Washed Up

By Chibi Hime

There was water all around him.

It rocked him back and forth over and over.

It was cold and wet.

He couldn't move.

Everything felt wrong.

Everything hurt.

He'd had the most horrible dream,

Then, he'd had that dream where he was falling.

His head throbbed more than anything ever had in his life. Its crushing pressure pulled him back to waking consciousness. Slowly, he eased an eye open, only to jam it back shut as the salty water stabbed his raw nerves like a knife. After another moment, he came to a terrifying realization. He was completely submerged, yet, he was breathing.

With a jolt of alarm, Kevin coughed and snapped awake. His mouthful of sea water made his throat constrict and he struggled for the surface.

It was a colossal mess. Nothing moved the way it was supposed to and he didn't feel like he made any progress towards the surface. Hell, he didn't even know where the surface was. He felt so heavy...like he couldn't move at all. Everything felt awfully swollen and too heavy. Something was wrong...but he'd worry about that after he got to the surface.

Fortunately, he didn't have to struggle long.

One of his oversized hands hit the gritty bottom of the bay. He struggled forward, dragging his body, pathetically, inch by inch forward. He collapsed in the shallows, feeling the cold waves wash over him.

He didn't know how long he lay there. The coldness of the water numbed him to the cries of pain every nerve in his body was screaming. Finally, he opened his eyes. What he saw made his stomach turn.

His...his hands,,,they weren't his.

They didn't even match. They looked like they had been thoughtlessly hacked off of two separate creatures, then grafted to his body. Something soft rubbed against his side. He screamed when he saw what it was. He had a complete second set of orange furred arms. Even his voice was alien. Rather than the shrill shriek of a child, it was the harsh bellow of an abomination against nature. He bit his tongue to keep himself from making that horrible sound again. He felt several sharp teeth dig into the muscle.

He trembled there in the shallow water. His shaking, furred hands carefully reached up to his face. He didn't know what he expected. It certainly hadn't been spared from his freakish transformation. His clawed fingers ran over a ridge in his face. He promptly slashed his cheek in aggravation. He felt warm blood leak out of the wound and drip into the water. He turned his head downward and looked into the icy bay. A strange, twisted face stared back at him. He slammed his two upper fists down onto the disgusting image. It failed to do any good, the water rippled and that hideous face...his hideous face just reappeared.

His mind reeled in panic. He tried...oh god, how he tried, to shift back to his human form. Not an inch of his monstrous body flinched or flickered. He really was stuck like this! He tried again...nothing. Kevin felt madness clawing at his mind, a formless red rage boiled just beneath his consciousness. He seized his hair in his upper hands. His stupid hair was the only thing that was even remotely human about him. He hated it. He hated everything.

Wait...he needed to calm down. If he calmed down, he might be able to shift back. He took several deep breathes. Then tried again.

Nothing.

Nothing. He was trapped in this foul shell. He was trapped for the rest of his life. He couldn't go anywhere. He couldn't be anywhere near normal people. He was condemned to an even more isolated existence for the rest of his life.

No.

Don't think about it. He mentally reprimanded himself. Think about something else. It doesn't have to make sense. It just has to not be about how miserable the rest of my life is going to be. If you think about that, you'll go insane. You'll become a mindless animal that will probably be shot on sight. Would that really be so bad, though?

No.

No, don't think like that. Don't think about it. Think about how to get even. Think about all the different ways you can kill Ben Tennyson. He left you, didn't he? He tainted you with genetic garbage and left you, just like everyone else.

Kevin shakily rose to a standing position. He stood uneasily, trying to find his balance with misshapen feet.

His mind focused intensely on thoughts of revenge. His red rage strayed away from mindless animosity and latched on to a tangible target. That target had a face and a name.

Ben Tennyson.

He'd kill him.

He'd rip his heart out of his chest.

Or worse.

He'd find a way to do..whatever it was that had happened to him! He'd make Tennyson into a bestial thing even more disgusting than he was.

It didn't make sense, but it kept him from going insane just thinking about what it would be like to spend the rest of his natural life as repulsive as he was.