Chapter 3
By the time we reached my family's apartment, an entire floor in the tower, our party had grown by two. Zathan and Duck added some variety to our otherwise female group. I was used to this. Zathan was the alpha male to me and Duck… well, Duck was Duck. He just kinda did his own thing.
"So who clocked your nose, Hope?" Zathan asked as I was unlocking the door. "And why wasn't it me?" Because generally they didn't train males and females together? I rolled my eyes.
"Loni got me in training today. I was careless." I shrugged. "No big whoopee pie."
"Loni, really. There's no need to injure Hope over Lil Ole me," Duck joked flirtatiously. "There's plenty of Duck to go around." Loni laughed.
"Actually, it was over her dad. She says I'm not allowed to flirt with him! The audacity!"
"You never were! He's my fath-" A scream rang through the halls of the tower, stopping our reverie. Unfortunately… we were all used to such occurrences. Snow's method of keeping us Humutts in line. We all knew very well who… or what was hidden deep down in the basement levels of our tower as well as what was happening. But no one dared to even breathe a word…
"Dora." My thoughts were instantly overrun with concern for my little sister, who should be in bed by now. However, those screams always woke her up. I made a beeline for Dora's room, leaving my friends to fend for themselves. They knew where everything was, practically living here anyway.
Sure enough, Dora was sitting up in her bed, hands clamped over her ears. I was used to the screams as they occurred every night, but Dora was several years younger than I. Her youthful innocence couldn't bear the sound of torture. "Hey, Dora." She instantly turned towards me.
"Sissy…" I sat beside her, pulling the mousey girl close. I wasn't even caring about my friends right now. All that mattered was Dora. "I'm scared…" Her arms snaked tightly around my waist. "Will he…"
"No, Dors. Snow's not that dumb." I gently rocked her, nuzzling the top of her head. "You could never EVER do anything to warrant that… You are far too good…" This eased her trembling a little.
"He's coming tomorrow…" I didn't respond. I certainly wasn't going to lie to her about it. There was no point in denying the truth. "Why?"
"I don't know… He just pops in to check on us every now and then." I smiled at her in an attempt at reassurance. "Nothing too serious. You'll just have to stand in formation. Maybe answer 'Yes, Sir' or 'No, Sir' a few times." She nodded but I could easily read the nerves in her eyes. "Want me to sing you to sleep?" That always calmed her right down.
"Please, Sissy?" I smiled.
"Get comfy." Dora flashed a blindingly bright smile before snuggling up under her sheets. She got waaaaay too excited over my singing to her. But it made her happy so I continued doing it. It didn't take very long for her to get cozy, so I went aheard and pressed play on her nearby stereo. A soft guitar melody rose from it, providing the base for the lullaby from my mother's native District 2.
"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'd never let you go…
When all those shadows almost killed your light…"
Her eyes were already drifting closed, making me smile through the song. She was never able to last through the first chorus.
"I remember you saying 'don't leave me here alone'…
But all that's dead and gone and past tonight…"
I noticed an echo in the guitar and turned to find my father sitting in the corner, accompanying the recording on his guitar. This was a rare treat as, like me, Father was very private about this talent. It was reserved solely for Dora and I. I must have stopped singing in my thoughts because Dora stirred and Father mouthed "Go on."
"Just close your eyes…
The sun is going down…
You'll be alright…
No one can hurt you now…
Come morning light…
You and I'll be safe…
And…
Sound…"
By this time, Dora was out cold. I smiled. Dora never could last long through the song. Normally, I would've still continued but Father stopped me. "Your friends are waiting. I'll watch her."
"You sure?" He nodded. "Ok then…" I kissed his cheek, knowing my friends were likely to hold my attention for the rest of the night. "Goodnight, Father."
"Goodnight, Hope." I made my way back to the living room, tuning out the cries that still struggled for an answer. The danger of experimenting with animal DNA and humans: some become more animal and less human… Much more…
"Hope! Where are you? Zathan's hogging the snacks!" The call brought me back to earth as well as a well-needed laugh. Zathan was known to eat a lot.
"Zathan, share the snacks," I told him, joining my rather eclectic "pack". Pack here simply referred to my closest friends. This included my male counterpart, Zathan the wolf; my betas Loni, Elli, and Royelle who were a snake, jaguar, and komodo dragon respectively; and the dopplegangers, Duck the goose and Coda the bat. Coda was actually in training with the other nocturnal humutts right now, but he'd almost certainly join us later.
I took a seat between Duck and Loni, using Loni as a pillow and Duck as a footrest. "Anything good on TV?" Royelle tilted her head from side to side in an "eh" motion.
"Looks like an interview with your dad and Ceasar."
"And may I just say that Mr. C is looking extra fine in this." We all gave our local flirt an incredulous look.
"He's wearing the same thing he always does, Loni. How can he be extra anything?"
"I have to agree with Zathan's logic on this one, Loni. Father wears the same outfit all the tame." Literally, his closet is a slew of red, black, and white. "He doesn't look any different than usual."
"Shh! They're talking about us!" We all turned our attention to the television. Naturally, we all knew they were actually talking about our past, not us. Only the Capitol still remembered we ever even "existed." And Ceasar Flickerman was just fascinated with us. It kinda bordered on obsessive.
"Now it's been several years since the, uh, experiments…"
"Humutts," Father corrected. Seemed no one ever remembered what we're called.
"Pardon me. Since the Humutts were eradicated by disease. Have there been any attempts to begin the program anew?"
"No. There were too many unsolved problems from the original program. The cost simply outweighed any good the Humutts could provide." That wasn't completely true. They had tried new methods for creating more mutts, but none were successful so it was terminated. Of course, Snow didn't want anyone to know.
"I see. So the Incident had nothing to do with this decision?" We all stiffened at the mention of a particularly ugly part of our short history. Father seemed just as uncomfortable.
"That might have had some… weight in the considerations, yes." Flickerman nodded in what I assumed was agreement.
"Such a shame that. The few Humutts I met were certainly quite tame and extremely polite considering." Father gave that smirk that meant I would be beating dozens of female, power-hungry scientists off for a month. Joy.
"Well, we were certainly proud of the way we trained them. In more ways than one." Smooth, Father. "Unfortunately, a risk in experimenting with animal DNA…"
Eyes red with feral fury stared, sending a shiver of sheer terror down my spine…
"Sometimes a few become more human than animal…"
The creature stalked forward to corner me, raising one blood-soaked claw…
"And too often… more animal than human…"
I closed my eyes, bracing for the killing strike…
The television clicked off, offering a desperately needed respite from a bad memory. "It's late. We have a big day tomorrow." I was surprised to hear Duck say. He turned his gaze to me, obviously waiting for my word. Once I was able to completely shake the cobwebs of memory from my brain, I nodded.
"He's right. Let's get to bed."