Colin stayed hidden inside of Kristy’s pocket. They were all in the squad car of officer Higgins and they were racing out of town. Special agent Holly wasted no time, interrupting Jenny’s debriefing and announcing to everyone to try and make it as far out of town as possible. They had grabbed Kristy and Jenny and by proxy, Colin too, since he had been hidden on Kristy’s person.

  They sped down the roads, trying to reach the highway, but there was already a traffic jam of cars trying to escape.

  The looped announcement from Merrin had reached far further than just around the Water-plant and it had caused mass panic.

  Colin wasn’t sure what the threat would do if Merrin followed through, but Kristy and Jenny had been drinking the water in this town for years, so it couldn’t be anything good for them. A mixed batch of conflicting feelings swirled inside of him. On one hand, he was reunited with his family after regaining his memories of them, on the other, his family was in danger and he was genuinely afraid he couldn’t protect them again.

  He tried to sense any Hypnosites inside of their bodies, but Colin found nothing. It made him worry less, but he didn’t feel like sharing the information just in case it misled everyone and caused them to make a bad choice.

  “Finally,” Higgins said as the traffic moved forward, the anxiety pulsing from him was palpable.

  “I’m not sure we’re going to make it,” Special Agent Holly said to Higgins, the concern for Higgins was a powerful pulse. It felt similar to how Colin felt for his family and it helped lessen the fear he felt towards Holly from their prior encounters. Less potent, but still notable was her concern for Kristy and Jenny.

  “What else can we do? There’s no way to run on foot in this area.” Higgins said, his head dropped and Colin could tell he was on the verge of tears, but willfully holding them back, “I was really looking forward to that date, you know.”

  Holly reached out, grabbed Higgins’s hand and said, “Hey, we still have a chance. What if the announcement is a bluff?”

  “If we can’t escape town, then why don’t we try to stop this Merrin lady?” Kristy chimed in. She sounded confident, but she felt just as scared as everyone else.

  Holly and Higgins looked in the back at Kristy and at the same time both said, “How?”

  “Well… Don’t hurt him please. Colin, I think you should introduce yourself.” Kristy said.

  “If you’re sure,” Colin said as he nervously climbed out of Kristy’s pocket.

  Higgins and Holly jumped at the sound of his voice. Their eyes went wide as they watched Colin transform into a chicken and nestle into Kristy’s lap.

  “What the hell?” Higgins said.

  “I’d like to introduce you to my husband, Colin.” Kristy said in a calming voice.

  “Your husband? So the monster hanging around your house,” Holly said thoughtfully, “Oh Colin, I’m so sorry. You’re like one of the Gilberts.”

  Colin shook his head, “No they had it much worse. I’m free. They were not.”

  Kristy cleared her throat and spoke up, “Anyway, Colin can sense the world around him, and psychically communicate to people. I was thinking that if you describe Merrin to him and we drive around her general area, then we might be able to find and stop her.”

  “I actually met Merrin, she’s the one who introduced me to the experiments and later had me killed,” Colin said, realizing how strange it was after saying it out loud.

  Kristy had a deep sadness roll over her.

  “I can help too!” Jenny said in excitement. She was the most unfazed from this entire situation. She actually seemed to be having fun, “It’s like we get to play spies.”

  Holly looked at Higgins for only a moment before determination set in, “I think this is our only shot. The traffic out isn’t letting up, we only have thirty minutes at this point. This lets us not only save ourselves, but potentially the entire town.”

  Higgins gripped the steering wheel hard enough for his knuckles to go white, “I’m so scared right now. I’ve seen what these people are capable of doing, but I also trust your judgement.”

  Higgins flipped on the sirens and turned the car around in the middle of traffic. Luckily, he was in the left lane and the roads in the other direction were entirely cleared. He slammed his foot on the gas and sped back towards the water-plant.

  Colin expanded his range of senses and with Holly’s instructions of the highest likely hiding spots for Merrin, they scanned the area.

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  With five minutes left to go, Jenny shouted, “I found her!”

  “Jenny’s right. That’s her. She’s underground just below us,” Colin said as he detected Merrin’s life pulse a second later.

  Colin felt panic rise and his stomach dropped as he sensed Merrin’s emotions. She was detecting them too and just realized Colin spotted her.

  “Oh my god,” Colin said with horror flooding through his every vein. He was helpless to stop Merring as she reached out to something in front of her and the looped announcement stopped.

  “Time’s up!” Merrin screamed over the speakers.

  Before anyone could react, a terrible frequency blasted out in a reverberating assault. It felt sinister and tempting to Colin as it beckoned to the instinctual side of him that had been his primary ruler until recently.

  Hungry.

  Quietly the demand whispered to Colin to give into the urge of the feast, but it was shoved down instantly the moment he heard his wife and daughter scream. Their bodies along with Higgins convulsed in a heart wrenching manner. They were puppets with their strings being yanked on.

  Colin felt a familiar pulse stir within Jenny and Kristy. Something he had bested in battle once before. Something in Colin stirred and he dove into action while shouting two words:

  “No pain!”

  Colin released his chicken form and launched his liquid self in a wide net at Higgins, Kristy, and Jenny. Colin felt the Hypnosites within the three of them activate and he realized why he couldn’t sense them earlier. They were ground into dust and were not a cohesive whole. Something in the frequency was forcing the dust to slowly gather and assimilate. The larger formations were cellular in size and as they grew, they tried to wrestle for control, for growth.

  Colin channeled his protective rage and locked every shred of the hypnosite particles down with a mental command.

  They obeyed.

  The tiny, broken down Hypnosites thankfully did not feel like what happened to the Gilberts, but it was terrible in its own right. It felt like the cancer he had eaten out of Kristy a few days ago and he wondered if the hypnosites in the water is what caused Kristy’s cancer to begin with.

  HUNGRY

  The demand was growing beyond a whisper. It was fighting for control and the only thing holding it back was Colin’s love for his family. His need to keep them safe was holding on for now.

  HUNGRY!

  Fine. If the hunger needed to feed, Colin would feed it. He gave in and devoured every single spec of hypnosite particles inside of Kristy, Jenny, and Higgins.

  As the last scraps were devoured, his family stopped screaming, but his hunger wasn’t satisfied. The frequency continued to blast out and Colin whimpered in fear of what he would do.

  HUNGRY!

  Now that he’d given in, Colin was losing the fight against his hunger. Instinct wanted him to consume everything within reach and the brains and spines of the four people in the car with him shone with a nutritious light.

  “Help!” Colin screamed as he connected to Kristy and Jenny in desperation. He couldn’t do this alone. He needed his family. It was all he could do to maintain his connection to Jenny and Kristy.

  HUNGRY!

  As he lost control of himself to the hunger, Colin shifted into a mix of a snake and alligator and lunged at Higgins. He’d been the only one to pass out and was the easiest prey.

  Holly screamed and reached for her gun.

  “No!” Jenny shouted, “Down!”

  Before Colin could take a bite, his body locked up. Not of his own choice, but by the mental power of Jenny. Colin’s opening himself to Jenny allowed her to take control of him.

  A shot rang out as Holly shot Colin.

  A howl escaped from between Colin’s fangs as the pain nearly drove him to break free from Jenny’s control.

  “Please wait! Don’t shoot!” Kristy begged Holly.

  Thankfully, Holly didn’t shoot a second time, but she kept the gun trained on Colin. “Why the hell shouldn’t I?”

  Colin, still frozen, with his rows of fangs and teeth barred at the unconscious Higgins, growled out one word, “Help.”

  “Change to a chicken,” Jenny commanded with a bleeding nose and Colin obeyed.

  HUNGRY!

  The instinct fought against Jenny, fought to feast, but Colin pushed with everything he had left to keep the connection open.

  Suddenly, a wave of calm rushed over him.

  Hungry

  An emotion of love, so powerful, rushed through every fiber of his being and suddenly, his instinct to feed started to fade. It was pulsing out from Kristy along the connection.

  hungry

  Kristy locked eyes with Colin and he felt certain at that moment that everything would be okay. When she spoke, it was directed at Holly, “Please just give us a chance.”

  “Okay, but if he turns into that dragon thing, I’m unloading the whole clip into him,” Holly said as she lowered the gun.

  Jenny passed out from exertion and lost control of Colin.

  Colin’s blood soaked, feathered form stayed locked still. He didn’t need to be forced to be still. The love pulsing from Kristy was enough to still the raging beast within. No amount of hunger or instinct would ever compare to the power emanating from Kirsty. Colin felt his bullet wound heal with shock. He wasn’t sure how she did it, but he knew this too was the work of Kristy.

  The frequency continued to blast outside, but Kristy’s emotional connection with Colin kept it at bay.

  Colin wasn’t sure how long it took the frequency to fade, but when it did, Kristy collapsed in exhaustion.

  Only Colin and Holly remained conscious. Colin blinked a few times, then bowed his head towards Kristy, “Thank you.”

  Colin looked between Jenny and Kristy with such pride and gratitude. He knew he still wasn’t enough to overcome his own instincts, but with his family supporting him, their love would always be enough to overcome the monster.

  “Holy shit,” Holly said, looking out the window of the car.

  “What?” Colin said, but didn’t move from his spot or change, just in case he spooked Holly.

  Holly didn’t turn her eyes away from the window when she answered, “I don’t think other people got as lucky as us. There’s so much smoke in the distance. I think the entire town is on fire.”

  A special thanks to chickenfriedrice and fatheroftherichnight for their lovely reviews of the story.