Mutations

Mutations: ~ Chapter Twenty Four ~

Mutations: 

~ Chapter Twenty Four ~ 

"Eric?"

I walked across the dead grass cautiously, it was nowhere I had been before. Above me, the sky was a grim shade of grey with stormy clouds clustering together at a worrying pace. It made a shiver ran down my spine as I looked ahead of me again.

At the other side of the field, was a tall broad figure standing alone. Whispers of a single scent traveled through the air, like a cheapened copy of Eric that someone didn't get quite right.

Everything else was gone. There were no scents here; I couldn't smell the bark on the barren trees that swayed in the gentle breeze, or the rotting earth I ran across towards Eric.

Everything was scentless...except from the pungent smell of death.

"Eric!" I shouted once more, as I broke into a painfully slow run. Why couldn't I run fast enough? My feet felt like heavy led, my shoes lost somewhere behind me.

My eye's cut across the field when another figure emerged from the treeline, this one was shorter but was moving like wildfire. She had a very feminine scent but that was all I was capable to capture.

Seeing her lithe body, clad in black, and advancing directly towards Eric made my heart pound against my chest, but I still couldn't force my feet to move any quicker.

"ERIC!" I shouted once more and this time he turned. His angular features seemed distorted, his nose was too slim, and his jaw too square and his eyes seemed hollower than before.

Everything else appeared normal though, his hair was still thick and neatly pushed back. I criticised his clothes, looking to see if anything else was different but the black pants, and crisp shirt looked right on him. He was giving off his naturally serious vibe.

We were closer now, but I couldn't hear him when he mouthed my name. His hand reached out towards me, I wanted to grab it but I was suddenly rooted in place. Agitation sizzled through me, what was happening?

My back was pressed against a wooden pillar, and my arms were knotted behind my back by my wrists. Pain seared through my arms when I tried to jerk out of them, and I snapped my head round with wide eyes. I could see the hooded figure gaining speed as she raced for Eric.

He was now on the ground with his hands tied behind his back, the ropes looped behind his ankles, and screaming my name. The vein in neck was throbbing like it does when he was angry, or panicked.

I remember once, when I was younger, someone left one of the doors to the outside open. I had been desperate to go outside at the time, I was only twelve, and always having someone watching me bugged me.

So, I went outside. My first, and last, time unattended.

Looking back now, I know it was foolish of me. I'd spent hours in the endless gardens alone, and when Eric finally tracked me down, I had never seen him so angry before. When I looked back at him, something changed, it wasn't anger painting his feat...it was fear.

He was scared.

Screaming my name made it worse. The urge to protect was immediate, and made me throw myself forward, despite the pain that tore through my joints. Eric struggled to break free from his own bonds but he was clever.

When one of the ropes suddenly loosened around my wrist I glanced up, and Eric's mouth parted as he roared at me just as the hooded figure reached him.