Valion's back arches under the restraints of his chair as the helmet on his head flashes sporadically, his involuntary screams cause the guards around him to instinctively raise their weapons toward him as the fluorescent lights start to flash like lightning flashing in the room.

  The scientists scramble to take notes and monitor the equipment as the machines begin to shut down or speed up with a surge of electricity. The screams get deeper as if an infections tarts to set in, changing the tone and pitch as Valion's arms begin to clutch the arm rests to the point of crushing the ends.

  "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!"

  Galvion turns toward the swarm of scientists behind him trying to search of an answer. Dr. Bremucubro, like a pillar in an ocean, stands completely still. His hands shake with a pen in them, unable to properly push it to paper as his eyes widen and his mouth gapes.

  Slowly he turns toward Galvion with an explanation.

  "He... It's... accepted him!"

  Galvion's reaction matches the doctor, having realized the situation before turning back with a newfound horror on his face. The doctor's clipboard clacks against the floor followed by the squeaks of his shoes as he quickly sprints out the open door, as all guard's attention are glued solely on the phenomenon unfurling before their very eyes.

  CRACK

  SNAP

  Slowly, Valion's limbs begin to twist and contort, as a strange noise of bones snapping and re-attaching fills the room during the pauses in the now roaring alarm blaring throughout the facility.

  His head arches backward as his legs follow suit, each becoming longer and stretching to unnatural lengths.

  The skin under his fur twists and wriggles as his muscles move of their own mind, wrapping around his new extremities.

  The restraints splinter and release his limbs, but they continue to grow further as the lights in the room and hallways fade to darkness, unable to handle the strange energy emanating from this new entity before emergency lighting kicks into action, replacing the once sterile lighting with a new dark red hue.

  The new elongated body lays limp in the experimentation chair, barely able to seat it.

  all observers stand still, unable to utter a word, leaving the alarm to fill the audible void. "R-restrain him." Galvion commands the soldier closest to him without taking his eyes off the body. The guard sighs under his breath, before carefully stepping toward the body, almost on his toes as if trying to avoid waking him. As he closes in within arms reach of the body the soldier stays still for a brief moment before turning toward his commander. "it's growling?"

  Galvion's own instincts become engulfed with fear. The chest of the body visibly rumbles as the growls get loud enough for the whole room to hear before Galvion finally barks an urgent order.

  "WAIT, GET BAC-"

  SLASH

  A large streak of blood paints across the walls and the occupants of the room as a bloodied elongated set of claws raise into the air. The soldiers gun clacks against the floor before his body follows suit as the experiment slowly rises in it's seat, its head still arched back, and growling like an engine.

  The face finally slings forward, two deep red pits occupy the helmets visor as it displays it's eyes, and a glassy grin splinters apart when the helmet itself cracks open, dripping with oil and sparking with separated electrical wires.

  A deep bellowing voice leaves the mask as it addresses it's prey. "Its nice to finally... meet... all of you. I must say, those meals you've been feeding me have been... delicious."

  The experiments voice drips with an audacious nostalgic tone. The only response is the alarm, which continue to sound, as all others continue their fearful silence.

  "You've found me quite the body! We are going to do great things together! such beautifully bloody things..."

  It slowly reaches its legs down, bringing itself forward out of the chair, as it's new height dwarfs all others around him, all while a tar like tongue laps the dripping blood from its claws.

  Galvion finally finds his own courage to speak. "If you'd joins us, we can certainly accommodate your needs. There's so many we'd like you to feed on! you could have your fill and-"

  His shaky voice is interrupted by the clicking of the experiments tongue as it wags its finger from side to side, as if hushing a child. "You misunderstand. You are prey to me. You are ALL prey to me. Besides... that would take the fun out of hunting!" His sharp smile spread further across the visor as he continues whilst slowly pacing back and forth

  "Only hunting on the weak as I'm commanded to by the strong? it's all so... organized... constrained... unpalatable. But prey like YOU commander?" It swings around on a single leg like a graceful dancer as its extended metal red claw is held outward toward Galvion briefly before it splays its arms outward toward the soldiers and scientists.

  "ALL of you? Prey that think they CAN control? think they ARE in control? Prey that have never felt the dread of being hunted before? You are my favorite prey of all... Why, I'm positively giddy with anticipation!" It over annunciates each syllable like reciting a favorite poem word by word as it's mouth begins to drip with saliva and it's eyes focus once more onto Galvion, but with a more focused expression.

  "lets start this hunt"

  A final hum of his growl emanates for a brief moment before it lunges in a surprise maneuver toward Galvion, it's jaws wide open as springs and gears whir to snap it shut around his neck, but just as quickly in response, Galvion's fist crashes into the bottom of its jaw, pre-emptively ready for an attack and springing the experiment toward the side of the room as the room overflows with the sound of energetic gunfire.

  The walls become sizzled with misplaced and volatile shots and the zealous cries of soldiers as the experiment recovers on all fours. It's claws dig and cut into the metal floor before launching itself at the soldiers, closing its jaws around the head of its second victim.

  CRICK

  CRACK

  It's powerful jaws hydraulicly crush the head of the soldier as his muffled screams turn to silence, his gun still firing as his hand grips his gun in pain and terror. Blood and grey matter spill onto the floor before a final crunch is heard, biting it clean off, before it continues charging at the next closest prey with its claws in motion to dismember whatever limbs cross its path.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "AHHH FUCK!"

  the thudding of a soldiers arm are followed by his cry of torment in between bursts of gun fire. Galvion, finally seeing the situation as a lost cause barks his orders to the remaining soldiers and scientists. "Everybody out! lock the exits as soon as you get there! Don't wait for any stragglers. If you don't want to be lunch, then you better haul your tails!"

  His last words barely leaves his lips as he sprints down the winding hallways toward his exit. A flurry of stampeding boots, gunfire and screams start to soften the longer he sprints, before the familiar emergency tones return as the loudest noise around him. The screams stop, replaced with the piercing sound of metal scraping and screeching in the distance, followed by the feeling of the whole lab rumbling and shaking.

  The dormant dust drifts from the roof like snow on a winter morning as the disturbance stops. Galvion raises a curious eye but, refocuses his gaze toward his hidden elevator. Upon reaching the panel, he presses the top floor button feverously, but the elevator remains motionless.

  "The generator... shit. It's smart. All this time i thought it was unconscious but its been studying us and our systems just as much as we've been studying it." His gaze lowers in self-reflection as a frown starts to shape before he shakes it off. Carefully, he analyzes the walls of the elevator shaft noticing the climbable supporting structures. One boot equipped paw after another, he grips the metal beams, hauling himself up at a steady pace. 1 floor... then another... then another.

  Sweat builds on his brow and drops down the shaft into the encroaching darkness as the underside of his study slowly comes into view, spurring an invigorating sense of urgency. Once he reaches only a few floors away from the hidden door to his entrance, the elevator and by extension, the whole lab rumbles once more, causing Galvion to tightly grip the beam in front of him.

  The elevator becomes alive with illumination as the service lights jolt to life, bringing the sheer height he is at into clear view before the sound of large metal cranking into motion causes him to gaze upward, seeing a large set of thick metal blast doors interlock with itself, sealing the elevator passage to his secret door above.

  His brow quickly furrows then widens in realization as he notices each entrance onto the several floors of the elevator shaft replicate the procedure one after another. His heart sinks into his chest like a bag of weights as he softly presses his forehead into the beam he is hanging onto while muttering to himself as the lights dim once more into the void he was familiar with climbing upwards.

  "It... turned off the power just long enough for the others to get out before me... they weren't waiting for stragglers..." His analytic thinking becomes sporadic in frustration. "shit... shit shit SHIT SHIT SHIT! That little fuckers got me good." His closed eyes open to peer downward into the darkness as his arms begin to shake from exertion.

  He returns his forehead to the beam for a brief moment of silence... Then slowly, his paws begin to move downward and finding a place to support his weight. At an agonizing pace, he lowers himself downward to his fate. Once his paws meet the familiar feel of the elevators platform he presses his back against the rear of the elevator, before slumping downwards to lay his head on his knees.

  "No way out. Guess that means I'M lunch ha..." His voice carries into the darkness, garnering no response. A distant growling and gnawing sound originates from that same darkness, showing no signs of approach, but rather, signs of a creature savoring it's meal. Galvion leans his head backward to rest against the wall, the cool steel collects the sweat in his fur as he sighs to himself, releasing the tension in his muscles.

  Finally after a brief respite, he places a hand on his knee to pushing his weight into himself while finding his feet. His knee's shake slightly as he takes his first step out of the elevator and toward his fate. Cracking his knuckles and taking a deep breath, bracing himself for what lied ahead.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Osiris's snores fill the kitchen, but the sudden rumbling sends his limp body crashing to the floor with a sudden THUD. "ARGH!, bloody hell... what's alllll the r-r-RUCKUS about..." His slurred speech reaches no ears as he rolls his eyes, along with his body into a more comfortable position, determined to return to his slumber. His eyelids slowly close, but the sound of a roaring engine passing overhead splits them wide open once more. The engine roars like a dragon before it settles during its decent. Curiously, Osiris stumbles toward the kitchen window like a sailor on rough seas, before peering just over the sill.

  In his backyard, a heavily armed gunship has occupied it as it's landing site, releasing several just as armed soldiers pour out onto the field. However, these soldiers were missing their signature U.S.N uniforms he is familiar with. Instead, they are all equipped in dark covert gear. Logo-less long sleeve jackets, tactical rigs filled with several high tech gadgets, helmets with active heads up displays and weapons far mor advanced than anything Osiris had seen or learned about. He kneels back down to pinch the bridge of his snout with his finger and thumb while furrowing his bro before taking another look above the sill.

  A few more gunships in the distance seemingly materialize out of thin air, as a cloaking field diminishes around it as they approach. Osiris quickly slinks to his brothers room in a crouch as the door creaks open slowly. "Valion. Valion!" The lack of response starts to unsettle Osiris as he approaches the empty bed. His ears fold backwards as he places a curled finger on his chin before flipping toward the sound of knocking coming from his front door.

  As Osiris reaches it, he carefully activates the security camera, bringing up a holographic display. The camera shows footage of tall lion at his doorstep, his mane fills the space between him and the narrow walls of his doorway and his stature is one of pride as he stands at attention with his arms placed behind his back. Unlike the soldiers, this lion is dressed in a formal dress uniform, adorned with several medals on his right and left of the jacket.

  Osiris closes his eyes, weighing his options and assuring himself that greeting this lion would only invite in trouble, but with this knowledge, he presses the electronic button and the door wooshes open in responses. "Osiris, my humblest apologies for disturbing you at this late of an hour, i am Grav-Officer Maytan of the U.S.N" Osiris's ears perk up in recognition of his designation as a high ranking officer.

  "Sir! It's an honor to have you here sir! but uh... did you want to come inside?" The lion quickly hold up and open palm before quickly placing behind him again, almost in a robotically rehearsed way.

  "No, that's not necessary. Actually we are here to evacuate you immediately. There is reasonable suspicion your family may be targeted for an attack and we MUST get you to safety. Please follow me to the Gravity-craft."

  Osiris's eyebrow raises, but with a glance over his shoulder he does as the officer asks while he turns a perfect 180 degrees away from the door before stepping off with a rhythmic pace toward a ceremonial and luxurious aircraft compared to the one before.

  As they approach the carpeted walkway that has been lowered from the ship, Osiris stops at the first step.

  "Please board the Gravity-craft. You MUST be evacuated." the lion states as his head remains facing forward. Osiris crosses his arms before taking a step backward as he nods slowly. "Now see i would, except there's obviously something going on." Sweat begins to form at the lions brow as he attempts to explain. "Osiris, I'm not sure what you are insinuating but i assure you that-"

  "Here's what I've got so far, my backyard is filled with some sort of special military force, since They aren't sporting the usual U.S.N garb but ARE using U.S.N Gravity Air-craft, THEN you knock at my door. You're telling me to evacuate, however you didn't mention my 'family' just me, so whoever sent you here knows that something happened to my brother and father. Lastly, If an attack was suspected on my family, and of all places our home planet and personal residence, not only would my father personally face these attackers of his own free will, but that would also be considered an invasion. Which the U.S.N have laws in response to, INCLUDING an audible alarm that is heard throughout every city and suburb for at least thousands of kilometers from the suspected point of attack for the protection of those within the attack zone... and i find it to be quite silent tonight."

  A long line of sweat traces the curves of the lions face as his eyes dart around, searching for an answer which is quickly interrupted with Osiris stepping toward him with a determined steel gaze before stopping at his paws.

  "Whatever is going on, it involves my father, my brother and something that the U.S.N doesn't want ANYBODY knowing about. SO, instead of boarding this Gravity-craft, why don't you just fill me in before i go and find out myself."

  The following silence and then a gulp from the lion brings out a smirk in Osiris, realizing that his hunch was spot on but something more sinister is hidden within the details, and something far hateful waits in the depths below.

  If you have the time, please leave a comment telling me if you like the way it is, or if you prefer it shorter/longer! id love to try and accommodate to as many readers as i can! And leave your thoughts as well as to the story or my writing in general! I'd love to hear your opinions! It will all help me not only to grow but more importantly to engage with my readers!!! :D

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