Glitches in My Code

Wolves, birds, and blades

They creep through the building, silent and stealthy. Every person whose path they cross meets the same fate. Death. They are methodical and ruthless killing machines, covering their victims' mouths with darkly gloved hands before the final blow to muffle any noise. The only sound in the building was the thump of each body hitting the floor, a fresh stab wound somewhere, anywhere, though mostly in the back or neck.

They work their way up to the top floor of the building, numbers dwindling as they leave someone behind at every door between floors. There are more at the ground floor, surrounding all possible entrances and exits.

The group shrinks until there are but two left, one of which is the only one that looks much different from the rest of their group. They have a different mask from the rest, a wolf, while the rest have nothing but birds, the second left, in particular, has an owl. They stop outside a door, the only one on the floor, made of dark wood that seems to have thousands of stories to tell. The pair exchanges a glance and a nod, as though to confirm or agree on something. The wolf carefully opens the door before stepping through, pulling something from their belt that gleams in the fluorescent lighting of the building.

The wolf silently closes the door, every step impossibly soundless. They creep up behind the only person in the room, a thin woman with long dark hair standing in front of a standing desk, typing away furiously on a computer.

The wolf, directly behind the woman, claps a hand over her mouth, simultaneously muffling her shout of surprise and hissing "silence". She does what they say, becoming silent in an instant. The wolf spins her around to face them, grinning beneath the mask.

"Finally..." The murmur rises from beneath the mask, both ecstatic and threatening. The wolf pulls their mask back, off their head, revealing a face sliced in half by an old scar. The skin around the scar is pale, a stark contrast against her dark skin. The maniac smile that had been there since the mask was still on does nothing to solidify her sanity, in fact, it served only to make her appear more unstable.

"I can destroy your bloodline once and for all. The rest are dead. There is only you. You are the last one." And with those words, she drives a knife into the woman's neck, holding her up for a minute before pulling the blade out to let the woman slump to the floor, dead.

The girl exits the room, still grinning like the Cheshire cat, mask in one bloody hand and knife in the other. She turns to the owl, nods, and pulls her mask back on, sliding the knife into her belt. They make their way down to the bottom floor, gaining members they had previously left behind.

They run out of the building, bursting the doors wide open. The groups that had been outside from the beginning swarm around them, mixing and melding with the other group until they form one single enormous pack of masked figures. They stream down the main street, flooding into back alleys and side streets. The group fills the streets they cross, immense and moving with a hive-mind-like air, turning at the same points, breaking neither stride nor sweat, silent but ever-present.

The wolf pulls back her mask, stopping and turning to face the stream of her masked comrades. She turns her face upwards, pauses, then howls. It's a solemn and lonely note, cutting through the air. The current stops and each individual member of the group pull back their own mask, one by one. A second melodious note fills the air. The owl has her face turned upwards to the sky, eyes wide open and full of hope, pride, and fear. Fear of the unknown, but hope for the future and pride for her people.

"The shifters!" The notes seem to cry. "Free at last! Free to roam! Free to release their souls to the wind!" The other members of the group turn their faces skyward, eyes mirroring the owls. Every single member, one by one, starts to howl. Some low, some high, some barely even heard, but all there. In that moment.

The wolf starts to glow softly, and the rest of the members do the same. The group slowly turns into a flock of birds, all surrounding two creatures unlike the rest. A wolf and an owl. The only owl, perched on the black and white back of the only wolf. The flock erupts outwards, flying to a place only they know, leaving behind the wolf and owl. The two turn their heads upward, sending two final notes, both lonely and whole, into the night.

"We are free." They say. "Free to live."

(Hey guys! Happy Halloween! Or not, depending on when you read this... This is essentially my Halloween story for this year. I figured the slaughter of an office building would give me a bit of leeway for the rest of the story, so here ya go! I know I went kind of off the tracks here, but you guys oughta be used to it by now. See ya next chapter!

~Khali)