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The cold of the hallway brushed against her skin as she walked, her feet making no sound on the metal floors. There were sounds far away, behind her. The other creatures were running through the open door on all fours or hunched over on hind legs...they were still animal inside. Shrieks and squeals rang on the sharp metal. There would be the sounds of the big Lives soon- the Humans as they called themselves. Aslilin did not care.
Whispering against the thin papery fabric of her nightshirt, a breeze seemed to flow in the coriders. Aslilin lifted her nose to the air and sniffed gently. There was nothing there..nothing...and...yet...
Ta Bahata look!
Spinning silently, Aslilin held her hands at her sides, fingers spread. With a shock she realized she had no claws- she had nothing to fight with. It didn't matter...she could still fight. Somehow.
There was a weird squealing sound...squeaking, grunting, metal on metal...wheel on floor. It was soft at first in the otherwise quiet hallway. One squeaky wheel. Something was being brought this way.Squee...Squee...Squee... The sound echoed, lost and without meaning, through the darkened and cold hallways.
Aslilin's ears perked up as she listened more intently. Was it her Ta Bahata coming? Her breathing was soft, silent, through her mouth. Slitted eyes peered ahead into the dark, discerning shapes as they came. Ta Bahata? No, wait!
Tap..Tap...The footsteps of one of the big Lives. It was coming so close, it moved in time with the squeaking. Tap, squeak. Tap, squeak. A strange sort of music that ground its way down Aslilin's spine, made her coil for a jump. Couldn't attack, couldn't hide, not in this barren hallway. The cries of the others were far away now. Nothing to use to save herself except... Looking up, Aslilin spotted the exposed piping. She crouched down on all fours and moved her shoulders like a serpent... Something was missing in the way she moved, she knew, because she was deformed. She should have looked like her Ta Bahata...but...Still...
The squeaking and steps grew nearer and with a springing leap, Aslilin clutched at the piping above her, pulled herself up upon it and looked down upon the hallway. The stench of one of the big Lives was getting nearer, more.
A shock of brown fine fur and an otherwise bald body appeared under her, clothed in a green fabric. It was unlike her, but at the same time like her. Human. It looked around, started at the burst open door of the creatures' room and grappled for something at its belt.
"The experiments from block G are out! Of course I don't know how! I don't know! Just get someone down here! Yes, I'm looking! I don't see any of them and-"
Aslilin had stopped listening to him and was now looking at what he had brought with him. Something on a squeaky wheeled trolly. The Human had been pulling the trolley by a metal bar, but that was not what interested Aslilin. Pacing in a cage of clear metal, the black pelted being snarled and yowled. She could smell it, a sweet scent, an untainted scent. At the same time it was riddled with fear.
A gasp escaped her as the creature looked upwards with haunting green eyes and mewled. Ta Bahata! Help me!
She did not hesitate, she knew what she had to do now. Launching herself down from the piping, she landed atop the Human and gripped its head tightly between her hands, twisting it with a growl. There was a strain on her arms a moment, a resistance. With a crack, though, the Human's body complied and his head turned at an angle that did not seem right. Dropping the dead Human abruptly, Aslilin stood and moved towards the cage. Her footsteps moved sideways, circling. She was examineing.
The creature inside the clear metal cage moved so close to the barrier Aslilin jumped back a few feet. It placed its paws up and leaned forward, moving like a strange Human. It did not look or smell Human though. It was perfectly formed, beautiful, exceptional. Its soft ears tapered at the top and the markings on its legs and forlegs ran in wild streaks of golden flame upwards. Yowling loudly, she could swear she saw tears streaking its muzzle. Tears? From one so perfect? Absurd...
Ta Bahata, you've come for me! ...You...Ta Bahata..You've grown so beautiful...
Tears fell with more frequency from its solid green eyes, lovely eyes. Aslilin inched closer to the lovely creature and placed a bald mishapen hand on the barrier.
"You are...Dark Brother." She spoke with a strange accent, a malformed accent. The creature behind the barrier nodded furiously and pounded upon the clear metal with one paw. Aslilin merely watched it.
Yes, YES! I'm your Ta Bahata! You must help me, they-
The creature didn't have time to finish, Aslilin's nose caught it before it was a true danger. Farther off- more big Lives. With a snarl, she grabbed the cage in her hands and started to run away from the smell. The cage was large, as large as she was, but she didn't care. The corners bit awkwardly into her unprotected hands- hands without proper colouses to the ground. It didn't matter, she reminded herself. They were going to destroy Dark Brother.
Destroy, yes. Deffinitly destroy, but maybe tear apart first. Aslilin suddenly had flashes of memory from when she had first met this creature- when she had first tumbled into the world, bloody and bald, twin to the beauty she now held captive under her arm. They had to escape.
Ta Bahata! The creature in the cage was sliding around on its slick floor, bounced against the sides as she ran. Its Voice was riddled with a mix of euphoria and panic. Ta Bahata, let me out! I can run, Ta Bahata, I can run faster than you! We can get away, let me out!
Survival was the option now. There was no other drive. Skidding to a halt, the cold air in the hallways billowing her flimsy nightshirt around her, Aslilin set the cage upon the metal floor. Holding out her hand, a strange calm flowed over her. "Be careful," she told the creature simply.
Another blast of unseen wind, like the one that had blown away the door smashed into the cage and sent it spiraling into the opposite wall with a deafening crash. The snapping sound of the strange metal splitting grated the air and the black furred creature within tumbled free. It stood uneasily on its four legs and shook its head, dizzied by the impact.
Ta Bahata, you are more magnificent than I had imagined... It breathed in awe, taking soft steps towards her.
"This way!"
The shouts behind were growing louder but they were of no consiquence. Aslilin and her Ta Bahata, her Dark Brother, were moving so quickly that no one could touch them. People appeared and Aslilin had only to raise her hand, and they were dashed away by her awesome power. After that it was only a matter of time before Dark Brother fell upon them, all tooth and claw. Her brother, a thing of beauty, seemed to regret having to use his natural and perfect weapons. Those who were touched by his blessed and soft paws, however, failed to rise to meet his greatness again.
She, however, felt inferior in stature. Her body was wrong, too much like those they hunted. Her Ta Bahata, however, refused to see it that way. They ran, the hallways whispering under their silent feet. Voices behind were no threat, voices ahead were delt with swiftly. It was only a matter of time before the exit loomed ahead, a bright silver door that Aslilin had never seen and Dark Brother seemed to revere.
Ta Bahata, He spoke to her in her mind, for he could not form words with his jaws. Ta Bahata, we have done it! Together, we are free. FREE!
"We will not stay here." With a flick of her wrist, the air around them burst into peices and shattered, the very fabric of their reality tearing as the door crumbled away like a peice of dust. Aslilin lowered her hand and looked at it. Her ugly, furless hand. The power locked within was a replacement for her lost claws and teeth. Yes...a fine replacement..for the time being.
Stepping into the bright sunlight outside, Aslilin was forced to sheild her eyes. Such light she had never experienced before- never in her life. Dark Brother too, reared back and away, his spine curling and his golden flamed markings glinting. We...
Aslilin's voice was stoic and silent. A hunter was awake within her. "We will not allow them to follow." Turning and facing the building behind her, she found herself marvelling at its sheer size. It was a thousand times larger than she could have pictured it from within and powerful looking. The walls seemed a thousand feet thick from outside, grey and climbing into the sky seemingly forever. Aslilin had never seen something so big. But she would not allow herself to fear it.
Raising her hand, a blow glow lit on her palm. The air seemed to curl into a ball in her palm, a ball of reality. Spreading her fingers, she let the ball go and the complex before her suddenly went dark. Each window which had once been lit like a tiny sun was held inside abruptly went dark. A plume of smoke drifted from one area, and the smell of burning creatures filled the air. They were all dead. Her creators, all of them, were now dead. She had her Ta Bahata and needed no more.
Dark Brother stood in shock, staring at the destruction his sibling had caused. Ta bahata..the others..like you and I ...they were within-
"We are free," Aslilin stated simply, turning on her heel and walking, the light fabric that they had forced her to be clothed in rustling as a breeze swept towards the dead complex. "We are free, but we will not stay here."
