3

 She didn't know what would happen from here, seeing as she no longer had Rajiv's optimism to guide her. Nadya scouted around the crowd for a familiar face, but everyone looked exactly the same: scared, angry, and tired. A sigh escaped her mouth and the let the throng of people guide her to their destination, somewhere unrecognizable and dark. The air around her was stuffy and smelled of urine; it was disgusting but it kept her awake. She hadn't noticed exactly when or where they had ended up, not that she had a clue about anything at the moment.

“Hey, do ya know what's happ'nin',” someone nudged her elbow and whispered into her ear.

“Do I look like I know?” Nadya jumped at her own hostility. She had no reason to be rude or cold to the Southern-accented stranger, they were in the exact same position as her. Losing Rajiv didn't make her special, it just made her more like everyone else.

“Sorry, Jesus, just askin' a question, I'm kinda wettin' myself right now 'cause I dun know what the hell is goin' on.” the man replied and made a 'hmph' sound.

A yellowish light snapped on that cast the interior of their confinement an eerie sepia-tone. Everyone covered their eyes until they adjusted, and then turned their attention to a small man in a circus ringleader uniform, top hat and all. He was short and stocky, having obviously eaten one too many pumpkin pies. “Hello, and welcome to my palace!” Mr. Napoleon-Complex threw his arms out and gestured to his raggedy, holy cloth tent with way too much pride on his face. Spittle left his mouth as he spoke, landing on a few lucky people at the front of the crowd. Luckily for her, Nadya stood in the middle.

“Today, you will all begin your journey towards becoming part of the greatest Circus performance on Terra Nova- the Blue Army's fight against the Rebel Outlanders- directed of course by the great Caethe. What am I talking about? Let me show you!” Smoke burst from the ground beside him and when it cleared, in its place stood a tall white screen with a projection of a battle on it. “This, my friends, could be you! Look how noble...” The little man sighed longingly, obviously wishing he could be the brave lion attacking the soldier in the picture. “So, it is up to you my friends. Join Caethe, or become this!” This time, the man pointed to the other side of the tent, directly behind his anticipative audience, where a shriveled, whip-torn, tazer burned heap of a man sat. His arms were tied to his feet with chain, and his back arched in a dangerous c-shape.

“To me, the choice is clear.”

Four paws ran beside two feet, weaving through the forest, racing to beat each other to an unknown location. Brothers not by blood but by birth. Lion an man side by side, thicker than thieves.

“Slow down Lucas, I can't keep up!” the man yelled to his companion.

“Then pick up the pace, big brother,” the lion growled and cut off the man.

The wind rustled and crows flew into the gray autumn sky, cawing as they went. Now, two men occupied the woods as opposed to one.

“I forgot how slow feet were...” The man named Lucas chuckled.

“Don't brag, not all of us are S16 guinea pigs! I like being able to wear clothes all the time and walk around on two feet.” The new man rolled his eyes at the comment but then his expression fell. “Hey, don't be such a downer. Being a shape shifter is awesome! I wish I was one too sometimes. Lucas...” Lucas' older brother patted him on a tanned shoulder.

They had slowed down to a walk and Lucas drew in a long breath of crisp air. “I just hate the idea of working for those Assembly d****e bags. I'm a commodity to them, not a person. Then again, I am only half human now...”

The wind tousled the brothers' hair and they pulled their black jackets closed.

“Kain, I'm going to Terra Nova. I need to find the anti-serum.” Lucas stopped and watched his brother.

Kain sighed and shoved back his black and silver hair. He said nothing, just staring at his breath turn into steam in the cold, and then finally met Lucas' anxious gaze. “You know that means the army will hunt you. They want lions now more than ever because you're the strongest and fastest out of the Shifters. You think you can hide from their trackers forever? If you go into the city they will know exactly where you are; the trees won't be blocking the signal your animal DNA is giving off. We're not even talking about you going to some tiny village either. You're suggesting you go to the heart of this planet, alone, right into the arms of ol' papa Caethe and his good-for-nothing goons.”

Lucas nodded, sniffling loudly. “So? I want to be like you- normal. I'm a science experiment for over-payed Assembly lap-dogs. Not even your Outlander Rebels trust me. No one does. They all still think I'm a spy.”

“You are normal, and the Rebels are scared. Have you any idea how many Shifters we've had to kill this week? And they weren't all hyenas, either. We've had bear and jaguar attacks in the last two weeks alone. Our numbers are dropping,” Kain insisted.

A crow sitting atop a spruce behind them cawed and flew off.

“Is this normal to you?” Lucas' eyebrows creased and he took a step back. His eyes began to swirl like an angry sea and his whole body shook violently. “Tell me, brother.” His muscles pulsated visibly, his arms and legs twisted and extended, fur enveloped his body, and finally, a blinding light erupted from his body, illuminating the entire forest in a blanket of white. Within minutes, a full-grown, black maned, lean bodied lion stood before Kain, glaring at him with its silver eyes.

“You've made your point, but I stand by what I said. They will find you, and even if they don't they're not going to stop looking because you're my brother. You are the only thing that would stop me from issuing attacks.” Kain gave the now-transformed Lucas a stern look, and then began walking again, twigs and branches snapping beneath his bare feet.

The lion followed, reluctant to end the conversation at that, but he knew that his brother's mind could rarely be changed when he'd decided upon something. He was right, though. The Blue Army had been sending waves of Shifters to every corner of the planet to extinguish whatever groups of Outlander Rebels they could find. It had been working, too, because now their numbers were too low to launch a full-blown attack, and could only nip at the Assembly's heels, instead of going for the jugular.

They came to the Rebel camp. It was cleverly situated in the middle of hundred foot spruce trees and made up of makeshift tents and huts all surrounding a single tent in the center- Kain's. Lucas had his own 'dog house' outside of the camp, because the residents had insisted that if he slept anywhere near them they would all sleep with their guns. Knowing Lucas was a sleep walker made the idea of his people jumping out at him and shooting him very likely. So, the poor lion-boy was exiled a few feet from everyone else.

“Welcome back Kain.”

“Hello.”

“Welcome back, sir.”

“Thank you.”

“Nice to see you, again, leader.”

“Likewise.”

This was the daily greeting ritual between Kain and his followers. They would all kneel and bow their heads as he passed, although Kain had insisted they didn't. Then they would rise and turn their backs as Lucas followed, still in his lion form for protection. He said nothing, although it hurt to see his former friends and co-rebels shun him that way. They were dead-set in believing that the Blue Army had let Lucas escape so that he could get close to Kain and take the Rebels out from within.

The two of them walked into Kain's modest tent and flopped down onto his patched up bean bags. “Water, bro?” Lucas caught the airborne water bottle in his huge mouth and crushed it with his fangs, drinking whatever didn't dribble off his furry chin. He then tossed the bottle into a huge pile of the same type of bottles sitting next to Kain's wastebasket. Not in it, next to it.

“So, Terra Nova. How're we going to do this?” Kain gave Lucas a thought-you-were-going-without-me-didn't-you look and unscrewed his water bottle, taking the water down in huge gulps.

“You mean you're coming with me?” Lucas raised his hopeful feline face. It was strange that his brother and he could understand each other when he was in his Shifter form, but they had both figures it had something to do with the 'twin thing'.

“Duh, what're you, stupid? You'd get yourself killed, I can barely go outside without finding you in some sort of trouble. We just need a solid plan. How do you know which Sector the serum is in? It could be anywhere from S12 to S18. Without inside knowledge, there's no way to know. The Assembly doesn't exactly advertise where they keep the reversal serum for their DNA mutating.” Kain grabbed an alarm clock off the floor next to his cot and played with the big hand, spinning it around and around.

Lucas rolled around so that his back was facing his twin and carved circles into the dirt ground of the tent. “I saw it once, at S16, when they were first teaching me how to shift. They brought it out of a closed off hallway in a little black box, and the only reason I know it was the serum is because of the labeling on the side. But I know they have it.” His ribcage rose and fell with his breathing, and his large head hung heavily off of the bean bag. A lone fly danced around his whiskers.

Cold air blew in through the break in the tent wall and a snow flake fluttered onto Kain's raggedy jeans. He blew on it and it melted, leaving a tiny wet spot on his knee. He grinned, and stuck his hand outside to catch some more. Lucas' voice was the only thing that broke through Kain's blissful moment.

“We leave at dawn. Tell no one, they'll want you to stay and I may actually need your help with this one.” Lucas now turned to face Kain, standing up and stretching while he spoke.

“Fine, but that means I'm going to need sleep. Go away!” Kain jokingly threw a pillow at his brother, who dodged it and pounced on him, mock wrestling still in his lion-form. “Get your hairy a*s off me!” The men parted with a couple playful shoves.

Snow hit the lion's face like a sheet of paper. A very cold, wet sheet of paper. He wiped it off with his paw, only to be hit again by the same thing. Helplessly blinded, he stumbled to his tent and practically mauled his blankets and pillows. He had not been given a got, it was apparently only for 'human use', although he saw no difference. Burying his face in the soft quilted fabric, Lucas fell asleep, awaiting the break of dawn.