The Unicorns, Part One

~ The sun was shining bright in the sun. The rain was gone and the smell of fresh rain still hung in the air. There was a sparkling rainbow dancing across the sky. A cute little baby was playing in the back yard of a house. The small child was laughing and gurgling at the rainbow as it sparkled. The baby looked down and saw a lollipop on the ground. It was pink and blue with purple unicorns head on it. The little human picked up the lollipop, put the whole thing in its mouth, and happily began sucking and biting it. The lollipop grew bigger and bigger until it could no longer be taken out of the child's mouth. The little toddler knew something was wrong and started screaming out to it's mother who came running out to help. "James?! James what's wrong? Where'd this lollipop come from?"  But it was too late. The lollipop kept growing and growing. It was pressing against the boys, James', skull and jaw. He was crying out in pain. His mum was trying to pull the lollipop out of his mouth, but it wouldn't budge. Oh how she wished her husband was home! She heard a sharp crack as the lollipop grew bigger and broke her sons jaw, and still it grew. There was a blinding flash of blue, pink and purple light and she closed her eyes. When she opened them her son was gone, and where he used to be was a big, red puddle of blood and entrails. Her sons remains were all over the lawn and the walls, the patio and the doors, and worst of all, his blood and guts were all over her. She could feel the warmth of his blood all over her, seeping through her clothes, reaching her body. His blood was thick on her and putrid stench filled her nose, causing vomit to rise in her throat. She let it all spill out onto the warm bricks beneath her. Tears poured from her eyes, mixing with the blood and vomit. He was gone. Taken away from her. Her 2 year old son, gone, just like that. The rain started again. It came down hard, washing away most of the mess. She just sat there, staring at the ground, crying. Her sorrow turned to rage. She dried her eyes and stood up, her anger rising. Kim Sarten wanted revenge, and she intended to get it.

~ It was almost dark when Courtney had checked her watch and realised she was late home. It wasn't her fault. Traffic was chaos at that time of the day, everyone rushing home at the same time, she sometimes wondered why she didn't just take one of her horses to work. She hoped her mother was alright, she had gone a bit crazy in her old age, but she still loved taking care of her. It was her second job, right after being a vet. When she arrived home to her farm, she meant to unlock the door but was stopped when she saw a red string on the floor. It was the red string she always kept wedged in between the door and the frame so she would know if anyone broke in, and it wasn't her mother, she couldn't even find her own way to the kitchen without help, and she had a pretty big kitchen. She cautiously opened the door and stepped inside. She walked slowly through the house, peering around each corner as she went. She made it to the living room without seeing or hearing anything. She reached up for the gun above the fire place. The guns were always loaded and ready to go, just in case anyone tried to break in, just like they had now. Courtney had checked every room in the house, the only place left to check was her mother's bedroom. She walked down the hall, past pictures of her family, her parents, grandparents, and many relatives that have passed on years earlier. She reached the bedroom and gently pushed the door open, gun raised. What she saw chilled her to the bone and made her knees weak. The room was how it usually was. The curtains were drawn, the light on, the big, double bed was against the wall, the whole room was white, carpet and everything, but she didn't notice all that. She was focused on the middle of the room, on what was happening there. Her mother was lying on the ground, her eyes wide, mouth open, it was like she was trying to scream. Her arms were stretched out. Her skin was almost as white as the rest of the room and looked like, if you touched it, it would feel like ice. Then she saw the rest. Her stomach was open, blood was everywhere, entrails scattered carelessly across the floor. But worse of all, and what really made her sick, was that there was a horse standing over her, it's head inside her, eating as much as it could. She let out a little gasp and the horse raised it's head and looked at her. When it turned, her mouth dropped and her insides filled with both wonder and disgust. It looked like a horse, but when it turned around she saw the sharp, pointed teeth, the glowing red eyes and, right in the middle of it's forehead, a long, sharp, spiral horn. It wasn't a horse, it was more like a unicorn from the nightmares of children. Her mother's blood was all over the unicorns mouth and it snarled. Courtney, forgetting the danger she was in, took a steep forward, hypnotised by the glowing eyes. The unicorn seemed to welcome her, to want her to creep ever closer, closer to her death. To the unicorn she was just another meal. She heard a clicking like someone had just cocked a gun and she snapped out of the hold that the unicorn had over her. The unicorn looked past her and opened it's mouth, revealing rows and rows of shark-like teeth. I hissed at whatever it was that was behind her, it's long, forked tongue lashing out, causing black spit to fly everywhere to the side of it. "Get down!" Someone yelled behind her, and she instinctively did what she was told just as a loud shot rang out. The unicorn hissed even louder and jumped over the defenceless Courtney and straight at whoever was behind her. There was another shot, then another. They kept on going. It must have been a machine gun or something fully-automatic. Then it stopped and there was silence. She looked up at her mother, then turned around and saw a large man standing there with a large gun in his hands. The man had short, black hair, tanned skin and wore an old pair of army fatigues which, unfortunately, were now covered with unicorn blood. But was it unicorn blood? It wasn't like any blood Courtney had seen before, in fact, it looked more like quicksilver then anything else. The blood flowed off of his clothes and gathered into a small pool on the floor. She blinked and for the first time realised she was crying. The man reached down to offer her a hand and she took it. "Who are you?" She asked.

"My name is General Jordan Hall. Allow me to escort you to the vehicle we have waiting outside." His voice was soft yet had a strong sense of authority and was very calm and clear. They walked out of the door and saw the corpse of the unicorn lying there in the middle of the hall, its silver blood flowing into a pool beneath it. It had hundreds of bullet holes in it and part of it's head was missing. The one eye that was left was a cold, lifeless black that, when they looked into it, seemed to suck their very souls from their bodies. 

When they got outside there was a van waiting for them. It wasn't a military van, just a normal, run of the mill, blue van.  They got into the back of the van. On one side there were computer screens and chairs, on the other there were a lot of guns and swords, all lined up neatly in specially built weapons racks and secured so they wouldn't fall out or fire while the van was moving. There were three chairs in the back and almost no room to walk around. Courtney and General Hall each sat in one of the seats. They were the kind you'd find in an office except that they didn't have wheels, just in case someone fell over on them or if someone rolled out the door while they were being chased by a horde of angry unicorns. The other chair turned around to reveal a rather slim woman with long, curly blond hair, piercing blue eyes and a big, warm and welcoming smile. She extended a hand and shook Courtney's. "Hello, my name is Kim Sarten," she said in a voice so kind and full of love that, even though she was still crying, Courtney had to smile back, " and I believe you've already met Jordan Hall, a general in the army?" 

"Yes, I have" she replied.

"Good, good. Now are we right in assuming that you're Courtney Carson?"

"Yes, I am".

"Good, good. Now we understand that you are the best vet in the country, if not the world. Correct?"

"Umm, I guess you could say that, but it's really up to who you ask. I mean -"

"That's great! Did you hear that Jordan? We got the right girl."

"Good" he said.

"Outstanding actually. Now, Miss. Carson, can I call you Courtney? Now, Courtney, we need your expertise for a very important job. Did you see that unicorn in there? Of course you did. Well we need you to cut one of those things open and find out how they work so we can take them down OK? Now-"

"Hold on. You expect me to use my skills to help you kill animals?"

"That's right. It's really quite fun when you get used to all the guns and swords and stuff."

"What? I'm sorry but I can't help you. I became a vet so that I could help animals, not murder them."

"Well that's all well and good but don't you also put down animals? Take their lives away? Doesn't that count as murder?"

"No! That's only because they're in too much pain."

"Oh so you show them mercy? So it's euthanasia. Isn't that illegal? It's illegal isn't it Jordan?"

"Yes" he answered.

"Told you. Now Courtney, if y-"

"It's only illegal if it's performed on people unless you have their legal permission or that of a legal guardian or relation".

"Small details. It's still murder anyway. Besides, you saw what that beast did to your mother, we all did".

"What do you have against them huh? What did they ever do to you?" Courtney said, raising her voice. There was silence as she waited for a reply. Kim's head was bowed and when she finally did reply, it was with a voice so small and soft that both Courtney and Jordan had to strain themselves to hear it.

"Three years ago they killed my son. He was only 2 when it happened. He would of been five next week."

"Oh, I'm so sorry" Courtney said, feeling guilty about yelling at her.

"Then last year they killed my husband. He was a good man. I loved him with all my heart and when they took him away from me I almost lost myself in darkness and rage. I'm not sure I'm completely free of it even now. But I know that the only way that I can ever go back to being normal is to end the upcoming apocalypse before it starts. They're gathering, planning a mass attack against everything and everyone. That's why we need your help. If that's not enough think of all the people like Jordan. When he was only 14 those despicable abominations orphaned him and took his brother as well. So if you have any heart at all you'll help us kill them all". She was speechless. New tears had formed in her eyes and she knew straight away that she had to help them, but she wasn't a killer. Even when she took the gun before she knew she couldn't have shot anyone. "Please. I need you to give your word that you'll help."

"Fine, I'll help you. I give my word". When Kim heard that, she turned her chair around, knocked on the wall separating them from the driver and, with a big smile on her face, called out.

"James, could you be a dear and get us out of here please. Thank you my darling."

(Part Two, The Tale of Kim Sarten)