Tom regained consciousness with a pounding in his head and a dull ringing in his ears. He opened his eyes a crack and looked around, trying to string two thoughts together before closing them. He placed his hands flat against the ground beneath him, pushing himself off the floor. The world lurched, along with his stomach.

He raised his head and gently opened his eyes again, trying to figure out what happening. He looked to his right and was barely able to make out three shapes that seemed to be people. He felt something wet, dripping down his temple. He raised his hand and it came away with blood on the tips.

He knew one thing so far, and that was that he was injured. Something had clobbered him over the head. He looked once more in the direction of the people, seeking an explanation. Two of the shapes seemed to be kneeling over the third which was on the ground, moving about frantically.

He briefly wondered what they were doing, when he realized a shock that made even his volatile stomach drop like a stone.

“Jen”, Tom murmured. His cousin had followed him, to help him carry groceries from the 24 hour store, even though he had told her that it wasn’t necessary. Normally he wouldn’t have mind, but not this late at night. It wasn’t a bad part of town, but neither was it the safest.

Tom wasted no time in getting to his feet, he knew there was only one thing the two other people would be trying to do. As he stood, he took a deep breath, then another, trying to clear his mind. Even in his befuddled state he knew if he wasn’t careful he could get himself, or even worse, his sister killed.

Careful, so as not to make noise and warn them, he stepped towards the other two people, he had identified as men. Jen was still struggling and muffled screams could be heard escaping from behind the hand of the man kneeling at hear head.

He then raised his other hand and brought it down with a loud clap.

“Stop moving, bitch!” he shouted though his beard. Seeing her temporarily stunned, he shot an irritated look at his partner, telling him move it along.

Tom never heard the last part, all he heard was the loud slap, followed by Jen’s lack of movement, and everything faded to white.

He had always had a flash pan temper as a child, and it was only when he reaching high school that he had learnt to control it, and by now he hadn’t lost his temper in years.

But this was different.

In his whole life, he had only ever lost it in this way twice. Once, when a classmate had refused to listen to his warnings and continued doing what he was doing. The second was when a dog had bit him.  In both cases he had simply held them by the throat and pinned them to the floor until they stopped moving, before releasing them. Not that he was a violent guy, but when someone or something provoked him in such a fashion, he answered in kind.

But this was different.

This time he wasn’t the only target, his cousin was. This time he felt no need to hold back, not when men chose to behave like animals, especially when it was directed at his family.

With quick steps, Tom was behind the man who was frantically trying to drive apart Jen’s leg. He reached around and thrust his fingers deep into the eyes of the first man. The man threw his head back screaming in pain while his hands scrabbled at Tom’s, trying to remove the source of his pain.

By this time the second man looked up again, surprised to find Tom standing behind his partner glaring at him. Tom, with his hands still on the head of the first man, used his imbalanced posture against him, throwing him to the side, away from the trembling girl. Since Tom had plunged his fingers into the man’s eye sockets, he had considered him to be temporarily immobilized. It was the reason he had locked eyes with the second man, the one who had triggered his rage. He was no free to deal with him.

The second man stood up, withdrawing his hand from Jen’s mouth, and she immediately started sobbing from fright. Tom, with his fists clenched at his side, his temple throbbed in tune with adrenalin saturated heart.

He looked briefly at his cousin to be sure she wasn’t in immediate danger, before finally allowing his fury to completely inundate his being. His rage was at once primal and simplistic in its nature, with a single, instinctual directive: destroy those that threaten you and yours.

Tom turned once more to the last man and started slow, steady steps towards him. Fear began to replace caution, gaining dominance as Tom steadily closed the distance between them.

Tom wasn’t a big man, nor particularly intimidating. On a normal day that is.

With his jaw clenched and his shoulders bunched, blood dripping down his face, Tom’s countenance was that of a demon.

The man continued to back away from Tom, which seemed to only anger him further. Tom leapt forwards, quickly closing the distance between them before the man could react and thrust his right hand under the man’s chin, grabbing him by the throat. In the back of Tom’s mind he knew that normally it was next to impossible to suffocate a man with one hand only. It was why he chose the easier route.

Tom pinched his thumb and fingers behind the man’s windpipe, and began to crush the cartilage with a single hand. The world seemed to slow as all senses were focused on the object of his rage, he no longer felt the thump of his headache, ignoring the blood dripping over his brow. Only one thing mattered.

The man’s eyes bulged, his mouth opened and closed with choking sounds while his hands tried to bleak the lock Tom had on his neck. Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to break Tom’s hold, he tried scratching at his face, but Tom simply leaned out of reach.

Tom kept looking at the man’s face as it began flushing red, as his hand dropped out of sight. Then he felt a sharp pain accompanied by a thud that he felt at his core, followed by another and another. He looked down to see the man’s fist, covered in blood and clasped around something. He watched as the man, in slow motion drew his hand away, and he saw the blade of a knife extending from his fist.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

With his left hand, Tom held the wrist of the hand that held the knife, and kept it away from his side. He looked down at himself, and saw the amount of blood that had soaked his shirt. He raised his head once more, glaring at the man, and poured all his strength into his hand.

Then he heard, or rather felt a distinct crunch, and his right hand closed. Tom pushed the man over, releasing both his hand and windpipe, or what was left of it. The man collapsed on the floor clutching at his throat, strangled gasps escaping from his collapsed voice box.

Tom stood over the man, watching him briefly before turning away in disgust, his hand pressed against his side. He looked for Jen, but she had already recovered, and was making her way around the first man that Tom had blinded, who was rolling on the ground his hands were at his face, but couldn’t touch it for fear of aggravating his injury so he kept moaning about his eyes.

Jen approached Tom, her hair and clothes disheveled and makeup smudged, along with a red cheek where she had been slapped, but was otherwise unhurt.

“You look fine”, Tom sighed with relief, followed shortly by a wince as he released such a long breath. Jen, seeing his painful expression looked to where the his hand was clutched at his side.

“Tommy, you’re hurt!”, she said, her voice full of concern. She rushed to his side and pulled his hand away briefly to see how bad he was injured. A fresh, crimson wave poured out, and she hastily pressed her hand against it again.

Tom, was already feeling drained, as his adrenaline rush wore off, along with the blood loss.

“Damn, he must’ve nicked something important”, Tom muttered before looking back at Jen. “You need to get an ambulance,” not noticing that she had already pulled out her phone with her other hand.

“I know!” she snapped. Tom could see tears sprouting from the corners of her eyes. He looked around to figure out where they were while Jen relayed their positions and names to the person on the other end.

It was an alley, dirty, with dustbins to one side that barely contained all the rubbish it held. He heard form Jen where they were as she spoke on the phone, but he had already figured it out. He had recognized this alley as the one that he often walked on his way back to his apartment from the bar, where he was considered a regular. It was about a twenty minute walk home from the bar.

This particular night, his cousin had come out to visit him as they were close friends, and she planned to stay over at his place, before driving home in the morning.

They decided to make their way out of the alley, onto the main road to make them easy to spot for the paramedics. Jen put Tom’s arm over her shoulders so she could support him, letting Tom take over the compression on the wounds. As they reached the road, Tom, who had gradually been relying more and more on Jen for support finally collapsed, nearly pulling Jen down with him.

“Tommy!” Jen quickly knelt next to him, ignoring the pain in her knees and leant down, using her weight to apply pressure to his gut. Her brow was creased, and her mascara had run tracks down her cheeks.

Despite the pain, Tom was oddly calm. He thought it might be because his body was beginning to show signs of shock, and he noted how his feet were cold. He knew he was dying, he had realized just how dangerous the situation was when he saw the amount of blood had soaked his clothes. He thought it was likely that he was bleeding a significant amount internally, which was why he felt worse, despite there being less blood escaping his body.

Well, at least I have company, he thought, his mind on the man who’s windpipe he had crushed. He was confused for a moment when he thought that if the guy had a knife, he should have used it from the beginning, then he mightn’t died.

Could only be natural deselection, he thought, a small smile crept onto his ghostly pale face. His smile grew as he realized the irony in that thought.

“Please, Tommy! Hang on!” Jen wailed. His smile seemed to compound her concern. He briefly wondered if she was going to follow up with a line like, ‘Don’t go towards the light!’  Then realized he wasn’t being fair to her.

Tom was already feeling exhausted, cold and light headed. He knew the paramedics wouldn’t make it in time. He placed his hand over hers, on his belly, gently petting her hands muttering ‘don’t worry’ and ‘it’ll be fine’, though he knew it wouldn’t be.

His hand slowed, and then stopped moving altogether, and he simply closed his eyes.

Then he saw a white light.

Author: Hey guys, this is my first ff. I know the prologue it a bit much to stomach, but I wanted to use it as an opportunity to build the character, and give everyone a taste at what his nature is like, instead of waiting for a number of chapters. I’m writing this ff to develop my writing style, at I initially wanted to write about another story idea that I had, but I realized I need to improve myself further to express it well. So I plan to devote all my attention to this story until I feel comfortable with writing in this manner.

Constructive criticism and reviews are welcome, as I will use them to improve my writing.

PS: To all those who are writing or have written their own ff, you have my respect, and to those who are able to consistently publish chapters, my admiration.

This sh#t is a lot harder than it seems.