Prologue
K144-2. I had seen those numbers, that hellish line of numbers, countless times, hearing it even more. K144-2. That was my name. I was nothing more than an experiment to them.
I mean nothing. Nothing. Nothing. The rage that filled me was so chilling, gnawing on my heart with inescapable fury. It felt…nice. Strangely nice to be in control of that power.
"All medical personnel to room 432 with sedatives. K144-2 on a rampage."
Those numbers, again. I hated those numbers. The arms reaching and grabbing for me, all around me, could do nothing to calm me. Blizzards were swept up with my wings, the cold
stopping some of them right in their places. I can't stop the grin that kicks up on my face; they couldn't stop me. Not this time.
My feet slide with assurance over the frosted floors as more flood into my room, armed with tranquilizing guns. They shoot without hesitation, and though how hard I try to keep the
drug-filled needles away from my body with gusts of wind, I am able to feel a few pricks against the skin of my chest and leg. They don't sink as deep as they are supposed to, however –
I can't feel their effects quite yet. I am still conscious. Still able to escape.
With my tail feathers whipping behind me, I sprint out of my room, beginning to sweat at the sudden change in temperature. They're still behind me, some unconscious, some frozen,
some struggling to get up. My wings manage to be half-folded across my back, out of my way yet ready to stretch out at the first sign of sky. I had never gotten this close before. Ever.
I can't even hear the screams in the rooms next to me. For once, I wouldn't risk my safety for someone else's freedom. This was my turn. Thirteen years in this hellhole, and I was
done. Finally. I was done.
"Defense personnel needed on floor 9. K144-2 on a rampage."
I round a corner, heart beating faster and harder than I ever thought would be possible. More meet me there, armed with guns and equipment to heavy to notice that their target
was right in front of them. I do my best to stop them, freeze them somehow, but I'm quickly growing tired. I couldn't keep this up.
It seems that the lights around me are growing dimmer, somehow. But, there's a window. A plain, glass window, right in front of me. I see land, oceans, beyond that breakable
barrier, and I jump, unable to stop myself any longer. But there were more behind me, and as I'm falling, wings open wide under the uncomfortably warm air; I feel a strong and
sharp pain in my back before I fade out completely.
