The Awakening Box Set

by Michael Timmins

  “Earthquake in England. Pretty big I hear.”

  “Shit. No kidding? When did it happen?”

  “Just now.” The guard went back to watching the screen, and Daniel walked to the barred gate.

  “Hey. How about letting me in? Jimmy?”

  Just as Jimmy reached for the button to let him into the holding area, the doorknob of the holding room shot out of the door. The door splintered. All hell broke loose.

  Shae paced her small cell waiting for Daniel Mathis to arrive. She had no idea what time it was, but her body seemed to know it was the usual time for his daily visit. She decided yesterday, she would jump him today and attempt to kill him. After all, what was the worst they could do? As far as she could tell, they couldn’t kill her.

  Sure, she would feel everything they did to her, but she would heal. It would all be worth it if she could just choke the life out of that bastard. She stopped her pacing, eyes closed, visualizing her hands around his neck, squeezing the life out of him. She shook the image from her mind and started to pace, again. Shae took two steps and then fell to the floor and sprawled out as pain like no other struck her.

  She wondered if this was some experiment of Daniel’s. If it was, how was he doing it and not being here? She closed her eyes to the pain and sucked in gasps of air. It was if some invisible hammer was targeting every bone in her body and breaking them.

  Something strange was happening, she felt her body changing, shifting. She sensed her body widening and elongating as she thrashed about on the floor in agony. Her senses were overwhelmed with what was occurring to her body. She couldn’t identify what, but she knew if she could get through it, she would heal whatever damage was done. Seconds passed, the pain finally eased, and Shae lifted herself off the floor. Her eyes were shut, for her face hurt the and ached the most.

  Shae cracked one eye open, then shut it immediately. What she saw was too much for her to accept. She saw an elongated snout protruding from her face, carpeted in brownish-red fur. A black nose sat on its tip, and long, white whiskers protruded from the side of her, er, nose.

  Shae would do anything for a mirror at this moment, but they didn’t allow her to have one, for fear of her smashing it and using a shard to try and kill herself or someone else. She needed to do something. She couldn’t stand here forever and not look at what had been done to her.

  After another moment, she opened both eyes. They confirmed what she saw earlier. Shae looked down at her arms. They were also covered in brownish-red fur, all the way to her long-fingered claws, ending in sharp nails. The arms were heavy with muscles. They were easily twice as big around as they had been. Shae looked at the door and saw her eye level had changed as well. She was at least a foot, or more taller than she had been.

  Something on the floor behind her caught her eye out of her periphery. She looked back to see a pinkish rat-like tail winding back around behind her. She spun around quickly to see where it led. It spun with her. She took one more turn before it occurred to her, the tail might be attached.

  Was she a rat? A giant rat? She thought it was guinea pigs scientists did tests on, why are they doing this to her? A part of her wondered if this was something they did, or did she do this herself? It seemed natural for some reason she couldn’t quite explain.

  Whatever it was, it was too much. She was so angry at life, at the doctors, at her mom — she wanted to hurt… all of them. She bunched her hands into fists so tight, it hurt. She wanted to explode. So much anger. She slammed her fist against the wall, hard.

  When she pulled back her hand, to her surprise, there was a deep indentation where she hit. The metal wall buckled around the impact and sunk several inches in. Shae stared in disbelief. She stared at the wall, and then back at her fur covered knuckles. The impact busted the skin around them. As she watched, the skin quickly knitted itself back up.

  She bared her teeth in a vicious smile and went to the door. It was too thick for her to bust through. But maybe, just maybe. She pulled her arm back and punched forward with all her might. Her fist connected solidly with the doorknob. The outside casing shattered on impact. She felt the shaft dig into her skin and slice into her muscle. As it reached her bone, it bent, snapped, and gave way. The outside knob pushed out with such force; it flew down the hallway.

  Shae had to move quickly, there was no telling how long it would take for someone attempt to stop her. She knew she could get past the one guard at the end of the hall. In fact, she was looking forward to it. She despised his leer when he shuffled her to the lab and for pulling the restraints tight. She slammed open the door, elated to see Daniel at the end of the hall, staring wide-eyed at her.

  He seemed frozen in place, unable to comprehend what he was seeing, and unable to do anything but stare. She wasted no time and ran towards him. He recovered from his shock at seeing her and backed away. He stopped, remembering the barred gate between them.

  Shae picked up speed and quickly closed the distance; she lowered her shoulder and launched herself at the bars. She hit with such force the welds at the top, holding the gate to the ceiling, snapped. She and the gate fell to the ground. The impact knocked the breath out of Shae. She took a moment to catch her breath before pushing herself to her feet.

  Daniel stared at her, and finally screamed at the guard to her left.

  “Shoot her! I’ll go get help.” He ran.

  Shae moved to follow when she heard the shot and felt white hot pain erupt from her abdomen. She fell against the wall from the impact of the bullet. She turned to see Jimmy, the guard, both hands trembling, holding a gun pointed at her. She hissed in frustration at his effort to stop her from getting to Daniel.

  She launched herself at him. He fired again, the bullet taking her right above her breastbone and slicing through her throat. It was enough to stall her momentum. She found it hard to breath. She saw him raise the gun and point it at her again. She spun in place. Her whip-like rat tail snapped across his wrist, knocking the gun from his hand, breaking his wrist and sending him pirouetting backwards.

  She could feel warmth flowing in her throat. She wasn’t sure if it was blood or something else, but whatever it was, she was able to breathe again. In a few short strides, she stood over Jimmy. She wanted to hurt him the way he had hurt her. She grabbed the front of his shirt and lifted him up. He wouldn’t look her, his head twisting left and right, anywhere but into her beady eyes.

  She let go of him and stepped back. After a moment, Jimmy was curious as to why she hadn’t done anything and looked at her. As soon as he made eye contact, she surged forward and with one clawed finger, buried it into his throat. She felt it slice through his esophagus and felt the jarring impact as her claw ran into his spinal column. She felt the snap as it broke. Jimmy slumped to the ground. He wasn’t dead yet, but he was by the time she reached the stairs around the corner in pursuit of Daniel.

  If Daniel thought he could get away, he was sadly mistaken. Whatever changes occurred to Shae, she moved like lightning. She caught up with him right before he made it outside. He sprinted across the huge foyer of the government building he worked in. Large glass windows washed the granite tile floors with warmth they otherwise lacked.

  Several people milled about, signing in at the visitor register, or taking a coffee on one of the benches lining the glass wall. Shae entered the foyer. Madness erupted. A woman on her cellphone spotted her and screamed, causing heads to turn in her direction. She could care less. Her prize was ahead, and when the woman screamed, Daniel ran with renewed determination and speed.

  Seeing her target also gave Shae new purpose. She sped after him, colliding with him just a few feet from the door. They skidded to a halt together on the floor. Daniel tried to squirm out from under her, but she was too quick. She had Daniel up and slammed him against one of the many columns that were spaced across the front wall.

  “I am going to kill you now, Daniel,” Shae told him, holding him against the column, her arm pressed against his t
hroat.

  She heard a shuffling of feet behind her.

  “Let him go, whatever you are,” a voice commanded from behind her.

  Shae slowly looked over her shoulder. Four guards pointed guns at her. Three held simple handguns, the other, a shotgun. She knew she would heal from any wounds she would take but was afraid they might be able to subdue her while her body healed.

  She eased the pressure on Daniel’s neck and relaxed her stance. She felt, more than heard, the sighs the guards made when it looked like she was going to acquiesce. She looked back at Daniel. Something in her manner scared him, for his eyes widened. She drew her arm across his neck till her claws sliced across the tender flesh, spraying her face with his blood. She pivoted, still holding Daniel’s body so it was between her and the guards. She thrust him at the guards. They hesitated, and in their hesitation, she was out the door.

  The sun was bright, and her eyes hurt from their lack of exposure to it. She squinted and could make out a wooded lot across the street. She made her way there. She appeared to be in an industrial park primarily for shipping hubs. Semi-trailers were parked next to each other in long lines that stretched for some distance. She saw the license plate on several of them and guessed she was in Virginia, quite a way from upstate New York.

  She passed into the shade of the trees and moved deeper. Her eyes stopped hurting and readjusted to the gloom. The fresh air was a crisp feeling to her senses. It had been so long since she had felt fresh air on her skin. Her hospital gown was covered in blood and torn in several places. She ripped it off, not wanting to have even the smallest reminder of her time in that place.

  Her fur covered body barely showed signs of her being a female. She had been flat-chested before, now they were almost completely flat, barely more than bumps around the nipples. Being hairless before, Shae now enjoyed immense amount of hair covering her body.

  She moved deeper into the woods with one main question: what would she do now? She had no money, no clothes, or anybody to call. She coughed out a laugh. What was she thinking? She was a monster. Even with money, clothes or someone to call, she wouldn’t be able to do anything in public. She was free, and yet she wasn’t. She could never live a normal life again.

  She walked for an hour or so through the wooded lot. Once she saw a black helicopter circling overhead, but with the tree cover she was certain they couldn’t see her.

  She reached the edge of the forest and realized she was looking at someone’s backyard. Lush green grass spread out before her, dotted here and there with a sapling or a small bush. A stained porch extended out from the back of a two-story house. Its many windows looked into a world she never experienced before — a real family, a happy family. Or so she imagined. A family would have to be happy to live in such a beautiful home.

  She caught movement from inside and crouched into the shadows of the trees. She watched a woman, probably in her mid-forties, slide aside the glass door and move onto the porch. She crossed over to the grill and Shae could hear a clicking noise then a whoosh of gas being ignited. There should have been no way she could have heard that from where she was hidden in the trees. It was if her hearing had suddenly been amplified. She assumed it had something to do with her transformation. A young girl cracked open the glass door. She was slight of frame and Shae guessed she was only a few years older than her, though not much bigger than she was. Well, how she normally was. She listened to the conversation.

  “Mom, I’m going to go over to Sara’s for dinner, okay?”

  “I just started the grill, sweetheart.” The mother turned towards her daughter.

  “Well then, you can put on one less burger,” the daughter said with a smirk.

  The mother sighed. “Very well. Come out here and give me a kiss goodbye.”

  The young girl opened the door a tad more and stepped outside and gave her mom a peck on the cheek before darting back inside. With a slight shake of the head, the mother adjusted the temperature on the grill and stepped inside.

  Shae was suddenly overcome with anger. This was the life she deserved. She should be loved by a mother, not abandoned, again, and again. She started to turn away, envisioning herself in a house like that when the pain struck.

  Shae doubled over in pain, like what she felt before, but less intense. Bones broke and shortened. Shae could feel cells die and become absorbed by other cells in order to bring her body back to its original size. Her skin felt afire as the fur was absorbed back into her skin. Her tail quickly disintegrated, and the cells distributed across her skin. In the end, Shae was left panting and naked on the forest floor.

  She lay there for some time, trying to figure out what was going on, and what to do about it. It was the black helicopter flying overhead, low to the tree canopy that brought Shae out of her ruminations. She scrambled to get behind a tree, running low to the ground.

  She wasn’t sure if they saw her, but the helicopter wheeled about and headed further along the forest. Her gaze swung back to the house. The mother was nowhere to be found. It was decided. She would wait till nightfall and then go in.

  Night descended as Shae waited with worried patience. She wondered why no one had come to search for her yet. She had killed Daniel, she was sure. Sliced through his jugular and tossed him aside. She had escaped from where she was a prisoner in some sort of scientific experimentation jail.

  She was sure they wouldn’t want that sort of information out. What if she got to the police, or the news? Maybe they knew she wouldn’t do that. After all, a man was dead, and she had killed him. Not only that, but how would she explain what she had become, the monster? She needed to get some clothes first and then she would decide what to do. She didn’t want to think about what she would do, because she had no idea.

  Shae was only fourteen and a half. What could she do? She couldn’t drive, she couldn’t travel. She had no money, no means to go anywhere. That was something to worry about later. Right now, she was cold, hungry, and naked. Those came first.

  She waited till most of the lights went out in the house. It was late, maybe near midnight. The clouds obscured the moon so completely she couldn’t determine where it rested, which was good, because there were no lights for the neighbors to see her run across the back yard, onto the porch, and stop in front of the sliding back door. Something occurred to her as she looked inside the house. She could see. Not like daytime, but almost like looking through sunglasses. Everything was visible but shaded.

  The door had blinds shielding her from getting a good look inside, but where they parted in some places — she could see inside. There was a faint light off to the left, coming from the kitchen, she imagined. A greenish light emanating from the entertainment center in the corner illuminated the family room in somber glow.

  The furniture looked new, much different from the raggedy sofa her foster mother had. All in all, the family looked to have nice things. Nice things she had never had or would ever have. She pondered how to get in when she heard a car pull into the driveway at the front.

  Shae quickly ran around the side of the house and saw the daughter get out of the car and lock it. She moved towards the front door. This was the chance Shae needed to get into the house. But how would she get by the girl? She was obviously going to lock the door when she got in, ruining Shae’s chance to follow. The only way for her to get in was to use the girl’s keys. She was going to have to act fast if she wanted to get those keys.

  As the girl got to the door, Shae realized her time for deciding was over; it was act now or be left out in the cold. Shae moved quickly from around the house and as the girl was separating her house key from the others, Shae closed in behind her. She leaped onto the front porch and as she flew, she brought her fist across in a vicious back swing, striking the girl in the side of the head. Shae heard an audible snap as the girl’s head bent to the side at an awkward angle. She crumpled to the ground.

  Shae stared at her. She could see the girl’s blank eyes stare back up at her
. She hadn’t intended to kill the girl, just knock her down and grab the keys. Somehow, she hit her harder than intended. Shae freaked. She looked out at the houses across the street. They were quiet and unassuming. Lights only populated a few windows, and those were curtained over. She didn’t believe anyone saw her.

  Quickly she bent down and picked up the keys from the dead girl’s grip and unlocked the front door. The foyer was large and open. Stairs leading up were on her left and a sitting room was off to the right. Straight ahead down the hallway was most likely the kitchen.

  Shae turned back, grabbed the young girl’s wrists, and dragged her over the doorstep, into the house. She moved her legs out of the way so she could close the door. The lock clicked as she turned it. She paused to make sure no one stirred in the house. Moments passed and not a sound could be heard but the clicking of seconds off the grandfather clock in the foyer. She saw it was only a little after eleven.

  The house was quiet as she moved to the stairs. As quietly as she could, she climbed them, praying for no loose floorboards to squeak, announcing her. Luckily, no noises occurred as she mounted the top stair. She found herself in a hallway where four doors lined the walls.

  Shae looked at each door for some indication it was the girl’s room. Nothing was apparent. Shae shrugged and approached the first door on the left. Cautiously she opened it. As the door slowly opened, she found herself looking into an office. Bookcases lined the far wall behind a large oak desk. It wasn’t the room she wanted, she started to close the door when something on the desk caught her eye.

  She opened the door and entered. Resting upon the desk were two knives on a display rack. She guessed they weren’t knives really, for they were too long to be just knives. She saw they were oriental in design. Scrollwork ran the length of each blade and the hilt was ivory, wrapped in red thread. She took one off the display and held it up before her. She ran her finger across the blade’s edge. It bit into her flesh. She pulled her finger away. Blood blossomed on the tip of her finger which she quickly stuck it in her mouth and sucked the blood away.