I know my story Hybrids Rising also uses the concept of human-animal hybrids, but I'm discontinuing that due to the fact that I can't come up with anything else to write for it. So Project: Animaila - in other words, this story - is a redo on the hybrid concept. I think this version is more realistic. Well, as realistic as you can get for a Science Fiction fic.

The creature snarled, curling a split upper lip to reveal pointed, curved white teeth. The glass of the far wall reflected its alien features perfectly. A low snarl escaped the creature and it leaped at the glass.

On the other side, spectators scrambled back. A man in a lab coat waved his hand dismissively at the creature's feral attack on the glass. "People, please, there is absolutely... no way..." He slowed his speech as he noticed hairline cracks appearing on the supposedly indestructible window.

Digging its claws into the reflective surface, the creature let loose a sound somewhere between a growl and a laugh. It pressed the glass harder, planting its feet firmly on the ground. The cracks widened and multiplied. Under one of the creature's hands, the glass splintered. It stuck its arm through, slashing at the people inside, seemingly oblivious to the injuries it got from the broken glass.

"Ryker, control that monster!" shouted one of the spectators, pressing his back up against the wall behind him.

"Doctor Ryker," snapped the scientist out of habit. He calmly pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a button. Blue electricity crackled on a before-unnoticed collar around the creature's neck, prompting it to jerk away. It clawed at the collar in a vain attempt to free itself. Features contorted in a mixture of fury and pain, it writhed on the ground for several minutes before Ryker turned off the shock. The creature panted, lying on the floor with blood stained fur around the collar.

Ryker gestured to its prone form. "This monster - as you put it, Derringer - is a highly advanced hybrid developed for military usage." He brought up a holographic render of the creature, using his fingertips to highlight the half-crouched stance and shortish muzzle.

Derringer snorted. "Prosthetics." He pointed to the tapered ears of the render. "Cosmetic surgery." He indicated the muzzle. "Implants." He gestured to the wide brow. "Clever makeup." He pointed out the brown-striped gold fur. "Again, prosthetics." This time, he gestured to the long tail.

"I assure you - all of you - that this hybrid is quite real," Ryker said, fighting to keep his audience's rapt attention. "If you desire further proof, by all means, inspect it yourself, Derringer. It won't be attacking anything for a while."

The man in the business suit straightened his tie and went quickly to the door separating the containment chamber and observation room. With a smug look at Ryker, he opened the door and went in.

The hybrid could barely muster a growl as Derringer took one of its tapered ears in a hand, examining the fur and flesh. He tugged on it; the hybrid yelped hoarsely. A limb jerked, bloodied hand curling reflexively. Red-stained black claws flashed as the hybrid struggled to get the man away from it.

Derringer cupped its chin in the other hand, releasing the ear. The hybrid's lips twitched, then parted to show sharp canines and teeth exactly as one would find in the mouth of a cat. The man leaned back, muttering to himself. He was obviously not fully convinced. He took a penlight from his pocket and shone it in the hybrid's eye. The pupil contracted to a slit, just as a cat's would. Letting go of the hybrid when it snapped at his hand, Derringer shifted his focus to the structure of the hind legs. They were somewhere between a human leg and a large felines, the ankle much higher than a humans would be but too low to be a cat's. Finally, he looked at the tail. Long, sweeping, a little on the fluffy side, it blended perfectly into the hybrid's body. Derringer could find no evidence of it having been surgically attached. He sighed and shook his head, giving in to the fact that it was indeed real. He faced Ryker. "We got ourselves a hybrid," he admitted eventually.

Ryker motioned for the businessman to come back in, uneasily glancing at the creature still on the floor. It stirred and painstakingly rose to its feet. Ryker shouted, "Derringer, get in here now!" He searched for the control remote, which he seemed to have lost in his earlier anger. Inside the chamber, the man failed to notice the hybrid cracking its neck and starting towards him. "Derringer, it's going to kill you!"

Finally Derringer gained the sense to bolt for the door, but the hybrid was too quick. It got in front of him, crouching low to the ground. Bright crimson droplets fell from the self-inflicted wound on its neck, spattering the ground. Derringer ran the other way as fast as he could.

It wasn't fast enough.

The spectators and Ryker could only watch in morbid fascination as the hybrid pounced on Derringer and began to eviscerate him with surgical precision. Screams ripped the chemical-tainted air, which was quickly becoming saturated with the smell of spilled blood. An eternity passed before Ryker was able to find the control remote. He jabbed the button furiously, multiple times, but by then Derringer was already dead.

Face and hands covered in blood and gore, the hybrid collapsed under the intensity of the shock. It twitched, green eyes clouding and mouth opening ever so slightly. Laying across the corpse, it at last fell unconscious.

The spectators shouted at Ryker, who stared open-mouthed at his creation as if he couldn't believe what it had done. He was numb to the world, to the fact that an investor had been murdered. All that mattered to him was his precious hybrid, his child, in a way. After this, he might lose his government funding or even worse, the government might have the hybrid killed, and then Ryker would lose the only thing he'd ever cared about more than his career.

Only one of the spectators, the government official, remained silent. He held up a hand. Quiet settled over the room. "You promised perfection, Ryker," he said. Ryker turned his head in the official's direction, a semi-blank expression on his features. "You promised the 'perfect meld of human and animal'. I don't see perfection, Ryker. I see a killing machine who cares nothing about itself or humans. Like the late Derringer, I see a monster."

Ryker closed his eyes, mumbling in his native language. When he dared to look again, he countered, "You asked me for a weapon. A living weapon. A creature that would never hesitate to kill in battle. Trust me, my hybrid is more than savage beast. He listens. He learns. He understands. He is still part human, that much I can assure you of. Only seventy-five percent of his DNA is feline. The rest is like our own."

The official stared stone-faced at Ryker for a long moment. "You have three more years to give me perfection. Go even a day beyond that and this entire project will be terminated." With that, he and the others left, leaving the scientist alone.

Ryker sank into a chair and dropped his face into his hands. His shoulders shook as though he was sobbing, but no sound escaped him. A technician entered, puzzled to see her superior in such a state. She took a look at the scene beyond the glass and instantly understood.

"Doctor Ryker, I will put someone on containment and cleanup right away," she hastened. The sight of the mangled corpse was almost too much for her weak stomach. She put an arm around her middle and squeezed.

Ryker continued shaking long after the technician left to do as she said. When he lifted his head, his eyes flamed with renewed determination. He stared at his hybrid in a way that could have been interpreted as loving. "My dear creation," he whispered, touching his palm to an unbroken part of the glass, "today you have proven to be more violent than I thought. But perhaps it is not your fault." He glared at Derringer's disfigured body as though burning a hole through it with his gaze. "He must have been quite the thorn in your side."

The hybrid moaned as if in reply, already fighting off the effects of the shock. A single word penetrated the dark veil wrapped around his unconscious mind.

Thorn.