Of what was once two, is now one
In mind and soul, if not body
Both bearing the dark angel’s ebony wings
And now their sable eyes scour the world
For those with ulterior motives
In a world unknown and unfamiliar
They are alone in their jargon, but that
Is the beauty of their unnatural unison!
*************
I gazed at the unfamiliar new world. Plants and vines grew everywhere. The change was definitely drastic. The concrete jungle had turned into a thick swamp of evergreen trees with new species of flora and fauna cropping out everywhere. Nature had taken its revenge.

Stretching my black wings, I contemplated on how quickly I had gotten used to my new body; a body with human and Corvus corax (or the common raven) DNA. It was the only way for me to survive on this new earth.

A degenerative disease had spread throughout the world, sprouting up in different areas and spreading like a forest fire to every part of the globe. I had come home to see my mother hand me a backpack and say these last words:
“ Go. Survive. Do whatever it takes. You must live on. And don’t ever forget who you are.”

I ran. Without a goodbye and without a second glance back. I was only fifteen, but in the game of survival, age does not matter. As promised, I did what I could to survive. I stayed in an abandoned town. Abandoned, because everyone else had been affected by the virus. Too scared to leave, I remained there, surviving on scraps from the garbage after exhausting the food supply. Sometimes, I’d go after any stray dog or cat that wandered into the town. After the first few times of vomiting, I was finally able to stomach their meat. All in the name of survival.

A year had gone by and I had survived. Perhaps I was immune to the virus, but that didn’t concern me. My thoughts were occupied by the rules of survival. I could feel the change in me. My metabolism was much faster and I required more and more food. Also, my animal instinct was beginning to take over. I was forgetting what it was to be human, as I fought the seemingly more aggressive animals to win the laurels of survival.

Then, my life changed completely as I came across another human; another survivor. He came out of no where and I couldn’t bring myself to trust him. There was something peculiar about him and I didn’t believe the facade he kept up in order to gain my trust. He gave up on that soon enough and pulled out an unfamiliar device. Before I could grasp what was happening, I blacked out. I opened my eyes to what appeared to be a high-tech science lab. My nostrils were invaded by alien smells and my eyes were met by figures of more humans. Survivors? Never had I imagined that there could be so many. Just then, I realized something different in them and in myself. I had black, feathered wings, whilst the others showed characteristics of different animals.

It was then explained by the scientists that in order to live in this dramatically evolved world, fusion with other animals (who seemed to have grown stronger due to the unexplained phenomena, which had engulfed the world) was necessary. Each human had his or her own compatible animal, and mine was the raven. The scientists had searched for those humans who had managed to fight the disease for some time and were therefore, “the fittest of the fit”. Luckily, I was one of them. The scientists explained that the human allele was the dominant one and often overpowered the animal DNA. Therefore, we were still human, but with a few new “tricks” and “adjustments”. Although, I had lost the memories of the first eight years of my life, I was still sane and functional.

And now, this unnatural fusion with a raven had made my senses and instincts sharper than ever before, and my body was stronger and sturdier. I was trained by the scientists in the field of genetic engineering, while being taught the principles of the system of this new world. Soon after, I, along with other survivors, was made to set out from the safety of the labs to the exotic world, in search of other survivors.

My flashbacks ended, as I heard a familiar caw. It was a raven; but not just any raven, it was the one with whom I shared half of my DNA. We had a special bond, a silent but powerful connection. I instantly realized what my “better half” had found: the human and wolf hybrids. Despite, the human DNA being the dominant one, something had gone wrong when combining human and wolf DNA. The aggressive wolf instinct had completely overpowered them, and armed with human intelligence, they were even more powerful. They had escaped before they could be cured or destroyed. I remembered that batch clearly…
“What’s going to happen to me?” asked the eleven-year-old boy.
“I’m going to combine a wolf’s DNA with yours so that the nasty disease can’t harm you anymore.” I replied sweetly. I saw his dark grey eyes widen as he took in what I told him.
“A wolf? So then I’ll be like those werewolves in the stories?”
“That’s right.”
“Wow that’s so cool! But…it won’t hurt will it?”
“Not at all. It’ll be over before you know it. By the way what’s your name?”
“Ahmed.”
“Well then Ahmed, are you ready?”
“Yeah!”
I looked at my colleagues who gave me the green signal to start the process. We all started at the same time. There were around seven subjects in total. This was my first time making human hybrids, and I was nervous to say the least. Thirty minutes into the process and the computers detected an error. Before anyone could register what the error was, a blood-curdling scream made my heart stop. I knew that voice; it was Ahmed. Just then the human scream turned into a wolf’s howl. I saw him and the other subjects break free from the Hybrid Tank. I spotted a figure with grey fur heading towards me. That’s when reality hit me. I saw what I had created, and how I had destroyed the innocence of an eleven-year-old boy. “It’s” now, yellow eyes, looked into mine with an expression of betrayal and hatred. Ahmed had trusted me, and I had turned him into this. I knew that he was no longer Ahmed. He was volatile hybrid, which had to be destroyed. He soon escaped with the other subjects after giving me one more haunting look of disgust and anger.
The new environment made them stronger and fiercer. They were a threat to both, animals and human hybrids. They had only one goal: taking revenge from the scientists who had turned them into this. Of course, I was one of those scientists. However, after that disaster, I ceased to make any more hybrids and focused on hunting the human-wolf hybrids. I had to destroy what I had created.

The hunt was on. I jumped off the top of the fifty feet tall tree and spread my wings. I spotted one of them. The crazed look in its eyes, and the speed and strength of the massive grey creature sent another rush of adrenaline through me, as I aimed at it with my plasma gun. I had only one shot. The gun loaded up. 10, 9, 8 … 3, 2, 1. Bang!