THE FIRST DAYS

By: Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Wet cold winds struck Ariel as she left the theater. Glancing North she wondered at the dark heavy clouds building up, it had been a bright sunny day when she entered a few hours before. She hurried down the street towards her apartment house, trying to outrun the first drops of rain.

Hiding in the shadows of an alley waited one of Shena's hunters, slowly losing the energy given by its mistress. It had been waiting a long time and with the approaching storm its time was short. Then it felt the life energy of its target, Shena's enemy was coming to die. Slowly it drew out the dagger Shena's had given it. Waiting, it hardly noticed the sickly green glow of the dagger.

Approaching her building she passed the mouth of an alley. As she did a gust of wind brought a foul stench to her nose. She glanced in, expecting to find a dead animal. The rotting form standing there caught her by surprise. Shocked she raised her hand, starting to scream, a scream that never came.

Reaching out from the ally a filthy arm caught her hand, quickly pulling her into the alley. There was a flash of green and she felt a fire light in her left side. The Hunter pulled her to it in a macabre lovers embrace, pushing the dagger deeper into her body. She pushed against the Hunter and fell away, falling back onto the sidewalk. Pain flared, weakening her. The Hunter moved towards her, into the light. Looking up she saw her attacker in the fading sunlight, then she did scream.

Armadillo spun around at the sound of Ariel's scream. He and Red Dragon were only a block away from the attack. Quickly they moved towards the sound, Red Dragon flying through the buffeting winds leaving Armadillo to follow, lumbering down the street like an unstoppable tank. Ahead he could see a small woman struggling to her feet, her pale dress covered in blood. Staggering towards her was a animated corpse, shards of flesh hanging. As he watched it closed with the girl, hugging her to itself like a lover.

The sickly sweet stench of the Hunter gagged Ariel as it grabbed her again. She felt it pull the dagger from her side like a cork from a bottle. She almost fainted from the pain, ceasing to struggle. As she watched the Hunter swung the blade into her chest. She hardly felt the pain as a grey fog rolled covered her thoughts. She was going to die and she didn't know why.

Red Dragon never saw the knife strike the second time, his every effort was to knock the killer away from the girl. Flying as fast as he could he struck the Hunter, and bounced off like a tennis ball. The Hunter hardly noticed him, involved as it was in readying a third strike.

Ariel's sight cleared, she saw the knife descending again and pushed with her remaining strength. The Hunter flew away as if propelled by a catapult, striking the brick wall above Red Dragon and making a sound like an overripe melon. Red Dragon felt wet drops hit him and looked up, just in time for the shattered corpse to strike him full in the face, carrying him back to the ground.

Ariel heard the thundering sound of Armadillo running towards her. Looking up she thought another attacker was coming at her. She turned and ran through the same alley the Hunter had hid in, coming out behind the buildings, staggering into the forest close behind them.

Finally arriving at the scene of the fight Armadillo looked for the girl. He had been watching the Hunter and had lost sight of her. Although there was a lot of blood there was no body. Searching he found Ariel's trail and followed it into the forest, then lost it as the rains came thundering down, washing all possibility of a trail away. Returning to Red Dragon he helped him out of the mess that had been the Hunter.

"Where is the girl, is she all right?" asked Red Dragon.

"She ran into the forest and I lost her trail in this rain. But with all the blood she has lost I don't think she will live much longer." replied Armadillo.

"Well we can look for her body tomorrow then, after the rains quit." said Red Dragon. "It's probably over for tonight, we better get back and report. I bet the witch isn't going to be happy with this news. I'll see you there then." Taking two quick steps Red Dragon jumped into the air, flying into the storm to let the rains clean the remains of the Hunter off his body.

Armadillo watched Red Dragon leave, shaking his ponderous head. "So much power, so little maturity" he muttered to himself. Stepping into the ally he located a scrap of board and using it pushed the melting remains out into the street, watching as the water carried it into the storm drains. Then he saw the sickly green glow emerge, slowly uncovered by the rushing waters. Carefully reaching in with his board he removed his prize, placing it in a small canvas bag he carried for just such occasions. 'Maybe she will be mad' he thought, 'but this blade should more that make up for it.' When he was sure the body was gone he turned into the storm, making his way home alone, like always.

Behind him, huddled within the trees Ariel Phenda shivered in fear. At seventeen she had just begun getting her life together after her parents disappearance. Looking at her body she started shivering in shock. She should be dead. Her skirt was stiff with blood, a wound pulsing sickly green in the center of her chest. She hurt, hurt badly but she still lived. AS she watched the green glow faded, faded as her wound began to heal. What was this. Was it related to the lab accident when she was twelve?

Unknown to the young woman her mutated body had been activated by Shena’s attack. Had the dark witch never bothered her target Ariel would have lived a normal life, dying of old age. Shena’s attack had activated the dormant technoloy soaked into Ariel’s body five years ago. A lab accident, if you called the death of an entire school class an accident. From this attack would come Shena’s greatest enemy.

From this attack would be born Shali.