by K. C. Finn
“And you can show me how to do that?” Lori leaned closer still. Her fingers sunk into the grooves of the table, pressing hard.
“Provided you go back to the D.C. on Tuesday, yes.” Marax’s smile sank, but didn’t leave his face. “Greg tells me you were missing this week.”
Lori bobbed her head, shrugging.
“Shit’s gone down at home. I knew if I went to the centre, my family would probably be waiting there trying to talk to me.”
“I’ll arrange for Greg to get you to your appointments unseen in future,” Marax replied.
The desk gave a creak, and Lori jolted as Marax sprang to his feet. He clapped his hands together.
“Come along,” he said, louder than before, “let’s see what I’m working with.”
From the office, they took the tunnel in the opposite direction to the main cavern. Lori looked around, trying to reassure herself that she would know how to get back out when she needed to. There were voices ahead, slowly coming into hearing range, but they echoed off the dark walls so Lori couldn’t tell where they were coming from. She trod carefully over the rocks and ruins, feeling her way along the cave walls. Marax vanished to the right, and Lori stepped up quickly to follow him. The voices were loud and clear in this new hallway.
“I’m not doing it, it feels weird.”
Lori recognised the belligerent bark of Owe Mahad. The hall led further underground, opening to another cavern a little way ahead of them. The second voice spoke again, and Lori knew it’s strange accent well. Her stomach did an awkward roll.
“That’s because your back legs are stronger than your front ones,” Addy told Owe. “But if you don’t start using them now, before they grow in strong, you’ll find it a lot harder to walk on four legs.”
“What in Hell would you know about walking on four legs?” Owe shot back.
Marax chuckled. Lori saw him cup his hands to his mouth ahead of her.
“A lot more than you’d think!” he called.
He looked back over his shoulder, flashing Lori a grin. She didn’t understand why, but she returned it, and Marax nodded. They entered the room, and Lori glanced first to Addy. When he saw her, a smile lifted his face. He rushed towards her, pale cheeks pink with exertion.
“Lori! It’s good to see you. I saw your Mum putting posters up at Fir Trees and… Well, it’s good you’re here isn’t it… I mean…”
Lori couldn’t take in his rambling. She’d already looked past Addy, even as he started to speak, to Owe. Who had finally taken that huge ugly coat off. Owe’s eyes met Lori’s, and she made sure her face wasn’t giving off any of the shock that was freezing her insides. Owe had been changing in more ways than just those little horns on her head. They were bigger now, about two inches long and starting to curl back, but they weren’t what Lori was looking at.
Owe had two extra legs growing from her middle. Her back and hips had started to bend forward, hunching her and weighing her down. The spare legs were thin and hairy, not yet grown enough to have the two-toed hooves which the proper Faunus had. Her skin was much redder too, shining through her human creed, making her glow in the low light. Lori’s eyes came back to Owe’s face. The girl was open-mouthed, her head juddering a little. Her eyes widened and she raised one of her human hands, pointing at Lori.
“Just you open your mouth…” she said.
Lori shook her head slowly.
“No,” Lori replied. “I think it’s incredible.” She smiled. Owe’s pointing finger fell away. “I saw how powerful the Faunus was, remember? Nobody’s ever going to mess with you again. You’ll stamp them into the dirt.”
Owe’s shoulders settled. One of her new legs gave a jerk. “Count on it.”
“Lori, take the centre,” said Marax. “Show me how far you’ve got with transformation.”
The knot in Lori’s gut wrenched. She turned to see Marax and Addy both waiting, arms folded. She walked slowly to the centre of this new, smaller cavern, taking in a deep lung-full of wet, dirty air. It cooled her insides, a shiver escaping through her shoulders. Lori flattened her clothes, looking down at the ground before her. She closed her eyes, thinking hard, pulling those same thoughts into her head that she had in the bathroom. Pressure. Hatred. Distress. She clenched her fists hard, tensing her whole body.
“You look constipated!” Owe bellowed suddenly.
Lori’s body loosened, her eyes flashing open. “Would you shut up?”
Owe held her stomach as she giggled, her extra legs flailing. Marax reached out an swatted one of them. Owe’s gaze snapped to him, her chuckles fading.
“If you can’t behave, you’ll go away,” he said.
“Sorry, but she’s doing it wrong, isn’t she?” Owe asked. “That can’t be what it’s supposed to look like.”
Marax pursed his lips. He bent his head towards Addy. “Go and help.”
Lori watched the lanky boy straighten up. He held his hands cupped in front of his body as he walked towards her. Lori’s skin gave a prickle. Addy let his hands loose, reaching up a moment for her shoulder, but his arms swung away again.
“Close your eyes,” he began. Lori followed, shuffling her feet. “I don’t know what you were thinking of before, but it looked like frustration. You don’t have to do that, Lori.”
She opened her eyes again. “But the files in the D.C. said ‘transformation in times of distress’.”
“That’s what they’ve found.” Addy gave her a small smile. “It’s not the only way.”
“So what do I think of?”
“Yourself.” Addy took a step nearer to Lori’s side. He was almost in her peripheral vision. She closed her eyes again, waiting for his voice. “Think of the part of you that feels powerful. The rush of strength. The enjoyment of being what you are.”
Lori tried, but her thoughts were a crush of pain and terror. Ryan Wade smashing into the desk. Pauline’s sister going flying across the room. Brian lying out in the mud with his slack face. She raised her hands to her head, fingers digging in at her scalp. She shook, trying to push past the carnage and find something good.
“It’s no use.” Her voice was hoarse. “I don’t enjoy the power. I never have. It frightens me, Addy. It hurts people.”
“But why?” Addy’s lips were close to her hair. “Why did you hurt those people, Lori? What made you do it?”
Rage, said the voice in Lori’s head. She gulped, but didn’t fight the idea. Was it rage? Perhaps a little. But she hadn’t blundered in there and attacked any of those people whilst she was awake. She’d been provoked. Protecting. Lori started at the second voice. She thought of those three times she’d lost it. Protecting herself from Ryan’s sharp tongue. Protecting her father from drunken relatives with glass bottles. Protecting her mother from Brian and his controlling ways.
“I wanted to help them.”
“And you did,” Addy answered.
Lori’s body shifted. She felt the muscles ache and twist like they had when she’d been chasing after the Faunus. She’d wanted to protect people then as well, to catch that thing before it got near any houses. The sensation of racing in the dark, of throwing weighty things and being able to stop any wicked force in its tracks. She had all of that now, coursing in her blood. Lori’s chest burst with fire, a wave radiating out into her every limb. She couldn’t feel the weight of her belly, though her legs and shoulders were certainly bigger. She opened her eyes, and the cavern was impossibly bright, like daylight.
Marax was stepping closer, and his suit made his body look like it was made of diamonds. He stepped right into Lori’s face and she noticed she was a few inches taller than him now. Looking down, she saw the glow of red reflected in his eyes. He cocked his head to one side.
“You’re a bit small yet.” His voice echoed, impossibly loud, and Lori reckoned she’d have heard him from miles away. “But all of the major features are in place. Antlers are stumpy, but they’ll come in as time passes.” Marax folded his arms, leaning back a li
ttle. “I like it. You’re a born fighter.”
Lori wanted to speak, but when she opened her mouth it was full of new teeth that were huge and wrong. She choked and spluttered like the time she’d been given a mouth-guard to stop her grinding in her sleep. She wanted to spit the teeth out, but they were hers now. She raised a hand to feel them, but paused as it came into view. Black skin, smooth like stone, covered her body now. She looked down, but couldn’t see much beyond her hulking chest. She had claws, though they were small and barely curling, and a feel of her head told her that Marax was right about the antlers. In the new brightness of the cavern, she could see the stubby shadow they were casting.
“How do you feel?” Addy asked.
Lori turned. He too was below her eyeline now. She knew she’d blurt out some growling nonsense if she tried to answer, so she nodded. She felt all right. The world was suddenly a hive of activity: every rock humming with vibrations, every light flashing its brightness at her. If she listened hard, she could hear all four of the heartbeats in the room. Lori shut her eyes, thinking of her soft, smaller human self. Could she get back there? She inhaled, hearing a growl deep in her own throat, and longed for the feel of her own teeth. She thought of the damp, fidgeting hands she’d been pawing at Marax’s table with, and a light-headed sensation washed through her brain.
Seconds passed. The world tipped over. Lori landed with a hard thump, but the cushion of flesh that broke her fall was a huge relief. She panted, opening her eyes to the semi-darkness again. Addy was reaching for her and she grabbed at his hands, getting only air. She focused hard, but found that everything was doubled. When Addy did get a hold of her and helped her to her feet, Lori teetered on the uneven ground like she was on the deck of a ship. The world swayed to and fro a few times, making her stomach lurch. She took another breath, holding onto Addy. She licked her dry lips as the world rebalanced. There was an off taste in her mouth, like chalk.
“That’s weird.” Her voice was a dry whisper. “I thought it would taste like flesh and stuff.”
“Why?” Addy asked.
Marax and Owe had come closer. Lori glanced at them all.
“Well,” she began, brow furrowed, “because the Cervinae who attacked me smelled like that.”
“Like meat?” Marax asked. Lori nodded. He frowned too. “Impossible.”
“How come?”
“Because demons don’t eat,” he replied. “Be honest, Lori. Do you have even half the appetite you did before the Cervinae infected you?”
Lori let go of Addy, testing her balance. So long as she didn’t step forward, she was all right. She narrowed her gaze, looking down at the ground a moment. She still had a huge belly, but it didn’t plague her for food the way it once had. It had been many years since she’d refused the promise of a Big Mac, like she had that same morning.
“But it definitely smelled like blood and meat and stuff,” she said, “and the thing that’s been going around killing people… It’s ripping them apart. Leaving only bits. So… I thought it must have been eating the rest of them.”
“A Cervinae that’s developed a taste for human flesh?” Marax scratched his bare chin, then tugged at his ear. “No wonder I can’t find it.”
“You’ve been looking?” Lori asked, the familiar lump growing in her throat.
“We all have.” Owe nodded.
“I’ll widen the search now you’ve told me something new.” Marax’s eyes had lost their focus, and he was still tugging at his ear. He turned and began to walk from the cavern, waving one hand back absently. “Owe, come with me. You can mark up new routes on the map.”
“Sir.” Owe flashed Lori and Addy a little smile. Her teeth were changing shape.
When she was gone, Addy took a few paces across the room. Lori saw him fumble in a brown canvas satchel. She sank down slowly to the ground, perching on a little clump of ruins slightly raised from the rock. Addy turned and came back, a little red notebook clutched in his hands. He crouched beside Lori, tipping onto his side, and handed it to her.
“You asked me for it,” he said. Lori quirked a brow. “It’s the record of your sleep-walking. The times and stuff?”
Addy’s voice rose at the end of the sentence. Lori took the book, flipping to the page she’d seen before.
“Right. Yeah, thanks.”
Tiredness crashed over her like a tidal wave. She was heavier than ever, sinking into the ground. Addy smiled, but he was getting a little blurry.
“You want to sleep here awhile? My study is kinda comfy. Well, it has a beanbag at least… I could-”
“No,” Lori cut in. Addy’s shoulders sank. “It’s fine. I’ll get back to… where I’m staying.”
“Shall I walk you there?” Addy asked. Lori’s gut twisted.
“Uh, no…” she began. Addy looked away. “It’s just that Kas… He wouldn’t like it if people knew where we were staying.”
Addy’s mouth opened and closed. He nodded.
“I get that. So Kas is… what?”
Even through the haze of exhaustion, an alarm rung in her head. She started to get to her feet.
“Doesn’t matter.” She wobbled. Her head flashed with pain as another unpleasant memory surfaced. Blackened arms. “Shit. There was something else I needed to ask Marax.”
Addy held her elbow. “I can help.”
Lori swallowed, clearing her head a moment.
“I did this thing where someone’s arms went black when I touched them. Like hard skin. Dead flesh. I… thought it was frostbite because of how it looked. But that’s impossible, right?”
Addy pursed his lips. “Why impossible?”
Visions of her mother’s agonised face popped in Lori’s aching head like fireworks.
“Because frostbite takes ages to kill flesh. That’s what Huw told me when we all went camping years ago.”
Addy looked Lori over, hands on his hips. He smiled. “You ever wonder why you’re so hot and bothered all the time?”
“Owe says it’s because of the part of Hell that I come from,” she answered, a sour taste on her tongue.
“Well, she’s not far off,” Addy answered. Lori glared at him, but he shrugged. “At your core, you’re cold now. From the iciest ridges of Hell. It’s why Marax likes you so much. The Cervinae used to be his neighbours out there. If you channel that cold, like you do with your strength, it gets accelerated. Intense cold moving at speed, freezing whatever you touch.”
Lori frowned, her brow heavy. A sharp pain started to pin her behind the eyes.
“Are you saying I could turn stuff to ice if I wanted to?”
“If you work at it.” Addy nodded, still smiling. “You sure you don’t want to rest here awhile? You look like Death warmed up.”
“Thanks.” Lori folded her arms. Addy’s smile dropped.
She left Addy in the cavern, making her way back up to street level. It was much later in the morning and busier out now, but Lori knew the city well enough to stick to backstreets until she could get out to the place where Kasabian’s squat was. The cool rain was still falling, soothing her skin and lowering the burn in her forehead. Lori drank it up as she made the slow trek through the winding backstreets, returning to the paper shop that masked the fire escape ladder.
She paused at the paper shop, body aching from the walk. As she leaned over and put a hand against the wall, Lori’s eyes focused on the little billboard she’d rounded earlier in the morning. Since she’d been by this morning, someone had plastered the day’s headlines onto it, advertising the local paper. Lori shut her eyes to heave in a few more breaths. The words sank in. There was a hitch in her chest, and she opened her eyes again. She studied the huge black capitals once more:
MAULED DETECTIVE SAYS HE’S ON THE CASE
Lori blinked. She scrambled into her bag for a few silver coins, then dashed into the paper shop to buy a copy. She stuffed it under one arm to protect the paper from the rain, forcing her way up the fire escape to get back into the win
dow as quickly as possible. Once she was settled, leaning against the wall on top of her makeshift bed, Lori unrolled the paper, her heart pounding. Past the advertising page, she found the headline. Sure enough, there was a half-page photo of a man she recognised, looking as grumpy as he ever did. Carl Walker had a cast on his left forearm and bruises all over his face and neck, but his expression was deadly serious.
Lori studied the caption. It took her longer than she thought it should to make out the words, her brows hard and heavy.
Detective Walker, attacked five nights ago, declares that he’s ‘up and ready’ to track down Chester’s savage Killer Beast.
Killer Beast…
Lori heard the voice echo in her head. She tried to read on, but her eyes were closing. It was like someone had taken away a support, the way she suddenly slipped down the wall sideways and crashed into her bed. Her head was on her backpack, phone digging into her face, but she was too dizzy and heavy to move away from it. Blackness crept into the corners of her vision, and she let out a long, low breath.
Killer Beast…
The world grew dark and quiet, save for the slow beating of Lori’s heart.
Bodies, and how they alter
Kasabian lay on his side of the room, his face peaceful as a baby’s. Lori had been watching him for a good few minutes, indulging that part of her that she hadn’t admitted to owning yet. His dark brows curved up, lips soft and smiling a little in his sleep. It was the middle of the night, but the moon was full enough to put a silver glow on the curtain-less room. Lori was standing by the window, the newspaper in her hand. She hadn’t had a moment to read it yet. Kasabian got home whilst she was still out cold from the exhausting transformation. She’d tried her best to eat the Big Mac, but it was making her stomach ache now. She’d tried her best to go back to sleep too, but two hours of tossing and turning had brought her to this point.
Lori tore her gaze away from Kasabian, opening the paper gently so it wouldn’t crackle and wake him. Holding it up to the moonlight, she screwed her eyes to read the story. The newspaper claimed that Walker had been attacked last week, in the middle of the night, by the ‘Killer Beast of Chester’, which had claimed two lives and injured two others since early September. When he was asked about the nature of this ‘beast’, Walker’s quote was so typical of him that Lori could practically hear him saying it: