(R)Evolution ~ Book 2 (Watty Awards Round 2 Finalist)

12) Worlds Collide

Carl looked at them with disgust. His hatred and fear over Reve had begun to eat away at him when he saw just how quickly she could change. When she had left them in the middle of the night, he had felt relief. He believed that he could start afresh with Elise, pretend that Reve never happened. But Elise had been left devastated.

 As he tried to comfort her, she pushed him away, blaming him. “You always wanted her dead! You could never get over what she is. But she’s a part of me Carl! But you couldn’t see that, and now she’s gone.”

He’d left her alone, hoping she would calm down. Again he attempted to become intimate with her, but she spat at him. “My love for you died a long, long time ago Carl. The only thing that kept me here was Reve. Now she’s no longer here, there’s nothing left for me to stay for!” And Elise had left him, her words cut him deeply. He stayed at the campsite for several more days, unable to summon the strength to do anything.

He finally began to pack up what was left of the campsite, and began the long trek to the nearest inhabited town. As Elise had taken the truck. On the road, he’d come across a band of men, all dressed in green. It was then he’d met members of the base Alpha One; they welcomed him with open arms and gave his life new meaning. His anger had to be directed somewhere and where better than at the aliens who’d robbed him of his life. Carl wasn’t aware of the other hybrids, but he heard rumours of two people arriving. Once he heard the description of the two newcomers, he realised who they were.

A plan began to form, one where he would finally be rid of the abomination. But they’d escaped. Killing his fellow comrades. It didn’t take much to rally support to go and hunt them down.

When they stumbled upon their hiding place, it was Carl who saw them first. It did something to him, seeing them both in the throes of ecstasy. She looked so much like her mother that he nearly charged in their straight away and gunned them down. But the cold calculating voice, told him to watch and wait. And watch and wait he did.

Now finally he had them both at his mercy, and he would inflict pain on Reve, the kind of pain he had had to endure since the day she was born. He would take a deep satisfaction doing this.

Reve could almost sense what he wanted to do. Carl had gone to a dark place, one that she knew he could never come back from. She gently willed the change to take place, knowing that it was this or let them both die. After the glorious night she’d had with Collins, she knew it was a price worth paying.

The change began in earnest as she heard the safety of the gun being removed.

"Don't do it." She heard a male voice say.

Reve looked up and saw his gun was aimed straight at her face. "What choice do I have?" she asked. "You’re taking away the man I love, you call me an abomination. I did not create this." She said as she swept her hands over her body. "I want to live, and I want to love, I have a human mother." She stared down at him whilst speaking to him. "My body reacts when it feels it is in danger, I have no control. I am not the enemy, the entities that created me are.”

He paused, "I beg you, let us go. We mean no harm".

Carl's laughter echoed around the walls. "I'll show you no harm" and he reached over to Collins and slit his throat with a knife that had been hidden by the jacket he was wearing. Collins looked surprised at first, then the pain kicked in and he stumbled to the floor. His hands grasping his neck trying to stem the flow of blood.

Reve screamed. And tried to run towards Collins, but her body reacted differently. Instead, she was pushed out forcibly into the red mist as the beast, took over once more. It was easy for her to do, as Reve watched with cold detachment. The images of blood, viscera and the unending screams fed Reve’s grim satisfaction. She watched on the outskirts of her mind whilst the soldiers were reduced to nothing but meat. She approached Carl slowly, like a cat with a mouse in its sights.  Carl tried to run, but Reve was quicker. She played with him until there was nothing left but the sheer madness of terror in his eyes. It was Reve who bit into his neck and tore through his artery, no longer quite letting the beast overrule her mind. She tore into him with her claws, disembowelling him and bathed in his blood.

It might have been minutes or hours until she was finally full aware of where and who she was. Her first thought was of Collins; she rushed over to him and hugged his dead body to her. He was cold, his eyes still showing their surprise had no light behind them.

Reve screamed her heartache, realising she never got to tell him how much she loved him. He was the only anchor she had to her humanity and Carl had ripped that away from her. Reve’s devastation and heartache was too much to bear. Hatred, anger, loss, and heartache brought the beast to her. Unable to deal with the depths of her emotions, Reve gave her free reign and willingly sank into red oblivion.