little girl before he opened up the crate, and the girl, who wasn't older than four, stumbled out and hugged Jeb. He chuckled whole heartedly.
"Nice to see you too Max." Wrapping one arm around her small waist, he pulled Max up with him as he closed her dog crate and moved to the next one. Like Max, its occupant was awake only he wasn't as enthusiastic as Max. A pair of dark eyes stared at him, with arms folded across his chest as he waited for the crate to be opened. "Morning Fang." He greeted, pulling open the cage and waiting for the little boy to clamber out. Which of course, he did. Max waved down at Fang, who gave her a cheesy grin before he ran over and grabbed Jeb's leg, clinging tightly so he was pulled along as the man walked. With a four year old in his arms and another hanging off his leg, he was having trouble moving, but he managed to make it to the next crated. Only, unlike Fang and Max, this inhabitant had awaken yet, and was lying sprawled out on the floor of his cage, drooling slightly as he babbled in his sleep.
Like the others before, he opened up the cage, and shook the four year old lightly. "Iggy. Time to get up kiddo." Growling in objection, Iggy turned over on his side before he wearily sat up, rubbing his eyes, looking up at the three faces who were staring down at him. Mumbling he crawled out of his crate and sat on the floor in front of Jeb, continuing to rub his bright blue eyes as he yawned tiredly. See, these were the days when Iggy could see just as easily as any other child. That hadn't been taken from him yet.
And so began the regular routine for Jeb. These kids were practically forgotten about. They were successful experiments, and that's all most White coats cared about. It didn't matter if they were healthy or near dead. But Jeb was different. He had seen how amazing these children were and so he had taken it upon himself to look after Max. Fang and Iggy, and any other poor experiment that found its way into this room. Feeding the kids didn't take long, nor was it a hard process. They practically wolfed down anything set down in front of them and ate three times as much as a normal four year old. After that it was just a matter of cleaning them up and doing the everyday check ups. Making sure they were all in good health, that they didn't have any untreated skin inflictions, checking that their wings were in perfect shape.
You heard right. There wings.
This place wasn't called 'Avian-hybrid preservation' for no reason. Nor did Max, Fang and Iggy live in a science lab and sleep in dog crates because it was the new baby sitting centre. No, each and every one of the kids in the room with him right now had wings and could pretty much use them. Sure, they weren't that great flyers, but he was teaching them. Besides, they had a few years to go before their wings grew completely. By their teens the kids could have wing spans of over 15 feet and could use them to their full ability.
"Jeb I wanna play with the squeezy thingy again!" Max was sitting up on one of the benches, having just gotten her hair brushed out. Yesterday Jeb had let Max help him mix DNA samples using the dropping pipettes.
"We can play with them in a little bit; just let me fix Fang up." He struggled to get the rest of his words out as he wrestled with the four year old boy, trying to finish washing his face and pulling a brush through his dark hair.
"No!" Shouted Fang angrily, swatting Jeb's hand away whenever he tried to put the cloth near him. Grabbing the cloth he pulled it from Jeb's hand and before the man had a second to react, the boy had jumped from the bench and up into the air, where he had found residence sitting atop one of the fluorescent lights.
"Fang come down right now!"
"No!" Fang shouted again, scowling at the scolding man, as he threw the cloth at him. Sighing Jeb shook his head. God that kid was going to grow up to be so stubborn. Max was still happily swinging her legs on the bench, giggling at Fang sitting on the light. Iggy was sitting in the far corner, having gotten his hands on his favourite toy. A little bomb, which squeaked whenever it was squeezed. However, not satisfied with the pathetic squeak emitted from the toy, Iggy improvised by shouting 'boom' at the top of his lungs every time he squeezed it, then laughing hysterically.
From this angle, the kids looked almost normal. Enjoying every day life as it came. But they weren't normal, far from it. A knock at the door caused Jeb to jump slightly. Not many came to this room unless they were getting the kids for testing, but he knew that no tests were scheduled today, at least not for this set of avian-hybrids. Scurrying over to the door, he swung it open, only to be met by the sight of a fellow white coat holding the little baby he had seen early on that morning.
"Boss says this experiment is to be left here."
Jeb nodded, even though he had been completely unaware that another kid was being left off here. But, he didn't reject the baby, and took the bundle in his arms and a bag that came with her, before dismissing the other scientist. When he turned back into the room with the baby, he saw that Fang had come down from the lights and was amusing himself by tapping the keys of a turned off computer, Iggy was still playing with his toy bomb, only now he was throwing it at the wall and pretending to duck for cover, like the toy was going to blow a hole in the thick concrete. Max was waiting expectantly for Jeb to return, obviously still hoping that she was going to get playing with the squeezy things.
"What's that?" Max asked as soon as Jeb had appeared with the new baby. She was a quick thing, never missed a jot and always was the first one to ask questions.
"It's a new baby."
That quickly diverted the children's attention. Fang jumped down from the bench where he had been playing with the computer, and Iggy hurried over to Jeb, still holding his toy bomb. Then with a cheeky grin, he threw it and hit Fang on the side of the head.
"Ha! I blew your head up!" He cheered, only to have Fang slap him on the forehead. From there the two practically leaped at each other. There's no violence like two angry four year olds having a go at each other.
"Stop it you two." Max scolded, in a very Jeb like manner before she smiled up proudly at Jeb as he stick his leg between Iggy and Fang to separate them. Finally they calmed down, and their short attention spans were drawn back to the new arrival. "What's she called?" Again Max question, scooting closer to Jeb as he leaned against the bench.
"She doesn't have a name." Well as far as he knew she didn't. All her medical bracelet said was 'N88034gnh' which truthfully wasn't much of a name.
"It looks like Nudge." Gargled Iggy happily, having climbed up onto the bench with Max and Jeb.
"Oh can we call her Nudge?" Asked Max, practically bouncing with excitement at the prospects of having another member of their incredibly weird and small family.
"Yeah, of course we can." From the way he was holding her, Jeb could feel the form of the newly named Nudge's small wings pressing against his hands. Yet another child who would never have the chance of a normal life. "Come on, let's get Nudge settled in."
The rest of the day pretty much flew by. They managed to construct a cradle by sawing the lid off an old dog crate then filling it with blankets. He gave the kids something to eat again, and fed Nudge, then let them run about and play whilst he got a couple of hours work done. By the time darkness had fell, the baby Nudge was fast asleep in her improvised cradle, and the other children were on the verge of falling asleep on the floor.
Tidying up, he put away his equipment, and then began picking the kids up were they had dropped. Iggy was lying slumped against a wall, with his toy bomb clutched tightly to his side. Max and Fang were lying back to back underneath a computer bench, both still attempting to talk to each other while they fought back the urge to sleep.
First, Jeb scrapped up Iggy and placed him back in his cage, prying the toy bomb from his hand. A few of the other white coats would not be pleased if they found a toy in the hands of one of their experiments. After locking the latch of Iggy's dog crate, he went and retrieved Max and Fang, scooping one up in each arm and taking them and placing them back in their crates.
"Night Jeb." He heard Max mutter tiredly. Fang and Iggy were pretty much already out of it. Fang was lying neatly on his side, whilst Iggy could be heard mumbling in his sleep.
"Night sweetie. Sleep tight."
Jeb stood and watched Max fall asleep. This wasn't a life for children their age, regardless of the circumstances. They shouldn't have to live in a science lab and sleep in dog crates. "It won't always be this way Maximum." He whispered softly, passing one last glance at the sleeping figure in the cage. His daughter. Quietly, he headed for the door, flicking the light switch before he left, leaving the room and the four sleeping bird kids, in darkness.