Chapter 2

Mornings were always full of the same feelings. Confusion, hope, crushing self pity as I stare at the face in the mirror, resignation and then usually hunger as the urge for breakfast set in. The face in the mirror belonged to Ivan O’Reilly, my face. It was smooth now, bone white like the rest of me and with two slits for my nostrils. My eyes had changed to a bright green and while I couldn’t be sure I think I had gotten a second eyelid. Luckily my usual train of disappointment was derailed as the panther almost ran me over in her mad dash to go downstairs. Straight from confusion to resignation, I could take that...

First things first, a shower to start- a loud rumble from my stomach and a snarl from downstairs rerouted the thought food to start the day. I went down stairs in and into the kitchen where Ebony was waiting impatiently. I liked my house, well I had to; I spent most of my day here now. Two floors, one bedroom, one kitchen, one room for entertainment and one for my work; most surfaces coated with a thick layer of paper and wires sprouting from the wall cavities. Ebony slept wherever the hell she felt like, as settled by the mass clawing of April 10th. I tossed Ebony her steak; she caught it in her massive jaws and began to gnaw at once at the slab of meat. After fixing myself a small breakfast comprising of eggs, bacon, toast, beans, mushrooms and assorted other meats I settled down at my computer.

Tapping away at the keys could be a bit difficult now; my new sticky fingers meant that my keys stuck quite literally. Sometimes I wasn’t sure what my job was exactly. I managed websites for big businesses, banks and hotels that couldn’t do it themselves. It was on commission but paid well, when I wasn’t at my computer I spent my time exercising to try and keep myself slim. I couldn’t do that as much now, but my voracious appetite seemed to come hand in hand with a metabolism super models would die for. I continued on with my latest project, a massive bank had finally decided to go into the World Wide Web in hopes someone would stumble across them. The mindless drone of my fingers clickity clacking away at the keys put me into the same trance of work it always did. The familiar ring of a message jolted me from my trance. Someone had emailed me.

I quickly tapped on my flashing mail icon, popping up my mail box. Fifty two unread mails. I deleted anything to do with pills, porn or promotions and found I still had five unread messages. Two from my girlfriend, I hadn’t had the heart to tell her about my change yet. I rubbed my head, a few hollow noises coming as my fingers hit the spikes of my spiny crown. I’ll leave that headache for later I thought. One from my parents, one from my sister; they did know about my change. My sister had grown large black wings herself and had moved away from the large cities to get room to fly. That left... a mystery mail.

It was titled “Hide”, and I didn’t recognise the sending address. Thinking it was just another spam, I clicked on it for a laugh. My protection was so good that if these guys had put a virus inside the mail they’d get shutdown. I was surprised however, as the mail popped open it didn’t show some once in a lifetime offer, it showed hope!
Dear receiver, I’m not going to use names in case this is intercepted. We have seen you; we have noticed your movements. While we have never seen your mutation we are sure that you are one of us. You are too hidden from the public and we have heard of a mishap in your area with a so called “freak”. It will not be long before they find you, and they will find you without our help.
If you have any urge to survive, you will meet us underneath the railway bridge at 2am. You can bring the cat.
Was it a trap? It couldn’t be. He’d been careful, very careful. They hadn’t even seen him crawl over the wall. Blinking, I stared at my fingers. Oh yeah... I remember now I thought as I stared at my fingertips harder I’ll have to check that out later.

I was in such a daze from the realisation that I could climb walls and the fact someone just asked me to meet them in the middle of the night, I almost forgot the mail from my girlfriend. The first one was named “Something important”, so I clicked on it first. This message wasn’t as hopeful as the last.
Ivan, you seem to drift further away from me each day. I cannot take this, wondering if you’re even alive when I don’t hear from you. I am leaving you, I am sorry. I cannot love a person I do not see. Goodbye, Jessica.
Slowly, as if in shock, I rested my head in my hands. She probably would have been driven away by my new looks anyway. It was better that she had left and not known my secret. Now if only I could make myself believe that I’d be fine. I stared at the next message from her. Should I bother? She’s already dumped my ass like a dead rat, why should I look at what else she had to say. Stupid fingers; they never listen to my brain.
Dear Ivan it read as I gazed blankly at the screen I am sorry for the last letter I wrote to you. It was wrong to blame you for all this. I am still sorry however, I cannot continue dating you. I am going to take part in local project that is spreading quickly through the country, it could get very dangerous. I won’t be answering any messages or my phone, please don’t try and contact me . Love Jessica.
I blinked and stared at the screen. Did every feeling I had these days have to last for three seconds? Every sentence I read had sent new chilling waves down my spine. I’d started off sailing calmly on the seas of depression, I thought I’d make it to the beach of joy as a wave of hope had washed over me, but I’d been smashed against the jagged rocks of worry and sadness.

I glared at the screen until it blacked out, peeking out from between my fingers. Finally I moved; my bones both inside and out creaking as I started moving. I switched off the computer, tapping one finger against my leg as I thought hard. Jessica was gone; she seemed to be caught up in some weird business but I couldn’t contact her. Without exactly moving on, I moved onto the next problem. Should I meet these people? Was there a reason not to? I glared at the dark screen, making up my mind there and then. I turned and grabbed my new coat from the stair rail, dragging it on as smoothly as I could. He picked up my hat and was about to put it on when I caught sight of the wall clock. Ten am. Bugger. I stopped in my tracts, rolled my hat over and over nervously, then gave up and walked into the TV room. Maybe something good was on...

The paw came out of nowhere and sent me spread-eagled across the floor, snorting awake and staring directly into a wet nose. “What time is it?” I grumbled to myself, batting a bored Ebony aside and staring blearily at the flashing TV screen. A little blue 00:30 flashed in the upper corner of the screen. I must have drifted off in the middle of watching some god awful day time TV show, it was probably the one about the man who had been falsely imprisoned for five years since there was little chance that a talking banana had flown in and taken over the show in real life; more the pity really. I was ready for anything in three quarters of an hour, wallet, watch, disguise, phone just in case it went really bad, a bag full of food and Ebony as a kitten held inside a her basket with a promise of a steak if she was good.

The streets were empty as I stepped out into the yellow glow of the street lamps. I scampered quickly back to the alley, walking as quickly as I could through the darkness. I grimaced as my nose was filled with the stench of fresh... I didn’t want to consider it. I walked faster, forcing myself not to throw up until I was out of the wall of smell. I stopped at the park gate, taking deep breaths of clear air to defog my brain. I checked my watch again after the queasiness had passed, quarter to two. There were still doubts in my mind whether this was a trap or not, but that’s why I’d made sure to bring Ebony. She could scare any would be attacker out of his wits. I took off again, the shop I’d oh so recently been chased away from laying dark in front of me, scratches still in the door from my hurried escape. I looked away from the gouges in the glass, peeking at the old railway track behind the store. It was old but still working, Maybe we’re travelling by train? I thought as I began to walk alongside the track.

I looked up as a despondent mew from Ebony told me she was cold and bored; I on the hand had just seen something that made my heart skip. There was a person, I sniffed, no at least three people under the bridge. I couldn’t smell any difference between them and anyone else, but then again I didn’t know what other mutated people smelt like either. I still needed to get used to my nose. Ebony head butted the bars of her basket impatiently; rattling them and making the figures look around. I froze like a deer in the head lights of a truck, but by the way they were looking around they couldn’t tell where the noise had come from. No one appeared to be reaching for any weapons so I stepped forward slowly, trying to make as little noise as I could. Even Ebony seemed to feel the pressure in the air, her body low and her eats glued to her furry skull. I could smell the people clearly now, definitely three, one was swathed in some cheap aftershave, one was quite a heavy smoker and the last one seemed to be nervous by the amount of sweat pouring off him. There was a crack from right behind me. CRAP! There were four!
“Reach for the sky buddy” a soft voice said, obviously female “I’ve got a six shooter and I’m aiming at your crotch. Speak up or forever hold your piece.”

Disclaimer: This is getting bigger, so if you steal this story that belongs to Lavalamp Studios, Evolution X and other mees you will find yourself hung up by several small appendages until they snap off.
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