The Immune

21. To be Immune

The pond was still, with fronds reaching tall and true whilst crickets chirped peacefully in the overgrown shrubbery. The water had remained untouched for the last decade, allowing the ecosystem to flourish under the watchful eye of Mother Nature. The koi had grown big and fat under the blossoming algae, their forms now overcrowding the small body of water.

The quiet was disturbed by it. The slow form waded gracefully into the still water, sending ripples along the water's surface. It watched with a keen, predatory gaze, examining the fat, wriggling bodies of the koi.

Within a second, it had snatched a fish from the water, pulling the slimy body up to its mouth, hungrily biting down.

The next koi put up a fight, wriggling under the surface, making it lose balance on the silty pond bed. It emerged from the water, dripping, and with childlike triumph, fish in hand. 

It caught its reflection in the settling water. The young girl looked wild, her blond hair matted, yet shiny, whilst her clothes were torn and blackened. Her skin, despite the brief dip in the pond water, was still caked in grime and unmentionables.

It felt pain. It felt a sudden and blinding agony in the space of a second.

It wasn't vanity that reignited Ashlyn's humanity, it was the familiarity, and the combination of her foreign appearance that reminded her of who she had been. She remembered her mother, who she had looked so similar too, she remembered her family, so torn apart by fate. She understood, sadly, what she had become and what she had done. She sobbed, a tear gliding down her dirty cheek. For that one moment, she had absolute clarity - a moment that overwhelmed her with sorrow and pain.

Within a second, animalistic urges resurfaced. It snarled in rage, furious at the pain it was experiencing. It whirled around, splashing water, attempting to find the culprit of the pain.

It fled back into the garden, unsettled and confused.

That moment was all humanity needed.

FIN part 1

a sequel is in the works