THE AWAKENING [Part 1]

by Michael Timmins

  It was a brisk night and was illuminated brightly by a full moon. It was one of those nights where the moon just seemed to dominate the sky, as if it had either grown twice as big or was really close to the earth. He knew it was just an illusion, but it still was impressive. He turned the corner onto the street where his hotel was located. He doubled over in pain. Never before had he hurt so badly. It felt as if his entire body was on fire. He screamed and most of the people on the street walked wide to avoid him. One guy came over and asked him if he was all right. Taylor used the man to claw his way upright. He needed to get away from these people. He needed to get away from them, now! He didn't know why; he just knew it instinctively.

  "Get away from me!" Taylor screamed at the man through clenched teeth, and pushed him away. The man stared after him as he stumbled further down the street and ducked in between two buildings. He got about five feet when it felt as if every bone in his body broke at once and he collapsed to the pavement, passing out.

  Joseph spent his evening watching various TV programs, incessantly switching channels and not bothering to watch anything. The news was on earlier and he did his duty and watched it, though, as usual, nothing was mentioned about them or the monster that attacked them. He sighed. When Taylor got home he could tell him it was same ol' same ol'. So, after the news it was one boring show after the next boring show. He briefly wondered where Taylor was, but realized he really didn't care. He never liked Taylor to start with, and really couldn't get over his initial dislike. Taylor wasn't a bad guy, he guessed, but he also wasn't someone who shared Joseph's questionable traits. He truly wished this entire thing was over.

  They had been stuck here for too long, and there had been no report of them, or the monster, so what was the point? Joseph was confused as to how a creature like the one that had attacked them could remain hidden from the world. There had to be more going on than what he first thought. He got up and went to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of beer and popped the cap off with his thumb. It was mid drink when he realized what he had done. He had pried the cap of a bottle off with his thumb, something he shouldn’t have been able to do, or at least not without a lot of pain. He wasn't strong enough to do that. He stared down at his thumb and saw the redness and the creases made from the ridges in the cap disappear as his finger repaired, fixed itself back to the way it had been. Joseph set the bottle down and grabbed another. Once again, he used his thumb to pop the cap right off. He stared at the bottle in his hand.

  There was definitely more going on than what he had first thought. He was just about to put the second bottle back in the fridge when the pain started. It hit him so hard, he clenched his fists tightly and the bottle shattered in his hand. Shards of broken glass and beer rained down on the floor, followed by blood. Joseph staggered back and stared dumbly at his hand. He watched as glass shards pushed out of his skin and chimed one by one against the tile floor. The cuts on his hand started to close. That is when the pain really started. Joseph stared as the bones beneath the skin in his hands seemed to break. His skin rolled and bounced as the bones beneath separated and elongated. Skin cells rapidly metastasized and formed to cover the ever-increasing bones. The pain was intense but somehow Joseph held on to consciousness. Impossibly, the fridge and the rest of the room seemed to shrink. It took him a moment to realize the room wasn't shrinking, he was getting larger. Joseph was overwhelmed with what was happening. He realized he was turning into a creature like what had attack him. When the tusks erupted from his jaw, he couldn’t hold on to consciousness any longer.

  Joseph regained consciousness in what he believed was moments after he passed out. He rose up from the kitchen floor and looked around. His hunched back and head nearly brushed the ceiling. The room was intense with color and sharpness. Sounds reached him with such clarity, he felt they were occurring right inside his ear. Never had life been so real, as fresh as it felt right then. He took a moment to examine his body. It was beautiful. His arms were corded with muscles covered in bristling hair. His legs were thick and bunched with sinew and powerful looking muscles. His pecks heaved with each breath and their definition was only matched by the buffest bodybuilder. Joseph walked over to the fridge and lifted it up tentatively at first then with more confidence. He held it out, equal with himself and didn't even remotely feel strained. He attempted a laugh, but came out more as a piggish snort. Joseph set the fridge back down. He knew now the attack was the best thing ever to have happened to him. He gave a thought back to what he normally looked like, and the image of himself solidified in his mind. Just as suddenly as it came, it was gone. Pain coursed throughout his body as it quickly reverted to his humanoid self.

  When it was over, Joseph was left panting on the floor, crying. Not over the pain the transformation had caused, but the loss of the feeling of perfection, perfection of body, perfection of senses, and perfection of being. As he laid there wondering why it had left him, a thought occurred to him. Where was Taylor?

  Taylor woke with a start. He had no idea what had happened. All he knew was he was in pain and nothing looked familiar. It looked as if he was in an alley somewhere, but the lighting was poor and he could make little out, since the tall buildings on either side blocked the light of the moon. He could hear sounds from the mouth of the alley some distance in front of him. He was lying face down on the pavement and apparently, he had been lying in a puddle since his front was soaked. Taylor propped himself up, and the puddle made a weird sucking noise as he separated from it. That made him pause. He was afraid to look, but knew he had to.

  He fumbled into his pants for his cellphone, only to discover his clothing was in tatters, busted at the seams. Still, he found his cellphone in his pocket and opened it to allow the backscreen light to illuminate his situation. He was horrified by what he found, though not terribly surprised. It was as if the memory of how this came to be was in his head, but he wasn’t being shown it. A large pool of half coagulated blood covered the area where he had been lying. Taylor quickly checked his body for damage, but found his clothes appeared to be the only victim. His shirt was barely on having busted along the shoulder seams, split down the arms, and torn apart in the front. Blood covered most of his clothes.

  He looked back at the pool and realized he was at the border of a pool that stretched out from somewhere to the right. Shakenly, he held his phone so that the light could reach that area. He quickly turned it away, but not before he burned an image in his brain.

  The mangled body of a young woman was lying there. The whole left side of her torso had been ripped away and her right arm was attached only by sparse tendons as if she had held on to something with all her might, but had been ripped away. Taylor closed his eyes tight to block out the vision, but only succeeded in getting flashes of her screaming face as she tried desperately to hold onto an iron railing. Taylor had only seen wounds on a person like this one other time… that night in the motel, when that creature wreaked havoc on the bodies of its victims. He was scared. What on earth have I done? he thought. And how?

  Taylor moved down the alley to the mouth. Some people passed by him, but he kept to the shadows so they would think he was nothing but a street person. He noticed the street signs and realized he was some distance from where he and Joseph stayed. How he would get there, he had no idea. He couldn’t risk being seen with all this blood all over him.

  Suddenly overwhelmed, he felt the desire to head east, but that was not where he needed to go. Something drew him in that direction. He made a move in that direction. A gasp of a pedestrian who had caught sight of him stopped him from moving further. He ducked back in the alley and wondered why he felt pulled in that direction. No matter, he needed to get a hold of Joseph. He moved further back into the alley and called Joseph with his cell.

  “Taylor? Are you alright?” Joseph actually sounded concerned for him, which left him momentarily speechless.

  “Taylor?”

  “Yeah… yeah, I’m all right. Hey, look, I need you t
o come to an alleyway just north of the Bucket and Second Street intersection. I need you to bring me a change of clothes, too. Don’t ask.”

  “It happened to you, too, eh? I thought it might.”

  “What are you talking about?” Taylor asked. “What happened to me?”

  “You changed. Just like me, you changed into one of those creatures like the one that attacked us.” Joseph told him excitingly over the phone.

  Taylor had nothing to say. He didn’t want to believe it, yet there was no other explanation.

  “Look, it is gonna be okay. I will be there in a few minutes with some clothes for you. Okay?”

  “Thanks.” Taylor responded and closed the phone. He had changed into one of those creatures… changed and then killed a woman. Killed a woman and ate part of her body. He turned to one of the walls and threw up. He continued to heave until only bile remained and he was reduced to dry heaving.

  Ten minutes later a cab pulled up to the outside of the alley. Joseph got out, stepped into the alley and gave him his clothes. Taylor removed his tattered, bloodstained clothes and pulled on the new ones. When he finished, he gazed at Joseph and noticed he was staring east.

  “Do you feel it, too?” he asked.

  “Huh, what? Oh… yeah. It’s like there is something important to find in that direction.”

  “Yeah. I have felt this necessity to just start heading in that direction. It has been an act of will to not just go.”

  “Well, we can check that out later. Let’s get you home and cleaned up. You look a mess.”

  “I feel just as shitty.” Taylor gave Joseph a wan smile.

  “Really? I feel great. More energized, stronger, haler.”

  “Yeah, well you didn’t wake up in a pool of blood next to a half-eaten woman.”

  Joseph blanched at that.

  “Fair enough. Well let’s get back to the apartment.” Joseph started to make his way to the cab. Taylor glanced back. He wondered who the woman was, and if anyone would miss her. He would, though he couldn’t remember her alive. He would not soon forget her and wiped a tear from his cheek.

  “Perhaps we should avoid the cab for the time being and walk back, eh?” Taylor suggested. It seemed a good idea not to be associated with coming and going from this alley.

  Joseph looked back at the alley, then at Taylor, noticing the dusky pallor of his skin and haunted look in his eye.

  “Sure, buddy, we’ll walk.”

  When they were back in the apartment and swapped stories, it seems Taylor missed out on a lot by losing consciousness.

  “I’m telling you, it was amazing. I have never felt so alive in all my life.”

  “All I remember was the pain.”

  “I’m not saying there wasn’t plenty of that,” conceded Joseph, “but after the pain went away, I felt as if every part of my body was awake. I sensed the smallest vibrations; I could hear the tiniest sound. It was as if I felt every cell in my body, and if only I asked them, they would do what I wanted.” Joseph trailed off and stared out the window. “Basically, it was fucking amazing.”

  “Well it wasn’t for me. I felt excruciating pain, passed out and apparently, while I don’t remember it, hunted down and killed a woman. The worst, I proceeded to eat part of her body. So, you will have to excuse my lack of enthusiasm for what happened. I just want it to end.” Taylor finished, almost shouting near the end.

  “Fine, calm down. We need to figure out what has happened and what we are going to do about it.”

  “What are we… wha… Are you nuts?” Taylor shouted at Joseph. “We turned into some sort of creature after being attacked and almost killed by an identical creature, and you think a little brainstorming on our part is gonna fix this? We have entered the Twilight Zone here, or X-files, or whatever. What I mean is, we have no idea how to even start thinking about this sort of thing to understand it. Let alone fix it!” Taylor paced the room, throwing his hands about as if swatting some unseen fly.

  Truth was, Joseph had to admit Taylor was right. They didn’t even know how to come at this thing, let alone what to do about it. The difference was, Joseph didn’t want it to end. He loved it. He wanted it to happen again. He thought about what it would be like to hunt down a woman and kill her, and then eat her. He found, much to his dismay, the idea didn’t disgust him, it enticed him. Before he could feel properly ashamed, his head snapped up and he found himself staring to the southeast. The pull was back, and it was back big time. It was if something or someone needed him. He managed to pull his gaze away from the point and saw Taylor had stopped pacing and faced the southeast as well.

  “I think we should go find out what that is now.”

  “Yeah,” Taylor replied in a whisper.

  They entered a strip club called the Oolala twenty minutes later, and checked out the surroundings. The place was dimly lit and the music was too loud. Several poles rose from platforms around the room with women in varying stages of undress gyrating around them. None of this interested Taylor and Joseph. They knew they were close to their quarry, knew it to be here, somewhere. Finally, they may get some answers. Joseph scanned the room and found a door near the back which appeared to be the only way to get to the area where he felt the pull. He tapped Taylor on the arm and motioned him in the direction of the door. Taylor nodded and they moved. Before they reached the door, a large burly man stepped in front of them. Taylor and Joseph were so intent on their goal, they initially started to side step the guard. His two thick extended arms blocked their way.

  “I think you two gentlemen are headed in the wrong direction. Why don’t you head back to a table and get some tits shoved in your faces, alright?” The guard stared at them. A look that clearly said they weren’t getting any further this way and that was going to be the last nice thing the guy said to them before he kicked their ass.

  Taylor glanced over at Joseph and shrugged. They would have to wait till whatever, or whoever they were looking for moved, and then they would go in. Taylor turned away, heard a loud smack, turned to see Joseph launched through the air, crashing through a table. Apparently, Joseph thought he would be able to muscle his way past, and was quickly disavowed of that premise. Taylor moved to see if Joseph was all right, but that is when the pain struck. At first, he thought the guard had decided to attack him, but he recognized the pain for what it was. He was changing. He heard Joseph cry out as well and knew it was happening to him, too. Taylor staggered and lunged against a table sending it sprawling along with the lone chair tucked underneath it. Pain spread like an earthquake sending waves out from its epicenter. Taylor could barely stay conscious, let alone upright. His vision was hazy and dim, but he made out the giant form of Joseph rising from the smashed table. He was completely changed and Taylor stifled a moment of horror as his mind flashed back to that night at the hotel. He knew he would also be a vision as horrifying as what he saw. He heard the screams from the women and the shouts of the customers.

  Muffled gunshots from behind the door they had been attempting to get by earlier could be heard, lots of gunshots. As if that was the only excuse the guard needed, he pulled out his handgun and started firing at Joseph, or the thing that had been Joseph. On the sixth bullet, Joseph went down. Anger pulsed through Taylor and the pain faded. He realized he remained conscious during the change. He was now a full-grown monstrosity. He righted himself and saw the guard move to where Joseph had fallen. The body of Joseph moved slightly and the guard raised the gun to fire again. Taylor acted. With blinding speed, he closed the distance and brought his clawed hand down on the arm of the guard. A disgusting tearing sound punctuated with a popping noise and the arm was torn from the guard’s body. The man screamed and turned to look at his bloody socket where his arm had been attached. He gazed into Taylor’s eyes. That is when Joseph barreled into him, goring him upon one of his tusks, sending him flying.

  Taylor and Joseph looked to each other briefly, but the sounds of muffled gunfire brought them around. Joseph lowered
his head once again and charged the doorway. The impact shattered the door and its frame. Stress fractures crisscrossed out from where the door had been. Taylor followed closely behind. Two guards were in the hallway, unsure which gunfire to check out. It wouldn’t have mattered. Little did they know, either choice would see them dead. They both stared at the shattered door. The one on the left recovered his senses quicker than the other one, but not quick enough to do anything about Joseph charging them. The guard managed to squeeze off a couple of bullets before Joseph hit them at full speed. The right one he caught with his tusk, puncturing his abdomen and with a quick twist of his head disemboweled him even as he was thrown through the air. The guard on the left took Joseph’s shoulder in his gut and when they both hit the wall behind them. The guard buckled in half, his insides exploding from the crushing impact.

  Taylor was in shock. He couldn’t keep up with Joseph. The man was killing everything. He wasn’t even slowing down. As soon as he was sure the two guards would not be getting up, Joseph slammed into the door at the end of the hall, sending that one flying inwards as the hinges snapped.