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Astrid follows the road, always on the lookout for other creatures this event might have spawned.

That is, until her stomach grumbles. If it were just a bit of noise it wouldn’t be a problem, but the sound is accompanied by an intense craving for anything edible, and a dull burning sensation.

She’s gone a few days without eating before, but this is something different. Every few minutes, a wave of hunger hits her. The first one comes right after she leaves the car behind. The second one while she’s passing another broken-down vehicle.

The bursts themselves feel like her organs are twisting inside her, followed by the muscles in her abdomen cramping up from the sudden pain. It’s not enough to make her double over, but impossible to ignore. The only silver lining is that the attacks keep her mind clear and her eyes focused on her surroundings. It pushes the confusion and fear away and leaves only bubbling anger and burning craving.

The third attack hits her as she passes a road sign that shows the black silhouette of a deer, warning drivers to watch out for animals running across the road.

Her hand moves to her stomach. She can feel her tense muscles through her shirt.

“Crap,” she groans. ‘We had dinner right before we started driving. Just leave me alone.’ Another cramp tells her exactly what her intestines think about that idea.

Three sharp bangs pierce the quiet of the forest. Astrid’s entire body tenses. While she's never heard a firearm in person before, she’s sure that it’s distant gunshots she is hearing. Either that or someone's celebrating an early new year.

Astrid stops dead in her tracks and considers whether she should head towards the sound or give it a wide berth. On the one hand, the armed people ahead might be able to help her. After all, the only people she can think of that would be running around with guns are police officers.

On the other hand, they might shoot her on sight. She’s sure the second option is rather unlikely and decides to try her luck with whoever gave off those shots. After all, she still looks more or less human, and if they do shoot her, at least she won’t have to worry about her stomach anymore.

She’s not sure exactly where the gunshots came from, so she decides to just follow the road. Her long legs make running feel like flying over the ground, as every pace is more a leap than a step.

It doesn’t take long for a gas station to appear on the road ahead. Astrid walks closer to the buildings. The station itself is a rather large one, with a store and café inside it. Dozens of cars and several trucks are parked on the truck stop around it, yet there's not a single person in sight.

‘I don’t want to spook someone with a gun,’ she thinks and calls out, “Hello? Is anyone there?”

No one replies.

‘Where is everyone?’ Astrid wonders as she passes an abandoned truck. She stops the moment she sees that the sliding doors to the store have been ripped out of their frame. A trail of blood leads out of the storeroom.

Again, she calls out: “Is anyone there?” Again, there’s no reply.

Her eyes scan the abandoned cars. One of the vehicles’ trunks looks like it was blasted open from the inside. Astrid peers into the broken SUV as she passes it, to see the remains of different kinds of outdoor gear, and a dog crate. The metal of the crate is bent outwards, but there are no scorch marks or anything else that might indicate an explosion. There is no sign of the dog or its owners.

Another car is smaller and completely intact but was clearly abandoned in a hurry. The nozzle of the gas pump is still stuck inside it. The only unusual thing, aside from the fact that there is no one here, are four scratch marks on the vehicle’s back.

Astrid peeks through the door of the gas station. A trail of blood leads to two feet that stick out from behind a shelf. They still have a clear red glow to them.

Astrid pauses for a moment, then steps inside. Even though she tries to be quiet, the glass shards underneath her sneakers crack and crunch. The moment she stands still, everything becomes quiet once more.

Astrid knows what she’s about to see, yet the silence of the station still feels foreboding. One step after another, she walks around the corner to bring the corpse into view. He lies on the ground, his arms sprawled above his head. His eyes are closed, and his shirt is stained a red-glowing gray. A puddle of fresh blood surrounds the young man, and his clothes show that he used to be the gas station’s clerk. He’s also quite human. No big body or long arms or weird face, just a plain human man in his twenties. A dead human man in his twenties.

Astrid knows the human thing to do would be to freak out, and she feels her heart rate increase, along with a tingling in her fingers and toes, but there is no hysteria clouding her head. Just cold focus.

Instead of screaming, she leans closer. Her first thought is that someone shot him, but a closer inspection reveals that he wasn’t killed by bullets. Instead, five huge stab wounds in his chest seem to be the cause of death. ‘A monster.’ She raises her head. Her heart jumps, almost expecting something to be standing in one of the dark corners of the small store. The stock doesn’t seem very disturbed. The only thing out of place is a collapsed shelf.

A stab of sorrow pierces her heart like a blade. ‘There was no fight. No real struggle. Something came in here, brutally murdered him and just left… or did it?’

Astrid feels like something is watching her. Fear and paranoia send a shiver down her spine. Nonexistent eyes drill into her back, until her own catch sight of a display case next to the cashier. It’s filled with gas station food. It doesn’t look very appealing, but Astrid’s stomach immediately makes it known that it needs to be filled.

Almost like she’s been hypnotized, the uneasiness is pushed away. Sadness and fear, muted by hunger. Careful to avoid the blood on the floor, her feet carry her past the corpse and around the counter. Her eyes scan the selection and focus on a sandwich. It’s completely cold, but seems better than nothing.

As she stuffs the not exactly tasty combination of bread, salad, salami and some sort of sauce into her mouth, she walks over to the fridge and grabs a bottle of cola. A short hiss is followed by a quiet ping as the bottle cap falls to the floor.

‘I never knew crappy gas station food could make you feel so awesome,’ Astrid thinks as she downs the sweet contents of the bottle.

A second sandwich follows the first and a third one goes down after that. Her spirits rise with every bite. It makes her forget the corpse and the near-death experience she had mere hours ago.

With her stomach gradually filling, the pain in her shoulder reminds her there is something else she has to do.

After a short search, Astrid finds a first-aid kit. She takes a deep breath and takes a good look at the wound on her left shoulder. The bleeding has stopped, and the blood has dried. She quickly sticks the largest adhesive plaster she can find on the frayed skin. It feels wrong to just cover it, but Astrid has no idea how to properly take care of a wound and figures she would probably just hurt herself more if she tried anything.

Even though she has already consumed all seven sandwiches in the display case, her appetite is far from sated. She has no idea where her body is actually stowing all this stuff, but if stuffing cake into it is going to shut her stomach up, she doesn’t care.

Glass shards crunch behind her. “Hands over your head!" a woman yells from behind her.

In the middle of shoving a piece of cake down her throat, Astrid stops dead in her tracks and turns her head. A woman in a police uniform stands next to the entrance, her pistol aimed straight at Astrid.

The bottle of cola slides out of Astrid’s hand and shatters on the floor, spilling its contents all over. The woman’s eyes flick down to look at the broken remains of the bottle, then move back to Astrid.

They stare at each other for a few seconds, until a slightly high-pitched voice from outside yells, “There's no one else here.”

A moment later, her partner steps through the broken door. It seems that whatever changed Astrid has affected him too, but in a different way. He doesn't even reach his partner's waist. His arms and legs are long and thin. Short brown fur covers his skin, and a mane surrounds his neck. His eyes and cat ears look too big for the rest of his body and Astrid can see a fluffy tail coming out of his backside. The only part of his police uniform he still wears is the belt, which he has slung over his shoulder like a bandolier. The only other item of clothing on his person is a pair of underpants that he’s secured with bandages. Unlike his partner, he hasn’t drawn his pistol. Yet.

While he takes position next to the policewoman, Astrid’s mind focuses on them more and more. Her vision seems to tunnel and the surprise washes away, along with any fear or other thoughts. Somehow she notices that the gun is aimed at a spot slightly under her collarbone. She gets the weird, unnatural urge to duck to the right and lunge at the threat.

“Did you kill him?” the policewoman asks.

Her words cause Astrid to snap out of her trance-like state. She realizes she’s just a trigger pull away from a bullet ripping through her body. Rational thoughts fill her mind with a fear of death, and by extension, fear of the weapon pointed at her.

“No…” she replies, her mouth still full of cake. She swallows, then quickly adds, “I'm not armed.” To emphasize her lack of weapons, she drops the rest of the food she’s holding and throws her hands above her head.

The small policeman’s eyes move as he takes in her every detail. His expression is impossible to read through the fur. “I don’t see a weapon on her. Besides, whoever killed him didn’t do it with a gun,” he says to his human partner. She gives him a short nod.

“All right, but don’t try anything funny,” she tells Astrid as she lowers her gun and places it back in its holster.

Astrid relaxes and puts her hands back down.

She watches the two police officers take a closer look at the corpse.

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Her heartbeat slows back down, but that feeling of stress still floods her system. She’s not afraid of the two cops, but it still takes willpower to open her mouth. “Do you know what's going on?” To her surprise, her voice sounds much more confident than she feels or expected.

The policewoman turns her head. “No, we don’t. The police radio cut off right after the emergency transmission. Then this weird fog came, our car broke down, and we fell unconscious. When we woke up, my partner had been transformed into… I don’t even know what he is.”

“So, what do we do now?” Astrid asks.

“Our Sheriff lives nearby.” She nods towards her partner, “Noah – I mean, Officer Turner – said he’ll know what to do.”

Noah is busy inspecting the clerk’s corpse, but looks up as he hears his name. “You should come with us.” He turns towards the policewoman and nods towards the dead man. “But I think we have a problem. These wounds were not made with a knife or a gun. Whatever killed him has mean claws.”

The woman scowls. “We have guns.”

The fur above the policeman’s mouth twitches. “Don’t get cocky. I've heard of a boar ripping an armed man's leg off.” All of a sudden, he perks his head and turns stiff as stone.

“What’s wrong?” Astrid asks.

Fear flashes across his face. His voice is naught but a whisper as he replies, “Something is coming.”

They all turn as still statues and listen for any sound that could forebode an incoming monster, but Astrid’s ears are greeted by nothing but silence.

Noah crouches and whispers, “Hide!" as he jumps behind a shelf.

Astrid wonders what’s wrong with him, then she hears it too: a quiet stomp.

Slowly, she turns to look at the source.

Right outside the store stands a creature, taller than the gas pumps. Its entire body is covered in a massive coat of what looks like thin, brown, feather-shaped fur. Like a human, it stands on two legs. Its yellow eyes stare at them from a head that’s reminiscent of an owl with a mean set of jaws. The monster holds its arms in the shape of a crest, ready to slash at its prey. From each of its hands extend five fingers, equipped with a massive, dagger-like claws. On its chest, three craters in its coat mark the spots where three bullets hit it.

As though out of instinct, the policewoman pulls her gun out of her holster and opens fire. It’s the loudest thing Astrid has ever heard. No TV show has ever come close to replicating the piercing bangs the weapon makes with every pull of the trigger. Astrid can't see where, or if, the bullets hit the creature. All she can tell is that, for all the noise the gun makes, it does absolutely nothing. The monster shrugs off the bullets and unleashes an enraged roar.

Noah screams, “Into the back! Into the back!" and bolts for a door behind the counter.

The three hollow-point rifle rounds lodged in the monster’s chest cause it immeasurable pain. The pistol shots from the policewoman don’t hurt anywhere near as much, but it's sure that it’s the same thing. Unlike when it attacked the people that did this to it, it no longer just wants to eat and find its family. Now it also wants revenge. In its former, small, four-legged body, it would have run up to the people and barked at them, or begged them for food. Now, it extends its claws and charges.

Unarmed and unwilling to be acquainted with those daggers of bone, Astrid runs after the small policeman for the door in the back.

The policewoman gives off a few more shots, before realizing that her gun is useless.

Astrid reaches for the door before a gargled scream makes her look back. The monster thrusts its claws through the woman’s chest and lifts her into the air. With her last breath, the woman claws at the sharp bones piercing her body. She lets out a final gargle before the monster pulls its claws back out.

The woman's limp body drops to the floor with a dull thud. A mixture of grief and fear shoot through Astrid. She wants to scream, ‘No!’ but the word gets stuck in her throat as the creature’s mad yellow eyes focus on her like lasers.

It moves like a flash. Faster than Astrid would expect something this big to move. It closes the distance between them before she even knows what’s happening. Her ears ring with fear as her brain registers the claws coming at her with blinding speed, and at the same time realizes it’s too late to dodge them. The sharp pieces of bone are almost inside her before the door slams shut. With a loud bang, the beast smashes into it at full speed. The steel door shudders but holds.

While the monster throws itself against the door a second time, Astrid stands frozen. The fact that she’s almost died twice in only the last few hours terrifies her.

The animal makes another attempt to break through the barrier. The hinges loosen and are almost ripped out of the wall, but manage to withstand the blow once more. The creature growls at the door, then they hear it move away.

Astrid falls to her knees. She pulls her hands over her face and screams. It feels good to release the fear. The crushing weight of her own mortality drops on her like an anvil, as she realizes, ‘I almost died. I hesitated for not even the blink of an eye and it almost killed me!’ She shudders as her mind paints a picture of the monster ramming its claws through her. She can almost feel the cold bone inside her abdomen as the monster breathes its warm, moist and foul breath into her face and death’s uncaring embrace takes her.

She blinks and shakes that horrible thought out of her head. A sharp breath escapes her lips before she looks around the room. It’s almost completely dark, save for a bit of light shining in from a small window above them. In the dim twilight, she can make out shelves lining the walls, as well as a table in the center of the small room. In the dark corners where Astrid’s normal sight can’t see, a red shimmer provides her with approximate outlines of the things within them.

The small policeman is highlighted by a red glow much more powerful than those emitted by everything else. He’s frantically trying to open a door at the far end of the small room.

“Thanks for saving my life,” Astrid says, causing him to stop yanking the handle and focus on her.

“What happened to my partner?” Noah’s voice quivers as though he already knows the answer.

A wet ripping noise from the other side of the door answers his question.

“God…” he whispers as he pulls his fingers over his face. They are small, thin and end in tiny claws. Kind of like a raccoon’s.

While he seems petrified by fear, Astrid turns her fear into determination. Determined not to get mauled by the monster on the other side of the door, she squeezes past the room’s clutter and tries to open the back door. It doesn't budge.

Astrid makes an angry growl. “Damn,” she hisses and kicks the door.

Noah’s voice is quiet and weak. “We’re going to die in here. As soon as it's done ripping apart my partner, it's going to bust down that door and eat us alive.”

Astrid turns to look at him and notices that his pistol still rests within its holster, slung over his shoulder. “You still have your gun?!” she states more than asks.

He lets out a groan and replies, “Yes, but we both know it won't help us. That thing didn’t even flinch when my partner shot it.”

Astrid’s eyes glow. “It won’t help us against that thing, but we can shoot out the lock and bang. We’re out.”

He shakes his head. “That’s not going to work. If we had my shotgun…”

“Sure it will. If you don’t want to try it, give me the gun and I will.”

He lets out a sigh, then pulls out his pistol and takes up position in front of the door. As he broadens his small shoulders and aims the weapon at the lock, Astrid covers her ears.

The gun lets out another sharp bang, followed by the loud ping of the bullet hitting the door. Even through her hands, the gunshot pierces Astrid's ears. The small policeman flinches as his new, sensitive ears are overwhelmed by the small explosion.

Astrid runs to the door. The bullet has dug itself into the metal at the upper part of the keyhole, bending the mechanism inwards. The elf tries to pull the handle, but the lock remains firmly in place. With a growl, she violently shakes the handle and pulls at the door, but it doesn't budge.

Noah watches her struggle for a bit. Even though he was sure it wouldn’t work, part of him still hoped that it would. Now, even that spark of hope is gone. He knows that the creature outside could easily bust down the door if it really wanted to. The only thing stopping it is the fact that his dead partner makes for a far easier meal. As soon as that monster is finished consuming her flesh, it's sure to tear them apart. Defeated, he says, “I told you it wouldn't work. We're going to die in here.”

The raging fire inside Astrid refuses to die without a fight. She looks around the room and notices the plastic window above them. “Wait. I have an idea. I can lift you out of that window.”

Noah looks up at the ceiling. His voice is low, but there’s a new glow in his eyes. “You’re right. I can climb through and lower a rope for you.” He looks around and grabs a towing cable from the shelf behind him. Astrid grabs a chair and places it under the window.

“All right. Lift me,” Noah says. He stands with his arms apart, like a child that wants to be picked up.

Astrid grabs him. The fur covering his body feels soft, like that of a fox. With surprisingly little effort, she lifts him up. Either he is surprisingly light, or she is surprisingly strong. The tall elf places him on top of her shoulders. Then she steps onto the chair.

The small window is a brown plastic dome secured by two latches. Even with their combined size, Noah can barely reach them. His tail brushes over Astrid’s hair as he tries to open them but doesn’t manage it on the first try. Instead of fumbling around with metal latches no one has opened in years, he pulls his gun out once more.

He takes aim, and with two quick shots, the small metal latches are blown to pieces. Astrid tries to brace for the loud explosions, but the gunshots directly over her head still pierce her ears like knives. It works though. With nothing holding the plastic dome in place, Noah pushes it open. He stands up on Astrid’s shoulders and pulls himself through the window.

Once he's outside, he turns back to say, “Okay. Hang in there. I’ll find something to tie this thing to,” then disappears.

While she waits, Astrid hears another loud crash coming from the store. The creature must’ve knocked over something else. Which can only mean that it’s moving. Astrid starts to shiver, as she turns to look at the door behind her. Her heart pounds as her entire body tells her to run.

It feels like hours until the cable finally drops from above. The hook usually used to attach the cable to a car swings back and forth in front of her.

Astrid grabs it and tries to pull herself up. The red rubber coating provides little grip, and instead of her body being pulled up, her hands simply slide down.

She wracks her brain to remember how to climb a rope. Unable to come up with anything concrete, she simply tries what seems the most natural. She places her hands above her head, then puts the stiff cable around her leg and under her foot. With all her strength, she squeezes her hands together with as much power as they can muster and pulls herself up.

Her former unathletic body would never have had the strength to climb a rope like a marine. Even with her new superior muscles, it takes all her strength to both hold on to the slippery rubber surrounding the cable and pull herself up at the same time. She even forgets to breathe.

Finally, the window is in reach. She squeezes her legs together and quickly grabs hold of the ledge. For a moment she hangs there, feet clutching the cable, hands holding the ledge.

A growl escapes her lips as she pulls her entire body up. The plastic frame that once held the window in place digs into her hands and her muscles burn from the strain. She ignores the pain. With a final pull, she manages to drag the rest of her body through the small hole and onto the gas station's roof. She crawls forward, then rolls onto her back and draws in several breaths of fresh air.

“Good job,” Noah congratulates her.

Astrid takes another deep breath then says, “God, I had no idea climbing a cable could be so difficult.”

“Well, thank God you managed. I’m not sure what I would have done if you hadn’t. Now let’s get out of here.”

The few seconds Astrid spent lying on the ground allowed her muscles to quickly recover their strength, and as she stands up, the slight burning in her limbs and upper body is already gone.

The small man peers over the edge of the roof. “The coast is clear.”

Astrid doesn’t even need to come to the ledge to see. Just like the former policeman said, there is nothing behind the gas station but a large trash can and a small road. Across the street, a chain-link fence separates them from the forest.

Quietly, she replies, “Let’s make a break for the forest.”

The kobold gives her a thumbs up.

Astrid clenches her teeth and jumps over the ledge. Her knees feel as though they will shatter from the impact, but luckily they hold. She stumbles forward, barely able to catch herself before her face meets the hard and dirty ground.

Noah has little trouble. Even though the fall is much longer for him due to his small size, he lands on both legs with the grace of a cat.

“You all right?” he asks. He tries to help Astrid up, even though his lack of size and strength prevents him from doing much. The elf’s knees still hurt from the impact, but she didn’t let a bit of pain stop her before, and it’s not going to stop her now.

Astrid nods and sprints forward. Her long legs allow her to cross the small road in a few strides. Now the only thing separating her from the hopefully safe forest is the small chain-link fence. She places a foot in one of the chinks and tries to climb over. The fence bends under her weight. Either this is a particularly flimsy fence, or she’s gotten a lot heavier.

As she steps over the bent fence, she decides it's probably a combination of both. She is about to continue running, as Noah calls out from behind her, “Wait for me.”

She stops and turns back around. While Astrid has already crossed the road and climbed, or rather stepped, over the fence, he, with his small legs, has barely managed to cross the street. As she watches him climb the fence, a loud metallic crash echoes out of the gas station, followed by a roar.

Unwilling to waste more time, she grabs Noah under his shoulders and lifts him over the fence with ease. They need to get out of here. Fast. Since Noah is slow and she is strong and fast, she simply throws him over her unwounded shoulder.

He barely manages to say, “Hey, what—” before Astrid sprints forward and the rest of his sentence becomes unintelligible, as every step throws him up and down.