Transfiguration

SDiana sprinted her way through the ruinous city streets, surprised by her own speed. Lightning flashed in the churning clouds above, threatening to unleash its fury upon a city overrun with monstrosities. Her muscles ached, her feet were sore, her breath came in ragged gasps.

Don’t you dare stop, she warned herself. Don’t give up on this, too. NO.

She ran through the once-great city, its smog-infested streets littered with dust and debris, its dilapidated structures rusted over, groaning in disrepair. She knew that when the sun set, the night would bring fresh horrors. She MUST hurry—the torn flesh of her arm throbbed, the stark reminder of why she must ignore her burning lungs and keep moving.

Diana reached the outskirts of town just as the rain began to fall. Only a short distance past the useless city gates began the dense underbrush of the abandoned forest. Only when she was among the trees did she slow her pace, searching for the ramshackle structure where she was to meet her contact—and try to save herself from complete transformation.

Diana collapsed on the ground just outside the broken, vine-covered door. The rain, now falling in torrential waves, soaked through her thin dress and the flimsy makeshift bandage covering her open wound. Diana winced at the sting and struggled over to the half-rotted door, pushing it open enough that she could shelter from the weather, but not willing to go further into the foreboding darkness.

She looked around for her contact. If no one came, if Diana failed at this last, desperate gamble, she wouldn’t continue living in this horrific world.

The sodden bandage had fallen down her arm, revealing the wound. The vicious puncture looked awful, and the fact that she had been so careless as to let herself be bitten in the first place was the most frustrating part. As the adrenaline wore off, Diana began to feel the effects of the poison coursing within. Her stomach turned, her head began to hurt, her vision blurred. Even as she knew she didn’t have much time, her mind insisted on replaying the unfortunate events of her short life.

Diana had failed at everything she ever tried, rarely finishing anything she started. Even before the Curse, she hadn’t had a fair life: her childhood was cold and clinical, she was forever a disappointment compared to her beautiful and brilliant siblings. And when she was assaulted as a teenager by a group of college boys, she confided in people she thought could be trusted, only to have them abandon her. They told her she was weak. They told her this was the consequence for sneaking out of the house at 17 and she should grow up, deal with it like an adult, and own up to her mistake. No one understood, especially those in her family, how much pain she was in. The night she was attacked and assaulted transformed her into something she never even knew she could become. Diana ran so hard and so far from the trauma—which relentlessly chased her anyway—she lost who she was.

Now, though...now they were all dead. Somehow, in a freak accident of nature, the disgraced runt of the litter had been the one to survive the end of the world.

She credited her overdeveloped hypervigilance. In this new world, her fears and paranoia served her well, enabling her to keep just far enough ahead to have survived this long. Her anxieties made her just a touch faster, her reflexes just a bit quicker than the average person. Diana had promised herself no one and nothing would ever have control of her body again…. Not drugs, not alcohol, not thoughtless, ego-crazed boys.

That is why there was no worse fate in the world than the one that awaited her if her contact failed to show.

No, she shook her head. She refused to consider what would happen if the person didn’t show. They had to come. After a lifetime of being undervalued and having her pain invalidated, she would be the one to be in complete control of what happened to her. Not in the way that she would have chosen—but if this was the way her life was going to play out, it would be by her decision. She would be the survivor despite EVERYTHING, and Diana would at last have a role to play that would make her family’s achievements nothing in comparison.

“Here!” came a voice, startling Diana out of her thoughts. A woman approached, her worn boots catching on a log as she stumbled out of the tree line and headed to the shack through the pounding rain.

“I was beginning to worry,” Diana said, clutching her lacerated arm, “It’s getting dark.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman replied, catching her breath. Under the overhang of the doorway she took off her backpack and unzipped it. “This wasn’t exactly easy to steal.” She held out a silver chain, a heart-shaped locket hanging from it. Diana reached out and grasped it to make sure it was real.

“Let’s get this over with,” Diana begged, coughing. She could feel her strength fading with every passing minute. The woman stared at her with somber eyes.

“You do realize that you will still turn with the darkness every night, right? This will just enable you to retain your humanity and conscience every time it happens, so you can…hopefully… help instead of harm.” She dangled the locket, but Diana knew she was referring to the precious serum inside it. “It’s not really a cure, but it’s the best they’ve come up with. You’ll still be you, but you’ll have their abilities. And you will have to fight the instinct that drives them.”

“Yes, I am aware,” Diana replied, “I,,,I’ve heard that strength of will determines who controls what happens and who…succumbs. I can do this!” Diana didn’t know if she was saying that for herself or for the stranger. “I cannot thank you enough,” she added, rolling up her damp sleeve while the other woman prepared a needle. Diana looked up at the clouds, spewing rain, the thunder rumbling. Nightfall was imminent.

“Hurry,” Diana told her, “Do it now.”

“Hold this.” The woman held the locket out to Diana and she took it in her trembling hands. The woman inserted her needle into the bottom of the heart at the point, and pulled back the syringe, extracting a glowing liquid. Its luminous light was beautiful.

“Are you ready?” the woman asked, holding up the syringe for Diana to see.

“Yes. I’m ready.” Diana took a deep breath and turned her head. She was never fond of shots, but now she would show everyone just how strong she could be—the wounded deer would finally have HER chance in the world to be something incredible when everyone else had failed.

“Okay,” the woman steadied her hand and held the syringe to Diana's arm, “1…2…3.” She jabbed the needle into the muscle. Diana winced, feeling a slight panic which she quickly pushed down. After the entirety of the syringe was emptied, the woman applied pressure, massaging the site with her hand to work the liquid into the muscle completely.

Diana felt faint and she swayed and leaned back against the half-open door as everything went dark.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be ok,” a distant voice spoke. “But I have to go. I did as you asked and now I have to get back before dark. Thank you for taking this on yourself. Good luck,” and with the rustling of wet leaves, the woman was gone.

Acutely aware of the silence around her, all Diana could hear was her own beating heart. Her vision slowly returned, and she looked up as rain fell like tiny diamonds, illuminated in the flashes of lightning in the twilight sky.

At last Diana could have a moment that no one could take away from her. A moment of triumph that belonged to her and no one else. A moment that no one forced on her, one she willingly sought. It was Diana who would infiltrate the night creatures and bring them down one by one if she had to, or at least die trying.

Was there any hope for humanity if she didn’t try?

The darkness fell ominously, and the pain hit all at once. Diana writhed in agony as her body adjusted itself to a new form. Muscles morphed and shifted, bones crunched, nerves twisted in patterns never meant for a human body.

She tried to hold back her cries, but high-pitched whimpers escaped through her clenched teeth. Allegedly it was only painful the first time—she hoped that bit of the tales was true.

On all fours she gasped for breath, saliva dripping from her mouth as she held back tears. Then the physical agony ended and the transformation moved to a new phase.

Diana’s ears began to ring, and like a radio tuning in a new frequency, static began to filter into sound, gradually becoming more clear. She realized suddenly that she could hear more layers of sound than she ever had in her life, from the tiniest buzz of a single insect, to creatures skittering about the forest floor, to the far off engines of speeding vehicles…and the screams of the unfortunate souls who had found themselves still outdoors after dark.

Her eyes felt bigger, she could see farther, she could detect the smallest movement in the underbrush. Her enlarged nostrils took in the scents of the wind, a thousand different smells riding on it, her brain able to register and identify every individual one.

Especially the smell of fresh blood.

A low growl pulsed in her throat as she observed the knife-like talons extending from her paws. Her grey, transparent skin revealed pulsating muscles and sickly patterns of blue and purple veins.

Diana’s transformation was complete. This new, monstrous form promised she would never be a victim again.

Reveling in a strength and power unlike any she had ever known, Diana threw back her head and unleashed a primal howl into the night sky.

Lightning illuminated her nightmarish wings as she spread them wide, taking flight into the storm, away from all her fears.