The Abandoned

[Ozymandias]

Author's Note: I had begun this for a contest in another forum before I realized that I have no idea if the contest sponsor was reputable, so I decided to finish it for the Pen instead. :>)

 

Timothy Fergus was eight years old, and very alone and very, very scared. The camping trip had been going so well. He'd gotten to catch his first fish with his father, and his mother had been letting them roast s'mores for dessert every night.

 

Then he had woken before either of his parents two days ago, and made the fateful decision to explore the caves he'd seen on the hike in.

 

Timothy had wandered far into those dark places before deciding it was too black to see, and that he did not want to be alone here any more.

 

It was too late. He was lost.

 

 

The family had used the path that led past these caves, this was true. But there were four distinct paths leading to this camp ground, and Harold and Denise Fergus had been using only whichever one struck their fancy for years, even before Timothy had been born. In their fear for their child's safety, both had forgotten which path they had used until it was too late, and police and park ranger joint efforts found Timothy's shoe, and blood in the caves two weeks later.

 

The little boy had not been attacked, then eaten, as the authorities had surmised. sadly for the poor boy, and many other parents, he was not even dead.

 

It was at the end of the fourth day, and little Timmy had had no water, no food, and little sleep. Exhausted, ravenous, thirsty, and terrified, his weakened mind found the idea that his parents didn't love him; how could they? He disobeyed, shouted, broke things, said bad words...of course they weren't looking for him. The didn't love him. They had left.

 

So he believed, there on the edge of death. That was all they needed.

 

The rabbits found him first, luring Timothy with promises of companionship. That was all it took- they had him almost immediately, and set to work digging their own place in his nearly broken spirit. It was an area quite regularly used to 'set free' rabbits that inattentive parents bought for their children as easter gifts, which were in turn neglected, and taken to these woods by frustrated parents who yet again displaying their short-sightedness decided to "return" these utterly tame and so defenseless creatures to the wild. Every year, it happened, every time, the rabbits died in days, whether they were killed, died of poisoning, or starved.

 

Once the rabbits had a foothold, more and more animals were drawn to the pure, vitriolic rage that only a child can muster; for they all sensed a kindred spirit in abandonment; one who could help them get fair repayment for their death and torment.

 

Fish who were flushed into poison sewers alive, dogs that were deliberately left in parks, cats who were drowned, dogs that were run over, then lied about, reptiles and rodents of nearly every species that had sickened and died from inattentive owners...the new "room-mates" in Timothy's soul became legion.

 

He is now a thing, neither human, nor animal, neither alive, nor dead. He has gills and lungs both, but it is unclear if he needs to breathe at all. He can swim faster than any Olympic athlete.

 

The thumbs on each of his hands are gone; all that is left are chewed scars. His fingers end not in fingertips with fingernails, but long, wicked claws tha can rip flesh as efficiently as a grizzly's.

 

His eyes are too large a human head, giving him a goggle-eyed appearance. They are slitted of pupil, golden in color, and allow him perfect vision in the dark. His ears are longer than they once were, but only by centimeters.

 

His hearing, sense of smell, sight, and taste are hundreds of times stronger than a normal human's. His reflexes are fast enough to corral two adult humans with little to no difficulty. The thing that used to be Timothy can also detect his prey by feeling vibrations through his feet, or the air blowing through his hair from up to one hundred feet away.

 

The thing's more unnatural features are rabbit-like claws at the end of each finger, gills in each side of his neck. a riot of mismatched patches of scales and fur all across his body, and short, razor sharp teeth that can sever a living tendon or digits in one bite, and so strong that they can be used to chew through wood, even concrete. His prehensile tail and his arms and legs are deceptively fast for limbs as short as they are; they can also be shed and regrown.

 

The thing that the papers have dubbed 'The Abandoned Killer' can bypass any lock, swim through any size sewer pipe, and seemingly cannot be harmed; stabbing, cutting, suffocation, drowning, bludgeoning do not seem to harm him in any way. Even as a result of long falls, or being run over by something as large as a tractor trailer truck. Bullets have yet to successfully connect.

 

What used tyo be an unknown number of family pets, and one child of grieving, still childless parents, now appears, along with all of his new amimalistic features, a gaunt humanoid thing, with a human ribcage clearly showing just under the skin, and nearly all vertebrae in human spine visible. What is worse, the chimeric flesh seems to be in a constant state of decay without ever falling off.

 

Timothy has been driven entirely insane by this possession, and is now feral, with one notable exception; all of his victims, unless they fight back, are savaged only into unconsciousness, then taken into the middle of the wilderness, with no possessions and left to die.

 

Every one of his kidnapping victims also have always either committed criminal neglect of a pet, and/or a child.

 

'The Abandoned Killer' is responsible for an estimated 11% of all kidnappings in the United States.

Edited July 29, 2008 by Ozymandias

[Wyvern]

Nice descriptions, Ozymandias... this wouldn't happen to have been for a contest based on describing a monster/supervillain would it? ^_- I really like the concept behind this character, as the whole element of abandoned and dying animals bonding with Timmy is definitely original and interesting. The physical details are also really cool, with the gruesome decaying chimeric flesh standing out to me in particular. I didn't quite follow the bit about the neglected Easter bunnies and the way they bonded with Timmy, possibly because of typos... what does the "rea" in the third sentence of that paragraph refer to?

 

Thanks for deciding to share this here, Ozy. :-) Glad the writing didn't go to waste.

[Ozymandias]

Danke, Sir!

 

Ah, that's supposed to be "area".

 

 

*fixes*

[Ozymandias]

Oh, and yes to the supervillan. :>)