Avaris Man

INTRODUCTION

The story named “Avaris Man” is Science Fiction writing about an individual who has had a fatal past drowning experience. In his frustrating need to overcome his fear of water he accompanies a few friends to a nearby pond that has a bad dilemma with evolution. The previous history of the pond has been the draining of pig fat levees that have altered the state of its ecology. The algae has become furiously attacking which has killed many of the life within its waters.

Because the water is fairly shallow compared to most lakes he tries swimming, although he encounters some memory loss due to algae bites and skin irritations. He decides to sit out for a while when all of a sudden nearby tributaries allow the hostile crossways of an evolutionary creature that has a devastating bite. The waters of the ponds have mutated into an alien form of life that has brought danger to their summer swimming fun.

While trying to save his fellows from the mean and dangerous attack he is as well bitten which brings his fears of water to a new heightened state. The waters of the pond and nearby waterways are shut down and closed off. Soon he is taken to the hospital and flees after seeing a fatal procedure. He decides to return home but can’t because his home has been quarantined due to scientists searching for him.

During his rampage he sees a word that stands out along with some images within his mind. After some careful study and research he discovers the nature of the evolutionary changing creatures that afflicted his pains and discomforts.

Eventually he begins to change mutating into a resemblance of the aggressive fish that may be prehistoric in nature. This change affects his attitude causing him to attack others. The hero of the story has a revelation which causes him to return back to the pond with the desire to spawn and carry on his altered form.

At the end the hero is succumbed to find the creatures and then he is finding himself lured to others nearby water islets. In whatever way he begins to attack other swimmers before he groups with Avira and has offspring.

PROLOGUE

This is a story where the hero escapes the scientists at an early stage of the story. Another fact is that the hero has been changed by both state and mind which causes him to adapt to changing his environment. The hero becomes faster and more impervious to his surroundings. As he becomes adaptable he makes mistakes which lure him back to where the incident first took place at the beginning of the story.

He becomes separated from his friends and families and quickly has to make amends to learn how to survive. Therefore as he learns how to cope he is drawn and lured to find about the unknown creatures. However the hero learns about them and the different types of species before being unable to resist the temptation to attack and kill other swimmers within other grounds.

Here’s a story that brings the hero face to face with a creature that has been around since the dawning times long before the planet earth was ever formed. At this point we can consider this species to be as ancient as the life forms from other planets such as Mars and Saturn. There are so many different kinds within this species that each one has a different nature to their look and reality. After reading this novel the audience will think twice about being safe around their shower drawn pipe.

CHAPTER ONE

At the very beginning of the story the first scene opens as a vehicle pulls up to a small pond. Inside the vehicle are four friends’ two young adult males and two adult females. One of the females is a little on the leery side of swimming at this place. She heard a bad rumor about this area a few years back. She is very reluctant to be here at this very place. Nervously she tries to make use of her hands by holding them tightly together trying to muster up some words to change their minds about swimming here. In her mind she is at a place where she doesn’t feel at ease and she wants to convince the others that it would be better to go to the lake where there are lots of people.

Bringing this fact to the attention of the others Brook relates, “I’m not so sure if we should swim here.”

Avery starts to get out of the vehicle ready to try and get over his fear of swimming. His other friend wants to go to the lake but he chose this place instead. Brushing it off he says, “I drove here because this place is closer.”

His friend Ski which is simply a nick name would rather go where everybody is water skiing for the weekend. Thinking this place isn’t what he really had in mind he replies, “Closer than what the lake where everyone is water skiing and having fun.”

Avery gets defensive right off the bat sticking up for his fear of drowning by telling him, “You don’t have any water skis anyway!”

Ski answers back as quickly as he can say, “No, but I could watch everyone else!”

Christine gets out of the vehicle asking Avery about his accident he had, “What’s wrong with the lake anyhow?”

“Avery turns towards the pond reassuring himself that they should stay here shrieking, “I had a near death experience while cliff diving.”

Christine wonders about his accident because it sounds sort of like an excuse asking, “And what happened.”

Avery thinks about it for a moment as he turns back to them as they all start following inquiring, “I jumped from the highest point as the wind picked up pushing my back into the cliff which knocked the wind out of me. And by the time anyone else noticed I took water in. My brother dived in after me pulling me out of the water. When he dragged me out he pushed on my chest as I choked up a lung full of water. And I haven’t been to the lake since. My back was really scraped up and my leg was severely sprained for several weeks.”

Brook thinks that sounds like a miraculous story, “That sounds like a bummer. At least you’re alive. You shouldn’t cliff dive from the top anyhow! I only go midway anyhow. The top is too high up. I chickened out the last time”

As they walk towards the edge of the pond Avery assures them all, “Well, we’ll go to the lake next time. It’s been a while since I’ve gone swimming anyhow since them. I just want to get used to the water for now.”

Christine kicks her shoes off as she runs in at a faster pace, “Whatever you cowards!”

Brook sets down a towel leaving it in front of the vehicle speaking, “Hold up, I don’t want to get my phone or shoes wet.”

Then she looks over and sees a dead trout laying there with red marks all over its body, “Hey, there’s a dead fish lying here. It looks like a rainbow trout maybe.”

Ski follows behind Christine as quick as he can ask her, “How deep is it?”

Christine tries to stand up from the middle of the pond with no luck as her head goes under the water slightly answering, “The bottom is just another two feet down or so I guess.”

Ski swims out towards Christine as Brook enters the water behind the both of them, “That’s all. This pond must be pretty shallow.”

Brook starts to swim out there with the both of them as Avery lags behind watching even though it was his idea to come to this shoal swimming ground, “Well, come Avery, I doubt you’re going to drown out here you sucker!”

Avery starts to kick his shoes off as he throws them with his foot over next to Brooke’s towel which has been laid out, “Quit being so pushy.”

Christine starts chuckling a little thinking back to when she was younger, “You know you’re not the only who nearly drowned. When I was younger I dived in my cousin’s swimming pool which was a play pool with a volleyball net set across the middle.”

Brook laughs a little too knowing what must have happened, “What did you hit your head on the bottom?”

Christine admits that that was what happened, “Yes, I dived in fast trying to get back in the game after running inside to go to the restroom and slammed my head really hard. My cousins dragged me out after I passed out. In fact I even had a big bump on my forehead about a week or so. It was embarrassing.”

Brook admits to them all that she has had the same experience, “I did that on the high dive when I was on the YMCA swim team.”

Ski laughs at her swim team for a moment or so, “Really the YMCA swim teams, how old were you?”

Brook answers back right away telling them all, “I was in grade school. It was the first time I high dived without belly flopping! I didn’t pass out or anything. I just hit my head really hard. In fact I didn’t even tell anyone.”

Avery swims besides them all adding, “What are you all just making up stuff trying to make me feel better or something?”

Brook swears to Avery that she’s not lying, “I’m not lying, and I really did.”

Christine promises her as well telling him, “I’m not lying either, I really did hit my head!”

Ski laughs at all of them for a second, “Maybe you all should take up another hobby or something like water skiing!”

Avery sticks up for them all of a sudden saying, “Give it up with your water skiing, none of us even have a boat or water skis!”

Ski splashes some water in all of their faces, “Before summers out I’ll take you all water skiing with me and my father.”

Brook washes the water from her faces noticing an oily substance in her eye, “You just splashed something into my eye!”

Ski calms down for a moment, “It’s just water.”

Avery starts to feel dizzy having some trouble talking as he starts swimming back to shore, “I don’t know, I kind of feel dizzy or something and it’s hard to think. It feels like little needles tingling all over.”

Christine notices an oily presence floating by her shoulder, “What’s this floating in the water?”

Ski looks at it for a jiffy answering, “I don’t know, it looks like cooking oil maybe and there’s a bunch of algae floating around in here too. It looks like the pond meanders around to another area. It almost looks like a swamp over there.”

Avery starts to sit out at the edge of the shore slightly, “Maybe you should all get out.”

Brook thinks about being somewhere else instead of here, “Maybe we should go somewhere else!”

Christine thinks about the lake anyways, “We should have went to the lake anyways.”

Ski wants to stay a bit longer telling him, “We just arrived here. We can stay a little longer!”

As Avery reaches the shores and starts walking out as Brook feels something brush up beside her, “Something just swam between my legs.”

Brook wonders if there are any more fish in this pond, “Maybe there’s more fish in here!”

Ski thinks about that for a moment, “Maybe, it seems sort of too small for a lot of fish.” Ski thinks about the dead fish Brook said she saw earlier, “Well, we know there’s some trout in here, you saw a dead one by your towel you said!”

Brook thinks about how it looked, “A dead one with weird red dots all over its body.”

Avery laughs and chuckles cracking a joke saying, “Maybe the trout has the measles or chicken pox.”

Ski takes a turn at a wise crack replying, “Because the trout is dead it can forget about the shingles.”

Brook thinks their humor is childish inquiring, “Ha, ha pretty funny, it only has scales!”

Christine feels something sting her arm, “Something just pinched my arm really hard.”

Brook gets nervous right away, “I just felt something again!”

Ski looks around while swimming in circles, “I don’t see anything!”

Avery looks back noticing a bunch of fish like creatures come to the surface surrounding them all. It seems to him that they are swimming like an eel or something swaying back and forth. He stands up and points to them all, “Hey, there’s a bunch of weird things swimming around all of you!”

Brook looks around to her side at the same time Christine and Ski look in front of themselves. Quickly she panics as she feels another hard sting, “Something just stung me in the back.”

Christine feels a bunch of hammerhead Avaris peces óseo or Avaris Osteichthyes swimming around her arms and chest, “Look, there’s a bunch of fish swimming around us!”

Ski notices thinking that they are fish, “These things don’t look like fish I’ve ever seen.”

Avery convinces them all to get out, “I think you should all get out of there!”

Brook feels the same replying, “Maybe we better get out of here?”

Then without any warning the strange beings enter into a frenzy attack as the water splashes all around and besides them all. Avery freaks out as they become speechless, “Holy crap, get out. Come on! Come on!”

Christine is the first to start swimming away as the hammerhead Avaris follow stinging her all over her body repeatedly. She tries to swim as fast as she can, although Brook starts to swim behind her grabbing on to her shorts nearly pulling them off. As they both struggle slowing down Ski swims taking a few backstrokes as he turns heading back to shore.

Avery starts to step in a few yards and stops as he sinks in the mud slightly losing traction. He waits for a moment while Christine and Brook struggle to break free closer towards shore. Avery panics trying to take a few steps closer as a few hammerhead Avaris sway over his way, “Shoot, just a little further.”

Avery steps over to the side where Ski is only a few yards away swinging his arms for a couple more arm strokes closer to him. Then all of a sudden Avery takes the last few steps for the plunge inward to come to his aid. Quickly he grabs his left arm with both of his hands and pulls him to shore as Christine and Brook become completely motionless. As he takes his last steps to shore one or two hammerhead Avaris turn away stinging him in the right bare heel.

Hurriedly he pulls Ski all of the way out of the water even though he seems breathless. Speedily he turns for the others by leaping with a faster pace to help Christine and Brook who are motionless. As he tries to get nearer to them both, a swarm of hammerhead Avaris sways over his way with an aggressive stroke. He reaches for Christine’s arm pulling her towards shore, though his hand slips as a few more hammerhead Avaris sting him on the right arm and stomach.

His hands slips from Christine’s arm as he steps out of the pond as fast as he can without taking anymore bites. He turns looking back as he steps over towards Ski who is very still and seems to have the life stung from him. Avery stares back yelling, “Damn, what do I do?”

He glances out at them both face down in the water while they tend to take a several more frenzy attacks before slowing down and swarming around the both of them in circles. Wondering what to do he becomes worried beyond belief? Confused he looks back to Brooke’s towel noticing her phone lying there. As quick as a flash he picks it up and tries to use it, even though it takes a moment to turn it on.

Without hesitation he dials 911 while standing there looking out at Christine and Brook who are completely swarmed by hammerhead Avaris. Fairly quickly the emergency response operator answers the line, “911 what is your emergency?”

Avery takes a deep breath while leaning over his friend Ski who hasn’t been breathing and is beginning to look extremely pale except for all of the red sting marks all over his arms, legs, stomach, chest, and of course his face. There are so many that he can’t even seem to count them. Responding to the call Avery answers, “I’m at the pond off of Green Highway just pass the four way crossing with some friends. We were attacked by some weird looking fish. I managed to get one of them out of the pond but he’s not breathing and I can’t get the other two out.”

The emergency operator continues the conversation asking, “Are you right by them?”

Avery takes another huge deep breath, “One of them my friend Ski is lying right in front of me. He hasn’t been breathing and he has all sorts of red marks everywhere. The other two are face down in the pond about fifteen feet out. There’s a bunch of white like fish with big heads swimming around them both.”

The emergency operator asks another question, “Are you injured?”

Avery looks at his legs and arms realizing he has many of the same injuries as his friend informing the operator, “I have a bunch of red marks on my arms, hands, legs, and a few on my feet that sting really bad! It feels like someone burned me with a red hot curling iron or something!”

The emergency operator assures him that she will send help, “Just sit tight, help is on the way. Do you know CPR?”

Avery answers back with a severe nervous tone to his voice, “Yes, I guess so!”

The emergency response operator asks, “Can you check your friends pulse. Just grab your friends left wrist and pinch to the left of the tendon towards the middle and check for a pulse.”

Avery does exactly what she says. Immediately he holds for a moment but doesn’t feel anything, “I don’t feel a thing!”

The emergency response operator adds, “He could be in shock try pushing on his chest with both hands. But not really hard.”

Avery answers back saying, “Are you sure, he has stinger marks all over his chest and stomach?”

The emergency response operator tells him, “Well, you have to try to get him breathing somehow and his heart pumping. Try a couple of times before I send you to the highway to flag them down when they arrive!”

Avery sets the phone down in the mud and then he places one hand over the other and pushes a few times on his chest. After a couple of times getting no response he tries several more times with no further response. He picks up the phone and informs the emergency response operator, “I can’t seem to get a response.”

The emergency response operator says, “Maybe you better wait for the emergency vehicles. Can you make it to the main road to wave them down?”

Avery thinks about how far it is from the main highway, “It’s about an eighth of a mile or so.”

The emergency response operator suggests, “You better go now because according to the GPA satellite they just entered the highway a few miles away?”

Avery gets ready to run by grabbing his shoes from in front of the vehicle, “Okay thanks!”

And then he hangs up right away without another word from her like he’s in a hurry. As quick as he can he puts his shoes on and starts to run over towards the highway. While he runs he thinks about what has happened. Everything has happened so fast and unexpectedly. He feels that this whole entire episode of terrible luck is his own fault. There is no way to undo what has become a reality. Now some of his best friends are dead and will never return. He has tried to unmask and undo all he could without bringing the same fate unto himself. However he is hurt just as well.

Feeling the pain in his heels he squeals out some bad words while running through some rough spots along the dirt road leading to the pond, “Son of a bitch, my ankles hurt badly.”

The dirt road isn’t the only travel to the pond. There are some turns offs that lead to other places where people shoot for fun. He begins to get closer and closer to the road to where he can a car or two pass by just up ahead of himself through some trees. After another minute or so he reaches the road hearing the sirens approach from the direction of the nearest town. He waits patiently as an ambulance pulls over while he waves his hands for them to stop. Following the ambulance is a Fire Chief in a red truck followed by a fire truck. The Fire Chief opens his window and asks if he’s the one who called ready to respond further, “Are you Avery?”

Avery answers him as fast as he can, “Yes, I’m the one who called; the pond is just down this road a little ways.”

The Fire Chief asks him to get inside the truck of his boldly and quickly, “Get in so I can lead the way.”

Avery gets inside the Fire Chief’s truck. The fire chief asks him what happened, “So what happened, I understand you have friends hurt?”

Avery shows him some of his wounds on the right side of his face and hands. Then Avery tells him that they all are hurt, “I was hurt as well. I have the like red welts on my hands and my face stings a bit on the right side.”

The Fire Chief sees the wounds to his face telling him, “You have some red marks on your cheeks as well. You feel alright?”

Avery answers as the approach the pond with his vehicle sitting there, “I guess so except for they all sting and feel very numb like.”

The Fire Chief sees his vehicle just up ahead along with the reeds of the pond, “Is this the place?”

Avery answers back ghastly with numbness to his lips, “Yes, this is the place.”

The Fire Chief pulls up along with the ambulance and fire truck. Avery gets out at the same time the paramedics exit the ambulance. Avery points to his friend Ski who is lying face up in the dirt with a very paleness look to his whole entire body. The paramedic goes to the back of the ambulance to get his medical case of supplies. The fire chief stands over Ski while looking out to the pond where Christine and Brook are face down floating in the water.

The Fire Chief sees all of the hammerhead Avaris swarming around the both of them he says, “Holy mackerel I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

The paramedic approaches with his box gear ready to respond to Ski’s medical attention that he really no longer needs. The other paramedic looks out to the pond with a sense of awe stating, “What are they?”

The Fire Chief has no idea what they are he has never seen anything like it before in all his hears in treating animal attacks. He hasn’t seen anything this severe as far as stings are concerned. The paramedic driver looks out confused telling them all while looking at the swells all over Ski’s face, chest and stomach, “I haven’t seen this many sting marks since the last killer beehive case I worked on.”

The responding paramedic feels Ski’s pulse getting no response. At first he says to the fire chief, “He must have died from shock. Should I treat him like he’s in cardiac arrest?”

The Fire Chief replies, “Well, don’t give him mouth to mouth because we don’t know anything about his wounds as of yet.”

The paramedic wonders for a split second, “Then what should I do?”

The Fire Chief thinks about it for a second, “Try using the defibrillator and see if you can get his heart fibrillating again!”

First the paramedic gets the equipment ready while the fire truck backs up towards the pond. The fire chief tells the fire men, “Use the ladder and pull them out with the pole because they are too far in to risk anything.”

Second the paramedic tries using his defibrillator a time or two, “Ready, clear.”

Ski’s body bounces up for a moment but there is still no response. The paramedic stops for a moment before turning up the calibration, “Turn it up to 300 ccs!”

The paramedic gets ready once again, “Ready, and clear!”

Again Ski’s body bounces up again with no further added response. The fire chief says to the paramedic, “Try 400 ccs and that’s all we can do. He’s probably been unconscious too long and he probably went through traumatic shock which killed him!”

The paramedic then turns it up to 400 ccs and then gets ready, “Ready, and clear!”

Once again there is no further response form Ski who is apparently dead from the horrid scene. The paramedic pronounces him dead on the scene, “He’s dead!”

Meanwhile the firemen remove Brook and Christine from the pond who both have water logged in their mouths. The Fire Chief looks at them both with a worsen amount of sting marks to their whole entire bodies. The fire chief implies, “There’s nothing we can do here. Bag them!”

The firemen and paramedics get ready to bag them as the Fire Chief decides who to call, “Maybe I better call some scientists instead of the Sherriff’s office!”

One of the paramedics says, “You should call the Sheriff’s office as well so they can close down this pond and leave the bodies until they get here.”

The Fire Chief thinks about that for a moment, “You’re right, someone take Avery to the ambulance and treat his wounds and take him to the hospital. This pond needs a Hearst is what this pond needs right now. And get him something else to where other than those shorts which have been ripped up by them.”

One of the paramedics says to the chief, “Well, how should I treat his wounds. I’m not sure what to do? Maybe I should just put some antifungal cream or some antibiotic lotion on them until we arrive at the hospital?”

The Fire Chief gets ready to talk on the phone waving his hands for them to take Avery to the hospital. The paramedic takes Avery to the back of the ambulance while the driver paramedic gets in ready to leave the scene. Meanwhile another paramedic with a Sheriff pulls up. The ambulance leaves while Avery receives treatment in the back.

CHAPTER TWO

After a long drive they arrive at the hospital. The ambulance backs in to the emergency area while the driver paramedic gets out. An emergency nurse comes out to help him in the emergency room. The emergency nurse sees all of his flesh wounds feeling sorry for him saying, “You poor thing you!”

They wheel him inside while the nurse says, “Hey you man, and we need to get some personal information from him first!”

Avery answers, “Okay, I suppose!”

The paramedic argues, “Look he has some foreign wounds we are unfamiliar with. That can wait until we treat him first. The fire chief called some scientists.”

The driver paramedic wants him to lay in one of the emergency room hospital beds, “Just wait for the doctor to come and run a few tests. You may need some shots or something. It’ll be his decision how to treat you at this point.”

The paramedics get another call and have to leave. “The driver paramedic answers the radio call, “We’re on our way!”

The driver paramedic replies, “We have another call and must respond immediately. Take care of yourself.”

The nurse decides to wait seeing the wounds all over his body, “What the heck did you come across. I’ve never seen anything like that? Wait for the doctor; I have another patient to attend to. She pulls the curtains around his hospital bed to keep him secluded! The doctor will want some personal information from you to decide what allergens you have had. Have you had a tetanus shot in the last five years?”

Avery thinks about that for a moment, “It’s probably been longer!”

“The nurse replies, “Okay just wait a few minutes or so.”

The nurse pulls the curtains shut all of the way and says, “Sit tightly!”

After she leaves to attend another patient Avery hears some moans coming from the curtains next to his. They sound pretty painful. Within another minutes or so he becomes agitated waiting for the doctor. Becoming very curious he jumps out of bed and slips the curtains over seeing another patient in the other bed. The other patient is almost tearing at the eyes holding his hand in lots of pain.

Avery can’t help himself but to ask what happened to him. Avery asks, “Sorry to bother you, what happened to you?”

The other patient looks at him and says, “Tell me what happened to you first.”

Avery says, “Me and some friends were at a pond when we were attacked by some weird looking fish I have never seen before. They stung them all over killing them. They stung me on the face, stomach, hands, and feet. I have red marks all over, they’re numb as hell.”

The other patient concludes, “I was bitten by a brown recluse. I was at work at a construction job. I went to put a glove on to start work and there was one in the glove it bit me on the hand.”

The other patient pulls his bandages away where he has had one chunk of flesh removed and his hand has turned and rotted for the worse. The other patient says, “See the doctor cut one chunk of rotten flesh away and my hand has gotten worse. I don’t know what he’s going to do. Actually, I don’t know what they are going to do! They’ll probably do the same to you; you better go now before the doctor returns.”

Avery goes back to his curtained room while the doctor returns to the other patient’s curtained room. Avery listens in as the doctor tells him the bad news, “We need to move you upstairs to ICU because we may have to cut more away. There’s really not much we can do!”

The other patient replies, “You mean amputate?”

The doctor assures the patient, “I didn’t say that!”

The nurse starts to pull his bed from the room rolling him out while the doctor says, “Take him to ICU while I attend another patient.”

While the nurse rolls him towards the isle and the doctor walks away the patient jumps out of bed and starts to run through to the waiting room as another nurse enters leaving the door partially open. The doctor turns really fast as him and the nurse chase after him, “Stop him!”

Avery peaks out witnessing the whole entire scene while another paramedic team enters with another patient with some sort of emergency at hand. Avery sees his chance to flee as well and decides it’s his chance to take the initiative bashing, “I better get the hell out of here; I just want to go home!”

Avery grabs his some bandages lying by his bad and makes a run for it. The other doctors and nurses are busy chasing after the one patient as Avery runs down the aisle passed the other paramedics. The other paramedics are unsure what to do, “Hey, where are you going? Stop him!”

Avery runs passed the paramedics bringing in another patient while one of them tries to grab him but slips. Quickly he runs through the parking lot out towards another street. He looks back seeing another security guard from outside hear the commotion who starts to run after him. He looks over to the side of the security guard running to him seeing the other brown recluse patient caught by doctors and security guards. Nonetheless he doesn’t stop for anything or anyone. Eventually, he makes it to a shopping mall down the street and heads inside.

Back at the pond while Avery is walking around the shopping mall, a male scientist named Dr. Waters has arrived. Dr. Waters walks up to a body bag and unzips it looking inside. Immediately he is astounded by the horrid scene saying, “Another AX scenario.”

The local Sheriff has never heard of the term before. With a sort of confused reply the Sheriff asks, “What’s an AX scenario?”

Then Dr. Waters thinks for a moment to brush them all off telling the local Sheriff and fire chief, “It’s just a term we use for an unknown attack!”

Then Dr. Waters looks down by the towel Brook left behind as evidence noticing the rainbow trout lying there with the same sort of scaring tissue as the four victims. Looking out to the pond the Dr. Waters advises them both, “So that’s what’s been killing all of the fish in these nearby ponds!”

The Sheriff thinks about that for a second or so before asking, “What makes you say that?”

Then Dr. Waters speaks to the both of them, “Well, we’ve had to close a few ponds in the vicinity because many of the fish in certain areas were coming up dead.”

The Sheriff wonders what will happen next questioning, “So what will happen now?”

Dr. Waters articulates the truth to the both of them, “It looks like we’re going to have to close this pond for a while until we can catch or dispose of this AX species. Have any of you taken any pictures?”

The Sheriff responds to this question informing him, “No, we were waiting for further notice before making or taking any pictures.”

Dr. Waters thinks for a split second wondering what to tell them both before blurting, “Good, if anybody asks, tell them it was some aggressive pike or something. We don’t want to cause any alarm if you know what I mean?”

The Sheriff laughs a bit querying, “Pike, who’s going to believe that nonsense?”

Dr. Waters chuckles a moment or so before eluding, “You’re right, just say you’re not sure at this point.”

The Fire Chief is curious if they are through with this scene as far as he and the Sheriff are concerned by asking, “Will you need any more of our assistance?”

Dr. Waters acts very nonchalant at hiding the truth from the both of them the best that he possibly can without mustering up any further unwanted curiosity, “No, you both can go about your business. We can close the dirt road off and make a net around the pond until we are finished. It will probably take a few days or maybe even a week before we are sure of anything!”

The Sheriff and Fire Chief decide to go about their daily routines. The Sheriff decides to leave with a token of his affection to the matter, “Well, just give a holler if you all need a further hand!”

Dr. Waters replies, “Sure we will if anything turns up in your court!”

He decides to hide in one of the stores restrooms for a while, “Maybe we better hide in this stall for about ten to fifteen minutes before heading back home on foot.”

While waiting in the restroom many people come and go, nonetheless he continues to wait until everything has cooled down from his escaped departure from the emergency room of the hospital. After a few more minutes another person enters the stall next to him and then another person tries to open the stall he’s sitting in waiting. Immediately he flushes the toilet like he’s finished using the restroom and decides it’s time for him to leave and make his way back outside.

When he leaves the restroom stall another store customer is waiting patiently to enter the stall. When he walks passed him he turns back as the customer enters making sure that the coast is clear and that he wasn’t followed or anything. Then he heads outside and looks around making sure on another occasion that he wasn’t followed again.

Avery moves down along the sidewalk of the shopping center over to some other stores next door to the grocery store. One of the stores is an aquarium shop with tropical fish. Standing outside staying as quiet and calm as he possibly can, Avery hears some customer talking about fish to an employee saying, “You just got a new shipment of Betta in today, do you think this one will go good in this five gallon aquarium with some cooli loaches?”

Avery overhears the tropical fish employee answering, “They go pretty good with tetras. Neon tetras are pretty good with them and you already have some cooli scavengers as well. They also go good with guppies like swordtail guppies as well. But you must be careful about your water temperature and ph. levels to keep them healthy. It would be a good choice to try some water conditioners in the tank along with some fungus cure as well so they don’t get ich.”

After hearing the tropical fish conversation, he looks to the wounds on his hands and arms and starts to become paranoid after hearing the word ich. He starts walking away from the tropical fish store thinking about what way he should head home deciding that it would be better to take the back roads. He walks over to the residential streets behind the industrial complex that he has stayed waiting out some time. There are at least a small number of miles left before he reaches his house. While walking through the neighborhood streets he sees a law enforcement vehicle pass by the street he’s walking along. He scurries and hides in a yard for about ten minutes or so before continuing on with his home descent once again.

After another hour or so he makes his way to his neighborhood. He notices some vehicles parked in front of place with some that seem to be government oriented. It seems he is too far away to make out what the writing is on the vehicles, although he sees some a couple of government officers walk to his front door ringing the doorbell. Then a vehicle drives by him as he stands behind some bushes within one of the neighborhood yards. He barely makes out what it says on the vehicle, but it looks like it says EPA to him.

He glances back over to his place at the same time that both of his parents answer the front door. His father is the first to step outside just passed his screen door. Dr. Waters tells his parents about the incident, “Your son Avery had a mishap today at the pond off of Olive Green Highway when he and three friends named were attacked by some unknown fish species which we are investigating. Your son survived, although the other three perished. Your son was taken to the hospital emergency room where he eventually fled and hasn’t been seen since.”

Dr. Kill Pond a female scientist talks to his mother and father wondering where he might have gone in such an emergency, “Where do you think he could have gone to?”

Avery’s father is the first to answer Dr. Kill Pond’s question, “I don’t know, he could have gone anywhere. He left going to pick up his friend Ski and a couple of his girlfriend’s Brook and Christine I believe.”

Then Dr. Kill Pond asks another question, “Does he have any other friends that he could seek for help that you know of?”

Avery’s mother becomes a little more concerned about the whole entire ordeal enquiring, “Why are you so destined to find him is he hurt or something? And why weren’t we notified sooner than now?”

Then Dr. Waters decides to answer that demand by telling them both, “Yes, he is hurt having wounds all over his body and he fled from the hospital pretty quick. He wasn’t even there for ten minutes before fleeing. We believe he fled after witnessing another patient try to escape which provoked his interest. The hospital never even had a chance to have the necessary forms for admittance filled out because the paramedic thought his wounds were foreign and unknown how to treat them.”

“And what kind of attack was it?” Avery’s mother asks wanting to get more information their way.

Dr. Kill Pond retorts the question the best she can without giving away too much information telling her, “It’s what we call an AX scenario. In other words a term we use for an unknown aggressive fish species.”

Avery’s father asks if they have any pictures they both can see to get an idea of what the fish creatures look like by questioning, “Do you have any pictures?”

Dr. Kill Pond replies, “No, not at this time, we don’t! We’re trying to keep that confidential at this point? If anybody finds out about the incident and insists just say they were some ancient aggressive pike or something.”

Avery’s mother gets aggravated arguing, “Sounds like you’re making a cover up of some sorts!”

The Dr. Kill Pond gets on the defensive right off the bat saying, “Look we just don’t want to cause an alarm right now. We have an APB out on your son anyhow!”

Avery’s father develops concern for the other victims asking, “What about my son’s friend’s families?”

Then Dr. Waters decides to answer this question by telling them both, “We’re getting ready to contact them next in person because we both have to be there when they verify the bodies!”

Avery’s father becomes very angry telling them, “Look, I’ll go and search for my son, and maybe you all should go worry about your stupid pike or whatever you call them when you contact the other parents. You all sound like a bunch of nonsense!”

Then Dr. Waters becomes more caring calming him down by saying, “Calm down please!”

Avery’s father becomes even more restless wanting to get to the bottom of the matter saying, “Come on back inside honey, this conversation is over. Beat it!”

Back on the other side of the street Avery is watching as his mother goes inside and his father slams the front door in their faces. Avery’s father seems very confused and worried by this point in the story expressing, “What a run around they both are. I’m not waiting around while our son has some afflicted wounds and nowhere to go. He could be anywhere out there.”

Avery’s mother creates a subtle argument with his father suggesting. “Now just let them do their job!”

Avery’s father gets defensive for Avery’s safety being caught up in all of the emotional confusion instructing his partner, “If you think I’m staying around here when they seem to be feeding us a bunch of bull, I’m not. How do you know they won’t find him and take him into some unknown quarantine?”

Avery’s mother agrees for once in all of their years of disagreeing for their son’s wellbeing, “Well, you better get a move on! Maybe I should come along?”

Avery’s father feels that she should stay home in case he returns and is really hurt pretty bad acclimating, “Actually, it would be wiser if you stayed here just in case he tries to sneak in and get some clothes or something.”

Avery’s father grabs the car keys from the kitchen key holder and heads through to the garage ready to open the garage door and take a drive looking around for him. By this time Avery has already made his way a few streets over by hiding behind bushes and trees to keep himself out of sight. After making his way down another neighborhood or so he sees an alley way that appears to be his best way of travel. Once he makes his way into the alley way he starts peeking through yards to find somewhere to hide out.

Continuing on, he scurries past a few more gleams through fences and sees a clothes line with some clothes that look good for the taking. He looks around through a gap between the wood picketed fence making sure that the coast is clear and takes his chance with the initiative. Quickly he jumps over and tramples his way through a grassy yard grabbing whatever he can muster for the advantage. In his endeavor he gets away with a t-shirt and a pair of pants to help hide his identity from the profile that he was last saw wearing.

Before getting ready to head out and back over the fence he hears a slight rustling sound that sounds like a chain dragging over the nearby footed grassy ground. He looks and sees a Doberman Pincher approach with hastiness for sneaky catch. As he turns to run the Doberman Pincher starts to bark with a loud screeching scratchy snarl that sends him back to his running stampede to break free with all the goodies he has accumulated. With a scurried leap he jumps to the top of the fence and nearly catches a snag as the angry mutt comes to close grabs with the sleeve of the shirt he has dragged by his left hand. He falls to the other side back into the alley way and makes a fast run for freedom once again.

Fearing to be caught by a noisy hound that may break his silence for being on the run, Avery dashes his way back to the side street which leads to another alley just on the other side. Hurriedly he makes his way to the other side and hides behind a trash can cubicle so that he can muster the chance to change his clothes before moving along once again. After traveling to the other end of the alley way he sits behind another trash cubicle and waits for the sun to start setting so he can keep out of sight easier.

While waiting so patiently Avery begins to become very restless and doesn’t really know what to do with himself. By this time his swells are starting to bother him. They don’t really itch; nonetheless the red scars left from the venom of the hammerhead Avaris are becoming more and more numbered. Avery begins to inspect his body all over starting with his hands. There are a few red circles on the back of his hands. He also has a few on his stomach and a few more on his chest that he can see when he lifts the stolen shirt up. He can’t really see his face right now, although he starts to feel around his cheeks and mouth thinking he may have more than presumed.

Then suddenly he feels numbness to his shoulders. He pulls his collar away and looks to his right shoulder noticing another couple of red marks. Then quickly he looks to his other shoulder and notices a few more. Paranoid he pulls his shoes and socks off and notices even more red scars that he must have never even felt when they happened. As he puts his shoes and socks back on he brings into being the fact that he never even ran in so far after his friend Ski to allow anything to sting his shoulders.

Thinking about that for a moment he realizes that maybe they are so venomous that they can sting from a distance or maybe they don’t even have to touch you. Talking out loud to himself about the strange reality he musters, “Damn, whatever those things were or are they’re pretty mean. I didn’t even go in the water that deep, maybe up to my upper thighs.”

Then he hears some talking coming from around the corner of the cubicle along with the scuttling of some footsteps within the rocks making a crunching sound that is getting closer. He hides and looks without letting anyone see him. Two teenagers are walking down the alley way smoking cigarettes. One of the teenagers says to the other, “We have to put them out before we get to my backyard.”

Avery looks at what they are wearing and notices that one of the shirts has some playing cards along with some dice like a gambling t-shirt. The shirt spells “Avarice” such as the image within his mind of the scene that unfolded. The shirt has a mere resemblance of the shape of their body, or maybe he’s just seeing things. Anyhow he remains quiet as they both pass by going there merry way.

Patiently he stays and closes his eyes a while marveling what will become of him. He nearly falls asleep for an instance but wakes back up dreaming the horrid sight over and over again. He shuts his eyes again and dreams the scene back and forth another time. Continually he tries again and again but seems to have no luck.

After another hour nightfall has taken a hold and he decides maybe it is time to get back on the move to find another place where he can shelter himself for the night. Now that he made his way back on the move Avery feels that he doesn’t have to hide much anymore. He has a sense of braveness about himself by now. He has encountered turmoil and has a feeling of perseverance about the whole entire reality of how he has survived a lethal attack that has left others perished. It’s almost as though he feels immortal with the venoms flowing through his reddened skins that were before itching and burning his soul into a sense of pain.

Wondering around a while he makes his way into an apartment complex that has many side streets meandering around. He passes through and sees another apartment complex with bedroom windows and living room windows facing the parking lot. He strolls on by a small number of windows before noticing one that is left wide open with lots of bushes surrounding the outside.

Slowly he takes a glimpse around the parking area to see if anyone is around watching. Then he makes his way behind some bushes set around the window and peeks inside. At this point he notices that the window is missing a screen. At this point he stares inside seeing a young man working on the computer facing the other direction. Without making a single noise he squats down and hides staring inside. Some time goes on by as he watches and waits like an owl waiting on the swooping dive for some scurrying prey below lying helpless.

CHAPTER THREE

One thing he notices when looking through the window of the apartment is that there are lots of beer cans and cigarette ash trays lying around. By this time he feels that maybe this person is a heavy drinker with lots of bathroom urges. So patiently he waits while he sees the computer geek take a swig of some hard liquor. Then suddenly like a beer gut in need of the restroom, the computer geek is a wobbling to the hallway. (Simile/Metaphor)

Quickly after hearing the bathroom door shut, Avery descends his way inside by climbing through the window. He looks around for a split second before making sure that nobody else is sitting inside the apartment along with him. Realizing that the coast seems clear and the computer geek is all alone, Avery turns around and shuts the window very slowly. Then he slowly pulls the blinds closed and makes his way over towards the hallway besides a couch and peeks down the hallway seeing that the bathroom light is on and that the bathroom door is closed. Like a bolt of lightning from his body beginning to change due to the evolutionary changes already at hand, Avery flashes to the kitchen and picks up a steak knife from inside the kitchen sink.

With a rapid and fasted reflex of a turn back, Avery jolts back to the side of the hallway and waits just at the time the toilet flushes. Then he hears the sink turn on for a half of a minute or so and then the bathroom door opens. Avery gets ready although it seems that the computer geek may have entered one of the bedrooms. Hearing another door squeak and creek open Avery tilts his head once again down the hallway as a light from one of the bedrooms comes on. Quietly he stands there trying to listen for anyone else who may be with him inside the apartment.

After another couple of moments or so, Avery notices that the light gleaming down the hallway fades out and the door squeaks a little bit one more time. Using the keenness of his sharpened ears Avery can hear his light footsteps approach. As the computer geek exits from the hallway Avery grabs him by the back of the hair just as he sticks the knife to his throat saying, “Don’t make a move or else!”

The computer geek takes a deep breath and replies, “Okay, what you want?”

Avery holds him still and in place saying, “I just want you to look up things on your computer for me, understood!”

The computer geek slowly answers back, “Sure, whatever you want to look up!”

Avery then asks him what his name happens to be. The computer geek answers back, “Ryan!”

Then Avery tells him while walking him over towards his computer, “Ryan is anyone else in the apartment?”

Ryan remains calm for a second before telling Avery, “No!”

Then Avery asks him another question, “Are you expecting anyone, or does anybody live with you?”

Ryan answers back very boldly and honestly shrieking, “No, I live alone right now.”

Avery then pulls his computer chair out a little saying, “Okay, sit down Ryan!”

Thinking for another moment Avery tells him, “Here’s the deal Ryan. I had an accident the other day out at a pond. I and three friends were attacked by some weird looking fish. I don’t know what they were. My three friends didn’t make it. See this red mark on my stomach!”

Ryan turns his head for slight bit, “I have these scars all over. The ambulance, fire men, Sheriff, and even some scientists came to the scene when I used my friend’s telephone. I really don’t know where to start and don’t know anything about these things. I left the hospital because the guy in the next space was bitten by a brown recluse and had some flesh cut out and he thought they were going to amputate his hand. So I flipped and split out of there. Then there were people at my place looking for me so I wondered around until I saw you on the computer. So just give me a hand trying to figure out what’s out there on the internet so I know what I’m dealing with, okay?”

Ryan is a fairly smart guy himself asking Avery, “Where did it happen?”

Avery thinks for a moment before bashing, “Off of Olive Green Highway.”

Ryan seems to know the place from hearing something on the news, “That’s where a couple of cattle came up dead I think.”

Avery wants more information enquiring, “Where did you hear that?”

Ryan explains a little detail he heard, “One of my friends rides dirt bikes a lot and said that he heard about some cattle dying while drinking from a pond. It might be the same one, I don’t know.”

Avery thinks up another question, “Do me a favor and look up incidents of ponds being closed down on your browser!”

Ryan gets ready to close out his current files he’s working on saying, “Hold on, I have to save and clear my task bar first!”

Ryan saves his word processing document that he’s working on and closes the word processing document really quick before clicking on the internet expressing to Avery, “There, now I’ll open my internet browser and type it in the search bar.”

While Ryan types he asks Avery what his name is at this time, “What’s your name?”

Avery retorts back to Ryan nonchalantly trying to stay anonymous, “Don’t worry about my name right now until we get somewhere.”

After Ryan opens the search many links to closed ponds come up. Ryan reads some of them off while Avery looks and reads along with him, “Here’s one, ‘pond closed due to many fish dying with no explanation.’ Here’s another one, ‘pond closed after campers discover………….’ But that one doesn’t say anything else.”

Ryan then reads a couple of more links, “Here’s a third link, ‘pond closed due to disease threat……………’ Does that sound like anything ringing a bell?”

Looking down at the bottom of the page of links Ryan notices another interesting link, “Here’s a good one, ‘shoreline closed due to surfers undergoing short memory loss’ that one sounds weird.”

Avery thinks about that one for a moment telling Ryan, “That one sounds familiar!”

Ryan hears what he just said like something sunk into Avery’s mind probing, “What do you mean?”

Avery answers back to Ryan explaining that he had experienced some memory loss exclaiming, “When I came out of the pond I had some memory loss and felt like I wasn’t sure where I was at!”

Ryan thinks about his Grandfather and his ailments for a split second or so telling him, “Sounds like my Grandfather and his Alzheimer’s disease sort of like.”

Avery ruminates back a little himself summing, “Trust me, I have relatives like that as well. It was different. I felt like I had déjà vu but couldn’t remember where I was at and my skin itched really badly, especially my face.”

Ryan starts to become confused because he can’t think what else to look up saying, “Well, I’m really unsure what to do here. It seems some of the information is only partial. It’s like they don’t want to tell you everything or something. And when I click on the link it’s just the same link over cut off with other links that lead nowhere! I don’t know what to tell you.”

Avery decides to go another route after he remembers the t-shirt he saw in the alley way. The image has popped back up within his confused little scheming mind. Wondering if the word even means anything Avery suggests, “Here, look up this word I spell out. Avarice.”

Ryan isn’t so sure how that word is spelled asking, “How is that spelled?”

Then he takes a drink from his fifth of rum before Avery spells the word out shrilling, “A, v, a, r, i, c, e.”

Ryan types the word into the internet search bar when a few topics in the drop menu appear. Ryan reads them off to him, “Avarice, avarice in a sentence, avarice defined!”

Avery tells him click on avarice defined and see what comes up. Ryan clicks on the drop menu and a bunch of links pop up with definitions. Ryan reads one of the links that has an explanation and definition for the word reading, “extreme or insatiable desire for wealth or gain: greediness, cupidity, selfishness.”

Avery looks at all of the links from behind over his shoulder while Ryan takes another drink from his bottle of liquor. Becoming a little uneasy and depressed Avery says, “So that’s what the word means. That’s why there were cards and dice on the t-shirt this kid was wearing. But it reminded me of something else.”

Ryan feels a little bit of pity for him even though he has been becoming interested in what he helping him with at this point in time. Avery ponders a moment to himself debating what else to do because everything seems like the runaround. Then immediately Avery thinks back to when he first started typing the word in the search menu and the drop menu had some other words linked inside suggesting, “Do this! Go back to the search menu and type the word in again really slow like one letter at a time.”

Ryan goes back a few pages and clears the search bar and types in a letter a. The letter a gives us amazon rain forest, aol, and auto parts stores.”

Then Ryan types in a letter v next to the letter a, and the drop menu opens up with a link for Avaris Space Fish Species. Avery looks and goes, “Huh, Avaris Fish Species. Type in an i really quick.”

More selection to link pops up on the drop menu. Then Avery says, “Now, type in an r.”

Ryan then sees another word avirex down on the drop menu. Then Avery says, “Type in an e.”

Ryan typed in a letter e and more selections pop up on the drop menu. Ryan takes another swig of his beer that is getting warm while Avery reads them off repeating, “Avirex clothing.”

Avery decides to have Ryan type in the last letter n commanding, “Type in the letter x.”

The drop menu doesn’t change at all. Then Avery decides to ask Ryan to click on one of the drop menu links prompting, “Click on that link and see what comes up.”

Ryan gets ready to but decides to take another swig of his beer that is sitting there. Then he puts the mouse cursor over the “Avaris” word instead which is still in the links and turns around towards Avery slightly and acts like he’s going to stand up testing, “Do you mind if I run to the restroom?”

Ryan can see that Avery still has the knife in his hand pointing towards him. Avery soothes his intentions by answering, “No, that’s okay!”

Ryan looks back the other way to the hallway and Avery freaks out and pulls the back of his hair while sticking the knife in his throat to let it rip straight across with a slashing streak. Ryan tries to push away but loses his senses and puts his hands over his throat as Avery lets go. Ryan falls to the floor just before the hallway while Avery stands over him making sure that he is out for the count. Ryan convulses for a moment while trying to catch a breath while Avery pulls his shirt up and around his head. After another moment or so Avery notices that he is senseless and drags him into one of the bedrooms placing him between the bed and the window.

Avery leaves the bedroom and enters the bathroom to freshen up. At first he turns on the sink and washes his hands and then he cups his hands and washes his face. He takes the towel next to the bathroom door and dries his face off. Finally he glances up at the mirror and looks at himself. Immediately he sees the change in his facial features. His face is now more prognathic and profound considering that his frontal bone or forehead has a larger brow ridge that is sutured together without and suture lines at least that are noticeable on the outside.

Another autapomorphy he sees from his true self is the projecting face which tends to sink inside his more defined brow ridge from his mandible all the way just past his nasal features. His eye orbits and nasal aperture tend to be more excluded meaning they have exclusion and don’t really seem to match up anymore. His eye orbits are more pushed out to the sides of his sinus cavity. He even realizes that his eyes are turned in to adjust to the loss of direct eyesight in a forward fashion. And his peripheral vision is somewhat off to the sides a well.

Now he inclines to have a synapomorphy with the avaris fish species that he is still trying to put a thumb on to the knowledge along with their existence. Still staring at himself within the mirror he rubs his hand over his mouth which is becoming tighter and smaller around the sides of the lips forming a much rounder opening. He rolls his tongue out realizing that his mouth has shrunken slightly.

Becoming scared he can tell that the photographic superimposition of himself is in a disagreement with his old self. He looks and glances at the wounds that were once on his hand and sees that they are fading away with an impression of the whiteness that is coloring his body. Without any further hesitation he leaves the bathroom and heads down the hallway to the computer.

Quickly he takes a seat and decides to continue on the research by himself. The first thing he chooses to do is he places the cursor over the Avaris Clothing link and clicks it. The webpage opens up and he views the clothing articles that are on hand as the shopping list. The first image he notices is a flying bird which resembles a type of falcon or hawk, although the direct knowledge of what the image really is happens to be unclear.

With a feeling of impatience he clicks over another page viewing other images that start to remind him of the incident that overwhelms his confused mind of his. There happens to be nothing that totally catches his complete attention. Nevertheless he clicks over another page and sees some images that have a white like spiny body followed by a hammering image. One of the shirts has to be the resemblance of his unknown infestation that he is so unclear about. Furthermore he clicks over another page and sees more images which remind him of different species maybe. However he isn’t as sure as what to look for and understands that he may never ever know the entire truth to what has happened to him or what is happening to him, or what will eventually happen to him. All he knows is that he doesn’t really have that much time to find the answer of what’s happening to him before it is too late.

While looking at the mouse he even observes the fact that webbing is beginning to form between his fingers slightly. He puts his right hand closer to his face which is side turned a little ways to view the computer screen. Then he notes his left hand which is about the same. As he tilts his head downward he sees a difference in articulation in his chest. It appears that he body is changing at an alarming rate.

Anyhow he keeps his mind focused and concentrates on the problem at hand. He chooses to go back to the internet search bar and types in averix species to see what else is out there on the wide world of the internet. The first thing that comes up on the drop menu is a few links that don’t tell him too much. Then he moves his cursor down to the bottom of the page and clicks over to the second page. The first web page link has an avirex species of bird. He clicks to the web page and a page snaps up with avirex bird. There is a picture and a paragraph of writing that he reads. The picture is of an avirex bird which some kind of prehistoric eagle. In the picture it displays a black falcon or eagle like bird grabbing prey with its feet and some sharp like tail pointing forward towards it.

After staring at it for a moment he realizes what the clothes image may appear to be, but changes his mind to move on. Then he alters his search to other avaris searches under fresh water avaris species. There are a few links like before that really doesn’t add up to anything. He clicks into a webpage anyhow and regard to an avaris fish species that has nothing of the sort listed. He goes back trying another link and finds the same runaround with a web page called “The Fish Tank.” There are a few posts with people using weird fish names as the headings and there are many quotes. There is even a small picture of a fish that looks like a different species maybe to him. One of the quotes by a member name Fish Fan reads, “Nothing makes any sense, just go out there and start your own fish clothing weaving needle.”

Then he reads another quote by Fish Buddy that reads, “There aren’t many other fish left in that pond to go fishing for and I wonder why?”

A couple of seconds go on by and Avery start to feel like he has been getting the run around a lot. He sits there in a daze for another moment staring at the screen before thinking what else to look up. He has no idea what to look up so he decides to type in the search bar an idea he has that may bring something of the kind to view. With a quick typing hand Avery types in the search bar, “Group of animals that aren’t on the chart.”

Once he types it in the search bar he clicks the mouse on search and a web page link comes up that reads, “Group of space animals that are in existence.”

Immediately he clicks on the web page link and a web page of animals pops up. He scrolls down the list and sees a flying bird that looks sort of like the clothes line header reading, “The Avaris (Finned Stinger).” The rest of the picture reads, “Here’s a flying fish with an incredible stinger, and are innate to the dark depths of outer space and sometimes the sunken caves of the boonies. Most of the time they are raised by Science Fiction freaks who don’t get out too much and have nothing else to do with all of their time. And eventually they will dive down on you to sting your little rear goodbye. Often they say, “Hey look, a fishing boat with lots of left overs.” Even a female yoga instructor with some Russell Stover chocolates couldn’t get one of them to stop for a late night snack dive or date.

In the picture the Finned Space Avaris looks like a Darwin 5 Planet Stiver coming in for a landing at a Sea Food Restaurant buffet wanting lots of tartar sauce. Even Vin Diesel couldn’t burn enough rpms up to outrun that sucker with his pitch black dark shades on.

Then all of a sudden he feels like he has been getting or is accomplishing nothing more than a scientific run around through his internet searches. He sits there calmly contemplating what to do to gain himself more knowledge about what has happen to himself by way of the incident. However he seems like he is not only speechless but he feels like he is brainless as well. Now that his internet search has failed for the time being he is clueless how to continue on and discover things about his evolutionary change.

While sitting there for another moment or two he decides to take another look at himself. He realizes that his wounds are mysteriously vanishing and that the pains have entirely gone away or at least for current time being. Glancing over his body he understands that he is different by becoming more aggressive and dangerous. He almost can’t believe what he has done to the nice guy who runs the apartment or used to anyhow. Nevertheless he felt that he couldn’t take a chance at letting him out of his sight for even a slight moment. The risk of allowing the nice guy a chance to slip out or sneak away through some bathroom or bedroom window still lures through his mind and is apparently bother him a great deal.

Things are growing narrow with his chances to make the right decisions to set himself straight. Furthermore, he has thought up another image to look up subsequently from seeing his ripped shorts. The shorts of his that were torn that way from the foreign attack of avaris that he is curiously searching the internet to find out about. Right of the fish track he types another clothes image into the internet search bar. He types the words, “Ripped shorts” and many links on the drop menu come up to his fingers for the clicking.

The first image on the drop menu is, “Ripped shorts, ripped shorts tumbled, ripped shorts for men, ripped shorts for women, and so on.”

Confused he clicks on the drop menu link that says, “Ripped shorts tumbled.” On the web page of links he scrolls down through images and gets nothing interesting but a link that reads, “Ways to place rips in shorts.”

There is a picture on the link and he chuckles thinking that it is nothing important to look at there. Then he decides to scroll back to the search bar and types in, “Ripped pants.”

On the web page of links are some web pages that have images of ripped pants worn by men and women. The most interesting are the women ripped jeans. He clicks on one of the web page links and a web page pops up with many different ripped jeans. There are so many he doesn’t know what to do but stare at each one for a gleaming view to soothe his inner restlessness. Many of the titles of the jeans are heart wrenching making him feel loss and pity for the females he has lost to a devastating blow.

Momentarily he scrolls through some ripped jeans ads for sale noticing the different colors of tie dies and torn patterns. A few minutes go on by and then images of lingerie come popping up. One of the lingerie ads is a chick’s lower waist wearing split underwear called, “creamy breaches” and another one says, “creamy gaps.” The ads are so pampering that he might want to wear pitch black shades himself to keep his fishy shores at bay.

He scrolls through some more ads and a ripped pair of panties reading, “Lickity Splits Ripped Panties,” pops up. He chuckles to himself for a split second before saying to himself, “I had my lickity splits, what happened?”

Then he starts to think all of this time he is spending with these internet searches is a waste of time. Becoming even more restless and impatient saying out loud to himself he decides, “This whole demeanor is nonsense. I’m getting nowhere trying to figure things out.”

Turning the other way and looking down the hallway he says to himself, “It’s time for a shower,” then he turns the computer monitor off leaving the computer tower on in case he feels the urge to come back to it for some reason.

Without wasting another moment he heads down the hallway and enters the bathroom and closes the door behind him. He looks around the bathroom and decides to use it before taking his clothes off to take a shower. While using the bathroom he thinks about whether or not the nice guy has an answering machine he should check for messages to make sure there is no one he’s expecting.

Nevertheless he decides to just take a shower anyhow and wait until afterwards to check and see if he has an answering machine, although he feels he is taking a risk just abusing the unknown apartment of someone he doesn’t know too much about. Quickly he takes his clothes off and heads inside pulling the shower curtain closed.

CHAPTER FOUR

He turns on the faucet and adjusts the water temperature until it reaches his desired temperature. He drenches himself and lathers up with a soap bar. Slowly while lathering up he looks his entire body up, down, and all over checking his scaring wounds that are miraculously and little by little disappearing. After washing the soap away from his body he starts to wash his hair which is still dirty and smelly from swimming in the pond water. Then he washes he hair thoroughly and adds some conditioner thinking about the whole horrid scene with his eyes close.

Many of the images are still haunting him as he begins to feel relieved through the means of his evolutional changes that are still happening to him. Regardless he still thinks back to the scene and thinks of ways of how he could of help his friends out more, though he is changing in his ways of thinking. He also feels like it was his entire fault taking them all to this place because of his fears of swimming in the lake due to his accident he had had long before.

Thinking these images and ways of how he could of bettered the situation he start to feel like there was nothing he could do and it is time to move on now. However he is feeling a sense of pity and he is even scared of what might happen to him now. Then on the other hand he feels like he can take on the world and that he has nowhere to run or turn to now that he is different. As he showers he feels so comfortable soaking himself as thoroughly as he can without open his eyes anymore.

Once he rinses himself off completely he sticks his sucker punched face in the shower faucet and just lets the water run over his puckered eyes for another couple of minutes. As he stands there he rubs his hands over his eyes and fattened forehead that feels so different than before. He thinks about getting out of the shower but it feels so good that he can’t seem to budge himself anymore. After another minute or two he hears a noise that sounds like a phone ringing with an answering machine answering the phone call. Quickly he turns the water off and listens quietly for a brief moment as a voice looms over the apartment, “Ryan are you there? Pick up! Pick up! Are you on the computer or are you sleeping. I emailed you earlier did you get it? I’ll try again later!”

Instantly Avery pulls open the shower curtain and looks for a towel to dry himself off with. He grabs the towel and covers up his head rubbing it through his hair that feels soothed from the long shower it just had. It seems that the answering machine has turned off and he wonders if it is a threat right now. Quickly he dries off fully and ponders whether or not he should wear the clothes he had on. This is where he decides he should look through Ryan’s closet and see if he has anything that will fit him that he can wear for the time being.

After drying off he gathers his dirty smelly clothes and heads to Ryan’s bedroom where he left him for dead. He turns the light of the bedroom on and stares at Ryan for a second feeling less sorry than he did previously before. Then he turns away with a sense of badness as he looks at the changing body of his. His skin seems to have changed slightly from the soaking of the shower water. Looking away he slides open the closet doors and peeks from end to end searching for something that fits his dressing needs to change his appearance.

He finds a t-shirt that tends to have a picture of a catch from who knows where. He pulls the t-shirt from the hangar and puts it to his nose and smells it for a second or so. Then straight forth he puts the t-shirt on and wears it. Standing there partially naked he turns the other way and looks for a dresser. He sees one on the other side of the bed against the wall opposite the hallway. He walks over and looks through the dresser and sees some boxers that look like they may fit hopefully. He tries them on and Walla, they appear to fit nearly snug with just a little tightness around the waist a tad.

Then he rummages from side to side in the drawer and doesn’t see any other shorts he can try on. Then he moves his hands down to the drawer lower than the other one and sees some cut off shorts that may have been made from a pair of pants perhaps. Next he opens another drawer towards the bottom of the dresser and finds some socks that he can try and wear. Looking around he notices some shorter socks that may be a better pair to wear than the other over-the-calf socks Ryan has folded up inside.

He puts them on and then he puts his personal shoes on wanting to at least wear something of his own to feel like himself. He finds a back pack next to Ryan’s dresser and empties it before placing his old worn and tatter torn clothes inside. Sitting on the dresser is a cap, bandana, and a pair of sunglasses that Avery takes and places as well inside the back pack.

Finishing up with his redressing, Avery takes another look at Ryan’s bedroom seeing some pictures of him with another girl in a park as it appears. He walks over and takes a closer look at the picture what may have been taken within the last couple of year’s maybe. It’s hard to say how old they are so he turns around and remembers what they picture looks like within his scattered mind of his.

He figures it’s probably his girlfriend who called perhaps. With that on his mind Avery leaves the bedroom closing the bedroom door behind himself. He heads down the hallway and walks over to the answering machine and listens to the message once again. Afterwards he realizes how hungry he is at the moment. He walks into the kitchen and looks around for something sitting on the countertops too much on to fulfill his hunger pains that are bothering him presently. There isn’t much other than some snacks like potato chips and tortilla chips. Right next to a microwave oven are some dips like guacamole and some sauces which are hot. He dips in and chows down for a bite until his mouth becomes dry from eating them.

Thirsty he turns to the sink and turns on the faucet lowering his head and tipping it to let the water run inside for a couple of quick swigs. Finally he turns to the refrigerator and opens it to take a look inside to see what else there is to eat. The first thing he sees is a veggie tray with some ranch dip. He takes it out and eats as much as he possibly can to wholly fill his stomach pains up. Afterwards he takes another look and sees some soda pop next to some drink mix or punch inside of a pitcher. He grabs it and drinks it straight from the pitcher and rubs his lips dry. On the counter are some chocolate candies and a couple of bags of potato chips. He grabs a couple of chocolate to eat and then he takes a handful of the potato chips.

Once he feels quenched and full he returns to the living room and sits down on the couch wondering what to do from here on in. While sitting there for another minute or so Avery falls asleep contemplating his wishes for the next task. While sleeping he lays there sitting up with one eye open like he’s keeping a watchful eye. Looking at Ryan’s computer monitor he opens both eyes again and heads over to shut the computer off. Then he heads back to the couch and tries to rest once again with the same mode as once before.

Quickly he falls asleep for a fast break from what has been going on with his mind still running around rampant as to what his choices are currently. A few hours go on by as he lays there sitting up with one eye shut and the other eye completely open. As he lays there a new evolutional changed has happened to his body appendages. His eye that is open closes with a new see through eye lid that has developed. It appears that his eye is closed although it is wide open as he eye turns around looking at the room while he sleeps in a sense of wondrous plight. A few seconds go on by and the other eye opens as if he has woken up with the same like appearance.

While dozing off in a drift of a sleep he thinks back to the whole entire scenario played out within the day. He dreams about driving down the road with his friends as he turns off to head in the direction of the pond. He thinks about all of them when they first exited the vehicle to go for their first swim. Next his dream shifts to other times when they were at the lake sitting in the vehicle watching the boaters and water skiers pass on by one after another. He even thinks about when they were all swimming together at the pond when they were talking about being at the lake instead.

Changing position on the couch he rubs his face while pondering over the initial attack that had taken place before all hell had broken loose. He even recreates the images in his mind when he swam out of the pond before anything ever happened. In his mind he can recreate the mental picture of the avaris attacking as they all remain completely and totally helpless to overcome them all.

He starts to sweat a little bit as he thinks over the horrid scene of his friends floating there in the pond with their faces down in the pond. The sweat on his forehead intensifies as he remembers trying to make his way back into the pond after them with no prevail. He shakes his head when the dream shifts over to the time he was running to the road to flag down the emergency response team after he had called for help.

Nevertheless his confused brain collectively recalls the horrid hospital sight when he witnessed the other patient’s wounds that were to be taken care of in a frightful manner. Quickly he recalls his fast flight out of the hospital into hiding to escape it all without becoming something that he would probably regret later. Then all of a sudden the dreams stop and he lays there quietly in a slight sleeping trance for a while longer.

After some more time has gone by, there is a knock at the front door. Rapidly, Avery wakes up and heads to the side of the door. He sees a peep hole and looks outside from a mere distance. Through the glass peephole he glances for a fast moment and notices the same female from the picture inside of Ryan’s bedroom. Another thing he notices is that she is wearing what appears to be some ripped torn jeans exactly like the web pages that he was scrolling over earlier during the day. Scared like in a sense he leans back against the wall that is next to the front doorway and stands there quiet like trying not to make any sounds.

Then all of a sudden he hears her say, “Ryan are you there? Open up!”

He becomes very tense like and stands there very motionless, “It’s me,” she says in a soft tone of voice.

Another moment goes on by before he hears a pair of keys rattle back and forth for a gleaming second. Once the key rattling stops he hears a key enter into the front door lock which gets him ready for the unexpected entrance of Ryan’s loved one. Then all of a sudden the dead bolt unlocks and there is a pause along with some more rattling of the key to the lower lock. Then the sounds of a key being inserted once again rings over his ear. The door knob turns along with the lock and the door eases open. Trying to be very quiet, Avery hides behind the door as he swings open and blocks his view hiding him completely.

Like a person forgetting something she heads in fast and slams the door shut with her left arm swinging it fast as she quickly walks past the kitchen and into the living room area. She stops and looks around without turning around towards the front door. She realizes Ryan isn’t in the living room area and starts to head down the hallway. Avery creeps up towards the living room as rapidly as he can without giving himself away too much. Meanwhile Ryan’s girlfriend stops and looks at the rooms as Avery whips up from behind like a bolt of lightning.

While in a panic something happened to Avery’s genetics. During his quickened plight at her his body formed into a streak of light stinging her right square on the back. Immediately he turns back without even realizing it too much. Ryan’s girlfriend stumbles nearly fallen down as she tries to yell but can’t from having the wind almost entirely knocked out of her. She falls down to the floor holding herself up with one hand.

Avery stops with a quick turnaround not knowing what has just come over him. Ryan’s girlfriend turns her head around and stares back out from the darkened hallway while Avery remains there standing still staring back at her watching what her response will be. Confused Ryan’s girlfriend stands back up with a torn shirt which pretty much matches her ripped torn jeans. She turns around slightly looking at Avery and falls back down on her other arm. Still dazed and confused slightly for a moment she tilts her head up wards saying, “Who the hell are you?”

Avery can only gaze back at her into the darkened hallway as his pupils adjust staring her back right in her eye. He takes a breath and says, “That’s not important right now; but I know who you are from the picture!”

Ryan’s girlfriend tries to stall some time by saying, “What have you done with him?”

Avery answers back with a soft voice insinuating, “Carefully and slowly make your way to the couch, or get stung again!”

Ryan’s girlfriend gets up scared like in way contemplating what to do, although she makes her way to the couch while being pulsated with lots of pain. She sits on the couch holding her shoulder with her left hand asking, “Where is he?”

Avery answers back firmly telling her the truth realizing she doesn’t have long anyways, “He’s gone!”

She sighs with grief and pity relenting, “Gone where?”

Avery answers back again, “He’s in the room sleeping!”

She tries to get up and run for the bedroom but falls from the pain in her back. Avery comes up from behind saying, “There’s nothing you can do!”

She tries to scream as loud as she can but her voice crumbles and crackles in pain with loss of breath while she gives up. Avery assures her to calm down, “Calm down and sit back here!”

Barley speaking she wonders while limping to the couch asking, “Who are you?”

She gets up of course with help from him and sits again crying lightly as Avery says, “I’m sorry! I had an accident at the pond and my friends were killed by some strange looking fish I have never seen before and I was taken to the hospital and split from being scared of the wounds being cut out. After a while I came here through the window and attacked him when I changed, I guess. He was a nice guy he helped me with some things on the computer, but I just freaked out when he wanted to go to the restroom and attacked him!”

Ryan’s girlfriend asks frantically, “What are you?”

Avery stammers for a second or two pondering over what his answer should be answering, “I am Avaris Man. What else do I look like?”

Ryan’s girlfriend tries to sit up but obviously can’t seem to make it to leaning upwards replying, “What the hell is that?”

Avery pauses for another moment before saying, “My own worst nightmare!”

Ryan’s girlfriend asks with a slight of lip, “What’s your name then?”

Avery stands there motionless for a split second responding, “Tell me your name first.”

Ryan’s girlfriend thinks for an instant before answering, “Avira,” she tells him.

Avery thinks to himself for an additional moment saying, “You’re lying!”

Avira contemplates to herself for a moment before explaining, “I’m not lying, and that’s a class name!”

Avery wonders what the heck she’s talking about a class name asking, “What the heck is that supposed to mean?”

Avira tries to explain things further by expressing to him, “My real birth name is Vera!”

Avery asks confused, “You said class name!”

Avira goes into more detail by saying to Avery, “At school everyone calls me Avira which is my nickname!”

Avery is curious about how she derived that nickname asking, “And how did you get that nickname?”

Avira explains to him how she came up with the nickname, “It’s a user name I use in a Tropical Fish Review Website where everyone just talks about their fish that they all have in their aquariums.”

Avery asks her to clarify the website even further, “And what kind of things do you talk about in there?”

Avira implicates herself a bit further saying, “All kinds of things. I have a background about myself and I talk about what kind of fish I have bought recently. After looking at you for a few minutes I think that maybe you should change the ph. level in your diet or change the soap or shampoos you use.”

Avery thinks for a second before asking once again, “Pretty funny, anything else you should tell me?”

At about this time Avira falls over on the couch with one of her eyelids opened staring at Avery while the other eyelid falls completely shut. Then the opened eye closes while she continues to breathe roughly like still at the moment. Avery walks forward to see if she is still very coherent. It appears to him that she is okay and just a bit nauseous from his larger than life like sting that he hit her hard with a few minutes earlier.

He lifts up the back of her shirt barely and notices a large red mark that covers most of her upper back. Feeling sorry for his actions he lays the shirt back against her back lightly and holds his hand there for a while before letting go all of the way. Then he leans up straight and stares at her for a moment while he realizes that she is still breathing with a faint breath. Taking his eye away he stares her down before looking around the rest of the apartment deciding what he should do in the meantime. Immediately he takes a few steps back away from her lying there nearly motionless on the couch and places his hands to his face trying to soothe the pain or feel a sigh of relief.

While contemplating his next move he hears some sirens go off in the far away distance which seem like they are getting closer and closer quickly. He stands there quiet for a length of time until the sirens stop. In a paranoid stance Avery continues to stand there wondering what else to do. He waits for another couple of minutes before turning the computer monitor back on to go back to some quick research.

Once the screen comes back on and to life Avery moves the mouse and clicks in the internet search bar, “Tropical Fish Review Website.”

Then he notices a few selections under the drop menu that pop up. Of course one of them is the “Tropical Fish Review” that Avira mentioned.

He clicks on the drop menu selection and Walla the link page pops up with a description of the web page. He clicks into the webpage and opens the Welcoming Page to the Website. He browses through for a moment and sees a bar with some buttons with different titles. One of them says fellows next to a membership button. He clicks the fellow button and a fellows list pops up with the alphabet used to select and look up fellows who are signed up. He thinks back to his previous internet searches and selects the letter A which is in upper case. After selecting the letter a page pops up which has some fellow members listed in alphabetical order. He scrolls through a few pages until he finds Avira’s listing. Her listing has a picture of her sitting next to her aquarium and there are other fellows with just their avatars instead of their personal pictures. He scrolls down through some more fellow listings and sees another fellow by the user name of Avaris and another user name by the name of Avaris Man. He stares for a moment or so before clicking on anything. The listing has the date the fellow member has joined along with a group listed as a fellow member and it shows how many posts they have entered into the website. Immediately he clicks on the user name of Avaris Man and another page pops up that explains that he needs to sign on an account to view anyone’s profile within the webpage.

He hits the back to previous page arrow button to go back to Avira’s page and stares at her listing while looking back at her there lying on the couch barely breathing. Then he clicks on her posts and gets the same thing as before as with the other Avaris Man user name about being a fellow member to view anybody’s profile page.

Right off the bat he becomes agitated and exits the webpage saying to himself, “What a joke that is to become a fellow member first?”

Then he turns off the computer realizing that is a complete waste of time trying to accomplish anything from some computer webpages. Angry he thinks about what he should do for a moment and says to himself, “Maybe I should head to the library and see what I can dig up though researching a few book of the sort.”

He takes another look at Avira lying there on the couch and decides to grab his belongings which he placed in Ryan’s personal back pack and heads towards the front door. Before turning the front door knob he takes another look back and reminisces the past day for a glimpse of a moment or two. As he looks down upon her for the time being he feels over dominating like he is superior to her in some sort of way even though he took advantage of a situation. He stands there for another second as some of the first images to what brought him here flow through his mind before heading off into the unknown future. First he thinks back to his near drowning at the lake when he was with his friends who were rooting him on to take the diving plunge. He can see the water far below as he looks down to the descent. And then he looks back to them sitting there with a serious look on their faces as though he was in for some sort of dangerous drop when he made the jump.

Below is link to the "Avaris Man" subpage 2.

Aviren Man by Rodney Soroka is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at https://sites.google.com/site/rodneysorokasbookshelf/avaris-man.