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Pacifism

I felt like I was floating in the air, nothing could be touched, I was just floating. I tried to move, and finally like someone yanking a chain, I was lifted upright. Could this be a dream? Have I died? What the hell is going on? So many question shot through my brain. A water puddle started to form in this place I was in. The reflection from the water made me curious, and I walked over to see a familiar face looking up at me. My face was clean, sparkling almost in the water, my blue eyes looking back up at me, and my blond hair undisturbed. I was looking at my own 18 year old face. I didn't care that I had to pass a history final. I didn't care it was the year 2020, I just wanted to stay wherever I was.

I started to walk around the white space that was around me, and felt the metal that was cutting into my neck. I reached up towards my neck, but nothing was there. Feeling around the walls around me, I realized this must be a dream. I tried to jerk myself awake, but I couldn't, and right when I started to think I was in reality, I felt a sharp tug on my neck. I kept feeling the sharp tug as it got aggressive. I started to pull at the chain, but as soon I started to pull, it felt as if the invisible collar on my neck disappeared, and I started to fall.

What felt like an electric shock darted through me. I yelled as I woke up. I felt my hands start to sweat, and tried to move them, but I couldn't. My eyes darted around the new place I was at to see I was in pure darkness. I started to feel a cold rope brushing my wrist, and looked down to see I was confided to a pole. I started to struggle, but it was no use. I was stuck here until help came.

I started to panic, my heart rate increasing as I tried to get out of where ever I was. I heard the shaking of a pole, and then I saw something. Two piercing yellow eyes looked out towards me in the dark. They looked like they belonged to a cat, and they darted upward.

"Welcome to our domain."

A loud clap echoed through the place I was trapped, and the lights flickered to life. The lights reminded me of a stadium that sports were played in. I looked around to see bleachers high above set up, but they were separated from me by a chain link fence. The crowd was a bunch of animals, watching me from the bleachers. They were concentrating on my every move. These were different types of animals, but with a catch. These animals that can stand and feel emotions like any human are called "Shape Shifters."

They came about by a genetic mutation, and have the ability to transform from animal to human whenever they please. They can either be a feral Shape Shifter, or can be a walking, and talking animal. Most live in everyday society, eventually connecting, and becoming part of everyday life, but some were more on the rebellion side, wanting to only take over humanity as their own by any means necessary. They will kill, kidnap for a ransom, or just cause a disturbance to get their message across.

That must be why I am here in this arena. They are using me as a message to society.

I felt my muscles stiffen up. They must have drugged me, and dragged me here over night. I was always clean, but now I taste the drug, and felt the sweetness of it. The aroma still lingers around the room.

"What is your name child?"

I grinned. They are trying to humiliate me. I could not see the announcer, but I could see the shape shifters by the fence, waiting for blood to be spilled. "My name is Kyle Robbins. I belong to the capitol so I suggest you let me go..." Several loud laughs echoed throughout the building. Now that I got a clear face of the person who set this up, the lion was cackling, as his golden fur shined in the light.

"You won't be going home anytime soon. You will become part of our organization or die here."

"Never. Burn in hell."

"I suggest you watch your world's capital slave, one wrong move, and you lose your life like that." The cat took his finger and ran it across his throat.

"But we will give you a chance....if you can escape the arena that is." The cats mouth twisted into a horrible grin.

The cat snapped his fingers, and I instantly felt fur brushing up against my palms that were tied behind the pole. "Give him a weapon."

I felt metal against flesh on the palm, and I moved my pointer finger to realize I was holding a pistol.

"By the way, if you fire the pistol at my assistant, I will instantly kill you right here."

I gulped as I turned around to see a doberman wearing body armor, but that must have been very light because he moved fast. One second he was standing before me, the next, disappeared into a white mist.

"Ok, now that we have you prepped for slaughter, how about we get started? The rules are simple; surviving is your only way out, and there will be many surprises along the way." The cat said while pacing back and forth on the balcony, high above everything.

"I suggest you use that pistol wisely." The cat said, and everyone chimed in laughing like a twisted audio that you hear in reality TV shows.

I started to shiver as a cold wind went through my blond hair, disturbing it with dust and debris. That could only mean one thing; a door in the arena has been opened, signaling they were not lying about the escape. I felt my pulse race away, and my mind get woozy. Is this the effect of the drug? But before I could figure out what was going on, the lion walked away from his balcony, and that gave me the signal to escape.

I knew exactly what I was going to do. I put the pistol in my palm, and gripped extremely hard. I aimed at the rope, and pulled the trigger, sending a precise bullet that sliced the rope instantly. I felt my blood began to quicken, and I could feel my circulation coming back to my hands. I was alive, I was surprised I got this far, and now I was pissed. I aimed the pistol into the crowd, and took a shot. The bullet ricocheted off a wall. The crowd was unharmed, but some shrieked, and ran behind cover. Some laughed at my courage to point a gun at the crowd. I didn't give a damn. I was too mad to care.

I noticed a door was ajar that led out of the arena, and I felt more cold air coming through. With a pistol in hand inside these death games, I felt my adrenaline rush. My instincts kicked in, and I knew I was being watched from somewhere. I turned around to see a video camera staring straight at me. I scowled, and kept walking. If they were going to let me go, they would not do it without watching my every move. The lion probably has a monitor broadcasting my every move. I started to look around my environment to see that I was in a pipe room of some kind. I could hear a hissing sound which meant the pipes had to lead to somewhere important. Water dripped from the pipes that made me jump every time a droplet hit the ground.

I kept walking until the sound of footsteps made me halt my movement. I trained my ears toward the footsteps, and could hear the sound of scratching. Whatever it was, it definitely was not human, and it was coming fast. I darted behind a corner out of sight to see a wolf and rat running down the hall.

"He could not have gotten very far. Not one person has survived this trial." The rat said while he kept running.

"Your right, but this kid is different. I saw it in his eyes."

The rat shrugged. "I have bets on him that the doberman will assassinate him."

They are betting on me. These are death games. I waited until the two "players" pasted until I kept continuing down the hall. I started to walk further down the hall when I heard what sounded like an engine, and paused. I looked over to see a metal door that was marked "Do not enter." I grinned. Some laws are just meant to be broken.

I opened the door, and it strained against being open. If anybody was in the room, they know I am in it now. My hypothesis was right, it is something important. What the room held was the ticket for a distraction. It was an engine room, but not just any engine room; it was an engine for a massive boat. Each button on the engine was going into frenzy, and blinking rapidly, each button measuring something within the delicate engine. The machine was massive, and the room it was in was equally large. The whole room was about the size of a cafeteria for a high school class. I stretched back and admired the impressive engine, wondering how long it's been here for.

I started to scan for something important that could turn the engine off. I looked around to find a counsel with several buttons. One said "For Emergency's only." Another said "Turbo." The next button though was the most surprising; it said "Press to engage air locks." I started to ponder over what this could mean. Then I realized what it meant. The only thing that has airlocks is fleets owned by a military unit.

These large fleets are called "Cruisers" are large boats, but the interesting thing is they can fly like an aircraft, and are the only form of ship that can fly. Thank God for my teachers having a talk about aircraft safety. That must mean that the shape shifters stole the craft from the military. I was blown back that I was 1000ft above the ground. But before I could process all the information, the loud door squeaked. I was not alone in the room.

I started to shuffle against the wall, attempting to muffle my footsteps. The footsteps of the person who walked in started to get louder on the tile floor. The pitter patter of the footsteps started to turn into a sprint. I was not prepared, and positioned myself right to be tackled right there. Everything started to turn into a blur as the person rounded the corner. The person was a girl, in her late 20s. She had on a white tank top and white pants that looked flexible with her body. Her black hair and sunglasses made her look like an assassin. I looked down at her side to see a gleam of what looked like a blade, and put the pistol over my face like a sword. The person I was facing grabbed the blade, and revealed it. It was a small dagger, the most polished one I have ever seen. She brought it down to my face, ready to stab, but I pushed forward with the gun, blocking the blade.

"Yo-ur not one of them. You don't have the mark." I realized she was being honest and started to lower my guard.

I began to feel curiosity take the best of me. "Who the hell are you?" I still had my pistol ready in case this was a trick.

"You can call me Rev. I have been sent here on a investigation on behalf of the Forbidden Council. This shape shifter gang has been doing many illegal activities. Smuggling, drug trafficking, like all other gangs, but this ship can be a turning point in the war between humans and shady shape shifter gangs."

"The Forbidden Council has been disbanded for years, why would you come back now?"

"That's.....forbidden." Rev said with a smile.

"Back when we fought, what did you mean about a mark?"

Rev then raised an eyebrow. "Were you raised in the Capitol?"

I nodded.

"No wonder why you didn't know this. A mark is what is put on shape shifters outside of the Capitol area. The mark is usually put on the arm of a shape shifter to keep track of their movements. Any shape shifter that works under the Capitol doesn't have to get the mark because all Capitol citizens require a tracking device under a hair follicle at birth." Rev rolled down her sleeve to unveil her mark. It was a sword with a snake wrapping around it.

I winced at the tattoo. I always hated needles. Then Rev started to speak, and I was pulled back into her words, "The mark symbolizes the treachery of the people around the empire. The snake is the others that are not part of the Capitol, trying to creep up the sword slowly."

I shivered. The people that are not part of the Capitol symbolized as a snake? That sounds like a symbolism that should not be expressed.

Rev grabbed her sleeve, and hurryingly rolled it up, not wasting any time for me to examine it anymore. The tattoo must invoke bad memories in Rev because next thing I know, I am walking down the hallway with her walking by me ever vigilant. I started to hum because I was bored, and the arena was turning more into a psychological test to see who would crack first. I heard many people died not from the shape shifters themselves, but from starvation, sickness, or dehydration, three of the worst possible deaths. I have only been in the ship for a few hours, and I heard my stomach sound like a 4.0 earthquake.

The hall started to twist and turn like a maze inside a child's nightmare. The pipes started to look like the snakes from Rev's tattoo. Is this the effect of the drug? But I had no time to find out because the rat that I snuck by earlier was crawling through the ventilation shaft when he heard our footsteps. The rat kicked open a slot of the ventilation and hopped down with a dagger in his hand.

"Now what do we have here? Rev...you are working with this kid?" The rat said while blinking twice. Rev must have been a double agent.

"No, I work with the Capitol. Finding this kid was just a coincidence."

The rat acted like he had a heart attack and grabbed his heart. "Aww that's too bad. I was starting to like you. I never had a good feeling about you in the pas-."

The rat never finished his sentence because Rev ran up to the Rat, grabbed him by the through, and slammed his head into the ground. Rev must have noticed my shocked face because she instantly checked his pulse.

"He is alive, but knocked out cold. He will defiantly wake up with a serious concussion." She laughed at how wide my eyes had gotten when she slammed the rat's head into the ground. "I guess you're a bit squeamish?"

I shook my head. I have seen plenty of bloodshed. I was more surprised how easily she took out the rat. "Where did you learn those fighting techniques from?"

"I learned them from my father. He was an agent like me. He trained me secretly for years." She grabbed the rat's dagger from his hands, and searched him for anything that could be of use. I just starred at her ability to survive.

"Alright, I found another magazine for you to use for that pistol." She threw over a small silver container. "Use it wisely." I gave her a "Are you serious?" look and she turned around and kept walking. I trailed along behind her. Then something hit me.

"WAIT! You're a shape shifter also! How should I trust you?" I said while pointing my index finger at her wrist where the tattoo was.

She turned around, surprisingly stern, and said "Because I am your only hope." And kept walking. I stood on the floor of the hallway watching water drip from the pipes. She was right, she was my only hope. I sighed, shook off the thought, and kept following her.

She must have memorized the hallways when she was a double agent because the next thing I knew, I was starring at a sign that said "Starboard" and pointed to stairs. I smiled to myself. We made it. We are finally going to escape. I started to think about the engineering of the ship.

Usually, the types of Cruisers have small hover crafts that you can escape on. The hover crafts would be our escape out of this mess. As we started to get up to the starboard, I felt the wind getting colder. I noticed at the top a door was ajar. They are waiting for us. I started to get hallucinations again, my mind started to shut down. Is this the drug kicking in again? Instead of seeing the pipes as snakes, this time I started to faint. Rev noticed me falling over, and she grabbed my arm, pulling me up.

"You alright?"

I tried to say "I'm fine" but it came out in mumbles. "God, what did they do to you?" Rev mumbled as she raised me onto her back. She was surprisingly strong. As she hauled me up the stairs, each step I started to regain my strength. I felt my muscles start to move again, and I tapped Rev's shoulder.

"I think I am better now."

She nodded, and put me back down on my feet. I felt delusional, but I could control my body again. When Rev saw I was in good shape, we started to walk more stairs. I looked up more to see the opened door coming closer until finally we made it through the door to be attacked by sunlight. Since I was in the dark most of the day, the sun was refreshing, but blinding. My pupils started to adjust, and I put a hand over my eyes like a cover. Nobody was waiting for us on the top. I started to wonder if we were about to ambushed. I moved the top of my pistol back, putting a bullet in the chamber.

I looked around the boat, looking at all the interior. It was exactly what people call it, a floating boat. It had sails and a crow's nest. It had cannons lining the sides. The boat had everything that would make a diehard pirate crap his pants. The only thing different was it had a turbine engine underneath the boat, that made the boat like an airplane. I looked around for any signs of a hover craft, and spotted one, but it was more of a hover board. It was a long thick snowboard; the only difference is it can fly.

I started to run towards the hover board, but my heart sank when I looked back to see if anybody was following me, and there stood the lion that set this whole plan up, followed by multiple guards. I aimed my pistol, and fired. All the guards around the lion jumped to cover, and the lion was pulled downward by a guard. The bullet impacted a wolf that was not so lucky to jump away, and the bullet collided with his shoulder. The wolf whimpered, and fell over, and a guard ran over to patch the wolf's wound.

The lion was cursing tremendously, yelling that the fool who gave the "kid" a gun was going to have a serious punishment. I bolted, running for the hover board at a full sprint, but that was until I felt a surge of power run through my left leg. I hit the ground face first with a thud, and I started to know why I never felt the pain that followed. My adrenaline was running to high to notice that I was shot with a bullet in my left leg. I started to feel the adrenaline wearing off, and the pain starting to set in. If I didn't get help soon, I could easily bleed out.

I started to wonder about Rev, and if she was alright. She ran the opposite way I ran from. I started to get up on my right leg, and leaned against it for support. I kept my left leg high in the air, so I would not damage it even further. The ship started to blur, and I felt myself starting to fall over. I fell back onto my back and started to black out as the lion was running towards me. Is it just me or do I feel the ship shaking violently?

Sure enough, I looked over to see a helicopter flying by the ship. The pilot was Rev. I didn't care how she got the helicopter, but I was happy I had some support. She flew the helicopter over to me, and she reached down a hand. I reached up for her when the ship moved left. I felt myself slipping off the deck, and looked over to see the lion conducting the pilot of the giant ship I was on to move the ship left so I would roll downward, but the pilot over calculated, and the ship was sideways, floating in the air. I kept rolling and rolling until my body collided with the metal of a handrail. The gun I was holding was now plummeting off the edge of the ship, down to the ground bellow. Along with my last defense. Thank God that the railing was there, otherwise I would be falling thousands of feet right now.

I saw the lion was easily sliding down the ship's side, and he hit the hand rail. He started to balance himself on it, and started to stumble towards me. I tried to get up, but couldn't because the pain in my leg was too much. I whimpered slightly as the pain was starting to numb. I knew what this means, it meant that I needed to be patched up quick because my body is starting to shut down. I looked over the edge, and I realized how high up we were, and how everything looked like ants. I shivered. Its either I get killed by the lion, or fall off the edge.

I realized there was no way I could even live from this, and started to lean over the edge of the railing, giving up. I was about to fall over the edge, when I saw the helicopter bellow me. Rev had her hand extended, and was shouting, "JUMP!"

I knew what she wanted me to do, and the lion watched as I started to fall over the side with my hand extended. "I will not let you get off that easily!" The lion lunged forward, and scratched my knee. I yelled in pain, and fell over the side. The cold air felt wonderful as it flowed through me. I was finally free of the place. I extended my arm outward, and caught Rev's hand. Her hand was feeling a bit furry though, and I looked over to see I was starring at not Rev, but a stronger retriever form of Rev. She had beautiful golden fur, and it felt so soft on my skin.

"Got you." She said. She pulled me up into the helicopter, and she moved me to the back part of the helicopter. She clicked off a red button that said "Hover" bellow it and we were off toward the distance. Rev clicked the helicopter in hover again, and dug through her clothes. She ripped open a pouch, handing me a couple of bandages. I moved them over the wound. Rev said if the bullet was a few inches to the left, it would have hit a main artery. She said the bullet also went all the way through so no need to pull it out.

"You need to rest. It is the only way for the wound to heal."

I could not agree more. I put myself down in the wide passenger seat, and fell asleep quickly. When I woke up, I noticed that moonlight was streaming through the helicopter's windows. I started to stretch I felt better. The rest closed the wounds. I noticed that pair of crutches were near my seat in the helicopter, and I grabbed them.

I sat at the passenger seat, and watched the horizon of the capitol coming closer.

"So how do I hide from this lion?" I asked.

"I have been thinking about this. How would you like to become a shape shifter?"

I blinked. That question took me by surprise. "That came out of the blue."

"Sorry. It would be the easiest way to disguise you against the group. You could live your normal life, but without getting spotted."

I sat down in the helicopter and thought about what she told me. "Would I get to see my family?"

"Of course. You can keep your human form; you will just change forms when the need arises. My boss gave me a vial that can be consumed by drinking. He said if I found any hostages, to give them the vial."

I nodded. "I guess I have no choice."

Rev shrugged, and grabbed the vial. "It's not as bad as you think."

"Don't worry; I have drunk some pretty bad stuff."

She sighed. "I meant being a shape shifter."

She handed me the small vial. The liquid inside was pink, and moved around the vial. It felt like the vial wanted to be consumed.

I opened my mouth and took a long gulp. It tasted like vinegar.

"Trying to kill me Rev?! This is terrible!"

She laughed. "Do you feel any different?"

I shook my head and handed the vial back to Rev. She put it back into her hand bag of assortments while steering the helicopter. "Alright, think of an animal. Any animal you ever wanted to be. Have a mental picture in your head, and you should be able to change into it."

I instantly knew what animal I wanted to choose. I thought extremely hard of the animal. Starting to feel a warm sensation on my ankle, I looked down to see a patch of orange fur with black stripes. I grinned and looked over to Rev. She gave me a thumbs up.

I started to think harder about the animal. The fur started to move up my ankle, across my chest and my face. My eyes started to turn into an orange color, and my hair started to disappear and be replaced by fur. My feet and hands started to turn into paws, and my fingernails were replaced by claws. I had to resist the urge to bite my nails because they itched as they grew. My nose started to move outward into a muzzle while my teeth were replaced with extremely sharp fangs. I was almost complete. I felt my ears as they started to move outward. I was now a striped tiger.

"How do I look?" I asked as I moved my assorted limbs.

"Like an overgrown cat." Rev said.

I laughed. I laughed about my new life as a shape shifter. I laughed that I was chased down by a criminal organization. I laughed because I needed to laugh. We started to fly over the Capitol, the glowing lights showing that it was a sign of safety. I looked out at the towering sky scrapers, watching them tower above all the other buildings. It was a breath taking view.

One that will signal a new life.