Siberian Tiger

Chapter Three

A resounding 'CLANG!' could be heard throughout the room as the door of my cage fell to the concrete floor. It had taken half an hour and at least three males from Rivers team to unlock and remove the heavy door. Even with my strength, it's no wonder I couldn't break it those various times I had tried. These scientists sure did go through a lot of trouble to keep me contained.

'With good measure too.' I thought happily. My vicious behavior and powers WERE a threat to them after all.

I was brought out of my thoughts when the sound of booted feet hitting the hard floor rung in my ears. Glancing at the now doorless part of my cage, I saw all the males, including River, slowly backing up from the cage to give me room to walk out. They were all looking at me with expressions of alertness and anticipation. They seemed prepared to fight if the situation called for it.

I growled slightly, claws extending, as I moved my tense body forward, out the opening, and down the two steps of my now empty cage. I made sure to keep my eyes on all the males as I swiftly maneuvered passed them, without touching anyone, to stop and stand a few feet from the group and closer to the open double doors of the room.

"Ok Nyxton, now we need you to come with us so we can head outside this compound. We have fresh water, food, and transportation ready and waiting for when we get there. Are you set to go?" River asked as he slowly walked up to me and halting with five feet of space between us.

I growled a warning but nodded my head. "You go in front. I don't trust you males."

River didn't say anything for a few minutes but agreed and motioned his crew to move out. "Cole, Leonard, Marcus, and I will stay in front and take point while Ty and Luca will watch the sides with Nyxton in the rear. Stay on guard. Just because we cleared the building doesn't mean something won't happen or a scientist that got left behind by chance won't appear. Got it!?"

"Roger!" Replied everyone as I watched silently from behind.

"Then let's move out!" Yelled River as we all left the room and started down the maze like halls of the building.

The whole time the males moved down the halls, they kept a high vigil on their surroundings as I slowly followed behind while maintaining a certain protective distance between them and I. I didn't need them thinking I was all fine and dandy being with them. And I sure as hell was not tame from being freed and given food. No way would I give in that easily. Especially to strangers.

It was about twenty-five minutes since we left my containment room and it was becoming pretty clear that these idiots had no sense of direction. They were totally and utterly LOST.

"Fuck! Didn't we come down this hall already? I swear I saw that same room at least three times. River, what the hell man?" Complained Ty as he hiked his rifle and backpack up his shoulders while glancing at an empty upturned examination room.

"Jake took the map of the blueprints with him when he escorted Ms. Russell out. Each and every one of these halls looks like an exact replica of the other. The only way we could get out faster is with an employee of this building or a map. Since we don't have either we will just have to take our time and thoroughly check each route. Be patient Ty." Replied River as he took yet another left down a hall we had gone down once already.

"On another note, how is Mr. Silent doing back there? Anything to report?" Marcus questioned curiously to his teammates.

"I'm not sure. He is maintaining a distance as usual but he keeps sniffing the air. I think something is up." Luca stated causing everyone to halt and turn to look at me.

I ignored them as I focused on this weird scent I had been smelling for the past ten minutes or so. I didn't know how to describe it but it smelt like the earth and the ozone but then not quite there. It smelt kind of chemical like. It was making me feel uneasy and a bit irritated.

"What do you smell Nyx?" Cole whispered.

I turned to face them as I growled a warning. They act like we are all buddy buddy just because I gave them my name. It's pissing me off. I have only ever let my mom or little kids give me a nickname or call me Nyx. These...other males...did not deserve that right. I should at least be grateful they were not referring to me as an experiment number or a degrading word.

"Whoa, hey hey hey. It's alright Nyxton. We don't mean anything by it and we won't do anything to you. We won't come in your space either. Promise. We just want to know if it's a threat or not." River calmly stated to me as he rose his hands up to where I could see them.

I turned back to the smell and started to follow it as it curved back around the hall we just traversed and through a cracked door into a room I recognized as one of the supply rooms. It usually held stocks of surgical supplies, cleaning tools, extra lab coats, latex gloves, scalpels, needles, syringes, towels, anything for the scientists use in experimentation. You name it, it was there.

"What the hell would be in there?"

"I don't know Leonard but by the looks of it Nyxton sure as fuck doesn't like it." Stated River as he grabbed for his gun.

I didn't know what the scent was but I know I definitely didn't like it. My instincts were telling me it was wrong. The scent shouldn't smell like this. I felt vicious intent hidden underneath the chemicals. Whatever it was needed to die. That's what my instincts pushed me to do. So I acted on them.

Without warning I barged through the door with a ferocious snarl, gaining a few words from the males but I didn't hear them nor did I care.

"Shit that smell has him all wound up. The lights are broken as well. Seems to have been on purpose from the way they were shot out. What do we do Commander?" Implored Luca as the rest of the team, weapons in hand, looked to River while listening to me growl and look around the room.

I didn't need the lights to see considering I had cat eyes that could see in the dark. That was the best thing about not being human. Everything was so vivid. I could even see the grain sized ant crawling up the wall near the back by a shelf. If the thing needing to be killed was in here, I'd find it.

"Let's just give Nyxton some space. Whatever is in there he can handle it. Remember, he is a victim, a wild dangerous victim, so anything could set him off. And being in his space at the moment could create a tight situation. We need to just provide him back up and intervene if the situation calls for it. Guns on standby team." River instructed as he moved back to stand by the opposing wall and lean against it while still on alert with his gun in hand.

Tuning them out I stalked slowly into the room while searching out the smell. It was coming from the back of the supply room near the towels. As I got closer I saw a dark figure lunge forward with a scalpel in their hand trying to cut me before I evaded the attack and they disappeared, blending into the darkness. Growling loudly I extended my claws.

Fine. If they were going to play hide and seek then I was going to enjoy this. I quickly shifted into my largest cat form and began stalking my prey. They should not have messed with me. Now they were going to die.

I was advancing on my prey rather quickly. The attacker had chosen a rather small area to engage in combat but it worked wonderfully for me. I could still smell the chemical spray they had used to mask their scent with and I could also see them very well. Nothing escapes me in this form. So it was easy to say that I ended this game of cat and mouse pretty quickly by jumping at my target when they struck at me again but missed giving me the prime opportunity to get my jaws around their throat and ripe it open, ultimately winning the mini game. I grabbed the dead body around the arm with my teeth and began dragging it out into the hall where River was calling my name to see if everything was alright. He was probably suspicious since it became so quiet.

The males sure got the shock of their life when they saw me in my cat form appear around the door instead of me in my human form. Add on the fact I had blood on my face and was dragging the dead body of a scientist they had evidentially missed during the sweeping of the building and their expressions were so priceless I couldn't help but smile. Probably a bad idea when I'm in cat form because it seemed to have come across as me showing my teeth in a somewhat aggressive way. But who cares. I still don't like these people.

"Bloody hell! Is that him?! You said he was a rare breed that could shift into three big cats but I thought you were shitting me man! They didn't put his specific shifter forms in the fucking file!" Cole cussed as they all stared wide eyed at my Siberian tiger form.

This was my largest and my strongest cat form. I preferred it over the others but still loved them all the same. In this form I was very muscular, stood 6' tall, weighed around 700 lbs., and was about 8' long muzzle to tail tip. I had pale orange fur with a white chest, belly, and ruff around my neck with deep black stripes. A very distinguishable trait my Siberian tiger form had compared to other tiger species were the white patches over my eyes.

I growled at them with my ears back before dragging the rest of the dead body out for them to see.

"Aww fu~ck... He killed the man didn't he? Shit. We were so close to having no paper work because we had no casualties on both sides and now we have one. I so call not doing it. I got a hot date tonight man!" Ty protested to River after he felt no pulse on the dead scientists torn open neck.

"We will deal with it later. Right now we have to be careful of letting Nyxton go into anymore rooms just in case there are more hidden scientists we forgot about. We need to prevent anymore deaths. Nyxton is unstable at the moment so be careful. For now we have to move out. Keep an eye on Nyxton just in case he does anything else. Let's get the hell out of here boys."

Snorting in irritation at the males I turned and quickly shifted back not caring if they saw my bare chest or not. Not like I was actually naked. Luckily when I shift from human to cat I keep some things like my jewelry or small articles of clothing, like my leather cuffs. And when I shift back from cat to human I keep on the black cargo pants I am wearing. But no shirt. This meant that they could all see the gaping gun shot wounds that were still bleeding, the results of years of experimentation and torture, the left over scars painting all over my torso, and the tattoo with the experiment name and number. Revolting and unwanted souvenirs of my stay here.

I could hear and scent the audible gasps, curses, and noises of disgust and anger spewing from the other males as I turned to put my shirt on but I didn't pay attention to them. It's not as if it would change anything.

"It's no wonder he turned vicious and seems unpleasant... Anyone would be like that after all that hell he went through." Whispered Luca.

"And to think that's just physically. Imagine mentally....for TEN whole years...." Leonard whispered back. The hallway became completely silent. So silent you could hear the faint sound of crickets. I could feel eyes on me as well. Burning into my back and deep into my soul.

"Poor bastard." Cole stated.

I growled viciously as I jerked around to glare at them. They were pissing me off big time. I didn't fucking need their pity. I didn't want it. Not after what I've been through, the walls I constructed, and the hardening of my conviction. I didn't need reminders.

"Shit I think he heard you guys." Marcus laughed and stepped away from the three idiots as I took a step towards them, fangs extended in a snarl.

"Actually, I know he did. It says here that he can hear ten times better than a human or even a dog." River stated as he read through the file on me he carried.

"Not helping River!" Cole bellowed as he raised his hands in surrender and nervously looked at me. "Shit. Look dude, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. I just hate the situation you were put in and suffering in for so long. I didn't mean to pity you or nothing like that..."

I just snapped my teeth in his face and spun around to head in the opposite direction they were going. It wasn't the right way anyways. They can follow like I know they are going to but I'm not stopping to find out. They could stay here forever for all I cared. I want to go outside.

'Outside...' I thought. 'I haven't been under the sky in such a long time. Haven't felt the wind on my skin or the grass beneath my bare feet in years.' I was slightly scared but couldn't wait. Anything beats staying in this shit hole.

"Nyxton! Hey! Where you goin'?! Man, Cole. Look what ya did now. I'm sure as fuck not telling him to stop or where to go. And we can't leave him here because he is why we came to this compound in the first place. What do you say boss?" Leonard reprimanded Cole as he turned to look at River for further instructions.

"Follow him. Could be possible he knows the way out. We didn't even think to ask him that either. We are going to start doing more scheduled training sessions men. Let's move out!"

I took a right and continued walking down the hall until I came to a locked door that took me to the stairs. I used my strength to break the lock and then took the flight of stairs down to the ground floor before exiting through another metal door that lead me to the main floor of the building. I walked down the hall to my left before taking a sharp left again and then proceeding forward. I glanced back to see that the males were indeed following me. They looked like they finally recognized the place I was going after much argument of wether I was just leading them in circles.

'Obviously I knew where I was going dickwads. I have been here for over ten years. Plus I have animal intuition. No way would I go in circles.' I growled bitterly to myself as I took a left one more time. The exit should be in this area somewhere. I remember the last time I broke out and made it this far. The exit was further down this hall and to the left through a metal door that was locked. I remember because I almost made it. Until the guards came. 'If only that child wasn't there.'

I was about to continue walking when I heard a small soft noise that stopped me in my tracks. It was very faint but total there. I could recognize it but from where. I started to glance around the hall trying to pinpoint the noise. The other males had noticed when I stopped and started looking around for something. They couldn't hear the calls but I sure could. And there was no way I was ignoring such desperate pleas for help. I made a noise in the back of my throat to try and coax their calling to be louder so I could find it.

"Uh, what is he doing? And why is he making that weird noise?" Ty asked as they all stared questioningly at me. I made the noise again and stood still to hear the calling as it got louder and more intense.

"I think...he's looking for something. He might be hearing something we can't." Marcus replied briefly before stopping to listen intently for anything out of the ordinary.

"I got jack shit. You guys?" Cole asked after several moments.

A round of 'nothing' was his answer before they all just stared at me. I walked a little ways down the hall we were standing in before pressing my ear to the right wall beside me. I made the noise once more and got a loud reply next to my ear in return. I stepped back and then punched the wall just above the sound.

"Ok now what is he doing? I doubt he's going to find anything in there." Cole wondered aloud.

I just growled and punched the wall a few more times before reaching in and pulling out a small kitten. It was no bigger than one month old. It was white with black and a light orangish-brown coloring on its head, part of its back, and on its tail. It smelt weak to me but also of chemicals the scientists used on some of the smaller animals here. The weak smell the male kitten was emitting was probably because the chemicals tested on him caused him to contract an illness. In his case, he has become blind.

It was so sickening and enraging all at the same time. How could they be so cruel as to subject animals to these testings?! Even more so to babies like this little guy. A growl thrummed through my chest at the thought. I stopped growling the moment the kitten mewled in discomfort and fright. Poor little guy.

'Your like me.' I thought with somewhat happy sadness as I gently rubbed his little head with my middle finger. 'A survivor...'