Colin was barely holding it together. He was helpless and could only watch as his wife was taken from him.

  This was all his fault. If he had been a better man, then he never would have been desperate enough to agree to these experiments. Now, he and Kristy were captured and Jenny was missing.

  If he had a head, it would be hung low right now.

  Colin didn’t deserve such a wonderful wife. He didn’t deserve such a sweet little girl. Kristy had trusted him and all he brought to her was trouble.

  Colin wanted to blame Chuck for everything that was happening, but he knew deep down that Chuck wasn’t the one to blame. Chuck was the wild beast, but Colin was the one who presented his own family to that beast on a silver platter.

  This sadness wasn’t getting him anywhere though. Self-pity was just another way to be selfish. Right now, Colin’s family needed him and sadness wouldn’t save them. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to be able to lash out. To do something. He needed another chance. All he needed was one more chance to save his family. He would get it right this time.

  At that moment, something shifted inside of him and the chrysalis stage finally ended.

  Colin snapped into his alligator form and lashed out at the metallic walls around him. He suppressed his sadness and let the rage within tear it’s way out. He roared a mighty roar and snapped and clawed and slammed against the walls of his cage.

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  When the walls didn’t budge, Colin shifted forms and lashed out as a snake, then a dog, then any combination he could think of just to do any sort of damage.

  He let his anger fuel his assault on his cage. He screeched, he roared and he thrashed with all of his pent up rage.

  But the cage around him remained unphased.

  Colin stopped. He was in a strange combination of alligator, chicken, crab, and snake. His chest was heaving at all of his exertions. What was wrong with him? Even after everything, he let his anger take the lead and it did nothing to help. It left him in the same cage as before with nothing to show for all his useless noise.

  That felt like his whole life. Colin had always let his emotions lead him into trouble and Kristy was always there to forgive him even when he didn’t deserve it. Now, he’d let it go too far and it might be too late. Kristy might get hurt before he could even try to help.

  Colin twirled around his room and bared witness to the futility of letting his emotions rule him. There were barely even scratches on the walls.

  He let out a whimper and looked down at his claws. A beast acts by instinct and emotions. Long before he was forced into this body, Colin acted like an animal. Sometimes worse. Even an animal could restrain themselves.

  Colin took a deep breath and pushed himself to think rather than to feel. If emotions got him and his family into this mess, he needed to stop them from leading him any further.

  He felt ashamed. This was all his fault, he needed to accept that, but he also needed to keep moving. He would only get the chance to apologize if he saved his family. In order to do that, he needed to stop acting like a brute and start using his head.

  Colin let out another whimper as he wished he were smarter, then shifted into a smaller form made for observation and started to map out his entire surroundings.

  The only emotion he didn’t disregard now was determination.