Thank you for the kind comments, I was on the verge of going on a short hiatus for this novel and going to my other two because of that ridiculous rating, but here I am.
My goal is to finish this prologue within five chapters, though it's named chapter 1-5, in reality it's far from the story I want to tell, but it's named such a way to prevent situations whereas people purposely skip the prologue.
--------------------------
As he led me into a deserted clothing store where shelves laid toppled and display racks emptied, walking into a room with an arc for a door in the large store, we met with two other children.
"They're my children, Todd and Ana, I'm Ethan." He introduced with a smile.
The boy had messy brown hair and seemed to be around my age was, similarly taller and bulkier like his Father, his built larger than an average boy his age, on his back a large backpack seen on mountain climbers.
Next to him was a young girl perhaps no older than seven, this time a fiery orange mop of hair on her head, a blank expression decorating her beautiful face.
"And this is," he started, only to be ignored as I stared at his children.
With a cough from his throat, I introduced myself, "Amanda."
"Ah, that sounds like my name, hehe." Ans giggled.
"It's not safe to go out, we'll rest here for a bit, you look unwell, are you okay?" The man asked.
"…yes." I muttered.
"You're from the Cloverleaf Hospital, aren't you?" The boy pointed to my hospital gown, "I saw it online, it's been attacked."
"It has been, strange how no one knew what was going on until we met the beasts." I lamented.
"The first documented transformation happened overseas, around 1pm. At that point, hordes of people booked it and drove to the middle of the city."
"Why the middle?"
"Someone online said it would be safe, and that the military would most likely be deployed there first. Didn't anyone leave from the hospital?"
Thinking back, as I woke up, it was around 12, while I spent over two hours getting an explanation and feeling sick, then the rest on surfing the net.
And when I left my room, those eyes glued to me, it must've contained fear and cautiousness. No wonder the hospital was packed.
"It just started happening all around in Hospitals, jails, houses, courts, all sorts of places where people would get agitated from."
"What about this wrist band?" I asked, fiddling with it. It had been on me long before transformations became a thing.
"Since people that changed get improved physical abilities, they made it so that we wore it for the safety of others." He muttered, raising his hand to show his own wrist band.
Turning to look around me, only did I notice that the man and the girl too, wore those bands which was hidden under the sleeves of their shirts. Perhaps I was too confused to notice.
"What happened to you?" The man asked with a worried expression.
"I fell unconscious four days ago, I only woke up today and I was met with hell." At that point, tears threatening to spill yet again.
"Fuck, that must be bad." The man whispered under his breath, too soft for his children to hear, but just enough for my ears to catch.
As we spoke, the screams outside seemed to have lessened, but I was not the only one that noticed it.
"I'll check the situation outside, stay here, all of you." He said, leaning his upper body backwards to peer from the arc, the kitchen knife in his hand gripped tightly.
As he tightened the straps of his own bag, he turned to me and spoke, "That gown looks……uncomfortable, if you can find any clothes that can accommodate your……wings, change." Pointing around at the remaining few clothes in this store.
As he cautiously walked out, his head turning right and left to glance through the windows of the store, I went to find a shirt and pants.
Of course, other than incredibly revealing clothing, and simple t-shirts and long jeans no one would wear in such an situation, nothing much was left, forcing me to get Creative.
Cutting u-shaped holes from the collar of the shirt , I slid it up from my feet to my back, the holes sliding around the base of my wings that sprouted from my shoulder blades, safety pins holding the shirt together, lest it fell off my body.
Cutting the jeans to the length where it was at the middle of my thigh and a hole for my tail, as its size was too large, I wore it with a man's belt I salvaged at the back of the store.
Of course, I looked incredibly shoddy, but this was good enough, too bad there weren't shoes here.
Luckily, there were rubber bands that I could use to tie my hair into a pony tail, as well as Ana's, who quickly warmed up to me.
As I finished changing into appropriate clothing, the man returned with perfect timing, sweat drenching his body.
"Coast is clear, we can go, a few stores down is a sports store, we'll get some shoes there." He spoke, looking at the shoddy Crocs shoes his Daughter wore and my slightly bloodied bare feet.
Picking up his Daughter, he pressed her head against his shoulder and he spoke, "Let's go, hang tight. Todd you walk behind and watch out for anything that comes our way, Ana, you do the same."
Walking out with a pained expression on his face, he turned to see his Son hesitating on his steps, noticing the humans that had splattered on the floor, perhaps because of the bird beast dropping them.
As his face became pale and slightly green, his Father grabbed his hand and pulled him away, "Don't look."
Luckily, or unluckily, with the sights I had seen earlier, I somehow became number to such a sight, though the band on my hand started to flash yellow.
This was a reality I had to get used to.
Turning away, I followed the three of them who had been steadily moving instead of waiting for me, though the man was kind, his children were still his highest priority.
As he said, we quickly came to a sports store which was even bare than the clothing one, with the display racks in front completely empty.
Thankfully the children's shoes still had some, and stuffing socks into the front and back of shoes of a larger size allowed both me and Justine to wear those shoes, while the Father and Son both already had sports shoes for themselves.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
The things they picked up were small compact bags they carried at the front of their body, filled with their identification papers and valuables, dropping their clothing and extra items, with the exception of compact dry food and a water bottle.
"After this, we're not making anymore stops until night, it's now close to five, our goal is to get to the safe zone, not looking for weapons, we'll have to close as much distance as we can today. Our strategy will be to run, never look back, never engage and always, stay close."
Again, after peering outside of the windows, he carried Ana on his back and led us outside.
"Keep a lookout for the sides and the back." He instructed as we walked, the occasional cries of some creature keeping us on our toes as we moved away from the source of noise.
It was getting worse, more people were transforming as the beasts rampaged and fear took hold of the once skeptical humans, the originally open windows now closed shut perhaps in fear of the carnage present on the streets.
Currently, as the gathered humans around the street were killed, the beasts also dispersed or killed while fighting amongst themselves, two beasts laying dead with signs of being eaten on their body.
Other than blood and death, there weren't any other smell in the air, causing an incredibly gloomy atmosphere on the streets as we walked.
The already darkening sky forced us to be wary of any dark colored beasts, yet strangely, we became more sensitive and awake as the sun descended.
As we trekked, the man suddenly stopped as his hand reached out to the side to stop us from moving. His nose in the air, he sniffed around repeatedly before whispering, "Run."
Pulling the hand of his Son as well as mine, we started sprinting at a speed impossible for humans to achieve as a thud was heard behind us followed by claws clicking against the cement floor.
"It's a beast or something, I smelt blood and some scent on it." He muttered, his hands letting go of ours as he took the kitchen knife he had as we continued running.
"I'll try and wound it, you guys go take shelter, I won't fight it, I'll just throw the knife." He spoke with gritted teeth, passing his Daughter onto the back of his son's.
"I should help you." Todd muttered.
"Impossible. I'm going to stop running, while you guys go to that red bricked café in front." He pointed at a building a few streets away.
"Hopefully it gives up if it's injured, we can't outrun it."
Suddenly stopping in his tracks and turning around with his wrist band flashing a constant red, his hand raised to aim.
Remembering the cause of transformation suddenly, I shouted at him turning around, "Don't wish for power! If you can't injure it just run and lead it away!" But before I could shout anymore, the hand holding mine jerked me away, forcing me to keep running.
"Can you carry Ana? I won't leave him there."
"But, but he said-"
"I know what he said! But he's not following his words either! I can't leave him there!"
"If anything, I should go." I muttered, "I'll fly."
It was absurd, risking my life for a man I met three hours ago. If he died, I wouldn't know what to do anymore. Perhaps, I was only being selfish, wanting this man's survival, who I met only three hours ago. He was the only human I met kind enough to reach out a helping hand to another in this time, he was the only one considerate enough to show a shred of kindness when I was in despair.
"Do you even know how to?!"
"I'll figure it out!"
Turning around suddenly, giving him no chance to pass his Sister to me, I started running to where the man was, my wings flapping slightly, gaining momentum as I ran.
Slowly it opened to its maximum potential, it's length roughly the same as a buggy car's.
As we ran at an impossible speed after freeing ourselves of the man who ran slower, we were already a street away from the café, giving me plenty of distance to cover as I experimented with flight.
Praying in my heart as my feet rose an inch above ground, I kept going, but only to fail at the hands of gravity as I almost fell to my right on the floor.
Remembering the purpose of a tail, I tilted it to the left, leaning part of my weight on it, and with such an discovery, I flew about twenty inches off the ground with my body parallel from it, though far from taking to the skies, it was an achievement.
Seeing the man toppled by the beast as it bit into his arm, I quickly flapped my wings towards them, flying slightly higher than before as my hands reached out and nails grew longer to grab the large black feline the size of a bike off him.
Finding a grip on its slick fluffy neck, my elongated nails dug into his meat as I mustered all my strength to pull him off from his body.
Of course, I was far from capable of pulling this beast upwards even over an inch, I still attempted to pull it away with furious flaps of my wings.
As I dragged it away, the injured man ran towards me with wary as he pulled out the knife lodged in the stomach of the beast, plunging it in and out as I pulled its neck, forcing his face and jaws away from the man.
As the man stabbed him over and over again for at least fifty times, the beast finally stopped struggling, though alive. And with the stillness of the beast who's face was still away from the man, the man leaned his face onto its body, searching for its heart before plunging his knife into the beast's heart.
Pulling out the knife upon the beast's death, he sighed in relief as he panted furiously.
"Haa, that was horrible." He mumbled, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Looking down at his bloodied arm and knife, he winced in pain, throwing the knife a distance away into the grass.
"It's dull now, the body of the beast is too strong." He muttered, "Let's go, don't stay here, the blood will probably attract some beasts."
As we walked slowly, it was obvious to see the wounds he had on his arm heal itself extremely slowly, with the bleeding stopping by the time we reached the café.
Before we entered, with his hand on the handle of the door, a soft word he muttered came into my ear, "Thanks."
Was it for saving him, or stopping his Son from running over, I didn't know.