Chapter Two - The Tiger, The Witch, And The Doorway

Leah wakes up in a strange place, and a new character is introduced.

I took Jake's hand and he gripped it so tightly it felt like he was cutting off all blood circulation. I blindly let him lead me somewhere. He had never been good at P.E. but right now he was running so fast I could barely keep up with him. I tripped on a tree root and fell to the ground, grazing my knees and elbows. Jake finally stopped, and offered his hand to help me up. I accepted it and stood up, taking a moment to brush myself down. "Jake, this is madness. I mean, there is no door! You're just going crazy, or something!"

"Please." He said "Just a bit further, you'll see."

I made an over-dramatic sigh. "Fine." I said, giving him a glare as I continued "But we're walking." Jake grinned and took my hand, not as tight this time and we continued to walk through the forest.

The autumn season had made the grass dry and brown and the fallen leaves made a crunching noise under our feet as we hiked through the peaceful forest, it looked like a maze to me. Every tree looked the same and I swore we had passed the same rock more than twice, but Jake looked like he knew where he was was going. The walk was probably half an hour, but with the 'easily-bored' trait I had, it felt like many hours had passed before Jake halted suddenly, and me, not paying attention, bumped right into him.

"Oh sorry."

It seemed like he didn't care, He just began using his hands to clear away a large pile of earth in front of us,"He kept his hand on the large mound and slowly moved behind it. I was about to roll my eyes and give a large sigh, when I actually saw the impossible.

A door.

It was a rusted grey door, I thought for sure this whole thing would be a joke but it was actually real, I was curious where it led to but scared at the same time, I was totally bewildered by this strange door and could only stare in awe.

I turned to Jake "should we open it?"

"I don't know." He responded, it seemed neither of us knew what to do.

We stood awkwardly in the same spot for a couple of minutes unable to make up our minds. I finally spoke up. "I'm going to open it." I clasped my hand around the cool metal handle, but I hesitated to open it: instead I looked over at Jake for confirmation. He gave a quick nod and I pulled the handle. Parts of the door were rusty and it probably hadn't been used for a while judging by the state of it. It was jammed a little, but with a hard tug the door flew open.

All I could see ahead was a long stairway heading downwards. I gripped Jake's hand for support and we slowly tip-toed into the strange place and down the stairs. It seemed to go on forever and more than once I tripped over the stone steps, which were cut unevenly. The place was dimly lit, the only light came from the opened door. I could hardly see a few metres ahead. There was no barriers and the steps seemed to slope. Several times I would walk into a spider web or a drop of water would land on my head and I would jump in fear.

We reached the bottom of the stairs and all that lay in front of us was an old-looking, wood door. I twisted the golden doorknob and it didn't turn. I tried again, to be sure. Nope. It wouldn't budge a bit.

"It must be locked." I said to Jake, my voice seemed to echo off the stone walls of the stairway, creating an erie vibe.

"We should head back then, it's will be getting dark soon." I nodded my head in agreement but before we could even set foot on the first step, the metal door above us, banged shut and the click of a lock was heard.

Suddenly I smelled something strange and unfamiliar to anything I've ever smelt before. It was a horrible scent and it seemed to be everywhere. As a few seconds passed it becomes harder to breath and I choked on the strange gas that seemed to fill the room. My head throbbed and my eyes became watery. My knees buckled and I fell to the floor, I heard a thump beside me and I assumed the same things happening to Jake. I struggled to keep my eyes open, my mouth and nose are both having that burning sensation you have after you get sick. Eventually, the sensation was too much and I gave in and let myself blackout.

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I opened my eyes, excepting to see the pink, fluffy cushions I have on my bed. Instead I was greeted with a grey, brick wall. I lay on a uncomfortable, thin mattress. There was no cushion under my head and all I had to keep my warm was a thin, grey blanket.

I knew one thing for sure, this was not my bed.

I attempted to sit up, and I quickly came to relies I couldn't move my arms nor move my legs. I whispered aloud "I can't move."

"It does tend to have that effect, yes." Said an unfamiliar female voice.

"Did you do this to me?!" I shouted angrily at her.

"You shouldn't make assumption so fast kid. It happens to everyone brought here. It's the witch that does it to us." She had a deep and powerful voice, but she spoke in a calm manner.

"Who's the witch?" I asked nervously

"The woman who runs this place." She answered "This is an experiment lab, on that note you may feel a pain in your arm in a few moments."

"So, what's your name?" I asked unsure what else I could say.

"Tigris." She said quite quickly, as if she hated the very sound of her own name.

"Tigris?"

"You'll soon see why."

"Well Tigris, I'm Le-AH!" The last part I shouted as a pain shot up my arm. It felt like the skin was being ripped in half from the inside and then burned. I had never in my life experienced so much pain in my life. But on the plus side I was suddenly able to move again. A black full bodysuit was throw at my face. It had short sleeves and a golden stripe on each side.

"Put it on." Tigris said

I finally snatched a look at her and she was both the most marvellous and most terrifying woman I had ever set my eyes upon. Her skin was a light orange colour and nails seemed thick and extremely sharp. Her hair was bushy and was compiled of black and orange streaks. Her lips were black, her eyes were a beautiful Amber colour and she had excessively big muscles. She wore the same black suit as she gave me, but the the top and bottom half were separated showing off her abs and making room for a black and orange striped tail which extended from her back. She smiled as I gawped at her, revealing a row of sharpened teeth. She looked like a person that could only be real in the world of imagination, like a character from a book. She simply said jokingly to me "it's rude to stare"

She lay down on the bed opposite to mine, which was identical to the one I was lying on. She put her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling.

"So what is it?" I said to her.

She glanced over at me quickly and then turned back to staring at the ceiling. "What is what?"

"The experiment thing, what is it?" I asked

She decided to sit up and look me directly in the eyes, which was terrifying considering they were bright orange. "Basically, the company who owns this place discovered a new chemical called zagonzy-"

"Zagon-what now?"

She glared at me, "Don't interrupt kid, it's called zagonzy. Alone, it's pretty useless. But somehow, they discovered that if you mix it with animal DNA you can get the special ability of that species. Well, actually better than the ability, but-"

"Tigris, you're not making any sense."

She sighed "fine, think of it like this. This woman came here a few years back, Diana. She was injected with a fusion of zagonzy and cheetah DNA. Now, the main ability of a cheetah is speed, so she got, basically super speed-"

"Am I dreaming?"

Tigris went back to the position of lying down and once again put her hands behind her head "well if this is a dream Sweetheart, well then you're having a nightmare. Now please, if you will."

"What?" I asked her

"Shut up."

Okay, I'm not extremely proud of this chapter but I think it will do. It's pretty short considering how much just happened, but I feel it kind of shows how quickly it all happened. Anyway, see you next chapter!

=Kate=

Author's Note

The chapter is unedited, so there may be a few spelling/grammar mistakes.