Recoil: Chapter 1, Reaper
My vision pulsed with my heart as I tucked and rolled, evading the onslaught of fists.
"Not bad! But I'm afraid you'll have to try harder." I mocked as my elbow connected with the junior's spine, leaving him crumpled on the pavement. Bringing my arm back in place, I was greeted with roars and cheers from our high school audience.
2 left, I got this...I bounced a bit on my toes, ready to dodge.
"Little kid, shoulda just fuckin' taken the easy way and kept shut." one of the shadier forms mumbled to me. He stepped forward and brought his fist back to punch. Stupid, Stupid Mistake.
I planned it all out in my head, first: palm thrust the oncoming fist to the left, leaving target open. Two: deliver solid side-hand blow to trachea, sending breathing rhythm into a spasm. Three: sidestep momentarily to stomp the back of his knees, bringing him to the ground. Final step: Knock unconscious with an accurate knuckle to his spinal column.
The boy was down and out, not dead, but he wasn't getting back up. I rolled my head to release a kink I had, grinning. "Ok toughie, Your the last man standing" I taunted. He seemed unfazed. You would think that after seeing 2 of his friends immobilized by some screwy new freshmen, that he would just drop it. A pity for him.
"Fuck you fag" He spat. That. Put me over the edge. Whether he knew or not, that made something inside me give. Fag. How loosely that emotionally rendering term was used.
I lost control, I blitzed at him, not giving him time to react, one punch: side jaw, second: use recoil to spin and use elbow to crush his solar plexus, Third: roundhouse his knees, fracturing his tibia in right leg, Final: a clean straight kick to his now fractured jaw, sending him on the ground. Something was wrong, I was panting hard my body tensing and releasing. My heart was pounding so hard I was loosing color to my vision.
"TURN OVER!" I roared at the limp body. Not waiting a millisecond, I grabbed his shirt collar and dragged him face down to the curb.
"PUT. YOUR. MOUTH. ON. THE . CURB!" I screamed in his ear. I was loosing it.
"DO IT!" he slowly opened his maw and bit the curb.
I leaned down and whispered in his ear, "should have thought about what you use that tongue for, now you pay."
Time slowed, everything was in grayscale. The crowed silent, I couldn't hear anything.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" I roared as my steel toe boots connected with his skull, splitting it in half. Sending brain matter on the bloody curb.
My blood boiled. I black out, a ringing in my ears too intense to bear.
Oh my god! This pain! I panicked in my head. My arms were tearing; my nails were growing through my skin. My bones cracking as they reformed. My eyes melting as I changed.
Next thing I knew. Everyone was screaming and running. Cars stopping to look at this nightmare take place. I blinked and looked down. What was I? I was covered in black fur, with a furry dark mane. My.... claws coated in crimson. Bodies. Lying dismembered on the asphalt. "W-What?" I stuttered in a too-deep-for-me-voice. Swaying in my place, I fell to the ground, landing on my knee. My thoughts faltered. What was I? Not a human?
I didn't have time before a 9mm bullet buried itself in my shoulder blade. I roared in pain as I whipped around, being greeting with the friendly fire of two more rounds to my chest
"NO!" I groaned as I bent over, holding my midsection.
"P-Put your hands! O-Or claws, behind your head!" One of the swarming police officers shouted at me.
I tried to put my hands up, and I got on of them up, but the other faltered as the shoulder muscle was torn from gunfire. Groaning, I let it drop, showing I couldn't.
"Get back on your knees!" I got down, my eyes watering. But, just then something felt odd inside me; I felt something sliding under my bone barrow, as well as between my ribs. I heard one... Two... and three metallic tings on the ground as I realized what had happened. My body had forced the bullets out, and now seemed to be healing at a prodigious rate. I grinned my fangs a bit, letting the paint slip away. The officers approached me. No. I heard my subconscious tell me. My legs acted on there own, my muscles recoiling to torque me upward. I blaze of gunfire exploded near were I once was. I was sailing about 30 feet in the air, in the direction of the school building's rooftop. I landed hard on the gravel topping and rolled to cushion it. I needed to stop for a moment. "Ok, I'm scared, I'm confused, I don't know what to do, I-I..." I cut myself off, tearing up and sitting down in my new furry form.
I looked over my life thus far, being adopted, moving to this smaller town, to get away from the city. Because there I was always fighting, selling drugs, hanging around. But all that ended when my foster parents didn't want to see me go down the road I was on, so we left, and here I am. A transformed, sick, killer, with no idea of what to do now that I had all this blood on my hands.... Literally.
I got myself together and stood up, shaking a bit. I looked over the edge of my perch to see something a little intimidating. Along with the police cruisers, there were now SWAT cars. this was bad, very bad. I knew I couldn't surrender, I'd be swiss cheese before I said 2 words, even with my uniqe healing abilities. Come to think, I didn't know my new bodies limites.
But I guess that would have to wait untill later trial-and-error, because the SWAT team was now breaching the building, and If I wasn't gone soon, I'm fairly certain I will die.
Backing up from the edge, I did a bit of math; If I jumped up here (which is roughly 30 feet, more or less) then my muscles should be strong enought to withstand the impact, right?
"Take em' Down!" the chief SWAT member yelled to my back. I growled and sprinted to the edge once more, bullets peppering around my paws. Damn! Too fast! I was running unbelievably quick, at this rate I would be more likely to be road kill then free. I took a strong bound at the ledge, propelling myself an additional 20 feet in the air, great, Now I really was taking a leap of faith. The fall itself felt surreal, like something in a dream, when you die and just wake up.
I landed right on all fours, making 4 semi-deep holes in the turf with a loud thud. I was pretty impressed, and of course having survived that fall I felt a little bit better about myself. I need to make a plan, what do I do now-. Bullets whizzing by me interrupted my thoughts. I began running full speed to the small woods to the west of the field, hoping to evade the human firearms. My hopes were too high, I got hit at least 7 times, all over my torso and arms, and it hurt. Loosing little blood during my healing process I made it through the woods and burst onto the main street in the center of the small town. Hesitating, I came to a split second decision. My friend Stephen was home sick today. He was home. And he could help me... but first I'd need to get him to stay calm at sight of me. I shook my head at thought; I didn't want to think about loosing a close friend over this. Even if I deserved it. Dismissing the thought I started off in Stephen's direction, staying low and out of view from the road, Which actually, made 2 things come to mind, the first: I have no idea how I look, and the second: I was not wearing any clothes. I actually giggled a bit at that, who knew that I'd wake up this morning, coffee in hand walking to school only to end up running about 50 mph down the side of main street bare ass naked. Well, at least I had my fur to cover myself.
"Ok Rashama, you can do this..." I tried to convince myself, walking slowly around the middle-aged house. I looked up to Stephen's window, which had a small piece of roofing protruding a few feet under it. Gathering my courage, I jumped up, not over doing it this time, and landed softly on the tile. I turned and shuffled to the window, peering in to see Stephen on his computer. What he was looking at, I have no preference to view. I wanted to try knocking, but butterflies filled my stomach and I pulled my hand back. Come on....
I tapped on the window with a claw, then turning my snout a bit always, I wasn't that ready, not yet. I heard him scoot his chair back and get up. We usually used that window to sneak in and out of his room, so it wasn't too weird for me to be using it. But during school hours it might be.
"Hey, who's there." he said lazily, rubbing his grey-tinted blue eyes. "Hey.... Stephen... it's Rashama." I shied away a bit. "Dude, did you hear what happened at the school? And drop the hood, you look like your smuggling something." he half teased. I waited a minute before turning my furry maw to his face, keeping my eyes low. "I...can't." Now, Steph is usually an already pretty white kid, and on top of his cold, he looked like an albino. "No...No, N-No your not..." he stuttered as he back away. "Please, Steph, it really is me! I know I look like a demon or something, I don't even know myself, but please, believe me!" I spoke in a sad tone with my ears lowering. There was a dead silence in the room as well as my perch. "Get in before someone sees you, man." He gestured to me as he sat back to his computer. That's it? Wow, Maybe I don't look that bad. I climbed it, and landing softly on my paws, letting my tail drift a bit for balance. "Can I use your bathroom for a couple dude?" I asked. "Yeah, take your time, but I need to know what the fuck went down at school today, it's all over the news and such, some kind my man-slaughter-"Stop, please, Stop" I cut him off, I closed my eyes, not wanting to hear my emotional punishment.
I looked into the mirror and was astonished by what I saw. A large black panther looked back at me. I reached up and felt my face as I studied it, feeling my ears, my snout, and my fur. I had a soft, wavy, dark mane starting at my head, and stopping at a fluffy point on my chest. I had much more muscle tone and definition then previously. I looked about my new body; feeling the sinew tense in my arm, feel my diaphragm constrict my lungs, which now felt more like two large party ballons. I shook myself from my trance-like state and turned to the shower, my fur was caked with blood and dirt. Most of the blood mine...I hoped. A few minutes into the hot sauna-like drizzle; I watched the grim flow between my paws, down the drain. By now my shaking frame was calm, but I was still very uneasy.
Exiting the restroom with a towel around my waist, I noticed Stephen looking me over. "What?" "Oh nothing, just... a little shocked, I mean, your some sort of panther-human-hybrid" I shrugged "I think being a furry finally got to me" I let myself laugh a bit, I needed it.
After getting some of Stephen's slim dark skater jeans out of his dresser, I just borrowed a large zippered hoodie in lack of a large enough shirt. "Ok," he swiveled to me "now tell me the story"
I explained everything, the fight, my... experience, the roof, the guns, the wounds, the running, everything. He tipped back in his chair, running his hand through his hair, "Man... This is too much, I'm just glad the reporters didn't get any sign of you." He was right, had they have photos; I would be a pretty tractable fugitive. Because at the moment, I'm fairly sure no one would believe a black panther committed this massacre. "But now, Steph, I need to leave this place, I need to hide..." Another silence. "Honestly, after that, they're going to be after you, like a pack of wolves.... so to speak." He spoke monotone. "You. Might want to look into leaving the US" I swayed a bit, the thought of starting that fresh just went way over my head.
Feeling an overwhelming sense of abysmal sadness I stumbled to the restroom once more, bent over, and threw up, sobbing the entire time. Stephen sat quietly, looking at his socks as I let my pent up emotions out. I got a hold of myself after about 15 minutes of that, thinking about leaving everyone, my mom, dad, Steph, hell even the adolescents at my high school. I knew I didn't like it here, but... I don't know, this got the better of me, probably because I knew I might never be able to come back.... And what if this happened again? What If I'm just some killing machine...? I stopped, worried to think back to earlier today, which made my stomach lurch.
"You going to be ok, man?" Staph questioned as he peeked in, I stood up shaking, "Y-yeah," I walked by him to the bed once more, "but I think I should leave now, they probably know were I went by now, and I don't-" sirens grew louder outside the house and then were accompanied by the slamming of car doors. "No..." I sighed in disbelief, as I flipped my hood over my ears and face, turning to face the window once more. "Wait! Take this, I know you'll need it," He handed me his wallet, full of money, a lot of it. I tears welled up in my eyes, feeling guilty, "thank you, and I promise, One day I'll come back, and I'll repay you, whether it be in money or actions, I promise I will."
I leaped out the window and rolled behind his old swing set, hesitating when a few armed officers came around the corner of the house with hand guns held low. Creeping under the slide I bolted to a tree limb, jumping off the ground to it, then using my momentum to spring off this branch, just as the rest of the officers turned their heads to the tree. Unsure if I had drawn their attention, I continued to sprint through backyards, leaping fences and other accessories people may have bought and left to rust.
Reaching the end of my stealthy route, I came within no less then 14 feet from a four-way intersection. Think, what do I do... a couple of minutes later, the approaching sound of sirens coaxed me to a near bank parking lot, taking refuge behind a BMW compact, bending down with my hand on the door release handle. But, putting too much of my weight on the handle, the door, to my amazement, popped open.
This was my chance. To start new. Start free