#just remembered we have another board with smaller wheels. hmmm...........................

[lokh]

hand ollie....

[turtledragons]

Finally got some internet to actually post this!

Fare warning this chapter is not pretty. There is blood and depictions of experimentation so if that bugs you then by all means avoid it. I will tag it as best as I can for those who don’t handle this sort of thing well but if you notice something you think it should be tagged for then tell me I will add the tag. (be aware that I think simply for these things and I may tag something as an overarching deal and forget to add in the smaller things)

Now for those that would rather read it here click it will be under the read more ~

Pain, darkness, and white are all he knows. Curled in a corner of this very dark, very little room he counted the hard stitching on his chest. 1…3…10… How long had he been here? It was hard to tell through the pain and darkness. 20…34…39… He recalled coming in here with a broken arm and it was long since healed. With no infection it had to have been at least 4 months, after all reptile bones take longer to heal. 52…66…71…It was hard to remember through all the pain even now every little movement sent fire through his veins. But, he had gotten used to that. 121…138…157…

             How long ago was it that they moved him to this room with nothing? It was at least after his fifth near escape using the light bulbs and plastic cover. 183…189…212. A woosh and light assaulted his senses, interrupting his counting. Hands gently grabbed his arms and hoisted him up and onto a cart. His arms and legs swiftly bound. He had long stopped caring what the humans looked like all he saw were the white coats anymore.

               They pushed him down the hall bright white lights passed over head. He remembered talking, fighting against the scientists. Their hands used to leave bruises on his arms and he would leave them with scars. It wasn’t worth what little energy he had left anymore. The sound of the wheels and footsteps were like thunder in the silence of the facility. It had been so long since the sound of laughter and yelling were common. Was his family even looking for him? Surly they must be. But, it had to have been several months possibly even a year right?

Did they even know he was still alive?

             Another woosh of a door and he was pushed into a cell with a bright red light. The surgery room. He never did understand why the red light.

             “Thank you, please wait outside while I conduct the experiment.” More foot steps and the sound of the door closing followed by a cart rolling up to his right side. A white coat entered his vision a brown clip board covering the humans’ face.

             “Hmmm, still not eating I see. Understandable reptiles tend to go off feed during winter.”

Winter was it? He remembered being brought in late spring. He hadn’t eaten anything since he had arrived besides what they had forced down his throat, and even then, he threw it up more times than he kept it down. How much weight had he lost since he came here?

             “Well.” The click of the plastic board pounded in his ears when set down.

             “I have something new for you. You see we recently received a little mosquito filled with a strange liquid.” The scrape of a blade being lifted off the tray. “Tests on mice and rats proved that it caused drastic mutations in living matter. We have broken it down to its base components. Added in DNA samples. I want to see how far I can take this.”

             He closed his eyes and shuttered at the feeling of a pen making marks where his jaw met his skull.

             “The rats and mice proved to be too fragile, none of them made it. You however, are much stronger.” The cold blade pressed against his skin. “So, let’s try something new.”

Pain erupted across his jaw as the cold steel dug in, each millimeter pure agony. He wanted to scream but couldn’t find his voice. The white coat kept him from jerking his head away. Why couldn’t they put him under for this agony? Why were they so unwilling to put him under or give him pain killers among all the other things they had subjected him to?

             He didn’t know how long he lay there under the mercy of the white coat’s blade only that it was too long, far too long.  His vision blurred weather from the pain or tears he did not know only that at each slice of the knife shot lightning down his body.

             Finally, the steel made its last cut. He wanted to throw up but there was nothing left he tilted his head as far as he could toward the man in white. His head felt wrong, it was far, far too light. A strangled gurgle erupted from his throat. All he could see was blood, his jaw held away from his body, and white. Darkness crept across his vision and he welcomed its protective embrace.

             He was starting to forget, he could hardly remember what the sun, the trees, the sky looked like. They were little more than just blurs of washed out color in his mind. He didn’t want to forget. If he forgot he would lose everything. His family? He couldn’t remember their faces. Sharp claws dug into his skull as if he could physically hold what was left of his mind in, but it was just so… hard. He clung to what little he remembered.

             Orange a happy smile and a helping hand, Red with strong hugs and protective presence, blue with a cool confidence, yellow always running into trouble, pink a comfort a warrior, brown a caretaker a teacher. They all danced just out of reach.

             He couldn’t forget. Don’t forget.

             DoN’t forGet.

             dOn’T FOrgEt.

             DoN’t FoRGeT!

It was dark, darkness was safety, darkness protected. But even it could not chase away the light. It always came and the dark hid from it. Many times, he wished he could follow to hide away in its embrace until the light went away. The light brought with it White Coat and the monster brought pain.

             A woosh startled him, and he tried to tuck as far into the corner as he could to hide from the inevitable light. Only, it never came. Darkness ruled and spread. There was an opening in the wall. Dull red eyes peaked over his tail expecting something to come though the opening, to drag him out and hurt. Nothing did. Slowly ever so slowly he dragged his body toward the opening. One paw in front of the other. Nothing happened.

             For the first time since he could remember he stepped out of the too small cage by his own choice. He only remembered darkness, these walls, and white. His body tight as a spring he inched down the empty corridor. A bang and he was running. He had not heard a sound like that before, loud and sharp. Long limbs tripped over one another not used to moving so freely, so quick.

             BANG! BANG! BANG! The noises kept repeating behind him spurring him on ever quicker. Risking a glance behind he watched a piece of the ceiling slam down to the ground. BANG! The hall was collapsing! A woosh in front of him and light forced the darkness away. For the first time, he vaulted himself into the blinding white.

Rather than hard stone his paws were met with something that shifted beneath his claws. His paws slid out from under him and he fell head over tail. His spine collided with a wall but it was rough and moved slightly, it was unlike anything he had ever felt. Taking in labored breaths he found himself assaulted with smells he had never smelled. Something soft tickled his face and he reared back from it. Tail and limbs in a tangle all he did was stumble again.

             Finally, his eyes adjusted to the blinding light and he was met with something he had never seen. Brown and green instead of white. No metal in sight. Towering walls of rough separated brown stood in light tan sprinkled with occasional tufts of green. This was new. This was all so new… and so very bright.

             All around there was new beauty, dusty dirt with patches of vibrant green. Towering wood walls only broken by the light grey of the cavern that he had just left. Blue stretched above as far as he could see. A bright yellow white light shown from above bathing his dull green scales with a welcoming warmth. The sun a voice in his head whispered.

             Standing up nervously he was prepared to jump at any notice but he wanted to explore this larger cage. His world had just gotten bigger after all. Hunched over and his tail between his legs he started smelling the tufts of green. Grass he decided. It smelled wonderful and so much less harsh than the chemicals that clung to him and the building.

A sound from above startled him and he immediately turned his vision upwards only to freeze at the sight. Standing upon the walls of wood was White Coat. Watching him with his clipboard in hand. It was a stare off where he dared not look away. The Human was the first to look away instead deciding to write something on the board in his hands.

               The pain he was expecting never came. Instead Whitecoat seemed to be content with just watching from afar. It took a while for him to decide that for once Whitecoat was not going to harm him. He went back to exploring only now he kept an eye on every little move the human made.