I crept closer to the large herd of sheep as the sun sank lower in the sky, spreading its last dying rays across the land, bathing everything in a red glow. I still had a few hours left before I could put my plan into action. I had spent the last few days formulating a plan that I hoped would end at least some of my suffering. Maybe now I no longer needed to kill people, or at least I hoped that was the case. Just a few more hours and maybe I would have some answers.
The last shepherd's snores could be heard faintly above the soft rustling of the few sheep that remained restless under the stars. It was time.
I ran up to the nearest shepherd and delivered him a blow to the head, not hard enough to kill, just enough to knock him out for a short while. I knew that the next few moments would be the deciding factor in whether I would be able to carry out my plan. I only hoped I had enough control to follow through. I bent over the pulse in the man's neck and bit down. The warm, soothing blood flooded into my mouth. Immediately my throat cooled and I closed my eyes with pleasure. After a few seconds my eyes flew open. I needed to concentrate. No accidents. I had to stop. In just a moment…
I had to rip myself away from that first one. I had to keep control. He had lost a lot of blood. I hoped it wasn't too much. I moved on to the next man. This one was a lot easier, for I had already proved to myself that I could do it. In a matter of minutes I had completed the circle of six men and had returned to my starting point. I felt strong, full, and almost satisfied. My plan had been a success. I did not need in order to feed. Granted the victims were not exactly willing participants, but on the grand scale, what did that really matter?
And that's when the screaming started. The first man had begun to stir fitfully as he came to. Fitful stirrings became painful thrashings as he began to scream. Even as I began to come out of my shock at this new development, a chain reaction occurred among all the men around the perimeter of the herd.
What had gone wrong? Their hearts had been beating when I was finished and I was sure I had left enough blood in each of them to keep them alive. They certainly did not sound like they were dying, their screams growing louder by the second. We were far enough from any civilization that nobody would hear them. I had made sure of that when I scouted out the location for my experiment. I quickly ran around and gathered each of them up and lay them together. I didn't know what to do. Suddenly one man's shrieks formed into words.
"Kill me! Please, just kill me!"
I shuddered at the thought, trying to block out the sounds around me. Might it be more merciful to kill them, rather than allow them to endure such pain? As soon as the thought came, I pushed it away. I was too selfish to even consider it. I did not know if these men would die from whichever of my actions had caused this, but if there was hope for their survival, I would not be the one to destroy it. In doing so, I feared I might destroy myself for I still had no desire to be a monster, even though it now appeared that might be my only option.
Nothing I did seemed to be any help to the pain-laden men at all. They seemed completely unaware of their surroundings, even as I moved them and attempted to talk to them. I gave up trying to communicate, for they never gave any indication of hearing me. Occasionally I could distinguish a few words amongst the screeches. Usually they were begging for death, sometimes I would catch the words "fire" or "burning."
After what felt like days, the stars paled as the black sky faded to gray and finally the sun began to rise on the horizon. I could not justify to myself leaving the tortured men in the blackness of the night, even though I doubted they would have noticed. I just could not bring myself to be that selfish for I felt I deserved to hear their cries of pain since I was the one that caused them. Once it was light, however, I darted away as quickly as I could until they were no longer within earshot. Their cries echoed in my mind, but they were not quite as distracting as when I could still see the men. Able to think for the first time since the previous night, I pondered the meaning of what was happening. Perhaps I was venomous? I could think of no other explanation for what was happening. I knew certain animals were venomous and that their venom could cause the victim varying degrees of pain and even death, but I had never witnessed the results firsthand. Judging by the amount of pain the men were in, I figured they should probably be dead by now. Why they were not was a mystery. Perhaps the venom burned through the body until it was gone and the person would recover? I knew the only way to find the answer was to wait.
I slowly went forward again until I could just barely hear the cries in the distance. Somehow, even after yelling through the whole night, the volume had not diminished at all. I lay there, wishing for the human ability to push everything aside and succumb to the thoughtlessness of sleep. All I had ever wanted was a little bit of peace. At this rate, it did not look like I would ever have it.
On that third morning, I went back and looked at them. Over the course of the two days I had done cursory checks every few hours to see if there were any changes to the men's conditions. Until that third morning, they had seemed pretty much unchanged. This time was different though.
I stumbled back, horrified at what was happening. The healthy glow of their suntanned limbs had disappeared, replaced by pale skin. I bent forward to touch them and again reeled in shock. When I had picked the men up the other night to move them, their skin had been very warm and soft. Now I could not tell the difference between my temperature and theirs and the softness had become rock-hard.
I sat and watched for the rest of the day; waiting for an end that I knew would come soon. Just what exactly what that end entailed, I could only pray for the best. What the best was, at this point, I wasn't entirely sure. I tried to ignore the obvious signs of what was happening to the men. I fervently wished that they were on their way towards death, for I knew I could handle that consequence better than what I feared would be the outcome.
Near dusk, I noticed another slight change. Each of the men's hearts started racing at a deadly rate. It sounded as if they were about to explode. Maybe that was how all of this would end? Three days of excruciating torture in which the whole body is consumed by it, only to save the heart for last.
Another hour passed and the frantic heartbeats grew more erratic, each finally silencing after a last thud. This was the end. They were gone. My whole experiment was a complete failure and I had killed another six people.
I turned away in complete despair. I no longer cared about an afterlife. How could hell be any worse than the existence I had? And if there was no afterlife, at least there would be no torturous thoughts to plague me in my non-existence.
I heard small sounds of movement from behind me and I whirled around. I was face to face with six pairs of blood red eyes staring hungrily back at me.
"Oh God, what have I done?"
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Disclaimer: I lay claim to nothing that belongs to Stephanie Meyer but I would like to lay claim to a couple minutes of your time if you would be so kind as to review! Please? *puppy eyes*
