“Run, just run,” Alura said to her self as she moved thru the trees. Screams of pain and fear could be heard as she tried to lead the small group away from the now burning building. She didn’t have time to look behind her, but could hear the shots being fired, and some flying past her ears. She was scared that she wouldn’t make it to her hiding place she had found weeks before, when she was given permission to leave the grounds. Alura just kept running trying not to think of what was following her. She suddenly found the small hole barely noticeable in the snow, and dived into it. No one followed her in to it as she moved to the back of the little alcove, keeping her ears alert for any sounds. She stayed so still in that hole, fear gripping her tightly as she only heard the sound of her breathing and the echoes of explosions coming from the lab she used to call home No, hell not home, she said in her mind.

“Quickly we must find them all, the snow storm will reach us within the next half hour,” Alura heard someone yell close by. She monitored the opening to see if anyone noticed it. A pair of white boots stepped in front of the hole, showing only from knee to sole. She knew the guards always wore black boots but she thought perhaps they had changed to lure out all of the hiders so they could be taken to a new lab. She watched them step away from her hiding spot and she was unsure how much time had passed since she first flew into this space, as she had no way of telling where the sun was nor did she have a watch. She slowly encroached to the opening, her eyes and ears alert as to any sounds. When she heard nothing she slowly peaked her head out, seeing blood on the ground and some of her friends and family fallen upon the snow. For being so young she did understand death and knew that they were in a better place from where they had been. Suddenly a large hand grabbed the back of her neck, lifting her up under her arms. Screaming and trying to get free from her captor she kicked and clawed but to no avail. She heard a familiar sound of helicopter blades, and panic rushed thru her blood. “We got a fighter here, get the tranq so that we can get out of here before more blood is spilled,” a woman said, lifting the little girl into the copter. “Easy little one, no more harm will come to you,” said another woman in a softer tone as she gave Alura a shot from an injection gun. The woman was tall and lean, her tail was long and bushy, her fur was black, and she was a wolf. Alura was gripped by fear when the injection started to take affect slowly; she looked at the woman’s eyes, and saw for once only kindness as she passed into sleep.

Dreams of blood and screams gripped Alura; she kept hearing her littermates telling her to run with the others as they tried to hold off the guards. Her brothers were strong felines and used their claws against the human guards and their guns. Some of the adults were already dead from the pits, only the children and few teens remained when the attack started. She didn’t understand what was going on completely, she knew some were good and some were bad, and some were even worse, such like the scientists who created her. She lived in a hidden lab in a forest that was always covered in snow, whenever she had a chance to go outside; she worked hard to get that privilege. Her life was hard as she learnt how to hold and use weapons, her training always pushing her past her limits, especially the first time she had to take a life. The humans who controlled them laughed when she was pitted against another cub, he was named Allen from what she was told, but none of that mattered to the humans, they threw them together into a small arena that held bones from previous fights. She knew if she didn’t fight she would be punished, so she fought her hardest and won, but when it came down to the end the guards said, “Kill the runt, we have no use for weaklings.” Alura wanted so badly to disobey the order, but she knew if she did her punishment would be worse and Allen would die an even worse death at their hands. “I am sorry,” she mouthed the words to the boy as he knelt in front of her, tears having already stained his orange feline cheeks, his blue eyes only held sorrow in them. “Its okay, where I go now is better then here.” He closed his eyes as she pushed the knife into his chest, stopping his heart from beating. She let his body fall to the ground, tears falling down her white fur as her tail curled around her leg. “Good girl,” one of the male guards said as he petted her head, her fur standing on edge as the scent of him permeated the stench of death around her. She knew the guard; he had been watching her for some time, giving her small smiles and strange treats to the other girls in her litter. She had seen him walk one of her older cousins into a great room were, screams were heard before hours later her cousin would be escorted out by two guards carrying her back to the cell, where she would weep on her cot till she fell asleep. Alura did not know what went on in there but the older girls feared what they called “The Time.” Suran, her mother said to her once, “Never show fear for when The Time comes.” Alura didn’t understand and her mother never go to explain as she was lead into the same great room, screams followed but she was never brought back to the cell they shared. Alura was scared, she wanted her mom, but knew that something terrible had happened. A few days later a passing pair of scientists was speaking loudly, obviously not caring who heard their conversation, “ Man, that tigress was good, it’s too bad they had to put her down for bad breeding.” The other laughed and said, “Yea, I do prefer Tiger over Snow leopard but, when the bitch runs its course, all you can do is make a nice rug from the fur.” Both of them laughed as the passed the cells, Alura knew her mother was the only female tiger in the compound and now she could only picture her mothers bright orange coat with her beautiful black stripes lying on floor, as a rug.

The image brought Alura out of her dream screaming. She quickly looked around unsure of where she was, her senses slowing coming back to her. She noticed she was in a bed, not a cot. She looked at the room; it was white and sterile but didn’t hold the air of malice like many of the rooms in the labs did. She stood up, her clothes still on from when she was in the forest, they weren’t much, just jeans and shirt and an overly large jacket she stole. She walked to the door, she was usually behind bars, finding it unlocked. She walked out into the hallway not seeing anyone but heard an unfamiliar sound. She followed the sound as it lead to some large wooden doors, testing the surroundings she tentatively pushed, and found no alarms, or sirens, no yelling, and they were also unlocked. As she poked her head out from the opening in the door she saw a wonderful sight, more kids. She slowly walked out into the sunlight, seeing some steps she took a seat on one. “I see you’re awake,” said a familiar female voice. Alura stood up quickly, tripping on her tail and falling to the grass below. “Oh dear! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” the wolf came to help the girl up. “Easy, your safe here. No one will harm you any more,” smiling the wolf gently petted the little spotted tiger cub trying to comfort her. Alura stayed still, and silent, waiting for the guards or something else to happen, but nothing did. “Where… Where am I?” Alura was less scared but slowly she looked around, noticing the other kids running around and heard the noise she had followed earlier was coming from them. “What is that sound” she asked the wolf as they both sat back on the steps. “That, my dear, is laughter. You too may eventually learn to like it, but it will take time. We rescued you from those labs, along with several others. Infact everyone you see here, was once in one of those types of labs, myself included.” The wolf smiled softly at the girl, as suddenly a white and black spotted ball rolled up, followed by a little boy wolf. “Sorry, Miss Melody.” He smiled at them both, obviously also out of breath from running, He saw the girl who was watching with large yellow eyes at the people around, “Hey, You want to come play?” he asked nicely, the girl shook her head slowly and looked at the ground. He then got an idea, throwing the ball back at one of the other boys he was playing with and sat beside her. The large wolf smiled and asked, “ Are you done playing?” He replied, “For now, I thought I would take a break and make a new friend.” He held his paw out to the girl, his white fur glistening in the sun, “My name is Kiranti, I’m from a lab in the mountains.” Alura was taken aback by how open he was and how nice, looking to Miss Melody for help, only receiving a smile. She took the pup’s paw, hers smaller than his and said, “My name is Alura, and I too am from a lab in the mountains.” Melody smiled at the two and said, “ I have a feeling you two are going to be great friends.”