REND

Sharp pain radiated from the short blade embedded in my back like thorny vines growing into my flesh—a minuscule addition to my mountain of suffering.

I snarled at the woman in white. Bitch! Get down here so I can bite your head off! I struggled to keep holding myself up with my broken arm. My other arm was uncooperative, and all my legs could manage was weakly wriggling on the ground like a seal on dry land. Healing was going to take time.

And I didn’t have time.

There were so many enemies I should eat! Instead of hunting them, my useless, pathetic ass was busy dying.

“Here,” called out the woman who threw the knife at me. This time, she had a different object in her hand. A cylindrical item filled with something red…wonderful, appetizing red that made my stomach grumble in anticipation.

What was that? I wanted to eat that. The same mouthwatering red covered her arm as well…dripping down…

“Catch this,” she said, throwing the object at me just as some people dragged her away from the top of the fence.

I was mesmerized by the falling cylinder as if it was the most precious ruby in the world. Gathering all my strength, ignoring the protests from my failing body, I squirmed across the ground using my elbows to drag my body forward so I could catch it in my mouth.

Warm liquid filled my mouth as my fangs pierced the cylinder, more delicious than hot cocoa with marshmallows during a cold Christmas eve by the fireplace. I hungrily gulped down the liquid as if my throat was parched. The warmth spread throughout my body and filled it with renewed vigor. My hazy thoughts began to clear up, everything was coming back.

Who I was. What I was doing here…the backup plan…Deen…

Deen!

You’re indeed a great friend! Not that she knew my true identity with my transformation on.

She was the ace up my sleeve. If I'd get too injured and couldn’t eat my enemy for whatever reason, I'd need another source of food to replenish myself. She just had to attack me and ‘donate’ a part of her for me to eat. Blood was the easiest to give. Earlier, I handed her a pocketknife so she could attack me from afar. It was also her means of wounding herself. She'd then pour her blood in the empty bottle I gave her and throw it to me.

And she pulled through!

When I formulated my plan, I banked on the Guardian Angel helping me out for the sake of Deen not getting caught. If I got caught, Deen would surely be next. However, it did occur to me that when the time came for me to fight, the Guardian Angel might tell Deen to run away and leave me behind. If I was going to lose, what better time to escape than with me far away from her?

Which was why I brought her down to watch the people getting killed.

She wanted to be a hero? Sure, I believe her. But heroics and bravery couldn’t do anything here, and she knew that. Deen wasn’t stupid enough to try to save these people and risk herself getting captured or killed, and possibly end up with all the others getting caught as well.

And so, guilt would build up inside her while she helplessly watched innocent people die. An idealistic view of heroism…taking on the burden no one told her to. It was a simple matter of offering that I do the heroics in her stead. I was actually surprised she was the one who approached me first.

With our arrangement in place, she certainly wouldn’t leave me behind even if her Guardian Angel told her to do so. Also, it'd embolden her to draw her own blood because I knew she might hesitate to wound herself.

As I pushed myself up, I found there was some icky stuff sticking on my hands. Slivers of flesh, slime and blood, small bone fragments. Nasty, very much so, but, oh, they looked so appetizing. I licked them off. More of this, please.

I bounced on the balls of my feet, psyching myself up. I cracked my necked and rolled my shoulders. That probably didn’t do anything, but that was what the main characters did when it was time for an epic comeback.

“You go, girl!” someone shouted above me. A woman in red cheered from the crowd of onlookers. More and more people went down to watch instead of staying in their seats and staring at the huge screens. “Show these men how it’s done!” she said.

“I’m betting on you!” said a man banging on the glass wall. “Don’t lose on me now.”

“Kill it!”

“Give us a good show!”

This must be the most exciting time they had in a while. There was no way the 2Ms would actually allow their customers to fight the stronger mutants that could kill them. Not good for business. Plus, these were important, rich, and powerful people; any of them suddenly disappearing would present problems.

I waved at them. You’re all on the menu.

Now, where was Mr. Ogre? I spotted it walking back to the large steel door it pried open to enter the arena, massaging its gun-mace arm.

Thanks for the second life, Deen, but I was now back to my previous problem. Impenetrable skin.

And I confirmed it also had insanely fast regeneration. In the short period it pulled me off its head, swatted me away like a baseball, and the few seconds I tried to regain my bearings, it was able to regenerate enough of its eyes to aim its cannon at me.

I examined my claws and tutted. I had to go for the eyes agai—the bits of flesh and bones on my palm…

Hyper regeneration? A light bulb switched on inside my head.

This meant…endless food!

Mr. Ogre noticed me closing in only when I was less than a dozen feet away. The gun didn’t have enough time to charge and shoot at me. It was left with no choice but to attempt to smash me with its mace. I perfectly timed a front flip to get out of its way. Even if I haven’t done any flips or somersaults for years, my incredibly athletic and powerful body more than made up for my rustiness. It was just like learning how to ride a bike; the skill stays with you.

I dodged the mace and the hand trying to grab me. I caught its arm and clambered back up to Mr. Ogre’s head. Round two, big guy, I thought as I stuck my claws into its eye sockets.

It roared in pain.

With my left hand securing my position like a grappling hook, I pulled out my right hand from inside its head. My prize—a fistful of eyeball chunks. I shoved them greedily into my mouth before I could think how disgusting it was. Slimy, with a bit of chew. Pretty bland, could use some salt. I thrust my claws back to scoop for more fleshy goodies. Nothing could satisfy my cravings.

As I gorged on Mr. Ogre’s eyeball that kept on regenerating, my strength exponentially grew. Wah! My own body was actually growing. The hoodie I wore turned into a lush, deep crimson, coat of fur, mingling with my already wild hair of red and gold. Pretty soon I looked like I had a lion's mane. Muscles enlarged, my limbs extended like a child’s growth spurt compressed in seconds.

Strength! Power! Pain?

There was no pain.

Mr. Ogre was pulling me off once again. There was no way I was letting myself get removed this time. It tried to crush my body with its monstrous grip, but my tensed muscles held firm, my bones unbreakable. My prey posed no threat to me.

BAM!

My entire body rattled as something hard and pointy slammed onto my back. I growled in irritation. Can't a girl eat in peace around here?

BAM! BAM! WHAM!

So distant. Everything else besides eating my prey felt distant. I knew it was hitting me with its gun-mace, but I didn’t care. I probably should. I didn’t.

My body shuddered after each impact and I nearly lost my grip on its head. The spikes on the mace bit into my back. Some of them broke off, stuck in my flesh. I held on even tighter and continued with my meal, steadily scooping out Mr. Ogre’s right eye as it regenerated.

After a few more hits, Mr. Ogre paused. No doubt it was disoriented from clubbing itself even though I was between the mace and its own head. It tried to close its eyes. I couldn’t pierce its eyelids because of its power, but it was easy to pry it open with my claws.

A guttural cry escaped its mouth. Pain and suffering of the prey—meaningless. The revolting thought of opening its mouth and eating it from the inside crossed my mind as I reached the back of its eye socket. Wasn’t the brain here as well? I had to get to the brain to stop its powers. That should've been my first thought. But what actually first came to my mind was more food.

Perhaps sensing I was aiming to break through to its brain, Mr. Ogre wildly shook its head and resumed pounding me with its fist and gun-mace. I had to hold on with all my strength. Then the gun whirred to life.

It aimed the gun at me. I released my hold on its head and clamped my jaws on the barrel just as it opened fire. Incredible heat filled my mouth. Bullets ricocheted around my indestructible teeth, sending concussions up my skull. Other bullets went through the left side of my face, boring holes through my cheeks and jaw muscles.

BITE DOWN!

BOOM! The gun exploded when I closed the barrel through the sheer force of my bite.

I hung on to Mr. Ogre’s arm, tearing away the metal device attached to it with my teeth and claws. I was seeing several copies of the world, white noise filled my ears, my brain barely able to think after being sloshed around my skull by the impact of the gunfire in my mouth and the subsequent explosion.

In a split second of momentary clarity, I realized some bolts secured the gun-mace to its arm. I bit them off and howled in triumph as I pulled the gun-mace from the end of its arm. I dropped to the floor, hugging the weapon. It was filled with unfamiliar mechanisms. Assorted gears and cylinders, complicated wirings, and curious vials of liquid. No bullets? And how did it fire the cannon?

Mr. Ogre ambled away from me, hollering like a grievously injured cow. The stump where the gun-mace was previously attached was bleeding.

“Go down all of you!” someone on a loudspeaker said. “Secure Unit EM03 and capture the intruder.”

Several men with guns watching from the sides jumped over the glass fence and dropped into the arena. A few of the steel doors opened with more men flooding in. Several of them carried bulky devices that didn’t look like guns. A few wore armor, probably illegal ComExo units from the black market.

They were forming a wide circle around me.

No…

They were going to steal my food!

Mr. Ogre! You’re mine!

I bounded after my prey and latched on to its arm. Surprise and delight filled my heart as I saw bleeding, meaty flesh unprotected by the annoying skin where the gun-mace used to be. I wanted to partake of the feast, but a small nagging voice at the back of my head told me to eat the skin first.

I bit down the mutant’s arm. But my massive fangs couldn’t penetrate the skin. Inedible shit. Oh, well. Moving on to the flesh as intended. I heaved with all my might and pulled Mr. Ogre down to the ground like a lion taking down a buffalo. It struggled against me. I didn’t let go of my prey. I chomped and chewed its exposed flesh as it thrashed around.

It lifted me then slammed me down hard, cracking the ground. I was numb to pain. All I wanted was to eat. The thoughts of food began pushing all coherence out of my mind. I started to snicker while I ate. This was like eating a burrito with an inedible tortilla and with infinite meat inside. Hehehehe…Burritos are awesome. What was I supposed to be doing here again?

“Shoot her! Unit EM03 won’t be affected.” Multiple mosquito bites plagued my body.

“Sir, it’s not doing anything.”

“Try electroshock weapons.”

“It's just eating and growing. The fuck is this shit?”

Voices. Annoying. I paused mid-bite to look at the people closing in and attacking me.

Food? Lesser prey. I finish this one first.

They kept on pelting me with pebbles and tickling me. I ignored the nuisance. Plenty of room in my stomach for them later.

“Sir, Unit EM03 is dying. It’s peeling the skin off and—"

“Don’t you think I can’t see that with my own eyes? There’s no way we can capture this alive.”

“It will turn to us after it's finished with Unit EM03.”

“ComExo forward. Eliminate the threa—What was that?!”

I grew bigger. Bigger than my prey. Or was my prey getting smaller? Duh, I was eating it. Of course, it'd get smaller. The puny men around me scrambled around. They were no threat so I let them be. Maybe the shaking of the earth frightened the weak creatures?

“We’re under attack, Sir! The emergency detonation of the elevator shaft was triggered!”

“Attacked? By who?”

“The BID! Agents are trying to get down here!”

I felt like the voices were talking about something I should care about. But I could barely process what they were saying. It didn’t concern me. My prey had finally given up struggling. I happily continued with my meal as shouting, explosions, and fighting engulfed the cavern.