"Cold." I couldn't help but mutter those words as a brush of cold wind encompasses my body.
"Where in the-" I notice the lack of light that would usually be emanating off of my night lamp, the lack of warmth I would usually be feeling from my bed sheets, and the lack of safety I would usually be feeling in my home.
"Where am I?" My legs lay spread out against the cold, hard, wet floor. "Ugh, and what is that smell." A scent of iron catches my nose as my eyes start adjusting to the darkness that surrounds me. I sit up, looking around to get a better idea of exactly where I am before noticing a-
"Ah...I-is that...a bod-?" The words stay stuck in my throat as the gravity of the situation becomes apparent. I take a step back, knocking into the solid concrete wall behind me whilst the liquid that soaked my pants, now clearly red, slowly drips down my legs whilst emanating an even stronger scent of iron than the one I initially smelled.
"T-this smell..." I look at my hands, noticing a handful of blood dripping off of them, before noticing that my right arm has now become metallic and, through the reflection presented on that arm, that my appearance has changed.
"No way, No Way, No Way!" I instinctively cover my face with the palm of my hands. "This has to be a-" As if on cue, a downpour of rain appeared out of nowhere, washing the blood off of my skin. "-dream."
The cold downpour snaps me out of my trance. I take a better look at the alleyway I'm in, trying to calmly think about a way to handle this predicament. The sound of the rain hitting the ground reverberates as I quickly put the simple plan I had in motion.
"I've got to get out of here before anyone sees this and gets the wrong idea." Ignoring the nervousness and the constant shaking of my legs, I step over the deceased body, heading towards the light that I believe to be the exit whilst the rain washes any evidence of my supposed actions into nothingness.
"Damn it." I struggle to keep my body steady as I pick up the pace in hopes that I can get out of the alleyway as quickly as possible without being seen.
"Why does this kind of thing always happen to me." I get a flash back to the time I tried to help an elderly lady find her cat only for it to get hit by a car right before I could grab it. "That old lady just couldn't let that go could she." Before I could finish that thought, I absentmindedly run into some deformed, ant looking creature at the end of the alleyway.
"HOLY FU-...ugh." The ant man instinctively knocks me to the ground, narrowly dodging that head on collision. "Watch where you're going man," the ant man exclaims in a shrill, somewhat unsettling voice. "Y-yep, got it." I choked out, keeping my head down as to not be seen directly.
"Why're you looking away? Got a problem with my face?" The ant man spat out, catching me of guard since I expected him to just walk away after I agreed with him.
"N-no, not at all," My metallic arm twitches slightly. "I'm just," My heart tightens with anticipation. "Sick?" I look up slightly only to see the ant man's face twisting with an inexplicable rage. "W-wait." My muffled voice does nothing to help my situation.
"You know what," The ant man takes a step towards me as I frantically try to get up. "I'M tired of YOU people always looking at me like I'm some sort of monster!" The tension in the air rises as he takes another step towards me. "I'm tired of being looked down on because of the way I was born."
I try to regain my composure, but the gravity of the situation activates an adrenaline rush I've never felt before. "I'm not going to let you get away with this," The ant man cracks his neck, taking another step towards me, "Not tonight." A ringing hum attracts my attention to my metallic hand for only a moment before I refocus onto the ant man.
"L-listen." The ant man lunges at me, his claws aiming for my chest. I quickly roll out of the way, knocking into the wall of the narrow alleyway.
The ant man, taking advantage of my awkward positioning, lunges at me again. My metallic hand instinctively moves to block the blow, leaving an opening for me to counterattack with a kick to his abdomen.
The ant man takes a few steps back, looks down at his abdomen and looks back at me. "That's not fair! You have an exo-skelet-" Before I could finish my statement, the ant man slams me into the wall with so much force I'm left unconscious.
I open my eyes again to the familiar scent of iron. The ant man's body lays sprawled out on the ground whilst the surrounding area is covered in blood. "Shit." A red glint from my metallic hand catches my attention as I watch the blood that covers it get absorbed into it.
"It couldn't have been this thing that-" I remember the state of the body in the alleyway and notice the similarities between it and the ant man's body. "-it could've been you." I look at the hand as a look of terror starts to envelop my face. "F-forget that, I really have to get out of here now." The downpour of rain gets even stronger, washing off the layer of blood that the ant man left on me, as I flee the area without a second thought.
'I don't know where I am.' I take another step, hastily creating some distance between me and that alleyway. 'I don't know what I am.' My reflection in a nearby puddle catches my eye. 'I don't even know where I can go.' I look up at the sky, gazing into the moon. 'But I will survive,' I look down at my fist, clenching them tightly as the adrenaline slowly starts to disappear. 'No matter what.'