Tiger, Tiger

Tiger, Tiger: Chapter 8

Hi there :)

Sorry there's been a wait, but I was so busy this week with tests and the chapters are longer, so please forgive me :'(

Enjoy ;)

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Her words made my heart fall like a stone. What was I even doing, trying to act all strong? My futile attempt at saving my family had failed. No matter how much I wanted to be someone, to be my dad, I never would be. Even if I had a plan to get away, I didn’t have the respect for people to follow it. I had been deluding myself like an idiot.

Something prodded me in the back and jolted me from my self-loathing. I let out a weak growl and leapt into the back of the van, feeling my paws slip on the cold metal floor. The smell hit me instantly: strong and burning in my nose, like disinfectant. Though I had never met humans before in my life it was a scent I instantly recognized - a scent I had been born knowing. Their scent: cold and sterile.

It was so dim within the van that I had to blink several times to adjust to the light. When I looked again I could see that I was in the walkway between small metal cages attached to the huge vans walls. Peering inside I could see that each one contained a weeping, screaming or terrifyingly silent shifter. The noise was awful, overwhelming.

As I was ushered forward the cage on my left looked empty, but as I passed I could see a small form curled, shaking, in the corner. It was the dead shifter’s daughter, rocking herself backwards and forwards, eyes glazed. My stomach rolled. Our hatred and fear for humans was not unfounded.

There was one cage door left open at the back of the van, an open door to a prison cell – my prison cell. Knowing that there must have been guns trained on my back, I took a tentative step inside. There was no use in me fighting now. I’d tried that way once and it had gotten me nowhere.

Inside the cramped cage there was enough room for a human to stand slightly hunched, but only just enough for me to turn in a full circle to face my captors. As I did something cold and heavy was clicked shut around my neck. I jumped and leapt forwards, only to smack fast first into the cage door. I choked slightly on the smooth metal ring around my neck that was a little too tight.

Mr. Ward looked down on me through the cage bars, something I couldn’t comprehend in his eyes, and then began to turn away. ‘What is this?’ I called out to his mind. Afraid of the thing around my neck I tried to keep any anger from my tone.

He stopped and turned back. “Just a little aid from my employer. Shift. Go on, do it,” he tempted.

I hesitated and shrunk back. He wasn’t exactly one to be trusted. I wanted to say ‘what are you going to do if I don’t? Shoot me?’ but the words just couldn’t be formed in my throat. I wasn’t that brave.

His eyes darkened instantly. “Shift,” he snarled. All the cockiness and self-assurance he had been displaying earlier was gone. After fighting and arguing with him outside I had obviously pushed him too far.

I focused on my dog form, a fierce German Shepherd, and forced my body to move and shift. There were just the first scraping movements of bones when a sharp, burning pain jolted through my body. It was only a small shock, but I yelped and my muscles jumped. With my brain and muscles distracted, I snapped back into lion form.

I shook off the disorientation and met Mr. Ward’s eyes. His smile was back, almost childlike. “I’ve been dying to try that out,” he chuckled.

I growled roughly at him. He was sick. It was all just a game to him, wasn’t it? He got a little kick out of playing with us and then got his money when he was done couriering us to whatever other disgusting human had discovered us. A human that somehow knew enough about us to create a collar that stopped us shifting. I choked. Would I be stuck as a lion forever? Would I ever take my human form again? Or my tigers?