Chapter 6 500 Miles

Pain. The soundwaves pierced my ears. I felt something warm and moist on my hands covering the side of my face. I pull my hands in front of me. Blood. I writhe in intense pain. I turn to face my companions. Matthew and Bradley are cringing. Xander is lying on the ground, a mixture of confusion and fear masking his entire face. He has no idea what was happening. Then I see Adam. His body seems to be shimmering and blurring. His legs meld together. His body seems to absorb his arms and his neck flattens out. His skin started becoming green and scaly. His whole body grows longer and longer. Adam has transformed into an enormous snake. Easily twelve metres long. The enormous snake reared its head and curving its body, the scales of this monstrous snake glimmered beautifully in the light. It lunged at the Banshee. I wasn't sure if the bite was venomous but it certainly crushed the bones of the screaming bitch. The snake then proceeded to open its enormous gaping jaw and swallow the Banshee whole. For a short time you could hear a muffled scream from inside Adam's scaly body before the scream turned into one of intense pain, then abruptly cut off.

Everyone uncovered their ears, each person looking grateful at Adam for his intervention as he slowly melded back into his human form.

"How...? What...?" I stuttered.

"Titanoboa," he explained, "a snake is totally deaf to the screams of a Banshee, it was just a matter of picking one large enough, I chose the largest discovered snake in the world, and enhanced it a bit so the bite was stronger."

"But... How can you eat it... Isn't it, you know... ghostyish?"

"I can explain that," interjected Matthew, his ears seemed to have already healed, "Adam has the ability to shapeshift into various forms of flora and fauna, however, when he changes into something that is either much larger or much smaller than his normal size, it requires an enormous amount of energy, he can absorb an enormous amount of it from eating a creature such as a Banshee."

"Yes," Adam said, verifying Matthew's explanation, "I find apes to be the easiest to transform into,"

"That's because you look like one," Bradley cut in pointedly, "and the procreation of strawberries and cream is by far the most superior power to any of yours," he ended.

"Yes Bradley, definitely," Matthew said sardonically, "anyway, we should be moving somewhere else, they've found us, we need a safer location, somewhere we can take him," Matthew said as he pointed at Xander's unconscious frame lying motionless on the ground, "it seems many people here are resistant to the effects of our unfriendly guests from Otherworld."

"Otherworld?" I asked.

"The bad guys have to come from somewhere," replied Matthew.

"Huh..." was the only noise I could make in reaction to his explanation.

"We'd better get a move on, we have to find another safe-house before more of them show up, we could have to travel more than five hundred miles before we find somewhere safe,"

"What about my family?" I questioned.

"Who cares about them?"

"Meh, you're right," I said, "What am I supposed to bring?"

"Clothes and food are all you will need, anything else will just slow you down,"

Minutes later and I was packed. Minutes later and I had moved my entire life to a suitcase. We put Xander on a stretcher and placed him in the back of Matthew's red car. I clipped my bag to the back of my motorcycle. I sat. It was nice to feel the familiar seat beneath my arse, it was a very comfortable seat, especially for a motorcycle. I placed my hands over the throttle. Then the crutch. Matthew, Bradley and Adam had all packed themselves into the car, Adam had shifted into a small monkey shape in order to fit in next to Xander. With Matthew driving, they backed out of the driveway and drove off. I revved my engine and followed.