Devon Hughes - Unnaturals #2: Escape from Lions Head

Deeper Cuts in Food and Housing; Citizens Escape into Virtual Reality

Can Underdog Save Team Scratch from Invincibles Wrath?

Matchmaker Joni Juniper Announces Surprise Resignation

T HE CREATURE OPENED HER EYES AND WAS NEARLY BLINDED by the bright light. Still daytime.

She hugged her gray wings tighter around her body and shrank back into their darkness, trying to hold on to the dreamif you could call it that. She was never sure if it was dream or memory or just a story she told herself. Whether shed really even been asleep.

Ive gotta split, one of the humans announced. The creature recognized the voice. It was Vince, the trainer.

The creature poked her head out. More than a hundred feet below her, the other mutant animals were back inside their cages, and the humans were packing up the lab, disinfecting the harnesses, swabs, and tools. Todays trials were already over.

The creature breathed a sigh of relief. So she had slept for most of the day, after all.

Keep an eye on my Kill Clan, Vince called over his shoulder to one of the six researchers. They all dressed in crinkly yellow from head to toe and wore paper masks over their faces, so the creature couldnt tell them apart.

Lazy Draino, whispered one of the Yellow Six, an older man. Thanks to her large, triangular ears, the creature had excellent hearing.

Hes just going to the bookies to gamble on tomorrows big Unnaturals match, another human in yellow, this one a woman, answered.

The creature noticed that although the researchers always grumbled about Vince after hed gone, they didnt say these things when he was around. She also noticed that Vince was the only one who could control the animals after they became mutants. Each group seemed to be getting more violent than the last.

Are you going to watch it? the man asked, coiling up the breathing tube they used to test lung capacity. The Underdog versus the Invincible?

No, but my kids will warp into the match, Im sure. Theyre major Moniacs. My daughter really likes that eagle-dog.

Doesnt have much of a chance, does he? Remember what happened last season? If theyre just going to let the scorpion-tiger destroy all the other mutants, whats the point? Only his eyes were visible above the mask, and the glasses he wore reflected the light like mirrors. To the creature, the man looked like a fat yellow fly.

Hey, those ticket sales pay for our research. The woman held up a glass tube and shook it. And its not like we havent seen worse in here.

They glanced toward the far end of the space, where a chain-link fence ran the length of the room. No longer useful, the mutants that had already failed the genetic tests mingled freely on the other side. The fence clinked and bulged as bodies pressed against it. They always got restless after Vince left.

We should get going, the woman in yellow said nervously. They were the last two of the Yellow Six left. The man collected his jar of samples and hurried out after her, clicking off the lights on his way out the door.

Their day of work had ended, but the creatures was just beginning. She had a long night of hunting ahead of her.

She shook the stiffness out of her wings and the sleep out of her eyes, and then she clenched her toes on the metal slats of the vent to swing herself back upright. From her high perch, she surveyed the room below, wondering where to start. Since she rarely let herself be seen during the day, the creature had to gather everything that would sustain her under the cloak of darkness.

The other animals were still settling down, so first she crept to the corners of the room to check the traps she had set for wayward mice. Finding nothing there, she trotted over between the rows of stacked cages, her four legs making long, swift strides as she stalked her prey. Spotting the dart of a shadow, the creature pounced!

Her paws landed squarely on the fattest, juiciest cockroach she had ever seen. Dinner was served. She let out a little screech of happiness, but the way it echoed back to her ears sounded strangely flat, and instead of chowing down on the roach, she paused, looking at the empty cage in front of her.

That was where the panda had beenthe one the Yellow Six called Mai. They mustve finally taken her for the injection today.

The creature didnt usually get to know the new animals. They rarely stayed in the individual cages long before they were turned into mutants and moved to the other side of the fence in the group pen, dazed and bloodthirsty. And besides, she was different from themshe was nighttime, while they were daytime; she soared in the rafters, while they cowered in cagesand she preferred to keep her distance.

But the panda had lasted through eight versions of the serum without being pulled for testing. The Six seemed to like her. They were always cooing over her big, fluffy head and her perfect round ears and her curious, coal-rimmed eyes.

The creature just thought Mais eyes looked sad. And sometimes at night, the creature would hear Mai singing songs to herself in the darkness, and those sounded sad, too. The creature avoided the area near the cages when the caged bear sang, letting the cockroaches skitter by unchecked.

Now, the creature looked down at her front paws and realized the juicy king cockroach had gotten away, too. In her surprise about Mai, she mustve relaxed her grip.