Chapter Sixteen
Just then, there was a knock at the door and James and Tania looked over to the glass window to see Cam and Barry.
Tania opened the door and as well as the rhino and Warthog, there was a very old Galapagos turtle with thick white eyebrows, a long white beard and wearing brown robes and holding a walking stick.
"Gramps!" Tania cried then turned to James.
"George is here!" she called.
"Good day to you young Tania." George said, "I take it our new additions are here?"
Tania nodded and welcomed the old turtle in where he saw the newly mutated wolf and tiger sitting together on the bed holding each other in an act of grief as well as attempting to comfort each other.
James looked over at the old turtle and gestured to a seat for him to sit in so he could speak to the couple.
"Thank you." He said gratefully to the Chimpanzee, "I think it wise I speak to our guests alone for a bit." He advised.
"As you wish Gramps." James said, "I'll be just outside the room if you need me." He then gestured with Tania to follow him outside which she did.
Once they did, James turned to the Panda, Rhino, and Warthog.
"We've had a few people get curious about our new arrivals." Cam reported.
"They're all getting excited as well." Barry agreed "it's been a while since we had anyone new arrive in the village."
"Well, given the emotional state of our new friends." James said, "We should tell everyone to leave them be for a while, at least until they get settled, it can be difficult, especially for those who had been changed so quickly."
"I can relate to that." Tania said, "One of the reasons I decided to stay and help."
"Once Sephie's returned from patrol and is cleaned up, maybe she can help?" Cam asked as he knew how Sephie was able to help newcomers settle in, given her training in counselling before she mutated.
"It's possible." Tania said.
"Although." James said darkly "I am concerned we may have another one of those to deal with, if they reacted badly to their mutations."
"What was that, James?" Barry asked.
"We might get another turncoat." James replied looking over his shoulder through the window to see Samuel sitting up and looking rather angry as well as heartbroken as he faced George.
Tania looked a little sick as she looked at the Chimpanzee.
"You don't think that could happen, not twice?" she asked.
"Oh man I hope not!" Barry agreed.
"Me neither." James said, "But after how Diablo reacted when he first mutated and never could adjust to the rules here, thus why he went rogue." He paused.
"But I hope I'm wrong this time," he said.
"I do too!" Cam said, "I never thought I'd be hoping you to be wrong before Doctor!" he laughed sheepishly.
James just snorted with mirth and looked back through the window to watch.
"I hope those two are in a listening mood." He muttered.
Back in the medical room, George sat in the chair facing Samuel and Alexandra who looked up at him.
Alexandra gasped a little upon seeing a giant turtle before her, and Samuel growled but when George spoke kindly to them, they both relaxed slightly.
"Good morning." George said, "I am George, the first of the Mutants and Founder of the Underground Sanctuary of Mutopia."
"What?!" Samuel asked in an appalled tone, yet Alexandra held his hands and looked at George.
"Mut-what?" she asked.
"Mutopia." George repeated.
"Mutopia?" Samuel asked, "What the hell is Mutopia!?" he demanded angrily.
"It is a sanctuary I founded many years ago for outcasts and mutants." George explained "We're deep below the city of Chicago, where Cam and Barry found you hours before."
Samuel and Alexandra looked at each other, then around the room and took in the rocky cave like room filled with medical beds and equipment, the kind you would find in an average hospital or surgery, yet in a large cave with crystals lighting it along with a few lamps.
"Mutants...Underground?" Alexandra stammered not believing what she was hearing.
"What...what the hell are you talking about!?" Samuel demanded again in the same angry tone, yet George didn't flinch as he was used to the bad reactions of most newcomers to Mutopia.
But he didn't blame them, having their lives snatched away so suddenly and waking up in a different body.
"You are deep underground in a hidden sanctuary hidden away from the humans." George continued.
"We're underground?" Alexandra asked once again looking at the rocky cave area around them.
George nodded.
"I know this is very hard for you both, and I understand your fear and confusion."
Samuel turned to the turtle again, his eyes narrowed and flashing.
"Why are we like this?" he snarled "What did you do to us!?"
"I'll take that question!"
George looked behind him to see James had re-entered the room and was holding up a small vial of clear water.
George wasn't too happy that the Chimpanzee had come back in as he wanted to talk to their new arrivals in private, but given James's look, he was having fears of what happened with Diablo happening again and he wanted to be close by just in case.
So, the turtle nodded at James and let him speak.
"According to Cam and Barry," James informed the couple "Your bodies were damaged beyond saving."
Alexandra placed her hand on her shoulder as she remembered where she had been shot, she along with Samuel still wore their bloodstained clothes.
"You my dear." James informed Alexandra "Had sustained a gunshot wound that sliced your subclavian artery in the shoulder and you suffered a haemorrhage and cardiac arrest."
Alexandra's eyes widened as she realised what vain the bullet had hit as well as the consequences of what would be the outcome, given her nurse training.
"Your boyfriend on the other hand sustained several gunshot wounds to his chest and arms and one had almost pierced his heart." James continued.
Alexandra looked at Samuel who looked rather stricken when he heard that, yet her attentions turned to the subject and what happened to her and Samuel afterwards and how they were still alive.
"But what turned us into these... these... animals we have become?" Alexandra asked.
"I want to know that too!" Samuel agreed finding his voice.
James walked over to them showing the water in the vial.
"You were given this." He spoke.
Alexandra and Samuel analysed the water and frowned.
"Water?" Alexandra asked.
"What is that?" Samuel followed up.
"It is the source of your mutations." George explained "From the well of Mutopia."
"I don't understand?" Alexandra said, "How can water turn us into these creatures?" she gestured to herself and Samuel.
"This is no ordinary water." George spoke up "It is the source of all our mutations, mine, James, and yours." He leaned on his walking stick "This water is still very much a mystery to us despite its magic."
"M..M... M...Magic?" Alexandra stuttered.
"Source of Mutopia?" Samuel demanded again "What...what in the world are you talking about? Mutants? Underground city? Magic!?"
"This water." George continued in the same calm kind voice he spoke in "This is what saved your lives, one drop of this water, and all life-threatening wounds and sickness are cured, but at a price, for the moment the water is swallowed, your humanity is sacrificed, and you become what you are."
Alexandra gasped once again looking at her hands and feeling her muzzle, and Samuel looked at his paws and touched his face, once again feeling the fur on his face as well as whiskers, and the claws on the ends of his fingers.
George sighed as he looked at the couple who still looked frightened, but again he understood their feelings as more people who had come to Mutopia had reacted this way.
"I know this is a lot to take in," he spoke "But this is all true, and I wish to reassure you that we are good people, and we want to help you, where you are is a safe haven for those like us, as the humans would never accept us and will want to harm us all because of what we are, despite us being good and peaceful."
Alexandra turned to George again.
"Wait what..." she said "You mean to say, we're stuck like this? Stuck as mutant animals for the rest of our lives!?"
Samuel's head jerked up when he heard that, and a feeling of shock washed over him as thoughts of his family and friends back home in Texas came to him.
"Wait what!?" he asked "Is that true? We're permanently like this!?"
"Yes." George said, James nodding with him, a twisted knot formed in his stomach as he remembered before giving bad news to patients in his years as a human before he mutated, one of the times when he hated his profession seeing the devastated looks on the patients faces as well as his loved ones when delivering life change bad news.
This was no different as Samuel choked on his words as he took in the news, yet what the Chimpanzee didn't expect was to see Alexandra collapse in a dead faint on the floor!
"Alex!" Samuel yelled as he leapt out of the bed and gathered his seemingly lifeless girlfriend in his arms, then he yelled in shock as he saw he had a long-striped tail coming out from behind him!
George almost fell out of his chair as that happened, but he managed to steady himself and stand up.
James ran over to assist the tiger pick up the wolf and guided him over to the neighbouring bed where Alexandra had been before.
"A rather large shock I suppose." George stated to which Samuel glared at him.
"No shit Sherlock!" he snarled under his breath then looked at Alexandra as he lay her on the bed.
"Is she gonna be okay?" he asked James taking one of Alexandra's now clawed hand into his own.
"it's just a faint son." James reported "She'll be alright."
"That's good news." George commented as he went over to join them and sat down.
James analysed Alexandra then gestured for Samuel to sit in the chair whilst moving the other chair for George to sit down so he could continue speaking to the couple when Alexandra came to.
About ten minutes passed and Alexandra awoke again much to Samuel's relief.
As she opened her eyes, Alexandra wondered if she had dreamt the whole thing and she and Samuel would be back in their hotel room in the city, yet as she saw the concerned looking humanoid tiger above her, her heart sank as she remembered what happened earlier.
"Alex!" Samuel's voice came from the tiger "Are you alright?"
"I think so..." Alexandra replied "Sam?" she asked holding his paw "This is no dream, is it? This is our life now?"
"No!" Samuel said suddenly "It...it can't be!"
"But Sam?" Alexandra said remembering what George said, "What choice do we have?"
"No!" Samuel stated "There has to be some way, something to reverse this...we can't be like this forever..."
"I'm afraid that's not possible son." James butted in making Samuel look over.
"Despite the many experiments and studying, there is no reverse effects, once you change, there's no turning back."
"We mean we can't go back?" Alexandra gasped as she held Samuel hold her close as if to protect her.
"None at all." James confirmed.
"You're telling us...we're stuck like this for the rest of our lives!?" Samuel shouted.
"Yes…" James replied flinching at Samuel's outburst.
"I know this is hard to hear..."
"You think!?" Samuel barked cutting James off "We get gunned down by the mafia and then we're turned into these things!?
"It was either mutation or death and Cam and Barry choose to save you both." James stressed.
"You don't understand!" Samuel argued "We had our lives planned out together!"
"I'm so sorry son…." James spoke.
"Sorry!?" Samuel asked in disbelief "You're sorry!"
"Sam..." Alexandra tried to reason with her furious boyfriend but Samuel carried on.
"We got gunned down by the mafia and are stuck like this!?" the tiger shouted "The plans we had for our future together! What about our families!?" he shrieked as tears filled his eyes.
"I understand your anger Samuel," George's voice spoke up, calm and soft, but in a sterner tone "but your anger is directed at the wrong person."
Samuel turned away from James and looked back at the old turtle, his teeth were gritted, and his paws were clenched into fists.
"What happened was most unfortunate, but getting angry will not solve your issues..." George spoke "You have every right to be angry for what has happened, but just know this, that you are amongst friends and those who understand."
Alexandra as much as she was as devastated as Samuel placed her hands on Samuel's clenched paws and looked at George.
"We understand, thank you sir." She said.
Samuel meanwhile said nothing as he shook with anger.
George then stood up.
"I think you both need some time to process this, but I will return later, and we will get you settled."
"We understand." Alexandra said, "We're grateful."
George gave a smile at the wolf and nodded before leaving the room, James not far behind leaving the couple alone to think and discuss their situation.
Once they were outside, they were greeted by Cam, Barry and Tania who hadn't moved from their stations.
"Oh dear." Tania commented "That didn't go very well at all did it?"
"You can say that again!" Barry said.
"So now what?" Cam asked.
George looked at the Rhino, Warthog and Panda.
"Right now, they need time to process what's happened." He advised "In the meantime, you two go and find a room to allocate them in the sleeping quarters and get Leona to make some furniture."
"On it Gramps!" Barry agreed "Come on horn head!" he said to Cam who agreed and followed him.
"I'll find some sheets and pillows." Tania volunteered "Basic to start with."
"Good idea Tania." George approved then turned to James who nodded understanding what he needed to do.
"I'll let you know of any changes Gramps." He assured the turtle.
"Thank you James." George said then walked away from the medical room "I'll also find out if Tyroth, Sephie and the Knights have returned from patrol."
Old George has arrived and spoken with Samuel and Alexandra about their new mutations, but it hasn't made them feel any better and they're reeling from what's happened.
I don't blame them in the slightest, having been wrenched away from their human lives so suddenly, and they have all right to be angry.
Tune in to see how they cope as it sinks in fully their mutations and how their world has changed.