Hey Guys! This is my first fanfic. I do not own any of James Patterson's characters or ideas. This story is about other experiments that escape the School, so sorry. There is no Max, or Fang, or Iggy, or anyone else.
On with the show!
As the lights blinked on, I opened my eyes only to close them again. Too bright. Why did they have to make them so bright? I curled in the back of my cage and covered my face with my tail. Yes, a tail. I'll explain later.
Suddenly someone stopped in front of my cage and knelt with a clipboard in hand. He wrote down something and then looked up at me. Instinctively I opened my jaws and hissed. He narrowed his eyes at me in response. I didn't care what he thought about me. I knew his plan. And he knew that too.
"How does it keep getting out?" the whitecoat asked a female. It. I am an it. She squatted beside me and I let a low cat like growl escape my throat.
"We don't know," she said. "But I assure you all the cameras are faced directly on her now." The male whitecoat reached up and shook the door of the cage. I lunged forward, extracting claws from the tips of my fingers and swatted his hand. (Again, more on that later.) He pulled his hand back quickly. Darn, I'd missed.
I circled in the small cage and then collapsed on the ground with my chin resting on the top of my hands. "I think it's ready." My head lifted out of interest. Ready? They were probably running another test, I figured. Seeing how long I could go without food or water, testing my endurance, or worse, my self defense skills. They left me to wallow in my self pity and boredom.
My name is Cat. I am an experiment in the School. I don't know what it's really called, but here, its known as School. There are plenty of kids here, but no learning. This is where they experiment on children. They mix animals genes into our DNA to get freakish results. Abominations to humanity.
I am part lion. I don't know how much lion is in me. I'm mostly human. My hair is long and blonde and I have arms and legs like you or anyone else. But the thing is, I have a tail also. Nothing's wrong with extra appendages if you ask me. It's about three quarters the length of my legs. It has a slight curl with a tuft of blonde hair on the end. The fur on it is thicker than the hair on my arms or legs, making it fur like on animals. Then of course there's my claws. They come out of the tips of my fingers just like other big cats. I also care to walk on all fours, though I can walk on two legs. I am faster on feet and hands.
Those are the appearance differences. I am actually faster, stronger, and with better senses than any human. I'm not bragging. It's just true.
The thing is these experiments have weird powers sometimes. The ones like a fish boy that can breath air and water, a turtle girl that can scream loud enough to break glass on cue, or a dog. Or more appropriately, an Eraser. A person who can morph into an even more ferocious version of a dog. Any of you out there would think they were werewolves. You know what? You might just be right too.
I found my power recently. I can pass through things. Like a ghost. My molecules just become transparent. It's strange, but nice. I just recently figured this out, and not even the whitecoats knew. This was how I tried to escape about a week ago. Luckily the cameras weren't on me when I somehow passed through the cage. That was all I needed. I bolted for the outside. But I was caught, and nearly beaten to a pulp in the process. The second time, last night, also landed me in the same position. Sometimes I can't control it. The whitecoats have wised up though. Now I'm being watched around the clock.
Erasers run this place. They take orders like dogs and guard the school from any break ins/outs. They're only too happy to oblige any poor soul who decides to run, or just decides to exist, with a chase. Trust me, I know. I've been on the wrong end of the chase before.
I grew up in School for the most part. My parents were teenagers when I was born. So they put me up for adoption. I ended up being adopted by this horrible place. I can't blame them. They didn't know. They were, like sixteen at the time. When I was five they were married and decided to find me. I'm not sure how, but they did.
When they found me I was an uneducated, mutated, and scared kid who didn't even know how to talk. No one ever bothered to teach me. I don't remember how, but they took me. Outrunning the Erasers, they took me to live with them in an RV. I got to know them and grew attached to them. They taught me as quickly as they could to speak, read, write, and survive. My dad had been to the army and taught me at a young age how to shoot. My mom was the karate champion (go Mom!) of Arizona. So I knew how to survive. I already had the upper hand over most experiments.
When I was seven the Erasers caught up to us. They attacked the RV. My dad was at the wheel going as fast as the car would let him. But Erasers are ruthless. They'd tear my parents limb from limb. But what my little mind figured was that if they had me, they wouldn't have to chase my mom and dad anymore. I knew what I had to do. I jumped from a moving car, and was attacked by a scrambling pack of Erasers.
But it only took two of them to take me back. The rest went after my parents. I'm not sure what happened to them. And I don't want to know. Ever since then, I'm back at School. Living in a cage, in silence. I refuse to communicate with those monstrosities.
Now I paced on my hands and feet eagerly. It was restless living in such a small space. Another whitecoat walked by. I walked to the edge of the cage and watched him pass by the cages. My wrist hurt. I'd sprained it last night in the chase. It was among one of the many injuries from being tossed around Erasers like a rag doll. Let's just say I am one purple kitty.
Finally I stop moving and curl up in the back of the cage. Have to survive, I told myself. Mom and Dad risked their lives to make it so that I could. I wasn't about to let that sacrifice go to waste. So I decided to sleep. I spend a great deal of time sleeping. It got my mind off of things. It let me dream about living in some amazing place. Maybe a tiny apartment with mom and dad. Yeah, where we could worry about money. Where my dad can worry about boys I brought over. My mom can tell me how I shouldn't hide my pretty face behind my face. (As it turns out, I also have the ego of a cat.) Yeah...
WHAM!
My cage jolts and my claws automatically extend trying to grip the plastic floor. Suddenly a head pokes into my view. Jason, an Eraser who's been here as long as me, but he liked it here a lot more than I did. But that's an understatement. When they first started injecting him with the grafters, we had cages right beside each other. We were both scared and miserable together. But that was eleven years ago.
"Wakey, wakey. Eggs and Bakey," he sang irritatingly. He was the only one I'd ever talked to in this place.
"Down Jason. Don't scare it," a whitecoat said. He obediently stepped back, not letting his eyes off me. We stared at each other. Both of us knowing I would win this staring contest. I always did. But a whitecoat stepped in front of him with an electrified rod in his hand. I backed away, suppressing a whine. The cage opened and he backed up giving me room to get out.
Knowing what an electric shock could do to me and already in enough pain, I reluctantly obeyed.
"You really tore her up last night," the whitecoat said in a disappointed tone to Jason. The Eraser and my ex-friend smiled.
"Well, it's not my fault. She took a spill," he said smiling. I squinted angrily. I do not take spills. He tackled me and threw me from my legs into a tree trunk. Now my entire left side was a nice combination of greens, blues, blacks, purples, and yellows. With his rod close by he picked up my arm and observed it. All the while Jason taunted me with his stupid grin. The same one that I had long ago planned to swipe off.
Suddenly I felt a tingle. One that was very slowly becoming familiar to me. I was becoming transparent again. I glanced at my right arm. I could see through my own fingers. Uh oh. Not right now. Not in front of the whitecoat. Not in front of Jason.
I felt my body growing hot with panic. Apparently, so did the whitecoat.
"Something's wrong," the whitecoat said eyeing me suspiciously.
You don't know the half of it, mister. I whipped my arm back and jerked away like the scared little animal I was. We were alone in a gray room, there wasn't much place to go without passing through something. The whitecoat followed me as I crawled backwards with one hand afraid to touch anything solid with the transparent one.
"Come here," he ordered as he gripped the rod. I shook my head and continued to back away until I hit a wall. "Come now." He was close. Too close. He was leaned forward trying to grab my arm. He was also invading my personal space. My body tensed completely.
Without warning I pulled back my hand with extended claws and swiped the man's face. Three red lines appeared on his cheek. An internal alarm automatically went off in my head. Jason now had grounds to attack me. The whitecoat howled like a pansy and walked over to the other side of the room.
Jason was already on all fours galloping toward me. My arm was solid now. So I got into a running position and ran on the other side of the room. I charged at a wall and dug my black claws into the surface. Jason, who was now a black dog/wolf thing, reached up easily and grabbed my tail. He pulled it roughly.
"Yeoooow!" I screamed. He smiled a toothy grin.
"Here kitty, kitty." Oh if I had a dime for every time an Eraser said that to me... Flight wasn't working. It was time to fight.
"No stupid, stupid," I taunted back. I retracted my claws and fell right on top of him. He yipped as I landed. My hand went on his back. Curling my fingers and claws dug into flesh and fur. I put my head down and bit into the back of his neck. Jason recovered quickly and rolled me over until I let go.
I let go and landed on my back. He then pounced on my shoulders howling triumphantly as I struggled to get down from under him. His jaws lowered to take a bite at my jugular.
"Down Jason!" a voice ordered. Jason's drooling fangs stopped right before they could touch skin. Both of us were breathing heavily with excitement and adrenaline. Both of us refused to take our eyes off each other to see who had ordered him. "Jason, I gave you an order." He reformed to his human shape and got off of me.
"This isn't over," he said so only I could hear. Still abiding to my refusing to speak to the captors rule, I could only hope he could read my mind.
Oh no, it's not. I agreed.