Species Unknown [Book 1: Aves]

FIVE

Day 07
C.R.O.S.S. Laboratories
Aves Department
Section 1

I SIGHED AS I put the seemingly billionth cotton swab into the test tube. Looking back down to the machine, I slid the vial into the purifier and turned it on. My tired eyes watched as it began to spin once again.

It's safe to say that the monotony of my work was beginning to get to me. I had been working here for almost a week now and at least they were finally beginning to trust me. Meaning, I was no longer supervised. I was even given access to Section 2, which to my disappointment, had the same layout as Section 1. The spectacle of that perk wore off pretty soon as well.

The sudden beep of the DNA purifier reminded me to refocus on my work. I pulled the now purified test tube of bird DNA and held it up. Grabbing a piece of black tape, I stuck it on the glass vial. Then, I reached into my lab coat pocket to pull out a white marker. Uncapping it, I wrote the words Bald Eagle on the tape before putting it up on the shelf with the rest.

Tidying up my office, I nodded in approval and left, locking the door behind me as I made my way towards the exit. While walking down the hallway to leave, I caught something gleam out of the corner of my eyes. Turning my head to the source, I saw a laminated square lying on the ground. Picking it up, I noticed it was an access badge. There was a photo of a balding middle-aged man with his name printed in bold below it.

Dr. Maurice Simmons
Section 3

Looking around, I saw nobody who resembled Dr. Simmons. Abandoning my plans to leave, I set off to search for him.

After walking around the building for a while, I noticed most of the people have gone home for the night. Despite checking both Section 1 and Section 2, I still have yet to find the badge's owner. I paused in my tracks when I approached the door to Section 3. Looking down at the access badge, I began a mental debate. I'm not doing anything wrong right? And if it means I can explore a bit what the heck. With my decision made, I sucked in a deep breath before scanning myself into Section 3 with Dr. Simmons's badge.

Walking into the building, I noticed it was unusually quiet. The long white hallways were empty, with no glass offices or anything. The only noise was the steady step of my footsteps echoing throughout the silent corridor.

I continued to walk down the hallway until suddenly I heard a sound that made me stop in my tracks.

THUD.

The loud noise bounced off the empty walls and pierced my ears, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up in attention.

THUD.

The sound came again and my heart began to race. What was that? Suddenly my fear-fogged brain came up with an idea, What if it's the researcher who got locked inside one of the birdcages, maybe he is who lost his badge and can't scan himself out!

"Hold on, I'm coming!" I yelled to the empty corridor as I rushed to the sound. I ran down the hallway, passing multiple rooms. I could barely make out the words Testing Center and Training Center on the passing doors. After passing what looked to be a gym of some kind, I realized that I was getting close. The noise grew louder as it increased in intensity and frequency, leading me straight to the source. I found myself in front of a large metal door at the end of the hallway. It seemed to be the only room in his entire section aside from the few others I had passed. I put the access badge on the scanner and buzzed myself in. The large door groaned as I pushed it open and rushed inside.

Looking around the windowless room, I saw a man banging on a clear glass door. He looked to be in some kind of glass cell equipped with nothing but a plain white cot. The man stilled when he noticed me, his fists hovering mid-strike just inches away from the glass. Refocusing my thoughts, I rushed over to him.

"Hold on, I'll get you out of there!" I called as I approached the door and searched for some way to open it; a button, a handle, a lever, anything...but I couldn't find one.

"How do I open-" I began to ask frantically, but was cut off when I caught a glimpse of the man up close.

I froze.

There he stood. His electric blue eyes observing me through the thick tufts of ebony hair effortlessly framing the sharp features of his face.

I watched in awe as he slowly lowered his fist from the glass, letting it hang loosely at his side. Following the movement with my eyes, I noticed his attire. Clad in nothing but black sweatpants hanging loosely on his carved hips, his eight-pack abs were on full display. His body was firmly built, each curve of muscle so eloquently placed he looked artificial, like he was chiseled from marble.

When I realized I had been shamelessly ogling him, I tore my eyes away from his body only to notice something else. Even in the poorly-lit room, I could see he had bruises on the bend of each of his well-defined arms and scars around his wrists from what looked like cuffs. Even more disturbing than that was the number 0043 tattooed in black ink on the inside of his left wrist.

I was puzzled, to say the least. I couldn't help but think about those markings. What could have caused that kind of damage? The person in me was saddened by this sight, but the scientist in me was begging for answers.

Looking back up at his face, my amber eyes met his bright blue ones. His eyes were glimmering and radiant like pure diamond, capturing every nerve in my mind. The pure amount of fascination in his face as he regarded me made my heart flutter.

Unable to control the urge, I lifted my hand, inching it towards the glass between us. I don't know what came over me, but I suddenly wanted to give in to the urge to reach out and touch him.

I flattened my hand on the cold glass and held my breath when he began lifting his hand to reach mine.

Then I saw it.

A flash of white out of the corner of my eyes. It looked like it was coming from behind him. Craning my neck, I tried to inspect it further and was confused when I recognized it to be a patch of white feathers.

Wait...feathers?

He must have noticed my gaze because his lips quirked up into a smile and suddenly the patch of white grew into an entire wing. No, not just one, two wings...and they were attached to his back.

My eyes widened as I watched the muscles in his back flex as he spread his wings out. Once they were fully extended, they came back down creating a powerful whoosh of air as he flapped them a few times, flaunting them. Judging by his face, he was perfectly at ease with his condition -proud even- if that growing smirk was any indication. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but ruin the moment.

I screamed.

Ripping my hand from the glass, I dropped the badge. Frantically, I turned away and bolted out of the room, but not before I saw the flash of hurt in his beautiful blue eyes.

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Hey beautiful people!

About time for them to meet huh? Hopefully, I didn't keep you all waiting too long :)

Now I'm curious...

What would you do if you were Aurora? Would you run or would you stay?? 👀