Wild Claim

33

LIAM

The scream tore through me like a piercing shard of glass. My eyes are locked closed tight and pulse accelerating with each electric shock, my heart drummed on my ribcage like a fast beating drum. The pain was unstoppable. Writhing on the hospital bed, I struggled against the restraints. The scream came again, despairing, and petrified because I was slowly losing myself. Losing track of time. Losing every bit of sanity.

I'm trying to remember where I was. Who I was. I needed to think but I can't think.

For a minute, the pain dwindled while the machine next to me winds down. My eyes fluttered opening wearily. Looking into the one-way mirror, my complexion was completely ashen. My hair plastered onto my sweaty skin. My eyes were sunken with a lack of sleep and food. The constant throbbing pain in my head, it was more than a headache. It was more than a migraine. It felt like someone placed a grenade inside of it and it is about to explode any second. They had placed a ball in my mouth to stop me from biting my tongue.

The door opened again. One of the doctors who have been monitoring me walked in. He carried a tablet in his hands. Without looking at me, he continued to tap away on the tablet.

Once he got to my side, he looked up at me. With his free hand, he moved to release the clasps that held the straps to the ball in my mouth. Releasing it gently, my face muscles and teeth ached. I open and closed my mouth.

"What is your name?" he asked.

I stared at him for a minute while trying to remember what my name was.

"Liam," I replied hoarsely.

He nodded and tapped on his tablet. He looked up at me again.

"How old are you?" he questioned.

The answer was on the tip of my tongue, but my mind ran a blank. It was like I was quickly losing pieces of me. I don't remember anything. He saw it on my face because without blinking he looked back down at his tablet and made some more notes.

"How are you feeling?"

I swallowed hard to remove the dryness in my throat before I wetted my lips and looked at him. So many venom and drugs running through my veins. It felt like nitrogen was poured through my veins. My heart beat furiously against my ribcage but I felt nothing.

There was nothing there.

I dug further into my memories, but I don't recall anything. There was a complete disconnect to everything except the overwhelming thirst to hunt and kill.

The man dropped his tablet to the table next to me. He then moved to touch my face. He looked into my eyes. He was so close I can smell his blood, what he ate on his breath, and the rush of the blood running through his veins. He was calm and unaware of the hunger that was quickly surfacing underneath me.

Without another thought, I launched my attack. My lips peeled back. My canines lengthening before it snapped around his neck. I locked my jaws to stop him from escaping. Blood seeped into my mouth and quenched my throat. Loud, malicious growls emitting from deep in my chest. His screams of pain piercing my eardrums. Pure joy flooded me. I enjoyed his screams of help. The gurgling in his throat spurred me further to tighten my jaws around his neck.

Suddenly, hands were on me. The man I was killing was being pulled away from me but there was no way I was going to give him up without a fight. I released feral warnings and snarls, unrelenting in opening my jaws.

"Let him go, Liam," a woman commanded.

I released it immediately. The voice sounded familiar. Out of pure curiosity, I released my kill to look at the person who spoke to me directly. She was tall and slender. After seeing her, another familiar feeling tugged at me.