Nick Ryder stood shivering in his white puffer jacket at the entrance of the cold, stone-built
tower. The shadow of a sculptured snow leopard cast down on him. Spider webs clung high on the
rusty, silver gate.
The gate had not been opened for a long time.
Nick came for Brooklyn, his best friend. Two years ago, Brooklyn had suddenly disappeared
without a trace. Not a word was said. Just like that, she was gone. All these years, something kept
nudging him at the back of his mind. Brooklyn wouldn’t just disappear. And about a week ago, he
was told that Brooklyn was kept alive by the Devourer.
He had to save her. He had to.
He grabbed the gates and tried to pull them open. The chain lock rattled and the gates slowly
creaked open, sending a chill down his spine.
He hesitated. His instincts screamed at him to go back home and have a good night’s sleep.
But something told him that he had been here before, a long time ago. It didn’t matter, nothing
mattered. He had come for his best friend.
It’s now or never, he thought.
He felt his gun and took one last look at the starry sky before letting the darkness consume him.
Deep inside the tower, in a dark chamber, Brooklyn opened her eyes. She heard the distant
echo of children, screaming and crying for help, hundreds of them. Wait…It’s the creaking sound
of the untouched gates.
She got up slowly to the rear of the window. The wind blew on her face. Leaning her forehead
against the cold hard wall, she could make out a silhouette of a figure standing at the entrance of
the gate, in a white puffer jacket.
White puffer jacket… Nick! Was it really him?
For these two years, all she wanted was to live a normal life. But no, they had to feed her with
medicine. They had to lock her up in a dark room with tubes surrounding her. They had to beat
her and kick her and yell at her.
All because she was different.
They called her a Panthera uncia yet she did not know why. Having vague memories, she
knew she had woken up in a strange room with people shining a torch in her eyes. They called
themselves scientists, and the name sounded as foul as them.
They had fed her growth pills, injected medicine, and done just about anything that boosted
her abilities. She was the perfect lab rat, having a human’s body but not considered a person.
Why her? She wept for the misfortune she had gone through. She wept for herself.
Nick pulled his flashlight out and shone it around him. The corridor was deserted, the only
light coming from an ancient gas lamp hanging on the wall. A set of wooden stairs spiraled up in
the center. He started to climb.
When he got to the top, a giant metal gate stood in front of him. It was made from iron bars,
thickly covered with black paint.
* * *
* * *
