The Dread - alliances and beginnings

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His frown drew down further, dark and menacing. “There are not many humans left on this continent. You can’t fight us all. We need the food.”

“And then what? Once these are gone what will you eat?”

With a shrug, his face shifted to disgust. “Animals I guess.”

I let my volume rise again. “Then eat them now. These are mine.”

I wondered idly why the humans weren’t firing on the group but one sweeping glance cleared up my confusion. My kind had obtained their surprise attack; the humans had been caught unaware. Weapon parts littered the area, snapped in half by massive hands. Some of the dead monsters were probably the result of the human’s defense, but with this many beasts, they were unarmed quickly.

In panic, I scanned the group of pitiful creatures again looking for signs of devastation. Everyone appeared collected, though shaken. I felt relief that no one had yet been infected or even seriously injured. The beasts must have been doing their best not to waste what had quickly become a limited food supply.

Another few stepped from the trees and my eyes locked on the new threats. “It is not fair that you still have humans to eat while we starve.”

I laughed out loud. “What is not fair? I have thought ahead and prepared for the future, you have been stupid. I see no reason that I should have to suffer because you slaughtered more than you could ever eat. I’ll give you a last warning: these are mine. Even if you get past me you will still face the same issue. Go learn to live on animals now and perhaps learn a little prudence and practicality while you’re at it. These are mine.”

The closest beast launched himself at me. I’m sure he intended to throw me off but my muscles were still jittery from my run and my body reacted even before I had thought about it. With a brutality that surprised even me, I smashed my fist into the middle of his chest and listened to the sound of a dozen ribs breaking or snapping from the cartilage. He gasped in agony, but that was his last breath. I pushed downward with my full weight smashing him into the ground and cracking whatever parts of his chest cavity had survived the first attack. I continued downward crushing his organs and felt his heart stop.

I knew it still wasn’t enough. None of the rest had moved. Swooping down, I picked up his massive body forcing it over my head and then roared out an additional challenge to the remainder. Now they reacted, stepping back and away from me. “My herd. Mine! Leave my land.”

Harrison came to stand beside me with Michelle leaning on him heavily. “These belong to us. Find a new food supply.”

“Nothing else tastes right.” Someone called from among the trees but I didn’t turn fast enough to pinpoint who.

“That’s not true. Have you even tried?” I challenged them again with my tone.

“I tried. I bit into a pig, but it was worse than eating dirt.” This time the speaker seemed almost pleading. It gave me an ounce of hope.

“It’s not the meat you want. Leave that for the humans, try the rest.” I smiled wickedly, “the large intestine is to die for.”

Many eyes became thoughtful. Some were still bloodthirsty and unwilling to listen but I suddenly realized that perhaps there were some who were simply ‘raised,’ for lack of a better word, not knowing anything different. “Try it. Not here. Get off my land and stay away from my food sources, but elsewhere, try it. Skip the meat and go straight for the guts.”

A few more disappeared into the trees. The numbers were dwindling fast now. A few more and I felt confident that they wouldn’t even be willing to fight us. Harrison took a turn speaking and then I tried again. One by one the group of Beasts peeled away leaving only a handful who continued to watch the humans hungrily. They were probably the ones who hadn’t eaten in the longest amount of time.

I finished my small speech and stepped forward. “Well, come on then. If you want my herd, try to take it from me.”

Eyes shifted warily to me and then away again as they calculated the likelihood of success against the prize. Finally, a few more growled and stalked back into the trees. The last handful saw that their chance was gone and slinked away as well.

I stood tall until the sound of retreat faded to at least five miles away and then collapsed onto the ground. My left leg started spasming immediately. It was my first Charlie horse in my new form. I grabbed for the offending limb and curled into a ball.

Harrison and Michelle dropped to my side. “Lacey, what’s wrong, are you okay?”

A softer human voice joined theirs. “I recognize that. She must have run hard to get here, her muscle is locking up.” Wade put a hand on my overly large shoulder. “Lacey, do you want me to massage it for you?”

“No, I’ll probably bite you if you touch me. Ah, it hurts.” I pulled my leg into my body and cradled it against my chest.

Wade looked askance at the other two.

Harrison was the one to speak because Michelle was giggling again. She seemed to find a beast’s dark humor amusing. “She says she’s likely to bite you if you touch her because it really hurts.”

Wade’s eyes remained solemn. “I don’t think I’d mind as much as I once might have.”

My eyes opened at that but only for a moment before they shut again. I tried to massage my own limb but my efforts were too rushed to be effective.

Wade took a deep breath and pushed forward, moving my hands aside. It was either intensely brave or intensely suicidal. As soon as he pushed his fist into my calf, more than triple the size of what it had been, I roared in pain and shot backward slamming my back against the ground and covering my face with my hands.

He stopped, jumping at my roar, and then forced himself forward again and pressed into the muscles. This time I limited my reaction to a growl in my chest but tried to keep still.

“You saved our lives, Lacey, several times over.”

“Not important.”

“It is very important to me. There are less than five hundred of us here. Without you, we would have been slaughtered.”

“Still might be.”

Beside me, Harrison nodded. “There were a lot. Not all will just walk away.”

“We don’t have any weapons left. They destroyed everything except a few small handguns. Those wouldn’t be effective against them anyway.” He looked between us including Michelle in his glance.

“Maybe we can find more.” Wade hit a knot and my jaw snapped shut on the last word. Without meaning to I snapped at him and snarled meanly.

He stopped moving to consider me. His eyes did not hold fear anymore. “You always used to growl at me when I would massage your calves after a hard run. I suppose this is not any different, just a lot more terrifying.”

“Sorry.” I leaned back again and just tried to stare at the sky.

“How far did you have to run? We heard you and it sounded like you were fifty miles away.”

“More like a hundred and fifty. I was a couple hours outside of the area.”

“Why did you go so far?” Wade’s voice softened.

“I was leaving. I got stopped at the river and then they found me and said they were going to kill you all.”

“Why were you leaving?” Wade’s persistence irritated me and I growled a low, deep growl of warning. He pushed purposefully into another knot. “I’m not going to let it drop so you may as well deal with me.”

Still, I remained silent choosing not even to look at him or at the other two who watched the exchange with interest.

“Michelle?”

I bent my head back to find the speaker and the rest of the monsters turned. Michelle’s mother moved cautiously forward. As soon as she registered Michelle’s changed face she started crying. It was hard to tell if the tears were sorrow or joy. I imagine that even she wasn’t sure.

For a moment I could read indecision on Michelle’s face as well, then she moved forward just a step. “I’m sorry, mother.”

The woman melted. She ran forward and dropped into her daughter's arms disappearing into the larger figure as a child disappears into her parent’s embrace. “It’s not your fault. I’m so sorry I let you go alone. I should have stayed with you.”

Michelle’s head shook. “No, my fault. I was foolish. I heard them and I went out to see.”

Harrison and I grunted in unison. Humans really were marvelously ignorant sometimes.

The two held each other for another minute before the older woman pulled back and stared at her daughter’s eyes. “It’s still you in there. I can still see you.” She smiled through her tears. “You’re still my beautiful baby girl.”

I could almost feel the lump in Michelle’s chest as she hiccupped out a sob. I knew she had secretly feared meeting her mother again. I was grateful for the woman’s reaction. I felt a tear slide down my own cheek and then Wade’s chuckle brought me back around to him.

“You’re still so sentimental.” His face sobered and he stared at me for a moment. “I still love you. After the attack, I went back to your home. I don’t know what I thought I’d find but I knew your family had a plan and I prayed that it worked.”

I felt my own chest constrict. “I hope you stopped at the door.”

He nodded. “I tried calling inside a couple of times and I even went up to the second landing but the picture was pretty clear. I couldn’t even convince myself to go up and make sure you were dead. I turned and ran as fast as I could from that place. I talked myself into believing that you must have died. I felt like such a coward.”

“For what?” I chortled at his stricken look. “For not wanting to see a massacre? You saw plenty I’m sure. I saw plenty so you must have.”

“But for you, it was probably different.”

I shook my head and looked up at the sky. “I was still human when they pulled me out of the carnage.”

“They pulled you out?” His face was suddenly horrified.

I couldn’t help sneer. “They thought I was pretty. The leader wanted me for his woman.”

Wade’s face drained of blood. After a second he forced himself to continue massaging the massive muscle.

“I killed him before he could touch me. I did it as soon as I was strong enough.”

His face remained pale as I spoke. The idea of his petite fiancée killing beasts was obviously unsettling. After a moment I pulled my leg away from him and curled into myself again. “Thank you. It feels better.” Standing I took a few limping steps toward the tree line.

Harrison stood as well and then looked between me and his new female. I waved a dismissive hand toward her and he relaxed.

“Where are you going?”

I shrugged. ”I’ll probably run the perimeter a few more times and see what I can find. With that many beasts, I’m sure it’s going to take me a while to figure if any of them are still around.”

“Will you come back near camp when you’re done? Just in case they come back?”

I turned to look at the rest of the group. Of the faces I recognized, most bordered on hostile.

“No need. I can do my job from a distance.”

“When will you come back?” Wade’s voice was wistful as if he already knew the answer.

“Hopefully next time I’ll get them before they get close enough to cause problems.” I took off again ignoring the pain in my tired muscles. As I had said, I needed to at least check for lurking beasts.

Within a few more minutes Harrison called out from the human camp. “Where do you want me to start?”

I stopped running and considered my options. Another set of eyes and ears would speed this process up, but I still held on to a tiny molecule of distrust. I suppose he had just proven himself rushing in to defend them in my place. With a shrug, I lifted my face to the air. “Spiral out to the south.”

He howled back his understanding and then disappeared in the opposite direction. With a sigh, I started moving again.

We were right to check. Three different beasts lay in wait. Harrison and Michelle took out two of them and I ended up facing the other. By the time I was done with him I was much closer to dead. Rather than move any further, I moved in just slightly and collapsed. Unconsciousness came quickly without even enough sense to let the other two know the outcome of the fight.

They woke me up in a panic twenty minutes later. Michelle fawned over me fearfully. “Are you dying?”

I grinned. “Not dead, just a little worn out. I’ll be fine soon enough.”

Harrison sat next to me crossing his legs in front of him. “He asked me to infect him.” He watched my reaction hawkishly but all I could do was grimace. “I told him you’d kill me if I did.”

“What’s his reasoning?”

“Having one more on the home team will help.” He shrugged. “Solid logic if you ask me.”

“Three is enough. Once Michelle learns to be useful we’ll be fine.” I meant it as a joke but Michelle wilted and I had to backpedal fast,“I’m teasing you, Michelle. I wasn’t around to see you in action but listening to your two fights just now it sounds like your instincts are good.”

She shook her head, “No, you’re right, I’m just not cut out as a fighter. I’m sorry about that.”

Harrison pulled a few blades of grass from the ground and waited for me to fix my error.

“I shouldn’t have said anything. You’re fine how you are. You roped in Harrison if nothing else so you’ve already done more than me. All I’ve managed to do is bring down an army of monsters onto a defenseless colony of humans.”

Harrison grinned. “That, and bridge the gap between the two groups, save their lives a couple of times, and provide manual labor that they could never dream of accomplishing on their own.” He looked between the two sulking girls. “Why is it that women never see their own value?” He sighed and pushed up to his feet. “Alright well, you two crash here then and I’ll run the rest of the spiral.”

“What if you run into more than one? Why don’t you two head to the far side of the human camp and just sleep over there? Hopefully, we’ll have enough warning between us to make it through tonight.”

He assessed my wounds, several of which were still oozing fluids. “If I leave you until tomorrow you’ll probably be dead. You need to get cleaned up.”

Michelle perked up. “I can do that part.”

Harrison lifted me from the ground. I knew I weighed nearly half a ton but he lifted me easily and carefully dumped me next to a nearby stream. Michelle went to work while Harrison loped off into the trees again. He returned a short time later with a few ragged towels and handed them to her along with a bottle of peroxide. “I don’t know if this will have an effect on us, but this is everything the humans could spare. They said not to bother bringing them back, for obvious reasons.” He rolled his eyes and then was off again.

After he left, Michelle and I fell into an easy silence as we worked. In half an hour we had the major wounds cleaned and bandaged. I felt strangely at ease. Considering that twenty-four hours in the past had left me sure I would not be missed. I suddenly felt a little better about staying in the area. I tried to ignore the reason for the change.

When she was done, Michelle cleaned the remainder of the towels to the best of her ability and then draped them over a nearby tree and started humming. She’d been quiet throughout the process of patching me up, so the change drew my attention. I watched her pull down the leaves of a nearby tree and begin fiddling with them. When she finished, she held a delicate folded leaf in the shape of a bird.

In awe, I pushed myself up to get a better look. “How did you do that? It’s tiny!”

She smiled. “It’s not that hard. I used to be able to make them much smaller, but I guess this is the best I can do now.”

She handed me the delicate bird and I twisted it in my hand while my jaw hung loose. “This is amazing. You’ve got real talent!”

“Yeah, I’m sure making leaf birds is going to be the one thing that saves us all.” She looked off into the distance, her smile gone.

I handed back the bird and locked my eyes on hers. “Every skill has a purpose; we’ll figure out the how later.” I forced my bruised body up into a sitting position wincing at my own cracked ribs and then faced her again. “So what do you think of Harrison?”

She blushed. “He asked me to marry him.”

I nodded, picking at the grass. “That makes sense, you’ve known him for a total of three days, so of course you should definitely marry him now.”

She still didn’t catch my sarcasm although her face shifted into a frown. “He loves me.”

I held up my hands. “I’m not doubting that. He’s had eyes for you from the moment he came into our camp, I’m just worried that you two are going in a little fast. Have you talked to your mother about it?”

She shook her head. “You say that like it means something. I’m not even human anymore.”

“Just because your form has changed doesn’t mean you have. You’re still fifteen and your still a young woman. Your body may be different but your mind isn’t.”

“There’s no way she’d understand.”

“Even if she doesn’t, she should probably at least be told. She seemed to be really happy to see you, even in your new form.”

Michelle nodded, staring off into the trees while her hands played with the bird. “I just don’t know how to deal with that now. If I were human there’s no way she’d even let me look at a guy, but I feel a complete disconnect with that life.”

“I know what you mean. I’m only seventeen but sometimes it feels like I’m an adult.”

“Technically I’m sixteen, so at least I’m beyond the legal age to marry.” She smiled half-heartedly.

“I wish you all the luck in the world, but don’t rush into this just because he’s willing. If you wouldn’t have considered marrying so young as a human, you probably shouldn’t do it now just because you’re a monster. If it really is love, then it’ll wait a little while longer.”

She nodded and gave a small smile before standing. “Well, I should probably head to the far side of their camp. I’ll set up a watch over there and holler if I hear or see anything.”

I watched her lope off into the trees and let out a sigh. We needed to figure out a game plan. Creatures like us had only been in existence for a year. We knew nothing about ourselves. How did we mature, when did we mature? When would we die? What could we eat? Humans were omnivores, could we become omnivores or even vegetarians? Would our lifespan decrease now due to the abnormal growth? Could we reproduce? If we did, would they be normal human babies or monsters? I guess that depended on our DNA. I didn’t think it had changed but the scientific findings related to new and undocumented hormones in our bloodstreams had me worried. The questions continued to pound through me. We needed to get organized. We needed to find some facilities and get some science going on.

Again I sighed. Looking at the bigger picture, life beyond mere survival, there were a lot of things to consider and very few real answers. Staying here, holed up in the caves of Colorado, suddenly seemed like a very primitive thing to do. It felt unsustainable. There were six other continents. Surely one of them would take an interest soon. That led to another fear. We still had the intelligence and the capability. Given time my kind could man an aircraft to one of the other continents and this could potentially start again. I shuddered at the thought. Setting the world back beyond the dark ages just didn’t seem like a good idea.

There had to be a way to make this work. Some of the creatures in the forest grasped what I’d told them about not needing humans for their food source. If that was true, if there were enough of us, there might just be a chance to overcome this problem. This was doubly true if we either couldn’t reproduce or if our children were normal. Within a generation, the whole thing could be fixed. The thought gave me hope but also a strange sense of dread. I knew what Carl had said. Some creatures felt that this was better than being human. Some wouldn’t go back even if they could. Some would hunt humans despite knowing that there was another option. What was the answer to that? Did we slaughter them as beasts? House them in jails like we did murderers? Technically the crime was the same. Was it okay to allow people the choice of becoming like us? Was it something they should do? If this was the next evolutionary step as Leo had suggested then—the thought drifted into space.

Shaking my head, I dropped back to the ground and closed my eyes. Perhaps sleep would bring perspective.

Sometime in the middle of a wild dream about half mutant babies and skydiving over Africa, I felt a prick of pain in my leg. With a yelp, I pulled away from the feeling and started awake.

Wade watched me cautiously; my blood dripped from a small hunting knife.

“Don’t you dare.” I raised my hand but he’d already brought the weapon to his own arm slicing easily through the soft pink flesh. My clawed hand rose too slowly. “No! you don’t know what you’re doing!” My questions and fears came back full force. “For all you know I’m going to die in a year.”

He stepped forward dropping the knife to the ground. Already I could smell the taint on him. “Whatever happens, at least we’ll go through it together.”

“Wade.” I dropped my head into my hands. “Wade, that was a very stupid choice.”

He shook his head. “I tried asking you to do it, I tried asking Harrison to do it. Neither of you would help; that left it up to me to get it done.”

“What about your brother?”

Wade’s face softened. “He said good luck and congratulations on our coming nuptials.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the oddity of the situation. “You still have no idea what might happen. It’s not a fun process.”

He closed the distance between us and took my overly large face in his hands. He’d always been able to cup my entire chin in one of his large palms. Now it took both hands just to center my face to his. “Whatever comes, I will never do it without you again. The pain I felt when I thought you were dead was too much to bear. As long as I know that I can still love you in my new form, and that you still love me,” he paused, “that’s all that really matters to me anymore. Whatever comes we’ll make it work.”

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