[AlexFili]

Chapter 3: The Vote

“A meeting?”. Silpher raised an eyebrow. Lorn’s expression was also skeptical. “I know, they haven’t called a meeting for months. This must be something important”.

Every single hybrid was at the meeting. Inna and Tulia had looks of concern on their faces. The test of the hybrids were also pacing nervously.

Karn was flexing his muscles. Ulric watched him, wondering exactly what it is the Vykkers had in store for them.

A Vykker entered the room. “Nice to see you’re all here, let’s get started”. He moved around the room, handing around books and leaflets. Silpher reached out for his copy. The book was called “Survival Handbook”, the authors name was Potney, his cheesy Vykker grin was present on the cover of the book.

“Can I ask something?”, Ulric walked forward and raised his hand. “Why do we need this?”. The Vykker smiled. “The time has come for you to learn about the wilderness outside of this facility”. Lorn was shocked, “You mean, you’re setting us free?”.

The Vykker laughed, “My dear Lorn, you have not been held captive here at all, you could have left anytime you wanted!”. The hybrids looked at each other nervously.

“My name’s Braxley by the way”. He walked towards the whiteboard. “Now you have all reached the age at which you have learned of the majority of Slig traits… but now you must read about your Scrab traits”. Silpher looked at a leaflet next to the book, “Meat Feasts 101: What to eat and what not to eat”.

“As you already know, you have a craving for meat, this is part of your Scrab genetics. There are other behavior traits that you probably haven’t read about before”. Braxley motioned towards the whiteboard, writing some more words onto it. “Hunting, Healthcare, Mechanical Maintenance, Natural Creatures, Mating…”.

There were a few chuckles in the crowd, Dogol blushed, “You mean, it’s possible for us to…”, “Yes yes, you are able to do that”, Braxley sighed. “I knew I shouldn’t have written that one down. Anyway, basically over the next few months you’ll be learning all of this from both the books and from the Vykkers”.

Riley was whispering to Bitsy excitedly. Lorn stood up to the stage where Braxley was and started to speak. “I’ve been looking over the first few chapters, we have to look into things such as Pack Mentality and Pack Status. We should elect leaders and train our bodies in preparation for hunting”.

Braxley nodded and smiled. “I see you are already starting to organize yourselves, this is very good indeed. I’m sure you can discuss this amongst yourselves. I’ll take my leave, if you need me don’t hesitate to call”. Braxley started to walk away and then stopped, “However, from now on we’ll be feeding you less and less, in order to get you prepared for life outside of this facility”. Braxley closed the door on his way out.

Lara walked up to the podium. “Okay, so we have to discuss a lot of things, first of all…”, she flicked the book over to page 7, “We should sort out who will be the Alpha”. Bitsy turned her head to the side, “Alpha?”. Inna nodded, “I heard Silpher mention it, it symbolizes a leadership role, right?”. Silpher nodded, “There are Alphas which act as leaders, Betas that act as second in command…”, the hybrids were eagerly discussing which positions they would be in.

Ulric stood up, smirking. “Are we going to base this on our test results? Because if we are that would mean that I am the alpha”. Lorn frowned, “That isn’t the only basis for leadership, we have to look at which of us will be able to keep cool in a situation”.

Bron sighed, “Shall we vote on it then?”. The other hybrids nodded their heads. “Let’s start with the males first”, Inna suggested. They each took a piece of paper and wrote a name on it. They put the names into a box. The box was then opened and the results were counted.