Chapter 4: Death

Jaclyn reluctantly goes with Chris on the mission, only to find her freedom with Chris. But it was swiftly turned into death as she faces the man himself: John Vedder.

Chapter 4: Death

 

Chris exits Jaclyn’s room soon after another session of kissing. Jaclyn sighs and licks her lips, still tasting him and remembering his touch on her lips. She couldn’t leave the room, so she went to the wall of gadgets and other items. There was pistols, ARs, and even what looked like grenades. Well, if you are a criminal, I guess you would keep a stash somewhere. There were walkie-talkies, and a little radar with a dead screen. Jaclyn grabs a pistol and finds it was empty. But she tosses it onto the bed anyway. She grabs two walkie-talkies and the radar. She didn’t know what it did, but the best she could muster was that it was going to track her target. She tosses it all on the bed behind her and looks intently at the pistol she took. It was sleek, lightweight, and was compact. Would they give her bullets? She could ask Chris, but what would she need them for? She decides to put it back and sets out to explore the cabinets for a bag.

In the end, Jaclyn found a black backpack that was stylish, but breathable. That was when she had an idea to escape when she was on the mission. Without Drake and Ian controlling her, and now that she had Chris on her side, she knew what to do. Even with the bouncers all over the place, she knew how to escape with Chris at her side. She packs most of the food and water in the backpack and calls for Chris inside of her head. She felt a slight shift in the presence of her head, but then it returns back to normal. She hoped he was coming. She packs two pistols and stuffs them under the food and water. Jaclyn goes and grabs her toothbrush and comb. She grabs everything in the shower and thought it was a little extra, but you never know. They were going to escape and run away from this blasted place. That’s what they were going to do. As if it was perfect timing, she could hear locks being unlocked. She looks at the door dreamily to find Chris, but what was there wasn’t Chris at all. It was a sweaty, big man that was dressed in black. He smelled like B.O, which made Jaclyn gag inside when he strode up to her and grabbed her arm, flinging her outside the door. She stumbles in her heels and catches herself on the opposite wall in the hallway. She couldn’t do anything, considering that there were 3 other bouncers that had their weapons trained on her. She steadies herself and walks down the hallway without another word, tiding herself up. Ian and Drake were behind her, apparently amused at looking at her backside. They were sick inside and out. She follows the one-way hallway until Chris comes up from around a corner. She smiles, but quickly musters it, feeling eyes on her. Chris catches what she means and his face turns hard. Chris leads her down a different flight of stairs and out a door into fresh air. It was night, and the stars were twinkling in the sky. Jaclyn takes a split second to savor the air before she was led into a plain, white van that had several bouncers inside. She sits in the middle, while Chris and a bouncer next to her trade spots. The bouncer goes to the driving seat. Jaclyn stands in the middle, while the others sit on side benches. She faces Ian’s surprised face, with a snarky smirk on it. She wanted to swipe that smile right off of him. Drake crosses his arms and looks intently at Jaclyn. She does a devious grin at him, trying to creep him out. If it worked, he didn’t show it. “Well,” Jaclyn gasps, trying to make her voice sound lush. “you made it this far. Might as well tell me what he looks like.”

“You’ll see, I assume you took the tracker to find him. That is how you see his face.” Ian winks at her, and she rolls her eyes. “And you’re off!” Drake makes a shooing motion, and like magic the van starts off, Jaclyn still standing, staring out at those two. She swore to herself that when she was ready, she would come and find them. Then she would kill them slowly.

 

Chris and her didn’t say a word. Instead, they talked mentally. She told him about her plans, and he felt shaky about it, but agreed. It was the only way. Chris takes a walkie-talkie from Jaclyn’s bag and pockets it. He also rummages through his bag and shows clips loaded for her pistols. She smiles at him and winks.

10 minutes later, it was midnight. They arrived at the restaurant, and everyone moved out. Jaclyn also saw two other white vans that looked like they belonged to R4G9, and was confirmed when other bouncers dressed casually move out from them. There was about 3 dozen of them here. Chris was right; this place was going to be crawling with them. “I got to get her situated,” Chris explains to what seems to be the leader of their squad. He nods and walks naturally towards the restaurant, noise spilling from the open doors. Jaclyn tunes out the fact that many couples were arguing inside. “I’ll see you inside.” Chris smiles, hope lighting his eyes up. Jaclyn smiles and hugs him hastily, then throws her backpack inside and the trackers that were inside of her clothes. She found them when she focused on places they would put it, and it wasn’t that hard. They were located in the heel of her right shoe, several of them. Jaclyn then turns around and runs as fast as she could with the heels. It was a decent pace without people bringing suspicion to her swiftness. But she doesn’t go inside. Instead, she goes around the building and finds the nearest door that was open. She tries the first door but finds it was locked. The second door was closed too, but it was open. It must be for employees. She goes inside and finds she was in a narrow hallway, right next to the kitchen. Pots and pans clank together, and she could smell delicious food inside. She licks her lips but resists her temptation. Instead, she looks the other way and finds the bathrooms. Bingo. She goes into the ladies’ room and finds the farthest stall empty. That was even better. She locks herself in and mutes her earpiece. Before everyone moved out, the lead bouncer, Derrick, was his name, handed everyone an earpiece so that they could communicate. Chris didn’t know about this, but that made an even better plan. She was waiting for the crackle of Chris’ voice going on, telling the emergency. Jaclyn waited there for 10 minutes straight until a sign of Derrick comes on. His raspy voice cuts with an edge of alert. “Has anyone seen the girl?!” He cries, even though he tries to sound calm, like a snake loose in a classroom. There was a reply from all squads, each with a negative. “Find her. We have the trackers.” There was an immediate reply. “She’s moving. Fast. She’s far away from here.” God, they sounded like morons to Jaclyn. She hoped Chris was hearing this. “Yates, are you getting this?” Derrick demands. Chris’ earpiece crackles as his voice comes on. “She’s nowhere in sight. S**t! Wait, did she take the van?” Chris asks. Jaclyn smiles. His acting sounded terrible, but the guys still believed it. She could hear Derrick’s footsteps outside slow with despair at the realization. “It’s gone. Everyone move out! Follow the van!” Jaclyn could hear the team outside getting in their vans. This was her chance. She calls out to Chris to meet her by the bathrooms, and she gets out of the stall. Just to be sure no one was left behind, she sends her mind out into the hungry crowd. It was all rich people, none with felonies at least. She sighs with relief. Her enhancements were getting almost too easy to use. She steps out of the bathroom and finds Chris there, smiling and sweaty. He drove the van far and ran that far back here. She wondered where he parked the van. But there was no time.

Chris and Jaclyn sprint back outside, Chris handing Jaclyn her backpack mid-sprint. She slips into it as they round the building to the other side. Only to be stopped dead in their tracks. 5 men have guns trained on both of them. The man in the middle seemed important, with gold rings and rough whiskers. He was clean and short, and his clothes were made for business. Chris starts to sweat, fear visible on his face like a pimple. “Who the hell are you?” The man in the middle asks. His voice was deep and didn’t match his body. “Who the hell are you?” Jaclyn asks, finding a sense of humor in it even though this was not the time. “I’m John Vedder.” Jaclyn groans inside. “And Yates here owes me some big cash tonight, or he owes me his life. Either one is fine by me.” Jaclyn scoffs at John. She laughs sinisterly, which earns a glance from the men that were aiming death at them. “I’m afraid that’s not gonna’ happen, mister.” Jaclyn flushes out every emotion, clearing her mind. If John wanted Chris, then she would happily kill him for threatening him for his life. It was different. When Jaclyn made the first move to kill someone,that was very wrong. But when someone threatened to kill Chris, well then they were going to get killed. “Chris,” Jaclyn looks at Chris, who takes a defensive stance behind her. “Baby, he’s mine. You shouldn’t get hurt by these strong men here, so why don’t you step aside. Men only.” John looks at one of the guards, “Keep her here, she’s mine after this.” The guard nods and trains his gun on her. “Yates, I didn’t know you had a girlfriend, she’s a pretty one.” John looks her up and down, sending a snarl from Chris. Jaclyn smiles at him. “I’m sorry, baby, Chris is mine.”

John’s face turns hard after Jaclyn’s snarky comment. “Kill him,” He orders. Jaclyn sends the command out to her body, and her nails start to grow first. Then her eyesight, and finally her teeth. She smiles at the men, their faces horrified. She attacks first. She swiftly kicks the gun out of the nearest guard and it goes flying with a stray shot. She claws the man’s face and tears at cheek. He screams as blood spurts from his body. Jaclyn felt herself go numb and felt the cloak hiding the demon inside shatter completely. Jaclyn snarls, lashing out at his face and tears at his eye. She skewers it along with skin, and it comes out with a wet pop. It was stuck to her ring finger, but she didn’t notice. Blood splatters onto her face and in her mouth. She could taste the man’s fear and she started to crave it. He tumbles backward and clutches his eye, tripping on something Jaclyn couldn’t see, and he falls with a lifeless thump. She turns to the next man who has his gun trained on her. She was close enough to kick him, and she does on reflex. The gun goes tumbling and skittering on the concrete. He lashes out at her face, but she quickly dodges it. Once he was done, she knees him in the groin, harder than what she did to Chris. He crumples with a moan. But Jaclyn wasn’t finished. She digs her daggers into his skull, disappearing with a spurt of blood. She scrapes skull and pulls out. Her whole hand was covered in a thick layer of blood, the red crimson shining in the moonlight. The man falls with another thump. 2 down, 4 more to go. She takes a quick glance at Chris, who was dealing with two of them. She looks at the next man, but his face was one of fear instead of determination. He drops his gun and flees at the sight, and Jaclyn smiles with her monster teeth.

John was nowhere in sight, so she quickly runs at the man closest to her that was tackling Chris. Chris wasn’t holding on to anything anymore. The two men beat him up pretty hard, and that made a flame of anger surge through her. She kicks him in the head, and he falls, unconscious. The other was choking Chris. Jaclyn feels fear tingle her spine, but she shuts it down. She launches herself at him, tackling him from the side. She rolls on top of him, her whole body felt numb now, like she wasn’t in control anymore. But she allowed it because it felt so good. Without hesitation, Jaclyn sinks her teeth in the man’s throat. He gurgles out a scream as Jaclyn rips it out, loving the splatter of warm life in her mouth and on her face. She snarls and lashes at his lifeless body, tearing chunks of flesh away. She quickly gets off of him, remembering there were others, and sees the other man, still lying on the ground. Jaclyn needed more of this. So much more. She pounces on top of him like a tiger and rips at his throat with her teeth. It tears like she was chewing taffy, and she spits out the flesh. Blood soaks her bodysuit, but she doesn’t notice. Instead, she looks around for John but finds he has vanished. She looks out with her mind, but it only reached so far, and without John in sight. She snarls instead of an intended curse. She gets up and uses one of the man’s shirt to clean up her mouth and suit. She looks at Chris, who lays lifeless on the ground. She commands for her enhancements to retract, and they do. Along with the demon. She heard a wet plop behind her and finds an eyeball by her feet. She turns away with a shudder, knowing how it fell off. Jaclyn could hear Chris still had a heartbeat, and he wasn’t bleeding majorly. She bends down and taps his cheek, but nothing. “Chris, Chris,” She whispers. “we have to go.” Still, he doesn’t wake. Great. Suddenly, red and blue sirens screech in the parking lot. Isn’t this greater. Someone must have heard the gunshots and called the police. Without thinking too much about her actions, she scoops up Chris in her arms. Even though he was bigger than her, she had the strength to pick him up like a sack of feathers. She starts to move quickly, going into the forest that was behind the restaurant. She jumps the fence, clutching Chris to her body. His head rolls to the side with each step as she bounds into the forest. She commands for her enhancements to be out as she couldn’t see a thing in here. As softly as she could, she tries to not let her nails dig into Chris skin as she clutches him to her chest. He was light, to be honest. But that wasn’t the case without her strength. She bounds over a log and takes a quick glance behind her, the lights of the restaurant fully engulfed as the night and ghastly trees overwhelm it. She slows to a stop, going to a tree to sit. She would hear someone if they snuck up on them. She casts her mind out, only sensing the minds of nightly creatures. She gasps for air. Her lungs were burning. The sounds behind her were faint, even with her super hearing. She must have run far, deep in the forest’s heart. She runs her tongue over her teeth, trying to get chunks of throat out of her teeth. She sits slowly, looking at Chris’ face. What did they do to him? His face was bloodied and bruised, and Jaclyn wipes away the dried blood on his face with her sleeve. She looks at him with love and sympathy. She swipes away a strand of hair from his face ever so gently with the tip of her dagger. She smiles lovingly, though she knew it didn’t look like that. But she needed to see if there was a danger. She was on the run now with Chris, and that was what she wanted all along. Jaclyn slowly turns around and takes off the bloody backpack on her back. She rummages through it with only her fingers. She grabs a water bottle and opens it, glad that opening bottles with her hand than fingers. Chris moans slightly at her movement, but Jaclyn shushes him.

“Shhh. You’re okay Chris, I’m here.” She didn’t know why she was mothering him all of a sudden, but it felt nice for her to take care of him when he was in a state of weakness. When he needed it. Jaclyn takes the water bottle and gently brings it to his busted lips. He gulps water slowly, moaning when she took a swig from it afterward. She could feel Chris’ body waking up, but his body goes limp again. Why was he falling unconscious again? Jaclyn lays a palm to his forehead, it wasn’t hot. He was covered in a thin sheet of sweat now that Jaclyn noticed. Chris has a fever, and he may be sick. Jaclyn also thought that he must have terrible migraines right now, and she felt bad for him. Those men deserved it. They deserved to die if they hurt Chris. A low growl comes from somewhere, and Jaclyn realizes it was her. Chris was vulnerable right now, and it was her job to take care of him. She looks around in the darkness, at the dead looking trees and the earthly plants. Chris moans again, and Jaclyn puts the water to his lips. He drinks greedily this time. Jaclyn slowly puts back the water and puts on her backpack. She stands with Chris in her arms and starts to walk silently, heading deeper into the twisted forest.

 

Miles pass of Jaclyn walking. She didn’t really get tired until now, but she has been walking in the forest for about an hour now. The forest didn’t relent its end, so she’s been walking by and on gnarled limbs of trees and dead bushes. There was no pursuit after her. Just to make sure though, she went left into the forest about 45 minutes ago, then went straight after that. She didn’t know what she was doing but figured she could lose anyone if they were following her. Chris didn’t wake at all, which kind of sucked for Jaclyn when you were in the middle of a forest dark at night. It was silent. Almost too silent, which made Jaclyn’s skin crawl. And she was supposed to be the monster. Jaclyn felt scared even with Chris in her arms. But she ignored it, thinking about Chris the whole journey. The presence left in her mind, which made her feel weak and alone. But still, she pressed on, knowing that Chris was still alive and he was right next to her. Her body wasn’t that tired. It just started to protest now. But she ignored it too. She ignored everything and focused on one thing only: Chris. Chris’ fever died down a little with sessions of water as she walked, but it didn’t die down fully. He might have a concussion. That scared Jaclyn, she didn’t know how to treat it. Twigs snap under Jaclyn’s foot as she keeps pushing forward. Eventually, she would come to the end of the forest, and sooner or later she would have to rest soon. She couldn’t risk going back anymore. Jaclyn looks around at the forest. The trees were thinning out, and Jaclyn thought that the forest was coming to an end. She quickens her pace a little to find fewer trees and plants, and finally to an open field. It was dark, and the grass sways gently in the steady wind. Jaclyn lets everything she ignored flood back into her. Her knees buckle beneath her weight, and she almost drops Chris but doesn’t. The grass rolled on for as far as she could see in the dark, and there was not a sign of civilization in sight. Jaclyn walks on her knees towards a thick tree. She takes off her backpack with a sigh and puts it next to her. She lays Chris against her lap, his head against her shoulder, and his back propped up against her front. She was cold, and his heat helped her. She just hoped that he wouldn’t get cold too. She takes out a pistol from the back and lays it in the backpack, but on top of all the food. She retracts her enhancements, and everything turns pitch black. She couldn’t even see her hands in front of her face. She grabs the bag that was rubbing against her hips and puts it in front of Chris. Though Chris didn’t have his bag, he brought a few clips that were loaded. She wraps her arms around Chris gently and forces herself to fall asleep gently. She couldn’t afford to get them both killed if she was sleeping on the job. She closes her eyes and savors the moment, keeping her senses alert as she lightly dozes with Chris in her arms.

 

Jaclyn awoke. It was dawn, and the sun was just coming up. The grass field looked totally innocent now, the lush grass sparkles with fresh morning dew. It must be around 5-ish right now. Chris was still in her lap, and the bag was where it was. She gets up slowly and stretches, scoping out the place, but there was no activity. She needed that sleep, and it felt so good. She should inspect Chris now that it was light. He looked peaceful sleeping, though his face was covered in green and black bruises. They would be fine though, Jaclyn thought. She has had that before, and they healed. Chris’ breathing was jagged and shallow, and Jaclyn didn’t know what that was. His lips were busted and scabbed over, but they seemed to be healing nicely. His nose had bled over the night, Jaclyn noticed, and he had a decent sized cut above his eyebrow. She lifts up his shirt, finding his skin was bruised purple. He probably had some broken ribs that would need to heal correctly. That probably was the problem with his breathing problem too. She checks his legs but finds that he wasn’t hurt there. He was still knocked out though, and Jaclyn’s suspicions about him having a concussion doubled. She needed him awake though, and that was going to be a problem. She bends down to get closer to him. “Chris,” She puts her hand on his cold cheek. “Chris, wake up. I need you here with me.” His fever was gone, but he seemed cold. She didn’t have anything, so she snuggles up behind him again, eating an energy bar she wraps her arms around him at the waist and entangles their legs together. She sighs for not knowing why. “Chris,” She whispers in his ear. “Chris wake up. I need you here right now.” Chris doesn’t muster. So Jaclyn lays there until it got to be noonish. The sun was at the highest peak of today when Chris stirred. He groans again, and Jaclyn perks up. She grabs a water bottle and puts it to his lips, his head now resting on her hip. He drinks greedily this time, downing half the bottle this time before Jaclyn took a few sips. He groans again this time, and his eyelids start to flutter. It was like a miracle. She didn’t think he could recover that fast, but here he was, alive and not dead. His eyes roll in his head, and Jaclyn calls out his name again. She cups his cheek with her hand, trying to suck all of the cold out of him. Chris stirs this time, moving his sore body a tad. “Chris, are you with me?” His eyelids flutter half open this time, but close again like an empty tank of gas.

“Chris,” Jaclyn urges. He stirs at his name, moaning in pain doing so. “Chris, wake up Chris. I need you c’mon.” His eyelids flutter again, and she could hear him sigh in pain. “Chris?” Jaclyn gasps. His eyelids flutter again, and he opens his eyes very slowly and painfully. “J-Jaclyn?” He shivers. She hugs his body so close to her, cradling him like he was a baby, his head resting against her chest. “You’re alive.” She says with a smile. “I-I’m c-co-ld.” He shivers, pulling himself against her chest as tightly as he could muster. He probably didn’t know what was going on, but Jaclyn felt so good when his eyes opened. She hugs him to her chest, bending over so that she could muster all the warmth to him. It was super cold out here, and Jaclyn didn’t know why. It was the middle of summer, and it was like what, 34 degrees out here? That made Jaclyn wonder as Chris clings to her with most of his strength like a newborn. She felt bad for him, he most likely had a concussion. Jaclyn clings to him, a strong breeze sweeping over them. Then suddenly, a monstrous boom that took over Jaclyn’s hearing swept over the two. She covers her ears with a cry of pain and drops Chris in her lap. She screams as a strong force of air knocks her forward, taking Chris too. She tumbles and lands on her back, facing the dark sky. What the hell was this? She could smell smoke behind her, and cries erupt from behind her. She gets to her swiftly and starts to look for Chris. “Chris?” she calls out, looking around. In the end, he was still unconscious and tangled up in a bush. Jaclyn scoops him up and throws him over her shoulder, needing a hand free. She runs over, grabbing her bag. The smoke was thick over here, and she chokes back a cough. Screams of desperation come across the forest, and it was getting very cold. The sky was getting hazy, and the light was coming at a low rate.

She sets Chris down quickly and throws on her bag, then scooping Chris up over her shoulder. She wished so badly that he could run right now. She starts to run to the left, from what she hoped was farther from the explosion. Cries ring out as she runs at an amazing rate with Chris over her shoulder. Jaclyn leaps over a log and catches herself after a stumble. She didn’t know how she could run in these heels, but when fear pushed you, she guessed you could do anything. But the heels did have a disadvantage, they got stuck in everything. Jaclyn runs for another 5 minutes before she’s had enough in the mushy grass. The heels were slowing her down even though she was running at an amazing rate. The forest was no longer behind her, but screams of blood still surrounded her. Everywhere. Jaclyn stops and catches her breath, bending down to take off her heels. A flood of relief moves through her toes as the heels no longer trap them. She sprints at full speed this time, everything flying past her at an alarming rate. She didn’t know she could run this fast, but it must have come with the enhancements. She felt like she was looking out of a car, everything flying past her as she runs in the grass. Jaclyn concentrates on not tripping, looking down at the ground. Alarms blare up ahead of her, but it wasn’t up ahead, it was all around. Jaclyn realizes it was in her head, the same red blaring sirens going off. For a second Jaclyn thought it was Chris, but these sirens ha a slight urgency to them. She looks around, in front, behind her, to the left, then to the right. She could see something in the distance northeast from here, what looked like a ravaged city. Smoke plumes arise from the tallest buildings, and Jaclyn didn’t need to hear screams to know that they were there. Was it a terrorist attack? No, it couldn’t. There weren’t any gunshots that rang out, so I couldn’t be. Jaclyn didn’t know what it was, but all she knew was that all the smoke and ashes were blocking the sun. The temperature was dropping dramatically too, and they needed to find shelter soon before nightfall.

Jaclyn ignored her instincts screaming at her, and heads towards the raging city, hoping to find aid for Chris.

Hours pass and the city came closer each step of the way. Jaclyn’s knees felt like giving in to buckling, but she pressed on once again. Chris needed her help right now, and he might have permanent head damage, she didn’t know. She hoped not. Hope was a funny thing. It was something like gambling on giving in to something that couldn’t be there at all. Or could. She just didn’t know. Chris kept on moaning a lot throughout the journey, but he didn’t really stir much. From now, the city was close enough to do a 5-minute drive. She could have run there, but she was so tired, and screams were drowning everything else out. The alarms in her head went dead, accepting the fact that she was going to die if she went into the city. Jaclyn sits, cradling Chris in her lap. She digs around in her backpack, finding an energy bar and some water. She lets Chris drink before she does, and she eats the bar. She sighs, thankful that she made it to the city. She closes her eyes, sighing. She was sweaty, and she felt clammy in her clothes. The sound of twigs snapping behind her made Jaclyn perk up. She looks behind her, a growl emitting from her throat. A man, no older than his late thirties, with black eyes, and blood covering a wound in his neck and his mouth. “What the hell?!” Jaclyn screeches as he pounces at her, gnashing his teeth at her neck. His eyes were all black, nothing about them had any other color than that. It was terrifying as hell, but she guessed she was like that too when she got her enhancements out. The man howls an unearthly howl, more on the animal side. He tries to claw at Jaclyn, quickly stops mid-strike as Jaclyn’s enhancements unearth too. He snaps his head to the right, sniffing the air. And before Jaclyn knew what he was going to do, he lunges at Chris, snarling. Black blood erupts from his mouth as he gets flung backward by Jaclyn’s strong grip. He lands with a thump of ratty torn clothes, and snarls at Jaclyn, but doesn’t attack. “What the hell are you?!” Jaclyn yells at him, her mind spinning. She thrusts her daggers into his forehead, his body going down in a heap of last snarls. She breathes blood as she studies the man. He had several claw marks on his chest, and his throat has been ripped out. And yet he was moving. What the hell just happened? That man shouldn’t be moving, and he has chunks of flesh in his teeth. What the hell is this s**t?!

Jaclyn demands an answer, but couldn’t figure anything out. Not even a guess. She looks at Chris, her chest heaving. She snarls at trying to contain herself, but it was no use. Her enhancements got the better of her, and she knew it. She studies the man, his eyes still pitted black. She needed to move out, and get away from wherever this man came from. She growls unexpectedly and picks up Chris in her arms as gently as she could. She snarls once more, not knowing why she was doing it, but it felt right. Instinct, probably.

Jaclyn moves into the city, hoping to help Chris and to get away from the freak, but she was wrong. It only made it 100 times worse.

 

The first sign of the city was the road. It had several bodies lying there, each in their own pool of dark blood. There were blood stains everywhere with no sign of its owner, so common that they were equal to cracks in the road. Some people were lying face up, and they had limbs missing, gnawed off, or bullet holes inside of their bodies. Jaclyn was frankly disgusted. But she moves on. She had Chris to take care of, and his head trauma could potentially get worse. She had to look out for herself and Chris, and if anything, she was sure her enhancements would not attract anyone. That deranged man, he stopped attacking her when her enhancements were out. He went after Chris instead, and that was when that split second of icy fear took root in her body. It was like her best friend, there whenever you needed it until you pissed your friend off. Jaclyn laughs to herself, trying to lighten the mood besides the fact she was walking to death’s door to sell cookies. Was the man thinking she was his own? She has seen plenty of movies where the predator didn’t kill their own. So did it think it was her own? If so, then why did it attack her before? Maybe it was the appearance of her monster within. Similar cousins or something.

Jaclyn continues on the road. The air was clearing up, but it was getting close to nightfall. Jaclyn thought it was around 4-ish right now. The road was littered with blood, weeds, chewed limbs and hollowed cars. One of them still had smoke rising from the exhaust. Jaclyn follows the highway, the city at the end like a pot of gold. Chris doesn’t move, let alone make a sound. She feared for him, and his life right now was more important than hers. She trudges on with new determination when a wet and bloody scream rings out in front of her. Her hairs rise on end, and she could hear pleas in front again. She sends her mind out, to find a girl no more than 14 years fighting what seemed to be another woman, with dark pitted eyes and stringy blood hanging from her mouth. It snarls at her, and she screams again. They were in a standoff, neither making a move. The girl was crying, and blood was coming out from her side, the pain a fiery sting. She didn’t look to be hurt, but Jaclyn couldn’t walk by like somebody minding their own business, and that woman may come after Chris in her arms. Jaclyn curses to herself, the forest on both sides of the road, hiding what may be more of those freaks. Jaclyn growls to herself over thinking where to put Chris. She could see the girl, and the freak still standing there, blood dripping down her mouth like saliva.

“Hey, kid!” She yells over to be heard. Both heads twist around to see the new person added to the group. “Stay right where you are, okay? I’m coming to help.” The girl looks at her with beady eyes, glassy from tears. She nods and turns around to face the freak again, who snarls at her. She didn’t know why the freak was standing off, but that gave her enough time to find a put Chris in a car, closing all doors. She runs at her amazing speed, flushing her thoughts about Chris out of her head. She snarls, the freak tilting its head in confusion. It was no longer focused on the girl though, so that was good. When Jaclyn was close enough, she flies by the girl and kicks the woman in the head. Her head snaps with a crack, and she stumbles back, growling at Jaclyn and jumping to attack. She claws at her, trying to scratch her face, but Jaclyn grabs her arm and pulls. She didn’t know how much strength she had, she obviously a lot. Her arm rips off like a pillow, blood spewing out of the stump. She howls in pain, and that was where Jaclyn finishes her. She sends her daggers through the woman’s head, scraping skull and brain. She pulls out after, the freak landing on the ground with blood still pumping out of her forehead. Jaclyn breathes heavily this time, a slight snarl on her breath from the bloodlust.

Jaclyn turns around, and an ear piercing scream follows as the girl sees what Jaclyn was. But it was gone in a heartbeat as they retract. “It’s okay, you’re okay,” Jaclyn says, trying to calm down the girl. She shows her hands in front of her, but the girl wasn’t having it. “Y-you’re.” She says through shaky sobs. Jaclyn didn’t blame her. A girl that was about to die when another monster came and saved her. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.” Jaclyn could tell the girl was trying to pull it together, but she couldn’t do it. She takes a step back, ready to bolt when Jaclyn hears footsteps above the road where she came from. Her mind flicks back to Chris, and her heart rate goes through the roof. “Chris,” She mutters, mind racing. The girl looks back at Jaclyn and gives her a questioning look. Jaclyn books it. She never ran this fast in her life, including the times after she got her enhancements. She was barefoot still, but she didn’t care that her feet were being ripped up from broken glass on the road. She dealt with it before, and she had something to go through to get to Chris. She makes it back to the car in a few seconds. Mind racing, Jaclyn commands for her enhancements to be out. The door to the car was still closed, but several freaks were pounding on the door. They were bigger than the ones she originally saw, and she roars at them to get their attention. All 4 of their heads snap at the sound like hungry coyotes, one even snapping its teeth together. They were all too stupid to open the car door, and that saved Chris’ life. Jaclyn charges at the first one, a man in his 50’s, with bite marks all over his body. Jaclyn sinks both of her hands in his head. He lets out a scowling scream and he falls with a bloody thump. Jaclyn roars at the others. A woman no older than her screeches and proceeds to attack. She catches Jaclyn off guard as she was dealing with the older man. She turns around and was greeted with nails raking down her exposed chest from the body suit. Jaclyn roars, more so because the motion felt like she was being whipped from Ian. She kicks the freak in the chest, who stumbles backward into the two others content on getting in the car. They fall like bowling pins, but Jaclyn didn’t find it funny anymore. All she wanted was for these freaks to die. She pounces on the one closest to her and sinks her teeth in its face. It screams in pain, but Jaclyn kept biting, rotten copper spilling into her mouth like spoiled milk. She gags and spits out the chunks of flesh in her teeth. The woman had a huge cavity in her upper cheek and part of her eye socket, which made Jaclyn grin up at her. She screams again and rakes at Jaclyn’s face, but it was no use. She ends her quickly, thrusting her daggers through both eye sockets and scraping brain. Jaclyn felt a large force knock her backward and into the car. Her head hits the metal car, and she starts to get a headache. She shakes herself though and sees her assailant. It was a middle-aged man that was smaller than the other one, but just as fierce. He snarls at her, tendons of raw flesh stuck in his bloody teeth. Jaclyn smiles at him though, showing her own set of teeth like a show and tell. He attacks first, trying to sink his teeth into her throat, but Jaclyn throws her daggers at his face instead. He didn’t see them, and his head rams right into the daggers, eye first. It slides in smoothly with a wet squelch, and his head goes limp. Jaclyn looks around for the other one, but the freak was nowhere in sight. That was good, it was scared of her. She shakes herself, looking down to see four rake marks that were shallow, but still dripping blood. She had a bad headache, but it wasn’t too bad. Jaclyn gets shakily to her feet, covered mostly in her assailants’ blood. She spits, blood replaced for normal saliva.

Jaclyn opens the door, to find a surprising thing. Chris was awake, and he was staring at her with large beady eyes. Jaclyn was covered in rotten blood from head to toe, and her face probably looked screwed up. “Chris?” Jaclyn says, his face one of awe. He gets out of the car on wobbly legs, and Jaclyn catches him before he could fall. “Jaclyn? What-“ Jaclyn wraps her arms around him, and she jumps up into his arms, oblivious to his ribs. He pushes her against the car for support and hugs her close to her. Jaclyn draws in a shaky breath. “I-I thought you were going to die. I was so afraid for you Chris, I-I just couldn’t,” Jaclyn couldn’t finish her words, overwhelmed by joy. She breathes heavily, her daggers not touching his back. She wraps her legs around him, breathing him in. “What, happened?” He asks after a long time of hugging. “Does your head hurt?” Jaclyn asks, avoiding the question. Not here, and not now. Night was settling in, and she didn’t want to be out here with the freaks roaming. “Yeah, a s****y headache. What the hell is happening around here?”

“I have to explain later, all I know is that we need shelter and food. You must be starved.” He nods. The sun was setting and the light was going at a limited supply. Jaclyn decides to keep her enhancements out. Chris lets go of Jaclyn and they start walking down the road to the city. Jaclyn almost forgets about the girl, and she stops dead in her tracks. Chris does too, alert. He was walking better, but she had to get his ribs healed somehow. He was breathing a little better, as she noticed, but he still had the problem. “Hello?” Jaclyn calls out, hoping not to scare her. She knew that the girl couldn’t survive on her own and that leaving her was like killing her. There was a faint sound of shoes scuffing concrete, and Jaclyn could sense the girl was still here. Why was she still here though? She knew that Jaclyn was a monster, so why did she stay knowing that? Kids were sometimes dumb though. “Hello?” Was a reply. Jaclyn makes her way down the road until she heard the moving of shoes very close. “It’s just me, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Easy for you to say, freak! You’re going to kill me!” Jaclyn laughs at the girl’s common sense. “Then why did I save you from that freak that was about to kill you? And after leave you than rather kill you. If I wanted you dead, you would’ve been dead a long time ago.” Jaclyn could hear a sigh as the realization sets through her mind, and she could sense the girl’s fear emitting from her like heat. She steps out from a car, face scared but determined. She was a short girl, with long black hair and brown oval eyes. She was pretty in a way. Her shirt has been ripped and claw marks were shown on her side. They were dried and crusty, though. “Name?” She asks Jaclyn, though she eyes Chris, who stands by Jaclyn’s side. “Jaclyn and this is Chris. Yours?”

“Tai-Bengian. But you can call me Tai.” Jaclyn nods, not wanting to smile at the girl. She could feel her fear loosen a little. “Do you know what is happening? We were in the forest for a long time, running.”

“We were?” Chris asks from behind, his face confused. Jaclyn gives him a look and he doesn’t press the question. He will get answers soon. “No. All I know is that my mom and I were in my apartment, then a loud, like, boom happened. We went outside to see people like this-“ She gestures to the dead woman that Jaclyn killed earlier on. “-eating each other like some zombie movie. We fled. And my mom, she, left me. Just straight up left me. And I ran until I slammed into this s**t show here.” Tai’s eyes start to tear up, but she held them back. “I’m sorry, Tai. I know what it’s like to lose family.” Tai looks at her, something she wanted to say, but holds it back. “I’ll explain this, later to you. It must be horrific to see, but I have to see in the dark.” Tai nods, looking fearfully at her. Jaclyn wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and starts off, Tai keeping her distance from her, but seemingly goes to Chris, who stays silent. She couldn’t run with Chris, but they were close enough to make it just before pitch black.

Jaclyn hoped so.

Author's Note

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