---transcend---
chapter7: Descent into Hell
For the next six hours of his break, not caring that he risked exhaustion, Evan stayed by her side. Every fifteen minutes he reluctantly lay her down and crouched just below the small window in the door, just out of sight of the guard that would pass. He hoped that no one would notice that the cameras had been looping all this while.
Thankfully the inhibiting agent that repressed her feline strength did nothing to slow down her healing factor. When he tended to her wounds, Evan could almost sit back and watch them bind themselves shut. It was obvious her body would be fine but what of her mind?
For the first two hours after saying she couldn't make it, Max was almost a zombie. She stared lazily off in space, the only hint to her humanity was a constant stream of tears that seemed to bleed from her eyes. Every once in a while she would mutter something he could never quite catch, but he spoke back anyways, telling her of his days like they were talking at a dinner table. Evan didn't know what else to do. Or even if there was anything else he could do.
Studious in his efforts, never willing to give up on her, Evan kept Max's face free from the ever-present cold sweat and made sure she ate and drank. In her silence he retold her own stories as he remembered them, laughing just as she laughed when he pictured the character Sketchy doing some stupid stunt, or the pranks the Jam Pony crew pulled on Normal. He even told her about Logan and the story of how she came crashing into Logan's life. Evan didn't know if it would help, but he had to fill the void somehow.
Soon Max's body took the liquids and nourishment and used them to heal itself. Max was quickly gaining her strength and by the fourth hour she was speaking normally, though what she said was quite discouraging.
"In two days the base will be virtually tapped out. Everyone will be on assignment, giving us a window of opportunity to-" he stopped mid-sentence, sensing that she wanted to speak.
"I-I'm so weak…" she said feebly, refusing to make eye contact with Evan.
"But you're gaining your strength, your wounds are healing."
"No it's not that…"
Her voice trailed off and he feared for a moment that she was slipping back into that almost lifeless state that he had found her in.
Max couldn't look at Evan because she didn't want to see the people she had failed. In this military world he was ironically her only link to her past. There was no way Max could ever look at him and not see Zack. She knew that Zack was now lost and this person that held her now with those same strong arms, same firm grip, was Evan. In his clear blue eyes she oddly saw them both. His rough hands betrayed that he had lived a hard life like Zack, probably even harder, living alone with no family. His eyes told of how he too had been trained as a cold blooded killer; how he too was taught to plan with the precise and calculated thoughts of a leader, if only for himself. And every kind word he said, so unlike anything at Manticore, foretold the shine of individuality.
If not for his almost innocent view of the world and his strange tenderness she could have easily forgotten he wasn't the older brother she had lost.
Either way she had failed both Zack and Evan, as well as everyone in the stories that she had told Evan when he had visited her each of those lonely nights.
It was during that last torture session that she had let them all down. She thought she could fight them off, that she would never fall like Brin had… but it proved too much.
She had come undone.
Trapped in her mind, she could feel every agonizing move of the scalpel as it tore through skin and muscle alike. She couldn't struggle, she couldn't scream and she wish this agony to be on anyone else but herself. For a while the pain was so intense that she thought they were trying to take back the very heart Zack had given her. With all her borrowed heart and broken soul Max sought to become that soldier they wanted her to be. She was even pushed her so far as to love the very idea of becoming an operative again. Even more then she could remember loving Logan…
She had failed them all…
"It was only the pain Max." Evan spoke softly too her, trying to sooth the turmoil of emotions he could feel through her shivering skin, "No one can withstand torture forever, not even us."
Max as taken aback, had he read her thoughts?
"You have so many people who care for you on the outside. Your friends, your family, that man Logan that makes you smile just by thinking about him. If they are exactly as you describe then they won't care about a moment's weakness. Zack sacrificed his heart to you because he cared for you that much. You can't just throw that away."
"I don't deserve their love…" She pulled away from his warmth and hugged her knees, wincing as her newly healing abs protested to the movement.
"No one has to deserve love. At least I don't want to believe that." He crossed his legs and slumped his shoulders.
He would have to leave soon and he stole another look at her beautiful face. In such a short time the dying embers of her eyes were again blazing with life once more, even if they were damp with tears.
He paused in the open door. "Soon, Maxie, I'll get you out of here."
Evan slipped out quietly into the cool night.
*****
Max was deep in the void when the dream came to her.
~~~
She was running desperately from someone, or something, through a dark forest she recognized as Manticore. The huge trees loomed over her, ancient watchers of the atrocities that took place here. It seemed that the evil here was so pure that it mangled the branches into sickly twisted arms, the roots seemed to grab at her ankles.
Soon her legs muscles began to seize up from the exertion and she fell to her knees. Max tried to stand again, she could feel her freedom so close, but there was a horrible throbbing in her stomach that made her collapse again. Placing her hand where the pain was she could feel the oozing liquid slip through her fingers.
It was blood.
An overwhelming sense of hopelessness washed over her. She didn't want to run anymore. Clenching her eyes shut, she lay herself on her back and waited to die.
"Maxie." She felt more then heard the presence that knelt beside her. The voice was unmistakable. "I gave you a gift because I knew you were strong."
Opening her eyes she looked up to see Zack. He looked sad.
"Please Max, don't prove me wrong."
~~~
She woke with a start, her breathing heavy.
In her chest she could feel her heart thumping. 'Fight them Maxie…'
"I'm sorry…after what you did for me…" she whispered to the voice in her head.
Her heart began to calm. 'Promise me you'll fight them.'
"I promise."
As she slipped back into that oblivion of sleep she vowed that she would fight with her dying breath.
*****
Two days later Logan and the X5's relocated to Wyoming.
The tension was palpable as they waited for night to fall that even Jaxx was pacing the floor warily. Last time Krit and Syl hadn't been half as nervous. But last time the knowledge of Max's capture and Zack's death wasn't hanging above their heads.
Logan just lay on his cot, hands clasped behind his head, staring into the rafters above him. Today was all or nothing.
*****
There was definitely something in the air today. Evan swam harder, ran faster, and didn't even care when they beat him. All he could think about was leaving with Max tonight, nothing else mattered. He would finally have his family.
*****
Again trapped, Max held onto that tiny sliver of hope that had buried itself deep in her mind. So far within, where even the torture could not taint it. She paid no attention when they began to cut through her newly healed tissue for she knew it was only flesh and it would heal again. Max nestled in the idea that there was an end to this pain.
She would fight, and it wasn't hard this day. She could smell her freedom. It was almost as if she could feel Logan and her family so close. And that gave her strength.
*****
Logan sat in the back of the black van preparing his equipment. The others were strapping their numerous guns on and carefully packing the explosives into two bags. The makeshift blueprints lay on the ground and Cam went through the plan once more.
In, out. That is all they had to worry about. But Logan was the crux of this operation. He had to disrupt the cameras, he had to set of some alarms, while suppress others, and he would have to deal with viral detection programs that could any minute boot him out of the system. Max's rescue and their survival depended on how quickly he typed. A challenging thought but he was up to it. He just wanted Max back in his arms and he was determined to make that happen tonight.
So wrapped in his purpose Logan didn't even hear as they closed the doors on him. Only the chatter on the two way ear plugs they all wore brought him back.
"Cam here, can you read me Logan?"
"Yeah, loud and clear."
"Avery here." Avery's cold voice even carried over the radio waves.
"Krit, ready to go."
"Syl here."
"Zane and Jaxx, itchin' to get this over with"
"Jondy…let's get this bitch over with…" Jondy's voice was filled with confidence. It was the first time since he had met her that Logan heard her sound so sure of what she was about to do. She sounded almost exactly like Max when she said that and Logan's heard pounded in his chest. He wouldn't leave Gillette without Max. Even if all six of them failed he would go in after her.
"Everyone report when you reach your entry point. Until then we go silent." Cam said.
And it was just as he said. Silent. Logan couldn't even hear them breathe. He was almost startled when their hushed voices came through.
"Avery and Syl in position."
No more then a minute later Jondy and Krit reported in, and seconds after that Cam and Zane.
"Logan, how are the cameras?"
"Looping, you're good to go."
*****
"What the hell is the point of this surveillance anyways? No one even knows this place exists."
"Shut up Billy, just be thankful we aren't on clean up duty."
Billy sighed and sipped at his coffee which was still a little too hot. With his other hand he flipped through the different cameras. "Damn!"
"What?!"
"At least there is one good thing about this job…I mean if they wanted these kids to blend in they shouldn't have made them so damn sexy…"
Billy's colleague leaned back and looked at the screen that centered on Max. She seemed to be sleeping in her cell. He couldn't help but agree, "That fine specimen has been tortured for weeks now and she barely has bags under her eyes…makes you wonder how long she lasts in the-"
"Shit!" Billy exclaimed, his attentions drawn to a computer screen to his left. It was a layout of the base and several spots were flashing red, "We have perimeter breaches in sectors B, L and S. Whoever it is is attacking through the forest. Fuck, they'll have a lot of cover… we need to secure the forest perimeter."
"Ah fuck," the other said as he grabbed for his two way radio.
*****
"Alarms are triggered."
"Thank you Captain Obvious," Zane muttered under his breath as he and Cam watched from behind some bushes as soldiers cleared out of the building. They waited until no more came out then crept to the door. Jaxx following closely at Zane's heels.
*****
"We're going in," Avery whispered as she signaled a more detailed command to Syl.
Syl nodded and they too slipped into the building.
*****
"Waiting," Krit said as he and Jondy lay low in some shadows pressing themselves as closely to the buildings as they could. The cover they found was miniscule and they were forced to stretch the whole lengths of their bodies to the ground.
*****
Evan was in the middle of training when he noticed a private run in and pull a drill sergeant off to the side. After a quick exchange of words his training was halted and the Sergeant McCoy addressed all of them. "There is an attack on the base, several perimeter breaches on the forest side. We need to help secure the forest edge. Get your shit and move out."
'Perfect!' Evan smiled inside, careful to keep his face cold and uncaring. 'I can easily get Max out in this confusion.' He wasn't about to question what exactly was going on or who the intruders were. Whether it was real aggressors or a faulty wire, he wasn't about to let this opportunity pass.
"XI5-603!"
"Yes sir!"
"What are you waiting fore?! Get out there and help secure the base!"
"Yes sir!" Evan ran out and grabbed his vest. Lagging behind the others, he ducked into the shadows and headed for cell H-16. It all seemed a little too convenient, but there would be no other chance to free Max.
*****
Both groups jumped whatever pitiful defenses remained that they could not avoid and snapped their necks. Earlier they had all agreed to save their ammo until it was absolutely necessary, more specifically the escape. Besides, they needed to keep a low profile.
It was quiet, just like Cam had anticipated, but Avery and Syl were still wary as they winded through the maze of hallways to the largest DNA lab.
Speaking to each other only through sign language they finally got to the doors of the laboratory. Syl pulled out a small torch and started working on the locking mechanism while Avery stood watch.
*****
On the other side of the same building Zane and Cam were doing much the same thing. Their doors were on opposite ends of a T intersection and Jazz was helping out by playing sentry for his owner.
Cam had just broken through his door when they both heard a low grumble developing in Jaxx's throat. They looked at each other and signaled a short conversation.
Zane nodded and turned back to his door while Cam stood hugging the wall, stalking in the shadows, waiting to spring whoever it was that Jaxx was sensing.
Behind him as he worked on the door, Zane could hear muffled cries and bone crunching sounds and when he turned around Cam stood amid a pile of limp bodies. Three guards went down the wrong hall at the wrong time.
Satisfied no one else was coming Cam looked to his brother, "Are you in?"
"Yeah, I'm in."
"Then let's set the charges and get the fuck out of here."
*****
"What the fuck were they doing here?" Syl's eyes widened as she looked around the lab. All along one wall were large tubes. Each one was filled with a reddish liquid, and in that liquid a fetus floated, it's umbilical cord still attached. Avery paused to look as well.
Some had webbed hands, while others had fin like protrusions coming out of the calves and forearms. One had a human face but was covered in spotted fur from head to toe and another had strangely large eyes and feathers growing out of its back and arms. Yet another had a human body but a cat's face and tail.
There were hundreds of them and they couldn't help but shudder.
"Manticore…" Avery muttered under he breath as she set off to place the bombs, "One big fucking freak show…"
Syl couldn't bring herself to move. She just stared at the small catgirl. Is this what happened before they could perfect the DNA and make them look human? All the lives of these innocent babies waster…
She stepped closer and unconsciously reached out to the child.
'Poor thing…"
Syl was watching its face when all of a sudden the child's eyes blinked open for a moment, revealing slitted pupils. It's tiny finger-claws stretched before the clenched back into tiny fists. Syl froze in her spot. Was it just a trick of the light?
"Syl!" Avery hissed, "Come on, we don't have much time."
"Uh… yeah…" Syl could barely speak as she turned and caught the explosive Avery tossed to her.
Syl set it down reverently at the foot of the cat-child.
chapter7: Descent into Hell
For the next six hours of his break, not caring that he risked exhaustion, Evan stayed by her side. Every fifteen minutes he reluctantly lay her down and crouched just below the small window in the door, just out of sight of the guard that would pass. He hoped that no one would notice that the cameras had been looping all this while.
Thankfully the inhibiting agent that repressed her feline strength did nothing to slow down her healing factor. When he tended to her wounds, Evan could almost sit back and watch them bind themselves shut. It was obvious her body would be fine but what of her mind?
For the first two hours after saying she couldn't make it, Max was almost a zombie. She stared lazily off in space, the only hint to her humanity was a constant stream of tears that seemed to bleed from her eyes. Every once in a while she would mutter something he could never quite catch, but he spoke back anyways, telling her of his days like they were talking at a dinner table. Evan didn't know what else to do. Or even if there was anything else he could do.
Studious in his efforts, never willing to give up on her, Evan kept Max's face free from the ever-present cold sweat and made sure she ate and drank. In her silence he retold her own stories as he remembered them, laughing just as she laughed when he pictured the character Sketchy doing some stupid stunt, or the pranks the Jam Pony crew pulled on Normal. He even told her about Logan and the story of how she came crashing into Logan's life. Evan didn't know if it would help, but he had to fill the void somehow.
Soon Max's body took the liquids and nourishment and used them to heal itself. Max was quickly gaining her strength and by the fourth hour she was speaking normally, though what she said was quite discouraging.
"In two days the base will be virtually tapped out. Everyone will be on assignment, giving us a window of opportunity to-" he stopped mid-sentence, sensing that she wanted to speak.
"I-I'm so weak…" she said feebly, refusing to make eye contact with Evan.
"But you're gaining your strength, your wounds are healing."
"No it's not that…"
Her voice trailed off and he feared for a moment that she was slipping back into that almost lifeless state that he had found her in.
Max couldn't look at Evan because she didn't want to see the people she had failed. In this military world he was ironically her only link to her past. There was no way Max could ever look at him and not see Zack. She knew that Zack was now lost and this person that held her now with those same strong arms, same firm grip, was Evan. In his clear blue eyes she oddly saw them both. His rough hands betrayed that he had lived a hard life like Zack, probably even harder, living alone with no family. His eyes told of how he too had been trained as a cold blooded killer; how he too was taught to plan with the precise and calculated thoughts of a leader, if only for himself. And every kind word he said, so unlike anything at Manticore, foretold the shine of individuality.
If not for his almost innocent view of the world and his strange tenderness she could have easily forgotten he wasn't the older brother she had lost.
Either way she had failed both Zack and Evan, as well as everyone in the stories that she had told Evan when he had visited her each of those lonely nights.
It was during that last torture session that she had let them all down. She thought she could fight them off, that she would never fall like Brin had… but it proved too much.
She had come undone.
Trapped in her mind, she could feel every agonizing move of the scalpel as it tore through skin and muscle alike. She couldn't struggle, she couldn't scream and she wish this agony to be on anyone else but herself. For a while the pain was so intense that she thought they were trying to take back the very heart Zack had given her. With all her borrowed heart and broken soul Max sought to become that soldier they wanted her to be. She was even pushed her so far as to love the very idea of becoming an operative again. Even more then she could remember loving Logan…
She had failed them all…
"It was only the pain Max." Evan spoke softly too her, trying to sooth the turmoil of emotions he could feel through her shivering skin, "No one can withstand torture forever, not even us."
Max as taken aback, had he read her thoughts?
"You have so many people who care for you on the outside. Your friends, your family, that man Logan that makes you smile just by thinking about him. If they are exactly as you describe then they won't care about a moment's weakness. Zack sacrificed his heart to you because he cared for you that much. You can't just throw that away."
"I don't deserve their love…" She pulled away from his warmth and hugged her knees, wincing as her newly healing abs protested to the movement.
"No one has to deserve love. At least I don't want to believe that." He crossed his legs and slumped his shoulders.
He would have to leave soon and he stole another look at her beautiful face. In such a short time the dying embers of her eyes were again blazing with life once more, even if they were damp with tears.
He paused in the open door. "Soon, Maxie, I'll get you out of here."
Evan slipped out quietly into the cool night.
*****
Max was deep in the void when the dream came to her.
~~~
She was running desperately from someone, or something, through a dark forest she recognized as Manticore. The huge trees loomed over her, ancient watchers of the atrocities that took place here. It seemed that the evil here was so pure that it mangled the branches into sickly twisted arms, the roots seemed to grab at her ankles.
Soon her legs muscles began to seize up from the exertion and she fell to her knees. Max tried to stand again, she could feel her freedom so close, but there was a horrible throbbing in her stomach that made her collapse again. Placing her hand where the pain was she could feel the oozing liquid slip through her fingers.
It was blood.
An overwhelming sense of hopelessness washed over her. She didn't want to run anymore. Clenching her eyes shut, she lay herself on her back and waited to die.
"Maxie." She felt more then heard the presence that knelt beside her. The voice was unmistakable. "I gave you a gift because I knew you were strong."
Opening her eyes she looked up to see Zack. He looked sad.
"Please Max, don't prove me wrong."
~~~
She woke with a start, her breathing heavy.
In her chest she could feel her heart thumping. 'Fight them Maxie…'
"I'm sorry…after what you did for me…" she whispered to the voice in her head.
Her heart began to calm. 'Promise me you'll fight them.'
"I promise."
As she slipped back into that oblivion of sleep she vowed that she would fight with her dying breath.
*****
Two days later Logan and the X5's relocated to Wyoming.
The tension was palpable as they waited for night to fall that even Jaxx was pacing the floor warily. Last time Krit and Syl hadn't been half as nervous. But last time the knowledge of Max's capture and Zack's death wasn't hanging above their heads.
Logan just lay on his cot, hands clasped behind his head, staring into the rafters above him. Today was all or nothing.
*****
There was definitely something in the air today. Evan swam harder, ran faster, and didn't even care when they beat him. All he could think about was leaving with Max tonight, nothing else mattered. He would finally have his family.
*****
Again trapped, Max held onto that tiny sliver of hope that had buried itself deep in her mind. So far within, where even the torture could not taint it. She paid no attention when they began to cut through her newly healed tissue for she knew it was only flesh and it would heal again. Max nestled in the idea that there was an end to this pain.
She would fight, and it wasn't hard this day. She could smell her freedom. It was almost as if she could feel Logan and her family so close. And that gave her strength.
*****
Logan sat in the back of the black van preparing his equipment. The others were strapping their numerous guns on and carefully packing the explosives into two bags. The makeshift blueprints lay on the ground and Cam went through the plan once more.
In, out. That is all they had to worry about. But Logan was the crux of this operation. He had to disrupt the cameras, he had to set of some alarms, while suppress others, and he would have to deal with viral detection programs that could any minute boot him out of the system. Max's rescue and their survival depended on how quickly he typed. A challenging thought but he was up to it. He just wanted Max back in his arms and he was determined to make that happen tonight.
So wrapped in his purpose Logan didn't even hear as they closed the doors on him. Only the chatter on the two way ear plugs they all wore brought him back.
"Cam here, can you read me Logan?"
"Yeah, loud and clear."
"Avery here." Avery's cold voice even carried over the radio waves.
"Krit, ready to go."
"Syl here."
"Zane and Jaxx, itchin' to get this over with"
"Jondy…let's get this bitch over with…" Jondy's voice was filled with confidence. It was the first time since he had met her that Logan heard her sound so sure of what she was about to do. She sounded almost exactly like Max when she said that and Logan's heard pounded in his chest. He wouldn't leave Gillette without Max. Even if all six of them failed he would go in after her.
"Everyone report when you reach your entry point. Until then we go silent." Cam said.
And it was just as he said. Silent. Logan couldn't even hear them breathe. He was almost startled when their hushed voices came through.
"Avery and Syl in position."
No more then a minute later Jondy and Krit reported in, and seconds after that Cam and Zane.
"Logan, how are the cameras?"
"Looping, you're good to go."
*****
"What the hell is the point of this surveillance anyways? No one even knows this place exists."
"Shut up Billy, just be thankful we aren't on clean up duty."
Billy sighed and sipped at his coffee which was still a little too hot. With his other hand he flipped through the different cameras. "Damn!"
"What?!"
"At least there is one good thing about this job…I mean if they wanted these kids to blend in they shouldn't have made them so damn sexy…"
Billy's colleague leaned back and looked at the screen that centered on Max. She seemed to be sleeping in her cell. He couldn't help but agree, "That fine specimen has been tortured for weeks now and she barely has bags under her eyes…makes you wonder how long she lasts in the-"
"Shit!" Billy exclaimed, his attentions drawn to a computer screen to his left. It was a layout of the base and several spots were flashing red, "We have perimeter breaches in sectors B, L and S. Whoever it is is attacking through the forest. Fuck, they'll have a lot of cover… we need to secure the forest perimeter."
"Ah fuck," the other said as he grabbed for his two way radio.
*****
"Alarms are triggered."
"Thank you Captain Obvious," Zane muttered under his breath as he and Cam watched from behind some bushes as soldiers cleared out of the building. They waited until no more came out then crept to the door. Jaxx following closely at Zane's heels.
*****
"We're going in," Avery whispered as she signaled a more detailed command to Syl.
Syl nodded and they too slipped into the building.
*****
"Waiting," Krit said as he and Jondy lay low in some shadows pressing themselves as closely to the buildings as they could. The cover they found was miniscule and they were forced to stretch the whole lengths of their bodies to the ground.
*****
Evan was in the middle of training when he noticed a private run in and pull a drill sergeant off to the side. After a quick exchange of words his training was halted and the Sergeant McCoy addressed all of them. "There is an attack on the base, several perimeter breaches on the forest side. We need to help secure the forest edge. Get your shit and move out."
'Perfect!' Evan smiled inside, careful to keep his face cold and uncaring. 'I can easily get Max out in this confusion.' He wasn't about to question what exactly was going on or who the intruders were. Whether it was real aggressors or a faulty wire, he wasn't about to let this opportunity pass.
"XI5-603!"
"Yes sir!"
"What are you waiting fore?! Get out there and help secure the base!"
"Yes sir!" Evan ran out and grabbed his vest. Lagging behind the others, he ducked into the shadows and headed for cell H-16. It all seemed a little too convenient, but there would be no other chance to free Max.
*****
Both groups jumped whatever pitiful defenses remained that they could not avoid and snapped their necks. Earlier they had all agreed to save their ammo until it was absolutely necessary, more specifically the escape. Besides, they needed to keep a low profile.
It was quiet, just like Cam had anticipated, but Avery and Syl were still wary as they winded through the maze of hallways to the largest DNA lab.
Speaking to each other only through sign language they finally got to the doors of the laboratory. Syl pulled out a small torch and started working on the locking mechanism while Avery stood watch.
*****
On the other side of the same building Zane and Cam were doing much the same thing. Their doors were on opposite ends of a T intersection and Jazz was helping out by playing sentry for his owner.
Cam had just broken through his door when they both heard a low grumble developing in Jaxx's throat. They looked at each other and signaled a short conversation.
Zane nodded and turned back to his door while Cam stood hugging the wall, stalking in the shadows, waiting to spring whoever it was that Jaxx was sensing.
Behind him as he worked on the door, Zane could hear muffled cries and bone crunching sounds and when he turned around Cam stood amid a pile of limp bodies. Three guards went down the wrong hall at the wrong time.
Satisfied no one else was coming Cam looked to his brother, "Are you in?"
"Yeah, I'm in."
"Then let's set the charges and get the fuck out of here."
*****
"What the fuck were they doing here?" Syl's eyes widened as she looked around the lab. All along one wall were large tubes. Each one was filled with a reddish liquid, and in that liquid a fetus floated, it's umbilical cord still attached. Avery paused to look as well.
Some had webbed hands, while others had fin like protrusions coming out of the calves and forearms. One had a human face but was covered in spotted fur from head to toe and another had strangely large eyes and feathers growing out of its back and arms. Yet another had a human body but a cat's face and tail.
There were hundreds of them and they couldn't help but shudder.
"Manticore…" Avery muttered under he breath as she set off to place the bombs, "One big fucking freak show…"
Syl couldn't bring herself to move. She just stared at the small catgirl. Is this what happened before they could perfect the DNA and make them look human? All the lives of these innocent babies waster…
She stepped closer and unconsciously reached out to the child.
'Poor thing…"
Syl was watching its face when all of a sudden the child's eyes blinked open for a moment, revealing slitted pupils. It's tiny finger-claws stretched before the clenched back into tiny fists. Syl froze in her spot. Was it just a trick of the light?
"Syl!" Avery hissed, "Come on, we don't have much time."
"Uh… yeah…" Syl could barely speak as she turned and caught the explosive Avery tossed to her.
Syl set it down reverently at the foot of the cat-child.