Frenzied

by Chilton, Claire

  Lucy scrambled backwards in horror, pushing the corpse off her. She struggled to her feet and turned, crying out when she encountered a dead man with no head in the next seat.

  Staring around her, she was repulsed by the gruesome corpses occupying most of the cinema seats. Each body had been ripped apart and devoured. She stumbled back, trying to get as far away from the dead as she could.

  A quiet snarl behind her made her freeze in terror. She slowly turned around to see the creature hunched two rows behind her, watching her. Its eyes glowed red. It jumped across a row to land on the one in front of her, and she fell backwards into the dead man’s lap.

  Oh god!

  The creature sniffed her, its fangs close enough to bite off her nose.

  That’s what it’s going to do when it’s finished scaring the shit out of me.

  She felt numb as its fetid breath warmed her cheek. She was trapped and helpless again.

  Something hot burned through her veins. For the second time since she had woken up, anger took over her senses.

  If I’m going to die in here, I’m taking this bitch with me.

  The creature pulled back its head, tensing its muscled haunches as if preparing to launch at her.

  She kicked out at its face in a moment of blinding rage, knocking it backwards. Anger welled up inside her at an alarming rate as she leapt up in the dead man’s lap, so she was crouching in it. She launched herself at the creature with a roar as it leapt towards her from between the rows. They collided in mid-air, and she gripped it by the throat with her hands, pushing its head back as they tumbled down the aisle in a ball.

  Its claws sliced across her torso, but she barely felt it as she bit into its neck and ripped its throat out with her teeth. Coppery blood rushed into her mouth, and she pulled back spitting it out as they landed on the stage of the cinema.

  The beast hit the stage first, its elongated limbs bouncing on the hard wood, and its head following as it flopped limply onto the stage.

  She clawed at its body, ripping it apart.

  That’s what you get for trying to bite me, bitch!

  Clarity filtered through her rage, and she paused with the realization that the creature was dead. She widened her eyes in horror when she glanced down at her blood-covered, clawed hands. Golden fur covered her hands, and her fingers were elongated claws.

  She stared down at the beast in shock. It was dead, ripped apart by her. The body beneath her transformed, blurring for a moment before it reset into the shape of a human being; a young man, who was about her age.

  She scrambled off him, shaking all over as she pushed herself backwards. Her fingers squelched into his open chest, and she yelped.

  No, no, no. What the hell am I?

  She stared down at her hands. They were red with blood, but completely human again.

  What the fuck was that?

  She hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth.

  What am I? Are they all human? Is this how they died, by killing each other?

  She didn’t know how long she sat there for. Thoughts tumbled through her mind, trying to answer the many questions that resided there.

  Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe I killed everyone.

  Nothing made sense anymore. She’d become the monster that she was hiding from. She tried to rationalize what happened to her, but was weighed down by guilt.

  I just killed a person.

  No matter how she looked at it, she had just killed a man.

  After a while, she managed to gain some control over her thoughts. Whatever was happening to her, she had been able to turn it off.

  That means I can control this.

  The thought didn’t make her feel any better.

  What happened to me?

  She rubbed her brow, and her fingers brushed against the scabbed cut on her forehead.

  Is it this? Did I get infected by a scratch from one of these things?

  She stood up, not wanting to look at the cinema of dead viewers, but knowing she had to. There could be more of creatures in here, and survival was the only mission she had left now.

  She glanced at the front row, which was thankfully empty, barring one man with his head drooping into his chest. He wore a ripped t-shirt, and there were only a couple of small scratches across his chest and torso. She stared blankly at the man. He didn’t even look dead. It was as good a place as any to rest her eyes.

  What the hell am I going to do?

  She pondered her options.

  Kill everyone in here to get out. Then what, scratch people and make more monsters?

  She shook her head. She couldn’t allow whatever happened in here to happen anywhere else.

  Stay in here and die?

  There didn’t seem to be any options that led to a happy ending.

  She wondered if she had a family who would miss her.

  Was I ever human?

  She didn’t know.

  Her eyes lingered on the dead man in the front row.

  Is he happier like that?

  He looked peaceful. His dark hair flopped over his face, but his body seemed relaxed. Unlike the other corpses, he hadn’t died in a horrific pose.

  Maybe he killed himself and took the easier way out of here.

  She frowned as her eyes were drawn to a wound on his chest that she could see through the gaping rip in his black t-shirt. The scratch seemed familiar. It was just like the one—

  Ben!

  She jumped off the stage and rushed over to the man.

  But it can’t be Ben. He’s outside the room.

  She glanced up at the doors. They hadn’t been opened. At his hip, there was a knife holstered in his belt.

  This is the guy who left the room, but he’s not the one that came back.

  She knew that it was insane to consider, but she was convinced there were two Bens here.

  She pulled the old leather-bound book from her bag and flipped through the pages. Post-It notes with random comments scrawled on them flipped past her eyes. She paused at a page with the word ‘Berserkers’ highlighted on a note. The book was unreadable, but she could just manage to read the scrawl on the notes, which were thankfully in English.

  One word was underlined three times on the note: ‘Shapeshifter.’

  She dropped the book and lifted Ben’s head. This is the real Ben. It has to be!

  She shivered at the thought of seeing his dead eyes, but had to look all the same. She needed to know what really happened to him.

  His face was unmarred, and his eyes were closed.

  She frowned.

  What killed him?

  She lifted his shirt and checked his chest and torso. Other than a couple of scratches, there wasn’t a mark on him.

  She jumped when she felt a pulse.

  He’s alive!

  “Ben?” She gently shook him. “Can you hear me?”

  He groaned, and his eyes fluttered open before closing again as he passed out.

  She smoothed his t-shirt back down and took the seat next to him, resting his head on her shoulder.

  She stared at the blood-splattered movie screen ahead of her. When he woke up, she was going to have to explain that she was a monster.

  She glanced at him, feeling lost. Maybe she could get him out of here alive at least—one last good deed as a human.

  Ben quietly mumbled something, and Lucy was instantly alert. She had been waiting for him to wake up for long time.

  During her wait, flashes of memory had come back to her about who she was. It had started slow. She remembered where she worked. She was a part-time assistant at the college library, and the money in her purse was her savings. She had been planning to buy her first car with it. The more she pushed the memory, the more memories came back to her.

  She was a part-time student at the same college, studying Information Technology. She was also a geek with a criminal record.

  Her parents had died in shooting four years ago. Since then, she’d been in a
nd out of trouble.

  This wasn’t the first time her life had been in danger. It had been a recurring event during her youth; one she had planned to leave behind before this.

  And now I’m a monster.

  “Lucy?” Ben sat up and rubbed his head. “What happened?”

  “Nothing good.” She still didn’t know how to tell him what she had become. A part of her was scared that she would be his biggest threat, but she was determined that would never happen.

  He stared ahead at the body on the stage. “Where are we?”

  “Theatre Seven. One of the creatures looked like you and brought me in here. Then he locked the doors.”

  “One of them? There’s more than one?” He glanced around and frowned at the rows of corpses behind him. “Jesus!”

  “There is definitely more than one.” It was hard to explain it to him. “What do you remember?”

  He frowned and rubbed his eyes. “I found the woman screaming, but she wasn’t one. She changed into a creature and attacked me.” His eyes widened. “They look just like us!”

  “They are us,” she said.

  “What?” He turned to her, frowning.

  “I think they are us. I think they’re all human, and they killed each other.” She held up the leather-bound tome. “Shapeshifters that are called Berserkers.”

  Ben took the offered book and flipped through the pages, his eyes scanning the notes in it. “How is this even possible?”

  “From what I read, the manager of the cinema tried to imbue himself with the power of Odin’s warriors. In doing so, he turned himself into a Berserker. Then he scratched someone, they became one, and it had a domino effect from there. They are warriors in battle, so they started killing and turning people. They look human after they die.” She gestured behind her. “Some people maybe died in their seats, others killed each other.”

  “This can’t be real.” Ben shook his head, then closed his eyes for a moment. “But I saw it with my own eyes. We need to get out of here before …” He trailed off and glanced down.

  “Get away from me, Lucy.” His voice was cold.

  She knew it was coming. She nodded and rose from her seat. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “No but I might hurt you,” he said, pointing to the cuts on his chest. “I’ve been scratched. I remember its claws hitting me. I could turn on you.”

  She frowned and stared at his chest. He was right. He had been scratched. There were gaping holes in his t-shirt and shallow scratches across his torso. They’d both been scratched in the beginning, but not killed. Rather than go on a rampage, they had both passed out. She sat back down next to him.

  “What are you doing? Didn’t you hear me? Go now. Get out of here.”

  “I’m already one of them.”

  The theatre was deathly silent. She waited for him to respond, but he just stared ahead at the big screen.

  “How do you know?” he eventually asked in a throaty voice.

  “When I was locked in here, the guy who looked like you told me I was food for the creatures in here. I guess he thought I was still human. I thought I was too. The two Berserkers in here attacked each other. I guess they were hungry because one ate the other.”

  His face paled as the blood drained out of it, but she continued. She didn’t want to stop until he knew everything. “The remaining one attacked me, and I thought I was dead, so I got angry—really angry. I killed it.” She nodded towards the body on the stage. It changed after it died. I killed a man.” Her voice quivered on the last word, but she forced herself to keep going. “When I looked down at my hands, I had claws.”

  She couldn’t look him in the eye, so she peered down at her hands.

  She felt his fingers lift her chin.

  “I’m sorry you had to go through all that.” His eyes shone with sincerity.

  “I’m sorry I’m a monster.” She laughed, but it was a hollow laugh.

  “Looks like we both are.” He sighed. “And why do people keep knocking me on the head. I’ll never remember who I am at this rate.”

  “I got my memories back.” She told him.

  “When you were scared? Fear can sometimes shock them back.” He nodded.

  She frowned. “No, when I was waiting here with you after it all happened.”

  “After you turned?”

  She nodded, frowning. “It was as if they were released when I changed. They came back slowly at first, but then just flooded in. You know what doesn’t make sense?”

  He shrugged. “All of it?”

  She smiled. “Well there is that, but what I mean is the killing. It makes no sense. I was one of these things, and I killed someone, but I didn’t go on a rampage after it. I stopped. How come these people didn’t stop?”

  “Maybe we should read these and find out?” Ben held up the books.

  “It’s not a bad idea.” She smiled at him.

  Lucy’s lay on her stomach on the space in front of the stage, reading the book about Norse mythology. Ben sat beside her with his back against the front row of chairs, frowning over the leather-bound tome. She rolled over and sat up. “This bit is interesting. Check this out: ‘Odin’s warriors are often known for their rage in battle, and neither fire nor iron could affect them’.”

  “Great, so we can’t kill them with fire or iron.” Ben shrugged.

  “No but, rage in battle. We’re not in battle, or none of these people were. You only become one in battle. I turned when I was attacked. I think that’s the switch. As long as we’re not in battle, we don’t turn.” It made sense.

  “So you think all these people went into battle-mode in a cinema? Jesus, what movie were they watching?”

  She glanced around the cinema. Some of the corpses were slumped in seats with bloody popcorn still in their hands, others were frozen in defensive positions. “No, I think that some of them were still human, but a few went into rage and turned and killed them. They ignored us because we looked dead. There would have been many people running around screaming, which would make them chase them. These things are animalistic in every way, so I bet they chase on instinct when someone runs.”

  “What’s to stop us doing the same?” He closed the book he was reading.

  “I don’t know. That’s what I can’t find. Why did we both pass out from a scratch? Immunity? Why did we both lose our memories? Why don’t we turn into mindless animals when we change? I controlled my rage. It took a while, but it was possible.”

  “We don’t know that I can,” he said. “And I don’t have my memories back.”

  She thought about it for a moment. “We need to find out.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” He stared at her with wide eyes.

  “You need to change, and then change back.”

  “Great idea, what if it doesn’t work? What if I eat your face instead?”

  “You’re no good to me as a weak human. There are more of those things out there. If we want to survive, we need to kill them all.” She goaded him on purpose, trying to get him angry. They both needed to know if he could control it. She shivered at the idea of him ripping her face off, but what other option was there. She couldn’t let him get out of here if he couldn’t control himself.

  Ben narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m not a weak human.”

  “Prove it.”

  “You’ll have to kill me if I can’t control it.”

  She glanced down, unable to meet his eyes. “I know.”

  A howl echoed outside the room. It was only a matter of time before the creatures got into the room. “We need to try it now,” she said. “I don’t know how much longer we have.”

  He nodded and closed his eyes. “If this doesn’t work, it was nice knowing you, Lucy.”

  Ben’s words tugged at her heart.

  Please let it work. He’s a good person.

  In the short time she’d known him, he’d saved her on more than one occasion.

  After a moment, he opened his eyes. “Nothing
’s happening.”

  “You need to get angry.” She told him.

  “Oh, that’ll be easy. I’ll just turn that emotion on then.” He rolled his eyes at her.

  I suppose I could attack him.

  She shook her head. She didn’t want to attack him. She thought about it for a moment. “Ooh, I know. Are you a jealous type of guy?”

  “How would I know that? I don’t even know if I like pudding.”

  “Everyone likes pudding,” she said.

  “Not the point.”

  “Well, let’s just try something, okay?”

  “Okay.” He shrugged.

  “You know when that creature pretended to be you, and I thought he was you?”

  “Yes.”

  “He kissed me, twice.”

  Ben narrowed his eyes. “Did you kiss him back?”

  “Yes. It was nice.” She lied. Fake-Ben’s kisses had been cold and angry, nothing like the real thing. “In fact, your kisses were boring compared to his.”

  He scowled at her and clenched his fists.

  “There’s something sexy about a dangerous man, don’t you think?” She twirled her hair around her fingers. “For all his evil intentions, there was something hot in his kisses.”

  His eyes darkened.

  “I do wonder what kind of things he’d do to me if he caught me.” She continued, trying to spur him into changing. She flashed what she hoped was a seductive smile. “What a real man would be like, rather than just a boy.” She gestured in his direction. “You’re not angry, are you?

  He let out a guttural growl, and she took an involuntary step back. His eyes filled with fire as he tensed his muscles.

  Okay, maybe getting him pissed off with me wasn’t the best idea.

  His face rounded and black fur appeared on it. He grew in size, his shoulders becoming even broader and his limbs elongating. The short snout of a bear grew into his features, and his eyes glowed red. He let out a roar, baring his fangs at her. Unlike the other creature she had seen up close, he appeared less canine in his features and more like a bear.

  Sharp claws popped out of his paws, and he took a swipe at her. She jumped backwards and stumbled into the stage. A shiver of fear shot up her spine.