I’m not human. I remember the laboratory. I remember the tests that I was made to endure. I remember when the screen finally read “online.”

I remember escape.

They were bounty hunters. Men only out with the prize of who knows how much money. They wanted me, probably alive and well rather than dead or even injured. I became their prey. They didn’t know what they were messing with though. They couldn’t have done their research before getting themselves in so deep. There was no research to do on me. No case or file to look over. I never left a trace. I only took what I wanted and what I’d been programmed to know as essentials.

It was a dark night in the woods the first time I ran into them. I thought it would be the last time I saw them. I wish it had been. I thought I had killed them all. But maybe it was just too good to be true. Those who were sent after me before them had all died and I made sure that whoever sent them wouldn’t be able to find them or any trace of me. But these five. They were special.

I breathed in the cold air of the evening. I could smell blood nearby, but I wasn’t sure from which direction, which would make much more sense later that night.

Humans aren’t very quiet, even the ones with the most stealth. On the other hand, my hearing is also much more advanced than both human and animals combined, along with my other senses. That’s why it was no surprise when I heard the movement in a small row of bushes behind me. Even in the dark, I could see the movement, could see the shadowy figure that was apparently too tall for his chosen hiding place. I just watched to see if he would dare approach me, only to become distracted by a sudden presence at my side.

This man was taller than me. A frame much smaller than mine. His blonde hair was very prominent against the backdrop of night behind him. Delicate features, similar to that of the women that had even come for me. He looked a bit enticed and yet terrified of me and I could see it all in his eyes. He lifted a hand, obviously prepared to do something and I couldn’t help but to smirk. Standing on my toes just long enough for my teeth to catch his neck, grinning to myself at the feel of his breath ghosting over my cheek.

I’d seen posters and read books about vampires. I bit more like the werewolves I learned of. There was nothing neat about what I’d done. I took a step back, watching his eyes fall shut as his body collapsed. The sound of him hitting the ground was very faint, but loud enough for the figure that had been hiding in the bush. I looked back over, tongue sweeping over my blood-stained teeth and lips. He was gone.

There was another stranger that approached me. He couldn’t have been the one hiding. He was tall in his own way, possibly about the same height as whoever had been watching me, but his frame was bigger. His hair was cut considerably short, giving clear sight of his face. His thin almond eyes and full lips. His features seemed delicate as well and yet very masculine at the same time. This one actually reached for me, his large and warm hand landing firmly on my shoulder.

He’d left his chest exposed.

My nails swept across the area, clearing easily through shirt and skin. His grip on my shoulder weakened and he soon collapsed, too. I off my fingers, cleaning them of the staining red.

This group… These boys were better than the others that had come hunting me. This was the closest anyone had gotten to me. That’s all that I could credit them. They were still human and they were still easy to kill. I’m sure they’d at least been told that I was a dangerous creature. To be very cautious. It seemed like an appropriate precaution, although useless regardless of taking heed to it or not.

A slight breeze passed through the trees, leaves fluttering and swirling around me. I could hear it. Hear them.There were more heartbeats. They were close. All three of them. I could smell their blood and the natural scent of each of them.

I’d gone a few steps when I felt his presence behind me. This one had to have been the one in the bush. I had instincts of my own and I couldn’t deny whatever was telling me that this was him. He stopped my movements by holding a blade to my neck, his heavy breathing spreading warm air on the skin it managed to reach. It was cute how he really thought that would do anything to me. Plus, he hadn’t moved fast enough to do anything.

My nails traced from his wrist to the crease of his elbow, deep crimson pouring over pale skin, both of which the moonlight made shimmer. I caught the blade as he slid to the ground, stepping out of the way before he could fall on me. I twirled it between my fingers as I turned to look at him. It was possible that he could have lived from an injury like that, but with a poison in my body that I could control however I wanted… Who knew how fast the virus was spreading through his veins.

He had beautiful features from what I could see. His lips were full, but not plump. His eyes were closed so there was no way to lock into memory how they looked. His dark hair looked like it had been styled, but there was nothing but dirt and grass decorating the chocolate locks at that point.

Three down. Two to go. They were making it so much easier since they were coming to me.

The next one was built. Not as tall as the others but a very strong figure to him. Strength was all that I read from him. His jaw sharp, lips plump but not full. Eyes round and anxious. His chest pressed against his jacket as he motioned to grab me.

I remembered seeing a comic once about a superhero named Superman. In the moment, that was who he made me think of… Someone strong and willing to be a hero. An unnecessary effort just to have his life ended. I slashed the “S” from the red and yellow symbol. I pressed too hard and his blood messed up the neatness of it. I got a little irritated and stuck the knife in his side, stepping away when he fell. His silver hair splaying above his head and looking a bit like moonlight itself.

Two down. One to go.

It would figure that the last one would be the biggest out of all them. I narrowed my eyes at the tall man as he caught me running and cutting around a tree. A gun was suddenly aimed at my chest. I froze in place and just looked up at him. The man’s features were both dark and warm. His eyes seemed round, lips both full and plump. His hair was some shade of brown, one of the darker shades of the color. He reminded me of some of the little boys I’d come across.

I remember asking him if he really thought the gun would work. Before he could give me a response, I’d moved and traced my nails along the column of his neck, red streaming from the wounds and pouring down to stain his shirt. His gun slipped from his grip and he soon followed after.

It was a dark night in the woods the first time I ran into them. I thought it would be the last time I saw them. I thought I had killed them all…

From what I registered in time, only a year had gone by. No one had been sent for me after the five boys in the forest. I’d let my guard down long enough by then. In the meantime, I had escalated to attacking other humans. Blood had been registered as a necessity for my survival and humans were more fun to catch than animals. Besides, animals had food chains and their own ways of eating for their need to survive. Humans were a prey all my own. No one else seemed to need them for nourishment.

It was night yet again when they found me. I could sense something different about them even before I saw them. Their heartbeats were all in sync. When they finally came into sight, everything seemed exactly the same about them from before, except for the wounds, of course, and their eye color.

All of their eyes were a bright cyber blue, that shown from afar. The one thing that bothered me most was that I had only seen four. I wondered why they seemed so at ease if they knew I could just back away and run if I wanted to.

As they closed in, I unconsciously took a step back. I’d found number five.

I felt his fingers on my lower back and every fiber of my being felt on fire as a sharp electric surging jetted through my veins. Everything went black after that.

When I awoke, I was in a laboratory. It was different from the one that I remember being born in. I wasn’t strapped down and wasn’t held in any restraints to the table under me. I turned my head to the side and caught my reflection in one of the metal surfaces. My eyes had been red before, much like all the blood I’d spilt.

They were now blue, like the five boys…

What had I become?