Omega Zero

by Kurtis Eckstein

  Cat or monkey, neither were appetizing. My body just didn’t want to absorb their blood, and I got a sense of repulsion when inserting my own blood into their bodies.

  In the end, I left all my targets alive, heading back towards town as I begrudgingly considered my limited options.

  I wasn’t about to take blood from a child, and I didn’t want to be responsible for killing off an older adult before it was their time. I also knew that men usually had almost a liter more blood than women, leaving me with adult men as my best targets.

  However, before I even proceeded back into town, I stayed at the edge of the trees, focusing on my sixth sense to search carefully in the buildings for someone who was alone. The moment I had a target in sight, I silently bolted back through the streets, before scaling a wall, my blood serving as makeshift claws, boosting myself up to peer into an upper floor window to visually confirm my target was male.

  I wanted to avoid rumors circulating of a vampire in town, or other blood-drinking demon, so I carefully attempted to insert my blood without waking him up, hoping a pinprick in the crevice of his elbow would be enough to allow me to discretely steal some blood.

  The man immediately smacked his arm in his sleep, as if he had been bitten by a mosquito, but then rolled over and was motionless again, my blood easily adjusted with his movements like the thread of a spider’s web.

  I had to focus intently on what I was doing to avoid taking too much too quickly, sucking up the blood through the world’s smallest straw. I figured that if I could take what I estimated to be about the equivalent of a blood-bag from each person, then I might only have to target four or five people to fill up after losing more than half my blood two nights ago, followed by stealing a ton of Trinity’s blood immediately afterwards.

  But I was too focused apparently…

  Unexpectedly, I felt like someone was watching me. It gave me an eerie chill, because as I looked behind me, I couldn’t immediately sense anyone there with my sixth sense, as if I was being watched by a ghost. However, then I realized Ava was rapidly approaching me. And unfortunately, it was too late to hide what I was doing. While she wasn’t visible to my eyes, I knew she could probably see me just fine through the walls she was passing directly through.

  I withdrew my blood instantly from the man’s arm, and dropped back down to the dark alleyway below. She finally came in sight a moment later, her body shifting back to its physical form, with her floating form transitioning into a walk, her feet solidifying as they hit the ground.

  The moon had just appeared from behind a cloud, though it wasn’t directly overhead. Still, the light illuminated the plastered walls in the alleyway, providing more than enough light for me to see the details in Ava’s expression.

  She looked worried…and maybe a little afraid.

  Ava took a few steps to slow down from her inhumanly fast pace, shifting her gaze from me towards where I had just been a level above us. Knowing her ability provided some perks in her normal form, I suspected she could see the man asleep in his bed, as well as all the other people in the apartment-style building.

  “J-Jake,” she whispered, giving me her attention again. “W-What are you doing out here?”

  I sighed heavily. “I haven’t killed anyone,” I replied just as quietly.

  Her eyes widened. “A-Are you going to?” she asked hesitantly.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m trying to avoid that entirely. I figured if I take a little bit from several people, then it would be no different than them donating blood. That way I can…well, you know, without hurting anyone.” I didn’t want to call it what it was.

  Eating.

  She paused to think about that. “Have you already tried?” she wondered.

  My eyes widened slightly as I realized she hadn’t noticed. Granted, she mentioned that my blood just looked black to her in her shadow form, so it made sense she might not easily pick up a thin black thread connecting me to my prey. I cleared my throat quietly, seeing no reason not to be honest. “Yes,” I admitted. “I was just getting ready to move on to the next person.” I then gestured upwards towards the unseen man. “And as I’m sure you can see, he’s fine.”

  She glanced up again, before nodding slowly in agreement.

  “Do you already have another person picked out?” she wondered.

  I gawked at her. “Well, no. Not yet,” I admitted. “I’m just targeting men though. They usually have more blood than women, and I’m definitely not going to steal from someone young.”

  She nodded in agreement. “Make sense.” She paused, her expression becoming more determined. “I’ll help keep watch.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, shaking my head in disbelief. “Ava, after what you told me last night, I’m not about to have you watch me do this.”

  She crossed her arms, her expression even more resolved. “I didn’t tell you that, Jake, so you would pity me. I’m coming.”

  My eyes widened again. “It’s not a pity thing,” I whispered, taking a step closer.

  “Then what is it?” she demanded quietly, not shying away from my approach. Any of the fear, or whatever it was I had seen in her expression, was gone now, replaced with…almost anger.

  I stopped after another step, close enough now that I could reach out and touch her. I silently held her gaze for a solid minute, before finally looking away. “I don’t know,” I admitted.

  She sighed, her frustration dissipating as she uncrossed her arms. “Look Jake, I get it. Earlier, I hadn’t really thought about it, until I saw how you reacted to Trinity making that offer.” She paused, examining my pained expression. “Or is there more to it?” she asked cautiously.

  I scoffed. “You mean other than the fact I almost killed her?” I snapped a little too loudly. I finally glared at her, prompting her to flinch. “Or the fact that I can’t live without human blood?” I balled my hands into fists. “I almost killed her, Ava,” I repeated in a hiss, feeling my eyes sting. “I couldn’t stop myself. It’s not like normal eating. It was like my body was a black hole, like gravity itself, and she was freefalling without a parachute, with nothing but my sheer willpower preventing my body from taking it all.”

  I finally looked away, my vision blurring. I quickly shut my eyes, attempting to get ahold of my spiraling emotions before I lost them altogether. I sniffled and took a deep breath, continuing after a moment. “I’m a threat to everyone, Ava. I’m a threat to you. All I have to do is get hungry enough, and that could be the end of it for anyone too close.”

  Unexpectedly, I felt her hands clasp my fist, encasing it in her warmth. I didn’t realize she was so close, but then it was like her body was radiating heat between us, permeating the empty space with a powerful invisible energy. Instantly, it felt like a cascade of tension released from my body as a light tingling sensation ran up my arm and down my spine.

  The air in my lungs forced its way out uncontrollably, and for the first time my knees felt weak, buckling underneath me. Ava held my hand in both of hers the whole time, lowering herself in sync as I collapsed to my knees, until we were sitting in front of each other in the dark alleyway.

  I stared at my hand in both of hers, the tingling and warmth faintly lingering just underneath my skin all over. We were both completely silent as I tried to make sense of what had just happened. My first thought was the bonding the twins had mentioned. But, as far as I knew, Ava’s ability wasn’t the right kind for that to happen. Not to mention, this was the second time I had experienced this sensation with her, and yet I didn’t sense her presence any more than I had before, nor could I feel her emotions.

  This also wasn’t an overly stressful situation – at least, not like what I assumed was required for two psychics to bond.

  No, this was something different. But what?

  Was it something as supernatural as what had happened with Liz? Or something as mundane as experiencing human affection and comfort?

  After a long moment, I finally l
ifted my gaze hesitantly, meeting those chocolate brown eyes staring intently at me. My eyes automatically shifted to her full lips as she finally spoke.

  “Then we’ll make sure you’re always well fed,” she whispered. “So you’ll always have a choice. So you’ll never kill accidentally, or against your own will. We’ll make sure nothing like that happens again.”

  I looked away, prompting her to tighten her grip on my hand, as if trying to get me to return her gaze. But I refused. “I was well fed before the bomb dropped,” I replied quietly. “That didn’t stop what happened.”

  Her grip tightened even more. “Jake, you’re the reason we’re alive.”

  “And the reason you all almost died,” I retorted almost inaudibly.

  She was quiet for a moment, switching subjects after a few seconds. “Have you tried animals?” she wondered.

  I sighed, finally deciding it might be a good idea to pull my hand out of hers. She let me without reacting much to it, as if holding my hand was nothing overly significant to her. Not that I wanted it to be significant, but she certainly didn’t seem upset to see it go.

  I cleared my throat. “Yes. I even tried a monkey. Only people will work.”

  “But you can do it discretely without them knowing, or really hurting them, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Then I’ll go with you,” she reaffirmed.

  “But why?” I replied quietly, averting my gaze again. “I don’t–“

  “Jake,” she cut me off, “just let me do this for you.”

  I balled my fists again, my eyes tightening, only to have her return her hand gently to mine. The warmth seeped into me just like it had before, making my eyes sting a second time. I kept my fist balled though as I considered the implications of what she had said.

  She wasn’t stupid, and while she hadn’t spoken the exact words, she knew how I felt – alone.

  Alone in a sleeping world.

  Alone in this struggle with my new reality – a reality where I was a monster.

  And alone with this task, to find food the most humane way possible.

  I sighed in reservation. “Fine,” I agreed gently, not making any attempt to move.

  My life didn’t revolve around things like hunger and fatigue anymore, instead all those sensations being focused on temperature – a temperature that wasn’t affected by the outside world. And right now, I was warm – really warm, as if Ava’s body was generating heat like a radiator.

  It was definitely a different warmth than what I experienced when well fed, as if I might have several new temperature distinctions that normal people didn’t possess. I wondered briefly what sensation this warmth had replaced, since it definitely wasn’t hunger. However, I had no way of knowing the exact nature of my new body and these new sensations. It was something I would just have to figure out eventually.

  There were a number of things I hadn’t experienced in the last week, beyond just a lack of hunger and fatigue. But those first two were the obvious sensations I had lost. I was sure there were others I hadn’t identified yet. Even my arousal was slightly different, my body reacting in similar ways whenever Trinity had been in my lap, at least prior to me almost killing her, but the hormonal sensations weren’t exactly the same.

  We were both quiet as Ava continued to clasp my fist in her warm hands, with her having never responded to me agreeing to her proposal to accompany me. I wondered if she was waiting for me to loosen my hand, but I needed this – whatever it was, I needed it.

  Desperately.

  So I kept my fingers curled tight, hoping she had committed to holding onto me until I was ready for her to let go.

  It was almost like a hug without actually being that. This was less intimate, yet just as powerful, so I kept my gaze on the ground, knowing hers was on me, enjoying the sensations running throughout my body endlessly.

  I wasn’t sure how long we sat in the alleyway, ignoring the sounds of the night as we shared that moment together, but finally Ava’s hand moved, running up my forearm to get my attention.

  I looked up at her, finding a gentleness in those deep brown eyes reassuring me again that I wasn’t alone.

  “We should probably get going,” she whispered quietly. “Not to be selfish, but I’d like to get some more sleep before the sun rises,” she added with a smile.

  “Oh.” I cleared my throat, reluctantly pulling my hand away. “Of course. Sorry.”

  She shook her head. “It’s okay,” she replied as we both stood, her tone sounding affectionate, almost like she was speaking to a little brother.

  I groaned internally at that realization. While I’d certainly had a handful of girlfriends, I’d also been friend-zoned a few times, usually by women in college who thought I was too young. And while I wasn’t specifically trying to seek any kind of relationship with Ava beyond friends, I also didn’t like the idea that she found it necessary to shut it down completely. Granted, she hadn’t said anything out loud, but I could feel it coming. It felt like she was a few sentences away from making a statement like, ‘You remind me of my brothers,’ or something else that would make me feel pathetic. She might have meant it as a compliment, but it was one of the most humiliating comments a guy could get.

  It was certainly enough to snap me out of the euphoria I’d been experiencing for the last hour or so.

  I turned my head away as my sixth sense picked up another guy close by, sleeping in a chair. I suspected he was older, but not so old I’d be worried about killing him.

  I didn’t think it would be necessary to make sure all my targets were alone, considering how discrete I’d been with the first one, but this alone victim stuck out like a sore thumb.

  I nodded towards Ava, taking off down the street without another word. She noticed my abrupt change in demeanor, appearing concerned, but I certainly wasn’t about to explain myself. I also wasn’t going to ask her something pathetic like, ‘What did you do to me?’

  I mean, I couldn’t think of a good way to ask, ‘Why did you make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside?’ without sounding super weird or awkward. If anything, the next comment out of her mouth would be something about me being ‘a good friend’ or ‘like a brother.’

  And I definitely wasn’t going to provoke that kind of explanation out of her if I could avoid it.

  Ava followed after me, keeping watch like she promised as I quickly sucked out some of the guy’s blood, being less cautious about my pace. I then moved on to my next victim, deciding to just hit several houses at once. Now that I was less hungry, it didn’t require as much concentration to avoid taking too much, allowing me to target three people at the same time.

  I then found one last man, this one in bed with his wife, forcing myself to feed a little more than necessary. I figured that if I could overstuff myself a little, then maybe I might be able to go longer before my next meal. Not to mention, while I had already given back Trinity some of her blood, I wanted to return more if possible, to both her and Liz. I knew from a blood typing lab in science class that I had the universal donor blood type, so I wasn’t worried about harming either of them in case my blood didn’t match.

  I still hadn’t discovered how long I could go without eating, but now I was hesitant to risk finding out. However, I knew that once we got back to base, and I had access to a fridge full of blood-bags, I might experiment.

  Well…assuming we weren’t immediately being deployed for a mission, since I’d need to be at full strength to support my team.

  Ava trailed right behind me as I headed back to our group. It was almost pitch black now, due to the fact that the moon was covered again by clouds and the town didn’t have street lights. I doubted these people could afford to have lights on all night anyway, even if that made the streets less safe. It was strange to think that something I considered to be commonplace would be a luxury here.

  But still, even despite the potentially unsafe streets, we had no trouble avoiding encounters. There was just simply no
one out.

  At least, everything was fine until we got back.

  Just as we reached the right alleyway, a shriek filled the night, this one distinctly human even despite my experience with the leopard. I halted in my tracks, reaching out with my sixth sense in the direction of the incessant screaming, only to find a gang of six men surrounding another guy who was dragging a woman through a busted-down door, pinning her to the ground with his weight once he had her outside.

  I half expected someone to come to her aid, noting that there appeared to be an injured man inside the building, but while everyone in the vicinity began to wake up, several of them getting out of bed to peak out the window, no one ran outside to help.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groaned in annoyance, anger beginning to boil underneath the surface of my skin. Seriously, exactly how common was crime in this place? I’d never expect to be around something like this happening back home.

  When the man punched her in the face, stifling her screams into moans and whimpers, my rage boiled over.

  Instantly, I dropped down before exploding upwards, the paved alleyway cracking underneath the pressure of my jump as I shot high into the pitch-black night.

  My blood shot out of my back, forming a makeshift pair of bat-like wings as my ascent transitioned into flight toward the source of my fury. The moon began peaking out of a gap in the clouds just as I hovered overhead, shifting my wings into hundreds of tendrils, causing me to drop straight down to the street far below.

  The ground snapped underneath the pressure of my fall, the group of men turning around in shock at my unexpected arrival. I gave my blood life, the tendrils swaying wildly in the air, reaching out across the open space.

  Several of the men began screaming, one of them pissing himself, while another shrieked ‘Le-ak! le-ak!’ repeatedly.

  I had no idea what he was saying, nor did I care. I let a few of them begin running away, before my blood bolted after them, snagging them around the ankles and pulling them back towards me – towards their death, enjoying it as they clawed at the ground in terror.