It's seems like ages ago that we were all here. Me, Radar, Silence, Jewel and Storm and Sonar. I can hardly imagine what life was like before them. But that could also be due to the fact that I've been drugged and modified. Thanks to the help of Sonar, my wing was fixed and is now proportionate to the other. Thanks to new science for my new abilities.
Science does have it's good points, I must admit, but the lies. They always lie. To cover up there sorry butts. In my bitterness, I could go on ranting and cursing, but that would be worthless. I need to get to the point. And admit that I am in denial. And break the news.
Storm and Sonar came back from the moon mission, both alive and well. And the scientists let them go. Just let them fly away back to us. But they had tracking devices on them. Chips programmed in their skulls controlling their thoughts. Clouding their true judgement. We didn't know. They didn't tell us how they had "escaped". We didn't care. We were just glad to be reunited. That's when we were ambushed. Radar and Silence put up a good fight. But science has evolved since we were created. They found a weakness.
I tried to hide, but we all had tracking devices around us. I watched Sonar and Storm stand there and be led into the back of the carrier van. No struggle. No fight. Defeat? I couldn't tell. Then everything went black as a bag was placed over my head. I remember kicking and fighting and begging and pleading. If I went back they would surely kill me. Kill us. I could feel the others around me. Memories of fear and submission flooding my head. My own adrenaline making me lightheaded. One by one the others breathing slowed. Footsteps on the floor of the van shuffled through us. A sharp stab in my arm and suddenly things began to sound distant and my head was fuzzy. Thoughts became fragmented. I struggled against the tranquilizer, but because they didn't know I was different from Radar and my brother, they gave me a strong one. And the world went silent.
I woke up in a room. A bleach white and steel gray room. The smell of chemicals and sweat overwhelmed me. I was so thirsty, but I couldn't move. Out of the corner of my eye I remember there was a fast food cup. I could smell the sticky sweetness of the soda inside. I could hear distant voices and I tried hard to remember where I was and what had happened.
I was alone in the room. Wings folded under me, out and uncomfortable. I still couldn't move away. I was strapped by leather. Bounds to this table-like hospital bed. I must have been in one of my nightmares. Back the The School. But this felt so real.
It WAS real. Panic rose bile into the back of my throat and with the sudden burst of adrenaline and emotion a heart monitor and other machines started beeping wildly. My Flock. Where were my friends? My Sonar? The monitors beat more rapidly. I could hear voices, calm and steady, but determined, coming closer. They monitors had set off their alert system. They knew I was conscious. But I couldn't get the panic to settle down.
I don't remember much. The days morphed into one. I lost track of time. I was beginning to fade. I knew their intentions. They planned to test me as long and hard as they could before they killed me. To modify newer experiments to perfection. They changed me. They cut, they stitched, they reformed me. Now they new a weakness with Radar and Silence, they weren't afraid to see how far they could go with us. They made me stronger, but I was defeated. I had no desire to preform their tests. But I did, only enough to survive. I refused to show my true potential. Out of fear. If I didn't show improvement, they wouldn't make me face something I couldn't handle. They watched me fight other experiments. The chip in my arm giving me instructions to kill. Both of us. Scared and determined to survive. But they were new. And weak. I couldn't control the chip. I killed them. I was beginning to lose my humanity. Forget things. Fall deep inside myself. I wondered where the others were.
I had heard talk about Radar and Silence being chained in special rooms in a newer part of the building. Top Security. But where were Storm and Sonar? I needed them. Without them by my side, I was nothing.
The fighting arenas continued. Students from nearby schools, top secret of course, children of the scientists, observed and recorded our behavior in aggressive situations. They were turning us more barbaric. Animal-like. I couldn't control my thoughts. The chip made pure instinct kick in. I cried in my sleep, after seeing the light leave other failed experiments eyes. The ones who never had a chance. It dawned on me that they were trying to get rid of them. The weakest. And when they ran out of use for me, it would be me getting my head snapped around.
The day came for the ultimate test. One on one, with one of our own kind. That was all I knew as they led me to the arena. I was going to be forced to fight one of my own species. Another Human-Avian Hybrid. I wondered how old he or she was. I wondered how they were feeling and if they knew what they were fighting today. I wondered a lot about this new opponent.
The faces of the scientists were wicked and curious as I walked in. The wall was still down and I wouldn't see who I was facing until the other doors were closed. The observation deck was full of scientists and students, looking so eager it made my heart pound. This was more than just a fight. They were expecting more than the same old show. The doors behind be slammed down shut. There was no escape until one of us was dead. My mouth became dry. I couldn't breathe. Fear paralyzed me. Beyond the wall in front of me, I could hear them close the opponent's door. Machinery roared to life as the wall ahead shifted and lifted up.
I should have run before they dragged me in here. I should have run, and flown straight into the metal spikes covered in barbed wire and impaled myself. Or jumped off a cliff in the middle of nowhere years ago. I would have. I could have. I should have. If only to avoid what was to be done now.
I couldn't win this. I couldn't start this. But the chip was stronger than both of us. We both tried to attack and stay away from each other at the same time. We circled the room for what seemed like hours, trying not to hurt the other.
This was impossible. We couldn't do it. We would both die in here. I had to stop the chip, even if that meant letting him win. I started beating my arm against the rough concrete. Blood started smearing the wall.
"Echo, stop." He said. But I didn't. I wanted the chip to break. I wanted to bleed. I wanted out. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from the wall. "Stop." The chip was broken. I no longer wanted to hurt him. There were no messages telling me to harm or kill flooding my brain. I was able to think. He looked at me. He was pale and bruised from testing. Scarred and...twitching? He was struggling against his chip's commands. "I'm...not...going...to...hurt...you..." he said. He started shaking. I panicked. No one had ever tried to stand against the chip. He backed away and started hitting the wall with his head. I looked at the scientists through the observation glass to see what they thought of this. They looked...scared? They were all standing, rushing to try and get the door open, but it seemed stuck.
I looked back at Sonar. Who was now on the ground, collapsed, kneeling against the wall under the bloodstains from my hand. He was still shaking, but trying to stand back up. "Don't let me kill you." He said as I walked closer. He was on his feet now. "I can't kill you. I love you." He whispered. There were noises on the both sides of the doors. The only ways out. They were trying to get in, I wanted them to hurry up, get us out of here. I heard a small, almost inaudible pop. Sonar blinked, stunned, and fell. As he fell I heard a screaming from the other side of the opponents door. Blood curdling screams. Then it was silent. Sonar didn't move. As I bent down to see if he was breathing all of his memories rushed through my mind. Memories, emotions, all of it flooded through me. "No, no, no...not now. Not like this." I whispered. I begged for him to wake up. To just get up and get out of here. The doors were released and the scientists stood there confused. I didn't care about them. Sonar was dead. And they were in my way. There was an explosion from underneath and crashing surrounding the arena. Radar and Silence rampaged through the whole thing, spreading fire and metal behind them.
"Fly Echo. Leave him, fly" Radar repeated. But I couldn't move. I wasn't going to leave him. Not now. Not ever. Silence landed beside me and glanced at me, nodded and picked Sonar up. I had no other choice but to follow them.
The chaos was too much...hours later, Radar, Silence and I found ourselves in abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere.
The screaming had motivated them to make a break for it. Turns out it was Storm. They tried to free her, but when they found her she was motionless on the floor like Sonar had been.
His chip had shorted out and literally killed him. Like an aneurysm. His brain just...stopped. Silence believes that Sonar and Storms chips shorted at the same time. They died the same way because of some unknown connection between the two. Jewel was not in the School. No one knows what happened to her.
And I have yet to come to terms with the fact that I've lost Sonar forever. And Storm.
We buried them somewhere only we could find, in the woods.
And I've vowed to avenge them. I won't stop until I kill them all and stop this monstrosity they've created, or I die trying.
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