Catching the Scent|| Derrick

”We’re Taking Fire! Taking fire!” Sargent Bachman screamed over the radio while the soldiers hunkered down at the side of a bus. Bullets and Energy projectiles flew through, cutting the air and ionizing the atmosphere around New York. Lieutenant Creed and his team were clearing a building out on the other side of the street. Derrick managed to look out towards them as a bright beam lit up the bus like a beacon. Both him and Sargent Bachman locked eyes together as a massive ball of energy came down onto the whole team on street level and left nothing but a smoldering crater in the aftermath. A bunch of arms caught onto him and gripped him hard as he yelled, screaming and trying to run for the door and reach them...if any had survived. This much noise being made had caught the attention of the alien invaders and their luck slowly going to the worse as energy rounds began firing onto the building. The two men holding onto him were now trying to drag him into another room for them all to escape. One of the energy round’s hit the one guy in the arm just above Derrick’s chest. A small smoldering burn caught Derrick’s chest as part of the guy’s arm fell to the ground and him screaming in pain, clutching onto the stump at his elbow. Grabbing onto the soldier, he helped run with him. As they were about to go through the door in the back, Derrick turned halfway so that the injured soldier was now out. He screamed to his men to fall back. Then the soldier rocked backwards a bit and collapsed into dead weight in Derrick’s arm. Turning his head, he saw that the private he was holding up was missing a quarter of his head starting from the right eye socket.

Derrick jerked up in his bed yelling. “Noooooo!....gah!” Slouching onto his side as tears slid down his eyes. Sweat clinched his clothing, sheets and blanket to him as he sobbed about the past. Slamming his fist into the mattress and box spring and breaking them both. His chest ached while having his other hand rubbing the spot. If it wasn’t for that arm being there, that round would have killed him, would have taken his heart and shoulder blade. Slowly pushing himself up and off of the mess that once was his bed he slept on, he noticed that the head board and the cement wall had claw marks cutting in through them. Reaching his hand to the wall and bracing himself, he walked himself to the bathroom. Flipping the switch, light pierced through the darkness as he moved slowly towards the sink. Turning on the cold water at full blast. It came out gushing from the spout as he ran his hands through it and then slid them over his face and head. Propping himself on the wall of the bathroom, he looked up into the mirror and saw that his eyes were blood shot to the point you couldn’t see the whites of his eyes anymore. Closing his eyes for a moment, he let out a long breath through his mouth. But when he opened his eyes again, it wasn’t his reflection he was looking at anymore. Instead he was greeted by the reflection of the creature that was part of him. Saliva slid down it’s chin as it’s disturbing permanent grin was open a bit to give it a more sinister Joker smile. It’s harsh voice came out as it spoke it’s broken English at Derrick. “You have....night....terrors....we will...have...vengeance soon.....Stop...fighting me. Give in....to me!” Derrick responded by yelling, “Noooo I Won’t!” and then tore the medicine cabinet mirror out of the wall and threw it against the wall over the toilet, breaking the mirror and leaving a chunk out of the wall. It’s voice spoke in his mind in a joking tone. “Seven years....baaaad....luuuuuuck...haaa....haaa...haaaaa” then it stopped for the time being. Kneeling down he picked up his one medication bottle. Turning it with his thumb in his hand, the name of it, Zolpidem, 750mg’s. Opening the bottle, he took out three and swallowed it straight up without water.

Closing the bottle, Derrick dropped it back down to the floor and left the bedroom. His head was starting to ache and throb as he moved into the living room. Getting to his brown leather couch, he spun and fell onto his side on it with a plop sound as the air shot out of it. His body sank a bit due to the extra meat and bone density of his body. The medication began to kick in as his eye lids were slowly starting to shut, he saw an image of the creature kneeling down in front of him, starring into his eyes with those blank white eyes. Derrick then fell asleep. Soon, he woke up with the sun light laying across his face. Opening his eyes, He ached all over his body while slowly sitting up. Getting up onto his feet, he went back to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Yanking off his grey wife beater and tossing it out into the hallway. The water as starting to heat up as he began to undo his belt and his pants. He soon was going to be late for work at the garage shop that employed him under the table wage. Steam filled the room as he stepped inside of the shower. Washing all the dried sweat and dirt from off his body, the hot water and steam felt great on his aching body. After a bit of cleaning up and drying himself off, he stepped out of the bathroom with his towel wrapped around his waist as he walked into the bedroom. Grabbing a pair of denim jeans, a mechanic shirt with the name patch saying ‘Creed’ and a black beater. The former soldier got dressed and stepped out of his apartment and rushed down the stairs. Bursting out the front door, he ran for the parking lot where his car sat in it’s parking space.

The dark grey body with the black hood 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. Pulling his keys out, he pressed the little black button and unlocked the monster of a muscle car and got in. Firing up the engine as he closed the door, he threw it into reverse and drove off. He was living in Greenville South Carolina. It was a nice town and had gotten along with everyone that met him. Working at a CJ Tire, he was one of the few mechanic’s that was paid nicely for he could fix pretty much anything thrown at him. Shifting gears thanks to the shift paddles on the steering wheel, he pulled at his work place and had to hurry and punch in. When he did so, he had on,y a few seconds to spare as the boss stood by the clock in machine and said. “Right on time Derrick....you have a Chevy Blazer in bay three that needs a full check over and to envoice it on the inspection board.” Derrick nodded his head as he walked into the bay. Music was blaring from the local music station. He began to nod his head to the tune of Rob Zombie’s one song, Demon Speeding, while going over to bay three and saw the hunk of shit sitting on the lift. It was a vehicle that screamed tetanus with rust coming off it from a gentle breeze. Placing a hand on his hip, he shook his head and said to the suv. “Damn girl...you seen much better days...you ended up a piece of shit.”

A long busy day was slowly about to come to a wrap as he was putting tools away, cleaning up all three bays, making sure all the different paperwork’s was complete and placed on the boss’s desk. As Derrick was putting the cleaning chemical’s back into the closet, his head turned slightly as he heard a vehicle pulling up to Bay 1. The engine of the car didn’t sound that good as he heard someone calling out to ‘someone’. Grabbing a rag to wipe his hands as he moved through the darkened building into the well lit mechanic bays to see a very attractive woman standing in the bay door. He could see smoke coming from the hood and did a quick sniff as he still was a good distance from them. Electrical smell and a burnt smell filled his nostrils, which was made when the coolant and or oil is empty. “We are closed...but seeing as your an hour away still. I’ll take a quick look under the hood.” Sliding the rag into the back pocket of his pants as he walked over to the car. He stepped over to the car’s driver side door and reached his arm and felt for the hood release lever u til he grabbed the flat plastic piece. Pulling it, the hood popped open slightly which caused more smoke to come out. But he sniffed lightly again and smelled it had a new smell coming from the inside of the vehicle and something else, and this smell was coming from her. Coming from her hands, he could smell the faintest smell of coolant along with the soap she tried to wash all of the chemicals off of them.

Walking back over to the hood, he raised the hood and waved his hand through the smoke to clear it out faster. It smelled bad as he pulled his mag flashlight off his mechanic tool bag. Turning on the light, he aimed it into the engine bay. Leaning in it, he began to feel and look around. His finger’s felt a set of wires that had been cut, but were also melted a bit from the hot engine block. Reaching his hand towards the radiator, he was going off of a hunch. Feeling the lines, his hand flowed across the smooth surface until it stopped at a set of little holes lining it which caused it to leak. Nodding his head as he stood up right and slightly away from the car, he took his rag out from his back pocket and wiped off the car’s fluids. Wrath in his mind was growling in warning at Derrick and Derrick understood what it meant, to be cautious. It wasn’t trusting what it was seeing through Derrick’s eyes. “From what I can see...your going to need a new wiring kit for the engine, new Coolant lines, fresh coolant, probably new Oil lines and more oil...” He began explaining as he turned to face the lady while leaning against the nose of the car, using the hood of it to cover his back. Wiping more of the grime and fluids off of his hands, he set it down when done as he looked at her. The duffel bag was a bit out of place since it wasn’t a purse. When he breathed in from his nose, and thankfully the smoke was gone now to allow him to be able to smell a bit more.

When he took in a fresh take of air, he began to smell things inside of her duffel bag. Metal, plastic, lead, and oil...Gun Oil. She had a gun inside of the bag and what else, he didn’t know. “...but you already knew that, didn’t you? ....let me grab the clip board over there and fill in a work order. It will be a few hour job to do, so the car is staying here until I get back in in the morning. You can call yourself an Uber or Taxi for a ride back to your home, or I can give you a ri-“ he was saying until he heard someone moving towards the shop from outside. They were trying to move quietly, but with boots, he could pick up on the sound easily. His ears could hear the sounds of rifles being raised to be pointing at their target and his money was on himself. “A ride. Sorry, lost train of thought...been a long day.” Getting up from the car, he moved himself across the bay casually until he reached the clipboard that hung off the wall. Taking it off it’s hook, he began to write something down. “It’s going to be a costly bill to repair this....then again....” Derrick would use his increased reflexes to spin himself back around and threw the clipboard like a frisbee. It flew above the car’s roof into the darkness. The sound of plastic shattering was heard, and then a heavy Thud. The clipboard broke through one of the GADEM soldiers helmet protective eye gear and was sticking out of the guy’s face as blood poured out of the deadly injury. “...I am worth twice as much alive.” His eyes slid across to look at the woman and she would begin to see his eyes go from the dark brown and faded until it was all white. Making a mad dash, he went into the darkness of the building so that he could be shrouded. As he moved around in the dark, his bones began crack, break, realign and stretched out as the gallons worth of blood began to pour out of him and covered his body. The liquid began to change its characteristic feature to become a solid now.

From the darkness came out a horrible high pitch screech which was followed by a harsh yell. Laughter could be heard in a harsh voice. Wrath had come out to play this fine night, and it was hungry for blood and meat. The sounds of claws scratching along the cement walls could be heard as it was slowly coming back towards Camilla and the other Agent. Then, it stopped a few feet from the entrance to the shop area. The dark still had it mostly covered except for the outline of it. This thing was standing above seven feet now. Arms and legs are now elongated with what looked to be blade’s at the ends of each finger tip. The sound of a thick liquid dripping down and splattering to the ground was heard as it stood there watching them. “You....made...a mistake....coming...for...us....now...you will....pay...in....Blood!” A chair was hurled out of the darkness and smashed the lights on the ceiling above Camilla. Another object was seen flying through the air as it was aiming for the lights that kept the place lit up.

The creature known as Wrath destroyed all of the lights with a disturbing laughter that sounded close to a feral guttural growl from some sort of predator. It walked out into the much more open space while Camilla moved to get a better position while the last agent that was there stood up from his cover of a vehicle and began to fire three round bursts at Wrath. Camilla and the Agent would see the creature avoiding each burst that was fired upon it with a reflex that gave it a slight blur of crimson as it walked closer and closer towards the male agent. The agent was backing up and was retrieving the frequency device from his belt. Pressing the button and holding the trigger, he brought it up and aimed at Wrath. That, was both a good idea at the time, but also the worst since Wrath was only a few paces away. Pressing it’s hands against it’s head, it began to screech and roar at the same time, giving off the affect that it had more than three voices going off at the same time. Falling to a knee, it’s head violently shook as it looked up at the Agent and at the device. The dull white eyes narrowed a bit as it’s jaw cracked loudly and grew a foot in length. A long serpent like tongue that was fully round instead of being flat shot forth from it’s mouth and wrapped around the arm of the Agent. Jerking it’s head back, the tongue shot backwards withnit’s victim in tow with it. When the arm was in between it’s teeth, Wrath snapped it’s jaw shut and the blood curling screams began as Wrath devoured the arm that was bitten off half way up the bicep. The device could be heard sparking and being eaten along with the bones. Swallowing it, Wrath stood up getting it’s control back. It towered the agent who was holding the stump of his bicep.

He looked up and just stood there as fear and shock sunk in all at the same time. It’s mouth opened wide as it unhinged it’s jaw and struck. Camilla would be able to hear from where she was and possibly seen Wrath’s back towards her as it was devouring what was left of the Agent. The only things that were left of the man was his blood which was either pooled up or splattered across the vehicles and walls of the garage and the man’s M4 assault rifle. Turning it’s head a bit, he swiveled it’s body to turn and face where Camilla was last at. Sounds of it sniffing was heard. It picked up on her scent as it followed the same path she had taken. “Iiii...can smell....you....your heart....beats...loud....” it stated in a threatening but mocking tone. It’s claws slid across the broken car, digging through the trunk of the vehicle and the tires going flat instantly once the claws sliced through them. Moving closer towards her, saliva mixed with blood ran down it’s jaw as Wrath had the jaw go back to normal size and form. It had eaten it’s meal, so it wasn’t going to be eating her this night. Instead, it was going to try and play with her. Down a block, a SUV along with a modified van came pulling up to the scene in which case Wrath stopped and turned around to face who had showed it. Eight GADEM heavily armed Agents came out and had weapons at the ready. Two of them had the sound devices which were triggered. Roaring again, it pressed it’s big hands against its head again. Insteading of falling down, it forced itself to make a run for it into the building. Wrath knew that Derrick could withstand the sound better then itself, but when Derrick was coming back around, he was an easy target. It needed to get him somewhere where it would be safe for him for even a few seconds.

Clawing it’s waynthrough walls and even slamming through doors, it finally fell to it’s knees and screamed out in massive waves of pain. It’s form began to melt and slip back inside of Derrick’s body. His bones were reforming back to his normal form. He was on his hands and knees, coughing and trying to get air into his lungs. His dog tags came forth and hung from his neck as he opened his eyes. His head was feeling like something was ripping his skull in half. Taking a strong hold onto a desk, he forced himself up onto his feet and went towards the front doors while hearing the soldiers behind him clearing each room, looking for him. He could hear the men voices, but didn’t hear the female who had played him. A few shots were heard, zinged past his head and hit the doors. First instinct was to dive off to the side and use whatever big and heavy there was as cover. He managed to dive behind the front desk which was a two inch thick oak. Grabbing a hold of it, he swung it and formed his makeshift shield in between himself and the soldiers who grew in number’s in between the two rooms. Taking a hold of the wheeled chair, he swung it over the desk and threw it at the soldiers, which all but one had managed to avoid it. The one who was hit though, he went into the metal wall with a very loud thud.

Now cornered, he could hear them giving orders and stating of each soldier that they were advancing in slowly at his location. Clenching his fists as bullets zinged past him. The high frequency weapons were turned off. Wrath was slowly stirring inside of him, but they both knew that if Wrath came back out, the. The soldier’s would use their torcher devices and Derrick would be a sitting target for them. Closer and closer they came, but Derrick’s hearing was picking something else up. Bodies were hitting the ground one by one until there was nothing but silence...and the scent of blood. Standing up, he saw her leaning against the door frame and was holding one of the rags from the shop against her shoulder where the scent of blood was alluring him to. She told him that he needed to get out of there before more units showed up and more than likely, they were already on their way. Running his hand across the back of his neck as he stood there looking at the front doors. Hearing her take out something and then something entering the wound which caught his eyes as she pulled out the round from her shoulder. She had taken a round because of him, because of what he became of what the government had done to him. This hunter reminded him of a soldier of how she moved and acted, declaring she needed a drink ever so badly. The seconds were ticking as he stood there thinking. She was still bleeding and they would most likely shoot her because of what she did to the unit that was originally the backup. Walking over to her, he knelt down beside her. Derrick had his hands up to show nomhostile intention towards her. His eyes trailed down her arm as her blood was starting to settle on the floor under her.

Taking a hold of her kit, he began to go through her small medical supplies until he had a sowing needle and thread in his hands. With one hand, he undid the body armor that the injury was and tore open the shirt at the shoulder. His eyes looked around at the room and bodies until he decided to snag up a knife still in its sheath. Bringing it up to her with handle towards her mouth. “Bite down on this, it’s going to hurt more without some pain killers.” If she did so or not, he would patch up her shoulder. Sliding and zig zagging the needle through her flesh and had the opening close up. “Thankfully it didn’t go all the way through and blow a hole out the back....since you had knocked out their troops, they will most likely be hunting you down now as well...unless I make it look otherwise.” Standing up, he began to go from Agent to Agent, bringing his foot or fists down upon them. More and more blood was pooling out and sprayed everywhere. The former soldier had killed the rest of the unit’s and blood just dropped off his bare hands while he walked back towards her. “You risked your life to save mine from going back there, let me repay the favor.” Without warning and with quick reflexes, he snagged her armor from her body and tore the body armor to pieces, tossing them amongst the mess afterwards. Picking her up now til she was on her feet, he wrapped her good arm around his shoulders as he lead her to his car. Opening the Demon’s passenger side door, he helped her in and slammed the door shut.

Getting in on the driver side, he fished his keys from his pocket and fired the beast up. Peeling out of there, Derrick red lined it and shifted as he put as much distance between them and his now old place of work. His eyes focused on the road as he drove them out of there. They would be looking for him and most likely had his place under watch. So home for him was out of the question. “So what’s your name?” Derrick asked casually as he jumped onto a different road and kept putting more and more of a distance buffer as he could so that it wouldn’t be as easy to track either of them down. Coming up to a red light, the heavy engine rumbled under the hood as he was thinking as to what he was doing helping the very person who wanted to tag him and transport him back to where itvall began in the first place. Following his gut feeling had always kept him alive, and him helping her was what his gut was telling him. “You got anywhere you need to go to or lay low at? I can drop you off if you don’t wish to tag along. I’m already use to being on the run from those that want me back in a cell again.” Derrick asked and even explained slightly, giving a bit of his background as the light turned green and he pulled through the intersection, driving more now as he waited for her response.

Camilla he thought to himself when she simply said it bluntly. It was a nice name, better then what he was going to call her such as Miss, Ma’am, hot crazy sexy bi- his thoughts were broken when she pulled her phone out of her pocket. Camilla was typing something into it and since he was driving, he kept his eyes on the road until she placed the phone in a slot on the dashboard that connected the phone to a charger he installed in the interior of the car. Hearing her to watch out for tails and that the drive was going to be six hours with a tired tone in her voice. His eyes looked over at her as she fell asleep. Turning his gaze back onto the road, she didn’t know that Derrick liked to try and beat land speed records. Turning onto one of the proper roads to turn off onto, his foot slowly went down onto the accelerator causing the engine to roar louder and louder as they gained speed. It’s noted that he was a good driver as he sped along the roads. Being a creature like this thanks to the government fucking around his genes, he was able to stay awake longer then the usual human. Reaching his hand behind his seat, his limb slipped into a small box that sat on the floor and grabbed a can. Pulling it out and around to their side and placed the black Monster energy drink. His index finger lifted up tab slowly and opened it. Lifting it up to his face, he drank a quarter of the can and set it back down into the cup holder. Their was a silence inside of the car as Derrick kept the radio off so it didn’t distract him.

Listening carefully to the outside, the only thing he heard was the engine and her slow breathing while she rested inside of his car. There wasn’t anything following them. Relaxed, he drove with one hand holding the wheel while his left arm rested on the door. The window was open so that fresh air could come in. He highly doubt she wanted to smell him and the scent of dry sweat on his skin. Tapping his fingers lightly on the door to a tune that he was hearing, and that tune was to her heart rate. It never amazes him on how sensitive his hearing really was. Shifting gears again, the high beams pierced the darkness. Taken another quarter of the can into his stomach, his eyes looked out the protection of the windshield while making good ground and time. But he knew that he needed to get gas soon since he was on half a tank. Looking at the gps, he saw a gas station coming up. Slowing down, he put on his turn signal and pulled into the gas station and stopped at one of the pumps. Killing the engine, he stepped out of it and walked around. Pulling out his wallet, he went walking across the drive and into the store. There was a young kid behind the counter who had that typical pizza face from zits growing. He was reading a magazine while chewing gum. Stepping up to the counter, Derrick pulled out a twenty, a fifty and a ten and said. “30 on pump 2, a carton of Marlboro Black Menthol.” The kid looked up from his magazine not enthused. Looking out the window to look at Derrick’s vehicle and back at him. “Got Idea slim?” The kid said. Raising his eyebrow, he pulled out his military ID and handed it to the kid. “Looks fake.” The kid threw it back at Derrick. “Do I look like I’m 17 pizza face? How about I drag your skinny ass from behind that counter and show you if the ass beating I give you is fake?”

This quickly made the kid rethink on what he said as Derrick was now taking his shirt off. Showing his muscles, scars and dog tags, the kid quickly grabbed the carton and typed in the order for gas and activated the gas pump. “S-Sorry s-sir! Everything is on the house! Please, just don’t hurt me...” Grabbing the carton, Derrick slowly shook his head and left the small store. Walking back to the car, he tossed his shirt and carton onto the driver seat through the open window. Undoing the gas cap, he picked up the gas hose, slid it into the gas tank and began to fill it up. Leaning his rear against the driver side ack fender, he stood there hearing the lights buzzing all around as crickets chirped out in the darkness of night. Under his skin, he could feel Wrath stirring up inside of him as he could feel it’s eyes looking at the gas attendant. But Derrick pushed it back into himself as he needed to keep his composure and not lose his control over the Alien Parasite. Once the gas pump stopped, he put the hose back to the gas pump and closed his gas tank. Climbing back in, he fired up the car and peeled out of the gas station. With how fast he was going, the time they were supposed to get to Camilla’s place sooner rather than the actual six hours, more like 4 hours. When 11:33 came around, he slowed down and pulled the car into the long driveway. Keeping the high beams on, he advanced them closer and closer until there was a bunch of armed people aiming firearms at the car. His elbow shook Camilla from her slumber as he said in a low voice. “We’re here...and you got one hell of a welcome mat here.”