The Fifth
The more things change, the more they stay
the same. I told them not to kill anyone and bring back body parts. They do
this over and over without any remorse. I lived in the country most all of my
life, until the recent years. Figured if bodies show up around where I live,
it’ll be easier to avoid suspicious eyes in the city. They don’t listen! But
they never had any aggressive feelings toward me, they protect me, really. They
are just sloppy with what they do. They will leave for days and come back
bloody and covered in gore. I’m sure they can wash off in the lake or river,
they don’t. I put them in the bathtub and wash them off when they get home.
It’s like our quality time. I kind of enjoy it. They’re so cute, you’d never
guess they need to feed once a week. They only weigh 10 pounds apiece, but need
to eat 80 pounds of human flesh a piece or they… I don’t know, they never got
that low before. They always find someone to kill. Well, hunt, I should say. I mean, they are eating what they kill.
*
I was only 23 when they first came into my
house looking for food… being me. It was around 3 am when they came. I was in
the study reading the newest King book “Cell,” when I heard something in the
kitchen. I turned my lamp off and picked up my .45, pulling back on the slide,
I ventured out into the dark and cold hallway. I heard low growls and high
pitch squeaks. I made it to the living room and looked around for shadows. There
were low shadows coming the glow of the kitchen. I ducked by the wall, keeping
to the shadows and made it to the kitchen. I crouched as low as I could and
peaked around the corner. There were 5 of them playing around. All furry with
different colors on their coats, except one. They were no taller than spider
monkeys. Floppy ears and big doe eyes. One was smiling so big, I could see what
looked like 100 needles for teeth. They had bright colorful coats of all colors,
but one was solid bright green. He was the first one to see me. He made a chirp
sound and turned completely black along with the rest of them. Little puffs of
smoke and they were gone. I jumped back and looked around the living area,
dining room and kitchen. Nothing was around. No traces of them either. I went
to the fridge and opened a can of beer. Sitting at the kitchen table, I thought
about what just happen and if it was real. I didn’t drink but a few glasses of
gin that night. I finished my beer and went back into the study and fell asleep
within a half hour. I woke up to them on top of me. I could barely see them in
the dark because they were still in their black coats. I knew the green one was
on top of me, his coat was solid black, and the others were just shades of
black because of the different colors of their coats. Green (that’s my name for
him) looked at me with his glowing eyes and huffed in my face. I huffed back
and that threw him off for a second, just enough time for me to get my .45 off
the arm of the chair and shoot the one by my foot. The blast took its arm off
and stunned the rest. I got out of my chair and pointed my gun to shoot again,
but they all turned to color again and went to the wounded one. All 4 of them
looked down and held hands (which only had 3 fingers, well, 2 fingers and 1
thumb), and started to make noises. Humming and whistling at the same time, the
wounded one started to fade away in a colorful smoke. When it was gone and the
smoke disappeared into the air, they came to me, slowly, and started to circle
me holding hands. They started to howl one at a time. One would get done, and
then the next one would go in a different pitch. Once the 4th one
howled for 3 seconds, the rest joined in to form a perfect harmonized note. It
was beautiful and they illuminated brilliantly. Colorful hair standing on end,
they all looked up into my eyes. My head on a swivel, I looked at each one
individually for a good while. I was mesmerized by them, I lost time, hours
maybe.
And we have been together ever since. They
don’t talk to me but I feel what they want and need. They communicate with
growls, chirps, purrs, huffs, smacking their mouths together and body gestures.
They have hidden powers I didn’t know about until recently, but let me not jump
the shark on the story.
*
I only had them for a week when I found
out what they were about. We were in the back yard and their coats went dull. I
asked what was wrong and Green looked at me with his glowing eyes and went
pitch black. The rest followed his que and they were gone. I spent the rest of
the day outside doing yard work, well, waiting for them. It was dark when I
noticed something flickering through my kitchen window. I ran inside and they
were in the kitchen with brand new coats. All brilliant colors and Green was
playing with all of them. All giggles and chirps. I noticed all of them were
wet on the front of their bellies. I asked for them to come to me so I can
check on them and when I reached down to pet Blue (I call him blue, but he
always comes back with a few patches of other colors) and noticed he had blood
all over him. I went onto Tiny (the fat one, I have no clue how he gets around
with the rest. Fat tummy and little chubby legs, but he manages to keep up) and
he is covered in blood and giggling. Rainbow (the 4th one is always
changing colors, seemed to fit) was standing proud covered from head to toe in
blood.
“What the fuck did you guys do?!” I
screamed at them.
Didn’t do any good, I just walked to the
bathroom and started a warm bath.
“I don’t know if you guys are cool with
water, but you need to be clean if you guys are going to stay with me. Now get
in the tub!” I said firmly.
They came around the hallway corner
dragging their arms and whimpering. Green and Blue wasn’t too happy about
getting in the tub. They slowly crawled into it. Rainbow stood in the corner
and wouldn’t move. Tiny was the last one to come into the bathroom, he ran and
jumped right into the bath, splashing the two. They started to chirp and
giggle, that made Rainbow comfortable enough to crawl in the tub. They played
and laughed the whole time. Happy critters in a bloody tub.
They were always happy, until they
weren’t. They would always leave every 6-10 days and come back bloody. After a
year they would start bringing back flesh with them. I never knew what it was
from, just thought they would go to the nearby farms and get some pigs. Then I
started to notice human fingers on my property. I would ask them and they would
be full and vibrant with a new coat, they didn’t pay attention.
They kept coming back bloody and with more
body parts I could count, so I figured it was time to move. In a small town,
it’s hard to keep a secret, so I moved to the city.
*
The first night I was in the city, they went
on a hunt. I just unpacked and waited for them to come back. I couldn’t tell
them not to bring back anything, because they did what they wanted. I am not
sure if they wanted me to get caught and go to jail, or just move again; I’m
not sure. They came back bloody as usual, body parts in the trash cans in the
alley.
“Why bring body parts back?!” I yelled
They just played and chirped until I gave
them a bath. Swimming in bloody water, I started to understand them. It wasn’t
just chirps and giggles anymore.
“Soon he will be one us, and we can
continue our mission. It won’t be long.” Green said.
I never heard them like this before. Later
that night, I noticed some black fur coming from my arms and legs. I normally
am not a hairy man, but this wasn’t hair, it was fur. I am hungry tonight for something I never craved before. I
can’t explain it. I want something.
*
I woke up with them and we all started to
play. Early morning hours tend to bring the spunk out of them. I’m not a
morning person, but I will be for them. Green stopped playing and went black.
He looked at everyone else and they went their own different shade of black.
“You are coming with.” Green said.
“I am not going with. I don’t even know
how you guys…”
That’s when we exploded into clouds of
smoke, the world went dark and everything turned into shadows. After going
through a dark tunnel, I was back into the physical world alongside them. We
ended up in a kitchen. The lights were out and I heard a woman coughing in the
far bedroom.
“What now?” I asked.
“We feed. She needs to be right though,
otherwise we get sick and won’t be able to eat for a few cycles. We are very
vulnerable during this time.” Green said.
Of course Green was completely black and
everyone else their own shades of black, I was back in my own skin. My fur is black and I have some black smoke
coming off of me from my ride. I could sense everything and feel the pressure
in the air. She was close and she was right for us, I could tell. My mouth
watering and my stomach growling, Green opened the door slowly. He didn’t have
to speak to us, we knew what he wanted us to do. We all got in our positions
and waited for his signal. I noticed a big sign above the bed that read, “Sue”
How fucking vain is this bitch? Tiny scrunched his nose and looked at me with
floppy ears.
“Do you smell that? I heard in my head
from Tiny.
“Yea, smells like rotten fish. Maybe
there’s an old fish dinner in the bag next to the bed.” I whispered to him.
Green looked at me with fierce eyes and
huffed. Tiny opened the bag and it was full of dildos and sex toys. She must
have never washed these things. The smell filled the whole room and she shifted
in her sleep. Green climbed the bed with his fit 2 foot tall frame and
straddled Sue. Tiny pushed the putrid bag of toys under the bed and grabbed
ahold of her right arm. Blue took her left arm from the other side of the bed.
Rainbow took her left leg and I took hold of her right leg next to Tiny. Green
was dark as night, hair on end and eyes were on fire. I never seen his eyes so
bright before. He put his hands on each side of her head and started to let out
a black stream of smoke from his mouth. The smoke blanketed her and she opened
her eyes, unable to move. She couldn’t speak, yell or anything. She just moved
her wide eyes all over the room, looking at each of us repeatedly. Green opened
his mouth and his teeth seemed the multiply into 100 skinny needles and bit her
throat out. Blood spraying from her open neck covered all of us in gore. They
all had their heads back with big smiles on their little faces. While Sue was
still alive, they started to pull off her limbs. Tiny ripped off her right arm
at the elbow, Blue took her left arm at the shoulder, Rainbow took Sue’s foot
and I was fucking shocked! I didn’t know what to do. I can’t rip off limbs like
that, I had no clue how they were doing it.
“Look at yourself.” Green said.
I looked down, I was covered in black fur
and I was looking Rainbow at eye level. I turned into one of them and I tore
that leg off from the hip and started to feed. Nothing tasted better in my
whole life and I never felt more alive. We fed on Sue until there was nothing
left but her ugly head and bones. We rolled around in the blood and gore, then
left. Taking body parts with us as a prize.
Back home in my kitchen, we were covered
in blood. I locked eyes with Green and slowly started to grow back to my normal
height. I gave them a bath and I took a shower after they were clean. I needed
that time to reflect on what the fuck happen. I had to use a whole bottle of
shampoo because I still was covered head to toe with black fur. Luckily it was
gone before I went to bed.
*
I woke up with them on the bed looking at
me. Fresh new coats, they were almost neon in color. I looked at my arms and I
was me again. Not one fur patch on them. Green pulled my arm to get me out of
bed, so I got out and stood next to it. The morning sun was flooding my room
when Green called the others. They all got around me and connected hands. As
soon as Blue closed the circle by grabbing Tiny’s hand, everything went black like
it did when we went hunting. We were in a foggy, shadowy place. This was my
room, everything was there and wasn’t at the same time. They had their eyes
closed and heads back. I heard someone start whispering in a language I didn’t
understand, then I heard another, then another, before I knew it; there were
what sounded like tens of thousands of voices all talking at once. Some
whispering, some shouting from the distance. Some sounded like they were
screaming through water, others like they were in mile long tunnels.
“Do you hear them?” Green asked without
moving his mouth.
“Yes… Who are they? What are they saying?”
I asked.
“They are former members of us. We call
ourselves, Tiou.”
“What happen to them? You call yourselves,
“Tiou?” I asked.
“They died, but live here and help us that
still remain in the physical world get around in this world.”
“Why are you showing me this?”
“We for thousands of years, always needed
a Fifth. Without the fifth we are weak, and can die easily. The one you shot in
the arm couldn’t eat for a few cycles and was weak, that’s why he died. He went
hunting without me and ate someone not right for us. So, you killing him, makes
you the Fifth.” Green said.
“Where did you come from? Aliens?”
“I wish. We were pets and keepers of tombs
in Egypt. We traveled through all those tunnels within the Pyramids protecting
the dead and eating slaves that couldn’t work anymore. Our father,
Shepseskaf-Ankh was the head Physician and Magic Man that made us immortal. He
was very close to the King, so he had all the power in the world. After the
fall of Egypt, we left and roamed the earth. Feeding on people that are right
for us. We need the right people...”
“Or you get sick, I know. Do I have a
choice? I mean, I wasn’t living the best life but I kind of want to stay
human.” I said.
“No. You killed one of us, his life force
and spell entered you already. It’s time we bring that out of you. You will
become your own version of Tiou. From the looks of last night, you will always
stay black. Physically stronger than any of us, you will be the Fifth and new
leader.”
They all opened their glowing eyes and
started to sing. Each one held their note out and formed that chord I heard the
first night I met them. I felt pressure in my entire body and felt heat coming
from the Tiou. The world was getting pitch black, then a brilliant flash
blinded me. I squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could until everything went
quiet. I slowly opened them to look Green right in his big eyes. I was back in
my bedroom with the morning sun bouncing off of my new shiny black coat. I
never felt more alive in my life. I guess that’s something I will have to get
used to.
*
It has been quite some time since I transformed.
Ate a lot of people and witnessed things I thought never existed. But, we
cannot stay here any longer. There is no one left to eat in this country. We
have to move to the other side of the world for worry free nutrition. The only
people we can eat are descendants of Egyptian slaves. The hunt begins.
So, when you come in this apartment
looking for me and why I haven’t paid rent… This is why.
The End
