The Change

He could feel his time running short. Jordan Hart knew this was his only chance. He had to reach the woods before he changed. He could already feel his insides starting to shift. He had to make it out of town and away from everyone.
The changing started when he was sixteen. He was now eighteen and every full moon since, his body shifted to a beast covered in fur. Nails, sharp as daggers, stretch from his fingers. Teeth, twice as sharp, fill his mouth, and a never satisfied thirst fills his soul. A thirst for blood.
The first time it happened it was a very painful process; they lost their dog that night. Jordan ripped it apart and ate every piece. After filling his stomach with mans best friend, he fell asleep. When he woke he was no longer the beast and had changed back to the skinny, awkward sixteen year old boy. That day Jordan's parents, as loving and accepting as they could be, made a plan for the next time this happened. They told him to get to the woods as soon as he started to feel the change.
Now as he was walking down Main Street with Elizabeth Cole, he started feeling different. She was the one person that made him feel normal, the only person who mattered to him. She was the only person, other than his parents, who knew about his secret.
"It’s going to be tonight." Jordan said. He grabbed her hand and held it. She squeezed gently.
"How long do you think you have?", Elizabeth asked. She looked up at the cloud filled sky, as they reached the center of town. The sun was starting to set.
"Ugh" Jordan moaned as he grabbed his stomach. "It’s happening a lot faster this time. I have to get out of here and you have to get away from me. If anything ever happened to you. I don't know..." His voice trailed off into moans. Elizabeth leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
"It'll be alright." She said. "I promise."
Sharp pains exploded in Jordan stomach and moved fast to his head. Bones began to crack in his back. His ribs began to break and reshape themselves. His skeleton began to shift. Sounds of pain exploded from his mouth in the form of screams.
"Go!", he screamed at Elizabeth, who was now starting to back away slowly. "You have to get away from me!", his voice began to growl as he spoke. "It isn't safe! You have to leave now!"
Elizabeth began to run and Jordan began to change. She glanced over her shoulder as she ran and saw that the bones in his face began to change. His nose stretched outward like a dog and his eyes changed to a fluorescent green.
"Go!", Jordan screamed as loud as he could. The word drifted to a howl as he changed. His normally clean shaved cheeks started to force out hairs. His muscles grew to double the size they were before and he fell to all fours. Drool dripped from his mouth, now full of tiny daggers as teeth. The change had finished. There was no more pain for Jordan. Only one feeling controlled his body now, hunger. Jordan stuck his nose in the air and howled a howl that shattered all sound near by. It echoed off the air around him.
Elizabeth ran as fast as she could after she saw Jordan start to change. They had talked about it before but she had never actually seen it. She couldn't even comprehend it until now. All she could do was run and try to push the piercing green eyes out of her head. She ran through a crowd of people that were entering a local bar. She pushed through almost knocking them over. The air filled with unknowing stares as Elizabeth, oblivious to it all, continued to run.
Jordan was no longer Jordan. The beast had taken over and all that was left was pure animalistic urges. Hunger overwhelmed him. He had to eat. He saw people running in every direction away from him. They were no longer people to him. They were opportunities to fill his stomach. His silvery green eyes caught on a brunette running away from him. Something about this girl intrigued his hunger. He began to run.
Jordan, or what used to be Jordan, bolted toward Elizabeth. He moved with incredible speed and agility. He was closing in on her when she ran through a group of people. She almost knocked one down and kept going. The beast was closing in on her. It leaped for her just as she hit the woman that almost fell. Elizabeth kept running and the beast landed on the woman. His body reacted the only way it knew how. He landed on top of the woman and his jaws locked onto her arm. She screamed as the teeth effortlessly sunk into her flesh. Blood filled the beasts mouth. His eyes brightened and he pulled the woman's arm. It came off almost effortlessly. Blood streamed from her shoulder. Muscle tissue was thrown in all directions. The other people had run into the bar for protection from the beast. One called the police.
The woman's screams exploded off the buildings around them. Nothing could be heard but the sound of terror. The beast now had the arm of the woman hanging in his mouth. He jerked his head to the side and threw the arm towards the bar shattering the front window. The beast let out a deathly howl. A howl so loud and fearsome it cut through the screams. He dropped his head again, this time to sink his teeth into the side of the woman's head. He squeezed crushing the woman's skull like a grape. Grayish brains splattered all over the sidewalk. The screaming stopped immediately.
Elizabeth was still running. Its all she could do after she started hearing the screams. She couldn't even look back. How could someone who's normally so nice and loving turn into something so mean and evil? Is this truly who Jordan is? The questions ran through her brain almost as fast as she was running.
The beast still perched with one paw on the woman's chest. He put his nose back to the sky, blood dripping from the fur on his face. Chunks of brain swam in a puddle of blood underneath his feet. He sniffed the air. sensing where she had gone. The beast’s nostrils widened and shut, as he took in deep breathes, searching for the scent of the brunette he had been so intrigued by before. His nostrils opened wider this time and his eyes began to brighten again. He bolted forward and down the street.
A police radio, inside of a police car down the block, tells the officers that there was a murder in process downtown at the bar. Sirens exploded in the night sky as the men in blue snapped into action. Building sprayed with reds, blues, and whites as they drove as fast as they could to the scene. As they came around the corner and onto Main Street, they could see the paramedics were already there. The cops, not seeing the perpetrator, slowed down enough to hear the medic standing by the road.
"It went that way!” he yelled to them pointing down the street. The cops sped back up and raced down the street. The first cop thought, It? What the hell did he mean by it?
The beast ran as if he was slicing through the air. Each step was fierce and powerful pushing him that much closer to Elizabeth. His nose was locked on her scent. He didn't care about the rest. He had to have her. He plowed through a group of people swinging his arm and throwing two of them into cars parked on the side of the road. The night was filled with sirens and car alarms now. The beast wasn't fazed by any of it. He had to have her.
Elizabeth ran. She could feel him closing in on her. She could hear his panting and his footsteps. She had to run faster. She turned around the next corner she came to. As she rounded it she heard sirens and had a burst of hope followed by an equal burst of fear. What if they kill him? What if he doesn't change back and they kill him? Tears began to stream down her face like tiny rivers. She didn't let her emotions stop her pace.
The police car was sailing down the road, siren exploding into the dark. Lights echoing off the surrounding buildings. They approached what could only be described as a giant dog running down the sidewalk. A dog bigger than any they had ever seen. It looked somewhat deformed. It had long fingers. It moved at incredible speeds. They were doing thirty miles an hour down the road and this thing was pulling away.
"What the hell is that?" one of the cops yells over the sirens. The other cop can't say anything. He can't believe what he's seeing. Neither of them know what it is but they know they have to do something.
The beast reached the street where Elizabeth had turned down and stopped. He put his nose in the air and sniffed again. Since the cops were right next to the beast when he stopped, they stopped as well.
The first cop jumped from the car. He stood behind his door, pulled his gun, and aimed for the kill. The second cop did the same. Sirens screamed in between their heads. Deafening screams. Without hesitation both cops opened fire. A bullet sliced through the shoulder of the beast and knocked him backward in a tumble. It landed on his feet, seemingly unfazed, and continued running in the direction of Elizabeth. A second bullet landed in the beasts back. After missing a few more shots, the cops jumped back into the car and started after it again.
Elizabeth was losing ground now. She could feel her energy fading fast. Would Jordan still know it was me? The thought of her getting torn to pieces by the man, who she loved so much, gave her a small burst of energy. She passed at least three blocks by now and was coming up on another. She could hear the beast closing in behind her. Its panting echoed in her head.
The beast was cutting the distance by the second. He had to have her. He needed her. Blood trailed behind him from his wounds but this uncontrollable urge to reach this brunette overwhelmed him. Sirens overwhelmed everything behind him. The cops were gaining on the beast again.
Elizabeth was almost to the intersection of the next block. What if he doesn't remember me? The question brought more tears, and with the tears came the memories. She remembered their first date. She remembered how protected she felt next to him on that Ferris wheel. They were only sixteen and had no idea what kind of love they would have. They had no clue what kind of people they would be, but through it all they built something that very few people ever experience. But that was all before this. That was before the change. In that moment she wished she could stay in that memory. She wished she could just stop time, stop everything that was happening now, and just live on that Ferris wheel with the one person who made everything better.
A small Honda civic was approaching to pass through a green light at a intersection, when a skinny brunette jumped out from the corner and ran in front of his car. Tires squealing erupted next to Elizabeth as she crossed the intersection. The sound pierced through her memory bringing her back to reality. The car smashed into her side, shattering her hips and legs. She rolled over the hood and slammed her head into the windshield, sending spider web like cracks in every direction. Blood painted the windshield a deep, hateful red. Elizabeth rolled to the passenger side and fell on her back next to the car.
The driver of the Honda civic immediately jumped out of the car and ran to see if the girl was okay. As soon as he got close the beast was on top of them both. It swung its giant arm and connected with the driver, sending him flipping in the air.
He finally had this brunette. The beast walked over and stood above the body of this girl that he needed so much, but for what? What was it about her that intrigued the beast so much? Not even the beast knew that answer. The beast began to do what it knew best. He dropped his nose and began ripping at her chest. Blood and bone flew everywhere, turning the street into a Rorschach test.
The cops squealed to a stop in the middle of the intersection. Both cops jumped out of the car faster than ever before. They both pulled their guns and opened fire, each emptying an entire clip into the beast. It didn't move; it just sat there and destroyed the brunette's body. After a few moments, the beast slowed his devouring and started to cough up blood. Whether it was his own or the brunette's they weren't sure.
The beast fell to his side, life slipping from him, as he began to change back to Jordan. His body shifted. Bones that broke before, broke again and reformed back to normal. Hair that was covering his body began to fall out and blow away in the wind. Memories of death caused by this dark part of him faded from his mind. As his body changed back, he was left with only one reminder of what had happened. The image of the women he loved destroyed next to him. The lifeless look in her eyes. The lack of love in her heart.
There was a street lamp directly above them. Jordan, now naked, fell down next to what was left of Elizabeth. Blood covered his face. Every now and then he would spit up some as well. His organs stopped working. Jordan grabbed her hand and squeezed it as hard as he could and whispered.
"I'm sorry."