Chapter 5
I walk in the convenience store with my head down. If my father wasn't going to tell me who my mother was then I was going to find her myself. I ran away from home two days ago and even though my father credit card was stuff in my back pocket I was going to have to learn to steal and deceive. I gulp and make my way down the first aisle grabbing things and throwing it in the small bucket. I then notice the small loaf of bread and quickly bury it under my jacket.
I make my way down another aisle heading for the door but the worker looks down at me and says, "Give it up." My eyes widen and my heart begins to beat again my chest. She grabs onto my arm tightly and I wince. Before she could drag me to the front thousands of eggs fall out the fridge. Then someone comes around the corner as she lets me go.
"Run" Someone orders me and I do as they say running out the convenience store. We continue running until my legs can't take it anymore. The boy grins at me and snatches the bread out of my hands.
"Hey!" I say. "Give it back."
He chuckles and taunts, "It's mine now."
I frown and try to wrestle it back but there was no point. He was quicker than me. I become frustrated. I was hungry and haven't ate in the last two days.
"Give it back Lucky. "
The boy scowls but tosses the loaf of bread in my hands. I catch it and the boy sits on the street corner and pull out a can soda. I lick my lips. I didn’t even notice how thirsty I was.
"If you share your bread." The girl starts looking at me. "We will share our drinks and crackers." I take her in. She had beautiful blonde hair that stop at her shoulders and bright blue eyes and a charming smile. I blush and hand over my bread, "Deal."
She sits on the street corner next to her friend Lucky and say, "If you're gonna be a thief you gotta know how the game works. Sometimes having a partner you trust is better."
"You trust him." I say eating and sipping my drink delicately. The other two continue to stuff their mouths. She swallows and grins, "My boy Lucky here tried to take my items once upon a time and he received a punch to the jaw. Now we're buds." I look towards Lucky and he just shrugs his shoulders and stuff the bread down his throat.
"You're not from around here are you?" The blonde asks.
"No." I admit.
"Tell me your story." She says.
"I don't even know your name." I retort.
She chuckles and moves the falling hair out of her face. "I'm Zillah."
"Astra."
"Beautiful name." She winks and Lucky scoffs.
I blush.
I watch a grin spread across her face at my embarrassment. "Are you gonna tell me your story?"
"If you insist."
She chuckles.
<><>
I awake in a panic and notice that I am not in my bed or in my home. I begin to freak until Zillah makes herself known. "You're awake." She whispers.
"Yeah." I reply looking around. "How long have I've been asleep?"
"Not long." Zillah answers looking down at her watch. "Maybe a few hours or so."
I chew on my bottom lip and she tosses me a jacket and order, "Come on. I'm taking you back home."
I do as she say and quietly get out of her bed and notice the four empty beds around. "Where is everyone?" I question running my fingers through my tangled hair. Zillah grabs some keys and begin to walk off. I follow. We walk out a side door and there was a classic mustang from the old days. I get into the car and we begin to drive in silence.
I begin to huff in annoyance and I could feel her dark eyes on me but I turn away. We was going back to this again. She ignoring me and I'm left in the dark. I fold my arms over my chest and begin to huff again.
"Could you stop!" Zillah hisses.
I glance up at her and she was squeezing the steering wheel tightly. I roll my eyes and scoff. She was annoyed but I was furious. I had better conversations with her other side. The car become silent again and I'm getting sick to my stomach. I turn on the radio and rock begins to blast through the speakers. Even though I don't know the song it calms me down. At least it is not silent anymore.
Zillah continues to squeeze the steering wheel and I glance at her and ask, "Does my presence really bother you?"
Zillah doesn't answer and now I am fed up with her and her childish attitude. "Stop the car." I command. Again she continues to ignore me. I manually click the lock up and open the door. She wasn't going that fast anyway. I unbuckle my seat belt and feel a strong arm over my waist and the door slams and the car sheiks. I hold on to the arm for dear life as the car swerves in the empty streets until it halts.
Zillah looks at me and I cower in fear at her anger. "Are you nuts!" She hisses her fangs emerging.
"I won't dare sit in this car while you ignore me." I reply.
Zillah runs her fingers through her hair in a frustrated manner. She then closes her eyes and begins to breathe. I just watch her as she tries to calm herself down. "Why haven't you accepted her yet?" I question.
Zillah head snaps my way. "I told you not to converse with her!" She sneers.
I roll my eyes, "I rather talk to her than you. At least she's nice to me."
"She could harm you."
"She hasn't yet." I argue. "You're the only one hurting me Zillah!"
I open the car door but Zillah slams it shut. I fold my arms over my chest and say, "You can't keep me here."
"I was taking you home until you decided to freaking jump."
I huff in my seat and Zillah lets me go.
"I wasn't going to jump." I roll my eyes. "I wanted your attention."
Zillah sighs, "You have it. What is it Astra? Ask whatever you wish."
I try to hold my smile in but I cant'. There was so many things I wanted to ask and so little time. I had to be home before the sun came up. So I start with the most important.
"How can I control my fangs?"
"Eat the outside of an orange."
I arch my eyebrow in confusion. She chuckles. I smile. I missed this laid back part of Zillah.
"Since the war." Zillah starts. "The peel of the oranges has these different chemicals in them. Eat them and it will control your fangs until you need-
Zillah stops in her sentence before saying. "Next question."
"Until I need what?" I push.
Zillah looks at me and say slowly but her voice is low and deadly. "Next question."
"Fine." I pout. I didn't want to push her.
"What happened to you?"
"What do you mean?" Zillah questions confused.
I shift in my seat leaning closer to her. "You use to have the most beautiful blue eyes. What happened to them? They're just black now."
"Experiments." Zillah sighs. "They began taking SS patients and experimenting on them. I was one of the patients." Zillah turns around and lifts up her hair showing a tattoo of a capital M. "What does the M stands for?" Zillah drops her hair and turns back towards me. "It's a roman numeral." She explains.
"1000."
"Yes, I was the 1000th patient and the last."
I gulp. "I'm sorry." I say. "What did they do to you?"
Zillah clenches her jaw and I knew the memories was too much for her. I still didn't understand how I could see their emotions but no one else could. It was like an understanding. "They wanted to make us weapons but when we all spiralled out of control they exterminated all the patients."
"I don't understand." I say playing with my fingers.
Zillah looks at me and she's shaking slightly. "This is why I am out of controlled. They wanted to create soldiers that had no conscious and they succeed but shut down the project because they couldn't control us. I was the youngest and just in time someone saved me. She should have let them kill me."
I grab Zillah hand and squeeze it. "No." I say.
I run my finger down her face softly and her eyes flicker to mines. "I've done things." She whispers. I knew in this moment that she wanted to cry but what I didn't know was SS patients able to cry.
"You were just a kid." I say.
She looks up at me and clears her throat. She cranks up the car and I frown but don't say anything. It was hard getting Zillah to open up and I knew that was all I was going to get. Minutes later she pulls up to the side of my house. She turns off the lights and car and then turn towards me. "Do as I say Astra and stay away from me. Stop being so damn curious."
I don't reply and try to leave the car but she slams the door shut again and grab my jaw roughly. "Promise me!" She hisses. I snatch away from her and she sneers.
"Stop trying to control me." I scowl. "I'm not going anywhere." By now my voice is loud and my fangs as emerged. I hiss and shut my eyes tight. I could feel pain in my lower stomach again. Zillah pulls my hair roughly and command. "I said do as I say." I hiss in pain and push her back. I continue to assault her with my hands until she has me pinned in the seat. "Stop." She snarls. I do as she say and when I am under control I push her away from me again in anger and built up frustration.
"Why did you leave me?"
"I was ordered to."
"That's all you gonna tell me?" I hiss in anger.
Zillah looks away, "That is all to say. I had to eat right?"
Tears falls from my face. "You never cared for me did you?"
"No."
I clench my jaw and grab my bag and hop out the car slamming it shut. I then stomp off and I could hear the car driving away. I sneak back into my room by the window and make sure I am quiet. I then go and shower and when I am done I spread out on my bed and cry myself asleep.
<><>
"Just remember you're my girlfriend now."
I look up at Zillah and laugh. "I'm only seven Zillah. I don't think I'm old enough to have a girlfriend."
"Well I'm nine so I say we're old enough." Zillah replies her blue eyes shining brightly because of the sun. "And then I'm gonna make you my wife." She grins mischievously.
I kick my feet off the high bridge and Zillah grabs my hand and I blush. The both of us look at the river and trees and continue to eat bananas.
"Zillah! Astra!"
Zillah and I turn around to the familiar voice and watch as Lucky run towards us. "We got to go." He says his only hat falling off his head. Zillah and I get to our feet and watch the teens run our way. The three of us run down the street and down several blocks. Cutting through people and for the first time I am frighten.
"Where will we hide?" Zillah stops, breathing harshly. "They will take our food and we will starve."
"I know a place." I say grabbing her hand and again the three of us rushes off into the night.
<><>
I slam through the doors of my high school with Jamie trailing sadly behind me. He had asked me in the car about my attitude and I only ignored him. I was such a horrible best friend. I go to my locker and pull out my books and stuff them into my book bag. The hall immediately becomes silent and I knew this meant that the Soulless humans were making their way through the doors. The five stroll like they own the entire world and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Selfish. That's what they all were. Just selfish.
I make my way to class and sit in my usual seat. However, I couldn't pay attention. Thankfully, I was already ahead. My mind could only stay on Zillah and her stupid friends. As the time continues to tick away my anger begins to boil. How could she say she didn't care for me. I wasn't that naive as a child. I couldn't have been. Maybe I was.
"Astra?" Jamie whispers and my head snap at him. He was worried and I could feel my fangs emerging. I quickly storm out of class ignoring the professor and head to the women restroom where I rip my bag open and pull out a plastic bag that was filled with orange peels. I stuff them down my throat quickly and chew quickly ignoring the awful taste. I hated oranges. I swallow and continue to eat until the small zip lock plastic bag is empty. I then slide down the wall and begin to cry. I couldn't take this anymore and there was no one to help me. I bury my face into my hands and then jump when the bathroom door is open.
"Astra."
It was Jamie. He rushes to me and pulls me into his slender arms. I continue to cry until I cannot cry anymore. I then slowly pull away from him and ask, "What are you doing in the girls bathroom?"
"Checking on my best friend." Jamie replies.
I smile weakly. God he was such a great friend.
"What's wrong?" He questions. "I thought we told each other everything."
"Some things shouldn't be told."
"I don't understand."
I look down at my fingers but Jamie grabs them.
"We're in this together, until the end." He smiles at me. "Remember? You said that."
I laugh and lay my head on his shoulder. He kiss the side of my head and continue the words I told him so long ago. When he was such a skinny little boy with huge glasses on his face. "If there is ever an end. We will face it together." He tangle his fingers with mines and I sniff and wipe my face. We sit there together on the bathroom floor and after everything becomes to depressing for me to handle I stand.
"You should leave before you get into trouble." I say.
"I'm not leaving until I know that you're okay." Jamie replies.
I sigh. "Fine. Let's get burgers after school. I can't explain anything here."
Jamie nods his head and give me another hug before he sneaks out the girls restroom. I walk to the mirror and rinse my face. My eyes was red and thankfully my fangs were gone. I grab my books and bag off the floor and rush back to class. When I walk in all eyes are on me including Zillah. I look away from her and take my usual sit. "Nice to have you back." My professor says before continuing her lecture.
After school Jamie and I rush to his car and to the burger joint we go. We walk in together and grab our usual and order our usual. Jamie grabs my hand and that is when I notice they are shaking. "Tell me." He says.
"I'm infected." I start.
His eyes widen and he gulps. "Infected with what?" He asks squeezing my hand.
"I don't know how but somehow I have the demonic virus."
"That's impossible." Jamie whispers looking around. "We all get tested yearly and that-that is that's impossible."
"It's true." I say looking away from him. "I have the symptoms and it's getting worse everyday Jamie. I don't know what to do."
"What do you mean symptoms."
"Fangs."
"What?" Jamie hisses. "No-something is wrong. We need to take you to the hospital."
I snatch away from my best friend and whisper, "You can't tell anyone."
"Why?" Jamie questions. "This could mean anything. The virus could be airborne. People could be getting infected now." Jamie eyes widen. "I could be getting infected now."
"Stop being dramatic." I say. "I wouldn't put you in risk if I wasn't sure. But I am. I've been infected with the virus since birth."
Jamie eyes widen.
"Some how my immune system has been fighting off the disease but I guess it's giving up. I don't know. I'm not a scientist Jamie you know that. I'm freaking out here."
"Who has told you this?"
"The SS Patients."
"Are you serious?" Jamie hisses. "I solely remember you telling me not to trust them."
"I didn't at first but things have changed." I try to explain. "There is so much you don't understand Jamie." I lean closer to him. "People are after me."
"That's ludicrous."
Before I could say anything else. The glass of the restaurant explodes and Jamie and I duck. I could hear people screaming nearby. I peek over the booth and see men in suits walking through the glass and civilians storming out. I grab Jamie hand and then demand, "Run. Follow me." Thankfully, he listen to what I say and we rush through the kitchen and out the back door into a small alley. I glance to my right and notice three men running to us. I grab Jamie hand try to run the other way but we was trap. Men was coming from our left also.
I look up and notice the bodies falling out the sky. I drag Jamie to the side and before both of our eyes was Ryker, Ashes, Lilth, Nyx, and Zillah. Each of them held a different weapon just like the last time. Ryker and his black staff, Lilth large sickle, Nyx two daggers, Ashes axe, and Zillah long sword. I could tell it was a rare Kiriha-Zukuri because of the archaic form.
The man and SS Patients stand there and stare at each other to analyze one another and it seems as if it goes on forever until one of the men in suits rushes forward making the first movement. Ryker twirls the staff between his fingers and also takes a charge. Everything begins to happen so quickly before my eyes.
"Get the girl." I hear one of the men in suits command.
Zillah sneers and turns around blocking a blow. She flicks her wrist, the sword colliding against the man and stabbing him in the gut. He falls to the ground in agony and she looks my way and I knew in a few seconds her other side would present herself.
Nyx and Lilth fight side by side and the two was having difficulties keeping up with the three men. Nyx ducks and Lilth swings her sickle around slicing one of the men throats. I continue to watch as Nyx stands back up and throws one of her daggers saving Ashes from a horrible attack.
"They're strong." Ryker announces blocking a blow to the face with his staff. He is then kicked in the gut and I watch as he groans in pain. Then his staff becomes some type of knife. Spikes emerging from the end. I could feel Jamie shaking on my side but I couldn't take my eyes off the scene to look at him.
Zillah flips through the hair and then comes back down her sword slicing through another enemy. Ashes is now on her left and striking another man with his huge axe. However, the man anticipates the move and bring his hand up. The end of the axe colliding with the back of his hand. A move that would probably break my hand does nothing to the enemy. What are they? I wonder to myself. They couldn't be humans.
Nyx is tossed on the other side of the alley and before my eyes Zillah finishes her transformation. Her eyes are blood red, fangs sharp as daggers, and I could feel the anger pulsing from her body. She slices another attacker and then two more in quick speed.
She becomes so fast that it is hard for me to keep up. I then notice Ashes and Ryker struggling with the last three. Zillah stalks over. Her hair was wild and I could see her fangs as she snarl. She brushes pass Ryker and Ashes and sneers, "Move!" Ashes and Ryker hurries out of the way and before all of our eyes she annihilate the last three within seconds. She then turns around and the SS Patients takes a step back.
"You're all weak!" Zillah other side snarls. "You should all bow before me."
The four just stand there stubbornly and Ryker says, "We will do nothing you say. We only listen to the real Zillah!"
Zillah sneers and I quickly rush forward ignoring Jamie calling my name. Just in time I jump between Zillah and Ryker. "Stop." I say looking straight into her eyes. They was the reddest I had ever seen them.
"She's dangerous." Nyx warns.
"She saved us." I argue back. "She saved you all."
"They're afraid. Like they should be!" Zillah continues to rant in her commanding voice. Her voice was dark and deadly. I roll my eyes. I didn't know this side of her was so demanding of power.
"Zillah stop!" I sneer my fangs now emerging. I wince in pain and Zillah grabs my hips softly and ask, "My darling Queen." If I wasn't in so much pain I would laugh at the endearing term. I could feel all eyes boring into the back of my skull but I ignore their lingering gazes and curious questions.
"I"m fine." I whisper finally looking back up at Zillah. "But I need you to calm down."
"I don't like the way they look at me!" She sneers looking their way in a vicious gaze.
"We have our reasons." Ryker bawls his fist.
"Your reasons are as important as this blood on my shirt. Do you wish for me to shove my boot down your throat? I could make you a sweet example."
The four SS Patients wield their weapons. "Stop!" I snarl. "We don't have time for this."
"She's right." Lilth says. "We should get out of here."
"Jamie?" I question but get no answer. "Jamie." I begin to freak.
"Your friend fainted."
I sigh and order. "Okay. Can you take him with you?"
"Fine."
Ashes pick up Jamie and they disappear. I then turn back towards Zillah and she smirks down at me. I roll my eyes and say, "You need to work on your social skills."
"I don't need anyone to socialize with besides you." She replies twirling her finger through my hair. I couldn't help but smile. I still cound't keep up with her mood swings. "I rather kill them." See?
Zillah then grab my hand and we race through the street as the sirens make their way towards the fire. We continue to run until I am on a rooftop in the middle of the city. I quickly notice that I wasn't tired. Maybe I was really changing.
Zillah doesn't waste time. She pulls me into her sweaty and dirty body and buries her head into my neck before sniffing. I was like a personal drug to her. We both stand there and I could feel her calming down in my arms. My life was changing before me. People wanted me dead. I was becoming a SS. But in this moment with Zillah sniffing me and running her teeth across my skin. I didn't seem to care.
Please Comment :)
Also, the picture on the side is just a few images of the SS weapons. I have a weird imagination, so I figured posting a picture would help.