The Beast

by A R Davis

  A mask covered the lower half of the doctor’s face, but even so, Damien could tell he was smiling. The doctor pressed the muzzle of his pistol against Damien’s brow.

  “I have a terrible secret that I want to confess,” the doctor said. “I love you. How could I not? You were my greatest achievement. Look at what I’ve done for you!” He pointed to the dead woman. “I look at you and it pains me because I will never know the great things you will achieve. I will never know what you would have become. They were going to take you away from me.” He shook his head rapidly. “I would never let them. Because I love you so much.” Were those tears in his eyes? Could Damien hear a hint of real, human regret? “I can’t let you leave. And I can’t let you leave me.”

  The doctor shut his eyes, his finger tensing on the trigger. “I’m sorry.”

  “Step away from him.”

  The doctor whipped his head around. Over the doctor’s shoulder, Damien could see Dante with a rifle pointed at the doctor’s head.

  The doctor laughed. “I should have known.”

  “Do as I say or I’ll blow your head off.” Dante took a step towards them.

  “You’ll be too late, then,” the doctor replied calmly.

  “Somehow, I doubt that.”

  Dante locked eyes with Damien for a moment, panic etched in his monstrous features. Like the doctor, he seemed uncertain as to whether or not to pull the trigger. A fire blazed all around them, but for that one moment, an icy chill swept between them.

  “I won’t let you take him,” the doctor said and shook his head once more. He pressed Damien’s head against his chest, still pointing the pistol at his brow.

  “It’s over,” Dante said, daring to take another step. “Let him go.”

  The doctor began to laugh manically. “No. There is one more secret I’d like to confess.” He pulled down his mask and exposed his rotting lips, centipedes boring into his cheeks. A drop of flesh fell to his front. “You both came at the same time, but in different cages. Then you were in separate tents in the same section. And now you have the same bodies but different personalities.” Tears mingled with the rotted flesh dripping like melted snow to the ground. “And I loved you both for it.”

  The doctor removed the gun from Damien’s brow, placed it against his temple, and pulled the trigger. His body fell limp against Damien. The firelight exposed the doctor’s mottled mouth, formed into the shape of a callous smile.

  Dante was at Damien’s side at once. “Are you all right?”

  Damien stared at the dead man. His whole body trembled. The numbness seemed to have spread throughout his whole body, and he could neither move nor speak.

  “Here.” Dante grabbed his good elbow and helped him up. “We need to get out of here.”

  They ran as far and as fast as they could, keeping low in the smoke and away from the crowds of dying men and monsters. Damien kept close to Dante, clutching his numb arm, following his lead through the chaos. It felt as though they would reach the edge of the world before they escaped this madness. He did not know how much farther he could run. When he started to lag behind, Dante gripped his numb arm and pulled him along.

  Eventually, the smoke miraculously thinned out and they broke through to fresh air. They were soon surrounded by trees which, to Damien, looked like the bars of his cage. When he looked up, he could not see the darkened sky. Only slivers of moonlight spilled from the canopy, lighting the claws of the tree branches.

  They ran and ran until Damien’s legs felt like water and his breathing scorched his lungs. They stopped in a clearing by a small lakebed. Dante clutched his knees while Damien collapsed to his, both were caked with dried blood and dirt. The sounds of death were soft in the distance, but the effect was not lessened.

  They looked back.

  Even with the distance and the darkened trees, they could see hints of what they left behind. It was a reminder that they had not truly escaped.

  Damien looked over at Dante, the monster who had unexpectedly saved his life. The look on his face was a mixture of bitterness, anger, and regret. Dante seemed to be staring at something that Damien could not see, and it felt as though he had forgotten Damien’s existence entirely.

  Was this the moment when they would part ways? Damien feared it would be. Where will I go? he wondered. He could not recall a family waiting for him. All he could remember was the doctor. Because I love you so much.

  “Thank you,” Damien blurted out. “You saved my life.”

  Dante looked down at Damien, and the hardened edge of his expression melted away. “You don’t need to thank me. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to you.”

  “Why?”

  Dante let out a slow breath. “Because I think you’re my brother.”

  Damien felt pins and needles in his numbed arm. “What?” He cautiously got to his feet, ready to run again if he had to. Will I ever stop running? “Why would you say that?”

  “Because we…” Realization dawned on Dante. “Oh. You don’t know?”

  “I know you’re mad,” Damien said. “I’m not your brother. I’m nothing like you!” He showed his bandaged hands as if that would be proof enough.

  Dante flinched. Damien noticed a small bald spot above his left brow, as though someone had torn out the fur and it had never properly grown back. Did the doctor do that to him?

  What did the doctor do to me?

  “Do you want to see?” Dante asked and gestured to the lake.

  Damien shook his head and took two steps back. “No, no! I’m not…I’m not…”

  The knife cut into his side and his human blood poured out. Replaced with what? Replaced with what? He brought his hands up to his face and felt nothing. No sign of human or monster. A blank canvas.

  “I’m sorry,” Dante said.

  “Why would you be sorry?” Damien started tearing off his bandages. This would be the only way to know. “I feel sorry for you. I –”

  He stared in horror at his hand.

  He saw a monstrous hand covered in dark brown fur and claws like needle points with dark, rough, padding underneath. “At least I ha-have five fingers,” he said, laughing nervously. His vision was blurry from the tears pricking his eyes.

  Dante stepped closer.

  “Don’t!” Damien shouted. “Don’t touch me!” He knelt beside the lake and dared to look at his reflection.

  His ears were not right, his mouth was all wrong, and his eyes—his eyes!—the color of pus and so big in his misshapen head. The moon hovered behind his reflection, comparing faces.

  The doctor did this.

  Because I love you so much.

  Damien punched his reflection. Water splashed his monstrous face and soaked the arm of his tunic. His face was distorted in the water and slowly settled back again.

  Dante’s reflection joined his and that of the moon.

  “We are just alike,” Damien said. “I am just like you.”

  “I’m sorry,” Dante said again. “If it helps, I know how you feel.”

  Damien shook his head. “Why? Why did he do this?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Damien turned his head to look at Dante, his near identical-twin. “What are we going to do?”

  “Whatever we want,” Dante said. A genuine smile broke across his face. “We can go as far away as possible. If we like, we can go somewhere farther. No one will ever hurt us again. We’re no longer bound to him.”

  Damien realized he had planned this for quite some time. Dante made it sound like a life-long dream had come alive before their very eyes. We’re no longer bound to him. Then why did Damien still feel as though he was trapped in a cage? “How?” he asked, hating how doubtful he sounded.

  “Well,” Dante began as he knelt beside Damien, “we could start by you telling me your name…if you remember it.”

  “Damien.” It was one of the few things he knew for certain that was true. Where it came from was another matter. “I don’t remember anything el
se. I don’t even know where I come from.” The river, perhaps.

  “That’s all right. I don’t remember much, either. None of us do. He took all our memories.” The hairs along the back of Dante’s neck stood at attention for a few long seconds. “But I do know my name is Dante. And I do believe, with everything I have, that you are my brother.” He smiled. “You and I are going to live a good life.”

  Damien could not see how. He did not feel any sense of familiarity when he looked at Dante’s face. Maybe the doctor took that away, too.

  Because I love you so much.

  Chapter 19

  Valerie brought Damien some soup and sat at her usual place in front of the fire with the Saxon Matthews book in hand. She idly flipped through the pages and asked, “Now where were we?”

  “I didn’t think we had any rabbit left,” Damien said.

  Valerie stiffened. How does he know? Is he keeping track?

  “Where did you get this?”

  He didn’t sound angry or suspicious. Maybe it would have been easier to lie if he had. “I found them,” she said as casually as she could.

  “Found them where?”

  Valerie fiddled with the end of her tattered skirt. She tried to act as though this happened all the time. “They were simply forgotten…in the traps,” she said quickly. “I wasn’t going to let them just stay there. That would be a waste of food.”

  Damien said nothing. The silence mortified her. Now he thinks I’m a thief, she thought. She didn’t know why that mattered. “I was careful. Nobody was around to see me. I used to do it all the time when…you know, before. And I was rarely ever caught.”

  Damien still said nothing, and she couldn’t make herself look at him to see his reaction. “I wasn’t going to let us starve,” she said. “That would have been stupid.” She kept making twitchy gestures with her hands to pass the uncomfortable time.

  Is he angry with me that I left the house? Serves him right for trying to keep me locked up here.

  “OK,” he said finally.

  This time, Valerie did turn around to face him. He lifted a spoonful of soup to his mouth.

  “OK?” Valerie asked incredulously.

  “Mmhmm.”

  “What does that mean?”

  It was maddening for Valerie to wait for him to finish chewing before he answered. When he did, he spoke very gently. “It means it’s OK, Valerie.”

  Valerie rolled her eyes and sighed exasperatedly as she returned to the book. There was no use prying anything else out of him, he’d just take her around in circles again. Besides, if it was OK with him, then she supposed it was OK with her, too.

  Everything, however, was not OK.

  “Where are you going?” Valerie asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

  Damien had his cloak tied around his neck and was in the process of lacing up his boots. An empty sack lay crumpled on the floor in front of him. He glanced up at her before returning to his task. “Out,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “We need supplies. The first snows will be here soon, and we need to stock up on food and stuff.”

  Valerie approached him timidly, fiddling with her hands. “But…but you’re not completely healed yet. And I got us some food. I…” she faltered when she saw he wasn’t listening. “You could run into those hunters again. Or you could get seriously injured. And you might not be so lucky this time.”

  “I appreciate your concern. But that doesn’t change the fact that we still need to eat.”

  “Can’t you wait at least one more day?”

  Damien sighed. “Valerie, you know we can’t.”

  We, she thought, a strange word. “Then take me with you.”

  “No,” Damien said again, more firmly this time. “I’m going alone.”

  “But I’ve been out there before. I know how to…” Steal. “I could help you if you let me.”

  Damien pulled on his gloves and then grabbed the sack from the floor. Valerie felt as though a knife was boring deep into her belly as she watched him take his first steps towards the door. Do not cry, she scolded to herself. Do not cry. Not in front of him.

  Like a spoiled child, she turned her back on him, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. “Fine!” she spat. “Go ahead and get yourself killed. Don’t expect me to be here to help.”

  She felt him pause. Maybe this would be enough to make him stay. For a moment, she pictured him coming towards her, offering comfort, telling her that he would not leave now that he saw how upset she was. It was what her father would have done.

  The door opened.

  “All right, then,” he said and closed the door behind him.

  Valerie dug her nails into her arms as she stood there. There’s no reason for you to be like this, she thought. So what if he doesn’t come back?

  He will come back.

  He has to.

  I am such an idiot, Valerie thought as she violently threw some clothes into a bag. I should have left a long time ago. I don’t know why I’m wasting my time here. She reached under her pillow and held the Beast in her hand. The wood felt cold between her fingers. The horn pricked her skin. After a long moment, she tossed him into the bag, too. She tied a knot around the top and left it on her bed.

  Take it, she thought. Take it and go.

  Her fingers itched with the phantom action.

  Take it and go.

  The clothes she placed in the bag laid in a haphazard heap on the bed. The Beast stood on the side of the pile as though he were climbing to the top, as though he were braving a mountain.

  Valerie scrubbed the floor of her room, filling the silence with the swish of the cleaning brush. How long has it been? If she went to check the time now, she would never finish.

  The only things that moved outside were the branches swaying in the autumn breeze. Gold and red leaves blanketed the forest floor. Whatever path Damien created when he left had been erased.

  He wasn’t coming back.

  And she was going nowhere.

  She went into the parlor and tried to read. The words looked like they were melting off the page and dripping to the floor like blood. She saw a small bullet hole burned in the middle.

  Valerie slammed the book shut.

  She returned to her room and tended to the cobwebs that were not there.

  It was late in the afternoon when Valerie heard the door open. Startled, she returned the Beast to his proper place under her pillow and stepped out into the hallway. At first she thought it was her imagination, but then she heard the sound of Damien’s heavy footsteps, and she knew he had returned at last. When she reached the landing, she reminded herself to stay composed. Don’t make yourself seem so eager. She gingerly placed her hand on the railing and took one step at a time.

  Two bulging sacks were lying in front of Damien, who was slightly out of breath. She could not fathom how he had carried them with him all the way back here. Quite frankly, he appeared exhausted. If he was a proper man, she would swear there were dark circles under his eyes. Why didn’t you take me with you? she thought as she reached the bottom stair. It would have saved us all this trouble.

  Damien made no remark about the fact that she was still there. He did not allude at all to her prior behavior. He simply said, “Hello.”

  “You did well,” Valerie said. When she stepped closer to him, she could smell wet earth and an underlying hint of metal.

  There was an awkward pause.

  “This is for you,” Damien said, gesturing to the bundle on his left.

  “What is it?” Valerie asked.

  “Things you will need.”

  As Valerie knelt to untie the sack, Damien said, “That’s why it took me so long. I stopped to get this.”

  “You didn’t have to.”

  Valerie looked up at him once she had opened it and peeked inside. She found clothes for winter, not just skirts and dresses, but trousers as well, and blankets and a fox fur coat. There was also a pair of leather sho
es and boots. “Where did you get this?” She didn’t mean to sound accusatory. “Not that I–”

  “A traveler. I offered him some meat in exchange.”

  Valerie extracted the coat and ran her fingers along the length. “These are very fine things,” she said.

  “It was a good deal, then.”

  Valerie nodded and rose, clinging to the coat. “Thank you.”

  “It’s nothing.”

  Valerie found herself growing quite timid. She shuffled her left foot. There were no traces of the feral creature that had stirred under her skin. All that remained was a girl who was embarrassed by her behavior—by all of it. “What I said…before you left. I wanted to –”

  “You don’t need to apologize. If you like them, take them. I need nothing in return.”

  For the first time in what seemed like ages, Valerie’s face broke into a small smile. “Well, I’m glad you’re back,” she admitted. Strangely enough, she was not embarrassed by this. “There were no hunters, I trust?”

  “No. And I trust all went well here?”

  “About as well as you’d expect,” Valerie replied as she glanced at his feet. “Did you need help putting this away?”

  “If you want.”

  They spent the next several minutes doing just that. Damien went outside to hang the meat he had collected in the shed while Valerie put away the spices, herbs, vegetables, and her new clothes. She secretly delighted in examining every article, holding it up against her body to imagine how it would look. Not everything matched properly. Not everything had to. Who would see her other than Damien?

  It was late into the night and Valerie still could not sleep. She faced the window and saw no stars, only the trees that eclipsed them. The lack of typical animal noises still made her uneasy. It was as though she was in the farthest corner of the world, a place that had not yet been discovered by the regular populace. After a few more minutes of rolling and failing to get comfortable, she finally gave up and got out of bed.