The Changed

Chapter Two

Niall is already at the door of the building by the time I reach the street. Speedy little bastard. I pump my legs, meeting him in a matter of seconds.

"What are you doing?" I demand.

"What are you talking about?"

"We haven't cased this place."

"We've been casing it all day!" Niall responds quickly in a loud whisper.

"Not up close. You're going against protocol!"

"We always go against protocol. That what we do!"

"Never our protocol! Sometimes theirs....most times theirs. But never ours!"

Niall looks at me seriously. "Ren. I believe we can do this. I believe in us."

"You. Piece. Of. Shit!" I exclaim quietly. "How the hell am I meant to respond to that?"

"By running." Niall states before sliding through the open door and running into the darkness.

"Bloody asshole!"

Stairs are never kind. But this one, this one is the royal cow of stairs. Blood starts pounding louder and louder in my ears until it sounds like a building, bubbling applause. And in all honestly, I need it. It pushes me further and further up the stairs.

"These things can barely move, let alone move fast. Why the actual fuck do they insist on resting on the top level of every bloody building?" I demand without expecting a reply.

"Wha...." Niall gasps out, obviously nowhere near as satisfied with his choice as he was before the stairs.

"Nothing." I grunt as I push myself past him. Ten seconds later, his gasping voice reaches ears.

"Think we're close?" He asks with as much force as he could which, at the moment, wasn't much.

"You want the honest answer?" I ask. As Niall hums unsure, I hear something that causes me to crash, shoulder first, into a wall on a corner turn to stop myself. Niall tries to slid past me but I grip his shoulder, jerking him back. He falls on his ass, quite hard.

"What the hell, Ren?" He yells, pulling himself up.

"Shut up," I say quietly.

"No! I mean sure? Wait, why?" He voice becomes louder. I grab his shoulder, push him up against the wall and lean fully on him chest.

"Niall. Shut up." I say quieter. Understanding reaches Niall's eyes.

"Where?" he whispers. I strain my ears and hear it again. A quiet growl, a loud gasp.

"Two stories up, to the right." I say briefly as I break out in a dead sprint up the stairs.

"Damn." I hear Niall mutter reluctantly before following me up. I smile despite myself.

We reach the fight just as it turns bloody. Four bodies are down. As far as I can tell, one dead Changed, two dead humans and one unconscience form.

"Bloody wannabes," I mutter under my breath.

"Good observation."

"Let's just do this," I say.

"I'll go left, you go right!" Niall shouts to be heard over the yells and the roars and the gunshots. I don't reply, I just bank to the right and relieve my back of a long, wide blade. Slashing upwards, I catch one running smack towards me. It's eyes are so wide and dry and rotting away. I think it's eyelids are gone, along with it's nose and part of it's ear. It's lower half is somewhat normal but it's torso is twisted and bent so much so it can't straighten up or look dead ahead. I hear its guts fall to the already blood-stained floor and someone throwing up.

Gritting my teeth, I spin toward the next one in range. This one is in the middle of a fight with a little boy and appears to be winning. It's body is normal by my standards at least, it's head not so much. Half of it looks like it's been blown off and the other side droops as if to fill the space. It also has a beard made entirely of a suspicious looking pus drooling from his mouth which, to be frank, grosses me the hell out. With a single swoop, I lodge my blade deep into it's neck , so deep I can't pull it back out. It falls motionless on the ground.

The little boy looks up at me with wide blue eyes. God, he can't be any older than ten. A wave of anger washes over me directed at the idiots the boy must have followed.

"Move!" I yell but he stays where he is, looking up at me, petrified. With roll of my eyes, I grip his shoulder and push him out of the way. Once jostled, he starts moving and runs as fast as he can out of the room. I let my eyes sweep the room. Niall is doing what he does best and I don't think any more humans have died. Yet. I spot two Changed bending over the unconscience body. It's a girl. Human. Striding over, I bend down and pull the two daggers from my boot. Then, not stopping, I plunge them into their necks and yank across before they finish with her. Carrying on, I pull a Glock from its holster by my side, aim it at another Changed and pull the trigger twice. Four down, I count another three kills by Niall and the one from the wannabes puts the Changed death count at eight.

I see Niall tackle one, blade in hand. Nine. One left. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot the tenth and final Changed charging at Niall, seemingly unaware of his present attacker.

"Hey," I yell, helping Niall by giving the Changed a new target; me.

This one is one of the worst kinds; the human looking ones. It used to be a girl, I'm guessing by the rotting dress clinging to it and long strands of dark, dead hair that have yet to fall out. It's teeth are all still in it's mouth which is a wonder in itself but what's really unusual is the fact that they all have pointed ends and are curved out of it's mouth. Also leaving it's mouth a foamy froth, tainted pink by with the blood of one of the bodies littering the floor. That's what they do; they kill whatever moves and once they have, then they settle down to play with the bodies. They're civilized that way.

It runs at me a lot faster than I anticipate, forcing me to roll out of the way. Once again on my feet, I turn and face it. After missing me, it was going too fast to stop or turn and had to run into the wall to stop. This disorients it. I grip my gun but something's not right. It's too light. The ammo cartridge unlatched.

The Changed spots me about the same time I spot my spare ammo pack on the floor. It must of slipped off of my belt when I rolled out of the way. I dive for it and the Changed charges again. All of a sudden I see a spherical object fly through the air and hit the Changed square on it's chest, enveloping it a white powder. It flays around as if it had become encased in acid. Niall must of thrown an acid pouch. Pouches are used in emergencies. The things hate them, it's not lethal unfortunately but it does give us a few extra critical seconds in situations like these.

Sliding on the floor, I grip my gun and am stopped by a body on the other side of the room. I don't stop to see who or what it is, I just swing my hand up and squeeze the trigger twice. The bullets pierce it's throat point blank. The Changed stops writhing and falls flat, face down.

An odd, uncomfortable silence settles over the room as Niall pulls me up. He glances over his shoulder to look at my handiwork.

"Nice," he grunts.

"Thanks," I say breathlessly. Glancing over the room, I see three standing, all in a circle around their friend on the floor. "Let's head up." Niall pulls a face. I know that face.

"Niall. Now." I say and run out of the room.

By the time Niall left the room, I was already a story up. Niall picks up his pace to try catch up and gets the to the top floor a few seconds after me. We're met at the door with the sound of shattering glass. Niall and I lock glance simultaneous.

"Go." I say. Niall kicks down the door and we both enter guns first.