Instinct rose in me like a live thing, demanding that I turn and run.
But my legs, still unsteady and unused, would not obey the command from my brain. I managed only a few staggering steps before collapsing to the asphalt. I fell hard, my knees and elbows ripped open, a burning pain shooting through me until tears pooled in the corners of my eyes.
Seizing the moment, the grotesque man lunged. His hands slammed down onto my shoulders and pinned me. He grunted in my ear. His breath was sour, as if he had not brushed his teeth in ages, carrying a fishy, rancid tang that churned my stomach.
He was between my legs, rubbing that repulsive thing against my buttocks as if seeking an entrance. Fortunately I still wore my lab suit, and he seemed not to know how to remove it.
I struggled, trying to shove him off, but he was stronger than me, a man, while I had only just woken and did not yet have the strength to fight.
My eyes darted about, searching for anything that could become a weapon. A stone lay within reach. Without hesitation I grabbed it and smashed it hard against his temple.
He screamed, a bitter sound stripped of humanity, and flipped backward, clutching a seeping wound as blood streamed down. The impact sent him sprawling.
I hauled myself up, legs shaking, and stumbled backward. He hissed through clenched teeth, his gaze a lethal glare. I held the stone with both hands, raising it defensively.
"Get away." I barked.
I did not know whether he understood me. His neck drew back in a brief, fearful twitch. Then he went feral again, eyes rolling white with rage, dropping to all fours and crawling toward me.
At that moment it hardly mattered that he might once have been human. I tightened my grip on the rock and brought it down on his head again.
This time he was ready. He twisted left at the last instant and the blow missed. Before I could turn, he charged with a blood-curdling roar that shattered the sudden silence around us.
The stone flew from my hands. He succeeded in driving me to the ground, my body slamming down hard. New pain overlapped the old; I gasped shallow breaths that burned.
Now his eyes were wild, the whites streaked with red, the stare of a predator that wanted to tear me apart. I shivered with cold dread. How could a human become like this? Had some disease ravaged the earth?
There was no time to ponder. Between ragged breaths I scrambled forward, trying to grasp a rebar I could see. Seeing me still resist, he lunged with his jaws wide, aiming for my throat.
He would bite me to death.
My fingers closed around the metal and I pulled with all the strength my weakened body could muster. Then my heart stopped for a moment.
The iron would not budge. It was stuck fast in the concrete.
Horror shot through me as the man hurled himself at me from above. My face went white, my lips trembling.
Was this how I would die?
So many projects remained unfinished. So many scientific horizons still unexplored. That was why I had agreed to sleep until medicine could save me. And yet this is how the world welcomed me back, ruined and drenched in the blood of our own kind.
I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for the tearing pain as his jaws closed on me.
Bang.
A gunshot ripped the air. It was followed by a thud and the man's guttural moan. No pain came for me.
My body was still shaking. I exhaled the breath I had been holding and pried my eyes open.
The man lay collapsed among rubble, blood dark and spreading across his belly. He moaned weakly, his body convulsing as if clinging to life. After a few convulsions he grew still, his eyes wide, fixed on me.
I froze, my whole body numbed as the blood in my veins seemed to chill. Colder than the nitrogen that had once stilled my cells.
The metallic smell of blood mingled with dust and the tang of gunpowder. I could not hold down the nausea and bent over to retch. My stomach was empty; nothing came up.
This was the first time I had seen a person die before my eyes.
Who had fired that shot? I looked around frantically. If someone could use a gun, then at least that person retained consciousness and knowledge. If this were a plague driving people to behave like beasts, then perhaps there were still human survivors.
"Nice shot."
A voice laughed from the distance. It spoke my language.
Relief washed over me, a small salvation from hell. I swallowed my nausea and forced myself to rise. But the terror of the earlier attack held me back. I retreated and crouched behind the shattered wall to watch.
Peeking out, I saw a group approaching the corpse. Their voices grew clearer, and I could understand them.
But as they drew nearer, something felt wrong.
Yes, they had arms and legs and moved like humans. But why… were there ears on their heads? Something wagged at their backs like tails.
Was this cosplay?
"Strange, I only saw two earlier, didn't I?" The one with rabbit ears said. The ears even twitched, so realistic they seemed alive.
So real?
My mind reeled. God, what had happened to humankind while I slept? Had they evolved, or merged with animals?
I had no idea. My brain, long dormant, could not keep pace with these new floods of information.
"Probably ran off." A voice with dog ears replied, tone regretful. "Such a waste, looked like a juvenile."
The way they referred to people put a knot in my stomach. Not as fellow humans.
Another, with hooves like a deer, kicked the corpse with the heel of his foot and clicked his tongue. "Skinny. Not much meat."
The more I listened, the more my unease swelled.
This world was utterly alien. People behaved like beasts, while those who looked like animals behaved like people. What kind of nightmare was this?
Reason, stubborn and precise, told me that this group were not my kin, nor my ally.
I should not stay. I had to run.
I eased myself backward in a crouch, inch by inch, not daring to make even the smallest sound. If they discovered me, I would likely share that man's fate, or worse.
"Got you, little rat."
A mocking voice spoke from behind, and every hair on my body stood up. Cold drained from me as if my blood had been siphoned out.
I spun in panic and fell back to the ground, staring at the stranger behind me.
He squatted on a slab of concrete, a half-smile on his lips as amber eyes devoured me. On his head were black, pointed ears that matched his hair. A long, thick tail wagged behind him in time with his mood.
He carried the arrogance of a feral cat, proud and untamed.
But most of all, he had been there all along.
***