The Island

Outside the facility, tucked away from the ocean water and bordering the beaches sands. It's the tropical forests that dominates the topography helping to make the already clean air smell fresh and crisp. In some areas the trees are small and sparsely grow while in others its so thickly forested that you had a hard time telling if it was day or night once you become entrenched in the thick of it. A fresh water stream that's deep and wide enough for an entire person to submerge themselves into flows out from under the facility. Which wouldn't make sense since that would mean it would have to flow through it since the subjects have to go up in the elevator to get to the ground floor. Digression aside, the stream flows towards the ocean and dock. At various points smaller creeks branch off from the main stream into other areas but they all eventually lead to the same destination. The ocean.

Like a more natural version of the paths inside the facility people may feel a need to use the stream to prevent them from getting themselves lost. Something they won't have to worry about for long once they develop a sense of direction. One thing that's off about the water is the deceptive shadows below the reflective surface. Not much light directly shines on the water so it looks more like a mirror than a slowly flowing body of water. Don't stare into it for too long. One might think they are seeing things. Very large things moving beneath the surface and stirring up the white sandy bottom. With all the other distractions it might actually be hard to notice.

The birds that populate the island are common enough in number that they could feasibly be hunted on a regular basis without it affecting their numbers. Their feverish singing would not be enough to completely mask the sounds that the trees and other flora produce when a breeze picks up. Nor could they mask the occasional sound of something scratching against tree trunks or kicking up sand. If you looked hard enough you could see hidden cameras set up to monitor anything that goes on, on the island. It would take an even more vigilante eye to catch any more than glimpse of a shadow moving out of the corner of their eye. Any suspicious noises made would cause the owner of said sounds to find a new perch out of the line of vision for prying eyes, to observe the newcomers.

--

--

--

--

~

--

Oi! You guys need to quit posting here when your posts are for the facility. Try and look at where your post is headed before you press Submit.

--

--

~

~~

Tex soared low and quiet over the rich foliage of the jungle, his massive bat wings like twin canopies of translucent skin, the veins and bone structure very visible with the tropical sunlight shining down on him. He moved with practiced dexterity and ease, each incredibly long finger-like structure built into his wings gave him complete control over his flight.

He was following one of the new subjecs that had just came out of the facility, Cadmus, flying silently in his blind spot several yards away. He landed in a sufficiently covered branch making only soft rustles and fluttering sounds as his weight caused the branches to shift and the membrane of his massive wings folded and rubbed together. Tex was a right monster. He didn't much look human anymore. His body only barely retained it's human shape, his torso still looked relatively like the body of a young sickly thin man but a light layer of brown fur had begun to grow all over the skin. His arms where no longer arms but an enormous pair of wings that made his limbs look disproportionately long and spindly. Around his neck was a thick collar of ginger fur courtesy of the flying fox genes. He gripped the tree trunk and the limb he crouched, with the long claw-hooked finger attatched to the knuckle of his wings. His claws dug into the bark as he peered down at Cadmus with intense curiosity. His head still looked relatively human, but in a very disturbing and unpleasant way. His face was drawn and looked much older than it should have been, he had a stubby beak that blended strangely with his face taking up the space where his nose, upper lip and lower jaw should have been. His hair was dusted with white feathers and it looked like someone had gone and stuck feathers in his hair for fun. It was clear he hadn't groomed himself or scrubbed his body properly in a while. He perhaps may have dunked himself into a river or a lake somewhere but soap had not touched this man in weeks. His eyes looked crazed and intensely focused all at once, they where a sharp gold color and hard to look away from. Tex's lower half was almost completely bird. He had long legs ending in strong predatory tallons with a heavy coating of white feathers with a dusting of fur sprouting between them. He also had a very long and flexible tail. It looked to be scaled and trailed quite a bit longer than he was tall. It tapered gradually into a very thin whip-like tip tapered with a cluster of thick strong tail feathers. The feathers at the end could spread into an effective rudder or fold into a particularly thin and flexible point that would surely cut open skin if used as a whip.

At the moment, Tex's tail was curled twice around the trunk of the tree he was crouched on, tail feathers folded into a point. The feathers themselves looked like a dark and dull black when folded and when fanned out shimmered with irridescence and dazzled with a striking black stripe and a deep green hue.

Tex remained hidden, not desiring direct contact with the subject for the moment. He wanted to learn more about the pair and what he planned on doing. He was a very cautious character, not wanting an ill-planned conflict to soil any possible gains. He was one who preferred mutual agreements as opposed to all out fights.

--

The area just around the Facility somewhat sparse compared to the rest of the area. While the coverage overhead is still thick enough to cover the building it is almost hollowed out inside. Only the core trees are left but the branches have still been thinned to allow the cameras a full view of the immediate area.

However once the subjects follow the path next to the steam the forest foliage thickens considerably. The left and the right of the path. Even areas directly above them have large overhanging branches that are thick enough to hold a person's weight. This makes the forest looks considerably darker save for the ambient light that manages to permeate up the stream path; further better serving as a sign of encouragement for cautious yet still curious people to head in that direction.

It wouldn't be too long until they would find themselves feeling watched. Just when they think they will catch a glimpse of the voyeur, they will only be rewarded with the sight of rustling branches and the sounds of something quickly scampering around them, and even above them.

(Sorry forgot to check. couldn't edit location so reposted to right location)

Tex was certainly not the only one to catch the echoing voices of new arrivals that managed to emanate through the air vents to the outside. His ears may have shriveled but he could still hear above the water just fine to tell that there were more than just a couple greenhorns who have found themselves on the island. So it seems as though they expanded their operations to harbor a larger group. He was curious as to how this would turn out. After all. They could barely handle three in the beginning and from what he could remember, the first trials weren't even finished yet. Here he thought he would give them a shocking welcome but the brute with horns already beat him to it. Not like he could drag his body out onto the sand for very long. Feels much like dragging yourself over fine grain sandpaper. It doesn't hurt right away until it rubs away the top hair and outer epidermal layers of skin...not that he had much hair anymore.

Alex lugged his upper body onto the sand so that he could get a better look at where the bird-bat-man had landed. He huffs like an asthmatic old man but once he creates a niche on the side of the stream he settles in enough to quickly recover his air. "Hay. Birdo, see an'thin' to ripe ohf' yeh?" His speech wasn't the best. Serrated teeth were not kind to delicate tongues causing him to develop a speech impediment just so he could avoid accidentally biting off his own tongue. His words were slow but his mind was still well enough intact.

They weren't the only two curious about what was going on inside the building. He could never catch her completely in his sights and for most eyes, she had good reason to do so. But with him, he was starting to think that she started to do this with him as well for the fun of it. Or maybe seclusion was actually getting to her, that knack she had for paranoia was finally getting the best of her. Maybe. What a lonely existence she must lead.

Tex glanced down at the fish-man several feet below. His gaze spoke of very little interest in the creature but he scoffed slightly anyways, turning his gaze back to the new test subjects. His tail began to uncoil from around the trunk of the tree in which he stood. The movement was very much like that of a snake seeking to wrap around anything nearby.

"Hardly." Tex said simply. "None of these fools will last very long."

Tex lowered one of his wings to grasp the branch he stood on with his hooked claw. He crawled strangely along the branch. His tail slid off the tree trunk to drape below and gradually sway and twitch with each step he took. He lept with ease to a lower branch on another more thickly grown tree. "One of them is ex military though....he should be interesting if he lasts. He'd probably be dumb and stubborn enough to try and confront them. It would be.....thoughtless of me not to lend my.....assistance."

Tex smirked. He and Alex both knew of the potential futility of rebellion, even if the man figured out a way to get them all off the island there was no way society would allow them normal lives again. Both Alex and Tex fared just fine where they where as most people would pay to live on a secluded island full of the bounties of nature. Tex would have fun regardless, sapping the man for his own amusement and desire. He fell silent after that, his sharp gaze scanned the nearby brush sensing vaguely the presence of a comrade he had much desire to avoid. He climbed the tree he was in using hook and talon to find a potential save zone and used his tail and tallons to secure himself in a comfortable inverted position. He wrapped himself in the comfort of his wings with only his head visible. His wide eyes gazing down at Alex. "What will you do? Stalk them along the riverbanks and drag them to their watery graves? That would be amusing. We can rename you Loch Ness. Nessie for short."

"Y'no I though' the same thing when I saw you." The Tex had little to no meat on his bones to speak of when he first came here. He figured he would be the first one to die off. Either from withdrawal or while trying to execute one of his idiotic plans to get off the island. The man proved to be more versatile than he expected. He neither hated nor particularly enjoyed the man's company but it was far better than talking to the birds. If anything he became more tolerant of him when 'she' went into hiding. Of course she still visited him at times, when she wasn't always looking over her shoulder...speaking of which. The area had grown quiet. Only the distant sound of a bell, the dampened songs of birds and breeze rustling the trees accompanied them.

Alex's attention returned to Tex. "Course he'll last, for now. Till-" He trailed off. Sure the soldier was the best bet starting off considering his training. This of course could change. Just like it did with the different roles that they had played just a few months ago. "Long's you don' get me cau' up in yer sh'nan'gins, like las' time." He didn't even want to bother thinking about that time. Best left to be forgotten to time.

Much of his facial muscles didn't function like they used to but it was clear as day that he was scowling at the feathery man's last comment. "How 'bout you come dow' here so I can give you my opinion?" If he could climb trees he would drag that snarky idiot and watch his expression turn as he pulled him under just long enough to watch him inhale. Tex would hear something zip past his head as he moved further up the trees. It only happened once. But it was enough that he would be reminded just how futile it was for him to climb. No matter how high, as long as he was in the trees he could be reached by one.

'If only it didn't take so damn long for the greenhorns to walk out a damn door. You'd think they were half blind.' Alex thought to himself.

Varin's stomach felt cold. The realization that he was nothing more than a test subject for some sick and twisted bastard to experiment on. He turned on his heels toward the elevator, millions of thoughts running through his head. His body ran on auto pilot as he made his way outside.

As soon as the doors opened, he ran out to the nearest creek, falling to his knees as his mind struggled to keep a hold of itself. "This isn't happening! This isn't happening! I'm dead and this is just some fucked up afterlife that I've been put in." he muttered to himself as he held his head and curled up into a ball and banged his fist into the dirt. Even with the sun helping his headache, the fact that this place would be an island of horrors and he would be one of them was just too much.

One of his hands dipped itself into the water, trying to calm himself down in a place that there was really no calming for him.

Tex laughed like a wheezing parrot, "Sorry, I don't scuba dive with sharks."

He stopped laughing when he caught movement at the corner of his eyes. He turned his head abruptly and though he couldn't get a glimpse of the faceless creature keeping an eye on them he knew very well who it was. A twinge of annoyance breeched his expression, discarded only at the sound of Varin's sounds of dispair. He immediately fell to silence and used his hooked claws at the knuckles of his wings to clamber along the branches, upside down towards the sound. He hid far above Varin, cloaked by shadows and leaves his black fur and dirt covered skin acting as some vague form of camouflage. He listened to Varin as he spoke to himself and the heavens, with an indifferent expression on his deformed face.

"Pull yourself together." He said simply. Keeping hidden in the trees but addressing Varin. He wasn't quite ready to show himself yet. Tex was.....melodramatic at times. Varin would hear his voice quite close by, just in the trees but he wouldn't see him, not directly. He would hear the rustle of leaves however and occasionally catch a branch shake as he leapt from one branch to another, climbing and swinging. Perhaps he'd catch the last swaying tip of Tex's long trailing reptilian tail or hear the rustle of his enormous bat wings. Tex's voice would then sound somewhere to the left of him. "Crying isn't going to solve anything, I can assure you that."

Finally Tex would drop in right behind him, after toying with his senses enough to confuse him. His landing would be heavy, both tallons would grip the dirt, the massive curved claws digging deep and locking him into position. He would appear crouched over as his legs compensated for quadrupedal movement, his spine would seem almost curved into an arc, the spine a visible ridge in his back, shoulder blades sharp and visible. His long wing arms came down as forelegs, folded the knuckles substituted as support for landing on. He then would straighten up onto his hind legs again and fold his wings beside him. Upright he was much taller than Valin, about two heads taller but he stood at a reasonable distance away as to not make him feel any more uncomfortable about the whole confrontation. His tail snaked around to circle the mutant's feet, the feathered end quivering slightly.

"Hello." He said simply, a strange and friendly smile spread across his face.

The pain in varin's head started to subside a bit, the coolness of the water bringing him back to calmness. His thoughts rational once again, he peeked from his crouched position. He breathed deeply before he started to bring himself up from his fetal position when something caught his attention to his left.

His head snapped up at the source of it. 'pull yourself together... the voice said as he snapped back into a sitting position. "How can I pull myself together in a place like this?" He thought out loud to himself. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the last bit of something. A tail maybe? But it was enough to cause him to shake with fright. The feeling of being watched was not a pleasant one, and the strange feeling of something on his head wiggling where he had felt it last wasn't helping.

The presence and the voice was felt above in for a second. 'Crying isn't going to solve anything, I can assure you that.' "I wasn't crying!" He said, annoyed at the fact that he could only feel and hear this presence. He got to his knees, looking around the place as he tried to calm himself. That was until he felt someone...or something drop behind him.

The wind was enough for him to estimate the size of whatever was behind him in his head, but his body was compelled to look. Skin turning paler than it already had been, the very look of his creature made him want to die if he wasn't already dead. It was like a not so finished cross between a bat, a lizard, a bird and a man that was slowly fading a way. "Yimir's frosty taint! Don't eat me!" A terrified varin pleaded as he scrambled backwards right into the shallow end of the creek. He was shaking with fear, wet from the watch, the only thing that could make this worse would be giant spiders at this point. He hoped that it didn't reach that point.

Alex sunk back behind some low laying branches that slightly dipped into the water. A reflex that developed when just about anyone who approached him have had nothing to offer that would prove to be useful to anyone but the staff of the island. He was smart enough to keep to himself and away from employees. Until it was required of him to fall under their care once the treatments started.

Unlike Tex, he wasn't so quick to reveal himself. Nor was he as keen on messing with the newbie either. Most likely he would have let Tex have his fun until Alex had a better chance to understand who was capable of what. It was childish really, to play find the freak and scare the living hell out of those who had little understanding on what was going on. Though these people, or so far this person was the first newcomer they had seen in months. There was a way for him to get why he was doing this little dance. The bat-bird man would enjoy his grand reveal. 'Couldn't even wait for the others to pop into the picture. Good lord.'

He wanted to allow the others time to fret over Tex in case they decided to properly defend themselves with makeshift weapons. The best bet would be letting him take the limelight since he could damn fly. While Alex was literally limited in movement by all but two and a half directions. Forward, back and slightly down. Not once did he consider any natural weapons that he acquired to be advantages since they would prove to be no more useful than as a last resort.

"Gahh!" Alex was caught by surprise with the greenhorn scrambling backwards into the water whilst churning up water and kicking up wet sand. He held up a webbed arm to protect his eyes, face and gills from the debris. "Ey! Wa'ch yohr dahmn self kid!" For a few moments he acted as though he was back on the mainland, in his old skin. His lips were pulled back into an annoyed grimace to show many of his shark-like teeth.

Tex had no patience to continue to deal with the paralyzed and frightened man. He turned to the side and swung his massive length of a tail towards Varin. It seemed to move in slow motion, first the base then a ripple traveled down towards the end which had gathered enough kinetic energy to whistle through the air at remarkable speeds that would cause Varin to wince had he been observing it. Tex maneuvered it in such a way, however, that it merely tapped Varin's ankle with some pressure and a smarting ache before he wrapped it and yanked, pulling Varin across the mud and filth with ease.

"Easy there, Loch Ness, you're going to scare the little fish." Tex said glaring at Alex with his razor teeth bared. "Your smile may have captivated an audience while you where walkin' on two legs but I can assure you It ain't the same anymore."

Tex used his tail to wrap it around Varin's forearm in order to help him back up to his feet.
"Now, newbie, why don't you and I have a talk. This place isn't all roses and smiles as you can very well tell. There are creatures on this island that you've never even heard of and you can bet the people here have their hands elbow deep in all of it. I can make sure that you survive this, if you'd like my help, of course that would mean that you would have automatic obligation to help me in return."