The thudding of the pounding heart made her head go dizzy as goosebumps crawled on her arms with her neck pricking with hyperawareness. She stepped back to the nearest building to catch her breath, laying her hand on the stone that was cool to the touch. Her head started to hurt, and she clutched her forehead, groaning from the pain that felt like needles to her brain.

She blindly reached out to try and steady herself, but her limbs stayed immobile by her side. Her thoughts were violently scattered. Her phone was in her purse, and she tried to tip her bag to the side to make her phone drop out of it. The police. She needed to call the police.

Her pocket knife fell instead, clattering to the ground. She froze. Her heart was in her throat as she slowly turned around to look at the heavy presence. Charlotte froze. But she stared at the man, who didn't seem to pay any mind instead minding his own business, dragging blood through his steps. In brutal condition, he was clawing his neck.

The man's eyes were unfocused. He clearly wasn't all there. Charlotte forced her gaze back to the task at hand and struggled to pick up the switch knife but finally pointed the sharp object at the man as he got near. There was something off about the man that Charlotte couldn't place that was heavy on her conscience.

Her phone wouldn't come out of her bag. She shook it hard again. The blond-haired man looked extremely washed out and on the edge of death made a strange noise that pulled her attention from finally having her hand connect with her phone. There was blood everywhere splattered on his body and clothing, and he was using much effort to breathe.

The person was close enough for her discomfort to turn to alarm when she saw his eyes glowing. Charlotte stressed on the sight. Glowing bright yellow. She had never seen glowing eyes in her entire life. Charlotte wasn't even sure if that was possible. Everything about the man was wrong. Dreadfully wrong as nothing made sense or added up.

Nowadays, the population has no color underneath the sun's eyes after a genetic breakthrough that was originally cosmetic but is now irreversible and passed through genes. In turn, the population had dominant colorful attributes and recessive colors that were the norm back then.

Her own eyes were described as odd due to the mixture of colors of pale blue to pink to greens and purples. Watercolor was how her mother described them. A piece of her entire lineage in her eyes. But glowing eyes? That was new and not normal. Her mind was stressing over the fact that she couldn't understand what was happening.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The person moved to the right to reveal a mauled body cradled in large arms, and Charlotte's mouth dropped out in absolute shock. A deceased woman's neck was shredded as was her face from claw marks. Charlotte wasn't able to see the body since the man's huge frame obscured it from her view.

The murderer was coughing out blood and wiping his mouth with his hand, lifting his eyes and making direct eye contact with Charlotte. He moved so fast, reaching toward her, it was no contest. Charlotte didn't even have time to react.

Horror filled her body, and Charlotte fell to her feet, screaming for her life. Covering her head with her hands, she could hear ringing in her ears before the sharp pitch that made it sound as if she was underwater. Never had she ever experienced so much fear it rendered her speechless. Her screams fell silent as silent sobs ripped out of her lips.

In a split second, a body that came out of nowhere flew through the air and landed on top of the guy who was just about to grab her. He was just as large if not even more imposing as the haggard blond who stood more than a head higher over her. From the newcomer's back, there was a flash of silver shining directly from the dim moonlight that hit the metal straight on.

They were a few feet away from her as the newcomer pushed the other man back, and she discretely scooted a few inches to her right, hesitantly and carefully, despite her legs shaking desperately trying to get her feet to stand on the solid ground. The snarls were grotesque and animalistic as they violently fought.

The dark-haired man flung forward and got the murderer into a defensive position, shoved underneath his arm. They kept on clawing one another, flesh coming off of the nails and landing on the ground by her feet. Charlotte pinched herself again and prayed that the whole situation before her wasn't real as she leaned on the building wall for support.

She held her breath from the smell of death as tears streamed down her cheeks. The vicious images in front of her made her turn her face away into her shoulder to pretend it was all a dream. Charlotte wanted to disappear, but her body wasn't listening to her, rooted to the ground.

The newcomer's punch snapped a few bones when the noise ricocheted down the alleyway. The cracking sound distinctly rang in her ears, and she cringed as the blond man below roared with crackling fury.