Training and Evolution

Caption (to assist readers):

- Everything is good. - = speech of the character

"All good." = character thoughts (during certain scenes)

*boom* = ambient or scenery sounds (similar to using other types of comic fonts)

This chapter is told from James Heller's point of view.

Flying is something that every human being at least once in their lives has thought about what it would be like to be able to fly like a bird, or so I believed, but with so many memories at my disposal no one had tried or succeeded, including Mercer, who was much more focused on finding his place among humans and then the extinction of the human race.

Why had Mercer never thought of developing this skill? Mercer even infected the city's birds to use as his pawns, and never thought of even trying to fly.

The power to run, jump and glide faster than any other terrestrial creature was present of Mercer's travel memories, even though he could travel without the need for a vehicle, he decided to travel the world in imitation of other humans. Humanity hadn't just become his goal; it was his biggest obsession to be human or try to be.

I decided to go up one of the tallest buildings in the center of the island, I first thought about going up a skyscraper, a few seconds later I changed my mind, it seems better a building just tall enough and with a terrace, and avoid destroy one of the few skyscrapers that survived in this island, something not proud to do like still human.

I quickly climbed the chosen building while running, my body adapted automatically to keep running even vertically, about two hundred meters in less than a minute until I reached the top, something completely impossible, except for me.

I analyzed the terrace, decided to clean it up and leave it as wide as possible to test new movements of my body without anything that could be considered an obstacle in the way. There was no one living in this building and it would need repairs in the future anyway, I was just careful to dispose of all the material on the terrace of a lower building next door, at least it looked better that just throw everything in the street.

I created a good practice area, I felt like I had gained a court big enough to test my current and new skills, if the terrace of this building withstands this experience I'll want to train here more often.

I positioned myself in the center of the terrace standing up, relaxed my body and closed my eyes, focusing on something that not even Mercer tried to do, something that he most likely never did due to the limit caused by his own obsession with humans. I concentrated on creating and controlling two new limbs on my back, I felt my entire body tremble at the same time as I felt my back altering from the biomass.

Combining my knowledge and skills I gained from consuming other people besides Mercer helped me create a mental picture of my goal, which is harder to recreate in the real world, as it's a completely new experience.

I feel a resistance from my own mind and not from my body, I feel the urge to just transform my body without changing my basic human structure, a mental rejection when changing the basic shape of a normal human body:

One head, one torso, two arms and two legs.

"I am no longer human! I can maintain my identity and consciousness, regardless of my body shape!"

I screamed internally in my mind, finally feeling like I had broken through the block, feeling that I had managed to evolve even further in controlling the biomass in my body. I feel less human, but I don't feel like it's a bad thing this time.

Two tentacles grow from my back, I bend my body forward and bend my knees a little when I feel both forms above where my lungs are, my two new limbs have a similar shape to when I transform my arms on whips, I suppose they are similar in length too, I have trouble moving them, they feel too heavy, I feel like I might lose my body's balance while moving them.

I can't just try to copy the shape of my arms onto my new limbs, I need to further readjust my new limbs with my body to create harmony, restructure my body into a new and perfectly stable shape.

I adjust my posture, I leave my body erect while opening my arms, I feel my whole body tremble and the biomass flowing throughout my body, I can control everything, my body made of biomass answers this to me, I can reconfigure my own body.

I finally open my eyes, keeping my posture firm and fixed, I can move my new limbs at will, I can feel that I have finally remodeled my body to have more limbs than before. I still feel an internal desire to challenge myself even more, but today my focus as a priority is to find out if I can fly or not.

I can change the shape of my new limbs, I decide to call them Secret Arms, because is the mental image I found best to control them. Now I can use my new limbs with the same capacity as my two original arms, but these I can hide them keep my original human shape, like a hidden weapon.

I begin the second step of my initial plan, turning my new limbs into wings, something I've never done with my original arms, but I feel possible by replicating the wings of the animals Mercer infected and I absorbed. These need to be big, strong, and proportionate to my height and weight, my back feels heavy, but this is not a problem as I can reduce the weight without losing proportion using all the power of volatile biomass.

Now I have wings, black wings with the hue of my feathers ranging from black to gray, wings created based on the infected crows I faced and consumed, but which make me look like an angel with black wings.

- If this really works, I will have to hide it from Maya until adolescence or it will give me a headache. - I commented alone to myself while smiling slightly.

I start to flap my wings, creating a wave of wind with their movements, I realize that I'm moving my arms at the same time as I'm flapping my wings, something I feel that is getting in my way, I decide to keep flapping my wings while I crossing my arms and I can finally feel the balance of my body better. I realize that the flapping of my wings starts to propel me backwards, I instinctively feel that I need to lean my body a few degrees forward and as I make this change, I feel my feet start to lose contact with the terrace.

"Just a little more, jump James."

I hear a voice inside my mind, as if it were a new part of myself, developed by my new skills combined with my own instinct and I decide to obey it. I jump lightly, just on my toes and pushing myself inches off the ground.

One, two, three and so I start counting until I reach the number twenty, it's been more than twenty seconds since I'm flapping my wings and I can't feel my feet touch the ground anymore, I look down to be sure and now I have.

- Damn, I can fly! - I shouted as I flapped my wings even harder and moved further away from the terrace where it all started.

I can't explain, of all the skills I've developed, this is the one that I feel the most pride, something totally impossible and that no other infected human has achieved, not even that damn Mercer has achieved this. It's the second ability I find I developed different from Mercer that he didn't possess, the second after my hunting ability, but the first I developed through training and not be impulse or in battle.

I can evolve even more than Mercer with my own effort, I can become the most powerful living creature both in the air and on the land, I can have the powers of a monster and do things impossible for any other living being, without losing control of myself. I can be the strongest hero and protector of those I wish to help, make a lot more of a difference than from the time serving my country, I feel like I can be more than just an accidentally created bioweapon, I can be the strongest version of myself soon.

- Wrong, I already am. - I say to myself as I take to the skies flapping my wings as I readapt my body and my pose for flight.

Higher, faster and finally my first training session is over, with me flying higher than all the buildings in the city as I admire the view of a city in ruins, the city where I dreamed of raising my family, the city where I lost my wife, the city that made me become a monster, and the same city that my daughter saved me from completely giving up my humanity.

Time to go back to my temporary nest, more bird than freaking mutant monster.