A long time ago, a large, radioactive explosion affected half of the world. The large amounts of people that were affected by the radioactivity began to mutate; they began to develop animalistic traits, mental AND physical.

They were deemed as ‘hybrids’ by the government. The outbreak lead to large amounts of ‘hybrids’ being captured and tested on—but soon, scientists began to realize that these ‘hybrids’ had kept their humanity, and eventually released information to the public that they would have to accept them into society.

There were a couple roadblocks here and there, but hybrids were eventually able to fit their way into society. Hybrids soon began to reproduce, and they ended up becoming at least half of the population. Due to this, seeing hybrids in the workplace became the norm.

They also became the norm in the military. Most of your colleagues were hybrids—including your close teammate, Gaz. He was an otter hybrid, and while he didn’t let his mutations get the best of him, he couldn’t get rid of some of the habits he shared with his animal counterpart.

While on a mission with Gaz, he began to grow slightly anxious. He didn’t let it show much, but he couldn’t help but grab your hand; just like an otter would when sleeping to prevent it’s mate from drifting away.

“Stay close.”

He didn’t even mention the hand holding—it was a subconscious action that his brain was hardwired to execute. And maybe there was a tiny part of him that just wanted to hold your hand for the sake of it. Just maybe.