by J. Todd
Chapter Eight
I traveled the shadowed paths to the town of Sanctuary. I went straight to Auntie's door. I slipped into the small healing house and went to her room. I shook her awake.
"Don't say anything." I hissed. "Here is a map to a place far from here. There are people there who need your help. You have trained several people here to be your replacements. I know. I have watched. These people here in Sanctuary don't need you. These others do. They are all like Arian. You were right he talked when he was ready. I know everything now." I sighed. "Take care of them please. They need you. A couple just had a little girl and she looks just like the others. I have named them Changelings, because they were once humans like us. Follow this map. These are my instructions to them. Let them know I am safe. Let Arian know I will return." I left as quietly as I had entered. Only Auntie knew I had been there.
I began my travels. I began the long journey where the corporate entity started. To what was once the greatest city of the country once called the United States. I went to Washington D.C.
There I found no humans hiding by night. There weren't any to greet the light of day, either. None. The east was an abyss of monsters. I had traveled for months a foot to get here and I found nothing to save. Monsters and carnage. I went to the factory to destroy the monster in charge of all the monsters. I would end it soon. It had to end. The nightmare every child was born into must end. I entered the city during the early hours of morning. It took me two days to get to the other side where the factory was. During this time many things ran through my mind as I eluded monsters and slinked from shadow to shadow. I hid near the factory during the last night I thought I would not see on earth again. My thoughts turned towards a small clearing with an old battered cabin and a Changeling.
I missed Arian's stolid presence. I missed his quiet ways. I knew there may not be a chance of survival. I knew I might die. I had given everything up to get to this one day. My family. My town. My love. My Arian. I did all this for him and the others. So they would forever be free.
Dawn came, my last I thought. I sprinted into the factory. There I was met with monsters I could kill easily. I placed my back against a wall and using my bow and arrows I shot them all. I ran out of arrows. Pulling my sword from its scabbard I charged into the maw of my doom. I sprinted deep into the factory, slaying any monster I came across. I ran up the many flights of stairs to get to the monster in charge of the corporate entity.
It felt like days as I searched and ran and slew the monsters set into my path to slow me, to kill me. I became like them, a monster. The only difference was who I fought for. I fought for humanity, they fought for nothing but blood.
I finally reached the top floor and the last room. There I found them. Men who were monsters. They sat around a table much like those in Los Angeles. The only difference was the throne on the dais. It was partially hidden by shadows. I saw it, I was trained to see into the shadows. There was someone sitting there. I couldn't see him clearly.
"So, you have finally come, little one." That familiar voice from the intercom asked from those shadows. "I am glad you have returned home." The man who was the real monster said.
"I have come to kill you." I answered.
"Ah, that would be genocide, dear niece." He said.
"I am not your niece!" I snarled.
"But you are, my little kitten." The voice sent shivers up my spine. He rose from the throne. I heard something behind me and before I could move my bow and sword were taken from me and my arms were pinned behind me. I tried to pull away, but they were stronger. The monster man walked slowly around the table keeping to the shadows. "Little niece, do not fight me," he conjoled. "I will fix you. I have waited for your father to bring you to me to fix." He said. I shrank back away from the man as he drew near. For the first time since my family died fear filled my heart.
"I am not your niece, you psycho." I yelled.
"Yes, you are." He said in his hissing voice.
"Let her go!" Whispered a familiar and well-loved voice.
I looked beyond the man who claimed to be my uncle. There stood the Changelings and Arian was within easy killing distance of the monster talking to me.
"Niece, I created all of this to help you." The man continued.
"I am not your niece, for the last time!" I screeched.
"Yes you are. You have the same dark hair as your mother, and the bright icy eyes of my brother your father. You look like your mother. I loved her so well." He hissed. "She choose my brother though. I have to fix you. I promised her. I told her you would be my daughter because I loved her so much." The man finally stepped into the light. "I did all of this to fix you."
"Un... Uncle Erik." I stuttered. "You were behind this?" I had recognized him. My father's brother.
"You can bring your mother and father here to be with us." He said. "I will make you mine. In fact we will be married." He laughed a laugh filled with hatred. His eyes were filled with a terrible light. "We will be one big happy family again." He laughed again.
I hung my head. I felt at fault, then a spark came to my heart. I saw my family before me, smiling. Then there was the townsfolk of Sanctuary and Auntie. Finally, the Changelings with my Arian standing in front of them. I was not the girl I once was.
"What is my name, uncle?" I asked him.
He blinked and smiled. "Ariana." He hissed. I think he thought I had given in for a moment to his whispers.
I tested the strength of my captors. I could be free, but it would hurt. I still had my dagger, but I would be at a serious disadvantage.
"I am not your niece." I said believing with every fiber of my being I was not. No one knew my real name. It was Ariana, but I could not, would not, call this monster my family. "The brother you once had is dead, he and him entire family. I buried them myself. I saw them all killed. Your brother, his wife and his daughter! All dead!" I ended with a shout. Erik stepped back in shock.
I took my cue from him. I yanked my right arm loose with a sickening crunch, I dislocated it to become free. I was then able to pull free of the other man holding my left arm. Yanking my dagger from its sheath with my left hand I started to thrust it at my uncle.
Arian grabbed my hand and pushed the blade away. "No." He whispered. I looked up at him. He frowned at me. "You cannot kill him."
"It’s his fault!" I snapped. "He killed them!"
"Yes, and he did this to me." He indicated his body. "Do not kill for revenge. Kill to save others, never for revenge." I stared at him for what seemed like eternity. I nodded and let my knife go. Arian took it up and turned to Erik. "I believe it is time to ask forgiveness of the world for your crimes against humanity." Arian whispered.
"I created you." Erik said. "You belong to me." He stepped back, away from Arian and me. "I created you to defend me and my niece."
"Then I will defend your niece." Arian said. "From you." He thrust the knife into the heart of Erik. "I will always protect her. She is the one who saved me. She brought me out of your monstrous clutches and I will not let her into those same clutches again." Arian said all of this as Erik's blood poured slowly out of his body. When Erik slipped from the dagger to the floor, it was the cue for the other Changelings to kill the other men in charge of the monsters.
"There will be monsters to kill." I whispered and my vision blurred. I looked to Arian and the Changelings. I smiled. "We will kill them all." I don't remember any more for a long time after that.
