Chapter 1: Prologue
March 9th, 2004
Austin, Texas
12:30 pm
The rain beat down onto the street in solid layers of water. The constant sound of rainfall interrupted by the rhythmic thumping of sheets of rain. No one had predicted this storm, but it was a welcomed surprise. Texas was not known for it's short summers.
The storm started at 8:00 am, on the dot, though few noticed it as the first few droplets fell from the sky. The rain grew in intensity, however, and by 10:00 am, it pounded onto the streets. People scrambled into cars, buildings, bus stops, and anything else they could find that would provide some cover from the intense downpour.
Theresa walked out of the bustling coffee shop and into the alleyway. It had been a long morning, and her shift still had another six hours. Thankfully, the back door had an awning hanging above it for just such a day like this, she even had a chair set back here for when she took her smoke breaks.
She sighed, walked over to her chair, and sat down as the heavy rain fell around her. Work had been rough on her mind lately. Mostly because of Allen and his constant blabbering about his hobbies. The newest one he'd found was some weird animated Japanese show. She couldn't remember the name of it, not that she cared really. Allen was a nice enough guy, but once he got talking, he just doesn't stop.
She took out a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of her stained yellow apron and lit one up, taking a deep drag. Letting out her breath, she thought back to her most recent attempt at dating. Unlike her younger sister, Mabel, she still wasn't married. Much to her mother's chagrin. Mabel had married her high-school sweetheart right after graduation and those two were still together five years later. She loved her sister's family, especially her twin nieces, but lately her mother had been using every piece of news regarding her sister's kids as a reminder that she was twenty eight and still didn't have a boyfriend.
She took another puff. Well, it wasn't for lack of trying, that was for damn sure, she thought to herself. She'd been on several dates since she moved here two years ago. Most had been unremarkable, the other party usually being disinteresting, unreliable, or just plain rude. Her last attempt had been with a man in his early thirties who seemed to have all his shit together. And then he got arrested for trying to sell meth to high schoolers. That had been a surprise to say the least.
Thunder boomed overhead and small flashes of lightning flew. She looked up towards the growing thunderstorm. It was certainly a big one, she thought. But it shouldn't last too much longer. These summer storms usually drain themselves out quickly. Another flash. Then the crack boomed out above. She had to cover her ears. Damn, that was close, she thought. She'd never been that close to a lightning flash. Perhaps it was time to go back inside, it was getting a little intense out here.
Another crack, louder than the last, and a street lamp outside the mouth of the allyway exploded in a shower of sparks.
She jumped at that, falling off her chair and into the rain. "Holy Shit!", she shouted.
That had been too close to her! Her ears were ringing like she'd never heard before.
She was sure at least some of the customers inside had been affected too, even if she couldn't quite hear it.
She began to get up from the ground, soaking wet now, and grabbed her purse, making ready to go back inside and look for a towel. Allen would help her, that much she knew. She paused before entering. She hasn't been the nicest of people to Allen, now that she thought about it. She hasn't outright told him to fuck off, but she has been intentionally avoiding him, even if he has been genuinely nice to her.
Thunder cracked again, taking her thoughts on her own behavior, but this time, there was no following flash of lightning. Instead, there was the strangest sound she had ever heard in a thunder sound. It sounded like tearing fabric. And it was coming from the other side of the alley. She looked at where it was coming from and saw, for half a second, a strange orange-red light emanating from behind a trash can.
There was nothing back there she could see. Just the dumpster and a few old cardboard boxes from their last bread shipment. And yet, over the din of the rainfall, she could hear, something.
Did some street cat get stuck in the boxes again?, she thought. It didn't sound like a cat though. She was still standing under the awning when she heard another sound. A strange, snuffling. Like a boar looking for grubs to eat. That thought almost made her run back in. But that doesn't sound like a boar. And she knew what a boar sounded like. She remembered all the times on her folks property, her dad had made her, her mom, and her sister stay in the house while he and her brother hunted down a wild boar that had wandered onto the farm. They dangerous animals, more so than others.
But that wasn't a boar, she knew it. It sounded too small and it wasn't making nearly enough noise to be a disturbed wild boar. She stepped away from the door and back into the rain, walking towards the source of the noise. She was a bit unsure of what exactly she was going to do. Stopping in the middle of the alleyway, she heard a loud screeching sound from behind the dumpster. The trash can wobbled. Then it fell over, the metal lid rolling away towards Theresa. She took a step back. Suddenly, she was very unsure what to do now.
Something crawled out of the trash can. At first, she thought she was jumping at shadows and it just some raccoon that woke up in a trash can during a thunderstorm. But then it stood up and, with the rain more or less cleaning it off, she got a good look at the creature. The thing, she couldn't think of anything else to call it, was ugly. It only looked to be about three feet in height with long, gangly limbs that reach down past it's waist. It had a large, too large, bulbous head with ears like a bat's. A long nose protruded from its face, with sharp, pointed nails and teeth. But those were not the first thing she noticed. No, that, was the dark, dirty green color of it's skin.
Looking at it was, well, surreal for her. She stood there for a moment, soaking in the rain, thinking to herself, What the hell am I looking at? The creature turned towards her. It seemed to have only just noticed her. She looked back. And for a split second, both her and the creature just looked at each other. She could see it better now. It was hunched over, like it had spent it's whole life looking down. It had some brown piece of stained fabric wrapped around it's waist like a loincloth. And it's eyes, black with nothing else, looked beady and cruel.
Those eyes looked up at her. There was about eight feet of distance between her and the "thing". Maybe she could scoot back towards the door. She could still get away. Then the creature snarled in a shrill, nasaly voice and sprinted with a speed completely at odds with it's short legs. It gave no warning or indication of threat, just an immediate attack. Theresa fell backwards, landing in a large puddle as the creature sprinted towards her. She scrambled back but the rabid thing was already on her before she could get even an extra foot distance between them.
It leaped as thunder cracked through the air, deafening her even as the thing landed on her chest. It grabbed at her head, tugging her long dark hair like it was trying to ring a bell. She grabbed it by the throat. She couldn't think to do anything else. She didn't know what was going on, she didn't know why she was being attacked, and she certainly didn't know what the hell this thing attacking her was.
Theresa shoved the creature off of her. Despite it's apparent strength, it was considerably lighter than her, and, terrified for her life, she had a better grip than it expected. It flew backwards, landing amidst trash it appeared from. As it rose, it looked dazed. This was her chance! She scrambled back up and ran towards the door. Just as she was about to grab the doorknob, she felt a sudden weight on her back, throwing her to the ground. Despite how roughly she'd thrown it, the monster was not keen on letting her leave.
It leapt upon her back, dragging her down, her face hitting the ground hard. If things were different, she would have noticed the slightly crooked angle her nose was at or the blood dripping from it. As it was, the monster gave her no such time. Screeching and clawing at her, tearing into her shirt. She struggled back to her feet and slammed the monster between her back and the wall. It gasped and wheezed as something in it's chest broke, but it didn't let go. Instead it grabbed her by the neck and bit down hard onto her ear.
Theresa screamed. What was happening? Why was she being attacked!? What in God's name was this fucking thing!?!
The monster bit harder, tightening it's grip around her throat. She was starting to gasp, desperately trying to force air into her lungs, but she couldn't breath. She could barely hear the rain over the panicked thumping of her own heart. Am I dying?, the thought raced through her mind like a wildfire. Was she going to die here? No. Please no. She couldn't die here of all places! She had things to do, people to meet.
The monster was squeezing hard now, it's fingers like a vice. Her vision started to go dark around the edges. She couldn't die here. She couldn't! She struggled to get up. Her limbs felt like lead. Her lungs burned. Tears welled up in her eyes. She could hear something. It sounded, like, laughter? This thing on her back, had let go of her ear, and now was purely focused on strangling her. It's face was in a wild grin, hate filled eyes narrowed. She thought of her nieces, barely two and three years old. She had to see them again!
She slowly got up, and with the last of her strength, slammed her back onto the wet concrete, bringing her full weight down onto it. The laughing monster was slammed between her back and a broken bottle on the ground. The glass shattered, cutting and sticking into it's back in a hundred different painful places. It shrieked, letting go of Theresa. She rolled onto her stomach, laying there a moment to catch her breath. The monster's ribs had been broken by the impact. It coughed black, oily blood out from it's mouth and greasy puddle of blood was beginning to form from behind it's back.
Theresa shakily rose to her feet, having forgotten it was even raining, she nearly lost her footing at least once. The monster was wheezing and groaning, seemingly out for the count. She put her hand against the wall for support and began moving closer towards the downed monster. Theresa was hurt, bleeding, and more scared than she'd ever been in her entire life. She wanted to run away. She wanted to run back into that coffee shop and beg someone to help. But something was stopping her.
It was a feeling she could quite describe. An emotion that almost felt like her's, but not quite familiar. It was as if someone, or something, was stirring up her emotions to make her feel something other than fear. She felt a strange sense of curiosity, drawing her closer towards the alien creature. A gnawing, irrational fear that, if this thing killed her, it would somehow then go on to kill her mother, father, and every other person she cared about. And a broiling, seething anger towards the thing that had laughed as it tried to murder her.
Theresa fell onto the creature, knees dropping onto it's already broken chest. It tried to struggle away but she grabbed it by it's scrawny neck, and, with revenge and anger on her mind, began to squeeze.
It began to flail at her, scratching her arms and slapping hard at her face, trying desperately to free itself. Theresa didn't budge. This "thing" had frightened her, attacked her, HURT her. She couldn't let this thing go. She had to kill it.
She held that thought in her mind for a moment. Why was she so angry? Kill it. Why did she hate it so much? Kill it. Shouldn't she just run away, while it couldn't chase her? Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!
The thought pounded into her mind, drowning her doubt and fears. She sqeeuzed harder. The monster's struggles grew weaker. And weaker. And weaker.
Until...
When Theresa let go of the creature's neck, she felt exhausted, but she had done it. Thank God she had done it. She slid off the creature's body and leaned against the wall. Her body felt awful. Her nose was broken, her ear was mangled, her back and her hands were cut, beaten, and bruised all over. She. Felt. Awful. But she was alive to complain about it, which was the important thing. She felt around for her phone but her stupid jeans didn't have any real pockets. Her purse had gone somewhere during the fight.
She had to call the police, ambulance, anyone.
As Theresa looked for her purse to call for help, she noticed something. Am I... glowing? She was. Her arms. Her legs. Her whole body was covered in a bright purple glow. Why, she had no idea. Her heart began to race as she thought, What now? She couldn't take any more of this. She had to get help NOW.
Theresa wrenched herself off of the ground and staggered towards the door. She had to get a phone. Allen. Allen had a cellphone! Maybe he could help her with her ear too. For all his blabbering, he was certainly smart.
Thunder boomed overhead but Theresa barely noticed it. She practically fell onto the door, but she made it. Just as she was about to grab the handle and make her way to safety, she heard a familiar sound. It sounded like tearing fabric. Only it wasn't to her right like the last one. It was right behind her.
She turned her head just in time to see another green-skinned monster leaping at her from what looked like some tear in reality. She tried to bring up her hands but only just succeeded in stopping the long, rusted dagger in it's hand from plunging into her neck. She fell back down to the ground, with her and this new monster locked in another struggle.
Theresa was on her back, left hand locked onto the creature's wrist with the blade, the other caught in the monster's own grip. The rain poured onto the both, making it hard for Theresa to breath the sheets of rain. She could see the dagger though. Desperately, her weaker left hand tried to stop the creature from stabbing her, but she only succeeded in slowing it down. She watched as the horrible thing slowly drove the blade lower and lower. Coming closer to her face. Until...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone