The Devils Curse

It was late at night, around supper time on December 12th, only six days from my birthday. I had recently moved here to Effingham, New Hampshire. It's a small quaint town in the middle of the mountains.

I had just gotten back from a day of school, where I have few people I know, and even fewer that I'd consider being friends with. I was walking home from the bus stop, I heard a gunshot from up in the mountains and stop as I saw these two little purple dots, slowly growing bigger. I shrugged and kept walking, but then stopped as I noticed everything went silent and I looked back up at the dot and saw it speeding straight at me.

I began to turn and run as they flew over and hit me smack in the temples of my forehead. All I felt was a huge force pushing against my head as it glowed a bright white and I staggered backwards. I fell to the ground and they literally pushed straight into my head. I lay there for a few moments and closed my eyes and took a deep breath. A few minutes later my eyes shot open as I heard a loud honk and I rolled out of the way as a car drove by. I sighed and gently felt my forehead, only to find there wasn't even a bruise, it was completely fine. I got up, dusted myself off and walked home, and ate dinner. I watched television for about one hour and I went to bed. .

I slept restlessly, weird visions of a Batlike, anthropomorphic creature with horns filled my head. It walked towards me and said " You have two choices child, you may stay as you are, or be the perfect teenager. One of these choices is right, the other is wrong, if you answer right I wi-" but being as impatient as I was, I quickly interrupted him and said " I want to be perfect!" there was a bright flash and he laughed, taking out a pitchfork and poking two holes in my temples before vanishing.

I woke with a start as my alarm went off. I looked at the clock and sighed as I got up. " I hate waking up at 4:50 in the morning..." I said as I climbed the stairs and got into the shower. Everything went as usual, until I started to wash my face and noticed two bump where the purple objects hit me, the bumps, were rock hard too.

I finished showering and got out, getting dressed in my usual jeans and t-shirt. As I went down to my room I tripped on my cat's toy ball, and instead of tumbling I flipped and landed right on my feet. " I didn't know I could do that..." I stood there for a few more moments and shrugged as I went down to my room and made my bed. After doing so I went upstairs to get some breakfast, I opened the cabinet and got out some Raisin Bran, I then got out a bowl, a spoon and some milk and, sat down at the table and made breakfast, but as I ate it I noticed my teeth seemed a little sharper and my tongue was kinda rough.

I finished breakfast and got ready to go to the bus stop, putting on my coat, gloves, hat, and scarf. I said goodbye to my mom and her husband and headed off to the bustop. "Its freezing out " I said as I walked to the bus stop, but as I got there I was met with him, David, the kid who makes fun of me. I sighed and smiled as the bus pulled up and I got on. I sat in the back and waited for my friend Olivia to come on.

When she finally did come on she came over and sat with me, and I told her about last night and this morning. She looked at me curiously and poked the bump on my forehead and shrugged. "Maybe you finally have gone crazy Florence." She said. I sighed and nodded "Maybe." As we arrived at school I sighed, it was gonna be a long day today, we were a test in foods class and we were running in gym today. I went to foods class and the teacher handed me the test as I sat down.

As I did the test I found I knew the answer to all the questions and finished quickly. And sat there for the rest of class. After class I headed to the locker room to change up for gym. While getting changed he came in and said some very hurtful remarks to me and smirked as I left the locker room and headed out into the gym and played badminton with some girls for a little while before class started. During gym we played crossfire (its basically dodgeball but if you catch the ball two eliminated teammates can come back in). When we started about three of them aimed their balls at me and I decided to try something, I jumped up high into the air and pegged one of them, grinning as I landed on my feet. So thing went great every day, I made a few friends. But everything changed on the 18th, my birthday.

I was walking to my seat in the lunchroom when I saw a large mirror in front of me, everything else around me had come to a complete stop, I looked side to side before approaching the mirror and looking into it. The bat like creature with the pitchfork was standing on the inside of it, and he said "Here is your punishment for choosing wrong" said. I backed up and the mirror shattered into dust before vanishing. I backed up, startled. I stood there, noticing that everyone around me was staring at me with a horrified expression on their face, I slowly backed away, out of the Cafeteria door and walked into the bathroom. I nearly screamed in surprise to find the bumps splitting open, dripping some blood as they revealed two horns that were beginning to push their way out of my skull, growing about two inches and curving slightly towards my back as I was starting to become light headed.

I had passed out on the floor, I was apparently there for a couple of hours. When I woke up I looked at myself in the mirror and screamed in horror. I had been completely transformed into some sort of anthropomorphic animal mishmash. I had two horns, I was covered in fur, I had two large ears and odd patterns in my fur. I hid as a janitor opened the door, trying my hardest to not breath loudly.

He looked around and said "Florence!? What happened to you!?" I backed away slowly, trembling as I look at him "I- I think I m-made a deal with the Devil..." I said. he looked at me and sighed, gently pressing the palm of his hand to his forehead as he mumbled "What are you going to tell everyone Florence…" I sighed and replied "An accident with my science sets…?" The janitor sighed and lead me out of the bathroom, telling me it's about 5pm at night and I have missed the bus

He drove me to his house, and we sat down at the table and began to converse "Well you can't go back home, your mom and her husband would freak out" I nodded in agreement and replied "Maybe I could stay with you...?" he gently scratched as his chin as and said "well…" I put my hand together and pleaded to him "I'll do the dishes, clean the house, I'll even cook for you!" He sighed and nodded slowly "But only for tonight, tomorrow you need to go home".

I spent the night on the couch of his living room, and he let me borrow a hoodie and a kids toy bandit mask and bandana, he also cut a hole in the back of my backpack to fit my tail. Now the school day got really interesting. when I got to school the janitor explained to all the teachers why I was wearing such attire, and had to keep my backpack on at all times (he said I got a really nasty rash all over my face and that the backpack was to help with my injured spine). Things went fairly well up until I reached dance class, in which I had to take off such attire to do my work, the teacher fainted after screaming and all the kids screamed and huddled into the corner. Then the officers in the school promptly detained me.

They brought me down to the police station and handcuffed me to the bench. I looked up at them and said "Please let me go, I haven't done anything wrong" they sneered and one of them hit me in the face, I fell to the side and teared up, looking up at them and they said "We'll let you go freak, but don't come back to this town..." They let me go later after taking "paw" prints from me and drove me out of town. I walked the rest of the way back to my house and packed up my backpack, I filled it up with some clothing, a few pocket knives, and some sketch pads I started to head towards the door and I grabbed two coats, a sweatshirt, my small tent and a sleeping back, attaching my fishing rods and tackle box to my backpack before hiking out into the woods. I had hiked for a few hours before I came upon a large stream, with a decent area to set up camp at.

I set up my tent over by the river, putting on my warm sweatshirt as I set up my sleeping area. I sat down by the river on a large stone and setting up my fishing pole. I casted out a fake worm with a old fashion bobber and I sat there, staring out at the river as I thought.I didn't catch many fish, just enough to last me for the night, I started a small fire and cooked the fish, eating them with some pine nuts from a nearby pine tree. Once I had finished eating I sat back against a tree, looking up at the sky as I sighed, wondering what to do with myself now, where I could go to get some kind of help. But as it grew darker outside I gently began to fall asleep as clouds filled the sky, a light snow coming down as I sat there, the only sound was of the snow falling to the ground.

I spent a good two weeks doing the same old thing every day before something interesting happened, I woke up, washed my clothing and bathed in the river, got dressed, fished for breakfast, and then worked on the cabin or tried to make things out of wood. I built a canoe at one point, and an oar. But once I finished it I got into the habit of going out onto the river and just drifting, laying in it and looking up at the sky.

Once hunting season came around I was having a lot of trouble, being part animal and all. So I had to use the juices of berries and such to dye my sweatshirt and pants orange. I built myself a bow and some arrows at one point, after many unsuccessful tries, and I taught myself how to hunt. At one point I bagged a large deer, going up to it, only to find out I could understand what it was saying to me, I cried the whole while I gutted it and skinned it, while it was dieing all it wanted was to see its mother. I didn't eat any of the deer because of that event, so instead I used it as bait for the fish or fed the foxes with it.

Then one day I had a big problem, I had run out of fishing line, so I was going to have to venture out into town to get more. I set out the next day with an assortment of lures and the hide of the deer to try and pawn off for some line. When I got there I used a homemade hood and such to disguise myself, quickly trading my goods for some fishing line and leaving. But when I went outside, the policeman from before was waiting for me. He pepper sprayed me in the face before beating my with his baton, leaving me there on the ground afterwards, taking the fishing line and burning it with a lighter as he left me there, crippled and bruised.

I lay there for a few minutes before a small child I had seen in the store, his parents had given him his allowance and with it he had bought a fish stuffed animal, going over to me and putting it in my paws and saying "for you mister kitty, mommy says that kitties like fishies".

I got up, staggering as I stood on my knees, tears in my eyes as I gently hugged him, tears beginning to roll down my cheeks as I gave him back the stuffed animal, smiling "No thank you, but thank you very much, your a nice boy…" I got to my paws as he walked over to an adult female, she looked over at me with a disgusted look on her face and told the boy "Don't go near that thing it might have fleas" I watched them walk away before I headed back to the cabin, hiking up into the mountains and beginning to make fishing line out of the fibers of cattails, braiding them together into a thin fishing line.

The next day I ran into that same little boy while his family was hiking, he had gotten lost and I had found him crying, under a tree as it began to pour. I took him into the cabin and stripped him down to his shorts and put his clothing in front of the fire, placing one of my shirts on him as he sat there, drying off in front of it. I handed him a bowl of cooked fish, and a metal dish full of water "I'll take you back home once the storm is over, ok?" He nodded and slowly ate the fish and drank some pointed to my old beaten up fishing pole and asked me "What is that thing?" "It is a fishing rod" I replied "you put a hook on the end, like this" I demonstrated, showing him how I cast and how it casts.

I returned him the next day, after taking him fishing and showing him how to, letting him try to do it and helping him catch his first fish. "I want one of these!" he said and the moment the mother saw me with him, she screamed and called the police, at which point I knew it was time to haul tail and get out of there. But the police caught me right before I ran into the woods, shooting me in the back with rubber bullets as I ran into the woods. That night I began to make something out of wood, with little metal rings, it took a few days to make it, and on the last week of summer, I snuck down to the child's house and placed it, and a box full of homemade lures and hooks on his doorstep knocking on the door and quickly running to the cover of a bush, watching as the mother opened the door and the boy ran outside, squealing happily as he picked up, looking up at me and saying "mister ki-" but I put one finger to my mouth and he stopped, nodding.

About 10 years had passed, but because of the curse I beared I did not age. I was sitting by the stream, fishing, when I saw the boy again, now a teenager. He smiled and walked over, pulling out the old fishing rod out of his bag and setting it up. "You couldn't get a better rod than that raggedy old thing I made you?" I asked him. He laughed and smiled at me "I brought the pole because I was trying to find you again, I never really got to say thank you for making it for me and I don't really want a new one, this one is still my favourite." I smiled and scooted over next to him, about a foot shorter than him. I gently kneeled and hugged him close to me, smiling "It's been a long time since someone has said something nice to me" I said before sitting back down, watching my bobber carefully.

We sat there for a few hours before he said to me "My parents passed recently, they were in a bad car accident, do you mind if I stay with you" I looked at him with an astonished look, nodding quickly "O-of course, but may I ask your name?" I answered "My name is Chris, but you can call me CJ, what's yours?" I looked at him, slightly stunned "My name... I haven't used my name in such a long time...my name...my name is Florence" I replied to him. Holding my paw out for him to shake. He grinned and hugged me instead "I've always wondered what your name was 'mister kitty'" he said, pulling out he plush fish and handing it to me.

I looked up at him, smiling wide as I put it in a woven basket of mine. "I'm done with school, I graduated early. I decided I want to come live off the land with you" he told me "You don't mind how I look you mean?" I asked him "Looks don't matter Florence, and neither does sexuality, religion, or how you dress. It's how you act that makes you a good person." he replied. I smiled up at him, tears forming in my eyes as I gently hugged him "Thank you CJ…" We fished for the rest of the day before I took him back into my house, setting up a bed for him and beginning to cook the fish we caught. I smiled up at him as I did, he was a fairly large and skinny boy, but he was quite strong for his size. "Do you think tomorrow you could take me into town, maybe you can help me convince some people that it's not what people look like that matters, but how you act?" I asked him. He smiled and nodded "Sure, you can meet some friends of mine too" he replied.

The next day we got up before the sun had risen and caught some fish for breakfast. CJ put one of his old hoodies and some shorts on me before we headed out. I looked sort of like a cartoon character in the outfit, looking like something from some kind of kids show. We walked down to a house That was next door to the one that I dropped him off at when he was little, but while walking I covered my face almost fully with the hoodie's front. I was grinning like a lunatic, completely excited at the thought of being able to be with other people, I would no longer have to be alone. I would be able to go to the store and do normal things, like a normal person. Maybe I could even find someone to love.

As we began to walk up a steep hill, I heard a police siren, my fur immediately standing on end as I began to panic. I tried to hide behind CJ as a police car drove by us, eyeing us suspiciously. The policeman pulled up beside us and began to question us harshly "Where are you going?" "A friends" "What's his name?" "Tyler" "Where is this friends ho-" he stopped in mid sentence as he saw the tip of my tail poking out of my hoodie. Throwing the door open before shoving CJ out of the way, pinning me to the ground as he kneed me in the groin, making a loud squelching sound. I cringed as I pulled my legs together, tears running down my cheeks as I gasped for breath. CJ began to run over. The cop pulled out his steel flashlight and bashed it right into my nose, then quickly hitting me in the side of my head as CJ had reached us ramming into the cop, throwing his full body weight against the officer, throwing him to the side. CJ jumped on top of the cop, he was larger than the man as he held him down, yelling into his face "What has this boy done wrong to you, or anyone!" he hit the cop straight in the eye as he continued "He has only wanted to have friends! He wanted someone to be there for him!" CJ continued to beat the cop as he yelled "He has been through incredible pain! He has lost-" but as he was screaming this another cop had pulled up, pulling out a pistol and shooting him in the head.

I watched in horror as CJ collapsed onto the ground, dead. And the other cop went to his car, staggering as he pulled out a shotgun, sneering as he approached me. he stood over me, grinning as he shot the tip of my tail off, kicking me to the side, down the hill. I landed in a trash filled area, a pond full of all sorts of discarded waste, my tail bleeding profusely. It started to rain as I layed there, tears rushing down my cheeks, pulling out the stuffed fish clumsily, hugging it and my knees to my chest, burying my face into them as I mourned for my friend. I layed there for the rest of the night, crying myself to sleep.

I woke up before the sun had come up again, crawling through the thick mud until I found a pair of discarded kids crutches, clumsily pulling myself up on to them and limping up the hill, finding CJ's body still there, somewhat eaten by animals, blood poured out around it, holes gnawed into his skin and his eyes ripped out. At the sight I promptly vomited on the ground, beginning to cry once again as I made a sled to drag him on out of the hoodie, the pants and some sticks. I dragged him back to the cabin, only to find that the police had found it and burned it to the ground, the ashes damp but somewhat warm. I dug a large hole, six feet deep, right under the rock where I taught CJ to fish. I placed his body into it, laying it on a hand made cloth and began to cry, placing , his arms across his chest, and putting the fishing rod I made him and one hand, and in the other.

I put the stuffed fish. The dirty, hole filled stuffed fish. But before I began to bury him, I kneeled down beside him, gently kissing his forehead and saying "You may not have been related to me genetically…..but to me...you were the only family I had...You were the only person who truly believed in me…" I began to say, sobbing heavily "You were the one person who saw me for who I truly was...you treated me like a normal person...you were nicest person I've ever known...and all I have left to say is...thank you"

I collapsed on top of him, sobbing as I cried out "It's not fair! It's not fair!" pounding on the ground with a closed paw. I laid there, crying, for for about a half hour before I buried him. As I finished burying him I vowed to never let such a thing happen, ever again. I walk into the distance, going down to the river and sitting back on top of the rock, still able to feel the presence of CJ next to me. I look over to where he sat to saw he was there, completely pale blue, and somewhat saw through. He looked at me and said " I have decided to stay on this world, to help you out with things. to be your guardian." he placed a cold, weightless arm around my shoulders. I teared up and closed my eyes as I pressed against him, feeling only the slightest resistance to my pushing "Thank you…"

After we had spent a good hour, looking out on the river, I began to rebuild my log cabin,. After I had finished building enough to shelter myself for the night, it was already pitch black outside, I began to tuck myself into a pile of reeds and went to bed for the night, with the spirit of CJ standing guard beside me, stroking my fur softly as I slept.

I woke up early in the morning to find that in the rubble of the old cabin there was one of my fishing rods and reel, not completely ruined, still easily salvageable. I grinned and began to work on it, my stomach rumbling at the thought of eating fish. I finished working on the rod at about mid noon, and caught a few fish for brunch. Cooking them on the leftover coals left over from the cabin.

After brunch I continued to work on the cabin. I continued this pattern for about a year, making it a large multi level cabin, with a couple rooms and beds. And after a few days of completing it Hikers started to come into the cabin to stay during their treks. But while they were staying in the cabin, I would cater to them, and help them if they were injured or sick, but I had to wear a mask and make it look like I was wearing an outfit, trying not to show who I am to the travelers. But when one day, when I was catering to a sick man, who had been attacked by a bear, my mask had fallen off. And he had a heart attack, his weak heart beginning to give out.

I had no phone, so I couldn't call 911, so I put him in a handmade wagon and ran as fast as I could, rushing him through the woods and across the town, rushing him into the hospital's ER without the cops noticing . But when I got there, they took in the man, but they sedated me with a dart gun as I was running out the door. When I woke up, I found myself in a dimly lit room, strapped down to an examination table. The walls and floor were made of a turquoise colored tiles, a dried red liquid splattered on them and the table. I tried to scream, only to find that I had been gagged. I closed my eyes after looking down at my stomach, a large stitched up incision ran from my waist up to my chest. After a few minutes, a few men in lab coat, with surgical masks came in and stabbed me in the arm with a syringe, pulling out a large blood sample. then grinned and did something unspeakable to my lower body, I don't even want to think about it to this day. After they did those "things" they took off my gag and pulled out a very odd looking cat, putting it on my chest and saying to me "Speak to it you freak" I gulped and nodded, saying to it "H-hello, wh-what is happening" "You are the government's new play toy" it said, grinning "They have big plans for you child, they want to learn the secrets to your immortality"

I gasped as the cat had said that, looking up at the men as they grin madly, rubbing their hands together " I warn you, I am a creature of the underworld, if you make a mistake with what you're doing, things will get nasty" I said at them, trying my best to look serious and fearless. They laughed and went up to me, wielding scalpels and hemostats. They put the gag back on, and I watched in horror as they began to dissect me, knowing that no matter what I cannot die. I screamed into the gag, tears streaming down my cheeks as I struggled, trying to escape as they began cutting open my organs, blood gushing out of me as I struggled, crying out into the gag. But as they cut me apart they found a odd, deep purple ball, pulsing with a odd coldness. Now being as curious as they were, they began to cut it open, which, may I note, was not a good idea, at all. As it began to split open, it began to shake violently, glowing a deep hateful red.

As it began to shake faster, it split in half, creating a chain reaction with the atoms in the surrounding air, creating a large explosion, blowing up the institute I was in, and the surrounding city, the heat and radiation of the explosion completely closing all my wounds, and the orb inside me closed back up once again.

As I pulled myself out of the rubble, I found the surrounding land scorched by heat, everything completely obliterated. It took me about a month but I was able to walk back to my cabin, the fur on my tail still hasn't grown back yet, and the tip had become a bright blue. When I had got to the cabin, I found it run down and covered in moss, I went inside of it and set up my bed, curling up on it and going to sleep, wondering where CJ had gone. I woke up the next morning, eating some pine nuts for breakfast and going straight ahead and beginning to repair my house, I also used some spare wood to make a small collapsible fishing rod. Afterwards I made a homemade resin, sealing the rod and all the wood in my house, to prevent rot and more fungi from growing on them. I then spent the rest of the day making fishing line, hooks, and making myself a simple reel.

The next day, I spent most of the day sitting on that rock I first fished with CJ on and thought, thinking about what I should do, I had a house to live in, and I could sustain myself, but I had just created an atomic explosion in a government institution, they would soon be coming after me, trying to find me. I sighed and layed back on the rock, looking up into the sky and watching the clouds. I would have to start traveling around, I could no longer stay here. I would have to let go of these memories. My eyes began to tear up as I realised this, knowing that this was the end of this home, I could no longer stay where my truest friend was buried, I could no longer be with him, as creepy as it sounds, I knew that his spirit was bound to this place, and that I would have to leave him behind.

I went into the forest and picked some flowers, laying them down on his grave, and placing something a carved into stone on his grave. It was a marker, with a picture of me and him carved into it, and under it, it said "Here lies the greatest human that has ever graced my path. He understood that it doesn't matter what you are, and who you are. I will miss this man deeply, I will never forget him."

I got up and headed out, strapping my fishing rod on my back and pulling my hood over my face, walking away as tears stream down my cheeks. I turn around and give it one last look, saying " I will come back when my journey comes to an end…" I turned around and walked off, looking down as I sobbed quietly, remembering the good memories I had there. Remembering how I first taught him how to fish, remembering how we were such good friends, and how we accidentally met. How every child is born kind, passionate, loving, and friendly, but how they learn from the parents teach them that anything different than them is wrong, and anything different from you shouldn't be be acceptable.

I left there and began to trek in an aimless direction, trying to stay in the woods, and out of site. I continued to trek for about a month, living off of worms, grubs, and various berries. I only stopped traveling when I came to a place up in the mountains where I believed that I could lay low, doing the best I could to blend in, I headed farther in the mountains, heading farther up north. I built a small home hidden inside a cave, building it nearby a river. I made friends with the nearby mountain lions, helping them with any wounds or illnesses afflicting them. I kept my clothes in the cave and became more accustomed to walking on all fours when needed, making myself seem like a wild animal to any hikers and hunters, but if the hunters shot me, the bullets may hurt, but the injuries healed quickly.

After awhile the mountain lions decided to accept me as no longer being a threat, and being more like another mountain lion. They allowed me to sleep in their caves with them, sharing their food and sleeping areas. We became very closely knit, we would travel together and help each other as needed. My main job was to nurse any of them back to help when they were sick, and if they had complications with births of their cubs, or broke any bones, I was there to help with it. One of the mountain lion's was different though, when it was born, it was born anthropomorphic. So the mother abandoned him, leaving him at my sleeping area.

I took the cub in and I named him Leon. I did my best to nurse him to health, feeding it milk that one of the other female mountain lions allowed me to take from her. I put it in a sack made out of a goat's hide, feeding the cub the milk with it. I had a lot of trouble caring for the cub, while I was nursing it with the sack, we A wolf had gotten into the cave and attacked up, cutting the cub badly. The cub had lost a lot of blood, and I had to do something that never should have been done. I had to give it some of my blood, making it immortal, and part demon. The next few weeks after the incident the cub was horribly sick, his body reacting violently to the changes the blood was causing. But once it was over, he was as healthy as could be. The only difference between how me and the cub were was that the cub could age, slowly, but he could still age. As time went by the cub came to know me as his father, I taught him everything I knew, and tried to be the best father I could be.

But soon the time had come for me to leave, I knew it was time to go because one of the mountain lions came back to a cave with a odd collar on it's neck, acting oddly. I packed up my belongings and grabbed Leon's paw, running out of the cave just as there was a loud screeching noise, followed by a flash and an explosion. "What happened to mommy?" Leon asked me "They are all asleep, there gonna take a nice long nap, ok?' he nodded as we continued to run, hearing the barking of dogs behind us. As we ran we could heard us gaining on us, thinking quickly I pushed Leon into a abandoned fox's den, whispering to him "Stay quiet, and cover your ears, I'm going to try to do something ok." The police, scientists, and their hounds approached us. I turned to them and looked them in the eyes, trying not to show that I was about to pull a huge bluff on them. They looked back at me, grinning from ear to ear "Come here kitty kitty~" one of them said, moving his finger to himself. " I warn you mortals, if you try to harm me, I will call my powers from the depths of hell, unleashing the fury of a young banshee." I said, looking at them with the most serious face I could muster. Some of them began to laugh, but the others had a quiet grave look on their face, slowly beginning to back up, trembling slightly. One police men laughed and took out a pistol yelling at me as he fired "Prove it you freak!" The bullet hit me in the knee, causing me to fall onto the ground. "I'll shoot your kid next" he said as I looked up at them as a fire blazed in my eyes, fury taking over me as my voice became soft and beautiful, but full of malevolence, I began to sing a song to them "Ring around the rosie, the ashes cold and smokie, and for today, we shall play, and watch death approach thee"

As I continued to sing they all started to look pale, beginning to tremble as they looked down at their arms, large bloody lesions beginning to form "It burns your hide, burning inside, covering your entire body" Most of them screamed, panicking as the lesions spread across their bodies, they started to feel weaker, and weaker. "Your skin now bubbles, you are in trouble the Devil now consumes thee" Some of them had collapsed on the ground, screaming for mercy as they cried out in pain "Death is near, that bell you hear, strikes one, two, then three" as I finished then all started dropping like flies, dying one by one until that policemen was left, I walked up to him and told him as he took his final breath "How you look doesn't matter, but how you act…"

I kicked him to the side and went over to Leon, pulling him out of the hole and putting him on my back. We began hiking through the mountains, heading aimlessly away from the death filled forest, trying to find a place to get away to before their backup came. We hiked to a small village, by the time we had reached it though, it was the middle of the night. It was a moonless night, a soft warm breeze blowing through our fur as we looked around, the stars just barely creating enough light to see a few yards in front of us. As we trekked throughout the village, we found that it was oddly silent, it seemed that no one was in the village at all, and there was a odd rotting smell emanating from somewhere nearby. We scanned the area, looking around for the source of the disdainful smell. We tracked it to a church in the town. The church was run down and looked like it hadn't been cared for for a while. We went inside of it, and on the inside, the walls were splattered and stained with the blood, the floor littered with bodies and slick with rotted blood.

In the back of the church, at the altar, stood a large man, his skin was a pale blue, and he was dripping with blood, his clothes torn and falling apart. From what I could saw from the back of him, he looked like one of the scientists that was holding me at the institution. I put Leon down and slowly started to approach the human "E-excuse me, s-" But as I started he began to turn around, and as I saw his front I nearly screamed. Half of his face was beginning to fall off, dripping with rotting juices, both his eyeballs had sunken in and began to ooze out, his rib cage was torn open wide, some of his internal organs hanging out of it. He crouched down onto all fours and screeched at us, arching his back as six large tentacle like appendages, each with a large hooked talon sprouted from the tip shot out of his back, spraying blood onto the wall and floor behind him, and from behind him grew a long, spiked, club like tail. He shrieked again, and as he did the dead bodies around us began to move, each of them getting up and crouching, screeching and going through similar changes.

I grabbed Leon's paw and slowly backed away towards the door, pulling out my knife and pointing at them. They hissed, watching us with their empty eye sockets, but their gaze still piercing through us. We backed out of the door, making sure to keep facing them before we took cover in a nearby bush, waiting to see what would happen. As we watched the church my paw bumped something sticking out of the ground slightly, it was a worn down rusty meat cleaver.

We soon heard the sound of rhythmic marching in the distance, the sound of soldiers. As we heard them coming closer, so did the creatures inside of the church, they began to go outside of the church to saw what the noise was. We watched as the soldiers stopped in their tracks, watching the slowly approaching creatures. We watched closely as the head soldier said "Stand down demons, or we shall ki-" but as he was saying that one of the creatures charged at him, the soldiers began firing their weapons at the, aiming at the heart and gut, but it was to no effect, the bullets weren't even slowing the creature down. As it came closer to them I pushed Leon deeper into the bush, sprinting towards the creature to the ground and quickly chopping off both of it's legs, but as I began to chop of it's head, the appendages coming out if it's back stabbing me repeatedly. I looked back at the soldiers and yelled "Run you moron's!' But instead of running they all took out their tactical knives, standing beside me in a uniform line once I had got up from decapitating it's head, I looked up at them, they all looked fairly shaken, I asked "Truce?" The head soldier nodded "for now…"

As soon as he finished replying the rest of them began pouring out of the church. We moved into a defencive circle, making sure no one's back was unprotected. We had gotten into the formation just in time, because as we took stance they came tearing out of the church, ripping down the walls with extreme ease. As they charged at us, some of the head strong soldiers charged out of the formation, leaving about half us out of formation and vulnerable to attack. The soldiers that had charged ahead each went for a separate creature, leaving their bodies completely open to attack. The creatures screeched at the soldiers, running at them on all fours, they each tackled one of the charging soldiers, landing on top of them and pinning them onto the ground before beginning to devour their flesh, starting with the face and going downwards, leaving the bodies on the ground, partly eating and torn apart. Some of the soldiers left by me began to run, hauling arse and running to the woods.

All that was left of us now was me, the captain, and one guy that was carrying extra equipment. He had collapsable riot shields, gas masks and smoke grenades. I looked up at the captain as he watched his men being eaten alive with a mortified look on his face, I told him " Sir, we need to get away from here, those bodies of your men are going to change into those things any moment now. I want you to take your last man back, I need to grab my son." I ran off towards the bush, chopping the tentacle like appendages as they came flying towards me. When I reached the bush I pulled Leon out of it and sprinted back towards the captain, dismembering any creatures that got in my was. Once I reached him I took a riot shield and popped it open, keeping it faced towards the creatures as we retreated towards the armored van that the soldiers came in, strapping me and Leon in the back as they drove off, the creatures attempting to pursue us.

The soldier drove us out of the forest and drove us into the desert, leaving the creatures far behind us. Once we had been driving around the desert, in what seemed like a completely aimless direction for a good hour or two, we reached what looked like a crater in the ground and stopped in front of it. The soldier's took us outside of the van and the captain took out a walkie-talkie, pressing a button on the side of it and saying into it "Misson silent echo was a success, but we had heavy casualties, only me and Rachel are the only one's left, we have the boy, but we have some unforeseen complications, he has a child. But that's not the problem, we have a new, bigger threat that we need to deal with, we have some sort of unknown being that is attacking, they are spreading some sort of virus or something to the victims, changing them into what they are." the captain let go of the button, and moments later something began to rise up from the crater. A large armored building erected from the crater within a few moments, a large door on the front of it unlocking a complicated series of electronic and mechanical locks before raising up, revealing a group of scientists and a large woman in a very decorated uniform. The two soldiers stood at attention and saluted her, Leon hid behind my, quite terrified as he hugged my arm.

She approached me, looking at me for a few moments before kneeling down so that she was at eye level with me, giving me a very stern and furious look, but then she saw leon behind me and for some reason her gaze softened slightly, seeming less mad. "Why haven't you cuffed the boy?" she asked the men, standing up and folding her arms, tapping her foot as she waited for them to reply. "we-we, um, we" But as they stuttered I looked up at her and quickly said "They were attacked by a group of unforeseen beings, they were trying to get away from them, it wasn't their faults, they were only trying to survive." She immediately cocked up one of her eyebrows, giving me a very confused look, wondering why I was defending the men who were trying to capture me. The men nodded, stuttering slightly as they said "Y-yes, and he was helping us out, h-he saved our lives, and tried to help us stop the creatures" She looked at them for a few seconds before looking down at me with a curious look on her face.

"If you were helping us then why did you kill my other men?" she asked me. I looked down and shuffled my paws "Well, I was afraid you guys would try to hurt my son" I looked up at her "he is all I really have left" she looked to the side and huffed aggravatedly "Well you're coming with us, we're putting you in confinement, but" she looked down at me, I could've sworn I saw her eyes watering up ever so slightly, but I guessed it was just the dry desert winds "You may keep your son with you, and you will be permitted to read books, we will need help researching the creatures, and you are one of the few of us who encountered them head on a-" she stopped in mid sentence, noticing my fur was caked with blood, dirt, and that I had many Stab wounds from the creatures "Well first we are going to need to get you into a shower, and check your wounds"

She took us all inside, walking us through winding hallways and steep staircases as we went underground, leading us into a large room with a unisex bathroom sign and brought us inside. Through a passage on the right she led us into a showering room, full of a bunch of stalls with a shower in each making sure that we were able to rid ourselves with whatever virus or disease the creatures were spreading. Once we were in the showers and I turned the water on, letting it heat up, and I noticed that in each corner of the room there was a hidden camera, which I found slightly odd, but oh well, it wasn't like either me nor Leon were hiding anything. So I took off my tattered, torn up, and bloody hoodie and put it inside the biohazard box before pulling a stool into the shower, from by the changing area and sat Leon down on it, beginning to scrub him with the provided soap and shampoo.

After me and Leon had fully cleaned ourselves up they put us through a chemical shower, another shower to rinse us off, and then finally took us farther underground, down to the infirmary. The women from before met us there, and introduced herself to us once we had been sat down on the examination bed "Hello, my name is Deborah, from now on you are strictly under my orders" she said in a very stern voice, but Leon wasn't really paying attention, instead he had jumped down and began to play with one of the tubes hanging down from a cabinet. Deborah looked over at him, and her face lightened slightly, smiling just barely as she watched him for a few moments, before picking him up and setting him back down onto the examination bed and explaining to him "Listen, you have to do what I say now" Leon looked up at her, smiling "My name is Leon! And I wanna grow up to be just like daddy, and meet mommy someday!" He said. Deborah looked at him with a slightly shocked expression for a few moments before looking back up at me "Well? What is your name?" she asked me. "My name is Florence, it is a honor to meet you madam Deborah.

She gave me an even more shocked look, completely baffled by our politeness after being captured. "May I ask but one favor, I would like to be able to research black magic, witchcraft, and demon related subjects, before I was able to call upon one, so I thought that if I can figure out how to use some of it, I could use it to help defeat the creatures" She thought for a moment, nodding slightly, but as she was about to speak someone barged through the door and said " General, we have reports that the creatures have found their way into a city, and are multiplying like rabbits." She sighed " I want you to bomb them, now, stop them in their tracks" The soldier stood at attention and saluted her before says "Right away general".

The building began to shudder for a few moments as the missiles exited the nearby silo's heading into the sky and flying towards the city. We sat there for a few minutes, waiting patiently for more news as the nurse had come in, giving me a completely mortified look as she noticed all the holes, cuts and bruises I was covered in, almost all of the cuts quite infected. The nurse looked up at me and then at General Deborah. My exhaustion was beginning to show as I said "I'll be fine, it will all heal up in about a month or two, but for now I need to rest, and maybe study some about unholy powers and beings...Now may you take me and my son to a room with a bed, I need to rest, and so does he…"

Deborah nodded to the nurse, having the nurse bandage up all the stab wound and wheeling me and Leon to a separate room, setting us into the bed and tucking us into it. "What is this big squishy thing Dad? Why are we laying down on it?" Leon asked me as I began to settle in "This is called a bed Leon, this is what people with money sleep on" I replied to him, gently holding him close and beginning to doze off. As I slept my body began to heal, the infected flesh and pus in my infected wounds dissolved and were replaced with weaker new skin and a thin layer of fur.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of horns playing, which frightened Leon, causing him to hide in my arms as Deborah barged immediately into my room. Startling both me and Leon as she looked at us with a grim expression. She closed the door behind her and sat down on a chair next to the bed "Apparently bullets aren't the only thing that don't affect the creatures. The heat from the missiles that we hit them with not only made more bodies for them to change, but it seems that it allowed them to mutate even farther, making their skin almost like armor and made it so that they are able to infect living beings, not only humans, but any type of creature they attack." she said to us, trying to pry an idea out of me "Well I could try and study more on the unholy arts, maybe the best way to destroy an unholy being is by using another." I suggested to her. She nodded slightly, thinking " I guess we could give that a try, but while you do that we need to try our other weapons, nuclear radiation might work." I nodded as she said that, not really wanting to argue that radiation is basically a wave of energy, which in some ways can be fairly similar to the energy waves that made up heat.

The nurse came in and helped me into a wheelchair, after I had argued with her for a solid fifteen minutes that I didn't need one. She wheeled me into an elevator, bringing us down 20 floors before heeling me down more hallways, and into the Library, with Leon sitting on my leg, and set me up in a empty reinforced room with a computer in it. "Why did you put me in a bulletproof room?" I asked her, pulling myself into the computer chair and starting it up. "We decided that if you are going to attempt to use magic, or whatever you want to call it, we don't want you to damage anything" She replied to me. I nodded and went back to the computer, opening up the drawer of the desk I was sitting at, looking around in it for a moment before pulling out a paper and a mechanical pencil, and another thing of paper and some crayons for Leon. I began to research some old myths about witchcraft and magic, basically anything that people saw as unholy, and unnatural. At one point a website popped up and exited out of everything else on the screen. The website had no URL and while it was up a odd music that started to make me light headed, and after a few moments I fell out of my seat, trying to crawl towards the door and try and get their attention, but before I could reach the door, I passed out.

While I was passed out the same bat like creature from before appeared in my mind, he was grinning at me like a madman, he was still holding his red trident, dripping with what looked to be blood. He approached me and he jabbed his blood red trident straight into my forehead, but it did not hurt me when he did so. When it entered all the way into my head, piercing my brain, a vast knowledge began to fill my head. A knowledge of everything that was unholy, and a knowledge on how to use my body to my advantage, a knowledge on how to fight in the way of the sword and of the shadows also began to fill it, showing me how to use a variety of blades and hand to hand weapons. It also taught me how to fight the creatures. Out of all the knowledge that it was teaching me this was the most terrifying, it would have to be done quickly, and it would have to be done without using any sort of mortal or human creature. Because of the nuclear blasts that were soon to happen to them they would be doused in radiation and become more powerful than ever. They would be letting off a mixture of gamma and alpha radiation, and to fight the creatures you would have to either go into close quarters with them, using some sort of blade or cutting implement, or you would have to use arcane sorcery. And being the only being that is know to be able to call upon the arcane arts, except maybe leon, this battle would have to be fought be me, and whatever I can learn to conjure up.

I woke up about an hour after I had passed out, waking to find that I was back in the infirmary, being examined and tested. The moment general Deborah noticed I had come to she began to explain what had happened while I was unconscious. "The nuclear bombing was a total, and utter failure" she began saying, but I stopped her "I know what has happened general, I have been told by a the same creature who made me as I am, he has also told me the way to defeat them" I said to her, looking down at my paws, knowing that once I told her there would be no going back. She looked at me quizzically, cocking up her left eyebrow as she nodded "And…?" she asked me. "I must fight them alone, I am the only one that can survive these harsh conditions…" she sat there for a moment, giving me a even more confused look before slowly beginning to nod "I see your point, but you have no training in any way of fighting with guns, and I don't think they will fit in your paws…" I nodded before saying "The way to defeat them is by using unholy powers and by sword. I must train, and fully heal before I do." She nodded as I said this, before saying "You won't have long to train though. They are beginning to spread even faster. There is no way that we can contain them, and soon they will spread around the globe. They are beginning to learn how to use tools and make weapons, we must hurry."

While I began to practice using what the creature had taught me, I was also trying to come up with a design for a fully autonomous soldier that could be built to help fight this battle with me. I knew I would also have to make myself some sort of armored suit, I may have been immortal, but that doesn't me I couldn't be hurt or break any bones. I would have to make it faster and stronger than any before it, it would have to be going up against an army of the undead, and it would have to withstand immense damage and harsh conditions. It would have to be able to be repaired or replaced quickly, and be very light weight.

After I had finished practising I began designing the armored suit and the soldiers, trying to make them suitable for quick and sharp movements. I would make it out of a carbon reinforced titanium alloy, making it as light as I possibly can. I would also have to design a special blade for me to fight with, one I could maneuver quickly but was able to deal a harsh blow.

I began to sketch up some design ideas, doodling some ideas out on paper as I thought more about the upcoming battle I would have to go through. I based my battle suit's design after some kind of tiger and lion mixture, making it very thin and free moving, but hard to break apart. The suit would be covered in a special coating that would cause it to blend into it's background and would minimize any noises it made. Having a broadsword that has two interconnected handles, allowing it to split off into two separate single edged bladed swords. The swords splitting is activated only in emergencies, letting me dispatch enemies easier.

Once we had finally gotten the suit built and modified versions of it were made for the elite soldiers that would be helping me during the battle, I had to work on using "magic". I practised using a variety of spells, with a ranging amount of elements, making sure I was able to combat against any n une made changes with the creatures. But before I had mastered all of it, the creatures had started to spread to other countries, the contagion being taken there by migrating birds. Which made General Deborah issue the order for us to mobilize.

We were immediately packed up into jets with our suits and weapons, and flown to the site where it had all started. Before we all got outside of the jets we all put on our suits and grabbed our weapons. Once we had gotten outside of the jet we looked around, scanning for anything unusual in the town where we had first encountered the creatures. As they scanned the area the scent of rotting flesh began to fill the air, the source slowly coming closer to them as the stench became overpowering, and the sound of a caterwaul came from the distance as the earth began to shudder, with the sound of large paws slamming against the ground. As it came closer to us I swore I could almost smell the mountain lions that I had been staying with for awhile. As we looked off into the distance we saw a large shape heading towards us, we could make out what appeared to be three misshapen heads on it. We all got into a semi-circle position, hiding behind anything we could as the beast approached us.

Once the beast had reached the center of the town, where the jets were parked. It let out a blood curdling caterwaul, shrieking as it grabbed one of the jets in its mouth and flailed it side to side before smashing it with its teeth. Now that it was close enough I had gotten a better look at it, and cringed as I saw what it was, It was a mixture of what was left of the mountain lions, and the remaining soldiers. Creating a somewhat anthropomorphic three headed, four armed being, covered in ripped and rotting flesh. It stood at about fifteen feet tall and was holding up two large flag poles like they were weapons. Once it had finished demolishing all of our jets it circled around the center of the town, It began to search around the town. Sniffing at the air as it flung crates and barrels aside, trying to find what was so afraid, filling the air with the smell of fear.

When it flung aside one of the boxes, revealing one of the soldier, we all jumped out of our hiding places and surrounded the beast. When the creature noticed it was surrounded, looking around at every one of us, it growled and raised all three of it's heads, screeching at the sky as it stood up on two legs, swiping at us with the flag poles as it continued to let out horrifying screeches.

As it swung the poles at us we all jumped back, switching on our kinetic accelerators, allowing our movements force to be increased greatly. Now that the beast was attacking us we quickly jumped up in to the air, jumping around as we dodged the flag poles that were swinging at us. As the pole in it's right hand came flying at me I quickly grabbed on to it, using the upward motion of it to catapult myself straight up in to the air, doing a graceful flip as I split my sword into two, diving downwards as I began to fall, picking up speed. As I fell downwards at the beast, watching my allies fight it, I positioned myself, landing right behind it. My blades each met on either side of the beasts center head, they sliced down through its back, splitting it until it reached right above it's wait and my blades stopped, hitting something hard.

As I pulled my swords out of the beast and pushed myself back away from it, it screeched loudly with pain, thrashing around at the air in agony as its cries became filled with bloodlust. The area where my blades had hit the hardened area began to glow brightly as a crystalline looking tumor like growth became visible. As I looked at the crystal I immediately knew what it was, I could hear cries of fear and agony coming from it, and I knew that inside there was what was powering this monster. It was the souls of those it had killed. As it began to charge at my allies, I jumped up and smashed it open, a large burst of energy sent me flying backwards as the souls flew out of the crystal, causing the beast to screech as it quickly decayed, decomposing until it was a pile of steaming bones.

After I looked at the pile of bones for a few moments I slowly approached it, being extremely cautious. After looking at it for a few moments I began to sift through the bones, seeing if there was anything left of the large crystal. Once I had found the crystal I looked inside of it and saw something that was glowing softly, it was long and somewhat angular. As I looked closer it was a large sword, It was long and tapering like an average sword, but it had odd and intricate artwork that seemed somewhat demonic, with a cross like pommel and a large sphere suspended in the hilt. The sphere was covered in odd ancient writing and was producing the glow, spreading it throughout the entire sword. I carefully picked up the sword, it was glowing brighter as I held it, and I held it up into the air, raising it up in victory.

Now that the creature was defeated we would have to find a way to get back to the base, to repair our armor and to analyze the sword and the bones. But when they looked around they realised that all their jets had been destroyed, and none of them knew the way back to the base. I started up a fire as we began to wait to see if Deborah had sent us any backup.

We waited there for two days before we decided we needed to move, We had run out of food and water, and we knew Deborah was tracking us, so she could pick us up where ever we are. We didn't know where to go at first, so I suggested we go back to my home town, to see if it was affected.