Coroniam City

I was backed into a corner by one of the intruders. He towered over me with a pleased expression on his face and all I could do was stare into his black, soulless eyes. He reached a hand towards me and I stole a glance only to be disgusted by his fingernails, were long and dirty and he had a large gash that leaked black ooze all over the back of his hand. He ran his nails across my cheek and I turned away, disgusted by how hot his touch was.

A body slammed into the wall beside us, barely missing me. It was Mac, he slumped to the floor unconscious and the man he had been fighting was quickly on him. He bent down beside Mac and grabbed hold of his arm. The man opened his mouth, his pointed teeth dripped with saliva. He was just about to bite down on Mac when I found all of the courage and strength I could muster to kick him in the face and send him flying onto his back.

The man who stood before me tried to grab me but I quickly ducked to avoid his grasp and punched his pelvis hard. He staggered backwards but it didn't take long for him to be on me. He grabbed me by the wrist and shoved me to the ground beside Mac who was barely coming to.

The old man shook his head just in time to see the second assailant crawling back towards him on all fours with a ferocious look on his face. Mac looked around for something to grab and found an old curtain rod laying close by. He grabbed it and whipped it across the man’s face, sending him flying backwards. Mac jumped to his feet without so much as a glance in my direction and tackled the other man to the floor.

I refocused on my own assailant and just in time. He was still on top of me, his drool dripped down onto my neck. He lowered his head, ready to sink his teeth into my flesh when I pushed as hard as I could with my legs and managed to get him off me. He stood up, wiping the mixture of black ooze and drool from his face. He stepped towards me with a dark glare set on his face. I backed away from the man and kicked at him when he came close but that was a mistake; he grabbed my leg and twisted it hard, I felt the bone crack before I heard it and cried out in pain.

“Piper!” My father shouted. I looked back at him, tears falling freely down my cheeks from the pain in my leg. He stood over the third attacker with a gun pointed at his head. Without blinking, he shot the man and ran towards me.

The man who had broken my leg dropped it to the floor and snarled when he saw my father aim his gun at him. My father shot at him, making a hole straight through the man’s chest. He staggered backwards and I crawled away from him and towards my father. The man wasn't hurt for too long and he recovered fast enough to lunge at my dad, bearing his teeth like a wild animal. My father fired one shot after another but it didn't deter the man, he took each bullet as if he were being hit with cotton balls and grabbed my father by the neck.

“No!” I screamed. The man’s grip on my father’s neck was tight, and he was turning red from the lack of air. My father clawed at the man’s hands but to no avail.

I hit the man's legs as hard as I could, but he didn't seem to notice as he held my father a few feet in the air. My father’s legs kicked just above my head and I knew he only had a few seconds before he passed out and not long after that before he died. I looked around for something, anything to help him but there was nothing close enough. I was screaming and beating the man as hard as I could. I tried to find Mac in the hopes that he might be able to help but he was still struggling with the other assailant.

Out of desperation, I did the one thing I could think of. I grabbed hold of the man’s leg and opened my mouth wide. My father had already passed out in the man’s arms and he looked like he was about to bite into my father’s neck when I bit down on his leg as hard as I could. My mouth filled with the disgusting black liquid that gushed out of the man’s leg and he yanked himself free before kicking me in the head. He dropped my father to the ground and grabbed me by the hair.

“You stupid little girl,” he growled as he lifted me from the ground. I reached up towards his hand and tried to pull my hair free but he had tangled his hand into my red locks and wasn't going to let go. “You think you just saved him?”

“He’s still breathing isn't he?” I asked. My voice cracked from screaming and the pain of being held up by my hair but my question still raised a point. The man glanced at my father for a second and then threw me against the wall. I hit my back pretty hard and the impact had sent all of the air from my lungs.

“Don’t you know what you did?” He asked.

I looked around and saw Mac hovered over my father. The man walked close to them and slammed his elbow into Mac’s back. The older man fell beside my father with a small grunt. I sat, coughing as I tried to get a steady breath. The man looked at my father and Mac and kicked them to make sure they wouldn't get up.

“Don’t you feel it yet?” He asked. He was watching Mac with his head cocked to the side as if curious about the old man. “You've infected yourself in order to save him.”

“What?” I asked but I could already feel it. My body had heated up to a feverish temperature and my skin was beginning to tear in places where I hadn't even been hurt. My ankle hurt less and less as the seconds ticked by and I was growing hungry. “What’s going on?”

“You stupid girl!” The man responded. He hunched over my father now, he picked up his limp arm and slipped the gold wedding ring off his finger only to place it on his own. “You bit me, and seeing how slow you seem to be, you probably swallowed some of my blood.”

I tried to think back to when the black ooze was filling my mouth. Could I have swallowed some of it rather than spitting it out? I licked the back of my teeth, still tasting the ooze as I did so. I couldn't remember swallowing anything but I must have. I was sweating now but I could breathe again and carefully, I stood to my feet. I took a step towards the man as he continued to pick my father’s pockets but my leg was still broken and I stumbled when I tried to put pressure on it. I fell a few feet away from him as he stood up and turned around towards me.

“You’re weak you idiot,” he grumbled. He came close and kicked me onto my back before crouching down beside me. I was breathing heavily but couldn't move as he felt along my clothes for anything that might be of value to him. He raised my hair, probably to see if I had any earrings, and stared at my birthmark. “That’s interesting," he commented, tracing his finger along my neck. "It'll make it easier to find you."

“Find me?” I asked.

“I’m sure you’ll come looking for me after you eat your father and his drunken friend over there,” he said, nodding towards the two men slumped on the ground unconscious. “They should be out for a while.”

“I’m not going to hurt them,” I said. It was getting harder and harder to speak and my vision was starting to blur.

“Your eyes are shifting,” the man noted. “You’ll be out soon. You should be thanking me, I was going to eat them myself but you’ll need your strength to get to the subways.”

I tried to speak but my lips had dried. I shook my head weakly as the man stood and walked back towards my father and Mac. He sliced my father’s arm and then cupped his hand underneath the stream of blood that was coming out. He then walked back to me and dropped the blood into my mouth; I swallowed the mouthful and stared at him.

“What did it taste like?” He asked.

I couldn't answer him but it tasted nothing like the blood in my mouth ever had. I had expected the familiar coppery flavor to fill my mouth but instead, I was greeted with the chocolaty goodness of brownies. I felt the pain in my ankle start to fade as the warm liquid traveled to my stomach. I turned my head away from him and closed my eyes, feeling completely drained. I heard the man’s footsteps as he walked away. He stopped for just a second and I could feel his eyes on me.

“We weren't expecting visitors, you know,” he said. “We were looking for supplies when your friend came in and made himself at home. When you’re ready, come find me in the subways. My name is Isaiah.”

And with that, he left and my world went dark.



I woke up soon after, feeling completely drained. I groaned and looked towards my father and Mac who were still slumped on the ground. My father's cut had stopped bleeding and he lay in the same position that Isaiah had left him in so I knew that he still hadn't woken. I stood up, holding my head when it felt as though my brain was expanding against my skull. I stumbled over to my father and fell to the ground beside him with a loud thud. He didn't move.

"Dad," I groaned. I placed my hand on him but instantly pulled it back immediately. My father's skin was burning against my own. I bit my lip and waved my hand around as if that would help cool it off. I stopped when I felt something rip and then stared at my hand in disbelief.

The flesh on my skin was ripping away slowly. Black ooze seeped from my new, opened wound like blood used to do. I shoved my hand down and out of sight and looked back at my father. He shifted slightly and soon, he was groaning in pain. I quickly flipped him onto his back, making sure not to touch his skin again.

"Dad!"

"Piper," he groaned, looking up at the ceiling. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," I said. I looked down at my hand for a second and then back at my father. "Sort of."

He looked up then, scanning my face with scrutinizing eyes. I looked down, hoping he hadn't noticed how dark my eyes were. If that man had been right, there were probably other signs of my change. I jumped when I felt his tight grip on my arm and he shook me violently as he sat up.

"Piper, no!" He said. I bit my lip and nodded. Tears filled his eyes as he looked me over.

Already, my arms were practically covered in open wounds with some being deep enough to see my bone. His hands shook as he moved over them but they didn't hurt when he touched them. From the way he flinched, it seemed like it hurt him instead. He reached up to cup my cheek and for the moment, I ignored his burning flesh and smiled.

"Piper, your teeth," he said. I reached up to touch my mouth and pricked my finger, causing more black liquid to ooze from my finger. He ignored my strange colored fluid and pointed at my eyes. "Your eyes, they aren't green anymore."

"I know," I said, though I had hoped that they hadn't changed. "I did it to save you, Daddy," I explained. Tears spilled from my eyes and I started to hear a small thudding noise coming from somewhere close.

"Did what?" He asked. My father moved his arm away from me and looked around the room. "Where is that Scavie? Piper, what did you do?"

"He was killing you!" I shouted. I stood up and moved away from my father and over towards the window. I looked outside at the night sky. "I had to do it," I insisted. "You would be dead if I didn't."

I heard shuffling from behind me and the soft click of a gun. I turned around to see the barrel of a gun two inches from my face and my father biting back his tears. My breath caught, I couldn't believe that my father was aiming a gun at me. I held my hands up in surrender and tried to move away but he followed me with his gun.

"Piper, it'll be quick, I promise," he said. His hand was shaking now, much like my entire body. I closed my eyes and looked away from him.

I didn't want to die. There was no reason for me to die. I hadn't attacked my father and Mac like Isaiah said I would, I didn't hurt anyone and here I was with a gun ready to be fired at my face by my own father. The thumping I heard earlier became louder and quicker and I realized that it was my father's heartbeat. He let out a shaky breath and I took the opportunity to smack the gun out of his hand. It went off, the bullet whizzed by my ear but didn't make contact as it flew into the wall behind me.

My father reacted instantly, punching me in the shoulder and sending my body back into the window. Shattered glass scratched at my skin but it didn't hurt as much as I had expected it to. I heaved myself out of the way and dived onto the floor to avoid my father's swinging arm. I quickly jumped onto my feet and kicked him as hard as I could on the back.

He crashed into the wall and turned around to face me. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and coughed. "You're a lot tougher than I remember," he said. He walked towards me and swung but I was quicker. I ducked and then shoved him away from me.

"I had a good teacher," I said. I reached for his gun an cocked it one more time. I looked from my father to his friend before backing into the main hallway. "I told him I wouldn't hurt you, and I'm not going to but I'm not going to let you hurt me either."

"Piper, you don't want to live," he said, reaching his arm out towards me. "You'll be hunted and everyone will try to kill you."

"It's a good thing you taught me how to take care of myself then," I said. I struggled to keep my tears at bay as I looked over my father's wounded body. "I just didn't think you were teaching me how to defend myself against you."

I opened the front door and ran outside. I knew where I had to go and I had to get there before the sun came up. I stole one last glance back at the house where my father stood on the porch. He had another gun in his hand and was aiming it towards me. I jumped into his truck and ducked just as a bullet hit the car door. I locked the doors and reached underneath the dashboard to pull down the wires from the steering wheel.

"Good thing you weren't the only one teaching me things," I mumbled as I thought of my brother. I hot-wired the car and then peeled out of the neighborhood, heading straight towards downtown Coroniam City.