Ashes to Empathy

The liquid around her felt thick and unnatural as she struggled to open her eyes; the stiffness in her body making even the slightest movement difficult. She couldn't see anything outside the greenish tint as blurs dashed around the room, filled to the brim with life-sized test tubes of the same green sludge she was trapped in. She opened her mouth, but all that came out were bubbles before the air mask covering her mouth almost shoved her voice back into her throat. The green tint covering the room sent chills down her spine. Where am I? What's going on? She couldn’t compare the sight she was witnessing.

Green ooze seeped in, extinguishing the room’s vibrant red lights and plunging it into darkness. Nothing but her floating, left helpless, to her surroundings just woken to the world. Test tubes slowly started to drain one by one as scientists panicked, darting around the room trying to contain what was getting out. She watched as a beast taller than the test tubes slowly emerged from a breach in the containment, its doors behind it forced open as it leaned to avoid hitting its head. Spikes, sharp and greyish green, came out of any orifice. Two protruded where its eyes should be as she watched it crush the scientist like they were ants invading a picnic as it roared, making more test tubes shatter, even hers as, she panicked trying to keep the rest of the green ooze inside,her hands pressing against the glass. Unable to stop the spreading of the cracks as the water flowed out, making her mask useless as the cold air spread inside, as she gasped strongly, confusion plastered on her eyes as she stayed inside her tube, watching the beast continue forward in the lab. She waited a couple of minutes before pushing the glass forward, wincing at the sight of blood left on the floor… Bodies dragged and moved between rooms, thrown against walls as the floors were covered in broken glass. She glanced down at her feet — soft paws, almost furry and bug-like—as she slowly moved around the glass, careful not to cut herself. She looked at the other test tubes slowly draining themselves. She didn’t stay around, looking over at the labels on each test tube, even her own.

“Moth, Project 2358”

Her own voice took her aback as she wrapped her hands around her throat. Shaking her head, she was startled by the sound. Moth kept going, slowly stepping on the small parts of stone that weren't coated in small shards of glass. Keeping her distance from anything else in the room, from the test tubes to even the beast that was who knows how far ahead of her, she jumped at the sound of more glass breaking as she took off towards the beast, hoping it would lead her to an exit. The red lights were now noticeable the deeper she got into the lab. Groans echo off the walls, voices of the injured and almost dead, and the blood in front of her fizzed again against the stone, making Moth pull away from it in disgust, moving her padded feet away from it as two soft wings covered the rest of her bare body. She kept walking slowly, trying to see through the flashing lights to guide her way through the lab, seeing claw marks on the metal walls, bodies lying limp on the ground, some even reaching out, almost begging for help. She quickly walked past the body.

“I-I'm sorry. I-… must get out,” Moth whimpered to herself, forcing herself to keep going even though everything in her body was screaming at her to turn around and go back, not to pay attention to the cries and screams ahead of her. Pausing once she saw the beast holding another worker in its larger claw-like hands. The size of a man himself, as the creature slowly opened its mouth, taking the man's head into its mouth as it bit down in a loud, satisfying crunch, she gasped, covering her mouth, catching the beast's attention as it eerily turned towards her, smelling the air.

“Come here, little one,” The beast growled, dropping the headless body, lowering its claw to her, slowly moving its finger, beckoning her towards it.

“I won’t eat you… You reek of mutants, like we are the same.” His voice echoed off the walls, trying to keep her attached.

“You…hurt them?” Moth struggled to speak, wrapping her hands around her own throat.

“They hurt us, small one. I protected…freed you… Help me…moon creature.” He walked closer to her as she took another step back.

“I will lead you out of here…together we can feed on the humans that harmed us…the others shall not survive the outside world.” Before he could drag her off, she grabbed his large, sharp hands, engulfing her like she weighed nothing, but being gentle as if she were a thin sheet of paper.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone! They were never meant to be mine!” Moth struggled to get out of his grip, seeing her own fur and skin rip from the struggle, blood dripping onto the Beast's claws.

“They kept you asleep and weak! Soft one, join me!” he growled right in her face, the mess of rotting flesh and iron making her want to gag, forcing her head away in disgust.

“F-fine! Just to escape,” she yelped as he dropped her, she covered the parts of her arms that were bleeding, soaking her white fur red, following after him as he cleared a path for them both. A group of men rushed out, all dressed in black, covered in metal that looked like it would be a struggle for their claws to pierce. She paused, her antennae lowering at these… humans' defensive stance blocking their exit.

“Beast! Go back to your cell at ONCE!” the man in the middle yelled, his voice echoing off the walls. The creature refused to stand there like a rock, unwilling and unmoving.

“Project 1778! Back to containment, last chance!” the man screamed louder this time as Moth looked terrified of what would happen to her if the creature, did something before she could open her mouth to speak. The men opened fire, sending her to falling back against her wings, holding her four arms in, trying to protect herself as best as possible. As the creature took the hits as if the bullets were nothing but mosquito bites, a pest to him, she grunted,

"Keep moving forward," and, with one large swipe of his claw, they were sent toward the wall, leaving the creature to prey on his food. Moth watched the beast rip bodies apart as bullets flew in the air, getting lodged in other soldiers or even the walls as she tucked herself inside her wings, letting the horrors outside hopefully solve themselves without her eyes having to see the death rain from the metal ceiling above her.

After a short time, the beast leaned over her, slowly moving this ball of fluff and wings.

“Safe now, soft one. Come, we must keep walking… eat.” He rolled an arm in front of her as she stared at it in horror before jumping to her feet and following him.

“N-no! I'm not going to eat one of them!” she yelled at him, following his giant footsteps.

“If you're hungry, you must eat. Humans don’t taste all that bad… ” He almost shrugged as she looked up at the ceiling at the tubes that ran through them.

“You’ve been here for a while, haven’t you…” she stuttered over her own words in fear.

“Yes…most of us don't survive the green…you…I didn’t think you were ready untill you followed…good, soft one.” He leaned over, gently petting the top of her head.

“Ready? What?” She paused, confused as he turned to her, making sure she was still following closely.

“Mutant…. I am more than they… seemed to make you more-ish human fluffy one,” he scoffed before going back to marching forward.

“… none of this makes sense.”

“It will once it’s right for you to understand… Now we are set free to be amongst the lovely land… Have you ever seen a young tree?”

“No…I woke up today.” Moth's wings fluttered, still covering her body.

“You're missing so much…this shall set us all free.” he growled low in his throat as she pulled another door open. As they entered the new hallway, rooms filled on both sides, both barracks and bathrooms, places to eat, sleep, and enjoy being a human, what it would be like to sleep comfortably on a bed of soft wool and feathers, instead of floating in green ooze.

“Almost out… before they made humans out of cells…they needed alive souls…you were a cell, my dear..I was a soul. ” His voice brought her back from her daydreaming, keeping her grounded.

“No wonder you know nothing of the outside world. ”

He pried another door open. This time, she was expecting a bright, shining sun in the sky, green grass, and a giant tree to provide shade for all of Earth's living things, as the beast had said. Instead, it was a night with the smell of smoke and rotting bodies. The beast stood there with an open mouth as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing…or smelling, as he held a claw out to keep her behind him. The world he once knew was dead: the grass no longer green, the sky a gray-ish brown instead of a bright, beautiful blue.

“I-is this what it’s supposed to look like?” she stared at the brown, dead grass, gently grabbing his claw as the beast lowered his head to her.

“No…something has gone terribly wrong, small one.” He sniffed around before pulling away in both fear and disgust.

“The smell of the dead…” he growled, keeping Moth close to him before scooping her up in a claw, holding her close to his chest, slowly taking them both further outside to the outland as she looked around more; the fog covering where clouds would be; instead it was the smell of rotting bodies.

“Where are we going now?” Moth struggled to sit up in his grip.

“Safe — I’m afraid it’s no longer safe for anyone, let alone someone so soft. Small one,” the beast grunted, leaving footprints behind, but slower; he stopped right in his tracks as he watched a somewhat human creature slowly walking past them both. Strangely, the human looked sick. Almost dead. It was odd until Moth covered her mouth in a sharp gasp. The moving corpse was missing an arm, as blood dripped behind it, fizzing on the grass behind it, killing whatever life remained.

“What is that?” Moth went to yell as the beast quickly silenced her.

“The dead… I don’t know if they're harmful to mutants… When I was human, the… shows they would play said they were harmful to humans… shall we not risk this, yes?” the beast's accent switched, no longer forced, growls now worried with a Russian hint to it, sending a chill down her spine.

“You… can put me down.” Moth moved in his arms again, uncomfortable.

“No…we must find a safe place, then I shall let you down…the blood below us is fizzing. I don’t believe we can consume the dead.” The beast tilted his head as if he was listening for something, anything but the groans in the distance. Moth allowed him to keep carrying her even through the woods; the smallest sound was triggered by the loudest of creatures, and yet the forest was silent, sending a chill down her spine.

“When the forest is calm…that is not a good sign, young one…dangerous, normally full of creatures, small animals, good food…” The beast's voice seemed tight, as if it was hurting him to keep talking to her, to help her understand a world he no longer understood himself.