mammock
noun
verb (used with object)
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Two men looked at the rows of monitors with clinical interest. They each held clipboards ready for note taking. On the screen was a room that looked like it had been hit by a fierce storm. Bits and pieces of cloth were scattered everywhere. Stone and metal were almost as wide spread, scattered in fragments of various sizes. And blood. There was a lot of blood covering the floors and walls.
This room had a lone occupant. A huge, eight foot tall creature that looked like a wolf mixed with a human. The beats looked around its surroundings and let out a growl unheard by the observers. It reared back and howled at the ceiling. And then, it went wild. It flung its massive, powerful body at the walls in an attempt to escape. It lashed out with inch long claws that tore through the thick metal walls like paper. One of the observers felt a twinge of nervousness seeing that. But the walls were thick and strong, and the beast would be unable to get much further.
That did not stop it from trying. It tore the walls, trying to find some weakness in the heavy steel. It would find none. Even the doors were more than two feet thick and heavily reinforced. The wolf-like creature was well contained. The men watched closely.
One of them turned to a different row of monitors, this one showing various vital signs and physical readouts on the creature. Information that would be valuable, coming curtesy of the various sensors and scanners they had placed inside its body while it was still vulnerable to their tools. Now that effort was paying dividends with data more valuable than gold.
One of the heavy walls on the opposite side of the room slid open. Another animal was forced into the room. This one was a simple cow. It tried to return to the room it had been contained in, crying out in fear as its instincts warned it about the dangerous predator. The wall was already sliding into place.
The creature spotted its meal. The stopped clawing the walls and turned to the doomed cow. Then it pounced. It easily cleared the twenty feet between them in a single jump. Sharp claws and teeth bit into the helpless animal. All it could do was cry out in pain as its flesh was torn from its body. And soon, fresh blood and shards of bone was all that was left.
Its hunger sated; the huge wolf-creature calmed considerably. It stalked around the room, no longer clawing at the walls. Instead, it looked around. It took in its surroundings with keen eyes and even keener nose. It breathed deeply, smelling the air, using all its senses to find a way out. For now, it found none. And so the beast walked and waited. The observers knew it was trying to get out. They knew what would happen if it did. But for now, it was contained.
When the night was over, and the beast changed back into its human form, they would be able to make sure it stayed that way.
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