Chapter 25: Into Enemy Territory

In the morning, Dr. Atlas knocked on Ferral’s room door. A loud groan sounded from inside, and a loud thud. As if something heavy hit the floor. A few moments later, Ferral cracked open the door, his eyes barely open.

“What?” Ferral mumbled, an annoyed undertone in his voice. Atlas smiled, “I just wanted to let you know our ride will be hear at around ten-thirty or so.” Ferral’s eye twitched; he dug his claws into the door frame. “It is FIVE in the morning,” He sneered, “You couldn’t have waited a little later to tell me?” “Well, I’m a very early bird, so I’ve been up since four. But, I’m not the only one.” He pointed behind him, Leona waiting cross-armed, leaning against a door.

“I just want to know where the showers are?” She said, “I smell like shit, and none of the guest rooms have one.” Ferral groaned, stepping out of the room and closing the door before rubbing his eyes with his lower palms. “God, you don’t know how much I hate you both.” He muttered. “Good morning to you, too.” Atlas joked. Ferral creaked his head toward Atlas, an irritated look on his face.

“I’ll deal with you later,” Ferral grumbled, putting his hand over Atlas’s face and shoving him to the side. “Follow me, moron.” He flicked his hand at Leona as he walked down the hall. Dr. Atlas followed them, “Well, I was gonna wait till we got back, but might as well take one now.” They walked down the stairs, Ferral telling the two to wait by the front door while he got something. He came back with two stacks of folded clothes and handed one to each of them.

They looked at them. Atlas noticed there were some business casual clothes and a lab coat. “Where did you get this?” He asked. Ferral shook his head, “You don’t wanna know.” Atlas looked back down at the clothes, sickened. Leona looked at hers. They were similar to Ferral’s, a tight black undershirt with black pants. She had no belt, but there was a jacket. It was a golden color on the outside, with black on the inside, and three large black claw marks designed on the back.

“Are these your clothes?” She asked. “No, I had them specifically made for you.” Ferral replied, “If you’re going to be my bodyguard, you’re not going dressed as a bum.” “Rude.” She rolled her eyes, “What’s with the claw marks?” “It’s my village’s insignia. All of our armor has it.”

Afterward, they continued following Ferral toward two large ponds within the village. They were connected, one with a waterfall pouring water into it, and some of the water flowed into the other. Yet the other had steam coming off the water. “This is the village bathing area. The pond with the waterfall has cold water, and the one to the right is hot. There are bars of soap behind the waterfall, go crazy.” Ferral walked off. “Well,” Atlas started, “Ladies first.” Leona smirked, “Bitches follow.” The two chuckled.

The village had begun to wake. Leona and Dr. Atlas walked through, passing by some of the people who were starting their day. Altas didn’t get as many nasty stares as he usually did. Maybe they finally started getting used to seeing him. “I’m actually surprised, these clothes are pretty comfortable,” Leona remarked, stretching her upper body. “But I wish the collar wasn’t up to my neck.” She tugged at it. “Does that jacket even zip up?” Atlas asked. Leona shook her head, “There’s no zipper, so no.”

The two walked inside the mansion, heading straight to the dining room. Nia and the kids were having breakfast. Laura and Berus looked at their outfits in awe. “Wow, Ms. Leona! You look so bright!” Laura said. “That looks like Papa’s clothes.” Berus noticed. Nia smiled, “Ferral decided to give you those clothes after all? They suit you guys.” They sat at the table, and shortly after, a housekeeper brought their plates. “Where is he?” Leona asked. “He’s just getting some last-minute things packed. He’ll come down soon.”

A few minutes later, Ferral came down. As he made his way to the dining room, there was a certain liveliness to the way he walked. He seemed to move more lightly. It wasn’t a great change, but visible enough that Leona and Dr. Atlas took notice. “You seem in a good mood, Mr. Ferral.” Atlas pointed out, despite Ferral’s neutral expression. “Yeah, you usually look more….bleh.” Leona poked fun at the kids' giggling. Ferral sat down, “Whatever my mood is, it’s none of your concern.” He responded coldly.

The wind was strong today as Ferral and Nia went to drop their kids off at school. Ferral joked that they might fly away from the wind. When they got to the school, they hugged their parents, Ferral extra tightly. “Be careful, Papa.” Laura said. “Come back soon, please.” Berus added. Ferral looked at them with a heartwarming smile, ruffling their hair. “I’ll be back in no time, don’t you worry.” They nodded, trusting their father’s word, and ran off with the rest of the students.

The time had finally come. Ferral, Atlas, Leona, and Nia waited in the middle of the Dead Zone. “Where are we going, by the way?” Leona asked Atlas. “Germany,” He responded, “Berlin to be more specific.” Leona looked intrigued, “Germany, huh? That’s where some of our ancestors come from, right, Ferral?” “That is where the first experiments were made, yes.” Nia put her arm around Ferral’s shoulders. “Didn’t you tell me you were German?” She asked. “On my mother’s side, yes.” The four continued conversing until the sound of a helicopter's blades slowly grew closer.

“Well, it’s time.” Ferral sighed, picking up the two large bags with his stuff. Leona and Atlas both carried the boxes that held the supplies from Ferral’s facility. “Good luck.” Nia kissed Ferral on the cheek, “And be safe.” Ferral smiled and nodded. “Everything will be fine. Just like you said, remember?” Her smile grew, and she nodded too. The helicopter started its descent in front of the group; it was similar to the one Ferral and Atlas had gone on before. The large door slid open. This time, only one soldier was inside. The trio walked toward it, Dr. Atlas going first to let the soldier know who was coming with him. He stepped aside once Ferrla and Leona got to the door. The two hopped in, and the soldier jumped back inside and closed the door. They were off.

It was a long flight, Atlas telling Leona and Ferral it would take about twenty hours to get to their destination. Luckily, Ferral brought a few books to read on the flight, and Leona was used to taking long naps.

At night, Ferral stared up at the roof of the helicopter. Thoughts were racing a million miles an hour. This wasn’t anything uncommon for him; he has always had this problem. But tonight felt…different. He got up and stared out one of the windows. As quiet as he was being, Leona still heard the sound of him moving about. She got up and walked to a window next to him.

“Trouble sleeping?” She whispered. “A little.” He responded. “Yeah, you’ve always had that problem.” The two didn’t say anything for a while, only gazing out of their respective windows. “Can…I ask you something?” Leona broke the silence. “Sure.” “You turned Laura into an experiment, didn’t you?” Ferral nodded, “Yeah, but only partial.” “Partial?” “She was only given twenty-five percent of the animal's genes compared to the fifty percent we get. As far as I’m aware, she’ll never be able to fully transform the way you and I do.” “But why?”

Ferral was silent for a moment. “I’m not going to be around forever, Leona.” He finally said. “Neither will Nia. What then? I needed to give her that fighting chance. So, when I discovered the facility near our village, I destroyed all the creation pods but one. And used it to turn Laura into a partial experiment.” “You really want to keep her safe, don’t you?” Leona cracked a small smile. “That’s what any parent wants. To keep their child safe.” Ferral walked back to his corner and lay back down. Leona looked at him, still smiling. 

When they woke up, they could see snow falling from the sky through the windows. They made it.