Capturing Destiny

Chapter Seven

Aftermath

Blood..

Screams...

By the time my brain worked again as it was meant to it was 2 days later.

I was only half a mile from the carcass of the bear that was left rotting; but no scavengers had come near it, usually just its remained presence would have bothered me, I usually tried to bury what remained of my meals in some effort to respect the sacrifice that had been made by them, This time I felt no respect for the animal I had killed. It was the same as I, a murderer of man. A starving animal, who less than a week before, had killed an innocent mother and child when they walked home: a horrifying explanation for my delicious meal.

The bodies of the hunting party that had come to kill the bear lay around me.

Five men, five men whose hearts' no longer beat, who no longer breathed, because of me.

I had smelt them before I realised they were coming. Why had I not been looking? The smell had been too much, they were too close, I could feel the beat of their hearts against their rib cages. Before I knew it I was running, flying through the trees, but not following the message in my mind. No. Instead of running away as my brain was telling me too I was running straight towards them.

The first one didn't have time to scream, but the rest of them did, and after that first taste the angel himself could not have stopped me. I tore through them.

I wasted so much, although my skin did not appear to hold any moisture, my hair and dress did and they were caked red. I did not clean myself. I wore the blood to punish myself, to ingrain this memory in my mind, the shame, the horror at what I was capable of. I did not know what to do with the bodies, I had attempted to clean them, cover their faces in order to keep some reserve of their humanity.

Soon though, I would need to come up with a plan. Surely someone would miss them soon and I would have to create a plausible situation to explain their deaths. I shuddered at the thought.

Touching them again, once again degrading them.

Eventually I moved from the spot I crouched in surrounded by all the carnage. I walked back towards the river, it didn't take me long. Bending down I washed my face in the cool water, stuck my head in to clean my hair and then began to work my way down. It wasn't till I was focused on the bottom of my nightgown that I saw my face reflected upwards at me. I recoiled in horror.

No! Not that, anything but that. My eyes; they were once again crimson.

Instead of getting angry I was incredibly calm. My mind went on autopilot and I was barely aware of my actions. First I finished cleaning myself and sorted my nightgown as best I could, then I walked towards the bear. It was easy for me to roll the body towards the group of men, more difficult was removing any traces of the movement, I did not want anyone to suspect the truth. When I arrived over at the bodies I quickly began uncovering the faces, focussing not on the men but the task at hand. I carefully arranged the scene, a horrible accident; overly confident hunters, bad luck and an exceptionally angry bear. To add to the scene I shot the bear a couple of times with a large hunting rifle one of the men was carrying.

When everything was in position and I was sure no traces of my presence lingering I ran.

I did not stop for a long time. I paid fleeting attention to my direction for the first time, not from interest but in an effort to cross state lines as soon as possible. I crossed the line of Missouri into Arkansas only days later. For the first time I considered where I had begun my journey, I did not even know where I had started out, but I did not have time to ponder that now. I continued, across into Oklahoma and down through until I found myself in Texas and finally felt safe again. It had not taken me long to get there, even when I could only travel at night I moved at close to 200 miles per day. I began to move slower through the empty land. I hunted whenever I could and avoided people like the plague. I relied entirely on my visions to show me which way to go. Even then there were close calls; I used all my senses to keep distance between me and them. I was also considerably more careful in my choices of hunting grounds. I vowed that never again would I give over to the hunt before I was entirely sure of the rest of my day.

Summer came, I spent the majority of my time hidden, avoiding the sun's rays. I marvelled at the beauty of the sun, I had never seen anything as beautiful as the bright fire of the midday sun, so many hues, perhaps too many? But who was I to say, all I remember before waking up in the earth room was more darkness. Slowly the months moved on, the sun lowering in the sky, nature winding down after another long year. I estimated that I was now more than a year into my new life, as I had already known my body did not age, my hair did not grow, neither did my finger nails. I was vaguely thankful for whoever had been in charge of my hygiene before time started; my hair, despite being shorter than I would have liked was well cut, my eyebrows plucked along with any other unwanted hair and my nails were long enough to be feminine but short enough to be practical. I found myself increasingly concerned about my appearance, unhappy with the state I was in. What time I didn't spend searching for my immediate future I spent looking for the angel and it would not do to let him see me like this...

I had found that if I concentrated intently on seeing my future then slowly focussed my attention over to his face, specifically his face with crimson eyes; I could see glimpses of the moment we would meet. The first hundred times I could see nothing but his face. I memorised every line of it, he was pale as I with golden hair that fell just below his jaw. His mouth appeared small but his lips were full, his nose was straight and his eyes large, framed by dark eyebrows which were knitted together. His entire demeanour seemed to cry out in pain. His body was muscular but lean which suited his height, but in my visions he was shrunk into himself as though uncomfortable with his body, ashamed of it.

When I had fully taken in his face, or at least as much as I could with a view only seconds long I began to look around myself. I concentrated on the colours of the cafe, scoured for a name or an address written down anywhere in my limited field of vision but it was no use. I moved on to the outside, the street outside was busy despite the rain. People moved quickly in and out of the small shops or under the awnings in small groups chatting. I spent weeks examining every surface of the world outside, desperate for any hint as to where I should be heading towards.

I had been travelling in a large and irregular circle for several weeks. The emptiness made it easier and what little civilisation there was out here I knew its position well enough now to avoid it entirely. It was a day like any other; I spent my time hunting, hiding and watching. I was looking for him again; it was the most satisfying thing on my agenda for, well, eternity. I had been moving slowly over the road outside the cafe looking for clues and had just reached the furthest corner of my vision at the right hand side. I could see a second street intersecting the one I was on. My mind has memorised the street name before my consciousness became aware of the victory.

I snapped out the vision in my excitement, I jumped up and down savouring how much closer I was to finding him. I did not know how many South 3rd Streets existed within the world but I was determined to search them all until I found the correct one; with the cafe and the florist and the dressmakers and the butchers and the tobacco shop.

I danced around, skipping and spinning until the sun set in a blaze of colour and the moon drifted across the star speckled sky. Initially I joyfully planned the start my search, going city by city, state by state across the country and then further if it was necessary, but soon my mind was filled with fantasies, what I would say, what he would say, seeing him smile and feeling his strong body beneath my hands. My entire body was filled with love, and longing.

I was going to have to sort myself out, and soon. It had been more than half a year since the incident in Missouri and although I had occasionally been close enough to smell humans I had not attacked anyone as yet, I did not know how I would handle the 'real world'. I would have to test myself; but how could I pick out some family for a possible death?

There were preparations I could take. I would hunt as much as possible before and I would have to change my appearance, make myself look more 'normal' so I would fit in. A thought crossed my mind, a terribly selfish thought. I could find a family with a girl my age and test myself by entering the house to steal some clothes. I could both test myself and solve my clothing problem. But could I risk it? Could I allow some poor family to become my macabre test subjects?

A/N: Sorry this took far longer than I intended to get this out. Give me some love and let me know what you think!