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“What is this one supposed to be?”

“I think they said tiger or hyena, I can't remember which.”

“Wait, no, it says on the tube. Lion. She's a lucky one, then. I got a hyena the other day and man did she scream.”

“Yeah some of them don't react to the change that well... bad blood. You know, I feel bad... They don't choose this, I know I wouldn't. Who wants to be a savage?”

The two biologists walked over to a cage marked 'Subject A129033L'. Inside was a woman, early 20's, fast asleep on narcotics.

“White female, blonde, green eyes. Medium build. Subject number A120933L. August third, 2298, operating room 14. Lion,” one of the men recited into a small black recorder before placing it in his lab coat and unlocking the cage. They hoisted the woman onto a stretcher and pushed her down the long dimly lit hallways of S16 towards the operation room. Each door they passed held within it the hollow wails and strangled screams of desperation, the tortured souls of a once mighty race of man.

“Remind me to buy ear plugs.” The older man smirked.

Every cell was marked with a plain white label, explaing what they held. Some said Lion, some said Wolf, and some even Bear, among tens more.

“The hyenas are the worst, nocturnal idiots. Having them and the lions roar and laugh all night it's a miracle we're not deaf. Can't wait til they're put through Reform.” the younger rolled his eyes.

They entered the operating room and placed the woman on a cold metal slab, sticking and injecting her with all sorts of numbing agents and IV's. Both of them suited up and prepared for the operation while her body grew more and more limp.

“Strap her in John, I'm not getting clawed again.” The older biologist pointed to the long thin scars he had from the top of his right brow to his jawline. “Good thing Caethe let me get rid of her.”

“Fed her to the alligators, Jones?”

“Yeah, they were hungry after all- those scary a*s ex-convict Shape Shifters. What's with that look on your face boy? We've done this loads of times before. All we gotta do is infuse her blood with the animal blood and make a few tweaks. The coping is up to her.”

“I know, but why does Caethe need Shape Shifters? Why can't he just use his thousand-man army? There are only around two hundred Outlanders in each tribe, they could be easily taken care of without deforming innocent people.” John traced the delicate outline of the woman's pale face, stopping at her collar bone and gripping the tube in his hand.

Jones sighed at his partner's naivety. “Look, kid, this isn't our issue. Caethe wants what he wants and he always gets his way. That's what we get paid for, that's why we're not one of the Shifters. Also, Shifters are much more powerful than us. They can smell Rebels from a mile away and hear 'em, too. Since they speak their own animal language, we can't tell what they're saying and they can blend in to their environment damn well. Even in their human form they can speak to those who are in their secondary form and still understand them. The b******s can also go from human to animal in the blink of an eye, sometimes with their moods, and sometimes with just free will. The Rebels never see it coming.”

John knew he was fighting a lost battle; it wasn't up to him what happened to the people of Terra Nova, it was up to their all-powerful ruler Caethe. “Alright.”

With that, the procedure had begun.

Sharp little rat nails scraped against a metal ceiling pipe in one of the thousands of holding cell within the confines S16. The vermin made its way across the room, but unfortunately for mister rat, he had chosen the wrong cell. Not far from him was the cell door which was conveniently labeled: Tigers.

The rat hopped onto a shelf and then made his way down to the floor, only to be met by two massive paws surrounding him. He looked up, gazing into the most vicious eyes he'd ever seen.

“Hello, rat.” A booming Middle-eastern voice emerged from the creature before him, and just as the rat began to run, he was swallowed whole, tail and all.

“You're repulsive.” A female tigress Shifter growled in disgust behind the rat's consumer. “Why can't you at least pretend to have manners for once in your life?”

The other tiger yawned, laying his boulder of a head on the concrete floor. “I'm a feline Shifter, rats are my food. Do the math. Besides, it's not like we get fed every day, and he wasn't even a shifter, he was just a regular rodent.”

A loud banging startled the debaters, and a harsh human voice commanded them to quieten. “One more roar from this cage and I swear I'll feed you to the alligators, too.” The tigers hissed and swatted at the intruder, but their curiosity took over when they saw the motionless heap being dragged by a rope behind the man. It looked human, but it was hard to tell for sure, since there was little to no source of light in the windowless corridors and cells of S16. The thing was thrown into the cell opposite theirs, and shut in without food or water. The human locked up and walked away whistling a tune as if life was grand.

The tigers squeezed their noses through their cell bars to smell the newcomer.

“Damn, she's new. I smell... Lion. Yuck, not another one.” The female snarled.

The male, on the other hand, was not so prejudice. “We could use her later... try to be civil.”

“Are you still set on that ridiculous escape plan of yours? There's no way everyone here could cooperate. Plus I'm allergic to the dogs.”

“It's fine, I'll leave you here Nadya.” The remark earned the male a hard whack on the head and a glare from his cell mate. “Oi, girl, what's your name?” he purred across the hall. He didn't expect an answer since she was most likely still unconscious from the drugs they had her on, but to his surprise she heaved in loudly.

After several labored breaths, the new inmate replied “Hmm... what? Wh... Where am I?” Then she commenced in a flurry of rapid eye movements and profuse sweating.

“What a cliché wake up line.” Nadya uttered to herself.

“Ignore her, she's on her time of the month. Now, dear, do you know who you are? Or perhaps you remember where you're from?”

“Who... who are you? Where am I? What is this place?” She shook her head. “No, all I can... recall is walking to the bank to ask for an... extension on my bills. Then everything went black. Hey... you... you must know where we are!” The girl swirled around to face the two pairs of glowing eyes staring at her from the dark. “Tell me, please! I have to get home!”

“Tell her, Rajiv, look how she begs.” Nadya snickered, having little other entertainment in their 20 by 20 foot cell block.

With carefully calculated words, Rajiv explained their situation to the girl. “This place is called S16. It is within Sector 16 of the city of Terra Nova, which is divided into 40 Sectors overall. This particular 'm-shaped' building has 4,000 concrete holding cells, and alligator pit, and 14 testing rooms, each used for genetic manipulation. The men who brought you here are part of an organization called Terrae Veteris Ecclesiæ, or the Old Earth Assembly. Now, the Assembly, as you may know, is the new government of Terra Nova, composed of all the blue blood families of, you guessed it, old Earth. The Assembly, largely operating through it's Blue Army, enslaved all the middle class and low class peoples, grouping them together into the Outlanders. That's us. Or was, until the Rebellion.”

The girl thought about this for a while with questions screaming at her, and said, “Right, but what does all that have to do with us being here?”

“Well, the Outlanders who rebelled have been hiding out in forests, mountains, and canyons for decades, but recently, their leader Kain has operated several attacks on the Assembly. So the blue bloods had to retaliate. Using the remaining slaves under their control wasn't enough, though, they needed something stronger, something... supernatural.”

The atmosphere in the two cell blocks had grown grim, and the feeling of fear hung in the air. All three of them stayed silent for a while, until at last Rajiv finished his story. “Shifters, is what we're called. As in, Shape Shifters. Not really man but not really animal either. Freaks is also a common term. We're the second hand of the Assembly, whether we like the idea or not.”

“What're you talking about?” The girl asked, utterly confused now.

Rajiv and Nadya stepped into the tiny florescent light flickering between their cells, and the girl almost fainted. “But that's-- no! What are you?” She screamed.

The two tigers sighed and receded back into the darkness, hiding their secondary form. This time, it was Nadya's time to speak. She sighed loudly and said, “Step into that light and look at yourself, dear.”