"The Humanimal Experience: Bustin' Out"

Rated: T- for violence, perilous situations, mild language, crude humor, mild bloody scenes

Synopsis: six kids, victims of DNA manipulation, manage to break free form their "Prison". However, with Immolators after them, and their own destinies veiled, will they truly ever be free?

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A/N: This story's going to be action form beginning to end. Hold on to your hats!

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Prologue

"KEEP GOING, GUYS!" I bellowed, as we tore through the craggy cove, running over sharp rocks and other sediment beasties. By we, I meant me, (call me Autumn, thanks), Simba, Sniff, Twitch, Dash and Serra.

I am the oldest of us six. Or, as we call ourselves; the Pride. I'm fifteen. Well, Simba is fifteen too; and he's taller, but he's five months younger than I. Then there's Sniff, who's fourteen, and Twitch who's twelve, Dash; nine, and Serra; seven.

I was holding Serra's hand in my own, as we tore out of the cove. Suddenly, we were surrounded by open air and about a gajillion forest trees and scrubby bushes.

"C'mon!" I said urgently, surging forward. A small whimper escaped Serra's mouth as some prickly briars tore at her bare feet, drawing blood. The others were close behind me. Further behind all of us, we could hear yelling, cursing, swearing, and wild crashing through the plant life.

Just great. Those jerks were closing in on us.

"Autumn! We have to find a clearing!" Simba panted unnecessarily to me, as he and Twitch sped up. His trousers and white tee shirt were already dirtied and victims of small holes.

Suddenly, we could hear loud menacing growls and roars. Very near.

"Pick it up people! Let's GO!!" I scream frantically, my heart pounding two hundred beats per minute in my chest. I couldn't let those evil fiends get me or my friends back.

No way. Never.

Almost simultaneously, our footsteps quickened; trees began to past by us so fast, they were blurs. On my left, I could see nine year old Dash starting to pass us all, his rail thin legs pumping hard and fast. Within seconds, he was almost seven feet ahead of us.

And still going.

"Autumn, look! A clearing!" said my dear, sweet, sweet Sniff. Her translucent blue eyes, so much like a wolf's, were wide and excited. She pointed straight ahead.

I couldn't make out a thing, other than the dark brown hair sticking out oddly at all angles on the back of Dash's head. He was almost twenty feet ahead of us. And then--

Whoosh.

Two dark wings unfurled from between the spaces of Dash's shoulder blades. Very dark brown wings, with streaks of white. An eleven foot wing span.

"Go, Dash! Hurry!" I called, still running. By now, my lungs were starting to burn, and I could feel sweat glazing my forehead. I looked down at Serra, her thin cheeks flushed with adrenaline.

And exhaustion.

All of us, including little Serra, could outrun the fastest human adult without breaking a sweat. Problem was, we were running from adults; but they weren't human.

At least, not fully, anyway.

And we've been running from them close to over a half hour. Now, it was time to leave.

Quickly.

"Okay, you next, little one." I panted, wrapping my hands around Serra's tiny waist. With a grunt, I threw her into the air. Those two, Serra and Dash, were the smallest of us, so they could just barely make it up into the air without being slashed to death by tree branches.

Simba, Twitch Sniff and I would have to wait to find a clearing. I sighed in relief as I saw Serra's black wings snap open and catch the breeze, lifting her up out of harms way.

Good. Two down, four more to go.

Now, I could see the clearing Sniff had seen earlier. I slowed a little, to let Twitch and Sniff get ahead. They did, emerging into the open area, their wings already starting to unfold. Twitch's wingspan of thirteen feet spread to it's fullest. His feathers were like his hair; snow white with natural streaks of pale, pale blue.

Sniff's wings were a deep red, with her feather tips and wing undersides a misty gray. Her wingspan was fourteen feet.

"Go on!" I said, feeling my fifteen foot wingspan unfurling. In seconds, my light brown wings, with streaks of pale beige and stark white, were fully open, ready to get me airborne.

Sniff and Twitch were twenty feet off the ground, with Simba coming up right behind them, beating his sixteen foot wingspan of gold shimmering wings powerfully.

I hadn't even raised two feet off the ground when I felt something hard, huge, and very heavy slam into my back, making my breath leave my body in a whoosh.

I slammed into the ground, and turned quickly onto my back, trying to suck in air. I looked up into the dark face of an Immolator; one of the many members of the Prison's reinforcement team. This Immolator's face, like that of all Immolator's, was smooth, and very innocent looking.

At first.

Then, as quick as a flash, his body began to morph. His face started to transform, and his mouth elongated to reveal a strong muzzle, with razor sharp teeth protruding. Fur grew out of his long, muscular arms, and his nails grew razor sharp.

"Hello, little turkey," he chuckled, his laugh sounding like gravel grinding together. Altogether he must have weighed easily 290, to my mere 71 lbs. And all that weight came crashing down as he slammed his fists into my stomach, over and over.

Unbelievable pain erupted from my abdomen.

"AUTUMN!" I heard Simba scream from high up above. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him flying down towards us.

"N-No!" I choked, before slamming my fist into the Immolator's face, enjoying the way he hissed in pain and recoiled. I shimmied myself out of his reach. "Stay up!" I commanded.

As the undeclared leader of the Pride, I made all the hard decisions. Take this one for example; stay up in the sky while I get the stuffing beaten out of me.

Simple, right? Yea, and I'm the daughter of a billionaire. Jeez.

The Immolator roared, and charged at me. I could see about eight more emerge form the trees into the clearing. Uh-oh. So not good. I flared my wings, and tried to hurry away from the Immolator, but he was too fast.

He rammed me with his shoulder, hitting me square in the chest.

I felt like I was slammed into by a truck. Stars filled my vision, and I swear I could see and hear fireworks.

"You can't leave, turkey," the Immolator taunted, swinging at me. His fist connected to my face, and I tasted blood. "Who will I have to keep me company?"

"Shove it, hound!" I rasped back, tackling him. I may have only been 71 lbs, and 5'11" to his 6'5", but I could hear a rib crack. He collapsed to the ground, just as the other Immolators ganged up on me, surrounding me. I couldn't just jump into the air; I needed a running start.

"Ohh…don't you just look scrumptious?" one Immolator said evilly, grinning his long razor sharp teeth at me. A shiver ran down my spine.

"Hey, dog breaths!" A voice shouted from above us. Two Immolators swirled to see Dash flying full speed at us, followed by the rest of the Pride. They all had long, thick branches in their hands. Without warning, Dash brought his branch down hard, smashing it into the side of one Immolator's head.

The Immolator howled, and swung at Dash, but missed as Dash flew back into the air, and turned around for another swing. Simba had already taken out two Immolators, and together, Twitch and Sniff managed to take out another two. Serra was quickly hitting an Immolator, and then dodging his claws by flying back into the air.

I smiled at them. They're my Pride, and I was definitely proud of them.

"You can't escape," growled the Immolator who'd taken me down earlier. "You can't ever escape!"

He reached for me, and I did a spin kick, straight into his chest. He dropped like a log.

"Pride! Let's boogie!" I yelled over the sounds of roaring, hitting, and wings flapping. I managed to run ten feet, and get airborne. Even with an aching, bleeding face, and an aching body, I felt myself smile as I gained altitude.

Nothing like flying.

Taking after their wonderful leader, the rest of the Pride flew into the air, flying into formation behind me.

"We're free!" Serra sang happily. I smiled at her, wiping the blood away from my face with my sleeve.

"We've never been away from the Prison before," Sniff said softly. "Where do we go?"

"Duh. Wherever Autumn goes," said Dash. "We go where she goes. All the time. All the time. Always."

I smiled at him. My sweet Dash.

"So…? Where to, Autumn?" Simba asked. Twitch was quiet, as usual. He watched me with his bright, gold eyes.

I looked ahead, into the setting sun.

"West," I decided. "We'll go west,"

The rest of the Pride was okay with this, and spent the rest of the time enjoying flying. But, I couldn't help think back to what that Immolator had said; You'll never be free…

With a sinking sense of dread in my stomach, I felt that he was right.

And I doubted very much that was the last time we'd see them.

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A/N: So…what'd ya think? Just so you know, the kids don't have only avian DNA. They have more…but you have to read to find out. Next chapter will get more detailed with their pasts.

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