Ante Meridiem

By Dr. Shelly McCoy

Genre: Romance, Drama,

Characters: Peter and Charlotte

Rating: T – M

Chapter Three – Adapt

..

The pain was excruciating. It felt like his entire body was set on fire and left to burn for eternity. His constant thrashing and screaming did nothing to help. Nothing he thought distracted him. He didn't even feel the cool hands that carried him away. For three days, he didn't feel anything but the burning.

Those three days felt like years, but it was finally ending.

The burning started to fade from his feet and hands and, slowly, the rest of his body began to cool down. He could feel his heart beating unnaturally fast and felt as though it would jump through his chest. He didn't care; the pain was going away. That's all that mattered.

After about an hour, he could move his fingers, and then his hands. It felt weird moving them, like he was twitching instead of slowly moving his hands as he was intending. Suddenly, he started convulsing violently as the burning focused in the middle of his chest.

Then it stopped.

Peter slowly opened his eyes and instantly felt a new pain in his throat, like someone had shoved a white-hot iron rod down it. He groaned, sat up, and put his head in his hands which made him freeze. His skin felt smooth. Really smooth. Actually, his entire body felt different, but he couldn't figure out why. He wasn't tired, but just a little sore. The only thing that hurt was his neck. It stung. After a few seconds he snapped his head up.

His neck.

Those girls.

Peter quickly looked around and noticed that he was in the middle of the woods. Where he was exactly, he didn't know. He could hear people muttering to themselves, but didn't see anybody near him when he looked around. What he did see, however, was amazing.

Everything was so clear.

Peter slowly stood up as he looked around the forest. He could see every pine needle, every groove in the trunks, every detail that a tree had. He saw movement on a tree a few meters away and was surprised when he saw a beetle crawling up the trunk. He could see a beetle on a tree meters away perfectly.

What the hell?

He heard the muttering again and, despite his better judgment, decided to investigate. Hopefully he could find somebody that could explain what happened to him. Peter crept closer, only to freeze again when he felt himself moving faster than he intended. He moved to another tree, trying to slow down and failing. He was starting to freak out when he heard a voice.

"Ah, you survived. Wonderful."

Peter whipped around faster than he thought possible and was face to face with her.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

"Now that's no way to speak to a lady. Come, you must be thirsty."

Thirsty? The only thing he felt was the burning in his throat. He nodded, willing to do anything to sooth the pain. Maria smiled.

"Excellent. This way."

She walked towards where the voices were coming from and Peter followed willingly, yet cautiously. As he walked he noted the different smells and it amazed him that he could detect each individual scent. The pine trees, the dirt, various flowers. He could even smell rain, yet there were only a few dark clouds in the sky.

Sooner than expected, Maria and Peter reached a clearing and he stopped at the edge while she walked towards two other females on the left. He recognized them immediately: Nettie and the blonde girl. Peter could hear them talking, regardless that he was out of hearing range, or so he thought, and heard Maria call the blonde 'Lucy.' There was another person with the: a man. He was tall with honey-blonde hair, but Peter didn't catch his name.

As he looked around at the other people, Peter noticed something strange. Everyone was different, yet the same. Each had a different hair colour and different hair styles and were different heights, but their skin was pale. Almost sickly pale. And their eyes were dark; black. Unnatural. Everyone looked like they were anxious for something. They were jumpy in a strange, graceful way, looked nervous, and seemed excited all at the same time. Peter didn't know why.

Then again, he had only just gotten there.

"No way… Peter?!"

Peter looked up after hearing the voice and was frozen in his spot when he saw the source.

"But… no. That's impossible."

The scrawny Luke Simmons ran up and hugged Peter. Peter couldn't move, both from shock and the fact that Luke's grip was extremely tight. It didn't hurt him, but he could feel the pressure. If he had to compare, Peter would describe it like being inside of a garbage compressor.

"Luke… how the hell did you survive?! You were…"

Luke let go. "Those girls," he pointed to Maria, Nettie, and Lucy. "They did something to us."

"Yeah, I'll say." Peter looked at himself again and then shook his head. "What exactly did they do? And where's Ricky?"

"I don't know, but look what I can do!" Luke walked around Peter and stood by a large tree. He looked at Peter, excited, before he placed a hand on the trunk and pushed.

The Oak tree snapped at its base and fell over, knocking over another tree with a deafening crack.

"Holy…"

"Hey! Knock it off! If you don't focus then you'll die. Now listen up…"

Maria's vice rang across the field and everybody, including Peter, calmed down instantly. Strange. He wasn't even worked up.

"I bet you're all wondering what's going on. What happened to you? The simple fact is that I changed you and you're going to help me get back what was wrongfully taken from me. Deny me and you'll be punished. Obey me and you'll be rewarded." Maria glanced at the two girls and smirked before looking back at the crowd. "There are more like us who want the same thing and we have to stop them. As you can see, you have strengths you never had before. You can run faster than ever imagined. And you're more beautiful than any human ever could be. Some of you may even have special powers. That will be your advantage."

The others looked around, murmuring amongst themselves. Maria waited until they quieted down again before continuing.

"If you're useful then we'll keep you, but you have to prove yourselves to us. Y'all should already know what you are. If not, then take a nice, long, deep breath and find out the easy way."

Maria smirked again as the group took their breaths, even Peter. There was a moment when nobody moved or made a sound, and then 12 heads snapped in the same direction before running at God-like speed in on direction. Maria, the two other girls, and the other man followed closely.

..

The group ran until they got to the edge of the woods and kept going until they were in the streets of what looked like a small city. It was dark thanks to the clouds that now covered the sun completely, but not silent as businessmen and couples walked the plazas. The group was swift and quick as they snuck up on the unsuspecting people.

Peter couldn't help what he was doing; he was drawn in by the smell. The delicious, warm scent. It was nothing like anything Peter's ever smelled before and he couldn't pinpoint a scent. Actually, there were too many different scents to pinpoint just one. He smelled everything: lavender, honey, leather, metal, apples… it was everywhere.

There was one scent, however, that caught his attention. It was stronger than the others. It was a mixture of metal and pickles. It was an odd mixture, but Peter found it irresistible.

It belonged to a man who was casually dressed and sitting, alone, at the bus stop waiting for the last bus for the night. He was reading the paper. Peter was about a block away, but he could read the text. The man was reading an article about the war. That seemed to be the topic for the last couple years and Peter wasn't sure if it was ever going to end. That didn't matter now as he crept closer, hiding in the alleys across the street. He didn't want the man to see him and damn him if he was going to get caught.

Peter knew what he was about to do and it didn't bother him one bit. He had to taste that scent; to know if it tasted just as amazing as it smelled. The man looked up only when Peter was standing right in front of him, smiling.

"Can I help you young man?"

Peter's smile widened. He was consumed with hunger as he took that final breath. "Oh, I believe you can."

The man's screams were drowned out by the others around him.

As quickly as the group arrived, they were gone, leaving a mess of bloodless bodies behind.

Thanks for reading! I hoped you enjoyed it. School's getting in the way but I'll try to update sooner =)