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Author's Note: So I'm happy to say that I'm actually two chapters ahead of myself now, having just finished Ch.6 yesterday morning. I'll start on 7 as soon as I finish publishing this. This story has been fun to write and appears to be going longer than I originally planned. I don't think I'll be able to fit it all in 10 chapters. The transformation aspect of it hasn't even happened yet and I'm starting Ch.7. We'll see what happens though. Oh, the picture for this one refers to something that happens that's minor but fun.

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4.

A gentle rapping on the door woke me. I opened my eyes to a dark room, having pulled the curtains shut tight last night. I grunted, rolling away, pulling my pillow around my head like a helmet. If it was still dark that meant the sun hadn’t come up yet. It was summer. Teenagers weren’t supposed to get up before noon in the summer. They were especially not supposed to get up at---I let go of my "helmet" and turned toward my alarm clock and groaned more---5:20 am. I pulled the pillow tighter, hoping to drown out the tapping. It only got louder though. I wanted to scream, instead, I violently threw off my covers, jumped out of bed and stormed the door. Whoever it was...I was going to kill them…

Yanking open the door, Carrie was standing there.

I was about to chide her when I saw her face:

She’d been crying.

All thoughts of anger subsided immediately.

Damn it.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, my rage replaced by compassion.

“I saw Mom...she was here...she didn’t know me though...she...she..”

I quickly dropped to her level and wrapped her in a hug.

I held her tight as she openly cried on my shoulder.

This was new.

Ok so not new. Carrie had had a lot of bad dreams, especially after the accident. It was natural. I had a few myself. Her’s were more frequent though. They were in the past though. Whereas Dad didn’t want either one of us to see a professional, he could not deny the school shrink from talking to Carrie. Wells Elementary---Carrie’s school---offered students a well rounded and cultured education. That was their actual tagline. Dr. Pierce was a nice woman. She used to be the shrink there when I was a kid. Every student was mandated to meet with her at least three times a year. She went out of her way to meet with Carrie on a regular basis though, first for grief counseling then to help her deal with the nightmares.

I thought we were over them.

I held her until she stopped crying. When she finally did, she pulled away and looked at me strangely. At first, I didn’t realize what she was staring at until she reached forward.

She touched something on my chest.

I always slept in just my boxers.

It wasn’t unusual for me to be bare-chested.

What was unusual was what else I was wearing.

That damn necklace!

How in the hell…?

Carrie fingered it with a giggle. “I never actually thought you’d wear it”.

I thought up a quick lie.

“Of course I want to wear it, we have to match, right?”

What the ever living fuck was going on?

When I came home from Charlie’s house, I finally realized I’d been wearing it. It was strange though because I think I’d been wearing it all day. I didn’t really notice it though until after I was in my room, laying in bed. Then only after my mind drifted into boredom. It was the strangest thing though because I couldn’t remember putting it on. I obviously must have because I was wearing it but why. When I bought the pair of them for Carrie and me, I never had any intention of putting the damn thing on. In fact, I vividly remember sticking this thing as far back in my underwear drawer as I could. Had I put it on this morning without even knowing? And if I did, why?

Color me freaked.

“I like it there,” My sister continued to finger it. “It makes your eyes stand out."

I bopped her nose.

My sister and I had the same dullish, blue-green eyes.

“So” I finally said after a large moment of silence. “You want to tell me about it?”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to think about it. I just, I had the dream, woke up and went to Dad but he wasn’t there.”

Are you serious!

Damn him!

It was one thing to be absent most of the day but to be gone now too, it was ridiculous. Dad always kept a futon in his office. It was in case something bad happened and he couldn’t leave. I respected that. What I couldn’t respect though was how he was always gone. Call me selfish but most kids want their fathers around. Especially at night and early in the morning. This was taking it too far now. The worst part of it was not calling. Sure he called shortly after Uncle Frank dropped me off. He only did so to make sure I stayed in the house the rest of the night. Our conversation was brief. The one he had with Carrie was twenty minutes longer. She always knew how to keep Dad’s attention after all.

The thing was, I overheard him tell her he promised he’d be home last night.

What a joke!

Grunting but trying not to let her hear, I gently took her hand and led her down the hall. At the top of the stairs, I paused. I wanted to be one of those cool big brothers. You know scoop her up in my arms, carry her about but I just wasn’t strong enough. I used to be able too when she was smaller. But she and I were different now. Whereas she was getting bigger, I was not. I just didn’t have the strength to carry her anymore. It made me feel like less of a person. I could still give her a piggyback but I didn’t want to do that on stairs. So instead, I continued walking with her down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“What are we doing?” she asked, as I left her at the table.

“Getting something to eat.”

I knew there was a plate of cookies in there. Mrs. Noble was a nice old lady who lived down the street with her daughter. She was a widowed former teacher. She taught me in Fifth grade in fact. She liked to bake and often brought us cookies every couple of days. I think it was her way of showing that she cared and understood. After all, Mr. Noble only just recently passed too.

I brought the plate out and sat in front of her.

“Dad will be mad.”

I grunted. “He’s not here, is he?”

She smiled and started eating the cookies.

I fixed her a glass of milk to go with it before wandering out of the kitchen. I managed to grab the home phone before I walked out. I dialed his office while I wandered into the living room. It rang only three times:

“Greenfield Police Department,” said a kind voice on the other end.

“Hi Judy,” I said, trying to be polite.

There were only two dispatchers. I knew them both because well my Dad was their boss after all. Judy was the night one. She was a kind lady. Her daughter went to school with Carrie, I think they were a grade apart?

“Chase, sweetie, you’re up early.”

“Occupational hazard when your father is a workaholic."

I didn’t hide the vinegar in my voice.

Judy knew the animosity I carried for her boss.

She sighed. “It was a very busy day, hun. I’m sure he wanted to get home..he...”

I cut her off. “I’m sure it was. I’m not mad about that. I am however pissed off that he promised Carrie he’d be here and when she had a nightmare, he wasn’t here to comfort her, you know doing the more important job...”

I hated unloading on Judy like this but I was angry.

Sometimes I let it get the better of me.

There was a moment of silence before, “I’ll see if he’s available.”

“He better be.”

It didn’t take long.

“Chase,” said my exhausted Father after only a couple of minutes. “You know not to call me at...”

“At work” I snapped. “Well I wouldn’t have to if you know, you were home, where you said you’d be.”

Like I said I was pissed.

I also had no problem directing my anger where it belonged.

“I’m busy.”

“Big surprise."

“What’s this about?”

“She had another nightmare. She went to her father but you know, big surprise, the bastard wasn’t there.”

“Don’t use that tone...”

“Zip it. You gave up the right to tell me how to talk a while ago.”

Wow, where did that come from?

I’d never actually talked to him like that before.

I felt confident suddenly. Almost as if everything I wanted to say just seemed to flow out of my mouth. I didn’t stop there. I gave the man a full two barrels of it. I chastised him for being an absentee parent, for breaking promises, for making Carrie cry. He said nothing the whole time. There was nothing for him to say and I didn’t really give him a chance. I dominated the whole conversation and when I was done, I hung up without saying goodbye. My hand was shaking after I hung up.

That felt really good.

Cathartic even.

I felt a surge of energy flow through me. It was overwhelmingly warm and calming. I smiled. Then I walked back into the kitchen, absently fingering the necklace again.

What am I doing here?

It was strange really. After deciding that going back to bed was kind of stupid, I stayed up. I tried sending Carrie back to bed after her cookies because she practically fell asleep at the table. She refused to go though so we ended up snuggling together on the couch, watching cartoons. She fell asleep eventually. She woke a few hours later, I made us some french toast and we watched more cartoons for a while. The whole time though there was something nagging at me. I couldn’t figure out what it was until I saw a breaking news report. It was nothing more than a rehash of last night’s events at the warehouse. I tried to ignore it until I saw the same picture of my mystery girl.

That’s when I realized what was nagging me.

It was her.

There was something about her.

I stewed about it for about an hour or so before making up an excuse to go to the pool. I called around, found someone to watch Carrie for a little while then headed out. As soon as I got out the door, I had every intention of going to the pool. I was even on the right bus. Halfway through the ride though, the nagging returned. It was then that I realized what I really wanted to do. What I needed to do. At the next available stop, I jumped off. I ran a couple of blocks to an opposite bus route, taking the bus further into the city. Away from the school, toward Charlie’s. More importantly though, toward the warehouse.

Stupid.

I’d actually gotten off the bus about three minutes ago.

Now I was standing across the street just like before. It was strangely quiet for an active crime scene. There was only one police car now and though the area was taped off, there was actually no one patrolling it. I half expected it to be swarming with cops still. I’m not sure what I was even doing here, to be honest. Did I actually expect to find something that the police couldn’t? Was there some hidden clue waiting for me to discover? Was it terrorists? Gangsters? Hell, even aliens? Or maybe it was something else entirely. Something more personal.

Maybe it was her.

I’m not going to lie, there was something about her. I just couldn’t place my finger on it. She was mysterious and brooding and if the cops were right, dangerous. I should have said something. I’m not sure what it would have done but I might have been able to give them a better description of her. I almost called Dad up last night and told him about meeting her a few days before. Not that he would have believed me. He probably would have told me I was mistaken, that it was a big city and all that crap. I know what I saw though. I knew who I saw. It's not hard to forget someone like her after all. She was so tall and those eyes...no one else I’d ever seen had eyes like those.

No, I wasn’t mistaking it.

I knew it was her.

And she was in trouble.

Making up my mind, I stuck my hands into the pockets of my hoodie. I slowly made my way across the road, toward the cruiser. I half expected to be stopped as soon as I got there but I wasn’t. In fact, the car was empty. Weird. Weirder still was the steaming hot cup of coffee sitting in the holder. If there was still steam coming off it, it had to be fresh. Yet where was the cop that belonged to it? I tried the door but it was locked. Sighing, I almost left. I say almost because now this was the best opportunity. Wherever the cop was, he probably wasn’t far.

I smirked at my luck and slipped quickly under the tape.

I kept to the shadows just to be on the safe side though, slinking along the side of the nearest building.

There were several abandoned places in this part of town. This old warehouse district was one of the more popular scumbag destinations though. At one time, the city tried to bulldoze the whole place but apparently, a flock of seagulls started to nest here. A couple of environmental agencies got involved and declared the place a wildlife habitat. So instead the buildings stayed. Now everyone from addicts to vagrants called the place home too. It was one of the reasons Dad hated me coming to this part of town. Cops only came around here if absolutely necessary and most of the people here hated them.

Ditto for a cop’s kid.

Surprisingly, most people left me alone.

Not that many of them knew or even cared.

Trying not to think about that, I continued to move along a predestined path. I knew where I was going after all. It was hard not too. The building in question was directly ahead. At one time it looked like every other one in this place. Now, it was a blackened wreck. Whatever fire had happened last night, it had done its toll. Most of it had even collapsed in on itself. There was no way a gas leak had caused this. It looked like an explosion. Of course, if that was the case, we all would have heard it. Hell, Charlie lives across the street pretty much. The strange thing was though, it didn’t look like a fire either.

I’d been around fires before.

The remnants of them too.

We didn’t always live in the rich neighborhood. We used to live in a normal house, on a normal street. Dad didn’t become the Chief until a couple of years ago. The house we were living in was fairly modest. I loved it there. It was just the right size for our family. My parents thought it was too small though. It was also too close to the houses around it. That’s where I saw a fire, up close and personal. A house two houses down from us had a grease fire. It got out of control pretty quick. The firefighters barely managed to contain it. Luckily it didn’t spread and no one got hurt. What made it so memorable though was the intense heat, all the smoke, and the smell.

Stepping closer to this burnt out wreck now, I noticed that immediately.

There was no smell.

I knew there was smoke, I saw it last night.

Taking a step closer, I looked at the collapsed portion of the building. It didn’t look like it was burnt by a fire. There was no charred wood and when I touched it, it didn’t crumble away. It was still black though but more like it was scorched. I dropped my hood for a moment to rub the back of my head. What kind of fire burns but doesn’t burn? Sighing, I took a step back when I heard something. Thinking it was the cop, I quickly jumped around the rubble, hiding as best as I could. I crouched and waited. I was there for a few minutes but when no one showed up.

I did hear someone right?

Getting to my feet, I dusted off my jeans and decided to investigate further. At first, I thought maybe whatever I heard was coming from the burnt out building but I realized there was no way anyone could get in there. I did search around it a bit though but when that search proved fruitless I decided maybe I just heard things. In a situation like this, imaginations tended to run wild. Especially considering I was expecting the cop to come out and grab me at any moment. He didn’t but there was that fear.

I kept that fear in the back of my head as I continued to look around. It was clear that this was no ordinary fire. That much was obvious. No wonder the police were keeping this place so tightly guarded. Or at least they did last night. I stopped, looking around cautiously. Where was that cop anyway? And why was there only one of them? This place was swarming with them last night. All of this mess was just too strange to leave for one cop to look after by himself. I kept thinking about him as I continued to poke around a bit. After another ten minutes of it---trying and failing---to find anything, I finally decided to give up. I mean maybe I was grasping at straws anyway. Sure it was a strange fire but it was probably just a fire like every other one. More than likely the result of stupid kids or some tweaked out junkies.

Smirking at my own stupidity, I started to make my way back toward the tape barrier.

I even pulled my hood back up.

You know just in case the cop was back.

Approaching the barrier, I didn’t get very far before I heard something again. I stopped, this time I was sure I heard it. I turned, following the source. It was one of the buildings off to my right. For a second I thought I imagined it again then I smelt something. I think it was barbecue. There was the distinct smell of burning meat. Was someone cooking something? It wasn’t unheard of. This was a place frequented by many homeless after all. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that one of them might have a little grill or something.

Dropping low, I slowly started to approach the source of the sound and smell. When I got closer, I definitely smelt something. I heard something too, voices I think. I found a spot in the wall where some of the boards were rotting and coming apart. There was enough of a gap there that I was able to squeeze through. It was stupid but I couldn’t help but wonder if it was my mystery girl. As soon as I slipped through though, I was sadly mistaken. She wasn’t here. Instead, I found two large figures near the far end of the room. It was a pretty large room so I was kind of surprised I could hear them. It was pretty dark, dimly lit by what little light trickled through the grungy windows.

Staying low, almost on my stomach, I crawled closer.

Now I could really hear them:

“What’s the matter with you!” said one, he was wearing a trench coat.

“He saw us,” said the other, who was wearing a wool hat.

Both looked out of place.

It was August, they must have been sweating like crazy.

Their attire wasn’t the only strange thing though. They were huge. Bigger than any person I’d ever seen in fact.

“You’re paranoid.”

“Am not?” said Wool Cap. “He was looking right at us!”

Trench Coat grunted, stepped aside for a moment.

I finally saw what they were talking about. It was strange though because there was nothing there. At least at first, I thought there was nothing. Then I saw it or what was left of it. There was a strange black scorch mark on the wall. At first, I thought it was just more dirt and grim, the place was full of it. Then I realized the mark had a strange shape, a strangely human-like shape. That’s when I smelled it again. The barbecue. I crinkled my nose. Was that what I thought it was? And if so, how?

“Your itchy trigger finger is drawing too much attention,” said Trench Coat, giving Wool Cap a rough shove.

I moved an inch closer.

I could see them better now. Both men were pale. Trench Coat’s head was clean shaven, his skin was almost white. There was something odd about it thought too. It was covered in strange black marks. Almost like tattoos but I could swear they were moving. Like insects crawling all over his skin? I couldn’t see Wool Cap’s head because it was covered but he was stooped over a lot, like an old man. Not much different than Pops actually but Wool Cap definitely was not Pops. Like I said, he was huge. There was something else though too. He was just as wide as he was tall. The two of them were a strange pair indeed. Like a demented, twisted version of Charlie and I.

“Watch who you’re shoving!” snapped Wool Cap, pulling something from his large coat.

I thought it was a gun. It looked a bit like one but it was like nothing I’d ever seen before. The metal was shiny and seemed to ripple, almost like the other’s tattoos. The barrel of it was short though and as far as I could tell, there was no handle. How was he holding that thing?

I looked from the “gun” to the scorch mark and back again.

Was that…

No…

Not possible.

“Point that somewhere else, the Stalker is still somewhere around here.”

Wool Cap laughed or I think it was a laugh, it sounded like a hiss.

It was a shame I couldn’t see their faces but their backs were to me.

“I vapped him last night.”

Trench Coat shoved him again. “You idiot, they always travel in twos!”

What were they talking about?

What’s a Stalker?

What did I just stumble in to?

“I’ll kill that one too. No Stalker gets the drop on me!”

Trench Coat snarled at him. “Idiot, we're supposed to keep a low profile. We have one job to do. Find the girl, get the Thing and get out of here. No incidents. Do you want to piss the boss off!”

“I...I...I...”

Girl?

Were they talking about my mystery girl?

And who was this Boss?

Shit, this was bad.

Real bad.

I needed to get out of here and fast.

I started to scurry away and would have gone unnoticed but my foot hit a can. It made a loud clattering sound as I kicked it away. The sound was like a gunshot in such a large place. I cursed. Trench Coat and Wool Cap snapped around. This time I saw their faces. Cold, blank features, almost like masks. But those eyes...they were red. Who had red eyes? I didn’t have time to ponder it though because a second later, Trench Coat was on me. He was fast, really fast. I tried to jump to my feet to run but he was already on me. I didn’t even get fully to my feet before he grabbed a hold of me and lifted me off the ground. He did it with one hand too, lifting me a good two feet into the air.

Like I said, he was huge.

I didn’t realize how big until he was holding me.

Holy crap, he was massive.

“Hue-man” he hissed, I wanted to gag because his breath was horrible.

And what did he mean by “human”?

He was human too, wasn’t he?

“It can see us,” said Wool Cap, a moment later as he appeared at Trench Coat’s side.

“Most definitely,” said Trench Coat, with a sneer.

“Do you smell that?” asked Wool Cap, sniffing around me.

Trench Coat leaned in and sniffed me.

It was the weirdest thing ever.

His eyes grew big.

“It has it!” he said, tightening his grip.

“Give us it, boy” snapped Wool Cap, reaching for me.

He never touched me though. One second his hand was there, the next it wasn’t. I thought I saw some movement, maybe a glint of metal. It was so fast though. A second after that, Wool Cap howled, grasping his severed stump. The cut was clean, it sliced through flesh and bone. What I saw though made no sense. The flesh was purplish in color and the blood, it was green. People didn’t look like that.

Wool Cap screamed:

“STALKER!”

There was another flash. This time from him. He got over the shock of losing his hand, dropped to the ground and rolled back up, firing blindly. It was an amazing thing to see, especially considering how large he was. When he rolled, his cap came off and I saw something else amazing too. It was the reason he was wearing the cap because he had tiny horns all over the top of his head.

What the hell was this?

“Kill it” snapped Trench Coat. “I’ll deal with the boy!”

Damn.

Wool Cap continued to fire blinding behind us, his weird gun shooting strange beams of orange light. Every time one of those shots hit something, the area was scorched black. Like the char marks on the other building. so it wasn't a fire after all.

My attention was quickly drawn away to Trench Coat though as he tore open both my hoodie and my shirt. His nails were long and sharp, like claws. He drew his red eyes to my bare chest and smirked.

“There you are...” he snapped, reaching...

Wool Cap screamed.

Trench Coat was caught by surprise. He let me go, I dropped to the ground with a thud. After the scream, what happened next will be etched into my brain forever. Someone appeared out of thin air, swinging a strange looking spear. It was her, my Mystery Girl. She slipped in close to Wool Cap, sliced off his other arm then cleaved his head off. All in two fast and fluid motions. Wool Cap slumped to the ground, more green blood poured from his severed stumps. Trench Coat snarled, completely ignoring me. Two wicked blades came out of his sleeves and he charged the girl. He swung like a maniac, fast and furious. She was just as fast. She parred his swings with the agile grace of a ballerina, spinning her weapon about like it was apart of her.

None of his slashes got anywhere near her.

As all of this was going on though, something else caught my eye.

There was a quick shimmer to my left.

A person shaped shimmer.

A third person.

They came at me fast, faster than the others. For a split second, I saw them. They were in a skin-tight black suit, wielding a sword. Like a Ninja. They came at me quick. I panicked, threw up my arms as the blade of the sword came toward my neck.

There was a flash of bright, blinding light.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF