2. In Chains

My eyes fluttered open as I came to in the grass. Looking around me I could see that things were a mess. The field was destroyed, all my hard work keeping up with it gone. The Field light pole that had been hit by the meteor toppled over lay there crumpled and half missing its top end. To my immediate surrounding these "Shards" as mother would call it were scattered like pebbles through the grass. I noticed while looking at the grass color was lost. After opening each eye individually my right eye was now seeing in grayscale.

"Wait... what is this?"" Looking at my hands I noticed my arms and hands were now stuck together. With my forearms crossed over one another in an X my hand were now bound by these shards in my right hand I had a tight grip on this Feather like knife. and in my left palm I could see that one if the scales was larger than the other slightly with a soft gray glow. Looking closer to at the Feather i noticed it was made of these shards but they were so closely formed into one another that only the outline of them could be seen as almost a texture of the blade itself. Almost as if they were made of a snake or lizard like scaled skin. The blade itself was white and about a foot long with a black line from the tip through the blade to the pommel. "A Feather huh..."

Examining myself further my waist across, right leg to my mid shin, abdomen almost to my sternum, forearms and hand, and my neck and right side of my face including my ear were all covered in these shards. I rotated to my knee's on the ground and stood up. Standing up was difficult the new weight of these shards felt like I was around 50 pounds heavier. These scales had no sea shell like sounds coming from them as I scraped the on one another getting up. I noticed I could still feel with them on as if it was my skin, confirming to myself that these were now a part of me. I wanted to put the feather away but couldn't figure out how to maneuver my bound arms to get it in my left pocket. Just then the tip of the blade kind of pulled itself like a magnet towards my under left arm. As it clung to my arm I was relieved to have my hand back. "My hands.. Completely covered. And I suppose this is you hades, in my palm she said. That's not what I meant."

I made my way out of the field to my truck as I made my way I could still hear the sounds of distant bombardments of these meteors. Were they even meteors? I thought. What if those things are in all of them. What are those things anyways? Looking down from the parking lot I could see the majority of my small town. It was in complete chaos. I could hear ambulance's, fire, and cops sirens going off all over. Fires and smoke billowed from many structures through out. Where do I go? I look like a freak I'm not hurt but I'm heavy, I wonder if my parents are okay. I looked in the direction of their home down in the city and just like the rest of the town fire and smoke seemed to be flowing. Man I hope they are okay.

I opened my truck door very clumsily with my left had rotating my body to get it ajar. After sitting in my seat I realized. "Shit my keys are in my pocket!" I tried to scratch at my right pocket to no avail. "Well looks like I'm walking." Walking out of the parking lot and towards the long road down the hill I noticed that most of the lot itself was bare, most of who were attending likely had all driven off as soon as this all started. I walked down the lonely road for about a mile before reaching a residential area with a few cul-de-sacs. The college was on the hill we called "College Heights" it was a mile up a hill past the higher priced homes usually deferred to as the rich homed area. Nice neighborhood quiet and home to doctors and the like. Even in this moment they were lucky, as it seemed the meteors had by chance not landed here only further down a couple blocks, and beyond it. As I walked by the second street suddenly someone called out to me.

"HEY! STOP WHERE YOU ARE!" a older man with a rifle trained on me yelled.

"Whoa! hey! okay okay what's going on man!" I said back as I instinctively threw my arms up even though it was an awkward angle to have them in.

"GO GO inside" he said as he hurried a woman from the car he was standing next to while looking at me the whole time. "You Just keep walking bud I don't know why you can talk English, But I will shoot you if you move an inch towards this street, I'm not letting you touch me with that shit!" He said as he rotated around of the front of the car towards his house.

"Okay, Okay man whatever you say I'm just trying to make my way to my parents house" I said backing up off the curb into the street.

BANG* BANG* Just then the man shot two shots at the ground to the side of me. I turned and ran as hard as I could passed the street as quick as I could. I didn't stop until I was out of breath, which was only about a block away. Huffing with ragged breaths I bent over thinking What the hell he was gonna shoot me is it because of this stuff? Maybe there are more of those things, touch him with it. I guess they are doing to people like they did to me. But English? He heard one speak? So like the thing up there yea that makes sense. Moving forward I could see it now. The street in front of me a house was on fire

"Ahhhhh HELP ME PLEASE SOMEONE" a woman said as she was running with a child in her arms, and behind her two slow moving shard covered things were giving chase.

I gave no pause as I ran towards these "Shardlings" and grabbed the Feather off of my forearm I swung my arms with a underhanded left uppercut from my left side punching the shardling on my right while slashing out the Feather with my right hand at the one on my left. Connecting my punch but missing my slash I laid out the shardling. As it lay on the ground I wildly slashed feather at the other one. The blade cut through the shardling with ease. As the first shardling attempted to stand up I turned over and pierced its skull cap with feather and now they both were dealt with. I turned around to look for the lady and that's when I realized another one had already gotten to her she lay on the ground beneath it and I watched as the last of these shards enveloped her.

" Wait no no no" I turned back looking at the shardlings on the ground I watched their form fall in on themselves into piles of shards, and looking at feather red blood dripped from its tip. Those were people, they were actually people, and I killed them. No way! That's not fair I was trying to help her.. My heart sank. These damn things were turning people into them. I snapped to it as the woman shardling stood up and the other that was on her were approaching me.

"I'm sorry I tried to help! BUT YOU'RE NOT GETTING ME!"