Author's note: I've finally started to re-write this, and hopefully make it better. :D

I like snorks, I can't shoot the poor things. I came up with this story shortly after meeting and starting to work with «my» horse; I'd never seen such an agressive and distrustful horse before, but a few months after working together he stopped being agressive and even allowed me to start patting his head (he's blind of his left eye, he doesn't let people touch his head), and today the guy's my loyal 4 legged comrade.

So based on «my» horse, I wondered what would happen if a snork went through the same process of having to live without being in constant conflict. Despite being a purely fictional creature, the concept of a mutated human is interesting; it's not an animal, but it's not a human... so how the heck does someone deal with a humanesque beast?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my story. :)

The snork had the impression there was something following it. But, glancing behind, the snork couldn't see anything.

Maybe it was just being paranoid.

Maybe the hunger was making it sense things.

With a grunt, the mutant trotted away, to the underground tunnels where its fellows were. It was getting dark and the snork didn't like to be outside in the dark, alone, because all the creepy mutants that had a better sight would definitely pick up a fight with it, and right now the hungry snork felt too weak to fight. Speaking on said mutants, the snork could already hear a few threatening growls across the swamp.

The snork changed to something that resembled a full-speed gallop and, by the corner of its eye, saw something. Maybe just a zombified stalker.

But then the snork felt something sting its neck and it growled angrily, coming to a halt and turning around to see who dared to do such a thing. In the growing darkness, all the snork could see were figures walking to it. They moved too fast to be zombified stalkers, and they didn't look like any of the mutants that lived in the swamp.

The snork decided it would be wiser to simply run for dear life, and that was what it intended to do… but then its head began to spin, and its limbs didn't obey at all, and its poor sight became foggy. The snork realised it fell on its side.

The creatures became closer and the snork, in a desperate attempt to pull itself together, tried to kick them away, stand on its four and run.

The world became pitch black.

"Watch your head, doctor." One of the soldiers said. A little too late; Vitaly, blindfolded, had already hit his head while trying to leave the armoured vehicle.

Feeling the fresh air against his face felt good. Vitaly sighed, ignoring the throb in his head and the protest of his muscles, sore for spending so much time sitting in such a tight space. But then finally!, the blindfold was removed and Vitaly looked around, expectantly.

The sight was not amusing, though; barracks, barracks, concrete walls with barbed wire, watchtowers, soldiers coming and going and it looked like it would rain cats and dogs any time soon. Vitaly looked over his shoulder, but the vehicle and the soldiers who had brought him to the Zone were gone.

When he looked ahead again there was a general standing before him, a big man with a shaved head, brown eyes and a sympathetic smile. They shook hands and Vitaly winced a little when his hand was nearly smashed by the general's firm grip:

"Doctor Fedor, welcome to Base 666!" The general saluted. "I presume your ride was… uncomfortable. I apologize, but this project requires secrecy."

"No… no problem." Vitaly replied. He had just finished his course and by mere chance had known the Army was recruiting civilian engineers, biologists, physicists and medics. He had decided to try his luck and had applied for the job. There hadn't been any details during the interview. Only when he was called again to be told he had gotten the job, Vitaly was told he was going to work in a secret governmental project with the Army. No more details.

Now, he was somewhere in the Zone, a place he had heard little rumours of.

Vitaly followed the general to a small wooden cabin nearby:

"I've heard you've just graduated, doctor." The general commented and opened the door. There was a trapdoor inside the cabin, with stairs going down. Vitaly followed the general down the stairs and found himself in a long, apparently infinite white corridor. The young scientist had the immediate feeling of being in a prison, or a hospital:

"Some weeks ago, yes…" Vitaly said, still following the general. There were fireproof doors on each side of the corridor, and right next to the doors were small signboards with numbers.

Indeed, the corridor seemed endless! The general noticed Vitaly couldn't stop looking around, trying to figure out where he was and what was behind the fireproof doors:

"This is where my soldiers stay." The general explained. "The old barracks up there are fake and work only as garages. Behind these doors there are infirmaries, dormitories, canteens and weapon deposits. You are going to stay on the floor below."

Vitaly widened his eyes; there was a floor below that one? That suddenly felt too claustrophobic.

They found a soldier coming in the opposite direction, his green uniform ridiculously outstanding in the whiteness of the corridor. And finally, the end of the corridor. There was a door, locked, and the general removed a bunch of keys from one of his pockets and opened the door. Again stairs, going down.

The second floor was exactly like the first, much to Vitaly's dismay. However, the general stopped in front of the 1st door at their left and pushed it open:

"Here, your canteen." He explained. Vitaly peeked inside; it was big, with tables and a little leisure area with a few couches gathered in front of an old TV. Everything was white, with the exception of the couches, of a leathery yellow. From the kitchen came a pleasant smell, and Vitaly's stomach rumbled demanding for a decent dinner, since breakfast and lunch had been some terrible excuses of meals.

They proceeded their way; on the right side there were a few labs that, according to the general, were the work-place of Vitaly's colleagues, who happened to work most of times in the terrain, outside.

The general stopped again before a door at their left, numbered 24, and unlocked it:

"Your room, doctor. You can leave your bag here." He said. Vitaly nodded and got in, looking around shyly. The room was small, white, with a bed, a tiny closet wall and a small private bathroom. Vitaly left his bag on the floor and noticed a couple of keys on the bedside-table. "Those are yours, doctor. Bring them."

Vitaly did as he was told and slipped the pair of keys into the pockets of his jeans. They proceeded their way, and stopped again in front of a door at their right, not far from Vitaly's room, numbered 45:

"Your lab, doctor." The general informed. Widening his eyes, Vitaly reached for the keys in his pocket and, in fact, one of them said 45. Trying to be serious and solemn, Vitaly unlocked the door and walked in the lab.

It was big and white. There was a desk with a pile of paper and a few survival guides. There was also a lab workstation with a microscope, a small freezer and plenty of petri dishes. Next to the workstation there was a medical cabinet with a stretcher. And, in the far end of the room, there was a MRI scan machine that could be isolated from the rest of the lab through sliding doors. Not far from the machine was a small rectangular window and another open door that leaded to a small cabinet that contained the MRI scan workstation.

Vitaly gaped in a quite ungracious way, and behind him the general chuckled:

"I presume you will enjoy working here." The general commented. "Now, let's take a look at your subject of study, yes?"

The young scientist nodded, excited; if his workplace was like that, so surely his subject of study was something highly interesting and challenging!

They went back to the corridor, and just like the floor above, that one also ended with a door, this time unlocked, that the general opened to reveal more stairs going down. And they went down, and Vitaly noticed the walls were nude and the light was weak. It was cold and humid and very much like a prison.

Then Vitaly heard a growl and looked around, confused. They reached the last floor, that wasn't a corridor; it was a huge square room, with many little cells with metal bar doors, and in the middle of the room there was something that resembled the indoor ring a man from Vitaly's stanitsa had for his horses… but unlike that ring, this one didn't have sand on the floor, just the cold pavement, and the sides were protected by full-length iron bars.

Another growl and Vitaly looked around once more, disturbed. Maybe the Army had dogs with them…? Yet, truth to be told, the young scientist had never heard a dog growl like that.

They stopped in front of a cell and the general smiled, mischievously:

"And this, doctor, is your subject of study." He explained.

Vitaly looked into the cell and, in the dimness, he saw a soldier lying on the floor. But then the soldier growled and, slowly, visibly painfully, stood on its four and limped towards the metal bars. The young scientist gave a step back, terrified, when that thing reached the metal bars and growled again, its lipless mouth wide open while trying to slip an arm between the metal bars of its cell to claw at the visitors. The creature had a leather collar around its neck, and from the collar hung a short and heavy-looking chain:

"What is that?" Vitaly asked, horrified, as the thing threw itself against the metal bars, probably in an attempt to break them, or magically escape through them. The general held his bunch of keys and hit them against the metal bars.

The creature snarled and backed away quickly:

"It's a snork, doctor Fedor. A mutated human, and despite the fragile appearance these creatures are powerful predators. These creatures have no feelings or emotions, they are simply vicious beasts, just like all the other mutants." The general explained calmly and Vitaly's eyes widened in sheer horror. "Your colleagues study dead snorks… you are going to study a living one and understand if it can become a human again."

Interesting? Yes! Challenging? Very! But… now Vitaly wasn't so sure about enjoying his work…

However…

Again, the word echoed in Vitaly's mind. So, that thing had been human, once. Had had a name, a family… a life. Pity overcame horror, and he stepped closer to the cell.

"This specimen here was brought 2 days ago, and we have already bathed it and left it without food or water. The little bastard is resistant, though… Anyway, see that collar around its neck? It has sensors, so if the snork makes any sudden movement the collar will give it an electric shock; it's not enough to kill it, but it will make it think twice before repeating the stunt." The general chuckled. "Also, the inside of the collar is much like those training collars for dogs. That will make the snork follow you and behave on its way to the lab and back here. It's perfectly safe. And don't be afraid of using strength with this creature and hurt it; it's not an animal nor a human… at least, for now."

Vitaly just looked at the snork, frowning lightly. He couldn't see the mutant in detail, but he could see it was a small and thin creature, and now that it stood still in the same spot, still growling ferociously, Vitaly noticed it was shivering. Maybe the soldiers had bathed it with a hose, like the mutant was a horse, and had left it with its soaked clothes and boots.

The snork stared at the two humans, especially at the new one; that one wasn't shouting, and the mutant wondered why. Finally, the humans walked away, and when the door closed the growling ceased and the snork collapsed on the cold stone floor, feeling exhausted, thirsty and starving and its entire body ached. Shutting its eyes, the snork asked itself why the humans didn't simply kill it once and for all.

After having dinner and receiving a little compilation of information about snorks, a uniform, a pair of combat boots, a dog tag and a white smock, Vitaly went to his bedroom and began to read the compilation; it was everything his colleagues knew about snorks, until the moment.

Reading that and remembering the little creature from hours before, the young scientist had to admit the specimen he had to study seemed harmless due to its miserable state. Seems., he thought worriedly, and imagined that lipless mouth surely had a powerful bite. With a sigh, Vitaly shoved the compilation aside and stared to the ceiling, thinking; how was he going to interact with the mutant? If it wasn't an animal, he surely couldn't treat it like a dog… and if it wasn't a human, he obviously couldn't treat it like a person. Yet. Vitaly was actually curious to find out if the mutation could be reverted. If he could help that thing that had once been a man, like him. The young scientist frowned, bitterly; he would only know that if he did what the general told him to.

In the next day, Vitaly woke up before the alarm clock, went to the canteen to have breakfast and then went to his lab. He discovered syringes with a strong sedative in the medical cabinet, and decided he should take one with him. Then, he headed to the snork's cell.

He just hoped the mutant wouldn't notice how nervous and scared he was. He opened the door at the end of the corridor and went downstairs, and this time there wasn't any growling. Vitaly found the snork lying on the floor, its back facing him. The young scientist hesitated, and for a moment he considered going to look for someone to help him to take the mutant to his lab…

But seemed that creature was his problem. With a sigh, Vitaly opened the door of the cell and got in.

The snork growled and, slowly, stood on all fours. The weak light reflexing on the lenses of its gas mask was frightening, and Vitaly found it very difficult to make his legs move forwards:

"So… uh… you… you have to go to my lab…" The young scientist mumbled and, slowly, so slowly, finally moved towards the snork and bent down, to hold the end of the chain attached to the collar around the snork's neck. The mutant growled louder. "Please, don't bite my head off… I… uh…"

The snork just looked at the human, confused; it knew it couldn't attack, because it had tried before and had felt something horrible, like it had been caught in an anomaly, and whatever happened to it made it feel dizzy and weak and unable to move properly for a while. Besides, the thing the humans had put around its neck hurt it when they pulled the chain, or simply if it moved too much. So all things considered, it was an easy prey, and it couldn't understand why the human wasn't shouting and attacking it like the others.

Yet, just as expected, the human held the chain. What was unexpected was the soft, almost imperceptible tug on the chain. The snork stood still and for a moment it thought about holding the chain and pull it away from the human's hands, but it was too weak for it.

Another tug, a little stronger this time:

"Uh… snork, can you move? Please?" Vitaly asked. The snork snarled and decided it would study that strange human, and then conclude if it had a chance to kill it and escape. Slowly, the snork began to walk, growling lowly, and followed the human (who tried his best to stay away from the snork's reach) out of the cell, around the ring, up the stairs and into the corridor.

The snork hesitated and winced once it reached the corridor; the bright light made its eyes hurt, and all those different and new scents were distracting. But another lightly strong tug made the snork follow the human again. That human was strange, mumbling something imperceptible, and the mutant was sure that at any moment he would break his neck from being constantly looking from the snork to the way ahead.

The young scientist opened the door of his lab, came in and closed the door behind the snork. He noticed, as he closed the door, that his hands were shaking. But he had made it! He was about to smile… then remembered he still had to study the snork. And how was he supposed to do that, what did he need to do to understand if the mutation was reversible? Vitaly looked down at the snork and, now that he was able to see it properly, he felt his stomach clench; the mutant was covered in open wounds, the worst of all being its exposed spine, and the little of its skin that wasn't injured was dark grey, like it had been burned. The tattered uniform was certainly damp, by the way it glued to the skinny body under it.

It is surely in constant pain, the poor thing…, the young scientist thought. Feeling pity again for that creature, Vitaly released the chain and kneeled next to it.

The snork was still growling, lowly, even though its curiosity was making it feel much more interested in that new environment than in the silly human. It felt the chain loose and turned its head to its side, to look at the human. The human wasn't towering over it anymore, it had come to its level. And why was the human looking at it like that, everybody knows humans don't look at snorks like that. Now the snork was curious about the human, too.

Slowly, Vitaly stretched his hand to touch the snork. With a grunt, the mutant suddenly slapped his hand away. The collar gave it an electric shock and the snork fell on its side. The little aggression was enough to make the young scientist jump backwards and nearly run to his desk and hide behind it. But he noticed the snork on the floor, unable to move, and had a wonderful idea; the sedative!, he would sedate the snork, weight and measure it, move it to the stretcher and tie it there, and then find it dry clothes and boots, change it and tend those wounds, and maybe he would even manage to get a blood sample and run a MRI scan.

Vitaly succeeded in injecting the sedative in the snork's arm. He then untied its boots and had little difficulty to drag it to a suspended scales near the lab workstation and slip its skinny body into the harness. Then he noted down the snork's weight; 49kg, if he ignored the extra 1kg from the chain. The young scientist took the chance to take a sample of the snork's blood, then took the mutant to the stretcher, quickly undressed it and buckled the straps of the stretcher over the snork's torso, arms and legs. Curiously, the mutant had no body hair, and Vitaly presumed it had to be related with the mutation. He measured the snork and noted down its height; 160cm.

Then the young scientist noticed a rusty dog tag around the snork's neck. That could contain precious information! He took it carefully and looked at it. In one side there was an insignia that Vitaly had no idea of what it meant, and it was barely visible with all the rust and the dry bloodstains on the metal; in the other side there was something written on it, probably the blood type, and below there was the surname and the name. Only the name was still poorly readable.

It said «Mikhail».

Vitaly looked sadly to the mutant lying sedated on the stretcher. So, that thing had been a soldier and became that while serving the nation. Did Mikhail's family know what happened? Had the mutation been painful? Was it quick? Would the snork remember its name, its life before the mutation?

Shaking his head, the young scientist left the dog tag and the old uniform aside, on his desk; he would think about that later, now he had to hurry up before the snork woke up. He walked to the snork again and removed the dirty gas mask, and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows in surprise; the snork had a human face. A perfectly human face, were not the lips missing. It was a typically Slavic face, maybe a little too thin, with a broken nose, blonde lashes, blonde eyebrows and dishevelled and dirty blonde hair. Carefully, Vitaly opened one of the snork's eyes; pale blue. Then, even more carefully, the young scientist examined the snork's mouth; the scarred tissue around the exposed gums indicated that the lips had been somehow torn off (Vitaly felt an unpleasant shiver run down his spine), but despite the putrid breath the snork's teeth were white and perfect (another shiver, and Vitaly prayed the creature would never bite him…).

He noted down the snork's characteristics and hurried to go find it new clothes, boots and an electric shaver because the snork's hair, like that, had no salvation.

The snork took in a sharp breath and opened its eyes, and was glad that it was back to its little dark cell, away from that horrible strong light from the place the scientist had taken it.

The scientist… his scent was there. And another scent, unknown, but that was good and made the snork's stomach rumble loudly. Turning around slowly, the mutant saw the human sitting outside the metal bars door. And, next to the snork, there was a dish full of something that the snork didn't know what was… but it smelled good… and there was also a large bowl with water.

Vitaly smiled when the snork stood on its four and attacked the dish with raw meatballs:

"Mikhail?" He called, but the creature completely ignored him, grunting and snarling while devouring the meatballs. The young scientist tilted his head to one side. "I was going to run a MRI scan on you, but then I thought that, since you had been sedated for a while, you'd wake up in the middle of the scan and that wouldn't be nice… so… we'll do that tomorrow."

And again, Mikhail couldn't care less. The snork chewed and swallowed the last meatball and then sipped avidly the water from the bowl. Vitaly frowned; he had expected that the snork would show some… gratitude? Come on, he had gotten it rid of the old and damp uniform and had put it in a brand new one, had washed and bandaged its wounds and had stolen all those meatballs from the kitchen to give it… and the snork didn't even look at him!

A rescued dog would certainly show more gratitude than that creature!

However, and Vitaly's frown grew bigger, the snork wasn't an animal. It was a mutated human. It couldn't be treated like an animal… but it couldn't be treated like a human, either.

Right…?

With a sigh, Vitaly leaned against the metal bars. The snork had finished the water and looked at him, and began to growl lowly.

Why was the human still there? The snork looked at its left hand, wrapped in a bandage; what was that? It felt soft against its skin, and it protected the gash, the snork could lay over its hand without feeling discomfort on that wound. And now that the snork was aware of it, there was a new scent all over it, probably coming from the clothes and boots it wore; they were new, they were dry, they were comfortable and provided better protection against the cold around it, unlike its old and tattered uniform. And the snork blinked its eyes quickly, looking again to the scientist; its sight was better! Slowly and clumsily, Mikhail took a hand to its shaved head; the annoying thing covering its head was gone!

Observing the snork, Vitaly found himself smiling a little; seemed the mutant was now becoming aware of what had happened:

"Mikhail?" He tried again. And this time the snork looked and tilted its head, curiously. "Mikhail?"

The snork stared at the scientist for a moment, confused. «Mikhail», the name echoed in its mind. It sounded… like it had heard it before. Maybe from a stalker it had killed… But was the scientist addressing to it as «Mikhail»? It had to be, there were just the two of them in that place.

Mikhail felt again very curious about that human, who apparently wasn't a threat. Slowly, the snork crawled on all its four to the door of its cell and crouched, looking at the young scientist on the other side of the metal bars. Despite the weak light and prevailing darkness in the room, the snork was able to see the scientist properly; he had a round face, which wasn't imposing or threatening like the square and sharp faces of the soldiers, had brown eyes and short brown hair. The scientist was showing the snork his teeth, but it didn't look like a snarl… it wasn't aggressive. And that human had no weapons with him. The snork decided not to growl at that human and concluded it would be indeed interesting to study him. And maybe that human would be easy to trick.

Vitaly tilted his head and raised his eyebrows:

"Funny thing, why are you always so serious?" He mumbled, mostly to himself. Since he had been watching Mikhail, the snork had carried the same deadpan expression on its face, only widening or narrowing its eyes.

Mikhail simply blinked its eyes. With a sigh, Vitaly stood up, slowly, and much for his joy the snork didn't growl or stepped back. Maybe the mutant wasn't that bad, maybe it just needed to understand Vitaly wouldn't harm it:

"So… I'll be back later to give you more meatballs and water, ok? And tomorrow we'll go back to work." He began to walk away. "See you, Mikhail!"

Just in case, the snork looked around. Nope, it was alone! So, that Mikhail-thing was really meant to it. Would the human call it Mikhail from now on? Just like the stalkers outside called for each other, with… names? That was interesting, the snork thought and looked down to the cold stone floor, because a name was typically a human thing; according to the snork's experience in the Zone, that was how the humans identified and called for each other. The humans weren't practical or discreet, like the snorks, that used the scent and different vocalizations to recognize or call for each other.

That human was indeed a highly curious phenomenon of Nature, the snork concluded brilliantly.

Weee, review?