The Change

by Lori Aisling

  But Dave was on her, he ran straight into her, shoving her body forward and ramming her into the wall. The large family portrait her mom had displayed so proudly fell to the floor and shattered. She fell to the floor next to it with Dave on top of her. He grabbed her hair and slammed her face into the hardwood floor. Once. Twice. Three times. Bristol felt blood pooling on the floor around her cheek. She was dazed and she felt as if she had no control over her muscles anymore. Feeling detached from her body, she vaguely realized Dave was screaming at her and her mind struggled to make sense of her situation.

  “How tough are you now, little girl? Not such a badass anymore, are ya?” He screamed in her ear. “I’m going to teach you a lesson. You will never run from me again. You won’t talk back and you’ll lose that bitchy little attitude you got. But don’t worry, sweetheart, this happens to a lot of girls. They just need a good fuckin’ to realize who is really in charge.”

  Dave was jerking on her pants, trying to get them pulled down and Bristol stared at the family portrait next to her face, the glass shattered, just like her life. She couldn’t just give up. Dammit, she had worked so hard! Her parents had worked hard, too. Teaching her to protect herself, be self-sufficient, independent. All those things that she prided herself on. And here she lay, her ass bare, face split open and bleeding, getting ready to be raped by a weak, ignorant asshole.

  She felt a tingling sensation working its way from the core of her belly out towards her limbs. It was like little shock waves. They didn’t hurt, but they felt like fire. They crawled down her veins and into her extremities. As Dave cursed her jeans for being too tight as he continued to try and get them down past her thighs she looked again at the portrait. Her dad. Her hero. Big and strong, with arms that would wrap her up tight and make her feel like nothing bad could ever happen to her. Her mom. The woman she hoped she could be like when she was an adult. All the knowledge, love, empathy, and devotion to her husband and daughter. She stared at the shattered glass of the picture frame and suddenly, she heard a voice talking to her. A strong, demanding, female voice that commanded her attention. ‘Do you see it? Do you see the way out?’ Her vision became sharp and detailed. A particularly large shard of glass seemed to almost glow yellow around the edges. The tingles running through her body began to throb, surging blood and adrenalin through her veins, awakening her. A calmness slipped over her mind and she no longer felt afraid. She felt strong. Empowered. And really pissed off. With one last tug, Dave got her jeans and panties down to her ankles and he cackled with glee.

  “Get ready, little girl, it’s time for your lesson!” She heard his zipper release. Bristol reached out with her left hand, wrapping it around the seemingly glowing large shard of glass. With a burst of strength she didn’t think she was capable of, she twisted her body to the right, knocking Dave off of her and on to his knees. As she spun over, she kept her left arm extended, the glass shard burning her hand as she gripped it tight enough to sink into her flesh. She looked up at Dave’s face the moment she got onto her back and her left arm continued its course, arcing through the air. The second they made eye contact was the same moment the glass slipped into the side of his throat and cut his jugular vein, like a warm knife through butter. As his life poured out of the wound and on to her flesh, she felt his blood splashing her chest and neck and she smiled at him as she watched the glow of life leave his eyes.

  “Fuck you, Dave,” she said.

  Bristol

  Bristol’s body jerked with the vivid mental images running through it. She felt strong arms tighten around her and she relaxed.

  “It’s OK, Bri. It was just a dream, we’re safe.” Boz’s soothing voice assured her. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she hadn’t been sleeping, nor did she have bad dreams about her past. She slept just fine with everything she had done since The Change. She never took advantage of people and she helped when she could. Dave was no one to have nightmares over- he wasn’t worth it. People like him were a plague. They upset the balance of life and they had no place in it for long. Their sole purpose was to remind her that she couldn’t appreciate the good without the bad. And once the bad was dealt with, the balance was back. She knew it was a simplified approach to life and many would disagree with her, but it was just how she was wired.

  It was dark in the basement and she could hear the steady, slow breathing of Jayson and Jessie as they slept.

  “Can you sleep with me laying on you?” She whispered to Boz.

  “You aren’t the reason I’m not sleeping. I keep seeing those things in my head and I’m trying to figure out what we do from here. We can’t stay in this basement for long,” he said.

  “Want to sneak upstairs and try and get a look outside? See if any of those things are still out there? Then maybe we can go through the tunnel at daybreak and sneak out of town while it’s quiet?” She asked.

  “Yeah, let’s give it a shot. It’s better than not knowing.”

  She unfolded herself off of his lap and they both stood up, Boz grabbing a hold of her hand as she started to move towards the staircase in the dark. He pulled her towards him and whispered softly. “We need to be quiet, Bri. If those fucking things are hunting people, we can’t let them hear us. And no light, I am sure they can see it. Being Fae, I have great night vision. I’ll lead the way and you just follow me. But be careful, ok?” She let him take the lead and held tight to his hand and they cautiously climbed the concrete staircase. She sent a grateful thought to the universe for putting them in a basement with cement stairs, at least they wouldn’t creak. As they made their way slowly to the top, she strained to hear something, anything that would tell them the status of the town they had felt safe in for quite some time. Boz gently, silently, eased open the door leading into the kitchen. The smell of bread, baked goods and coffee still filled the air as the door opened and they stepped through. The metal shutters pulled down over the windows like a shroud, keeping it dark. They continued to move excruciatingly slow through the kitchen making sure they didn’t bump something or trip over an obstacle that could alert any of those ‘things’. As they neared the closest window, Boz pulled her up next to him and put his hand on her chest signaling for her not to move. She didn’t. She knew that he could see much better than her. Hell, she’d be lucky to find her hand in front of her face, let alone try to see anything else. She could hear Boz breathe, but barely, as he made his way to the corner of the closed shutter. It was so quiet, she couldn’t make out any sounds. With two of her senses stifled and her heart pounding, she waited for him. She felt him brush against her and grab her hand again. He pulled her back towards the kitchen and she felt a sense of urgency coming from him. They made their way back through the kitchen, and through the door to the basement. Boz closed it silently yet she heard the bolt slide shut as he locked it. Once at the bottom of the stairs, she leaned into him and whispered “What’s going on out there? Could you see anything?”

  “They are fucking everywhere, Bristol. This is bad. Let’s settle in, try and get some rest and hope that once it’s daybreak they will hole up. I don’t want to talk anymore, though. I don’t know if they can smell us, hear us, or sense us. I don’t want to give our position away.” Bristol rested her hand on his chest to let him know that she heard and understood his request. They silently made their way back over to Jessie and Jayson and again settled down on the floor. In the pitch black, without being able to talk, Bristol closed her eyes and begged sleep to come. They would devise a plan in the morning- she had to believe that.

  Bristol

  Bristol opened her eyes when she heard movement. A few seconds later a dim glow filled the area. Jayson had turned on the battery-operated lantern and was rummaging around in the buckets they had brought down, pulling out a jug of water and tipping it back.

  “What time is it?” she asked quietly.

  “Five minutes after 6:00,” he whispered. “Did you get any rest?”

  “Not much. Boz and I snuck upstairs
after you two fell asleep to see what it looked like out there. We are hoping that those fucking things either leave or sleep during the day because they were everywhere last night.”

  He nodded in acknowledgment and turned to offer the jug of water to Jessie. She was awake, but like the rest of them, she was choosing to keep silent. She gave Bristol a weak smile and took the jug from Jayson and slugged back a couple of swallows of water.

  Jayson walked over and nudged Boz’s shoulder. Boz opened his eyes, instantly alert and tense.

  “It’s OK, man, it’s just me,” Jayson whispered. “Let’s you and I see what it looks like out there and judge if it looks safe to get the fuck out of dodge.” Boz nodded and Bristol scooted out of his way so he could stand up. The two men headed up the stairs, moving quietly.

  Once they were through the door and it was closed, Bristol moved over to Jessie and wrapped her friend in a hug. With her mouth close to Jessie’s ear, she whispered, “You hanging in there, kitty cat?” Jessie smiled and shrugged, then nodded yes.

  Leaning close she replied “We can’t stay here, Bri. We have to get out of this town as soon as possible.” Bristol nodded her agreement and the two of them stayed quiet, holding on to each other while they waited. Bristol heard nothing until the lock slid home in the basement door. She saw Jayson and Boz descending the steps without a sound, both of them making every effort to maintain the silence. When they approached the girls, Boz held his index finger up to his lips, signaling for them to not speak. Jayson walked over to a box of junk stacked in the corner and pulled out an old envelope. As he walked back over to them and sat down, he pricked the end of his finger with his canine tooth until blood pooled. Using the blood, he wrote on the paper. ‘Lots. Going in stores. No people. Dead everywhere.’ Bristol took his simple words to mean that there were lots of the creatures, they were going in all the buildings and the guys had obviously seen enough dead bodies to assume that there were no, or very few, people left alive. She had really been hoping that those things had been some kind of creature of the night and daybreak would push them into hiding so they could make their escape. Now she wasn’t sure what to do. Yes, they could move through the tunnel, but what if those things were in the empty building on the other side? There was no way to know, and once they were discovered it would be hard to find another place this secure. She couldn’t think of any other option then to just try and wait them out. With no prey left, perhaps they would just leave on their own. Boz pulled out a loaf of bread and some pastries and offered some to each of them, but no one felt like eating.

  Gathered together in a pile, the four of them used each other for backrests and pillows and just stared at the wall, the ceiling, and each other. It was stressful, torturous silence. The day passed agonizingly slow. She watched Boz eat a croissant and Jessie picked at a bagel. Then she heard it. They all heard it. The sound of breaking glass. The creatures had breached the windows of the shop. No one moved. Bristol couldn’t be sure if any of them were even still breathing. She strained to hear more. Then she heard more glass, and a crash, as the metal shutters fell to the floor. They all stared at the ceiling, trying to pinpoint where the creatures were upstairs. It was suddenly silent- scary silent. Then there was a scream. That soul-piercing, evil scream of those things communicating with each other. They were at the door to the basement and they were screaming for entry. They knew there were people behind the door and they were going to get in. Bristol could hear them slamming into it, she could hear the creak of the wood jam as they rammed into it again and again. Boz jumped to his feet and headed over to the pile of rubbish they had put up to disguise the entrance to the tunnel.

  “Come on guys, let’s get this moved and get out. No reason to be quiet now, they know we’re here and in a couple of minutes, they will break down that door and we will all be dead. If they are waiting on the other side and catch us there, at least we can say we fucking tried.”

  All four of them leaped into action and started tossing the boxes and spare kitchen equipment out of the way as they cleared the entrance to the tunnel.

  Bristol heard the enraged screams of the creature’s change pitch. It was no longer the angry screams of them being kept from their prey. It was the screams of death. She heard the door give way as the wood splintered and she saw pieces of it falling down the stairs. The first creature to start down into the basement fixed them with a stare and screamed, his pus white eyes focused on her. The next second, his body disintegrated into that noxious, reeking black goop, and it slid down the stairs. Then Bristol saw why. Ristan followed the foul trail down the stairs before turning back around and motioning to someone still unseen on the other side of the door. The screams of the creatures continued, but it was clear their numbers had been depleted. The group finished clearing the entrance to the tunnel as Ristan and the blonde man they had seen join him the previous night headed down the stairs towards them, still keeping an eye on the busted doorway.

  “Where does that tunnel lead?” Ristan asked, his face tense and his body covered in a sheen of sweat. Bloody scrapes and gashes dotted his arms and neck.

  “To the far side of the old abandoned building next door. I think they stored freight over there. It comes out in a corner that is pretty much visible from three sides, so if there are more of those things over there, they will see us.” Bristol answered.

  “The chayn know you are here now, that one saw you.” He said, nodding to the pile of black, stinking sludge on the stairs. “They will all be headed this way and they will be here soon. We need to move, now.”

  “How do we know we can trust you? There were none of those things until you showed up. Not in this town and not in this building. You seem to have a bad habit of attracting unfriendly company.” Jayson stared at Ristan, crossing his arms across his chest.

  “I don’t give a shit if you trust me or not, Vamp. You can trust that without me and him,” he nodded at the blonde warrior, “you would all be dead right now and the future of your planet would be decided. That future would be the chayn and other beings just as nasty. They want her” he pointed at Bristol “and they won’t stop until they get her and kill her. So shut the fuck up and get through the fucking tunnel.” He glared at Jayson while the blonde warrior moved to stand next to Ristan.

  “How many of you can fight?” He asked them. Bristol was surprised at his voice. It was the first time she had heard him speak and it was warm, with a slight accent that sounded Norwegian, and smooth as silk.

  “I do best when shifted. But I don’t want to shift unless I need to. My cat doesn’t like to listen and gets a little feral. But if those creatures are on the other side of that tunnel, you can count on me to fight,” Jessie said.

  “Boz and I can both fight, too,” Bristol stated. “We have practiced together with knives and short swords. I like to use a whip, too, but I don’t have it with me, so blades will work if you have a couple to spare,” she added.

  The blonde walked up to Bristol and palmed her face in his big hand, his ice-blue eyes locking to hers. Warm tingles shot through her body and she inhaled sharply. Before she could respond, his hand left her face and reached over his shoulder to pull out a short black sword, as if it were tucked in a scabbard on his back. But Bristol knew better. Both of these men seemed to have some sort of power that enabled them to manifest these inky black weapons. She took it from him at the same time Boz reached for the blade Ristan had offered him.

  “I can fight, but don’t worry about a weapon for me, mine are built-in,” Jayson shot a sideways grin at the group as his eyes began to go red, and his canine teeth began to elongate, looking more like ivory blades than teeth. With a popping noise, his knuckle joints separated as the ends of his fingers began to grow talon-like claws through the tips. His wrists popped backward and a bone in the shape of a dagger oozed through the joint. His hands became the deadly weapons the vamps were known for. That bone through his wrist could eviscerate a man from belly button to throat with one thrust. B
ristol was glad Jayson was on their side.

  Hearing the high-pitched screaming coming from the large number of chayn as they rushed towards the building pushed the group into immediate action. Ristan’s friend grabbed Bristol’s hand and pulled her into the passage. Jessie, Boz, and Jayson followed close behind, and Ristan brought up the rear.

  As they made their way through the musty shaft, their progress encumbered with crumbling boxes filled with goods no longer usable since The Change, Bristol struggled to make sense of everything going on around her. These horrendous creatures, chayn, as Ristan had called them, infiltrated their town and slaughtered God knows how many residents. Now she was running through an abandoned tunnel with her three best friends and two guys that set off all kinds of weird feelings in her. She wanted to be cautious and keep them at arm’s length until she could get answers, but regardless of what she had said to her friends, there was a deep part of her that trusted them. Like really trusted them, on a primal level. She needed to know why Ristan had bitten her and how that helped him find her. She wanted to know why he had fangs. She wanted the name of the blonde holding her hand right now. He had not said it, but Bristol had no doubt he would fight to the death for her and she wanted to know why. The tingles she had felt when he touched her face continued when he grabbed her hand and she still felt her blood and body responding to his touch. On some instinctual level, she was connected to him. The number one question she had was related to Ristan’s statement that the chayn wanted to kill her. Why her? Was she the reason that all these people had been slaughtered? It was getting to be too much. When they neared the door at the end of the tunnel, she wondered if they would be able to escape. Would they have to fight the chayn, and would this be the day they died?