Shatterbones Read online

  In the woods, three people step into view. The pale white skin and naked bodies show them for the mutants they are. Only one of them retains pieces of the clothes she wore before she mutated. The other two are completely bare.

  “Please excuse our lack of clothing,” the winged woman continues to the shocked group. “When we changed, many of us were wearing clothes that would no longer fit once we grew.”

  Greg, Ronald, and the others look at each other nervously but none of them lower their weapons.

  “Please,” the winged woman says again. “Please lower all of your guns. You know what we are capable of in spite of your weapons. If we meant you harm, we simply would have attacked.”

  Agent Craig Miller and John Rutledge the pilot stand shivering but firm for a few moments more, but finally recognize the impossible position they are in and lower their firearms, the others follow their lead.

  “Ma’am, do you need a doctor?” The tone the winged woman expresses to Evelyn is gentle and with sincere concern.

  Evelyn is leaning into her husband while standing weakly in his arms. From outward appearances, her blood-stained clothing imply a severe injury.

  Lifting her head in defiant anger at the beasts that caused her to lose her child, Evelyn asks, “What are you?”

  “I am a twelve-year-old girl,” she says holding her hands out in a placating manner and her large wings spread out behind her as well. “At least I was a twelve year old this morning. My name is Cora. I don’t have the words to explain it all to you, but my mom or dad might be able to tell you more.”

  The innocence of Cora’s words and expression of them brings tears to Evelyn’s eyes. Her anger at today’s events are replaced by a motherly instinct to care for this lost girl. Cora’s body is an adult’s, but her words and mannerisms reveal who she is inside the six-foot frame. “Your parents are out here?”

  “Wait. Why are we listening to her? What are we doing?” Agent Miller says. “Look at her. Look at her breasts. That’s no twelve-year-old girl and no type of mutant we have seen. How can we trust her?”

  Cora crosses her arms in front of herself in embarrassment. “I didn’t have these this morning. I haven’t figured out how to cover myself without binding my wings.” Her wings spread out and flap strongly behind her blasting wind at the group. “Aren’t they amazing?” Her face lights up in pure excitement when she causes the group members to take a step back with the blast. She is in oblivious disconnect to the terror such an action produces in the people before her.

  “You’re going to kill us aren’t you?” Ronald yells at her. “Why don’t you just do it instead of toying with us like this?”

  A frown replaces Cora’s smile, and she looks at the expressions on the faces of the people before her. She returns her arms to cover her breasts and lowers her head in embarrassment. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, and we aren’t here to hurt or kill you, we are here to help. It isn’t safe to be alone in the woods under normal circumstances, and I am worried about your injuries.”

  “I’m sorry for his interruption, Cora,” Evelyn says, looking at Ronald with anger and nodding her head toward the mutants standing in the trees. “Your wings are amazing and you are beautiful. You shouldn’t be ashamed of how you look. I had a miscarriage earlier, that is why my clothes have blood on them.”

  “What is a miscarriage?”

  “I was carrying a baby, I was pregnant and the baby is gone.”

  “Was it because of us?”

  “It was because of people like you. We barely made it out alive and many people died in order to get us here.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “If you don’t mean us harm and would like to help, I would like to see a doctor and Ronald has a shoulder injury that needs to be looked at. Did you say your parents are out here somewhere?”

  “Yes, they are at our campsite. We were hiking earlier when my bones broke and my body grew.” She winced slightly when she mentioned her bones breaking as did the mutants standing nearby. “They are still at the camp as well as a bunch of other people and families.”

  “We didn’t know any of you could still speak,” Greg says. “In fact, every one of you we have met so far has tried to kill us. What’s different about you and why should we trust you?”

  Evelyn grabs her husband’s arm and squeezes it. “What are you doing?” she whispers.

  “I’m being honest,” he states loudly back to her for everyone to hear. “Like Ronald said, if you are going to kill us, then get it over with. I don’t want to be played with like some cat’s toy. I have seen far too many people murdered by you mutants today to simply take you at your word right now.”

  “I’m sorry for what you went through, mister. Our urges are hard to overcome when we first change. I have never felt so hungry and unable to control myself like I did after I went through the change. We have all done horrible things today, but we aren’t planning on killing you and won’t hurt you if you don’t try to hurt us.”

  “So what do you want?”

  “I want you to come with us to the campsite.”

  “Do we have a choice?”

  Her wings tuck in behind her and she walks up to Greg and gets uncomfortably close for his liking. Whatever her age was this morning, her body is that of a beautiful young woman and even with the strange wings protruding from her back, this half-nude woman is attractive. She sniffs the air between them and places her right palm against Greg’s forehead then closes her eyes.

  Three seconds later, she withdraws her hand, glances at Evelyn, turns and walks away. “No, Representative Cavanaugh, you do not have a choice.” Her words and tone sound far more mature than the youthful way she opined before. “Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. If I leave you out here, you will die, and there has been enough death for today. Because you are with the government, you will be valuable in preventing a global war that would wipe out all the versions of humanity that are remaining. You will accompany us back to the camp where my parents and siblings are. Then we will work to ensure your continued safety until you can be reunited with the government that wishes your return.”

  She stretches her wings out and gives two great flaps to get herself airborne.

  “It is a long way up the hills to the camp. You should let the others carry you,” she calls down from above.

  “And what about our guns?” Agent Miller calls out.

  “Take them with you, you still may need them although they won’t do much against us. There are other things in the world that are dangerous besides those of us you call mutants.”

  With those final words, she flies off and several more tall mutants step out of the woods joining the others that were standing in wait. They turn their pale backs to the group members in an offer for them to climb on.

  “Do any of you speak?” Evelyn asks a tall mutant that approaches her.

  “Yes, we can all still speak, but we are subordinate to Cora.”

  “And can you read minds as well?” Agent Miller asks.

  “No, only some of those with wings can read thoughts and memories.”

  Miller grips his gun tighter and in a flash, one of the mutants has him pressed up against a tree with his right arm and gun stretched out away from him.

  “She said we wouldn’t be harmed,” Greg yells while backing away.

  “She said you wouldn’t be harmed if you don’t try to harm us. This man was going to shoot me. We cannot read minds, but we can sense tension and danger,” he says, looking directly into Miller’s eyes. “If you try that again, you won’t be able to use that arm.” The mutant releases him and allows him to keep his gun.

  Chapter Seven

  Captivity?

  Oregon

  The vampires exit the tree line and lower everyone but Evelyn to the ground. The foreboding feeling many of them were having during the unwanted trip here dissipates into confusion as they look at the group ahead in the camp. Other than the tall, pale crea
tures walking calmly around the grounds, the site looks like any normal campground. Tents and campers abound and several families, including young children, are walking around freely.

  Cora walks up to them as they arrive. Her approach is slightly less alarming this time as she has managed to cover her breasts with a shirt that must be cut open on the back to allow for her wings.

  “Welcome to our camp. My dad made this for me.” She smiles while pointing at the shirt, knowing what their thoughts are. “Please, come meet my family, they are over here.”

  “I didn’t know any children survived the change,” Miller says.

  “Survived? Interesting choice of a word.” She glances back at him with a sadness in her eyes while she walks. “I guess our childhoods did die today. This transition is more difficult for the others than for those like me. I am able to absorb some of the thoughts and experiences other people like yourselves have had. You can imagine how comforting such knowledge is. It allows me to understand the transition into adulthood in a way none of them ever will.”

  “Them, you mean the ones without wings?”

  “Yes, and even some with wings. I have only met a few, but not all of them can read minds.”

  “And are there many others out there like you?”

  “Yes, I’m sure there are. Most children changed into the regular walking adults, but there are probably many out there like me as well. At least it feels like there should be many more.”

  “What about the tall, fat monsters?” Ronald asks. “The ones that look like…like mountain trolls?”

  “I haven’t come across anything like what you are describing. May I look?” She stops and holds up the palm of her hand.

  Hesitantly, he walks forward and allows her to place her palm on his forehead.

  “Think about what you saw and I should see it.” She pulls her hand away and crosses her arms in front of her chest again in embarrassment.

  “I…I’m sorry. It’s difficult having you so close to me for some reason. I didn’t mean to think about you in that way.”

  “It’s all right. It is neither of our faults. This transformation has caused changes in me beyond my wings. I am secreting pheromones that cause the others to follow me. I can’t control it yet. I guess it affects non-mutated people differently.”

  Cautiously uncrossing her arms, she steps up to Roland again, smiles and places her palm on his forehead.

  “Oh my. I haven’t seen anything like that up here,” she says and pulls her hand away. “I hope we don’t encounter any of them in the woods. Mountain troll is a good description.

  “My parents are in front of this camper,” she says with an outstretched arm while walking around the front. “My mother is a nurse and will be able to help you with your shoulder, Ronald. Mrs. Cavanaugh, my mother will hopefully be able to help you with anything you need as well. Mom, Dad, this is Representative Cavanaugh, his wife, and the others in their group. This man has a cut on his shoulder that needs to be looked at and Mrs. Cavanaugh has had…um, she’s had a miscarriage, Mom.”

  Tanya stands and nods at her daughter. “Ronald? I assume you will survive a while longer since you are up and about so I’ll look at you later.” Turning to the vampire carrying Evelyn, “Please follow me with Mrs. Cavanaugh. I’m just taking your wife to lie down in our camper, you are free to come with if you want.”

  “Thank you, I will.” Turning back to the others as he walks away, he says, “I’ll make sure she is all right and come back out.”

  Robert glances at each of the new arrivals before standing up and stretching out his hand to them. “I’m not sure how appropriate this is, but welcome to our camp.”

  Agent Miller takes Robert’s hand in his and shakes it.

  “Thank you, I guess.”

  “I imagine you have a lot of questions. I know I have a bunch for you and your group. Do you mind me asking first, how far is this thing spread? There’s nothing on the radio. The phones aren’t getting any service. All we know is what’s been happening in the forest.”

  “This is global.”

  Shocked, Robert takes a step to steady himself. “Global, are you sure?”

  “Yes. Although we didn’t know any children survived or remained unchanged until now. We haven’t seen any children since…well, we haven’t seen any at all today.”

  “We protect them,” Cora says from the side. “If there are any small children in an area, those of us that have changed take them to a safe place to hide. It’s instinctual.”

  Robert nods and tries to fill in the rest. “All of the children that changed here are between ten to fourteen years old. If it is the same everywhere else, then the transformation must have something to do with the hormonal changes in the body, so only those in puberty go through The Shattering.”

  “The Shattering?” Miller asks. He notices Cora recoil a bit at the phrase.

  “I assume none of you have watched a child go through the transformation, let alone your own.”

  Heads shake among the group.

  “The Shattering is the only way I know how to describe it. It begins with their bones breaking. Just snapping on their own. Right in front of our eyes, we had to watch as my little girl’s body was twisted and broken. She wasn’t more than six feet in front of me, and it looked like she was being crushed by some unseen force. Her bones started breaking more rapidly and on top of her screaming, we could hear her bones all shatter. The sound was like a crackling fire or twisting a roll of bubble wrap and having the bubbles all burst at once.

  “Then she stretched and grew right in front of us. When she stood up, she was the woman you see before us now. Except for the wings. The wings she started to grow after she protected us, and I believe she is still growing taller.”

  “She didn’t attack you?”

  “Not all of us will attack our own family,” Cora says stepping forward and reminding everyone she is still here. “I don’t know why, but some will drink from their own parents while others will avoid them and seek out others to drink. Others like you.”

  “Drink from us?”

  “We aren’t mindless beasts,” she states angrily. “I can sense what you are thinking even if I can’t see it for myself. We can still talk, we are still the children…the people we were before, but the change makes us hungry. If they don’t replenish their nutrients by drinking blood shortly after they shatter, they become desperate and dangerous. They will attack any living person they find and often drain them, causing them to die.”

  “They. You keep saying they as if you aren’t one of them. And drinking blood? Is that what this is all about?”

  “I am not one of them, I’m something else. Yes, we all need to drink blood, at least right after the change we do. I’m not certain how much or even if we will need to keep feeding now that the change is complete.For me, I don’t crave regular human blood. I feed on the Shattered Ones.”

  “You mean you are vampires?” Ronald asks while looking around at the pale, partially clothed bodies walking amongst the groups of people in nearby camps.

  “Yes, I guess that is what we are.” And she smiles innocently, but it looks wicked in the dimming light of the day.

  “How can you smile about being a vampire?”

  “I think it’s better than being a werewolf. Oh wow! I wonder if some people turned into werewolves?”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Agent Miller says.

  “It might not be,” Robert offers. “There are stories of werewolves and vampires from our past. Maybe something like this has happened before and those weren’t just fairytales like we thought.”

  “That would explain the mountain trolls,” Ronald offers. “This blue light could be causing all types of different mutations.”

  Greg walks back to the group in a dazed manner looking around at the people in the camp and back to the camper he just left. Grabbing Robert’s arm when he reaches his group and trying to whisper, “It seems pretty calm here, so I’m not sure if yo
u realize what’s happening out there. These mutated children are killing people, thousands of people are dead, maybe millions. Do you understand how dangerous they can be?”

  “I think it would be best if you all followed me. I’ll show you what we’ve been through and explain while we walk. The campground is half-full right now, but this morning, there were no open spaces.”

  “If the mutants here let people go home, none of them will make it, it’s too dangerous out there.”

  “No one left for home.” The sadness in his voice tells the same story the group experienced during their escape. “Take a look over there.”

  At the edge of the camp, near some newly uprooted trees, lies a large mound of fresh dirt and several lifeless bodies as well. Three mutants are moving the deceased into their final resting place.

  “We witnessed the attacks firsthand. I saw several of these mutants feeding on people right after the change, and my family was nearly attacked by one as well. I know how dangerous they can be.”

  “Then how the hell can you calmly sit here with your children, with other people’s children walking around? They could be killed at any moment!”

  “My daughter saved us. I could see the hunger in her eyes right after she changed, but instead of attacking, she defended us from a mutant boy who was coming to kill us. He was larger than her and managed to throw her against a tree to continue his attack. We had firearms, but they only slowed him down. If it wasn’t for her, at least my wife and I would be dead right now.

  “I know how terrifying being attacked is, but mine isn’t the only family that survived The Shattering today. All of the other people you saw when you arrived were protected by their own children and some were even protected by our daughter or others when one of the children changed and wanted to attack.”

  “But they’re murderers!” Miller yells, drawing the attention of the vampires on burial detail who hang their heads at the words.

  “Look at them. They aren’t burying the dead because they were told to, they are doing it because they regret what happened here today. They are embarrassed and remorseful. Did their actions cause people to die today? Yes, but you don’t charge a pack of lions with murder when they kill another animal for food.”