The Epsilon's Alpha [SAMPLE]

For a supposedly “gifted” kid, I was a real dumbass sometimes.

My first reckless move of the day was to shimmy down the drainpipe of my second-story bedroom window, nearly breaking my ankle in the process. Why, you ask? To do what every other rebellious eighteen-year-old did, of course: sneak out from under my mother’s watchful eye to attend a house party.

My second stupid move of the day was continuing on to said house party after getting bitten by a gigantic I’m-going-to-rip-your-fucking-face-off wolf.

That’s right. As I was on my way there, the big bastard leaped from the bushes and attacked me—sunk its iron-sharp teeth into my left side with all its might. All I managed to glimpse was its midnight-black fur and glowing, blood-red eyes before it scampered away—but the damage had been done. My side burned, and I was bleeding. Badly.

Any sane, rational person would have called it a day and sent themselves straight to the emergency department, but nah. I was on a mission. My best friend, Alia, wanted to experience a high school party. She’d talked about it nonstop since freshman year. Unfortunately for her—and for me—we were the grade’s social outcasts, meaning no invites ever came our way, and I could see it was wearing on my friend. Where I had accepted my fate as the forgotten wallflower, she yearned to be included, and I really felt for her.

And then it happened: months before our graduation, we received an invitation. I knew that attending this party meant the world to her. If I didn’t make it, she would be crushed: I would be ruining perhaps the only good to come out of her senior year.

So, to hell with the rabies, viruses, and whatever awful zoonotic diseases were potentially replicating within my body. I needed to be there for my best friend. I would worry about antibiotics tomorrow.

It was only when I found myself hunched over the porcelain bowl of a toilet in some rich kid’s bathroom that I began to regret my actions.

I didn’t even get to see Alia when I came in. The moment I stepped inside the mansion, my stomach churned, and I ran to the nearest bathroom.

A splintering pain had me doubling over. I hissed, clutching my side as my vision spun. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Heaving, I lifted my shirt and stared at the bite mark. It’d stopped bleeding, at least, but the skin around the gouges had become pink and puckered—no doubt the first signs of infection.

A rap sounded at the door. I let the shirt drop.

“Who is it?” I managed.

“Kyra?”

I didn’t have enough time to act shocked before the door flew open, Alia’s figure consuming the frame.

I stared at my friend. Her light brown hair was done up in a braided crown, and her large brown eyes glittered with concern as they regarded me. That night, her makeup was professionally done, and she was wearing a green silk dress that hugged her full figure—something which would have cost a month’s worth of my mother’s rent.

I often forgot that Alia’s family had the money to spend on commodities like that. She didn’t act like a spoiled rich girl, at least not like the others in my grade. Perhaps that was what had drawn me to her in the first place.

She took in my state.

“Oh my God! Are you okay?”

She rushed to my side, trying to get a better look at me. I hoped she couldn’t see very much in the dim light of the bathroom. I didn’t want her to add me to her growing list of concerns. I inclined my head, swallowing the fire in my throat.

“I’m fine. Honestly.” I was anything but fine. I was sure that, if I were to move so much as an inch, every fibre in my body would snap.

Her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t have your drink spiked, did you?” She gasped, clutching me at the sudden realization. “Oh god, this is bad... I mean, really bad. We need to get you to a hospital, Ky. Who knows what they drugged you with?”

“I didn’t--” A gag cut me off. I didn’t even have time to spin towards the toilet before I threw up at Alia’s feet.

“Oh!” she squeaked, stepping back and flicking on the light. I hissed at the sudden brightness, squeezing my eyes shut in an attempt to block it out. Hell, why was I so sensitive to light all of a sudden?

I kept my eyes closed, shuddering at the strong tang of metallic in my mouth. When several moments of silted silence passed, I squinted up at Alia, hoping she wasn’t angry over the fact I’d just thrown up all over her YSL heels. But her eyes weren’t on me. They were locked on the pile of sick at her feet. I followed her gaze, and my heart stopped.

The metallic tang made sense now. I hadn’t been throwing up dinner.

I had been throwing up blood, and lots of it.

I don’t know how long I sat there, staring at it. This was bad. Really, really fucking bad.

“You’re sick, Kyra!”

I could barely hear Alia over the roaring in my ears.

“No...” I stammered, more to myself than anyone else. No, I couldn’t be sick. I couldn’t have possibly let it get so bad, but staring at the pool of blood, its crimson liquid stark against the white of the marble, I knew that all the fears I’d been suppressing these past few hours had come to pass.

I was sick, maybe even dying. Whatever that wolf had given me, it had made its way into my system.

Deciding I was taking too long, Alia lunged forward and gripped me under my arms. A strange sound left my throat as she hauled me upright, guiding us both to the door.

“Alia...” I groaned, trying and failing to wiggle out of her grip. Something about leaving the familiar darkness of the room filled me with a new kind of fear.

“Be quiet, Kyra. Let me help you for once.”

There was worry in her voice, and for her, I fell silent. But my resolve broke when we entered the halls. White light pierced my vision, stabbing pain down my skull. It was too bright, like staring directly into the sun, and it was all I could do to squeeze my eyes shut.

“Please, stop...” I begged whoever would listen.

“No, Kyra, you need a doctor. You need help!”

I couldn’t hear her; my mind spun in a whirlwind of panic. I didn’t just hear the sounds of the party. No, I felt it as though it were a living, breathing thing, like a boisterous beast waiting to devour me.

My heart slammed. Alia continued to drag me onwards, her grip like iron as I tried to flail. Bile burned my throat as she dragged me down the halls, closer to the sounds, closer to my death.

Oh, God. The sounds...

Every boom rattled my skull, sending tremors down my bones and meeting my ears in ear-splitting waves. What was once jovial chatter screamed at me in shattering dissonance, as though someone were revving a chainsaw beside my ears. I could barely make out Alia’s voice over the chaos, something that sounded so distorted and sharp all at once. I jolted at her cries for help, the pressure on my skull increasing with every little sound and noise.

I groaned. My head was going to explode.

But it wasn’t just the sound that bothered me. There was something else, too, something I’d never really noticed before.

The smells. I could quite literally smell everything.

The sickly-sweet scent of punch stung my nostrils. Sweat and body odor mixed in with the sweetness, and my stomach roiled with a new kind of nausea. I gagged as I passed by an alcoholic beverage, the intense fumes causing my eyes to water. Somewhere in the background, I picked out the tar-like scent of cigarettes, their smoke singeing my nostrils and burning down my throat.

As if that weren’t bad enough, I could taste all those things as well. My tongue ached as every vile thing in existence passed along it, forcing more tears into my eyes.

Before, I had just felt sick. Now, I was almost sure my own senses would kill me, if my illness didn’t do it first.

It seemed Alia’s sharp calls worked to some avail, for the warbled surroundings quieted just a tad. However, the relief was short-lived. Hands reached for me -- calloused, smooth, rough skin scraping over my body. My blood curdled at every grope, every touch, and I felt myself beginning to lose it.

My eyes shot open. A jarring scream tore from my lips as lights of every color seared into my retinas, burning and withering. As I shrieked, more hands reached for me, touching me wherever they could, setting every nerve aflame.

Then, all thinking ceased. Panic took over, and suddenly, I was acting on nothing but pure instinct. Colors and shapes swirled in my vision, random objects focusing for one moment only to bleed away the next. I couldn’t see. I was blind. But I had to get out of there. I had to leave.

I had to run.

I broke away from Alia’s grasp. A wave of gasps wobbled through the space, like a cacophony of hissing, but I didn’t care. I barged ahead, everything coming in dizzying flashes as I pushed through the clamor, gasping and stumbling, passing by faces I couldn’t recognize amidst the chaos.

Somehow, I made it to the entry hall, and I sprinted down it. I was aware of the tables I knocked over and the vases I shattered in my wake, punctuated by the angry voices rising in retaliation. I didn’t care. I just kept going.

I burst out the doors with a gasp, crossing the lawn in a burst of speed. My breaths came out in wheezing gasps, and not even the cold kiss of the night’s air could loosen the tightness in my chest.

The gold light of the streetlamps juddered in my vision as I staggered upon the main road. The cacophony of crickets was deafening, and I found myself covering my ears in an attempt to drown out the sharp clicks. The distant thump of music rattled my bones, jolting every nerve in my body.

I pushed out several breaths as my mind raced. My whole body throbbed, the golden blur of streetlamps wavering in my peripheral as my vision pulsed along with it.

Quiet sobs escaped my chest, every nerve on fire. What was happening to me?

I almost had my thoughts somewhat aligned when a white-hot spike of pain shot through my head. I howled, knees slamming to the ground as my nails clawed at the tarmac.

My mind roared, silencing every rational thought and feeling. I clambered to the gutters for some kind of solace, clutching my head as a new wave of pain lashed through me. Then another. Then another. It was as though I were being burned alive.

I must have been yelling, because before I knew it, hands were on me again. White faces flashed in my vision, and though their lips moved, I couldn’t make out a word. All I could do was feel. Between the foreign touches and the pain eating me alive, I began to disconnect from the rational part of my mind. My thoughts were wild, primitive, and before I knew it, the pressure inside my skull cracked.

I screamed and screamed, clutching my head as my skull rang out in pure agony. I could feel the bones shifting under my fingers, as though the fragments were re-arranging themselves into some sickening puzzle.

With ragged breaths, I scrambled to my feet and ran. Concerned yells followed, but I ignored them. Blind, broken, and confused, I clung to a strange sense of direction, gripping that small fragment of clarity as the world shattered around me.

I ran faster, desperate to escape myself. My legs screamed with every step, black dots swimming in my vision. All I could think about was the safety of the trees, and when I caught the scent of pine, I realized where I was headed.

The forest.

It swam ahead in my vision.

As I neared the tree line, a blinding heat seared at my cuticles, and moments later black nails sprouted from the nail beds. I sobbed in horror as they continued to grow, sharpening into the unmistakable shape of claws. The joints of my knees bent in a way that shouldn’t be possible, and I was forced to the ground, shaking and yelling as every muscle and bone twisted and contorted, dislocating and relocating. I seized, an animalistic scream ripping from my throat as my back did the same, and then my head -- bones breaking and re-forming, muscles tearing before being struck anew.

When the crushing of my body ceased, I rolled over, poised on all fours. Maybe it was instinct, or perhaps it was my fear, but something compelled me onwards.

I ran. The pain was still there, for sure, but it was weaker now -- like the gutted embers after a fire. I ran until the music and lights faded. I ran as the pain bloomed, my tailbone elongated, daggers pierced my gums, and my muscles cramped. By the time I reached the forest, I was no longer human.

That much I knew.

With nothing but my pain-fogged mind and the burning urge to run, I thundered through the undergrowth, not sparing a glance backward as my paws hit the sodden earth.