The blare of a ship’s horn could be heard for miles as it echoed throughout the small coastal town. All who heard it knew what it meant. That a ship was leaving. Most who heard it went about their business, but one cheery young man who was chatting excitedly with a stall owner froze in the middle of the joke he was telling.

“Oh my god… Did my alarm not go off?!” The blonde cried out as he whipped his phone out of his pocket.

His eyes became as big as saucers when he saw that it was already past noon.

“Fuck!” He cursed as he shoved his phone back into his pocket and started sprinting towards the pier in the distance.

He raced down the small streets and winding alleys, shouting hurried apologies as he bumped into people. But no matter how fast he ran and how many people he bumped into, the coast never got closer, and the giant cruise ship began to pull away from the dock.

The horn blared again, but this time it seemed a little familiar.

Suddenly from the sky, a voice rang out. “James. JAMES RIEGLER. You better get up, you’re going to be late for school again!”

James jolted upright from his bed and dazedly opened his eyes to the blurry sight of his mother glaring at him with her arms crossed. Reflexively he grabbed for his phone and turned off the alarm.

“How many times this month? If you get any more tardies, I’m going to start turning off the wifi after 10! You always stay up playing that little game of yours. Don’t think I can’t hear you talking with your friends!"

A jolt of adrenaline rushed through him and he shot out of his bed, stumbling to gain his footing as he raced down the hallway and down the stairs. Thankfully, he had had enough foresight to sleep in his uniform last night. He dashed through the kitchen and grabbed a hot waffle from the toaster. Yelping as he tossed the perfectly toasted waffle from hand to hand, James frantically searched for his backpack. Spotting it lying on the kitchen table, he shoved the waffle into his mouth and grabbed the bag by the straps before running out of the front door and righting his bike that was lying on the lawn.

Slinging the backpack over his shoulders and his leg over the seat, he began to pedal furiously. Eventually, he got up to a good cruising speed and was able to finally focus on eating his breakfast. It may have been a little soggy from his saliva, but food was food. He leisurely cruised past the morning traffic, occasionally swerving past an errant student driver, until he finally reached school.

James quickly locked his bike to the bike rack and sprinted towards the doors of his school, all whilst silently praying that he could get past the hall monitors. Thankfully, they were lecturing some other poor sod, and he was able to run past them, only getting a lazy “Hey get back here”.

Stopping at the door of the classroom, he tried to slow his heart and calm his breathing. Any sort of noise might draw the attention of Mr. Green. Sure he couldn’t hear his heartbeat, but sometimes, James felt like he could. He wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that his teacher was the devilish incarnation of calculus and trigonometry, made of spite and jealousy.

The man was 5 feet tall and hated anyone taller than him. And basically everyone was taller than him.

Slowly he pushed the door open, thank god the hinges were well oiled, and hesitantly crept inside. The room was filled with chatter as students moaned and groaned about last night’s homework or the upcoming exam that was worth 20 percent of the grade.

“Ah James, thank you for deigning us with your presence so early today. By a whole two minutes, if I might add.”

He froze in his tracks, only halfway to his seat. James turned and tried to pull off the best performance of his life.

“Oh… heyyy Mr. Green. You must have missed me earlier. I was here, but I needed to go to the bathroom. I'm back now though.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“You needed to bring your backpack?”

“Oh yeah, I just needed to change my shirt. The one I was wearing had a stain on it, you know how it is. Luckily I had a spare!” James said as he tried to give his most relieved looking smile.

Mr. Green eyed him for an uncomfortable amount of time, his creepy blue eyes staring dead into his soul.

“Sure. Whatever. Get back to your seat, class is going to start.”

“Yes, sir.”

James let out a breath of relief as he slid into his seat.

“You managed to get away with it this time, huh.”

He turned to meet the speaker, “Oh, hey Elena.”

“I don’t know how you manage to get away with it, you have to teach me your ways, great master,” she said with a smirk on her face.

“Hey, don’t tease me! I'll have you know that I spent a long time last night thinking about an excuse!”

“I don’t get it. We were playing together last night, we both got off at the same time, but I’m here on time and you’re not?”

“Sorry, don’t know what to say. Guess I’m built different.”

She snorted, “They should return you to the factory.”

“I have my good points alright. I mean, I have good grades!”

Elena shook her head, “I don’t know how you do that either. I’ve never seen you study and you’re always passing out in class, but somehow, you’re at the top of our grade.”

James smirked and faked a yawn as he stretched his arm and slyly flexed. “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

“I hate you.”

“I know.”

Suddenly there was a bright flash and thrum so deep that he could feel it in his bones, windows rattling. Students got out of their seats and crowded around the windows.

“What is that thing?” Many murmured in confusion.

Mr. Green got out of his seat, “Move away from the window, class.”

The students parted for him and revealed the view to the rest of the room. There was a giant black ray of light on the horizon that descended from the sky, the source nowhere in sight.

It was stationary, at first, but it started to flicker before it started to pulse like a heartbeat. With each pulse, dark ripples spread. Everything the ripples touched seemed to distort, like how heat distorted the air above a fire.

“Get away from the window and get under a desk!” Mr. Green barked out.

The students began to panic and frantically rushed back to their desks as the ripples got closer and closer.

Screams rang out in the distance.

James couldn’t look away from the window, his heart jackrabbiting frantically in its cage.

Finally, the ominous black rings reached them and passed through the whole school. James felt a chill run through his body. Then he heard the sound of cracking ice echo in his ears.

Everything began to hurt. His body pulsed with pain as his back hit the top of the desk. It felt white hot as the searing pain took away his ability to think.

It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurtsIthurtIthurtsIthurts IT HURTS

Something tore out of his back and the desk crashed into a wall. Red clouded his vision, The vessels in his eyes burst and reformed, pulsing.

The searing pain moved down his back. His fingers and toes erupted with pain. He looked down. Claws. Metallic and wickedly sharp. Was this a nightmare? Was he still asleep?

Screams reverberated throughout the room as some of those around him also mutated. Feathers, beaks, wings, extra limbs. James couldn’t move. He couldn’t do anything but watch in horror as the people he had known since freshman year morphed into almost unrecognizable monstrosities.

Into monsters. Like him.

Then, as suddenly as it came, the pain stopped. Something else took over. The pain moved aside for a flood of hunger and anger.

He rose from his kneeling position and rose to his full height. Everything seemed so small. Elena looked so small. So tiny. So delicious.

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes,” J-James?”

Her voice was shaky. She was scared. She was weak. She was prey.

His arm shot out and gripped her by the throat. He didn't want to do this. He was screaming. Nothing came out but a vicious snarl. He lifted her into the air as her hands clawed weakly at his hand. He looked at her dead in the eyes. Then he squeezed. She wheezed weakly, blood bubbling out of her mouth. He was screaming. He was begging. He was praying. He squeezed harder. Her head shot up into the air, the rest dropping to the floor.

The classroom erupted into a whirlwind of violence. Blood and viscera splattered onto the walls.

The world went dark, but he could still feel his body move without permission. The last thing he heard was a cacophony of screams and roars as wet flesh tore and ripped.