I started my day by taking a long hot shower. I didn't know how my test would work out, and I wanted to enjoy at least one little thing beforehand. The water was hot and wonderful as it sluiced down my skin, and I had enjoyed every small droplet. Now I stood outside the door of what the guardians jokingly called the arena. It looked like any other door in the building; painted a drab gray color with a silver handle and a metal box for biometric scanning, but I knew that inside I would either die or kill something on purpose for the first time in my life. I was dressed in black yoga pants and a black ribbed tank top, both of which fit snugly to my skin. The tennis shoes I wore seemed garish for the occasion, a kaleidoscope of pink, blue, and green colors that had enticed me into buying the pair months ago. With me were Ana, Darla, and Kory. They all looked at me expectantly.
"Are you ready?" Kory asked. "We can always postpone."
"No. Don't postpone. I'm just psyching myself up." I said quickly. "Let's start."
"Very well." He said, doing the usual scans to open the door. He walked in and gestured for me to follow. I looked back as I stepped forward, smiling quickly at Ana and Darla, who both wore sympathetic looks.
"You'll do fine." Darla said. Ana just smiled grimly and gave me a thumbs up. They certainly wouldn't be winning any awards for being morally supportive, but somehow I still felt comforted. Kory took me by the elbow and walked me into a corner of the room. Once there, he handed me a katana sword that had been propped up against one of the walls. It was a thing of beauty; the handle made of ebony that was shiny and reflective. The blade itself balanced perfectly with the handle and it was evident that it was a work of love for it's creator just by looking at it's polished, oiled surface.
"Don't try to fight it hand to hand."
"What?" I said, startled. I stopped inspecting the katana and looked at Kory.
"Listen to me." He said anxiously, grabbing me by the shoulders and looking into my eyes. "A lycan is fast, strong, and deadly. Always. Don't try to duke it out with the thing. Kill it as quickly as you can. Okay?"
I looked at him askance, touched that he was giving me pointers. "You don't do this for everyone do you?"
He shook his head slowly. "No. I usually send people in on their own and immediately leave to get the lycan. But...I don't want to see you killed. I offer you advice, even though I shouldn't, so don't make me regret it. Be the killer Elle."
My eyes teared up. "I don't really know if I can do this." I murmured. I really hadn't ever harmed another creature unless it was on accident. The thought of actually killing something, even if it wouldn’t hesitate to kill me, made me nauseous. "The only time I ever killed an animal, I had run over a chipmunk sprinting across the road with my car. I swerved to avoid it, but it changed directions and ran right beneath my tire. After I felt the bump...I-I pulled over and jumped out of my car to make see if it was ok or if it could be okay, you know... if I took it to a vet immediately. But, it was dead. I cried off and on for a week." I stopped and took a shaky breath. I thought I might hyperventilate.
"Elle!" Kory said, shaking me a little. I stared at him. He wasn't my friend whom I had kissed so passionately the night before, he was once again my near Neanderthal trainer. "We have to do this. If you can't kill a lycan, we can't let you go. You'd be dead within a week. And that's if you're lucky and don't change!" He let go of me and ran his hands over his face. "Look, I love that you are sweet enough to be empathetic. I like that you don't feel that taking a life, any life, is a small matter. But, this is not a chipmunk we are talking about. Kill it."
"I'm going to!" I yelled at him. "Just...get out. I’ll figure it out, and I'll be fine." I wasn't sure any if I was trying to reassure him or myself.
His jaw clenched and unclenched. "Fine. Prepare yourself. And please...survive this." He said, a touch of control coming back into his voice.
In mere seconds, he was gone and I was in the room alone. Looking around, I examined my surroundings quickly, trying to form a plan. They would be bringing a beast into this room shortly. The room was about the size of an elementary school gym, maybe 30 feet by 30 feet. The walls and floor were both painted dull gunmetal gray, and the room was bare other than a small drain that was located in the middle of the floor. I centered myself, breathing deeply and evenly as I stood in the middle of the back wall of the room. There, I would have a few extra seconds to act when the creature was brought in. I didn't know if they would have it chained first or if they would just push it in from a cage. I took a quick practice swing with my sword, pushing with one hand and pulling with the other. Just as I sank back into an attack pose the door opened.
The lycan was manacled on both hands and feet, with a type of muzzle over it's snout. It shuffled in, the chains clanging together and scraping on the floor. I felt a brief moment of sadness. No matter what it was now, it had been at one point in time a normal human being. However, the moment was brief. I had to kill it or else it would kill me. Kory was behind it, and after he had the beast in the middle of the floor he began to walk backwards.
"The manacles and muzzle are both remote controlled. Once I am out of the room, I will hit the button and the dog will be released. Kill it. Because no one will be coming to rescue you." He nodded at me as he reached the door, his jaw clenched so tightly I imagined I could hear his teeth cracking. The door opened and closed, leaving me alone with the creature. Breathing deeply, I slowed time around me. The manacles opening sounded like a pan had clattered to the floor, before they had even completely fallen off of the beast. The muzzle slowly unfurled. The lycan, now unfettered, immediately took a step forward, its snout opening to show its razor sharp teeth, slavering with drool.
I looked it over quickly, assessing that the fastest way to get this over would be to bleed it out. I charged it, which it was not expecting. As it coiled to spring at me, I was already almost on top of it. I slid underneath the creatures crouched legs like I was sliding into home base, one leg stretched out in front of me and the other tucked close to my body, striking out at the femoral artery in its thigh with the katana, slicing deeply and at an angle. Blood instantly gushed out, bathing the floor and myself. The creature roared, instantly doubling over and clutching its thigh. I knew that it would take the creature at least thirty seconds before it passed out from blood loss, and that was only a hope. While I had been taught some things about the way a lycan’s body worked, I didn’t know exactly how long it would take for the creature to collapse. As soon as I was past the creature I leapt to my feet, and jumped up, levitating a few feet and rocketing myself forward to slice the creature across the back.
I swong the razer sharp blade edge down until it sunk into the lycan, the impact making a sickeningly wet sound. Bracing my feet on its back, I pulled the sword out and flew up until my back against the ceiling. As I had predicted the creature let go of its thigh and howled as it reached behind it to try to grab me. Too bad I was already out of its reach. The creature swayed on its feet as it tried to find me before it finally looked up and saw me hovering, about six feet above it. I brought my sword up until it was parallel to the ceiling and readied myself to bring it down on the creature's head. I was ready. My arms strained from how tightly I gripped the sword. Do it! Do it! I chanted in my mind. I just couldn't though.
As much as I knew I had to, this creature used to be a person. He or she used to have hopes and dreams and goals, and might have lived just as boring a life as I had. It had started life as an infant, grew to be a toddler, and a moody teenager, and then an adult. I tried to stop thinking about it and just swing, but all I could think about is that the creature probably hadn't wanted to be like this. They may have been just walking home from a fun night out and been attacked, or hell, even attacked in their own home as I had. I looked the creature in the eye, thinking that I might see some glimpse of the person they used to be. They could have been someone that I once knew. All that stared back at me though was an inhuman rage. I could almost fall into the depths of their eyes with how dark they were.
I still couldn't do it. Time began to speed up, and I realized that I was using up all of my "juice" hanging above the Lycan's head, doing nothing. Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I made the decision. I didn't want to do this. Maybe I could stay out of its range long enough that it would die from blood loss, but I couldn't look what used to be someone in the eye and just kill it. No matter how much it wanted to kill me. I shot to the other side of the room before touching down. I waited for the creature to rush at me, and it didn't disappoint, it's footsteps thumping rapidly as it sprinted across the floor. Closing my eyes, I prepared myself for the pain that I knew would come at any second.
I waited. And waited. Finally, I felt the creature grab me by my throat. I opened my eyes and stared at my doom. The creature had cocked its head to the side, and was just staring at me. What was it doing? "Are you not hungry boy?" I said before I could stop myself, my diarrhea mouth winning yet again. The Lycan leaned forward until it's nose was almost in my hair, inhaling deeply. After a few more snuffles, it slowly let go of me, it's head still cocked to the side. It looked at my sword, and before I knew what was happening, it grabbed the katana, turned the point towards its chest, and with a rough jerk and a howl, impaled itself.
My jaw opened and wouldn't close again. What the hell had just happened? Not knowing what else to do, I walked to the door and pounded on it.
"Is it dead?" Ana called out.
"Yeah." I said, looking back at the body slumped on the floor. "It's dead." I stepped back as the door swung open. Kory was the first one through, a sword held in his hands. I jumped back, figuring he was checking to make certain that the creature was indeed finished.
"All clear!" He hollered. In the next moment, the other guardians were swarming the room, cheering and slapping me on the back. Well, except for Ana. She slapped me on the ass. I gaped at her and then shook my head. Ana was a strange one, and there was no use trying to understand her sometimes.
"Well done, Elle." She said smiling.
"But, I didn't kill it." I whispered to myself.
"Hmm? What was that?" Ana asked.
I realized that though the lycan should have won, it had probably already been dead. Or would've been in another minute or two if it hadn't slayed itself. Also, if I insisted that I hadn't killed it, would I be able to go home? Probably not.
"Nothing." I said, shaking my head. "Yay. I slayed the beast."
*
Less than an hour later, I was in a truck with Kory, on my way home. Ana had declared me good to leave, after making me sit for a while. I had been close to being in shock. Even though I didn't like what I had to do in order to go, I was so happy to be able to return to my haven. Kory had just allowed me to take off the hood I had been wearing to prevent me from knowing where the compound was, and I was enjoying the scenery around me as well as the scent of fresh air coming from the window I had cracked. I turned to study Kory in the dim light of the cab. He was frowning, and he looked like he was trying to choke the steering wheel he was gripping it so hard. His hair was a bit windswept, and the fact that he kept periodically running one hand through it didn't help the messiness. While I wasn't enjoying his somewhat surly manner, I was immensely enjoying his scent. It was almost heady. I laughed to myself. Even now, when I knew I probably wouldn't see him again, I was still tempted by him.
"What's up buttercup?" I asked lightly. He glanced at me before focusing back on the road.
"Nothing." He replied.
I hummed to myself. "Okay. If you say so." I quipped, and resumed looking at the road. A few minutes later, we pulled into my driveway. The truck rocked a little as we pulled up to my house. My poor house, that was going to need some serious repairs. From what I could see off hand, the front door was busted off the hinges, although it looked like someone had attempted to put it back into place. A few of the front windows were smashed, and I knew from the night I was almost killed that there was at least one other window that needed to be replaced. Heaving a sigh, I pulled the latch on the door, swung it open and hopped out. Slamming the door, I turned to give Kory a mock salute when I realized that he was out of the truck and walking briskly up my walkway.
"Hey. Hey! What are you doing?" I said, following him.
"I'm going to make sure there aren't any nasty surprises before I leave you here."
"Oh. Well alright then. Not like you would listen to me if I said no." I said, pushing his shoulder lightly as I caught up to him.
He chuckled as he moved the door out of the way. "As long as you know." He grinned at me as we went in. Stopping at the threshold, I gaped at my living room, turning in a circle.
"What did they do? Decide to throw a party?" I stammered. The inside of my house was trashed. There wasn't any major damage to the actual frame of the house, but there were things scattered all over the place. My couch was overturned, all of my pictures were thrown helter-skelter onto the floor, and my bookshelf was in pieces. It was a mess!
"This is probably what they did when they realized that you had gotten away." Kory muttered, moving further into the house. I went to my kitchen, glass from my dishes that had been thrown on the floor crunching under my feet as I reached for a broom. Suddenly, I heard a roar from the back of the house.
“Don’t move from where you are Elle!” I heard Kory shout. I immediately ran towards the sound of his voice. Whatever was happening, I wasn’t going to let him face it on his own. I knew logically that he could handle himself, probably spectacularly, but logic didn’t equate to the urge to make sure he was alright. I heard scuffling in my bedroom and the next thing I knew, I was in the doorway, watching him wrestle with someone.
“Get out of here!” He yelled. “She’s in bloodlust, and she’ll tear your throat out if you give her half a chance. I have to put her down!” I was confused for a moment, as I realized that the half turned lycan that he was wrestling with looked horribly familiar. Beyond the yellowed, thick claws protruding from human fingers, and the mouth that was too full of teeth, I could see the person had waist length hair that was auburn and curly. It was a woman, as I could see her breasts jutting out from a purple plaid flannel shirt that was rapidly becoming too tight. When I glimpsed her honey colored eyes, upturned at the corners and narrowed in rage, I screamed.
“No!” I jumped toward them, without even knowing what I could do. “She’s my best friend! Don’t kill her!”
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