The child lay in a bare steel box, minus the worn tiny blue mat laying in the center of the gray floor. It was dirty now, soiled from the years of wear, tear, and urine. The girl wasn't allowed out except for experimentation and medical check ups. Once in a while, a guard would come in and inject her and they'd clean her cell. Though it still smelled of sweat and heat and sickness, no matter how much water and soap they scrubbed it with. The young girl lay listlessly on her little ragged mat, hair tied back in a knotted ponytail that splayed out on the ground in dark tangles. They'd stopped feeding her as much and she'd forgotten the taste of bread. All they fed her was a grayish soup. Tris shuddered, then lay still again.<br/><br/>The room was so hot it could have been stifling. A steel cage with no windows in the endless sands; it was freezing at night and unbearably hot every day. Tris silently lay on the bottom of the cage, where it was coolest. She didn't touch the walls or the roof, for fear of being burned. The young girl lay huddled on her mat, breathing weakly. Sweat coated her forehead, dripping down onto the mat and into her dark red hair. She'd tied the matted mess behind her shoulders into an unkempt knot, shaking. The girl shivered, unable to move against the overwhelming heat. Was this the end? Would she be cooked to death all alone here? The girl blinked, her sharp green eyes peering around the pitch black, unlit cell. She shivered.<br/><br/>Suddenly, something slammed against her door, and she leaped from from her mat, scared half to death. What was there? The noise built, voices and unbearable growling taking up the world outside of her cell. Tris didn't press her ear to the wall, feeling the heat radiating around her. She winced as something slammed into her cage so hard it knocked backwards and she slammed into her thin mat. The child rubbed her newly aching head and struggled back to a standing position, peering around the room. The door was cracked open and a boy stood there. Tris blinked, then tried to walk towards the opened door. Her ankle hurt badly. She looked down, noted it was twisted in an odd position, shrugged, then limped out the exit. The place looked like a hurricane.<br/><br/>Tris looked down at the soft blue light inside her arm, then blinked around the room. Injured and dead mutants lay all around the facility and various others were running as fast as they could into the desert. Tris blinked, her eyes stinging with pain and unused to the hot sun. Gasping weakly, she struggled to run in the other direction of the snarling.... things. She had no idea what to call them. Monsters? Bogeymen? They looked worse than the scientists, which was saying something in Tris' point of view. Shivering with fear, she began dashing through the hot sand, her toes digging into the ground. Tris wanted to stop and explore the strangely colored ground. Another roar from the things changed her mind and she kept running.<br/><br/>The girl's eyes flickered, noticing a dark haired woman. At first, she attempted to flinch and run in the other direction. Then she noted the large brown wings on the woman's back. She relaxed a tad bit, struggling to keep running through the heat and sand. Her stomach turned and tightened with hunger; they hadn't fed her yet. The child gasped, then continued to follow the one in brown wings, heart racing from the sudden exercise and sweat pouring down her forehead. Trembling, she collapsed on the sand once the strange compound was no more than a small box on the horizon. Breathing hard, the girl looked up, her hair sticking to her back and a sunburn beginning on her forehead and legs. She couldn't keep running. The girl struggled, fell, then silently curled into a ball in the sand, shaking and struggling to catch her breath.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</div><br/><br/>Meanwhile, in another part of the compound, a young teen lay curled up on a bare white mattress. She stared at the bars across from her, silent and numb. Too many years in a cage and you begin to forget what life feels like. She didn't know the taste of fresh air or of sand, dirt, and mud on her toes. She let out a tight sigh, tears glistening in her eyes. Someone slid a tray into her cell. She didn't touch it. She didn't even know what color it was.<br/><br/>Arisia had stopped eating a long while ago. Maybe a week now, of no food. When she passed into the blackness, they'd carry her off somewhere and then she'd feel healthy again. She didn't care about that anymore though. To her, it was just an endless, colorless hell. Food, water, and a mat didn't change anything. They'd cut the feathers on her wings and now she couldn't fly. The girl gave a tight breath, then sank down and closed her eyes. She slipped into a black sleep.<br/><br/>No one came to carry her off this time. She wasn't even sure if that was a good sign or not. Forget that. There was nothing good about being here. Suddenly, an alarm blared through the compound, disturbing her dark dream like state. Arisia slowly opened an eyelid, head pounding at the sound. She growled, then stumbled to her feet. The teen wasn't used to such exercise. She barely ever moved. Limping over to the door with an unsteady gait, she was greeted with a scene of utter chaos. Her door had been left open.<br/><br/>The nightmarish wolverine creatures had left her, apparently figuring she was already dead or merely easy prey. Stumbling out of her cell, Arisia wandered through the chaos; she gave everything a lost, dazed look. The teen limped further towards the edges of the compound, coming across a dead human. She blinked, then took the man's trousers and put them on her own bare legs, tearing the cloth at the knees to make it look and feel a little better. She stole the man's tie, wrapping it around the sagging suit pants and tying them up on her waist. Nodding, she stretched in her hospital gown appreciatively.<br/><br/>"Thank you. For the wings. And these pants... I think they'll be the perfect fashion statement," she purred, tilting her head and blonde hair swinging around her shoulders. She casually stretched her sore muscles then swayed slowly towards the exit. The place was deserted, random growls and screams still taking over parts of the facility. Noting something way off in the distance, Arisia began stumbling her way into the desert and away from home.<br/><br/>It was nice, the fresh air on her face and the sand between her toes. Arisia dared to hope, her wings spreading and beating. She managed two or three feet then was tossed to the ground, unable to keep her altitude for longer than a few seconds. Bitter tears dripped down her face, turning the sand sticking on her cheeks to mud. She continued to walk, her head bowed with misery as she wandered further into the desert. Perhaps she'd collapse soon and one of the abomination creatures would come and have her for lunch. She honestly didn't care at this point.<br/><br/>The facility was fading further and further into the distance. Arisia let out a vindictive smile, staring back. "Nighty night, men with needles," she growled softly. The teen paused, noting someone in the distance. She had wings also. The teen slowly stumbled in that direction. She could always find a cliff to fly off of later, and besides, the pain on her tongue spoke strongly in the need for something sweet.... Sweet revenge. The girl smiled and tossed her hair wildly as she continued to stalk towards the other mutant.