Frenzied (6 page)

She jumped when she felt a pulse.

He’s alive!

“Ben?” She gently shook him. “Can you hear me?”

He groaned, and his eyes fluttered open before closing again as he passed out.

She smoothed his t-shirt back down and took the seat next to him, resting his head on her shoulder.

She stared at the blood-splattered movie screen ahead of her. When he woke up, she was going to have to explain that she was a monster.

She glanced at him, feeling lost. Maybe she could get him out of here alive at least—one last good deed as a human.

During her wait, flashes of memory had come back to her about who she was. It had started slow. She remembered where she worked. She was a part-time assistant at the college library, and the money in her purse was her savings. She had been planning to buy her first car with it. The more she pushed the memory, the more memories came back to her.

She was a part-time student at the same college, studying Information Technology. She was also a geek with a criminal record.

Her parents had died in shooting four years ago. Since then, she’d been in and out of trouble.

This wasn’t the first time her life had been in danger. It had been a recurring event during her youth; one she had planned to leave behind before this.

And now I’m a monster.

“Lucy?” Ben sat up and rubbed his head. “What happened?”

“Nothing good.” She still didn’t know how to tell him what she had become. A part of her was scared that she would be his biggest threat, but she was determined that would never happen.

He stared ahead at the body on the stage. “Where are we?”

“Theatre Seven. One of the creatures looked like you and brought me in here. Then he locked the doors.”

“One of them? There’s more than one?” He glanced around and frowned at the rows of corpses behind him. “Jesus!”

“There is definitely more than one.” It was hard to explain it to him. “What do you remember?”

He frowned and rubbed his eyes. “I found the woman screaming, but she wasn’t one. She changed into a creature and attacked me.” His eyes widened. “They look just like us!”

“They are us,” she said.

“What?” He turned to her, frowning.

“I think they are us. I think they’re all human, and they killed each other.” She held up the leather-bound tome. “Shapeshifters that are called Berserkers.”

Ben took the offered book and flipped through the pages, his eyes scanning the notes in it. “How is this even possible?”

“From what I read, the manager of the cinema tried to imbue himself with the power of Odin’s warriors. In doing so, he turned himself into a Berserker. Then he scratched someone, they became one, and it had a domino effect from there. They are warriors in battle, so they started killing and turning people. They look human after they die.” She gestured behind her. “Some people maybe died in their seats, others killed each other.”

“This can’t be real.” Ben shook his head, then closed his eyes for a moment. “But I saw it with my own eyes. We need to get out of here before …” He trailed off and glanced down.

“Get away from me, Lucy.” His voice was cold.

She knew it was coming. She nodded and rose from her seat. “I won’t hurt you.”

“No but I might hurt you,” he said, pointing to the cuts on his chest. “I’ve been scratched. I remember its claws hitting me. I could turn on you.”

She frowned and stared at his chest. He was right. He had been scratched. There were gaping holes in his t-shirt and shallow scratches across his torso. They’d both been scratched in the beginning, but not killed. Rather than go on a rampage, they had both passed out. She sat back down next to him.

“What are you doing? Didn’t you hear me? Go now. Get out of here.”

“I’m already one of them.”

The theatre was deathly silent. She waited for him to respond, but he just stared ahead at the big screen.

“How do you know?” he eventually asked in a throaty voice.

“When I was locked in here, the guy who looked like you told me I was food for the creatures in here. I guess he thought I was still human. I thought I was too. The two Berserkers in here attacked each other. I guess they were hungry because one ate the other.”

His face paled as the blood drained out of it, but she continued. She didn’t want to stop until he knew everything. “The remaining one attacked me, and I thought I was dead, so I got angry—really angry. I killed it.” She nodded towards the body on the stage. It changed after it died. I killed a man.” Her voice quivered on the last word, but she forced herself to keep going. “When I looked down at my hands, I had claws.”

She couldn’t look him in the eye, so she peered down at her hands.

She felt his fingers lift her chin.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that.” His eyes shone with sincerity.

“I’m sorry I’m a monster.” She laughed, but it was a hollow laugh.

“Looks like we both are.” He sighed. “And why do people keep knocking me on the head. I’ll never remember who I am at this rate.”

“I got my memories back.” She told him.

“When you were scared? Fear can sometimes shock them back.” He nodded.

She frowned. “No, when I was waiting here with you after it all happened.”

“After you turned?”

She nodded, frowning. “It was as if they were released when I changed. They came back slowly at first, but then just flooded in. You know what doesn’t make sense?”

He shrugged. “All of it?”

She smiled. “Well there is that, but what I mean is the killing. It makes no sense. I was one of these things, and I killed someone, but I didn’t go on a rampage after it. I stopped. How come these people didn’t stop?”

“Maybe we should read these and find out?” Ben held up the books.

“It’s not a bad idea.” She smiled at him.

Lucy’s lay on her stomach on the space in front of the stage, reading the book about Norse mythology. Ben sat beside her with his back against the front row of chairs, frowning over the leather-bound tome. She rolled over and sat up. “This bit is interesting. Check this out: ‘Odin’s warriors are often known for their rage in battle, and neither fire nor iron could affect them’.”

“Great, so we can’t kill them with fire or iron.” Ben shrugged.

“No but,
rage in battle.
We’re not in battle, or none of these people were. You only become one in battle. I turned when I was attacked. I think that’s the switch. As long as we’re not in battle, we don’t turn.” It made sense.

“So you think all these people went into battle-mode in a cinema? Jesus, what movie were they watching?”

She glanced around the cinema. Some of the corpses were slumped in seats with bloody popcorn still in their hands, others were frozen in defensive positions. “No, I think that some of them were still human, but a few went into rage and turned and killed them. They ignored us because we looked dead. There would have been many people running around screaming, which would make them chase them. These things are animalistic in every way, so I bet they chase on instinct when someone runs.”

“What’s to stop us doing the same?” He closed the book he was reading.

“I don’t know. That’s what I can’t find. Why did we both pass out from a scratch? Immunity? Why did we both lose our memories? Why don’t we turn into mindless animals when we change? I controlled my rage. It took a while, but it was possible.”

“We don’t know that I can,” he said. “And I don’t have my memories back.”

She thought about it for a moment. “We need to find out.”

“What the hell does that mean?” He stared at her with wide eyes.

“You need to change, and then change back.”

“Great idea, what if it doesn’t work? What if I eat your face instead?”

“You’re no good to me as a weak human. There are more of those things out there. If we want to survive, we need to kill them all.” She goaded him on purpose, trying to get him angry. They both needed to know if he could control it. She shivered at the idea of him ripping her face off, but what other option was there. She couldn’t let him get out of here if he couldn’t control himself.

Ben narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m not a weak human.”

“Prove it.”

“You’ll have to kill me if I can’t control it.”

She glanced down, unable to meet his eyes. “I know.”

A howl echoed outside the room. It was only a matter of time before the creatures got into the room. “We need to try it now,” she said. “I don’t know how much longer we have.”

He nodded and closed his eyes. “If this doesn’t work, it was nice knowing you, Lucy.”

Please let it work. He’s a good person.

In the short time she’d known him, he’d saved her on more than one occasion.

After a moment, he opened his eyes. “Nothing’s happening.”

“You need to get angry.” She told him.

“Oh, that’ll be easy. I’ll just turn that emotion on then.” He rolled his eyes at her.

I suppose I could attack him.

She shook her head. She didn’t want to attack him. She thought about it for a moment. “Ooh, I know. Are you a jealous type of guy?”

“How would I know that? I don’t even know if I like pudding.”

“Everyone likes pudding,” she said.

“Not the point.”

“Well, let’s just try something, okay?”

“Okay.” He shrugged.

“You know when that creature pretended to be you, and I thought he was you?”

“Yes.”

“He kissed me, twice.”

Ben narrowed his eyes. “Did you kiss him back?”

“Yes. It was nice.” She lied. Fake-Ben’s kisses had been cold and angry, nothing like the real thing. “In fact, your kisses were boring compared to his.”

He scowled at her and clenched his fists.

“There’s something sexy about a dangerous man, don’t you think?” She twirled her hair around her fingers. “For all his evil intentions, there was something hot in his kisses.”

His eyes darkened.

“I do wonder what kind of things he’d do to me if he caught me.” She continued, trying to spur him into changing. She flashed what she hoped was a seductive smile. “What a real man would be like, rather than just a boy.” She gestured in his direction. “You’re not angry, are you?

He let out a guttural growl, and she took an involuntary step back. His eyes filled with fire as he tensed his muscles.

Okay, maybe getting him pissed off with me wasn’t the best idea.

His face rounded and black fur appeared on it. He grew in size, his shoulders becoming even broader and his limbs elongating. The short snout of a bear grew into his features, and his eyes glowed red. He let out a roar, baring his fangs at her. Unlike the other creature she had seen up close, he appeared less canine in his features and more like a bear.

Sharp claws popped out of his paws, and he took a swipe at her. She jumped backwards and stumbled into the stage. A shiver of fear shot up her spine.

“Okay, turn it off. Ben, can you hear me? It worked. Go back to human!”

His powerful muscles tensed as he charged at her.