Eve was only the beginning. A Hexenbiest physically pushed into a mould that would make her a weapon, a mould made by those that thought they knew what they needed to fight a battle. But she still had her flaws, for being in a human body that was mortal only gave her a weakness, that if she for a second let her guard down, it would be the split second that could take her life from her, the one human weakness they failed to remove. But scientists will always push boundaries to make things inhumanely better, even when those boundaries are close to fracturing into sharp splinters that will get under your skin and inevitably stay.

Wet leaves threatened to trip up the bare feet that were running across them, rapid exhalations causing little clouds to form in the air before dissipating, like an invisible trail being left for those that might want to follow. The lips of the person cracked and dry from the attacking night air. Her toenails painted a red, as if manifesting the pain caused by the sharp debris that coated the forest floor cutting her feet, like broken glass, preventing her from escaping from whatever she was running from, or at least trying. But her determination numbed her to the pain that came with running bare foot. Her skirt had jagged edges as if it was once a dress that had been torn for convenience for running through a dark forest, where branches would grab at those that passed as if they were alive. She came to the edge of the forest, where cars were speeding past on a highway, a modern river where the crocodiles traded their scaly skin for a metal death machine. She raised her thumb as to slow someone down, looking back into the forest, her eyes moving faster than her heart was in her chest. Her hair was long and wavy and sticking to her sweat coated face, an inconvenience when you are trying to keep an eye out for danger, which she knew was coming. The smell of Hundjagers overpowered the earthy smell that was released as the rain hit the soil. No one would stop for a girl that very much looked like she had murdered someone in the forest, despite the only blood being on her feet. So she had to deploy a new tactic, for if the verat caught up with her, they would take her back to her confines to inevitably be punished by those she escaped. Yet she knew she was more powerful than a couple of wire haired mutts and their owners, but those that kept her captive had ways of keeping her in line, engineered by specialists to ensure their weapons did not backfire onto the ones that created them. So she could not be too confident, as she could never see what they had up their sleeve, and she was sure they had something for if she happened to escape.

A car eventually stopped, a dark pick up truck. And as the windows rolled down, there standing in the rain and the cold was a little girl, about 10 years old. This is at least what the driver saw, for behind this illusion still stood the dark haired girl cut and bruised from the forest, that was at least ten years older than the facade she had caused.

'what on earth are you doing out by a busy highway at this hour, hell what is a young girl like you doing out here atall' the man in the car said, his face round and beard pointed like that of a elves hat.

'she can answer those questions Edgar once she gets out the rain' the woman who was sitting beside the man said as she opened the door, helping the girl in.

The woman removed her fur coat wrapping it around the girl, her wet hair forming droplets on the fur, before the woman turned on the heater to full capacity.

'so sweetheart what are you doing out here?' the man asked.

'take me to nearest airport, my parents will be there' the child said, the liquid from her nose coating her lips that so nearly were splitting from the cold.

'ok sweetheart, but its going to be a little drive, we are quite far away, I suggest we stop for something to eat ' the woman said attempting to dry the girls hair with a towel that was thrown over the back of the seat. The girls heart stopped pounding so fast, the comfort that came with the warmth of the car and the company of people that saw her as a living breathing human making her eyelids grow heavy. The street lamps intermittently illuminating her face as if they too were helping her to fall asleep, like the starry night light she would turn on when she was a kid, it turning around, hypnotising her racing mind into slowing down. However part of her wanted to fight this, for every time someone was compassionate towards her, it was a way of softening her up before putting her through immeasurable torment for their own selfish agendas, but she was so tired that not only did it cause her human side to succumb to its weight, but also the broken inhuman part that never slept and was on guard at all times.

The truck pulled into a diner, the neon lights waking the girl up from her slumber. The smell of greasy burgers on the grill emanating through the trucks air conditioning, a much better smell than the gruel she was fed on as punishment, gruel that warmed her cold belly and did little to lift her skin that was edging closer to being tightly wrapped around her bones. The sounds from the meat sizzling on the grill, the cash register clanging as it opened and closed, the people laughing uncontrollably, melded into a unbearable melody that attacked her ear drums, for every time she awoke her senses were turned up to full force, a way to protect her from those that wanted to do her harm.

She learned to cope with it, the stabbing pain in her head not compared to when the one she thought loved her, made her skin bleed, to turn her into the monster he needed to protect his family. And she swore she would never let anyone love her again, as love to her equalled pain, and she felt it more than most.

'what would you like sweetheart?' the woman said while still holding her close.

'whatever you're having'

'two double cheeseburger meals, and a triple please sir' the man said to the guy behind the speaker at the drive through.

'no problem sir we will be right with you' the crackly voice replied back.

At the next window the food was passed through the streaky window of the truck, and the woman handed the child her burger, and before the man could drive away, she had ripped open the wrapper and devoured half of it. The woman and man looked at her in shock, a rabid animal starved to try and make her more aggressive.

'woah there slow down, you're going to choke' the woman said while wiping ketchup of the childs cheek.

The child looked up at the woman with doe eyes, but couldn't help thinking that the woman's compassion was hiding a secret agenda, her soft eyes hardening up again as she finished the last bite of her meal.

The truck pulled into a parking space, as the driver and the woman ate their meals, the child looking longingly out the window, as the neon lights flickered, she was observing normal humans, the ones she was used to surely not human. She drew pictures in the condensate that was forming on the windows, skulls, and a heart, but one that she soon erased away with frustration, as worm like protrusions squirmed across her skin before settling down.

But the worms did not rear their head because she was frustrated, she had managed to control those relatively well. They reared their head because they could sense danger. An uncomfortable feeling that made its away across her bones alerting her to a threat. As she looked in the wind mirror, she saw a large black truck with tinted windows pull into the diner.

'god damn this burger is good' the man said as the ketchup dropped onto his already stained shirt below, unaware of the danger they could be in.

The truck parked in a nearby bay, and two men, in all black, -tattoo on the palm of their hand, Two interlocking squares- stepped out.

The child was so focused on them, that she did not notice that her facade had faded away, and now instead of a child in the truck, her adult self was in its place, ripped dress, and bloody feet.

'oh my god, what on earth' the woman yelled while grabbing her husbands arm causing him to drop his burger on the floor.

The girl turned around suddenly, and realised that they now could see her for who she was. She scrambled out of the truck and ran across the parking lot, her breath visible in the air, like the smoke pouring out the vents of the diner.

As she neared the road, the two men dressed in black came before her blocking her exit from the diner.

'running somewhere Arma?' one of the men said with an accent.

Arma froze, the cold of the night air against her skin was not comparable to the cold of the dungeon that they kept her in, the concrete freezing her like it was trying to preserve her for later use.

'if you don't make a scene, perhaps the King will allow you to live with the civilised, rather than in that dungeon'

'you're all liars'

'not liars, we just want whats best for you'

'you want whats best for you'

The men then tried to grab her arms, one of them holding a gun just inside his leather jacket, but before they could grab her she stepped back, and looked at them smiling.

'you only brought a gun?' Arma said, her eyes now slightly narrow, and the fear in them dissipating.

'and we wont hesitate to use it, if you become difficult'

'yes you wont hesitate, to use it, you are right' she said as her face turned from pale skin, to a grey decaying mask, her eyes black, and her jaw almost falling off its hinges.

Soon the two men pulled their guns out of their jackets, their eyes widening in fear, as their arms brought the guns to their temples.

'Arma please, we will tell the king to not put you in that dungeon, he will buy you all sorts of jewels like before'

'jewels don't numb the pain he caused, I learned that, and two less Verat in the world would do everyone a favour'

The verat trembled, as the trigger slowly changed position, the clicking of which like the sound Armas jaw made as It struggled to hang on.

'bang bang' Arma said.

The men pulled the triggers, their brains splattering on the floor like the fat of the burgers did on the grill inside the diner-the gunshot louder than normal- before Armas face returned to normal. She turned around, the diner behind her in flames, and the cars in the parking lot burning up, the sky swirling with oranges as the smoke turned the black night into a tragic sunset.

She took one of the mens jacket off and put it on, and felt inside the other, taking his wallet, leaving the gun behind, despite it probably being a more accurate defence than herself, with less collateral.

She could see the airport in the distance, the red blinking lights as the planes came into land. She would have to walk it, her feet numb and able to withstand the stony path that went through yet another forest.

She came to the end of the path, the airport opposite her, the bright lights almost blinding her, for she was not used to daylight let alone the brightness that polluted the populated cities. She made her way inside, people passing her and staring at her, as her bare scraped feet walked across the clean floor, leaving red and brown stains. She stood looking up at the flight schedule, not quite understanding it, and not sure where she would be taken if she got on a plane. But anywhere was better than there.

'ma'am are you okay? Do you need assistance' a worker said.

'what flight is the soonest?'

'well Ma'am it depends where you'd like to go'

'I don't care'

'well the next flight to Portland is in ten minutes, so you'd better hurry'

'where do I go?'

'well ma'am we will need to see your passport, and take payment for the flight, so follow me'

Arma followed the woman, and she knew she had no passport, and she very much doubted the verat would be carrying much cash.

'ok do you have your passport Ma'am?' the worker said as she tapped the keyboard behind the desk.

'yes let me just get it' Arma said as she felt around in the jacket pockets, while looking around to see what a passport actually looked like, she observed the person next to her, who had his passport in his hand, observing each detail from the deep red cover, and gold embossed logo, to the pages within, that she could very barely see.

'ma'am your passport please'

Arma took her passport out of her pocket, well to the worker it was a passport, but in Armas hand was a bullet, one of the Verats that could have pierced her skull if she had not been in tune.

'Thank you ma'am' the lady said as she ran it through the computer, looking back at it as if something was wrong.

'everything okay?' Arma said, her chest rising.

'sorry ma'am, but this passport does not seem to be in our systems'

'can you try again, maybe you wrote something wrong'

The worker sighed and inputted the details again, her eyebrows raising slightly before handing Arma back the passport.

'sorry ma'am it must have been a glitch in the systems, how would like to pay?'

'in cash'

'ok that will be 753 euros' the lady said looking at Arma a little concerned as to why she would be carrying such a large amount of cash.

Arma handed the woman another bullet, 753 euros worth, and smiled at the woman before heading off down to where the plane was boarding. The one way ticket to Portland in her hand, and she knew they would try and find her, but this would at least buy her some time.

Arma stood on the sidewalk regretting blowing those two guys brains out, with her mind. Her goal of coming to Portland was to stay on the down low, but she had already taken the lives of two of the cities inhabitants, despite the fact they basically signed their lives away when they decided to assume her ripped attire was an invitation to quench their thirst for the desires that were rampant in their head. But something in her was guilty, for she fought against being the very thing she was designed to be, a ruthless killer, but she could not deny that ripping those two mens lives away was euphoric, a guilty pleasure that the innocent part of her wanted to repent against.