Chapter 1 - Bitten
It all began with a ghoul chasing its hapless victim through an abandoned construction yard. High above them, on a small platform, a glistening purple portal opened. "Here we go again!" a voice echoed from the other side. Seconds later, two figures emerged running through the portal. Shadow and Butcher stood proudly upon the platform, the portal closing behind them, holding them in this strange universe. Shadow was dressed in ripped jeans, a plain white t-shirt and a jet black hoodie. Chad was wearing a black and red hoodie, a black t-shirt and black combat trousers with red lining.
"Great," Shadow said, looking over the ledge, "Now we just need a way down…"
Butcher already had his knife out and was sawing away at a collection of ropes holding up the platform
"Working on it!" he called cheerfully.
Before Shadow could protest, the cables gave way and the duo plummeted towards the ground. Shadow was skilled enough to jump off a falling girder, mid-air, and back flipped onto another support structure. Butcher was lucky enough to catch a horizontal steel bar… with his face. Unfortunately, there happened to be two teenagers beneath the falling girders. They never stood a chance. Shadow and Butcher made their way down the construction work and stared in horror at the two figures trapped beneath the steel girders. They had both seen death before, but these were innocent lives, needlessly lost from an accident. The girl with the long purple hair was certain dead but upon closer inspection, the boy seemed to still be breathing. Shadow rolled up his sleeves and used all of his strength to lift the debris, but he could only shift it small steps away and loosen its hold on the boy.
"A hand would be nice Butch!" he called, but his best friend only continued to stare at the two bodies, drooling heavily, as if in some form of daze. Both of his eyes had turned a jet black, with his irises turning blood red. Red cracks formed around his eyes, seeming to sprout from his hungry eyes. Two of his nine blood tails had appeared behind him, waving dangerously. Without warning, Butcher lounged towards the young boy, his blood tails following closely behind and his mouth open in desperate desire to consume. Had Shadow not been prepared, the boy would have been mincemeat for 'the butcher.' Shadow slid directly into the berserk Butcher's path as his companion's jaw closed around his forearm. Shadow screamed an inhuman cry as a large chunk of flesh, muscle and skin was tore from his arm by his closest friend. Butcher, also known as Chad, then dived on his friend, biting a large bite into his friend's leg. Again, Shadow screamed and finally, that sound seemed to snap Butcher out of his trance. For the first time in a long time, Shadow dropped to his knees, defeated. Hearing sirens in the distance, Butcher picked up his wounded comrade, still cradling his ruined arm, and ran into the night…
Later Chad carried Shadow into an abandoned apartment further in the city. Working power and fresh food suggested that someone had been here recently, but dawn was approaching fast and the two assassins needed somewhere to hide. Finding only a single bed, he lay Shadow down on it slowly and gently, as a father would do an injured child. But despite his care, Shadow still whimpered in pain, his eyes screwed tight. Chad had never seen him like this before, he was usually such a strong and defiant person, not this blubbering wreck. Content that Shadow wouldn't roll and cause further injury to himself, Butcher began to hunt through the apartment in search of medical supplies. He eventually came across a roll of bandages, some painkillers and some thin string. He made Shadow a drink of tap water to help the painkillers go down, and walked in the bedroom to help his friend. Softly raising him into a sitting position, he helped him take the painkillers, and set to work stitching the wounds up with the string, before wrapping his forearm and leg tightly in the bandage. Tasting blood in his mouth, Chad ran into a bathroom and examined his mouth in a mirror. He noticed that one of his teeth was missing, probably from when he hit the metal bar. He noticed that the gap was slowly seeping blood, or was it Shadow's blood? Hearing his friend groan in pain, he rushed into the bedroom to re-adjust the bandages. Studying his work until he was satisfied, Chad set off out of the apartment to eavesdrop in the streets to find out where they were. He would also need to keep a watchful eye on any of the apartment's occupants returning home. With a small hesitation at the door, he set off into the approaching dawn…
A week passed and not much happened. Chad discovered that they were in a large city named Tokyo and the occupants of the apartment where the pair were hiding never returned. Shadow was still confined to his bed and he bled through several bandages, but the wounds was healing at an excruciatingly slow pace. The colour was still drained from his face but, because of his routine checks on the bandages, Chad knew that the wounds wasn't infected and expected his friend to make a full recovery in time. But it seemed that as time passed, it appeared as though Shadow's wounds was healing faster and faster. Chad hadn't eaten in weeks. He found the food here disgusting, with the exception of the coffee, but he was ashamed to admit that the tastiest thing he'd eaten here was when they first arrived and he had bitten into Shadow's leg and forearm. Much more to Chad's horror, he found that he couldn't stomach his most favourite food of all, that of cake. For Shadow's part, he ate the food that Chad fed him but over time, he appeared to like the food less and less. At one stage, he had to force the food down Shadow's throat and Shadow was sick and brought it all back up later in that night. Now the both of them avoided food all together, though Chad would often smell the most wonderful smell when patrolling the streets, only to find a dead corpse or some such horror. He never found the source of the smell. He could only wonder what tasty treat eluded him. When Chad returned to their temporary 'home' one night, he saw Shadow sat up on the bed his wounds almost completely healed in just under a week. Chad thought that it must be the physics of this universe that caused injuries to heal so rapidly. He knew he'd didn't truly understand the laws of physics in any universe, and he certainly wasn't going to try to understand the laws of this one. He rushed over to Shadow and offered him a hand up, but Shadow shrugged off his help. Slowly, carefully, Shadow stood, placing most of his weight on his good leg. He stood successful and curiously, he placed a little bit of pressure on his healing leg. He didn't feel the pain of the bite anymore. Still curious, he placed a little bit more pressure on the leg. Then more. Then more and more and more until he was stood normally. He winced slightly when he stood normally, but he could stand. Warily, he took careful steps forward, with Chad ready to catch him should he fall. He walked forward slowly, wincing whenever he placed his bad leg on the ground, but he walked, albeit with a slight limp. Both of their stomachs rumbled in unison and Chad walked over and opened the fridge.
"Fancy some milk and cookies to celebrate?" he said to Shadow, who was using the wall to hold himself up.
Shadow groaned at the notion of food and even Chad had to admit that the thought of food alone made him nauseous. Suddenly, a strange scent wafted in through the open kitchen window and Shadow took a deep sniff. Again, Shadow's stomach rumbled.
"What is that delicious smell?" Shadow asked, his hunger increasing by the second.
Chad sniffed the air as well and found that the smell was the exact same smell he'd been trying to trace all week. Greedily and hungrily, the pair made their way out of the front door with Chad supporting Shadow along the way. The two followed the scent trail for 5 minutes until they walked down a back alley and found a half-eaten corpse lay there. Chad couldn't deny his hunger, or the fact that he was getting annoyed that he couldn't eat the delicious treat that he couldn't find but could always smell, but he turned away in disgust. 'What kind of disgusting cannibalism goes on it this universe?!' he thought. Shadow only stood stock still and stared. As Chad watched, a thin line of drool escaped his mouth and his right eye… changed. The whites of his eyes went black and his iris went blood red. Red cracks or veins of some kind leapt from his eyes. The strangest part of it was that his left eye remained exactly the same. Chad had no idea but Shadow's right eye was exactly the same as his eyes when they found those two students under the girders when they first arrived here. All of a sudden, Shadow launched forwards and bit into the dead guy's shoulder. He viciously tore chunks of flesh from the man, swallowing it all greedily. Blood dripped from his lips and covered his face and Chad watched on, horrified. Shadow experience euphoria as flesh and blood filled his mouth and coated his tongue. He shovelled mouthful after mouthful flesh into his mouth. When Chad snapped out of his terrified daze and tried to pull Shadow away from the corpse, Shadow hit him with strength he never previously had and sent Chad flying into the brick wall behind them. Shadow darted round and instantly began devouring the helpless corpse. He tore chunk of raw flesh from the body, stripping the bones clean. Blood painted the floor around him as Shadow picked skin from between his teeth. Shadow's cheeks were full of human however this didn't stop him piling more bleeding meat into his mouth. A smear of blood covered Chad's face where Shadow had hit him and licking his lips instinctively, and Chad realised the treat he had been hunting all along was right in front of him! He tried to resist the urge, but he was so hungry and he had a taste for the delight of human flesh now. Giving in to the urges, he lunged forwards and chewed on the corpse. Most of the meat was gone now, but Chad ate what he could and together, he and Shadow stripped the corpse clean. Blood was smeared all over their hands, faces and clothes, but they sat back lazily; full. After several moments of savouring the taste, Chad realised what they had just done and realised that they had to leave before anyone showed up. Using all their Assassin skills, the pair made their way back to the house, covering the bloodstains on them the best they could. While Chad picked the lock on the door (they still hadn't found a spare key yet) Shadow leaned lazily against the wall, picking bits of human remains from his teeth.
"You know, that meal beats anything I've ever had the pleasure of eating before." Shadow stated.
Chad was worried about how calm his friend was, but he was ashamed to admit that his friend was right. Chad worked the pins of the lock upwards and the door opened silently, but on the kitchen counter was a bag of food. That wasn't there when they left. Chad crouched low and made his way cautiously around the house. He couldn't see anyone, but the idea that someone had been here since they left was a disturbing one. He made his way carefully into the bedroom and silently picked up a bag of clothes he had bought in the week for him and Shadow. It was then that he heard the sound of water running and crying coming from the bathroom. He slowly made his way over to the bathroom and just as his fingertips brushed the door handle, he heard the breathing rate of whoever was in there increase. Then a yell and the smash of glass, probably the mirror. Throwing caution to the wind, Chad sprinted out of the apartment holding the bag back into the hallway where Shadow was waiting. The meal they ate seemed to have helped Shadow to recover quickly and the two ran into the night.
