Chimera

Chapter Eight: Alana

Alana tensed, taken aback. Somewhere next to her, she heard Jaylin gasp. Camila herself looked mortified, but that soon changed into fuming anger. Eraros saw her infuriated expression and his face broke into a smile.

"Joking! I'm just joking. Sorry, Camomil, but the look on your face... it was priceless!" he snickered, slapping his paws together.

Alana couldn't help but smile at the sight of Eraros almost curled into a perfectly spherical ball full of mirth. When he had mostly recovered and his raucous guffawing had petered out into a last chuckle, he spoke once again.

"Go ahead, everyone, take your pick from the armory!"

The next few hours flew by. Alana selected a broadsword from Eraros' shop, Jaylin, a long metal spear, Camila, an elegantly curving bow and Lance, a shiny, sharp saber. It took a decent amount of haggling to get Eraros' demands down to even a half reasonable price. Once they had paid for their weapons, they bought some fruit from a vendor in the food section of the Den and snacked on it as they walked back home. They stood together for a while to finish off their food before they would go their separate ways.

"Well, guys, I'm really glad we're doing this," Lance said to them all, swallowing a berry that was covered in bright blue stripes as a result of the Chimera Mutation.

"Me too," Alana said. Then it struck her: she was really doing it. Going beyond the wall. She was following through with her pledge, honoring her mother. The realisation made her heart swell with pride.

Suddenly, Alana felt a stinging tingling in the tips of her fingernails and everything went black. After a few seconds of darkness, each of which felt like millenia, Alana's eyes flew wide open. She was on all fours, her fingers digging into the ground. Except... they weren't fingers at all. Gleaming claws replaced her hands. Her arms were covered in shockingly bright fur.

Alana yelled in shock. It came out as a roar. Slowly, hesitantly, Alana reached up and stared at her arm. Fur a stunning orange, covered in sharp black lines. She had transformed!

A smile spreading on her face, Alana retracted her claws. Her striped fur rippled like an orange sea.

"Alana!" Jaylin gasped, "you're a Chimera!"

Camila fumbled in her pockets for a moment and then took out a mirror.

"Here."

"Thanks," Alana said. With a shaking paw, she lifted the mirror to her face and looked at the reflection of her Chimera form. Her whole body was covered in the orange fur with the black patterns all over it, and behind her, a thick, round-tipped tail flicked gracefully from side to side. She traced a light pink tongue carefully over a row of sharp, predatory teeth, and across the whiskers that had sprouted from around her scarlet triangular nose. Besides the change of human body to bipedal tiger form, she still retained her sky blue eyes, with glowed, shrouded in thick black fur.

Her heart beat strongly in her chest. She felt pride and achievement. She wasn't just a child anymore. But there was something else inside of her, an emotion that she had never felt. It seemed out of place... it was hunger. A burning, pure hunger. Like fire gasping for fuel. It was uncontrollable. Her eyes scanned desperately for something, anything to appease her hunger. Her eyes stopped on something that looked delicious... full of flesh. She could imagine the taste of the organs, the richness of the blood on her tongue. Her stomach growled. She lowered herself to the ground, in a stealthy, hunting position. With a sound like a knife caressing velvet, her claws unsheathed, sharp, bright scythes glimmering in the low light. Now all she had to do was leap on her prey...

No! It's Jaylin! Your friend! The one that makes you smile! Alana, the fifteen year old girl Alana, screamed inwardly.

The hunger seemed like it was taking over her. Insatiable, unstoppable. She could already taste the ichor on her tongue and feel the heaviness of a belly full of flesh.

But Alana fought back, resisting the urge as best as she possibly could. As quickly as the feeling had filled her, it vanished. Even when there was no trace of the horrifying desire in her mind, she was still fearful that it would somehow return, so she changed back to her normal form in a flash of light. Panting hard, she sagged under the weight of the transformation.

"You're a Chimera now!" Jaylin said. He was smiling brightly at her.

He doesn't know that I almost lost control, Alana thought. She forced herself to smile back. Once the others had left for their own houses, Alana set off home.

"Have you packed your bag, Alana?" Lance asked her. Alana had struggled to sleep last night, the excitement kept her eyes wide open. Now she was with Lance, Jaylin and Camila, preparing to leave for the desert.

"You'll need to bring some food, water, clothes and the broadsword you bought yesterday," Lance reminded her.

"And I'll get you a rifle," Camila added. She flashed a smile at Alana and then ran off to the direction of her home.

"She... has a rifle? Like from the ancient times before the Great Deterioration?" Alana asked, barely believing her ears.

"Yeah," Lance said, "she got one from a junkyard and fixed it up."

Alana nodded, impressed by Camila's evident engineering skill. As Lance worked on sharpening his saber, Alana walked back to her house and packed her bag. Her heart was beating fast with exhilaration. She threw in a few changes of clothes and some protective jackets. Then she opened up the cabinets and took out most of the non-perishable foods, as well as a few fresh fruits. She added her trusty crossbow and a few knives. Then she filled the rest of her bag with as much water as she could carry.

As she was about to step out of the door, Alana stopped. She was leaving her father for a long time. She didn't know exactly when she would see him again, or even if she would at all. With a heavy heart, Alana walked to her room and wrote a message on a slip of paper. She left it on the counter and then ran out of the house.

She came back to find Jaylin and Camila waiting for her. Camila handed her a rifle. It was cold and still in her hands, but Alana knew from the school history classes that they could shoot bullets with fiery force.

"Where's Lance?" Alana asked, putting the gun in her bag.

"Saying goodbye to his parents," Jaylin said. A lump formed in Alana's throat. She turned away, brushing a tear from her eyes.

Back in Alana's house, a note waited on the counter:

I'm going outside the wall. I'm going to find the truth of the world and gain knowledge like you said. It's what I want. It's what I think mom would've wanted. And I think it's what you want. I know that I might not come back. I know that it's a risk, but I can't not explore. I can't stay trapped. Just know that I love you.

-Alana.

It was written on a slip of paper, thin and frail. Something that could tear with ease. But that didn't matter. It wasn't about the strength of the paper itself, it was the strength of the words written on the paper. It was Alana's emotions, it was her heart opened wide and her blood spilled on the page.

Alana shivered, despite the warmth of the beating desert sun. She just hoped that her blood wouldn't spill in real life.