He could scarcely believe his eyes. He touched his face. Or well, her face. It was his mother's face.
Familiar, warm and gentle, her eyes stared back into his soul. Dominic thought he'd never see this face again. He chuckled happily as he heard his mother's voice again.
Oh my god, he thought. Could he replicate this for each of his family members? He thought of his father really hard, but not a single strand of hair changed.
Hmm, maybe it only changed to a form that his mind thought he needed. For now, Dominic was quite content at staring at his mother's face. After long six months of having no company other than parasitic monsters, he found solace in such things.
Dominic stretched his limbs a while, letting out a strange sound, got scared, but realised he was still in the form of his mother. He picked up the haversack and began to move. Within Francesco, the infected people would often congregate near a single spot to catch unsuspecting survivors off guard, tackle them and eventually eat them. The mutations seemed to progress even further with the parasites, leaving scientists clueless as of what to do. Neither did they have sufficient resources nor sufficient data. Eventually, humanity adapted to fight the disease through various means, like constructing visors like the one Dominic was wearing now - to stop the line of vision simply put. It allowed him to see and still be able to protect him. It was all he needed.
However, there was nothing stopping the parasites from simply killing you instead though. Dominic shivered when he thought about parasites hunting you down in the middle of nowhere. A wasted death, and for nothing, he thought. Nonetheless, travelling was key to survival since all resources were heavily mandated and under lock and key. Scavenging was the way to go. Dominic felt a little more energized after his little transformation. Maybe it was the little purple bugger that did it for him? He rubbed his abdomen a little and thanked it silently... to realize he was doing a very silly thing.
He packed what was left of his belongings and kissed the photo of his family before setting off. Dominic had travelled for weeks now, only to come to the outskirts of the city. Well, it had been more of a metropolis than a city. He took public transport for granted, he supposed.
He wondered if transformation was the only thing he could do, before he noticed footsteps on the dusty path. They were smudged, like they belonged to a hurried person trying to run from someone- or something in this case. Dominic felt a pang of curiosity rise up inside of him, whether to follow this particular set of footsteps. It could be a trap to lure unsuspecting victims into an ambush to raid them of their valuables, Dominic thought. Undying curiosity, coupled with the fact that he had not had any human company in weeks, made him very irrational in his decision-making.
Dominic trudged along the dusty, beaten path where the arid atmosphere made him sweat through his worn shirt. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand as he inched step by step along the trail of footsteps, when they abruptly ended at a cross roads, where it appeared to lead to nowhere.
Crap, he thought. Of all places to get lost. This place appeared barren and dry of any goodies. A small pang of panic arose in him as he checked out his surroundings, and saw nothing of worth around him. An abandoned gas station, a grass patch and a forest. Wait! The leaves of that bush just rustled!
He made a mad dash for the forest, where the bush rustled and chased after the mysterious figure. His legs screamed at him as he pushed out all of his strength to chase him down. His long hair tangled around his moist neck and hindered his vision in this fast paced chase. The tall oak trunks seemed to fly by as he sped up and seemed to have landed his hand on the mysterious figure, only for it to disappear.
"Hah! Gotcha- huh?"
The figure seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Dominic looked around in confusion, when all of a sudden, a voice boomed out of nowhere.
"Why are you chasing me? I did nothing wrong, no? And how can a middle-aged woman run so fast?" A voice seemingly belonging to a young woman asked Dominic impertinent questions.
"Um, I used to run a lot. And also, why did you try to spy on me behind that bush?" Dominic puzzledly asked. As though the voice didn't expect this turn of events, the voice replied back in a surprised tone. "H-huh? Well, it's normal right? If you feel like someone's chasing you, you look back to investigate. Hey, you're the weird one! You're probably infected, ugh."
Dominic scratched his head. This person was annoying, he thought. Feelings of mild annoyance irritated him as this person kept rambling on and on. He guessed that this person must have also eaten a similar parasite that gave them special powers, hence being able to disappear. Dominic had two guesses: either they became incredibly small and hid within the blades of grass beneath his feet, or...
Dominic held out his hand in the direction of the voice and felt the outline of a neck. The voice that came out was strangled and panicked. "WHOA, WHOA, HEY, WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS. JUST LET ME DOWN." He retracted his hand and stared in the direction of the voice. Dominic asked: "How did you become invisible?" The voice grew quiet. After a while, it responded in a low tone. "I had to eat a disgusting worm thing."
Dominic confirmed it. It wasn't just him who got such a power. Goosebumps raised all over his skin. What were these things? Did they emerge from the existence of the parasites?
"What color was it? How did you get it? Is it something you found? Is it something you got from someone else? W-" Dominic grew more desperate. He needed answers. The voice responded: "Hey, calm down. I don't have much to share, but here goes."
It turns out the voice he was speaking to, went by the name of Vanessa. She had been a student at the same university his younger brother went to. "Oh, I'm... sorry to hear that." Her voice was thick with sympathy. "I knew your brother a little. I was his groupmate, you see. Um, he often shared with me experiences with you. He said you were a good older brother, though you spent most of your time working."
Dominic cast his gaze downward at the grass, poking the dirt with a nearby stick. He couldn't bear thinking about his little brother. His final moments. He wished he could do more. He'd let down his entire family. His parents' dying wishes. Powerless. He was truly powerless. Sorrow and pain drowned his desire to live, more than anything else.
He felt a small hand on his back, which he tensed up to. Vanessa's expression was a mix of surprise and sadness upon seeing Dominic's reaction. "Thank you, for sharing your experiences with my brother. He meant the world to me." Dominic confided.
Perhaps, it was because of their shared situation that they sought comfort in each other's company.
Or maybe, it was fate.