Secrets

The night was young. The moon shone down on the complex, bouncing off of the dull-painted aluminum walls, hiding what was to be hidden. Guards strolled around with their guns lightly in their hands.
The air smelled lightly of water; ocean water. A dock was nearby. The grass and trees grew generously because of the climate. It was warm in the day, mild in the night.
I spied from a far distance, with a pair of binoculars. The guards were unusually carefree tonight. It could change in a moment’s notice, though.
I slipped down from my perch in the tree, landing with a soft thud on the cool, soft ground.
I crouched and slipped down the hill, to the smooth gaps between the hills.
I slid onto my elbows and watched the guards, watching their patrol patterns, looking for any flaws... anything they might have overlooked...
There was a corner, a dark corner. A perfect hiding place. The guard didn’t as much as look at it. I took another moment to examine the guards. No flashlights on their assault rifles. Another edge I had. I could see in the dark. They couldn’t.
After the guards turned their backs, I made a break for it. I ran, with as quiet steps as I could, then turned sideways and hid in the deep, but narrow crevice between the buildings.
I put my back to one wall and went deeper into the gap between the two buildings, then carefully came out of my hiding place on the other side. I could see no guards. Nonetheless, I kept my back to the wall as I rounded the building, keeping a sweeping lookout in all directions. I opened the door, seeing the light off, then slipped in.
No one was here. I could see, despite the near total blackness. The barracks were empty. The guards must be doing something...
I searched around for anything I could use. Under one bed was a small grille. I smirked, then moved down to my stomach, and crawled under the bed, moving the grille. A vent. A wide vent. It was wide enough for a man to get through... I thought for a moment, then decided, and moved to slide down the vent. I replaced the grille atop the vent, then moved headfirst down the narrow tunnel.
Before I got too far down the vent, the pain started. I grabbed my stomach, bit my lip, and tried to keep myself quiet as the fire started to burn within me. My hands shook; my BODY shook.
I was able to force it away before it got too bad, but I was still panting. I had to find the man soon.
I kept crawling down the vent, and in a sharp angle, I knew I had reached the end. I must have been deep within the complex now. I moved up, climbed up the vent, then gently removed the grille, and looked around. I was in a secluded store room. Through the open door I could see the Cargo Room.
I climbed out of the vent, then replaced the grille, and started to move on. I moved with my back to the wall, and peeked around the corner. No one. Where could they all be?
I moved out of the door, then down the hall, into another room. There was a man at a table, writing something down, mumbling to himself as he wrote. No one was protecting him. He was my prey. It was he I was hunting. I crept up to him, as quiet as death, then stretched out my arm, hand, and fingers, as if I were the Reaper himself, reaching out to steal a soul. I grabbed the man’s shoulder, yanked him hard out of his chair, then threw him against the wall. I was quick to move and hold him against the wall as I stared at him.
“Where is it?” I asked, quietly.
“What the--” he started to yell. I slapped my hand over his mouth when he did.
“Where is it!?” I yelled.
“What’re... you... talking about?” he asked, struggling against my grip.
I put my hand under his jaw, on his neck, and picked him up with one hand. I grit my teeth and growled when I spoke.
“Where... is... it?”
He gagged for breath, trying to move loose, but unable to succeed.
I squeezed his neck harder.
“Where!?” I yelled.
“In... the... hangar... East... hang... ar...” he gasped, trying to make me let him go. I let him slide back down to his feet, my hand still on his neck.
I smirked, then said. “Thanks.”
My instincts started to notice something. His neck... I couldn’t take my eyes off of his neck... I could see it, pumping and pulsing with blood. My eyes were fixated on it...
I moved my thumb off his neck, then with the quickness of lightning, I struck. Before he could react, my four canine teeth; two on top, two on bottom, slid longer, like a cat’s claws extending when needed. My neck moved my head like a snake, and my maw clamped down on his neck, all four of my teeth tearing the flesh and releasing the liquid relief.
The warm blood slid across my gums, my tongue, my lips, and it relieved me. As I let the blood run into my mouth, I withdrew my fangs, then started to drink.
The blood hit my stomach, like water on a fire. My stomach instantly stopped burning, but now I couldn’t stop. My body ached for more. No matter how much I seemed to draw from him, it wasn’t enough.
I kept drinking, and drinking, before he started to shake. His fights against me started to fail, as he grew weaker. Finally the synapse to let him go came to me. I let him go, and he fell, sitting against the wall. My lips were still stained red with blood, dripping down my chin and onto the ground. He gasped for air, looking at me. I slid my hand onto the pistol that lay on the desk, then pulled back the slide.
“Don’t worry...” I whispered.
He looked at me, afraid, his eyes glazed over with fear, unable to move. He was in shock.
I trained the pistol on his forehead.
“You won’t live like me.” I said.
I pulled the trigger, and the report of the pistol was extremely cut down, rather than what I was expecting.
There was almost no sound, but there was all the mess. I hadn’t missed. I dug into the dead man’s pocket, then grabbed his handkerchief, and wiped my mouth and chin clean. I threw the handkerchief onto the corpse, then took the pistol with me as I proceeded to the hangar.
Again, no guards in the hangar. Planes, but no guard, not even a pilot.
Something was wrong...
I moved to a small plane, then opened the cargo hold... nothing. I went to the next plane, then the next. The last plane held what I was looking for. A small steel suitcase. My lips formed a sneer as I grabbed it, but as soon as my fingers touched the handle, the alarm went off. A loud klaxon rung through the hallway, alerting even the most hard of hearing. I made an angered, disgusted face, then started to run. I should have known an alarm would have gone off.
I ran down the hall, to the door, then slammed my shoulder against it. It didn’t budge. Two men came down the hall, armed with pistols. I set the briefcase down, then concentrated. They fired, and it was then my nature came out. Time moved slow, everything blurred. I pushed myself forward, running at them. It was like I was running in a thick liquid, pushing with every muscle to move. The bullets slid through the air, slow enough to see, past me. I came closer and closer to them, then as I was about to touch them, time resumed it’s speed, and another two rounds went off past me, as I grabbed both of the men’s necks, and pulled them down to the ground, hard. I pushed one man’s face to the side, and snapped his neck, then hooked my arm around the other’s neck, from behind, then lifted him off his feet. I strangled him until he stopped fighting. Another man with an assault rifle came down the hall. I turned, then threw the dead man with all my inhuman strength, hitting and tackling the other man. I leapt through the air, then landed on the alive man, held his face down, and bit his neck, too. Again, I drank. Again, I enjoyed. Again, I feasted.
I picked up the assault rifle, then continued down the hall, my chin dripping with hot blood, grabbing the suitcase, and proceeding. I turned left down the hall, and as another guard came into view, I pulled the trigger on the rifle, sending a barrage of bullets his way, pushing their way into their freshly made holes as the man was nearly torn apart from the automatic action of the rifle. I kept down the hall, then kicked a door open, and proceeded inside. I saw windows, and shot at them, but they were bulletproof.
I threw down the rifle, hearing it click empty, then moved to the windows and attempted to open them. No such luck. I locked the door, then knelt on the window-sill, pressing my right fist against the glass as I concentrated, a few deep breaths, and a few slow ready movements, then I drew my fist back, and drove it against the glass. Again, time slowed. I pushed through the invisible liquid of constricting time, then as my fist pressed against the glass, all resistance disappeared. My fist crashed against the glass, and it cracked into a humongous, random star-burst pattern, and collapsed out of it’s emplacement.
I moved and swept through the window, landing hard on my feet.
I started to run. My long black coat swished behind me, and gave me slight cover in the dark. I tucked the silver suitcase under my coat, then ran still, into the black depth. I ran with grace, stepping across fallen logs, rocks, and uneven terrain, not faulting. My eyes traced the ground ahead of me, as my feet prepared to take me over it. I ran for what felt like forever. The klaxon was long gone, no lights, no sounds. It had only felt like this because I had what I wanted. I had found it, finally. I was free... for a time.
I scanned my surroundings as I came to a small clearing. The full moon was visible from the clouds now, shedding it’s blue glow down on everything. I knelt, sliding my coat from my shoulders, and set the case down gently.
I gently unlatched the case, then pushed the lid open. Inside of a foam, soft-peaked liner, like a gun case, was a small syringe, an extra needle, and a small bottle of a silver liquid. Again I looked around. Nobody, no sounds, nothing. I gently picked up the small syringe, attached the needle, removed the plastic sheath, then picked up the small bottle, and did my best not to disturb it too much. This liquid was extremely volatile to shock.
I breathed slow as I gently set it on the ground, then delved the fine tip of the needle into the rubber top of the bottle, drew back the needle’s handle to gain a small amount, then set the bottle back down in the case. I gently set the needle down as I looked around for something to tie off my arm with. I ended up unlacing my boot, and tying it tight around my arm. I pumped my fist a few times, and a vein in my bicep slowly rose. I looked at the needle, being careful to spot any bubbles in the tube, then just as I was about to use it, I grabbed a small stick and bit down on it. I gently pushed the needle into the vein, then took a few breaths through my nose, placing my thumb on the handle of the needle, and pushing it down very slowly...
My eyelids slowly slid shut, as the feeling started to overtake me. Pressure... pressure was pushing down on my body, everywhere, squeezing me with an invisible force.
I panted, faster and harder, biting my lip, trying to cope with it, but unable to ignore it. I stopped breathing. I held my breath, but let it out in sharp exhales, trying to deal with the ever-growing pain. I heard dogs barking, and a klaxon ringing out. I put the syringe back in the case, closed the case, but watched my left hand. It was shaking horribly.
In a most hard-to-believe manner, my fingernails split down the middle, and five long, sharp claws escaped. I bit my lip from the pain, but it was the least of my torment, compared to what was to come. I was late... I was late administering the serum. I hooked my fingers around the suitcase’s handle, then picked up and ran my, feet thudding against the ground.
My vision started to blur, my legs felt weak. Breathing grew more and more difficult, not knowing if I was breathing out or in. As I ran, the pain died down, but everything weakened. I was gasping for breath after a few more moments, but I knew I had to push myself. I had to. I had to get away.
I tripped and stumbled every so often, but kept running. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, my body racked with pain. My muscles started to lock up. Finally, to my releif, a town appeared from the thick forestry. The first house I saw had a shed, and that’s where I would stay. I ran to the shed, panting and gasping for breath, then opened the doors with a rather savage tug, then moved inside, and pulled the doors closed.
I dropped the suitcase gently, then let out a quiet cry of pain. As I fell to my knees. My eyes were shut, my arms at my side. I struggled to keep from screaming out.
My arms shook, my jaw shook, and my eyes twitched. I couldn’t control them. I felt a hot sensation in my mouth, then tasted blood. I felt my fangs slide out from their hiding, top and bottom. I breathed in deeply, but my throat quickly felt constricted, then shut.
As my eyes were shut, my balance felt shifting. It moved all over the place, and I could stay up no longer. I fell onto my back, then moved my shakey hands down to my boots. Without my eyes, I unlaced and kicked off my boots, then turned over and clawed at the wooden floor. The pain throbbed and grew worse.
I ripped a horse-reign down from the wall, then put the leather strap into my mouth and clamped down on it with my teeth, trying to keep from screaming. The same pain, my nails splitting, occured on my toes, and as soon as it had happened, they dragged against the wood, as I kicked and contorted, trying to rid myself of the horrible pain.
Finally, ever so appreciatively, the pain slowed... faded... then died. The pain dropped it’s incessant attack, and I was left with breath again. My claws retracted from my fingertips, my toes, everything went back to normal. I was left on my hands and knees, a peice of peirced leather in my mouth, panting, covered in sweat, staring at the ground
Cold now attacked my skin. The sweat that had formed in large beads now overcooled my body, making me shiver. It’s like I had just broken a fever.
After a few moments of rest, I reached up and pulled the horse reign out of my mouth, with a pop as my sharp teeth let go of the dents they had neatly made. I had peirced through the leather more than once. I felt my teeth retract to normal. I had been late administering the serum, but not too late.