The Only

CHAPTER ONE - The Driver

Over a hundred years of driving and not one accident...until now. Quickly whipping the steering wheel in the opposite direction, the woman felt the Escalade pop back onto the road. She winced as the crushed parked Honda grew smaller in her rearview mirror. She'd take care of that later, somehow. For now, she just had to remain calm. Stress always brought on The Change. All she had to do was control her breathing, and she could stop it. This was not the time or place to morph. Taking in a deep breath, she began the yoga breathing the swami taught her years ago. In through the nose, filling up her belly. Out through the mouth, collapsing her abdomen. Her stomach unclenched. Better. But no time to waste. The hospital was still at least five miles away.

Her foot slammed down on the accelerator, and the Escalade lurched forward. The narrow streets of San Francisco were slick with a recent light rain, and a sinister fog hovered over the asphalt, making it even harder to navigate so early in the morning. Sunrise was still a couple of hours away, and there was no moonlight to help guide the way. She had to depend upon the diffused illumination of the streetlights, and that wasn't proving useful. A muffled groan came from the back seat.

"We're almost there, Alex," she said, grateful her voice did not betray the panic she felt. Reports of newscasters echoed in her head – hospitals overrun with female patients – the CDC calling it an epidemic. Her dear Alexandra won't fall victim to this strange virus.

Alex groaned again and ended it with a yelp of pain. The driver turned. Was she still conscious? Not a bright decision. The SUV rapidly drifted to the left, hitting another parked car. The impact threw her head against the window.

Smack!

She felt the blood start to trickle down her temple. Oh god, this is not what Herr Benz had in mind when he taught her to drive.

Ignoring the throbbing pain in her head, she squinted to see the road that was suddenly like a raging river. She debated shaking her head to clear the vision, but experience told her to keep it steady. Breathe. Keep breathing. With the last exhalation, the throbbing diminished. Good. Much better. A giggle escaped her lips, and she gripped the steering with a renewed energy. Her celebratory smile faded when she felt the first surge of small electric shocks rolling through her body. The Change was beginning.

Not now. It can't happen now. She inhaled deeply, expanding her rib cage, remembering the cadence that the swami taught her, and waiting for the prickly shocks to dwindle. She had to put it off. Why wasn't this damn breathing thing working? It wasn't a foolproof method, but it had worked in the past. The road continued to ebb and flow like a running river. Squeezing the steering wheel tighter she focused her eyes ahead, trying her hardest to ride the rapid.

A sharp shock radiated from her chest, pulsing its way through her body all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. No breathing technique was adequate to stop it. She recoiled, her hands dropping to her stomach. The steering wheel promptly spun on its own, carrying the SUV down the rapid river straight toward more parked vehicles. She moved quickly to grab the wheel, only to over correct and swerve the hulking vehicle to the other side of the street, clipping a cab that was double-parked.

That accident was not going to be ignored. The cab driver waved one hand angrily while holding a cell phone to his ear with the other. The driver's door of his cab lay dead in the middle of the street. How was she going to fix that?

Alex whimpered in back, "It's harder to breathe..."

"Not to worry, my love," she said. The electric pulse reverberated throughout her body. But she didn't allow it to distract her. Clutching the wheel securely, she floored it. Not even the squeal of the tires or the swirling blue and red lights that now filled her rearview mirror stood in her way. Alex would not end up like those women in the news. Blocking out the screeching of sirens, she took another deep breath and stomped on the accelerator. She'll get to the hospital no matter how many cars she demolished in her wake.