The sun was moving toward the horizon, and the heat was just a pleasant whisper against my skin. I sat on Andy's back porch and listened to the wind whistling through the holes in the dilapidated wooden fence surrounding the backyard.
I wondered what time it was. My phone had died again, and it wasn't clear when we'd get power back. Probably a good idea to get a mechanical watch nowadays. Batteries would be scarce soon.
My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I should eat something. But I didn't have the energy to even get up from this dusty plastic chair.
How nice it would be to just appear in my apartment: soft silk pyjamas, sprawled on the mattress sponsor had sent me last month. I still hadn't made the post. I'd been waiting to test it first, make sure it wasn't complete crap. I had integrity like that.
The screen door groaned as Iris stepped outside.
She walked smoothly towards the second plastic chair and sat on it, cautiously balancing on only three unbroken legs. There was no way it was possible to relax on the chair, with one leg an inch shorter than the rest… But it was like she didn't notice it.
I stared at her in the most impolite manner. The way the Sun soaked into her skin, making it glow with radiance, made chills crawl up my spine.
"What are you?" Finally spilled out of my mouth.
She was as unnatural as one of those glowing lizards, and I had no idea how I could have tricked myself into thinking otherwise.
"I'm a healer," Iris answered, moving her gaze from the Sun to me. The sparkles of radiance danced in her green irises, like they were made of Opals.
"I don't mean what cards you have. Who are you? What were you doing in that hospital? You are definitely not one of the local doctors."
Iris didn't answer, continuing to look into my eyes. Her stare wasn't threatening, but it still made me shiver in fear. She was so human-like, yet just different enough, to give me the worst Uncanny Valley effect I have ever experienced. Alien… She was alien to our world.
"You are with them? With monsters?"
Iris didn't answer.
"You can't talk about it?"
Iris nodded.
I huffed and looked back into the distance. If she wanted to kill me, she had plenty of opportunity.
"You said I overexerted myself with that card. What did you mean? Do cards use some kind of internal resource of our body?"
"Yes… Your world is still filling with energy, so there isn't sufficient ambient concentration to facilitate efficient recovery. Particularly for novice users."
"Ok."
I listened to enough of Andy's rambling to understand that Iris was talking about some kind of magic, mana. Like with oxygen. If you exercise in the oxygen-poor air, you can easily overexert yourself.
"What is really happening with Andy's mom?"
"The feral plague."
"And you can't help her?"
"No."
"Why are you here?"
"As I said, I want to help."
"How did you get here? To our planet? Were you always here?"
"No. Everyone has their own means of transportation."
"You mean there are more of you here?"
Iris just shrugged her shoulders.
"How did monsters get here?"
"The seeds were always here. It only took the right kind of water for them to propagate."
"What are cards? Why are we getting deals that we are getting? And why are they so different from person to person, even though we kill the same monsters?"
"Cards are you, and you are cards. What is offered is the reflection of your actions, and the person you become is a reflection of your choices."
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
Iris just stayed quiet. My tired brain had a hard time understanding the metaphors and euphemisms. This guessing game was annoying. Still, she was a valuable source of information. Maybe I could just take a nap and ask more questions later, if Iris was going to stick around.
"Are you going to stay until Andy's mom gets better?"
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"I am going to stay, yes."
"Awesome, I am taking a nap. See you on the other side."
I got up and walked into the living room. I've set up the couch with fresh sheets and a blanket last night, and I just fell onto it in my clothes. I was going to go to my apartment after this anyway, so I didn't care if it got dirty. Won't be my problem anymore. The dreamless sleep swallowed me in seconds.
I jerked awake in the darkness, my mind sluggish as I tried to orient myself in the unfamiliar room. The cold moonlight filtering through the gap in the curtains sliced the space into three sections of old dusty furniture and faded wallpaper.
Then I heard it again, the sound that woke me up. A muffled thud, like someone hit a padded headboard, and a murmur, strained and urgent in a way that made my skin prickle. I sat up slowly, my vision gradually sharpening as I strained to hear more.
The sound was coming from Mrs. Hill's bedroom. I got up and slowly walked towards the hallway.
"Mom, please, don't…" Another thud cut off Andy's plea.
The door was ajar, and I pushed it to open further. The room was bathed in candlelight and reminded me of an exorcism scene from one of the horror movies I binge-watched on the weekends.
Andy was lying across a wriggling body, swaddled in a faded red blanket. The ripples ran through Mrs. Hill's body, jolting Andy up in the air and making the bedpost thud against the carpet.
Mrs. Hill's face began to contort, like warping plastic in heat, lines running and resettling into something inhumane. It twisted and elongated, bones cracking and reforming as a snout emerged where a human jaw had been moments before. Her eyes opened, and at first, I thought it was just a candlelight reflection. But as she looked around, scanning the room, it became clear her eyes weren't human anymore. They were gleamed with a golden light, vertical pupils, like those of a serpent or a cat. The changes firmed, settling into the weirdest mutation of half animal-half human.
I took a step back when a bone-chilling growl rolled through the room. Andy must have caught onto my presence.
"Chloe, please help me hold her down. She said she wants to leave. It's unsafe out there."
"Andy," I replied seriously. "It's unsafe in here. And I don't think your mom is in there anymore."
"Ok, if you don't want to help me hold her down, bring me some ropes. There should be some in the shed outside. Please. I beg you."
That was kind of along with my desire not to be in this room, so I hurried out.
I was almost blinded by the bright moonlight outside. It was a full moon. It didn't take me long to put two and two together. Andy's mom is turning into an animal, bite and full moon. We were dealing with the werewolf. And if there were any truth to the legends, we should not let her bite us.
The shoddy shed door was locked, but I had no time to look for the key. Thankfully, the handles interlocked with a chain, just fell off after a few strong tags. The chains jangled loudly, falling to the ground, and I froze, listening to the surrounding night noises.
The banging from the house grew louder. I ducked into the darkness, feeling blindly for the rope. My hands dragged through dust and spider webs, and every instinct screamed at me to check for spiders crawling on my skin. I forced myself not to frantically brush them off. Andy could be eaten alive if I didn't hurry.
When I ran back into Mrs. Hill's bedroom, Andy was lying across her upper body, holding her face to the pillow with his arm.
"Oh, you're back. Thank God!"
"God had nothing to do with that," I mumbled, still irritated that I had to douse myself in the spider webs.
"Tie her legs to the bedposts," Andy directed.
I looked at the frail rope in my hands, then at the still swaddled legs of an older lady, turned werewolf. The claws of her feet dug through the thick duvet, and she was actively working to tear it to shreds.
"I can try," I said more to myself than Andy.
The woman trapped herself in the blanket by moving too much. And when I tried to loop the rope around her legs, one of her clawed feet got free and punched me in my shoulder.
I swore and tried to catch it by wrapping more rope around the calf, but the old lady was too lively to make it easy on me. Now I understand why they needed restraints and four people to hold the body down during the exorcism.
"You are taking too long," Andy mumbled. "Here, let's switch."
"No, no, no! I am not coming anywhere close to your mom's teeth!"
"Oh, come on, it's just my mom," he mumbled and reached to pull me up.
His mom used this moment to jerk, throwing him off, and lunged at his throat.
I reached with both hands to pull Andy away, and almost succeeded. Stupid.
White-hot pain shot up my right arm, wrapped around Andy's shoulder. My hand immediately lost grip, and my mind short-circuited from the intense agony enveloping my forearm.
The angry, warped face latched onto my hand. Mrs. Hill's saw-like teeth dug deeper, and I felt her canines grinding against my bone. The blood, my blood, was coating her furry snout. Her yellow eyes closed, like a cat relishing fresh meat. She shook her head back and forth while digging her teeth even deeper, and I think I heard my bone snap.
Andy was saying something. I couldn't tell what; my ears were ringing with my own screams of pain.
When my mind rebooted, the only thought I was able to concentrate on long enough was getting this creature dead. I wanted it to hurt the way it was hurting me. My other hand was already free from Andy. He was trying to pull me away from his mother by my belt. When, really, he should have been trying to defuse her. She was attacking me!
I extended my free palm toward Mrs. Hill's face and activated [Torch] for the second time today. The bright-orange inferno engulfed the creature's entire head, and it shrieked, finally pulling away. The stench of burning hair and flesh was impossible to bear, and I held my breath. The fire jet was still going, and when I pulled away, it set the bed on fire, together with the rest of Mrs. Hill's body. She was whirling around and wailing like a banshee.
Just as last time, I was growing weaker by the second. But this time I was already hurt, and my brain was fuzzy from the pain and blood loss. I tried to stop the [Torch] by sending it the command, similar to how I was closing the notification screens mid-fight. And after a third try, when I was able to concentrate enough, it finally stopped. Or maybe it took the same amount of time as last time, and the card just stopped on its own. I really couldn't tell; I was too disoriented. All I could see were more flames spreading over the room.
Chloe's Deck (6/10):
-
Blue Card: [Leap]
Instantly leap forward up to 6 feet. Beware of obstacles. Cooldown 30 minutes.
-
Blue Card: [Heal Wound II]
A medium burst of healing for a single target area you touch. Cooldown 1 hour.
-
Green Card: [Spear]
Basic proficiency with spear weapons. Grants +5% damage and improved accuracy when wielding spears.
-
Green Card: [Poison Tolerance]
Dulls the worst poison effects, giving your body time and chance to fight it. Does not work on lethal poison dosages.'
-
Blue Card: [Pyromaniac Torch]
Fire recognizes a kindred spirit. Go on. Light it up. Just be careful what you feed it. Cooldown 10 minutes.
-
Blue card: [Pathfinder]
Read the landscape and identify the safest routes by using subtle signs like animal tracks, worn earth, natural markers, and subconscious knowledge. Cooldown 6 hours.