Catharsis [Novel]

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

            The outside air is thick with scents that beg me to chase them down.  The fact that each tempting trail originates with a person somewhere is only a dim awareness in my mind.  The hunger is strong in me tonight, but I'm still the one who ultimately gets to call the final plays.  My goal tonight is to run and stretch my legs and see what I can do and not to try and end another human's existence.  The strength pulsing through me is limitless as opposed to the weakened power I was subsisting on previously from the rats and Lazzy.  I felt strong then, but I could always sense a finite supply running through me.  Tapping into what I could do back then made my limited supply dry up even faster.  But now?  Now I see no end to the electrified joy that spurs me on.  My intoxication with this is complete.

            Of all the temptations that pull at me, one stands out stronger than the others.  One particular scent has a taste to it that sparks something primal in me.  Its scent is a siren's call that dares me to disobey.  It's in luck tonight; I have no intention of straying from wherever it wants to lead me.

            Pushing away from the warehouse's gravelly front lawn (I'm not really sure you can call a debris strewn and overgrown parking lot a "lawn", but if I am to consider this place mi casa, then a “parking lawn” will do the job.), I fire myself down the sidewalk and between buildings in a run.  Pushing myself up to a speed that is just below sprint - or at least a good long-distance stride - I settle into my pace and enjoy the sensation of movement.  Wind pulls at me as I tear through the standing air like a football player through a paper banner.  Snorting heavily (How incredibly unladylike I feel while doing it.), I force the cool night air through my nostrils and adjust my course to keep the scent flowing through me as strongly as possible.

            Erupting from between two buildings, I approach an empty street and decide to test my legs.  As I step onto the sidewalk, I settle my weight and strength into my right leg and then release it in a single burst and fire myself across the street like a long jumper trying to clear the pit.  Automatically my body adjusts my balance in mid-air as I clear the street and my feet move from behind me to in front of me in a fluid motion and catch me on the far sidewalk.  With only a slight stumble (More from my shock in being able to do it than from any fault of my muscles.), I pick my speed back up and continue running.

            "That was amazing," I think.  "That was more than I could ever do before.  But it's also only the beginning of what I'm going to do tonight."

            Slowing at a corner, I notice I've moved into a more residential area of the city.  Squalid one- and two-story houses line each side of the street with broken-down, windowless cars and partially dismantled kitchen appliances as the primary outdoor decorations.  Whatever has been driving me tonight is leading me here.  Leading me to one of the most run down sections of the city.  Once again, this should scare me.  Being alone in this part of town, at this time of night should cause me to soil my panties.  But it doesn't.  It thrills me.  Inside, I'm ecstatic and bursting with energy.  On the outside, though, I'm a nearly invisible occupant of the night.

            Turning slightly as my sense of direction settles, I speed up and run towards a derelict house that only has faint smells of life coming from it.  It's been occupied recently, but not tonight.  Without breaking stride, I leap onto the covered porch over the front door and then propel myself up and over the lip of the roof until I am perched on the rotting chimney of the building. 

            Surveying the surrounding houses on the street, I'm able to locate the source of tonight's enticing scent: a heavily boarded up two-story brick house with multiple cars parked out front.  Cars that haven't been burnt up or trashed.  These are newer cars that are completely intact, and a few even have people sitting in them.