Thesa [Chapter Four] The Escape.

As night came upon Thesa and Sus, they were relieved when the zookeeper grabbed the goat creature by the scruff and walked away with it as it was making sounds as if it were being killed. A few moments later, the sound it made was cut off suddenly, and they both knew what it meant. Sus looked at Thesa and they both grieved at the horrid thought.

Sus and Thesa both stood up, being very quiet as they walked silently around the sleeping mutants. Thesa looked at them all. Twitching, and moaning, she could tell they were in pain every second of their life. Even in their dreams they could feel it. She felt bad for them, but remembered the life she had. Did they live similar lives? Did they come here just like her? She looked ahead and continued to follow Sus. Hey, Sus? How are we going to get out of here?

I've seen how the others got out. There is a small bent area in the cage that has a slight opening to the outside. I'm surprised that the zookeeper hasn't noticed it yet. I would think he would wonder how we keep getting out and look. He glanced towards a corner that had a pile of sticks and leaves in it. There it is. He pointed at it with his tail. Completely hidden.

Where? Thesa looked at the corner he was looking at. All I see are sticks and leaves.

Sus walked up towards them. That's what the trick is. It's here so we can escape. We have to keep it a secret so we have a chance of living in this world even if we got caught here and even if we end up here again. There is always hope. Sus pawed at the sticks and Thesa saw the opening to the outside world. Remember, once we are out of here, we can't communicate using telepathy. Make sure you watch me and I'll signal you with motions.

Thesa nodded. Okay. What happens if we do get caught?

Then we are done for. Lion food. Sus thought seriously. Thesa gulped and nodded.

Okay, just do what I do. But after we get out of here, I'm on my own. With that, Sus squeezed out of the bent bars of the cage. Thesa did the same. When they got out, Sus moved his head to signal her to run. She followed his directions until they reached the exit. The moon was high up now, and Thesa could see the stars again. She looked back at Sus. He was walking away. Thesa ran to catch up with him, and he stopped. Thesa took one step closer, and he nodded no. She took another step. He ran. Thesa ran after him too. Just then, she heard the humming sound, then saw two lights. She jerked to a stop, and thought in her head as hard as she could to tell Sus to stop, but remembered telepathy didn't work anymore. Still, she thought harder. The last thing she heard was a screech, and a yelp. Thesa turned away and didn't look back. She tucked her tail between her legs and kept her head low. Tears stung her eyes as she left Sus that night.

Thesa walked under the moon as it shined on her back. She was alone again. Where was she now? Thesa had no clue where she was. Her surroundings were completely different. The city was gone, and now all she saw was dirt, and nothing. Thesa decided to run off the ache she felt in her heart. No matter how much she did run, it throbbed in her vanes and made her eyes want to cry more and more. She didn't know why she was holding the tears in, nobody would care, and there wasn't anybody to care anyways. She ran faster now, letting the sound of her pulse guide her along the dry road. The moon made the tears that fell down her face glitter. She ran so fast they flew off of her, but she was crying so hard that they came back soon as they were gone. She thought in her head. Well, I'm free. There's nothing to stop me now.... but how am I a mutant? Thesa looked down at the ground as she ran while she tried to remember. After a few moments, it hit her. When she found herself in this dream she was a normal German Shepard... but what caused her to become a mutant? She know knew it happened after she entered this world, but what made her this way? Thesa thought again. She remembered walking one day into a place with nasty smelling liquid and drinking it because she was dying of thirst... could that be it? She wasn't sure, yet was was. She remembered the pain it brought when it felt like the skin on her face was being torn off. The sting like she was being burnt. She flinched and stopped running and stood there for a moment. If I even forgot that, what else did I forget? She whispered to herself.

Thesa [Chapter Three] Exotic Death.

Sus

She couldn't hear anything at first. It started out as a muffle, and then a long line of words she couldn't understand. When she could slightly comprehend the words, her vision started to come back. The first shape she could see was a blur. It looked almost like it was waiting for her to get up the way it was sitting. Her body felt numb and she could only feel the cold ground under her. Thesa could hear now, and realized she wasn't where she was before. The remembered the room with the beeping. It stained her mind, and replayed in her thoughts over and over again. She shuddered. The feeling in her body was coming back, and she could see color now. She struggled to get on her feet, but with ease, she stood up. Thesa blinked and looked around. Her vision was back.

Looking at her were a pair of opal colored eyes that belonged to a strange looking animal that resembled a small lion. The second thing she saw was that she was in a cage and people were staring at her. Thesa tucked her tail between her legs and looked back at the creature. The animal looked calm and happy to see her at the same time.

Are you okay? The animal tilted his head and blinked in question.

Who are you? Thesa looked at him with caution. And how do you talk using your mind just like me?

I'm Sus. And I'm one of you. A mutation." Sus smiled when he thought. "It's called telepathy. All of us can do it here. It has something to do with the reaction to all us mutants together. Anywhere else it doesn't work. He motioned his tail around the rest of the cage.

I'm... a mutant? Thesa looked at Sus with question. "But... I'm a dog." She shook her head. "What are you talking about?"

We all used to be a normal animal one time or another. I used to be a cat, but one day a man took me in for testing and here I am now. This here is called an exotic zoo. Sus thought.

But how did I get like this? Thesa asked, looking for something she could remember. She looked down at her paws and saw the discoloration. I... never noticed...

Sus looked sympathetic. I'm sorry... he couldn't think of anything else to say to her.

Thesa looked around her. There were lots of strange looking animals. A bird with four wings and a deformed beak, a lizard with two heads and no legs, and a goat with horns coming out of it's neck. There were more, but she couldn't stand looking any longer. I have to get out of here. She finally said frantically.

Sus nodded. I know, we all do. Some others have escaped, but the zookeepers caught a few that have and fed them to the lions early.

Thesa looked at Sus. Fed to the lions early? Why would they feed them to the lions? And what are you talking about early?! Thesa felt fear now. More than when she was being chased, even more fear than being alive. A painful death that wasn't natural. It was murder.

They feed us to the lions that live here. I fear it myself even though it may not look it. You have to look like you don't fear it because they like watching it when the animal is afraid while it dies. Sus made a brave look. Try it or you'll be next.

Thesa looked at him shocked. Why be last? Why be first? Why should it matter? Let's try to get out of here so there isn't an option of dying either way!

Sus nodded. We will tonight when there is a less chance of the zookeepers spotting us. Until then, pray we won't get picked by then.

Thesa [Chapter Two] Accompanied Silence.

The morning was dull and slightly cold. Thesa felt the silent air softly stroke her as she woke up from the dream that haunts her each night. The sun was just coming up, and this was the first time is years she saw it. Thesa blinked and looked around her. The place looked different now. The lights that glowed and lit up the dark space were gone, and now the sun took their place. She stood up and stretched. It felt good to her. A few seconds she could feel comfortable in a completely new area she had no clue where it even was.

Thesa left the abandoned box she slept in that night, and headed off towards the sidewalk. The road was busy. Very busy. Screams blared on and off, and humming blasted from metal things with wheels. Thesa saw more humans inside of them, and was curious of what they really were. She brushed off her curiosity and remembered trying to leave this place, or look for a sign of freedom. As she walked on, she saw the changes that day brought to this city. She heard the sounds of many people's voices all mixed together, laughing, children crying or asking for their parents to buy them something. As Thesa passed many street signs, roadways and the casual clearings, Thesa stopped for a break in a grassy spot that sprouted out of a large crack on a parking lot that reached far up to a building that was bigger than the parking lot itself. The sun was all the way up now, and the sky was a topaz blue. White birds patrolled the sky, and made chirps that comforted Thesa. She gazed up and watched the birds fly and play in the sky. Lost in her contentment, she once again thought of Bertha. Oh how she missed her. Where could she be? Thesa sighed and lost her gaze when she felt like she was being watched. She peered around her, and caught view of a man. He was watching her as if she was his meal, ready to pounce any moment. She had a bad feeling drop into her stomach, and hit it so hard it felt as if it created a pit. Thesa stood up and started off again, being wary of the man. Looking behind her shoulder every so often, she saw the man getting closer. Was he following her? He was so close now she could see what he was wearing. He almost looked like a crazed veterinarian, but not quite. He was dressed in a white suit, but it was tinted with the yellow of being worn for a long time. He looked like a painter, but had a smirk on his face as if to bring pain to someone. Thesa trotted now, almost in a slow paced run. The man followed. Thesa ran. Still he stayed on her tracks. She ran full speed now, not even looking back. She ran so long that the common buildings started to fade into open fields. Finally, when she started to feel ill from running, she looked back, not seeing the man. She was safe now. She felt the relief cover her whole body like a thin blanket. Thesa sat down and rested. This was the first time she wanted to be alone, and enjoyed the silence that accompanied her.

After moments of being alone, the last thing she knew was being grabbed from behind, and a sharp object being stabbed into her, and her surroundings becoming blurry, and then life as she knew it went black. She woke up groggy, and heavy. Thesa found herself on a metal table, with wires taped to her. She tried to move, but she couldn't, and there wasn't anything holding her down. The room was dark, and the sound of beeping that was the same tempo as her heart filled the room. Just then she noticed a man in a blue jacket wearing a blue mask over his face hovering over her body. He was holding a syringe filled with a thick red liquid that looked like blood. Was it her own? Was it even blood? Fear swelled within her throat. What was going to happen to her? She looked up at the man, and he locked his eyes with hers and smirked. He raised the syringe and then the man faded away into darkness.

Thesa [Chapter One] Dream Thesa. Dream.

Thesa


In snow covered dreams, Thesa walks. Losing her rightful mind as she roams. Not knowing where to go, or where to escape, she wishes for death to visit her. Freeing her from the empty life that she lives day in and day out. She one day woke up from this dream, finding herself in a dark bedraggled rag under a dim city light. The stars flickering in the night sky. She felt tears in her eyes. She escaped, but who rescued her? Was she even free? Was this another world she was cursed to lose her mind in? She got up out of the rag and trotted through the cold grass. Looking around, all she could see was black, and the rare light of another city light, just like the one she found herself awake at. Was she going in circles? Was she alone? She could not tell.

The silence that filled the air felt bitter in her ears. She walked what seemed like forever, and began to grow weak. She lay on the cold moist grass and sniffed the earthy smell that lingered out from the soil. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing shallow. Just then, in the distance, she heard a noise. It started out low, as if it were a hum sung to her as a lullaby. It got louder, and louder, now it wasn't soothing as it was, but now a scream. Thesa's eyes shot open when the beam of two lights shot passed, and the scream faded back into the hum, which turned back into the silence that stung her ears before. She raised her head, and looked around. Next to her was a road. She remembered seeing something like it in her thoughts. Her past. Before she became lost in this world that seemed to be imagination, she remembered living in a home with her mother. A cozy cabin filled with the scent of warm cookies and pine. Her mother was an elderly woman in her sixties. She was human; unlike herself. Thesa never really knew her birth mother, but she considered this woman as her mother anyways. Her name was Bertha. Bertha Marie Cherry. She treated Thesa like her own child. Feeding her when she was hungry, giving her a place to sleep at night, and giving her the love a mother gives. But one day she woke up, and that was all gone. Ever since, those were the only memories of her past life she could remember. But why does she remember a road? She gazed up at the sky, and thought. Road trips. Yes. She remembered the trips she took with Bertha. On some days, she would take Thesa to a place where they would make her feel better when she felt ill. Thesa remembered it well now. Snapping her out of her warm memories, a cold drop of water dripped down her cheek. Was she crying? No, she couldn't be. There was more water, and it fell on her back. She glanced at the road. Dark spots. Yes, it must be raining, she thought.

It started to rain that night. Thesa decided to keep walking, as the lights must have been a sign. The thunder startled her here and there, and the lightning harsh, but she kept going. A few miles later, far in the distance, she could see many tiny lights. All stacked up in a perfect line, and so many rows of them. She pricked her ears up to listen for more humming. Her eyes open wider when she hears it. The humming! She starts running, the puddles splashing her, making her fur dirty and wet. She was cold, and the air from her running didn't help. She didn't care. She ran and ran until she could hardly breathe. As the lights got closer, she could now see that they were apart of a building. There were many buildings. Hundreds, thousands. Thesa looked around. More two beamed lights, the screaming, and distant humming. Around her, she saw more humans. Not like Bertha, not as gentle looking. They looked pretty young, and some of them were in pairs, kissing or holding hands. In darker areas, creepy looking men smoked and talked about gang life. About the last person they killed, or what kind of drugs to buy next. Thesa ignored the looks she attracted from her unique appearance, and explored this strange place. She saw plenty of lighted buildings, and sometimes an animal passing by such as a stray cat or dog. It stopped raining now, and Thesa was happy about it. Her fur was mud covered, and wet. She needed to find a place to dry off, and stay for the rest of the night. A while later, she found an abandon box, trashed by a homeless man that once lived there. It smelt of that man still, the reek of not bathing for months. Thesa hated the smell, but it was the only place she could stay. All night she lay still, dreaming about the horror she lives in. Lost without a life. Life without a meaning. She would twitch now and then with the worse parts. The blood she shed at times, and the pain it brought. She sometimes thought her dreams were better. The life she had was horrible. She just wanted to die.