Later that evening I sat outside on the porch enjoying the cool weather. Everyone else on the other hand was inside wrapped up to protect themselves from the cold. I had been out there for almost an hour when Peter Junior stormed up the yard. I thought to myself that he must have learned I didn’t harvest his crop which caused me to grin to myself.

PJ came up to me while profanities flowed, which caused my grin to transform into more of a smile. To my surprise he came at me and started swinging. It caught me off guard and I was knocked to the ground. I laid there for a moment in shock. When I rolled over to get on my hands and knees Junior began to repeatedly kick me while he continued to ramble. I figured it was drug induced since I couldn’t make out a damned thing he said, his words were so badly slurred.

Once I gathered my wits, I latched on to the bastard’s foot and pulled him down. Before PJ’s body made contact with the ground, I drove my fist into his face. Instantly, bright red blood spewed from both nostrils and he screamed out in pain. I quickly got to my feet and started to issue out hard sharp kicks of my own to his body. With each shot I delivered, the more I felt the anger build up in me.

After a few seconds the bloodlust was strong! I wanted to kill him for no more reason than I simply wanted to. I continued to kick away at his body. He rolled over on his back gasping for air. I began to stomp down on his mid section until blood came up from his mouth. I didn’t know whether it was blood from his nose or if I caused some sort of internal injury. Suddenly I realized that if I killed him it would endanger my family, so I walked away and sat down in the chair I was previously sitting in. PJ continued to ramble and cuss. He threatened to have his father kick all of us out of the farm which caused me to involuntarily leap from where I was and land on top of him.

I told him if he did I would rip the flesh from his body and feed on it in front of him. He looked me in my eyes and asked what was wrong with me. I saw the fear in his eyes and that once again brought me out of my state of rage.

As I got up, I noticed my hands--they were dry and scaly; the color of my skin had a grayish tint. I walked away from Junior and back toward my chair. I noticed my reflection in a window and I what saw was an Unlucky with hair. I stepped closer and noticed that my eyes had changed color as well--to yellow and orange.

I turned back toward PJ but he was gone; he must have slipped inside while my attention was diverted. I stood there for a moment. I tried to take everything in, to calm myself and figure out how I was going to get back inside the house. I was fairly sure that everyone would notice if an Unlucky walked inside, said “Hello” and then headed upstairs.

I sat there for some time. I knew that I had been slowly changing, but I did my best to try and not think about it. I eventually decided that I would just dash into the house, and because most everyone on the farm carried a firearm, I would no doubt be mowed down where I stood. Hybrid or not, I knew that in my current state I would not be welcomed and I wouldn’t want to continue to live without my family.

Finally I stood up and walked over to the door. I took a deep breath as I grabbed the doorknob, squeezed my eyes shut and after a quick final prayer I ran into the house. Once inside I stood there with my eyes closed awaiting the gunfire, but there was none. Slowly I opened my eyes; everyone was seated in the living room.