Goddess In Training

Chapter 2- Sewer Rat

"Stop it Berlin. Just stop thinking about it. You're freaking yourself out over nothing. It was just your imagination."

I shivered. 

Emptiness. There was something wrong and I couldn't lie to myself about it, no matter how hard I tried. 

I knew what scared me. 

My neighbors hadn't heard the terrifying noise. I had run through the sewers finding my friends, asking if they knew what it meant. But they only looked at me with wrinkled up faces and asked what I was talking about. 

I knew I had heard it. I knew it was real. Every since that ghost of a noise had penetrated my ears it has haunted my every nights sleep. The screams and hisses of people rang loudly in my ears, awakening me every morning in a cold sweat. It scared me beyond compare. The feeling couldn't be rid of. It felt as though a dark spirit shadowed my every step wanting to drag me down into the abyss.  

I shook my head. My focus needed to be on survival. 

I slipped through a hole in the brick wall and into an old grocery store. The shelves that once contained food were now bare and knocked over. Pock marks pierced the walls from a hail of gun fire.

A war zone could be anywhere. 

 If you were lucky you would find food in these places, but most of it was destroyed. I wriggled under two shelves that had collapsed against each other. The floor was covered with ash and gun powder. On hands and knees I crawled.

It was risky being on the surface, very easily you cold be napped by black creatures that patrolled around this area. Black creatures that used to be human. Many of our group have disappeared and we never know where they go, my parents included. Now the remainder of the human race that havn't been completely possessed live underground, trying to fight the sins that are ever wanting to control their bodies. 

Our numbers were dwindling rapidly. Soon there would be no one left. 

I thought  it would never happen to me. I was wrong. So utterly wrong. 

I felt things that I don't normally feel. I've been more edgy, less patient, I feel anger towards everyone and I'm beginning to hate even my friends and family. 

My possession has started. I've got a month at best before I am no longer myself. 

A tear slipped down cheek and I brushed a lock of curly black hair away from my face. 

I couldn't afford becoming emotional now. There was nothing I could do help myself. 

This has been happening for a year now. Friends killing each other. Family stabbing other family members in the back. Literally. 

 War everywhere. 

Death. Pain. Suffering. 

My knee bumped against a cold hard object. I looked to see a cylinder half buried ash and bullet casings. I took it and brushed off the metal surface. 

The label read: Seasoned Black Beans

A small grin spread across my face as I tucked the can into my satchel and crawled out the other end. I continued to search the rest of the store, finding some wrappers and boxes that once contained food but had already been pilfered.

Leaving the way I came I ducked out a back alley.

Now came the worst part.

Crossing the road.

I shoved myself up agains't the side of a building. The road I needed to cross looked like a giant glass window that shattered. Pieces of road stuck up in the air up as far as two stories high. I crouched and ran for the first mountain of road, taking out the mountain climbing rope and caribeaner. I fastened myself in and began to ascend. All the equipment was disguised as part of the road by coating it with spackle and a little grey paint. 

The first part went well. Hand over hand. Foot over foot. The time went by slowly. The trick was not to put all your weight on the wall of asphalt. It was very thin and if too much weight was applied then the whole thing would shatter leaving the climber buried in a pile of asphalt. Fun. 

They chose me most often to do this job since I was just barely a hundred pounds. Not only that but I wasn't unaccustomed to a dagger. It was nice to get out of the smell of the sewer every once in a while even though the surface is absolutely terrifying. 

I dropped to the ground and yanked on the rope, it came slithering down like a snake. Proceeding to do so for the rest of the road, it took me a good half hour to get to the other side. I coiled the rope and put it in the bag like I had done so many times before.

I ran into another alley. My pace slowed. I turned a corner.

It was a dead end, but it was exactly where I needed to be. There in front of me was a piece of debris. I grabbed hold of the metal scrap and pulled. It revealed a sewer grate.

As I moved to open the man hole something cold and dark loomed over me.

I froze.

I could hear rasping. A deep gravely breathing that seemed to shake the ground at my feet. I felt static in the air, coursing with electricity. I could feel something inside of me, squeezing my heart until I thought it would burst. Gasping for breath I fell to my knees, clutching my heart. My eyes were slowly closing. 

I could hear a raspy voice echoing in my head as it repeated the same message given to me everytime I was visited.

"You...you have been marked..." 

The spirit of rebelion inside of me burned, "Not today you demon!!" I screamed.

I moved for my dagger and in one fluid movement I spun around and jabbed. 

There was nothing there.

 The shreaks of terrified people tore at my ear drums. Wailing and crying filled my head until all the groveling was suddenly silenced. 

I collapsed on all fours, panting heavily. Sweat dripped down my nose and off my lips. I had beaten him. For now. But my possesser would be back. 

I sheathed my dagger and got to my feet. The grate was inches away. It seemed like 10 miles. I dragged myself over and rolled away the grate then resealed it once I was inside.

These visits from my "friend" were becoming more and more frequent. It seemed he always struck me when I was alone. I guess that way there wouldn't be anyone to help me. The sins would overwhelm me making me feel sheer contempt for all man kind. 

Even though serious I chuckled to myself, "It's kind of like having a period all the time." 

I shook my head once again. No time for fun and games. 

My hands stung as I grabbed each rung, getting deeper and deeper into the earth's crust. I was frosted with sweat. My muscles screamed in protest. The toxic smell of rotten eggs singed my nose hairs.  When I finally heard the running of water I dropped down and my sneakers splashed in the dirty liquid. 

I sighed. 

Yay...Home.