Azad had loomed over me, yelling at me to change back to my human form. His skin had the same bright pink sunburnt hue to it, and his huge swollen muscles bulged, and steam continued to rise off his frame. My eyes forced themselves shut. When I opened them again Azad had gone.

  How long had I closed my eyes for? One second? Five minutes?

  The corridor seemed all the more dark given my eyes had ceased being heightened. The abandoned torchlight attachments to the Pied Piper officer's rifles continued to strobe, as if there were faulty, open electrical circuits sparking up nearby.

  Another slow closing and opening of my eyes.

  Azad returned, holding Xandra in his arms. She looked easy to carry given she no longer had legs below the knees; charred strips of flesh there instead. A large portion of the right side of her face had been burnt severely too. Her eyes were open, searching, the right eye bloodshot. Her gaze fixed on me. She tried to speak but either I couldn't hear her or she couldn't muster the words.

  "Change back!" Azad yelled at me, "If you don't I'll have to leave you behind!"

  I really wanted this warning to strike home.

  Fine, a part of me thought, I've had enough of this.

  Rest was far from my mind. It was like I was one giant exposed nerve where even the slightest touch of the stagnant corridor air was like a razor being scraped over an open scab.

  Can I even change back? I wondered.

  Did Adam ever change back? Beaten by Blain and rendered unconscious, still in his were-lion form, he had been subjected to horrible medical procedures at the hands of Dr. Abdullah.

  Holly had died in her were-cougar form, pierced through the throat with a stake-like piece of wood driven through by Walter's vibrating hands.

  George. He had reverted back to normal, in the laundry room. He had lost himself to the power and had returned to himself.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Could I do the same?

  Did I care?

  Azad looked about cautiously, trying to decide if he might leave or stay just a bit longer.

  My eyes rolled in my head as I searched within myself to figure how to inspire the want to change back in the first place. I was so far away from myself it was as if I were adrift at sea, far off from any lands, known or unknown. A feeling of peace, as if I might let myself sink into the watery depths and be forgotten by everyone and everything.

  Mum.

  A distant island. A reason to keep going.

  Got to get home to Mum.

  Was I really going to let the night of the evacuation be the last time I saw my mother?

  Almost there, but it wasn't going to be enough.

  Another slow blink, and when I opened my eyes again Azad was gone.

  Had he abandoned me after all? Did I take too long?

  So be it, I thought, It was a miracle I got out of the Wedder Gorge facility in the first place. I've done well to survive this long. That's an achievement to be proud of.

  I thought of Dad. I wondered if he would be proud of me.

  Beyond fear, beyond sadness, and resignation to my fate; the gulf of nothingness threatening to swallow me whole.

  An image. Clear, crisp. A memory. My friend. There, sat in the dark at the far end of the bench. Our last night walk.

  Life!

  Why the thought of my friend renewed me with life I didn't know. But it didn't matter. I felt the power, like lightning in my veins, surging, bold and hot; renewing.

  "Return, Burgess."

  It was my friend's voice. The words which sprang into my mind at that moment weren't real, and instead were only from my imagination. But the words were solid enough for me to grasp.

  The words of my friend continued. I knew him so well I knew just what he would say.

  "You're really going to die in a place like this? Is this all you're made of? That's not the Burgess O'Bannon I know."

  Pain, an unbearable ache. Repugnance of everything which had kept me down on the ground feeling sorry for myself. My body trembled.

  "C'mon, Burgess," I heard my friend say, "Get up already."

  I rose like a reanimating corpse. The more I picked myself up, the more the monster I became slipped away. My arms receded to a normal length, though still without hands and frost-burned.

  My severely wounded body lost its fur and muscle, bit by bit, little by little, until finally I was back to myself.

  Just Burgess.

  Lost my footing. Couldn't stay upright. Falling backwards.

  A muscled arm wrapped around me, stopping my fall.

  "I've got you."

  It's Azad.

  He turned me about, so that I could see the back of his head.

  "Hold on," he said.

  I did as Azad asked, wrapping my arms around his neck.

  Azad bounded off, hurtling himself, me, and Xandra in his arms, along the corridor.

  My eyes forced themselves shut again.

  "i'll get us out of here," said Azad, "I'll get us somewhere safe."

  I held on tighter.