"The Monster"

I wake up in a dark room with a pounding headache, lying on what feels to be a cold tile floor. I try to pull myself off the floor, but scream out in pain when my ribs feel like someone is stabbing a knife into my chest. I roll onto my side, and see a body lying next to me in the dim moonlight coming through a hole in the roof. I crawl over them in complete agony, finding myself gasping for air with every inch I move forward.

I get to their foot, and shake it while saying, "You okay, buddy?"

"Fuck you!" he moans out as he rolls onto his side. "It's your fault we're in this shithole!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I yell back. "I can't remember shit!"

He rolls onto his back, and decks me in the jaw hard. "That's right, blame the whiskey, asshole!" he yells as I feel blood trickling from my lower lip. "You had one fucking job, and you screwed up royally!"

I grab his shoulders, and head butt him in the nose, breaking it. "Go fuck yourself!" I shout back as I see the blood gushing out of his nose.

I hear a voice shout out, "I see they're awake. Pull those pieces of shit out of there so we can finish this."

The room is flooded with light as a large man swings open a heavy, metal door. From the light coming off the cars outside, I can see he has to duck to clear the opening. He grabs the both of us in his huge hands, and lifts us up like we're nothing more then sack of potatoes. He carries us out of the room, and tosses us onto the ground. I wince as I land hard, learning that I do have a few cracked ribs, maybe even a broken leg.

"You two are more useful dead then fucking alive," says an older man in a very expensive suit leaning against the hood of one of the cars. He walks over to us, and kicks me in the chest. I groan as I hear some more ribs crack. "I knew it was a mistake to bring you miserable pukes along for this job."

I lay there, holding my aching torso still lost on what’s going on. It seems they are some type of mafia, and the job is most likely a robbery, but I can't remember anything. I don't even know my name, how I ended up doing this so called job, or who these people are. All I know is I'm in the middle of nowhere badly injured. I come to the conclusion I'm going to die here without even remembering my damn name.

The old man kicks me one last time, and everything goes black. I can feel my whole body shaking as the pain fades away. As I stop shaking, all I hear is screaming. Even though I can't see, I find myself standing up despite guns going off. I wish I could see for I feel what seem to be insects stinging me.

When I can finally see, I find myself standing near the burning wreckage of a car completely naked. My hands are covered in dried blood, and the air smells like rotten flesh. I look around, and see dismembered bodies everywhere. I look around, and see I'm near a deep canyon in the middle of a desert with no one else around. I begin to wonder what happened here last night, and why I'm the only survivor.

I feel myself shaking again, but this time I don't black out. I watch in horror as I begin shifting in a creature that should only exist in nightmares. I close my eyes when my skin turns into scales. I refuse to watch myself turn into some kind of reptilian monster. When the shaking stops, I open my eyes and walk over to the edge of the canyon, afraid to look down at my hellish form.

I take one last look around, and remember that I'm a monster on the inside as well. The job was a drug deal gone bad. I'm a cocaine dealer smuggling in the drugs through sugar packets, packets that are meant for local schools. I let out a roar out of frustration, and dig my claws into my neck. Realizing that I will only continue to destroy things, I leap off the edge while ripping my neck out. My last thought is there are two less monsters in the world now.