“Kylie, seriously what happened out there? It looked like you were struck by lightning!” A terrified Mason stated the obvious in his usual fashion. “I mean, Dude! Not many people survive a strike like that. You were like a human lightning rod or somethin’. What was it like? Are you hurt? Kylie, you were smiling.”
His last statement is what really got my attention. “Wa—was I? I don’t know, Mase. I can’t explain it.” There weren’t words for what I’d just experienced. His words confirmed to me that something very strange was happening to me. As I joined Mason on the porch, a large clap of thunder sounded again, followed by the entire house going dark. “Great, the power’s out.”
“I’m surprised it’s lasted this long. When you did whatever it was you did out there, the entire street was flickering with some sort of energy surge.”
“Well, I guess we’ll be moving on sooner rather than later,” I commented absently as we went back inside. Without any electricians around to handle power outages, I wouldn’t hold my breath about us regaining power. To top it all off, we were in the middle of winter.
My God, we're getting dangerously close to winter temps, I just went out into the rain, and now I'm soaked to the bone, yet I wasn't even feeling the slightest chill, eerie.
We had no other choice other than to find another place to live. Mason was already pulling out one of the survival kits that we had made a few weeks back, reaching into the bag to dig out one of the big Maglite’s, illuminating the room as he handed me one, and I did the same.
“I guess we need to get our bags together. Remember, Mase, only pack the essentials. We need to be able to move quickly if any dangers were to arise.”
“What dangers? There isn’t anyone left besides the two of us.”
“That we know of. We’re about to venture into uncharted waters here. We have no idea what we’ll find beyond the town’s limits. I plan to make a stop by the sporting goods store and pick up a few things that could potentially save our lives if worse comes to worst.” Mason swallowed hard before nodding and heading upstairs to his room.
The idea that something could be out there that would harm my brother stirred an emotion within me that felt foreign. Have you ever had an odd feeling that something was following you, but when you turn around to investigate there wasn't anyone there? Well, that's exactly how I've been feeling every day since this whole thing happened. I wasn't as concerned for myself as I was for my brother. I would do anything I had to in order to protect him. The more I thought about this, the angrier I felt.
Feeling a twinge of pain in my hand, I lifted it up into the light, shocked to discover blood pooling into my palm from four slits. Oh. My. God! Looking at my nails, I sucked in a breath, dropping the flashlight onto the floor. My imagination had to be playing tricks on me. Slowing my breathing, I reached down and retrieved the light, reexamining my palm after I had wiped the blood onto my pants leg; the wounds were completely closed up.
“What the heck!” I whispered then moved on to my fingernails. There weren’t fingernails at all. "What the heck?!" I screamed this time. I had claws, dark grey colored nails that grew to sharp points!
“What's wrong? Did something happen, Kylie!” Mason shined his light over the banister to land directly on me. I shielded my eyes with my hand.
“Uh, no, just thinking aloud,” I managed to respond calmly.
“You are really starting to weird me out, you know?”
Forcing a smile on my face, I reassured him, “I know. I’m sorry. There isn’t anything to worry about. Go finish packing.”
Then I waited for him to go back to his room before I got up the nerve to look at my hands again. Not believing my eyes when my fingers were exactly as they had always been, nails cut to the quick, no sign of the claws from a moment ago.
I bit back a scream while steeling my nerves. I decided not to think about this right now because any scenario I could come up with to explain what was happening to me wasn’t good. Mason needed me; I couldn’t wig out on him now. Pushing my fear aside, I went upstairs to pack and change.