Disclaimer: I do not own either the Harry Potter or Prototype franchises. They belong to J.K. Rowling and Activision respectively. This is just my attempt at merging the two with my own twists.
I woke up from my position on the floor of our motel room to screaming, and of our door being beaten on. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia awoke almost immediately, while Dudley kept sleeping. Idiot. Of course, when the door burst open and a woman was being mauled by what looked like a giant dog with unnaturally large teeth and no lips or muzzle. In fact, it looked kind of like a person was turned into a dog. I froze as it looked at me after the woman stopped screaming. Why did she stop screaming? There was a large puddle of blood surrounding her with a lot of blood dripping from the dog-things teeth and dripping down the walls from where it splattered. Oh god, she's dead! Petunia is screaming now. Good god would you shut up?! The dog-thing stops looking at me and starts looking at Aunt Petunia and snarls. Her screams jump an octave and I see its beady eyes narrow and then it leaps at her! Oh god it's tearing her apart! I hated her but she didn't deserve to die like this! She's still screaming while she's dying! Oh god, I'm going to die! I scramble to my feet and start running out the door, and nearly freeze at the sight.
The streets of New York are covered in things that look like people who have been stretched, inflated or shrunk or some mix of those and more. And there was just so much blood. Splattered on the walls, puddles on the ground, pooling around bodies, and even dripping from some roofs. Oh god, bodies! There are so many of these monsters and so many bodies around, I start panicking. And to think, I was excited to come to New York! Sure it was on Uncle Vernon's business trip because Mrs. Figg was out of town and no one else wanted me in their homes, but that didn't matter to me at the time. The roar of my Uncle, followed by his screams of pain and Dudley's screams of terror reminded me that I needed to run, or else I might turn into that thing's meal. Deciding to think on how screwed up my life was later, I started running down the street away from the screams of my relatives and deeper into the city.
Seeing my way blocked by a horde of those monsters, I ducked into the nearest alleyway and kept running. Then what happened started kicking in. I stumbled a bit and slowed down to compensate. I stopped after a minute and leaned against a wall. Tears started to trickle down my face as I faced the reality that the last of my family was probably dead and eaten by that monster. I let loose a single sob before my hand went over my mouth for fear of being found. More tears spilled as I remembered that they never loved me and told me nothing but lies and insults. The tears slowly stopped as I remembered all that they had done to me despite being blood related and I felt my anger rising. Whatever, they're dead now. I don't care. I tried to convince myself of that and failed as more tears fell at the thought of being alone in this world. I cried myself to sleep in that alley.
Everything's blurry. Need to run. Glow from a fire. Need to hide. Echoing gunshots. Need to be safe. Screaming and yelling. Need to move. Rumbles of explosions. Need to escape. People moving. Need to live. Need to run. Duck through alleys. Losing consciousness. Live.
I awoke with a start. Why was I dreaming about my coming into the city? And I did that during the day didn't I? Whatever. It's been a day since I ran from the motel and I was sleeping in an alley. Why am I in an alley? I saw military like people come in and start shooting everything.Nothing and no one was safe. I'm pretty sure that their targets are the monster-like things, but they don't seem to care if there are people in the way. I'm in the alley I'm in because they brought in a tank and it was right outside my alley. Oh god, I'm going to die. My stomach gurgles hungrily. I quickly jumped in the dumpster I was hiding behind, worried that the noise may have alerted someone. That, and to see if there was food in there. I sigh internally when I remember doing this to get lunch sometimes when I was at school. As I land in the dumpster, I notice with growing horror as I adjust to the dark, that I'm not alone in here.
The other being, for it was no longer a human, looked like someone decided to mix a person with a snake and an alligator. It looked like its skin was turning into small scales, and it had fleshy growths out of its back, like an alligator but these were pure flesh with no skin on it. Its arms looked long and boneless, with claws at the end but I was shown otherwise when one arm flicked almost casually. Its legs looked bulky, but were bunched up like a spring, and the flesh there looked like it was stretched too much and some parts had torn away, showing red flesh. It turned its bald head toward me for some reason and I screamed as I saw that in place of its nostrils were large slits, its mouth was large and had only two long fangs and several short but still sharp looking teeth. What made me scream was the fact that it had no eyes, and that there was most of an arm hanging from its mouth. I screamed a little louder when I saw that it was hunched over a body that was still moving and I could hear the gurgles of the body trying and failing to breathe through its mauled throat.
Its nostrils flared and it looked like it was about to jump on me when the top of the dumpster burst open and two soldiers were pointing their guns in. They saw the thing and started shooting. I can't hear anything. They shoot the thing for a while, then stop. Then they look at me. They stare at me while my ears ring. Are they talking to me? There's too much ringing! Make it stop! Suddenly, I can hear again.
"Kid, you good?" Says the one on the left. The one on the right looks like he's about to yell, but I weakly nod my head. They seem surprised. How long does it normally take people to heal from whatever that was? Whatever. The one on the left puts his rifle down and reaches a hand in towards me. I weakly reach forward and grab it. He grabs my hand, reaches in, and pulls me up and out of the dumpster. His friend kept his gun trained on the thing in the dumpster and then started switching between me and the thing. Why? What is going on? When I ask that, they both look at me in what I assume is surprise. I can't tell because they're both wearing gas masks.
"You don't know kid?" I shake my head no. He sighs, apparently frustrated. "Look, the short version is that a bio-weapon was released in New York and it has been changing people into these things." He gestures to the thing in the dumpster, which is still twitching. "Problem is, until they change, we have no way to tell on sight if someone is infected or not, and there are multiple different forms or strains or whatever the higher ups call 'em. So, where's your family?" I pale a little and stutter out the answer, since the other soldier was still alternating pointing his gun at me and the thing -infected I guess is correct- in the dumpster.
"W-well, o-one of th-those monster things just, burst through the m-motel room d-door and started to k-kill my relatives. It t-tore my Aunt ap-part and I just started running. I saw other s-soldiers shooting people and I just hid! Then I heard gunshots near me and jumped in that dumpster. You can probably figure out the rest." I frantically hoped they believed me. I didn't want to die. I think they do believe me, since the other guy is lowering his gun. The guy helping me stand kneels down and tears off part of my shirt. Why? Wait a second, I'm feeling a little light headed. I look down at my hand and notice that there is a large gash on my palm that is bleeding a lot. The guy who pulled me out wraps my hand with the fabric from my shirt.
Wordlessly, they leave the alley and I follow them. I follow them all the way to what looks like a fair but with soldiers, guns and doctors instead of games, food, and prizes. They brought me to a tent that had stretchers and hospital beds and other medical stuff that I don't know the names of. They led me to a bed and wordlessly just left me there. After a doctor came and did a small check up and put actual bandages on my hand, I was laid down on the bed and told to sit and wait and that someone would come by soon to ask some questions. I was waiting for a while before a man with military fatigues under a lab coat came in. He didn't bother introducing himself and just started with the questions while writing on a clipboard.
The questions themselves varied. Age, nine years old. Name, Harrison James Potter. Place of residence, I froze at and he wrote none. They took a blood sample and confirmed two things. First, that I'm not infected and second, that my blood type is O-. Fifty five pounds or vastly underweight, after they put me on the scale. Height, fifty inches after measuring while I was still on the scale. Again below average. After that they told me to get some sleep and guided me to a bed. I laid down and was almost instantly asleep due to all that had happened today. I slept deeply.
Need to live. Running. Need to survive. Tents. Need to live. People with guns. Need to survive. Wounded. Need to feed. Body. Dead? No. Need to survive. Suitable host. Need to escape. Leaving. Need body. Infected ahead. Need host. Host selected. Launch attack? Later. Need. To. FEED.
I woke up with a start again. What is up with these weird dreams? I lay in bed with my eyes closed, wondering if I'm even allowed to leave. That's when I heard something in the distance, and it was steadily getting closer. It sounded like roaring and gunshots. And screaming. The scent that I thought was gunpowder, from what I remember while those two soldiers were shooting that monster – infected, I guess would be correct– and blood were thick in the air. The noises were getting closer. And closer. I sat up and opened my eyes, noticing that I'm alone in this tent. Weren't there others in here before I fell asleep?
There was shouting now, and boots hitting pavement at a run. The gunshots were louder and closer now, probably right at the edge of the camp-thingy. The roaring was much louder now, probably because it was closer. I dully notice that I'm starting to hyperventilate in panic. Oh god, I'm going to die. With a loud crash, whatever was roaring broke through what I guess was the front gate, based on the louder shouts about a gate. It sounds like it keeps going forward for a while before dropping, causing the ground (and my bed) to shake. Oh god oh god oh god oh god. Something jumps into the tent. I dully notice that it's the same type of infected as what was in the dumpster with me. As it prepares to jump at me, I see the remnants of a lab coat on the back of the infected and doctor like pants on its legs. It jumps at me and bites onto the arm I hastily rose to defend myself.
Good news, it only bit my arm. Bad news? It was my injured arm that I rose. As its teeth tear into my arm, I instinctually grab onto its tongue like appendage in its mouth and pull. The tongue easily came out and blood started to pour from the mouth of the infected. What I didn't notice was the fact that my bandages had come off at some point and my freshly opened wounds on my palm and arm came in contact with the blood of the infected with some of that blood entering my bloodstream. Then, it was as if something snapped within me and I yelled as I punched it with my uninjured arm. I felt something like a pulse of pure energy as my fist met its skull and its entire head kind of, well, popped would be accurate as I felt the energy discharge from the point of impact. After the body of the infected dropped to the floor, I started taking deep breaths while holding my mauled arm close to me. I tried calming down as much as I could while the tent I was in sounded like it was surrounded with infected. That was when I started feeling the pain.
I expected it to just be in my arm, given that that was where it bit me and basically tore it apart. What actually happened was a burning sensation that started in my arm, then gradually travelled through my whole body and that was when I felt something in me shift. Almost as if I was changing and morphing and oh god it hurts! Little did I know that something in me was fighting the change, but the virus was too damn strong for it and eventually, what was fighting the change, which I later learned was my magic, accepted that there was going to be change and started altering itself to make the change the most efficient and beneficial it could be.
To me, it felt as if someone had poured gasoline on me then threw a lit match at me, setting me aflame. Then whatever energy helped me destroy the infected started changing as well and then it felt like I was hit by lightning while still being on fire. That was when I heard screaming and quickly pieced together that I was the one screaming. With what felt like monumental effort, I closed my mouth and dulled the scream to pained moans.
Then my whole body started shaking. The tremors started in my hands and feet, working up my arms and legs to my chest and head. My mouth started foaming and my eyes lost focus. Then it felt like everything stopped.
To the outside world, Harry James Potter had just been killed. But his body was still trashing in agony. After a minute he stopped moving. A moment later while the foam was dissolving, a black mist rose up from the scar on his forehead with a quiet screech, then dissipated. After fifteen minutes, jade green eyes shot open, only where there should have been white, there was instead black with pulsing red veins. Then a deep, shuddering and invigorating breath was taken, and Harry woke up.
I woke up with a start again. I guess I passed out from the pain. I dully noticed that there was this deep seated hunger and need to consume. I mean, I was hungry when I fell asleep but this felt like I had been denied food for weeks and it hurt. I looked around for something I could possibly eat and all that was in the tent was beds, medical equipment and the body of the infected, which was still twitching. I refused to eat that. I wasn't a cannibal.
Then to my shock and disgust, my chest unfolded into red and black fleshy tendrils or tentacles, no tendrils was right, and started pulling the body into me. OH GOD! Then with growing horror, I noticed that the more of the body that I, well, ate, the more full that I felt. OH GOD! The worst part? I seemed to enjoy it. When the body was fully consumed, my stomach (at least, what I thought was my stomach. I had no idea anymore) and whatever the energy was sent feelings of contentment and happiness. OH GOD! I didn't want to be a monster! This was wrong!
I thought I was going to vomit, but nothing happened. I stuck my fingers down my throat, trying to get a response from my gag reflex, like what we covered in health class that one time. Nothing. OH GOD! Was I a monster? Was I becoming a freak? Were my relative's right? No, they called me a freak before this happened. What were they talking about then? That energy I felt? Sounds possible, but why should I care about their opinions? They're almost definitely dead… Huh, you'd think I'd be unhappy about that, but I'm not.
Probably because they never actually cared about me and even beat me a couple times. I felt rage building inside me. Who were they to hate me when they were the ones who treated me like garbage and spread malicious rumors about me?! Wait a second, since when do I use the word malicious in a sentence, let alone know what it means. In fact, there is a lot of stuff in my head that I haven't learned. Medical terms and knowledge from schools I haven't studied at, basic martial arts forms from an old hobby not my own, even memories that are not mine. But then, who am I?
No. "I am Harrison James Potter. I am nine years old. I have just consumed a Blacklight infected after being infected myself. I have memories not my own. I am alive." I speak to myself quietly. That… actually seemed to help. Huh, maybe I should do that more often. And how do I know the name of the virus? Some type of memory transfer or something? Possibly.
I'm starting to get a little weirded out with some of my new vocabulary and knowledge. Hopefully this new knowledge will just settle and I'll just be able to move on with it. After all, that guy won't need those memories. He was dead and gone before I ate his disfigured and infected body. I felt a little uneasy from that thought. Still not used to the idea that I freaking ate someone. Hopefully I won't have to do that again any time soon. Though, given the fact that It seems to be apocalyptic outside of the tent I'm in, I'm not going to hold on to that hope too tightly. I just sigh a little resignedly. The city is being taken over by monsters and military, the only way to get out alive might be to become a monster.
All that said, I need to get out of here but before I do that, I have to find some decent clothes. The dead people that I was related to never bothered to give me proper clothing, so I need to get some. Can't risk tripping on my own oversized pant legs, especially during an apocalypse scenario. That said, I poke my head out of the tent flaps and see a few infected on the other side of the encampment, but other than that I don't see anyone that would stop me. Of course, I notice that my vision is crystal clear as soon as I start to leave the tent. I'll deal with that later. Regardless, I still run as fast as I can to cross the open area and go through the gate that looked like something forced it open from the outside. After that I just wandered around making sure that nothing saw me until I saw what looked like a clothes store. I walked in and immediately walk over to the kids section.
As I'm about to pick up a plain black t-shirt my arm turns into tendrils and absorbs the shirt. I freak out a little bit until I feel my skin shift and a few tendrils wrap over my chest. When it's over, the t-shirt is on my body, only when I look under it I see what looks like thousands of the tendrils wriggling and writhing around and connected to the shirt. I lose my grip and the shirt comes down, and I feel it connect back with the rest of my. I shudder. Right, I need to figure out what the hell the virus did to me as soon as possible. After I get some more clothes.
With my newfound clothes absorption power I picked up some different types of shirts, all plain colours or just patterned, different styles and colours of pants, and a few different pairs of shoes. Once I was done, I settled on a red and black plaid button up with dark blue jeans and black and white converse. I touched the different materials and, while they did feel right, I noticed that I felt my hands on my own skin almost. Then I looked at a mirror and saw that the buttons were a little too white and when I touched one, it felt kind of like how bones feel, but stronger than the bones I dealt with, which were chicken bones.
That adventure over, I started to try to find a place to sleep for the night and think some things through. The only places I could think of were higher up in the apartment buildings, but I had no idea of if there were tons of infected in there or not. I decided to risk it, and made a beeline for the nearest building that had an underground parking lot. The odds of it being either a hotel or apartment building were high, according to my eaten memories.
I burst into the lobby and see seven infected, only distinguishable from a person by their red and black eyes and combination of needle-like and perfectly normal teeth. Their attention seems focused on a corpse that they're pulling apart. I try and sneak by and my luck holds as I don't gain any attention. I try the elevator but I'm not surprised when it doesn't work. I go to the staircase and start running up, not knowing if I gained attention or not. By the time I'm ten floors up I stop and take a breather, even though I don't really feel physically exhausted, I feel mentally tired. I open up the door to the floor and see an open door a little ways down the hallway.
I start to make my way to the door and hear something like sniffing. I slow down and stealthily approach the door. I peek inside and see an infected like the one that I was in a dumpster with and attacked me earlier. Are they common? This one had the remains of a dress shirt and pants on it. I try and mentally prepare myself for combat, and look at my hands. I take a deep breath and try to sneak in. I know I failed when its head turns to me.
Well, stealth's out, combat it is. As it jumps at me I take a basic Muay Thai stance from my absorbed memories and hope that I can throw it out the window. That said, it jumps fast and I have to duck to not get my face slashed apart. I uppercut its chin causing it to stumble before it blindly slashes at me. I grab the arm and try to break it with a palm strike to the elbow, but its arm is almost like a spine and just bends upwards.
I'm reminded to not be fascinated by enemies in the middle of a fight by a claw that narrowly misses my eye. I twist myself so that my legs are wrapped around its arm locked together before a start extending my legs to dislocate the arm. I feel a little horrified as I hear a tearing sound and the arm comes free. I quickly roll backwards to my feet, leaving the arm on the floor, to dodge the downwards slash that gets stuck in the floor. I see an opportunity and snap kick at its leg to make it stumble before spinning and elbowing its neck, making it choke. I quickly wrap my arm around its neck before jumping over it, making it bend backwards. I then snapped its neck backwards, causing the body to go limp.
I drop the body to the ground before recoiling and trying to scurry away from the corpse as my legs and hips turn into tendrils that start to absorb the body. I watch in muted horror as a tendril even snakes over to the arm that was pulled off and wraps around part of it, causing the rest of it to turn into smaller red and black tendrils. I look at the mostly whole body to see that the same process is happening there. After half a minute, the tendrils reform into my legs, clothes and all. I shudder as more memories not my own fall into my head, and part of me idly wonders if I'll absorb personalities as well. I shake my head, dismissing the thought for another time. I notice that I now know how to read, write, and speak French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Russian. I also now know how to play the violin. My head throbs. Too much knowledge in one day.
One hand goes up to massage my head and I look at the room. The bed looks inviting right now and after closing the door, I didn't even bother about my clothes since I know that they are just a part of me, I fall down on it and fall asleep. After all, I was going to be facing an apocalypse now. I'd need the energy.
I could worry about something in the back of my head gurgling and growling 'more, feed me MORE' in the morning.
A/N: Hello again everyone! I know I said I'd update one of my more popular stories, but I've been working on this thing for a few months at least and just wanted it done and out there. Hope you enjoyed it and look forward to more, because more will come. Eventually.
I recommend if you like this to go read Variant Strain by scriviner. It is an awesome read, and incorporates so much that it comes out almost like fine art, so many layers that you'll want to reread it and appreciate it every time.
All that said, I will see you guys next time!