Kristy picked up Colin’s chrysalis form and held it with mixed emotions. It was confusing to her to think of the monster feasting on the heads of dead corpses as Colin. How could he shift from a blood soaked nightmare-ish creature to such a tiny, vulnerable chrysalis in moments? She thought of his off-handed comments of eating the monsters when they were still in the car and wondered if she should have said something then.
She shook her head and dismissed the thought of blaming herself. Everything was happening so fast. Right now, they were lucky to be alive with the madness surrounding them right now.
Kristy decided that for now, she would hold off on judging Colin. If she were not to blame for this situation, then the same went or Colin. There were things inside of him that terrified Kristy, but when he sent that pulse of shame, she felt the real Colin, the real man that cared about her and would never even consider hurting her. He was a victim too and he needed help to survive.
“I refuse to let you disappear,” Kristy whispered the words to Colin. She felt heartened by the thought. Something inside of her solidified as she realized she wasn’t the same helpless woman that could do nothing but put up missing posters anymore. Just like how she had helped Colin come back to himself before in the car, she would make sure to keep protecting him from whatever was trying to take him over. She wasn’t helpless in her promise either; Now, she had some strange, twisted power that let her heal others. It scared her in some ways, but as long as she kept helping people, she felt like it was a change for the better.
The image of Colin’s dinosaur- dog- mouth dripping with blood flashed in her head. Kristy decided that was not Colin. That was who Colin would fall victim to if he was left alone with no touching stone for guidance or support. Colin needed his family to remind himself of who he was.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
A screech in the distance snapped Kristy out of her thoughts and she pocketed Colin and jogged back into the garage.
They closed the garage door behind themselves and all bunkered down in a strangers house with two unconscious, healed Changed.
“Colin won’t be helping us for a little while,” Kristy pulled his chrysalis out and showed everyone.
“He’s inside a butterfly chrysalis?” Higgins asked.
“That’s how he gets stronger and more forms. It happens to my Greenies too. Daddy is the strongest greenie.” Jenny said with excitement.
“That’s right, sweetie,” Kristy said to Jenny and then spoke to everyone saying, “I think we should stay here and not take any risks while we wait for Colin to be done. He’s our best protection from the Changed.”
Higgins patted his gun, “I don’t mind protecting us, Ma’am.”
Kristy frowned at the words. She didn’t want Higgins to blame himself unnecessarily for taking the lives of those two changed to save Jenny. After some thought, she said to Higgins, “Thank you for saving Jenny. It’s a comfort to know we are safe because of what you did. That said, I’ve made up my mind to help as many of the Changed as we can. I think we’ll have our hands full keeping an eye on the two we’ve already helped until they wake up though. I don’t want to stretch ourselves too thin.”
“That’ll give me time to submit my report to HQ,” Holly said and that rose a whole new line of concerns for Kristy. Something in Kristy’s look must have given her worries away because Holly added, “I’ve decided to leave your family and the Changed out of my report for now. I’ll do so until I can guarantee that my Special Agent in Charge, my boss, is trustworthy.”
“Thank you,” Kristy let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She felt overwhelmed by the disaster around her, but it was a comfort to know her family wouldn’t be abducted by the government for dissection or whatever else they might try.
