Nightshift 38: Animal Test Subjects Kennel

[jokers-wildcard.livejournal.com]

[from here]

Harley released her grip on Endy's shirt once they were both through the door, grabbing for her flashlight. As soon as she'd walked in, she'd heard it: the scrambling scratches of feet. The room wasn't particularly large, but she could see rows and rows of cages on both sides of the room.

She wasn't close enough to look into them yet, but the cages were all obviously full. There was the distinct sound of movement throughout the room and various noises. Some sounded like growls, and some... she couldn't really identify. But her heart clenched immediately, imagining her sweethearts stuck in a dreary place like this for so long. How could they do this?! Whoever was responsible for this was getting fitted with electroshock collars and shoved into cages themselves...

But Harley could contemplate ironic torture methods later. First, she needed to find her darlings.

"Oh, swe~eties?" she sung out in a loud whisper. The animals all seemed to react in some way to their presence, and the noise seemed to be making them agitated. She walked further into the room. "Babies? You in h--"

That was when she got a look at whatever was in the closest cage. Harley immediately recoiled from the bars and let out a high-pitched scream.

Comments

[longlivetheking]

It was somewhat amusing to see Harley drag the taller man into the next room, though she did have an obvious point. Scar followed the pair into what was called the 'animal testing lab'.

Any amusement he had completely melted away as soon as he stepped inside.

Of course, he had noticed the rows of cages were occupied. The scraping sound of nails on metal, the noises (growls?) some of the captives made as a response to the intruders, the smell (though a bit off)...it all gave it away that there were creatures living in these small cages. Animals, locked up in these by some filthy hairless monkeys. Even someone like the King couldn't help but to feel disgusted and uncomfortable. After all, he himself belonged within the animal kingdom. Even if he was on top of the food chain, humans didn't appear to have any regard for such a thing. It was then he realized Landels might as well have placed him in one of these cages instead of the situation he was in now. Not quite a pleasant thought.

If only that had been everything. Considering the monsters that roamed the halls, it shouldn't have been so surprising. But having a suspision was one thing, being confronted with it was another. Plus, the monsters could have simply been animated corpses.

Scar approached one of the cages, needing to get closer to see what had been locked within. But as soon as he caught side of it, his eyes widened and he backed away, shock and disgust written all over his face. He barely registered Harley's similar discovery further into the room. Instead, he just stared at the deformed thing in front of him. A thing that once had been an animal. But now? Scar couldn't even begin to identify it.

Scar had no words for this. It was something that had stretched far beyond his imagination. Predators could be cruel to their prey and he was certainly no exception, but this was something that he had never seen, never heard of. A lion tore a zebra to shreds, and then the job was done. He had thrown his brother in the middle of a wildebeest stampede. But that was different. So very different. 'Cruel' didn't even begin to describe it, and this was coming from someone who wasn't friends with 'morality'.

Shock turned into anger. Humans did things like this to animals? Was that what they were?! Things to be kept in cages to do with as you please?! This was disgusting. Disgusting and disrespectful and so incredibly insulting!!

He, as an animal, could have been locked in one of those cages...

Scar was beginning to grow sick.

[oftemptation.livejournal.com]

Any protests Endrance had - and there were a number of them - about being dragged forcibly into the next room evaporated the minute he took a look around the room. His first instinct was to turn and run away again; seeing monsters in CG was one thing, but seeing them like this in reality was another entirely. He felt his stomach twist at the thought of whoever had done this.

...and then the thought hit him, and he did have to turn away. Mia hadn't been real; not even the smaller Mia. But this place had a way of making the impossible seem possible. As much as he didn't want to look again, he had to.

"This...I can't imagine who could be capable of something like this..."

[jokers-wildcard.livejournal.com]

During her stay here, she'd seen giant bugs and a demented freak of a cat, but nothing this bad, this dilapidated. No. No, no, no. These... she couldn't even identify them. This wasn't 'animal testing!' This was was some kind of mutant development program!

As much as she didn't want to, she looked into the next cage. Immediately, she took a step back. Th-this one, too. No, this one was worse off. It was moving feverishly inside its cell, restless. Or... was it writhing in pain? Next cage, she looked in and had to turn away completely. She felt like crying. She felt screaming. Suddenly, she hoped more than anything her babies weren't here, had never been here. Why would anyone....

Was this where the monsters were coming from? Is this what people were actually fighting against at night? Were these people kidnapping their pets, mutating them into monsters, and then making them all kill their own friends?! Harley's legs wobbled and threatened to give in all together. Her babies. They couldn't have done this to them, could they?!

Harley turned back to the abomin-- the victims. She was determined to look, to see if there were any that seemed familiar, even in this state. Do what they may, a mother's love could see through it. She was certain. But Harley only managed to look into two more cages before her stomach and nerves gave in. She wanted to puke.

How dare they. How dare they! Just they wait. Just wait until she got her hands on the people who did this. Then she'd...

She covered her face with her hands and made a small whimpering noise, indications she was going to start sobbing soon. This noise, for whatever reason, seemed to completely set off one of the animals in a cage near her. It pounced for the door of its cage with a loud BAM, nails trying to dig at the bottom of the cage door. The animal in the next one took this as a cue to start gnawing at its own door to the best of its ability, growling loudly as it went. At this rate, the entire room was going to erupt.

Harley jumped at the reaction and backed away toward the other two. "L-let's get out of here! I don't... I don't wanna be here anymore..."

She couldn't. Not one more minute.

[jokers-wildcard.livejournal.com]

[rushing back out here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/559402.html?thread=45798442#t45798442)]