Got bored at work and started writing ;-)
I sat there in the living room of a family I’d never really met, eating food from their fridge, drinking their drinks and watching a nature show on their TV when I realized that in some ways I envy such creatures as the Panda Bear and the Right Whales. Not because they are endangered as a species, that I understand completely and can empathize with. No, rather because they don’t know they are endangered. They live their lives and simply go from day to day letting life go by, not truly fretting over the fact that they are one of the very last of their kind.
In contrast, it is something that is in my thoughts constantly. I am part of perhaps the most endangered of all creatures, perhaps even the most endangered because of choices I was forced to make to continue to even exist. I am one of four of my kind left on the earth, and the only one who has my peculiar condition. I am part of a race, or perhaps simply the term group is more accurate, of immortal beings who have existed for thousands of years dwelling on the fringes of society and, until a couple of hundred years ago, keeping humanity safe from an evil that exists just beyond its realm of comprehension. We worked individually, as we needed to in a world that had not yet conceived of such things as cell phones and the internet, finding locations in which the walls between worlds grew weaker and living there, shutting down any attempt by the beings that exist on the other side from crossing over.
It was that disconnection between us that came so very close to losing us the war, and still may be the end of us all. We had no way of knowing when something went wrong for each other, we hardly ever saw each other much less communicated on a regular basis. When several of our kind died off, we were caught flat footed and did not react in time. Yes, I know, I said we are immortal, and that is true. We do not grow older and will never die from such trivialities as disease or our body shutting down from old age. We are also very difficult to hurt in any significant way. Most of us were able to alter our physical bodies to make our job fighting those from the other side easier, and with that came a physical resilience that humans can never comprehend. However, we can be killed, it just takes a lot of effort to do so. Even if we are injured even to the point that a normal human would have died several times over, we will eventually recover, it just takes time. It was that one flaw that caused me to make a decision that makes me so unique.
We who once numbered in the thousands were reduced in number quickly when a group of just over two hundred of our kind decided they were tired of living in obscurity, being talked of only in myths and legends and decided to turn on the rest of us. They chose, willingly, to murder their brethren to gain the power that those on the other side could offer them. When it was discovered what they were doing wars raged between us, some echoed in through the rest of the world, but others quietly in remote areas left devastated by our passing. When I realized we would not hope to prevail against them I too broke from our covenant, I sought out some of those cursed creatures that I had once battled and instead spoke with them. I felt, and so far I’ve been correct, that I could harness the power of their curse and keep it from controlling me. In return I could turn its devastating abilities on those who would see me and my duties ended. I have so far been able to control it, rather than the other way around, and have even been able to keep those who live with the curse under control so that they no longer pose a direct threat to humankind and now work to reverse the damage others like them once caused.
It is my hope to one day end the threat of those of my kind who have turned on humanity and then see about recreating our people and purpose. Until then I fight. I fight the influences of the other side across the globe and I hunt those who would see me dead and the evil we all once stood against run roughshod over the world we swore to protect.
I flipped off the TV and downed the last of the food from the kitchen. I was always hungry since I took on the curse, part of it driving my body to consistently burn through food and stay hungry, but I could keep my hunger to burgers or other foods and not fresh meat like the true werewolves. It wasn’t usually an issue, except when I was injured severely like I was earlier. Zombies are not known for being easy to kill, not real ones anyway. The movies often make them out to be much less of a threat than they really are. Even if I’d had that big of a chunk ripped from my leg by something mundane like a grenade, I wouldn’t have needed to feast to let my body heal, but that damned infection fought my body every step of the way till it was healed enough to overcome even that. I wiggled my toes and moved my foot around, no longer feeling even a twinge in my repaired calf muscles.
I got up and stretched, feeling my muscles and bones slowly revert to normal, leaving me looking once more like a normal human being rather than the anomaly I am. It was time to clean up the mess here and get moving before anyone realized what really happened. The powers that I still controlled as an immortal would allow me to lightly cloud what people saw or thought so that when they pulled the dead bodies of this family from the embers of their soon to be burning home they wouldn’t notice the tell tale signs of the unrestful dead in them. Everyone would mourn the passing of a normal family whose Dad fell asleep smoking on the couch and life would return to normal in this suburban area. I’d have to time things out right to get the baby out and not make it seem too contrived. It always works best if I can “rescue’ them right before the emergency crews arrive so I can hand him over and fade away before they can ask too many questions. Sadly, I do draw a decent amount of attention, especially around this time of year, but such are the dangers of being the embodiment of a legend in my own right.
*** *** *** ***
“And on the news tonight, an early gift for the holidays came this year when Lapland native, Nicholas Sami was driving through suburban Middleton just after midnight and saw a house quickly going up in flames. He called 911 from his cell phone, then ran to a window and managed to rescue 16 month old Michael Sanderson before the house was completely consumed in flames. Firefighters were able to control the blaze, but not before it had taken the lives of the rest of the Sanderson family. By the time our crews arrived on the scene Mr Sami had already left, citing his need to catch a plane to visit relatives, but firefighters said he would be easy enough to spot, as he was dressed in a bright red suit, and looked just like Santa Claus. Where ever you are right now Mr Sami, they send you their thanks. Cindy Margolis, channel 9 news.”
In contrast, it is something that is in my thoughts constantly. I am part of perhaps the most endangered of all creatures, perhaps even the most endangered because of choices I was forced to make to continue to even exist. I am one of four of my kind left on the earth, and the only one who has my peculiar condition. I am part of a race, or perhaps simply the term group is more accurate, of immortal beings who have existed for thousands of years dwelling on the fringes of society and, until a couple of hundred years ago, keeping humanity safe from an evil that exists just beyond its realm of comprehension. We worked individually, as we needed to in a world that had not yet conceived of such things as cell phones and the internet, finding locations in which the walls between worlds grew weaker and living there, shutting down any attempt by the beings that exist on the other side from crossing over.
It was that disconnection between us that came so very close to losing us the war, and still may be the end of us all. We had no way of knowing when something went wrong for each other, we hardly ever saw each other much less communicated on a regular basis. When several of our kind died off, we were caught flat footed and did not react in time. Yes, I know, I said we are immortal, and that is true. We do not grow older and will never die from such trivialities as disease or our body shutting down from old age. We are also very difficult to hurt in any significant way. Most of us were able to alter our physical bodies to make our job fighting those from the other side easier, and with that came a physical resilience that humans can never comprehend. However, we can be killed, it just takes a lot of effort to do so. Even if we are injured even to the point that a normal human would have died several times over, we will eventually recover, it just takes time. It was that one flaw that caused me to make a decision that makes me so unique.
We who once numbered in the thousands were reduced in number quickly when a group of just over two hundred of our kind decided they were tired of living in obscurity, being talked of only in myths and legends and decided to turn on the rest of us. They chose, willingly, to murder their brethren to gain the power that those on the other side could offer them. When it was discovered what they were doing wars raged between us, some echoed in through the rest of the world, but others quietly in remote areas left devastated by our passing. When I realized we would not hope to prevail against them I too broke from our covenant, I sought out some of those cursed creatures that I had once battled and instead spoke with them. I felt, and so far I’ve been correct, that I could harness the power of their curse and keep it from controlling me. In return I could turn its devastating abilities on those who would see me and my duties ended. I have so far been able to control it, rather than the other way around, and have even been able to keep those who live with the curse under control so that they no longer pose a direct threat to humankind and now work to reverse the damage others like them once caused.
It is my hope to one day end the threat of those of my kind who have turned on humanity and then see about recreating our people and purpose. Until then I fight. I fight the influences of the other side across the globe and I hunt those who would see me dead and the evil we all once stood against run roughshod over the world we swore to protect.
I flipped off the TV and downed the last of the food from the kitchen. I was always hungry since I took on the curse, part of it driving my body to consistently burn through food and stay hungry, but I could keep my hunger to burgers or other foods and not fresh meat like the true werewolves. It wasn’t usually an issue, except when I was injured severely like I was earlier. Zombies are not known for being easy to kill, not real ones anyway. The movies often make them out to be much less of a threat than they really are. Even if I’d had that big of a chunk ripped from my leg by something mundane like a grenade, I wouldn’t have needed to feast to let my body heal, but that damned infection fought my body every step of the way till it was healed enough to overcome even that. I wiggled my toes and moved my foot around, no longer feeling even a twinge in my repaired calf muscles.
I got up and stretched, feeling my muscles and bones slowly revert to normal, leaving me looking once more like a normal human being rather than the anomaly I am. It was time to clean up the mess here and get moving before anyone realized what really happened. The powers that I still controlled as an immortal would allow me to lightly cloud what people saw or thought so that when they pulled the dead bodies of this family from the embers of their soon to be burning home they wouldn’t notice the tell tale signs of the unrestful dead in them. Everyone would mourn the passing of a normal family whose Dad fell asleep smoking on the couch and life would return to normal in this suburban area. I’d have to time things out right to get the baby out and not make it seem too contrived. It always works best if I can “rescue’ them right before the emergency crews arrive so I can hand him over and fade away before they can ask too many questions. Sadly, I do draw a decent amount of attention, especially around this time of year, but such are the dangers of being the embodiment of a legend in my own right.
*** *** *** ***
“And on the news tonight, an early gift for the holidays came this year when Lapland native, Nicholas Sami was driving through suburban Middleton just after midnight and saw a house quickly going up in flames. He called 911 from his cell phone, then ran to a window and managed to rescue 16 month old Michael Sanderson before the house was completely consumed in flames. Firefighters were able to control the blaze, but not before it had taken the lives of the rest of the Sanderson family. By the time our crews arrived on the scene Mr Sami had already left, citing his need to catch a plane to visit relatives, but firefighters said he would be easy enough to spot, as he was dressed in a bright red suit, and looked just like Santa Claus. Where ever you are right now Mr Sami, they send you their thanks. Cindy Margolis, channel 9 news.”