Silent Heroes: Wildcat

Chapter 6: Transformation

My eyes snapped open.

My bed sheets were twisted around my arms and legs like a pretzel.  My heart raced.  My body was drenched in sweat.  I was breathing like I had just run a marathon.

It was still dark outside.  In the eerie orange glow cast by the streetlamps outside my window, I saw my comforter lying in a heap near my bedroom door.  One of my pillows was slumped lazily against the wall opposite my bed.  My other pillow had somehow ended up on top of my six-foot dresser, just the very tip poking out over the edge.

The taste of blood was still strong in my mouth.  I actually felt like I had been sprinting full-speed through the woods.  My body was charged with adrenaline.  White hot fire seemed to burn through my veins , spreading from the center of my chest right to the tips of my fingers.  The sensation was almost painful in its intensity.

Suddenly, I couldn't stand to lie there in bed for one more second.  I kicked and squirmed my way out of the bed sheets.  Or perhaps tore my way out of them would be a better description.  I couldn't take the feeling of them confining me, constricting my movements.  It almost sent me into a blind panic.  I hissed and spit like an angry cat while I fought to wrestle myself free.  My bed shook violently with my antics and.  Threads of fabric ripped apart in my hands.

It felt like I was struggling for hours but, in reality, it was probably only a few seconds before my sheets lay in ragged tatters all over the floor.

I was on my feet in a flash.  A huge, reckless surge of energy hit me like a tidal wave.  I began pacing back and forth, growls and snarls continuing to escape unbidden from my lips.

I seemed to have no control over what I was feeling or how my body was reacting to it.  There was no calming myself down or taking deep breaths or counting backwards from ten.   There was no stopping my furious pacing.  It was like the rational, human side of me was caged in a small corner deep within my subconscious, watching helplessly while this wild, feral beast took over my body.

The walls of my room seemed to be closing in around me, growing tighter every second.  Choking me.  Trapping me inside of them.

I had to get out of here.  I was going to suffocate if I didn't get out of here.

The blatantly obvious solution of going through the door never even occurred to me.  I was drawn, instead, to the large bay window through which I could see grass and stars and sky.

I crouched my shoulders and threw myself right at the glass.  The entire house resonated with the impact.  The window didn't shatter, but a large crack appeared on the surface.  I bounced back, unharmed, and lunged again with a growl of frustration.  I attacked the window like a wild animal, punching and kicking and clawing at it with all my strength.  A spider-web of smaller cracks began to fan out from the first one.  The skin on my hands tore open and bled, leaving smears of crimson all over the transparent surface.  A mixture of curses and vicious snarls flowed steadily from my mouth.

Finally, the glass gave way and my fist broke through into the fresh air on the other side.

Yes!

I yanked my fist back, realizing but not caring that it was covered in blood, then threw my shoulder hard into the window.  The cracked, shattered surface gave way around me and I fell two stories from my bedroom window amid a hailstorm of sparkling bits of glass.

No sooner had I struck the ground than I was up and running.  Running like I had never run before.  The wind roared in my ears as if I was sticking my head out of the window of a moving car.  My legs were moving impossibly fast.  I actually felt bits of pavement flying loose in my wake.

There was a sense of desperation to the sheer, almost uncontrollable speed coming out of me.  My lungs were straining and my muscles burned, but it had had nothing to do with my physical exertion.  That part was coming ridiculously easily.  I was panting out of pure frustration.  Because I was running as fast as I could, and it wasn't even putting a dent in my reckless energy.

What the hell was wrong with me?

My nose picked up the smell of damp earth and spruce trees.  The intoxicating aromas drew me like a magnet away from the suburban streets and into the woods.  I wound my way blindly through the trees.  I was acutely aware of the sound of small animals scampering out of my path.  I felt an urge or chase them, but it was overpowered by the frantic need to purge my body of this fire burning through my veins.

I pushed myself to run faster, but it was no use.  My body had reached the limit of its capabilities.  So, what was I supposed to do when it still  wasn't slowing me down, wasn't tiring me out?  wasn't enough?

I heard myself scream.  An inhuman wail that echoed through the night and probably woke every living creature within a five mile radius. 

I plunged to my knees.  My spine curved forward.  The walls of my chest heaved in and out.  My hands clawed at the top layer of dead leaves and loose earth on the forest floor.

Another scream began low in my diaphragm and tore itself loose from my throat.  I couldn't take this.  I felt like I was going to explode.  The muscles along my arms seemed to bulge and strain, to the point where it felt like they would burst free of my skin.  The bones in my shoulders and hips were grinding together, shifting into strange, unfamiliar positions.  My spine stretched and cracked.  My head seemed to be growing longer and heavier.  My clothes tore.  Something dark and prickly was sprouting all over my skin.

At that moment, I was fully convinced that I was about to die.  I closed my eyes as my body went into spasms.  My mind flashed back to the increasingly strange events of the last few days and landed on the way I had yelled at my parents the night before.   Those angry words would be the last thing I would ever say to them.  That would always be their final memory of me....

Then, just as quickly as they had started, the spasms stopped.

For the first time in days, my mind grew calm and still.  All the building, mounting tension I had been feeling was suddenly gone as if it had never been there.

But I felt strange.  I felt... different.  My body felt like it had been stretched out to twice its normal length.  My center of gravity seemed to be a lot closer to the ground.  I felt incredibly strong and, although I remained still, it was a dangerous sort of stillness.  Like a warrior meditating before a fight.  Like the calm before a storm or the eye of a hurricane.

My nose could discern individual smells I had never experienced before.  My ears twitched, picking up on the tiniest sounds.  I clenched my muscles a bit, testing them out, and casually flicked my tail.

My what?

I opened my eyes, my heart rate climbing almost to the level it had been when I was running full-tilt through the woods. 

The forest looked like a different place.  My view of the world had become longer and narrower.  I had gained about ten degrees of vision on either side of my head, but I had lost a few degrees at the top and bottom.  Only the center of my vision was really sharp—things blurred the farther out they went.  I was hyper-attuned to movement.  Not a single rustling leaf or insect darting through the air escaped my attention.  And, though I could tell it was still night, I could see as clearly as if it were broad daylight.

And, the first thing I noticed....

I wasn't alone.