@floripire | continued…
Small cages on nearby desks and towering cages on the ground glint faintly when Colton’s pocket flashlight shines around the room. A chill sends a faint tremble down his spine.
“What…are they, though?” Colton shakes his head, correcting himself. “Who are they?”
Some of the beings around look human enough, Colton supposes, but he can’t help feeling as if there is more to this situation than what meets the eye. On one side, he hears almost animal like noises of chirps and hissing and growls. Somewhere above he hears soft singing almost sounding like birdsong, chirps and whistles. The other side has almost human like noises of trying to muffle cries and panicked breathing and barely whispered curses. Somewhere in the middle of the room, there’s whimpers of pain and fear and Colton can’t tell if it’s human or animal. Something further back tries to hoarsely mimic human speech.
Reaching to begin unlock the cage closest to him, Colton’s flashlight clatters to the ground when he feels something — and he’s not sure if it’s claws, fingers, talons, or something in between — successfully reach for him and snag the fabric of his sleeve before something sharp pierces his skin. The light beam from his flashlight now catches a pair of eyes eerily reflecting the light similar to the way that cats’ eyes do, and the revealed teeth resemble fangs in the dim lighting.
The noise that Colton gives in reply is somewhere between startled and curious. If anything, the grip tightens even more when he does. Colton thinks he hears a garbled sort of tick tock from the creature, before a curved fingernail or claw points at him.
“Please let me go.” Colton requests softly, a little too politely for one who can feel his heart jumping through his shirt. “I’m just trying to help you. Really.”


















