Shane the Pain

         Shane Marlow made his way down the mountain at an even tempo with hardly a sweat. He had plenty of time to waste, so he didn’t run any more than necessary. The plan had gone pretty well so far; the work release project had left him alone with Jose Riaz, a small time thief who was all too easy to silence with a claw hammer. Careless construction workers were everywhere at the site so he could have just as easily used a handsaw, but the hammer had just spoken to him. He wasn’t called Shane the Pain for nothing, but he did regret leaving Jose in such a mess. Nice kid, way too trusting. Not being a contract hit, Jose had simply been one more piece in his freedom puzzle. Ten years had been enough. He had new plans now.

         The first plan though had been to get off of the project site. He’d made his move while there was a shift change for the security teams. Funny, the new guards only needed a wave from him to get back to their cell phones. But he supposed it was actually the ten-thousand dollars worth of solitary freedom he’d bought that really mattered, more than enough time for a murder and a head start. He planned to get through the forest to the highway, and then meet Samantha for a road trip. If everything went right they’d be in Canada by midnight, and then it was off to his contact in Ontario for some fake passports that would take them to Germany, his new home.

         That was the plan. But when he got down the mountain and saw no one sitting in the car waiting for him, he knew he was in the shit. Before he could react though, he was slammed viciously to the ground, his head spinning in agony. He’d finally blacked out as the sun escaped the day, plunging the world and himself into a river of darkness.

         He woke up in shadows, his head pounding with confusion as nausea ripped through his gut. He tried to breathe slowly, fixating on his surroundings. It was frigid and quiet, but he didn’t feel alone in the cold air around him. Something rotten overwhelmed his senses but he didn’t dwell on it. He had more than a hunch where he was. Beyond that, he could only tell that he was sitting against a cold wall of some kind, his legs splayed out in front of him while his hands were tied behind his back. As he began to acclimate to the icy air, a bright light exploded above him, and he found himself staring into the haunting glare of a large albino. At least that was his first guess. When the man smiled he realized his mistake.

         “Hello Shane.” Samantha's bored voice echoed from behind the ivory giant. “Miss me? This is Walter. He’s not really a fan of yours. As you can see he’s not really human either.”

         Walter looked down at Shane and grinned, his obsidian eyes shining from within. His smile was filled with piercing spikes, all of them capable of inciting misery. There was no doubt about his nature; a creature of legend and shadows towered above him.

         Nosferatu. Vampyre. The Lost ones...

         “You really pissed some of my new family off, ya’ know? So when we were planning all this shit last year, I get a knock at my door one night, right? Who do you think was there, Shane?”

         Walter fixated on Shane as a lion would a gazelle, his jaws cracking with a sickening snap as he flexed his chin and sneered. He gently clawed at his pale cheek with a six inch talon drawing a droplet of blood, then quickly licked it away.

         “Walter here took me that night. He took everything that night! I ain’t never seen the sun since! Can you believe that shit? The sun, the fucking sun, Shane! Then there’s that thirst… ain’t no water for that I can tell ya'! There’s so much to this shitty existence I could show you! Too bad you’re never gonna know anything else about it…”

         Walter’s smile broadened as Samantha bent down to stare at Shane with a sallow face and the foulest breath on her scarlet lips, a corpse’s stench.

         “What I wanna know though is what ya' did Shane. How did you get these things to crawl out of hell to find me? To do this to me! Just tell me... and we’ll make it quicker than it should be.” The light from the ceiling of the cramped earthen tomb reflected off of a single tear on her cheek.

         Shane found her moist ashen eyes, and sighed deeply. He felt sorry for her; it was a price he’d hoped not to pay.

         “What can I tell you babe, I was a hitman and I still am… I’ve made a lot of enemies over the years. Most of my enemies are ancient now.” He spoke calmly as he stared into her confused dead eyes, sad but not the least bit afraid. “I made a lot of new friends in prison, old new friends who taught me a lot of things. In the end they made me better than I’ve ever been. It was a deal that I couldn’t refuse.”

         A heat burst sent shock waves through his brain, causing Samantha to stumble back, finally getting her answer. She stared in awe at the golden shine emanating from his eyes, while Walter wailed in fear turning to run. Shane could only grin knowing he'd never make it to the door.

         Now burdened with a new purpose, his body exploded outward, his limbs snapping in transition, and he segued into a howling nightmare that had other plans.