Chapter-2 The Hunger Stirs

Frederique staggered back from the cracked pavement, her breath coming in ragged bursts, her mind a blur.

The jagged, unnatural bite marks in the street seemed to mock her, their edges rough and torn as if something had gnawed through the very asphalt itself, leaving a jagged gash in the earth. The patterns were too chaotic, too wild to have been caused by any ordinary force.

' I didn't do that. I couldn't have.'

But as she looked down at her hands, trembling with rawness, her fingers scraped and cut as though they'd been clawing at the ground itself, the painful evidence told a different story. Her teeth ached, the sharpness of them almost unbearable.

It wasn't just the sensation of being hungry... it was something deeper, more primal, gnawing away at her from the inside.

The hunger was different now.

More urgent.

More desperate.

A chill swept through her. The cold wind stung against her bare feet, but the sensation felt distant, as if she were numb to everything but the gnawing ache in her gut.

She felt a knot tightening inside her chest, deep and unrelenting, like a visceral longing that couldn't be ignored. Her body hurt... her legs felt weak, her mind clouded by a deep, suffocating ache that had nothing to do with exhaustion. It was the kind of pain that came from something hungry, something dark, something that called for more.

' Feed.'

The voice in her mind was unmistakable, but it wasn't her own. It was foreign, distant, but it felt almost like it was inside her, crawling through her thoughts like a whisper just behind her ear. It was insistent, hungry, unyielding.

"No," she gasped, her voice trembling as she clutched her stomach in a feeble attempt to calm the storm rising inside her.

"Stop. Please."

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, to make sense of the chaos that was slowly overtaking her. The hunger was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. It was a constant, gnawing presence that seemed to drag at the very core of her being, pulling at her will.

' I need to get home. I can figure this out when I'm safe.'

The thought was the only thing keeping her grounded.

Home.

Three blocks.

Just three blocks to her house.

She could make it there.

She had to.

But as she tried to move, each step felt heavier than the last.

The pavement beneath her feet was rough and unforgiving, the sharp stones cutting into her skin as if the ground itself was trying to keep her from moving forward. She could feel the blood rising to the surface of her feet, the heat of the pavement sinking deep into her bones.

But it didn't matter.

She had to move.

She had to get away from whatever was hunting her.

With each step, the hunger twisted tighter inside her, pulling her down, sinking its claws into her very soul.

The air around her grew heavier, thick with an oppressive weight, as though the world itself was pressing in on her.

And then...

A sound broke through the silence.

A soft, almost imperceptible step on the pavement behind her.

Frederique spun around, her heart hammering in her chest.

Nothing.

There was no one there.

The street was empty, save for the flickering streetlights casting long shadows across the road.

She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

She wasn't alone, though.

She could feel it.

She could feel something watching her, just out of sight.

' Am I losing my mind?'

She turned back toward home, desperation clawing at her. But when she looked up, her heart stopped.

A figure stood at the far end of the street, just beyond the reach of the dim streetlight.

At first, it seemed like a trick of the light... something out of place in the shadows.

But no.

It was real.

A man... or at least, it looked like one.

Tall and gaunt, his skin stretched tight over sharp cheekbones, his body unnaturally still. His eyes... glowing faintly in the dark... were like embers behind glass, flickering and cold.

He wasn't moving.

He was just... watching her.

His gaze felt like ice, cutting through the darkness, locking onto her like a predator watching its prey.

Fear surged through her veins, cold and sharp. Her heart thudded against her chest as the instinct to flee hit her like a wave.

' Run.'

But her legs wouldn't respond. Her body was frozen in place, rooted to the spot as though the very ground was holding her captive.

She wanted to scream, but no sound came from her mouth.

The hunger was too loud, too overwhelming, drowning out everything else.

The figure at the end of the street tilted its head, an eerie, unnatural motion that sent a chill crawling down her spine.

Then... slowly, deliberately... it smiled.

The grin was wide and disturbing, stretching impossibly across its face, revealing rows of needle-sharp teeth glistening in the dim light. The smile wasn't a smile at all.

It was something darker.

A warning.

A promise.

' Run.'

Frederique's body seemed to come alive on its own.

Her feet moved before she could think, her body propelled by pure instinct, her heart thundering in her chest. She sprinted, her breath ragged in her lungs, her limbs burning as she pushed herself faster than she'd ever run before. The wind howled past her, her feet barely touching the ground as the pavement blurred beneath her.

But no matter how fast she ran, the thing behind her... whatever it was... was still there, following her, closing in.

' Faster! '

The hunger surged again, an urgent, raw demand that filled her senses, overwhelming every thought. It wasn't just the need for food... it was something darker.

Something primal.

The hunger had awakened a deeper part of her, a part that recognized the chase.

The predator.

And then...

The scent hit her.

Copper.

Blood.

Sharp and raw.

Frederique stumbled to a halt, her feet dragging to a stop.

She didn't know why. She couldn't explain it, but the scent was overpowering, overwhelming.

It gripped her by the throat, making her head spin. She didn't care that she was running for her life. She didn't care that something... someone... was hunting her.

The only thing that mattered was the scent.

' Eat.'

She could hear the voice again, louder now, clearer than ever before. It wasn't just a whisper anymore. It was a command. An order.

Her head snapped toward the source of the scent, her eyes narrowing.

A cat.

Its limp body lay in the street, blood pooling around it, the remnants of its life still fresh in the air. It had been hit by a car, its tiny body broken and helpless.

But it didn't matter.

It was food.

It was there.

' No.'

Frederique staggered back, her stomach lurching with disgust and hunger all at once.

She clutched her stomach as nausea swirled inside her, her body fighting against the need, against the urge to consume.

"What...what's happening to me...?" Her voice was hoarse, barely a whisper.

She wasn't sure if she was asking herself or the world around her. She wasn't sure if there was anyone left to answer her.

The voice inside her whispered again, this time soft but unmistakable.

" You're not alone."

The pale man was gone, his figure swallowed by the darkness, but his presence lingered in the air like a shadow.

The hunger still clung to her, insistent, waiting, watching.

And Frederique realized, with a sickening clarity, that it would never leave her.

Not now.

Not ever.