Chapter 7 Running and screaming

The storm did not let up in the city, the rain showered the streets and water droplets kept pattering all over Narumi and the gang. The storm came out of nowhere, no one was expecting it, thus none of them brought an umbrella.

Narumi's cross bangs plastered onto her face, her uniform stuck onto her body. The rest were looking just as drenched. Things were getting worse for the week with these students, most notably they all had a freak accident without any idea of how to handle the situation, and now Narumi, Etsudo, and Matabei had been punished with Daichi and Kohaku dragged along.

No words were exchanged amongst them in their trek down the streets and they reached a cross junction. Interestingly enough Narumi did not feel a hint of a chill in her body. The rain was not cold to her at all. She had just realised this and it made her wonder if the rest were having the same case.

"Say uh," She broke the silence, "Anyone actually feeling cold from this rain?"

They gave her a glance before they took notice as well.

"No. Eh, not really." Matabei answered. Kohaku shook his head.

The gears in Narumi's brain were working on this notion. This was another trait she had, that they all had. As they were crossing, however, somewhere down the road a disaster was approaching fast. A red Jeep Wrangler was out of control with a slob behind the wheel. He tried to make a turn. But with the pooled water on the road, its wheels have been locked.

The jeep sped straight instead, shocking the truck in the opposite direction while it was taking a turn. This caused the truck to swerve out of control. All other cars on the road had no warning when the truck collided into them. Every vehicle spiraled out in a frenzy.

"Oh shit!" Matabei exclaimed. He and the rest were still in the crossing lane opposite the wreckage, and they started fleeing from the scene. Narumi at the back, however, had the short end of the stick when a green Toyota Land Cruiser was headed straight for her. Narumi noticed the headlights pointed at her from behind. She could only turn and scream.

The Land Cruiser smashed into her, Narumi was plastered onto the car's bonnet as it went down the road and it crashed right into an alleyway. Everyone in the wreckage by the cross junction was shouting in panic.

The group, recovering from their shocked stun, hurried their way over to the alley. Narumi was hurting everywhere, everything just hurt too damn much. Her head was in a throbbing daze and a groan escaped her mouth. A small bead of blood rolled from the corner of her lips down to her chin. Glass shards were scattered across, and her soaked uniform had tears all over.

The rains continued to pour. Her vision started to clear and she realized the grave situation she was in.

The Land Cruiser had wedged her into a wall. She could not move at all with only one hand free over the car's bonnet. But despite being pinned down by a car, she was not mangled into a bloody pulp. Not even a broken bone, just bruised and dizzy.

The driver was looking worse though, he had been knocked out in the crash. His face had sunken into the airbag and was bleeding from the side of his temple.

She did not care how she was able to survive that crash, she was in panic and her heart hammered in her chest. As she kept hyperventilating, her free hand gripped the car's bonnet in a futile attempt to push the vehicle off her.

"Come on! Come on!" She grunted and pushed again, but the Land Cruiser barely rocked an inch. At her core, she knew she could not save herself from this, at least not the way she is now.

But something else can.

She could only see one way out of this, it was her only hope. She knew she needed to change, she just had to. Her mind kept sending the outrageous message.

The dinosaur must return.

A sensation came into her again, the same sensation she had felt before. Her eyes clenched shut, she could feel her whole body starting to change. Her breathing became hoarse and she burst her eyes open now green and primal.

Every part of her body started to expand, muscles kept growing and became stronger. Her back stretched out, tearing out her uniform unfortunately. Her bones cracked and shaped into new forms.

Narumi watched the index finger and thumb of her free hand grow in length and her nails turn into claws. The other fingers regressed into her palm.

Narumi's breathing turned into growls. Her body's size kept bulking up, so much that she easily pushed the Land Cruiser off her by her own mass. The car skidded right to the opposite side of the alley and she stood up properly. Her face stretched forward. Her nose flattened with her mouth growing out a snout. Her teeth sharpened and increased in length, turning into serrated daggers.

"Uchida!" Matabei, Etsudo, Daichi and Kohaku called for her. As they reached the alley, the spectacle of Narumi changing into something else was before them.

Narumi's skin was hardening into obsidian scales. Narumi's feet tore through her shoes and socks as it grew. The little toe in both of her feet went back into her heel, her big toes stretched back near to her ankles and all of her exposing nails hardened into sharp claws. Her rear grew out an appendage at her tailbone. Her long and massive tail was appearing again.

Narumi turned around to face them, anything resembling a human was gone. In that alley standing over a torn school uniform and bag, was the obsidian Tyrannosaurus Rex. She took a step forward and let out a growl.

Kohaku could only stare at her with dropped jaws. "Uchida-senpai?"

Matabei stood motionless. Daichi breathed out, "What the..."

Etsudo screamed in fright, stumbling back and fell on her butt.

There was a clap of thunder from the sky and the Tyrannosaurus Rex let out a short bellow and made her way over to her schoolmates, stepping out of the alley to join them, unintentionally revealing herself to the public. Bystanders from the streets started out with startled faces, and proceeded with screaming and running from the dinosaur.

The T-Rex gave out a surprised snort, in truth Narumi was scared. Absolutely terrified. Because no one had any clue on what consequences would come now the public had seen a dinosaur, and she was that dinosaur. She turned in the opposite direction to retreat.

But something stopped her. A cry coming from the car wreckage at the cross intersection. "Someone help please!"

Back at the crash by the cross junction, the truck had decimated a number of cars and had crashed into a lamppost. The driver was knocked out and rested his face on the airbags. A grey sedan collided with a black sedan by the driver's door, pinning it against the truck's side. Every glass panel in every vehicle had been broken into a web. In the black sedan, the driver had come to, a mother who was on her way home with her son after a day in elementary school.

"Takashi?" She called out to her son seated on the front passenger seat.

"M-Mom?" Her son gave out a meek response. She reached over to him to unbuckle his seatbelt and did the same for her own.

"Takashi can you get out?" The mother asked him. Her son tried pushing his door open, which yielded no result with the door being damaged and blocked off by the truck's side. She tried to free herself as well, her side was just as bad with the grey sedan obstructing her. Inside the grey sedan, the driver, a middle-aged man was unconscious with his face in the airbags.

Back in the black car, the mother and her son realized the people around the vicinity were running away. No one was even coming to aid anyone in the wreckage.

"Someone help please!" The mother cried out, but no one came. Her son kept trying to open his door and he was starting to cry.

"Mom! I want to go home!" He whimpered, thumping his hands on the door.

"Someone please help!" The mother shouted again and slammed her hand on the horn. A shadow soon loomed over them from the driver's side, followed by a low growl.

They both gasped in fright at the source of the shadow, a Tyrannosaurus Rex's head low to the ground with a fearsome green eye staring at them.

The mother shrieked and moved away from the door shielding her son. The dinosaur's attention was now on the grey sedan and the knocked-out driver inside. Planting the side of its head against the grey car, the T-Rex easily pushed it away from the mother's car.

It stalked towards the front of the truck. Clamping on the fallen lamppost with its teeth, the dinosaur easily tossed it away from the truck's windshield.

Now the T-Rex turned back to the trapped mother and son, noticing the driver's door was still damaged from the crash, the mother still could not free herself. The T-Rex's head approached the car door and opened its maw.

With all those serrated teeth pointing at her, the mother could not help herself letting out a scream. The T-Rex's upper jaw clamped onto the door's window frame and the lower jaw on the bottom. The dinosaur pulled hard with one yank, tearing the door off the car.

The mother inside now had an opening, but with the T-Rex outside she had zero intention of exiting the car. She eyed the T-Rex that was staring back at her. The animal stepped away and jerked its head in a form of gesture, like it was telling her and her son to get out. If it wanted to, the dinosaur would have crashed through the roof to eat her already, but it did not. Instead, it freed her and her child.

There was no time however, as the engine of the car started to catch fire and flames were puffing out of the car's bonnet fast. The T-Rex let out a hasty growl trying to rush the mother and her son out of the vehicle.

"Ahh God!" They both exclaimed and they ran out through the exit the T-Rex made. The mother took her son's hand and ran away till some distance was made between them and the dinosaur.

Flames were starting to consume the car. The dinosaur quickly headed to the back of the car and planted its foot on the trunk, in a burst of immense strength the Tyrannosaurus Rex pushed the burning car far away from the wreckage. And just in time. Now standing on its own in the middle of the street away from any hazard or civilians, the burning car exploded.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex had saved them. Narumi Uchida had saved them.

The dinosaur let out a roar before looking back at the mother and son. But all that resulted was the mother taking her son's hand and together they fled.

Sirens could be heard from the horizon, and the last thing Narumi wanted was any paramedic or police officer seeing her like this. She wasted no time, turning around she ran out into the rainy night. To the only place she could feel safe, home.

All the while, Kohaku, Etsudo, Matabei and Daichi witnessed the whole ordeal.

***

At the Uchida residence, Satsuki Uchida had come home early after taking half a day off from work. She was lazing on the couch and her attention was fixed on the television's program.

Hearing the pattering rain outside, she started to wonder if her daughter was going to get back home safely. She thought back to the night when Narumi was completely out of it, going on about how she had turned into a dinosaur and changed back. Satsuki had a long day then, she did not really want to get hindered by her daughter's nonsense and watch her television program.

While she was completely distracted by her entertainment, something big was approaching the backyard.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex stopped by the brick wall behind her house. Luckily enough, the barrier was at a height just below the T-Rex's knees. She lifted one foot up high, taking a careful step over the brick wall. As her foot planted in her backyard, she quickly hoisted her other foot over. She nearly stumbled but was able to stand her ground. The T-Rex reached a height so high she could easily see the window of her own room.

At last, Narumi took a good look at her reflection on the panel. All the obsidian scales, the massive teeth, and the predatory green eyes. Narumi could not take her eyes off herself. The face of a dinosaur, a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

It's me. Oh my god. Her massive jaw hung down. It's...It's me.

She had no idea just how frightening she looked before. With the stress building in her, she had no control letting out an agitated groan. But as a T-Rex, it came out as a loud snarl and she instantly realized her mistake.

"Hey! Someone there? Who is that?" Satsuki Uchida voiced out inside the house and Narumi froze in shock. Satsuki drew the curtains and opened the backyard door. She pulled out her phone in her pocket, "I will call the police."

Instantly Satsuki's attention was drawn to the hulking presence in her backyard. The phone slipped out of her hand and the frozen Satsuki, with wide eyes, stared at the Tyrannosaurus Rex who was staring back at her.

Satsuki screamed out and the T-Rex hissed in surprise. Satsuki was stricken with hysteria, she backed away and tumbled back onto the wall behind her. Satsuki kept gasping exasperatedly.

The dinosaur in the yard took a step towards her and crouched down. The T-Rex gave a low rumbling growl that resonated through Satsuki. There was a look in the dinosaur's green eyes, a certain expression coming from those eyes. Like it was begging at Satsuki, pleading for her.

But Satsuki did not see it, in her terrified state she got up and rushed back into the house away from the T-Rex. She closed the door and drew the curtains back. Satsuki's eyes darted everywhere, trying to figure out what to do. She had to get another look at what she had just seen. She ran up the stairs to Narumi's room.

She got to the window and the T-Rex was still there. But something was happening, Satsuki watched the dinosaur arching its back and it was starting to shrink. She brought her hand to her mouth.

It was losing its snout, the teeth were getting smaller. Both two-fingered hands were growing out three fingers like human hands. The clawed toes were shrinking, the feet were turning into human feet. The tail was regressing into the body. The obsidian scales were starting to disappear and peachy white skin was in its place.

The dinosaur was slowly turning into a girl. She hunched over on her knees, unclothed and drenched under the rain.

Satsuki was completely frozen in place by the sight, a dinosaur transforming into a girl. She leaned forward placing a hand on the window, a second later she recognized the girl in her backyard. "Narumi?"

It was all coming together for Satsuki. Everything her daughter had said the other day, it was all true.

"Narumi!" Satsuki called her. She grabbed a towel from the closet and rushed downstairs. The rain continued to pour. Satsuki got out to the backyard, Narumi sat by the opposite end of the yard with her knees closed shut and her arms covering herself. Her breaths were shaky and her hammering heart was at her throat.

A towel had covered her up soon and Satsuki tried to reach her daughter. "Narumi?"

There was no answer from her, as if Narumi was in a trance. Satsuki tried again. "Narumi?"

Satsuki gently placed a hand on her, she gasped when Narumi suddenly burst up to her feet. Narumi held the towel tight and she ran right into the house. Narumi scampered up the stairs and into her room.

Locking the door, she slumped down into the corner of her room by her bed. She knew she should at least take a shower but she did not want to leave the room. Being in her room, however, did not bring her any sense of comfort at all. Not after what had happened.

To her, it felt like she could not get help from anyone. Her own mother did not believe her words the last time, now when she saw it in person she was horrified by it. Just like that mother and son back at the car wreckage, they were scared of her. And she could not blame them at all, not after realizing how she really looked like as a dinosaur.

A pang of loneliness and dread engulfed her for the moment, being feared and being so different. This sense of loneliness and isolation was something she was familiar with but she never wanted to feel those things again.

She tiredly reached under her bed, she pulled out a small maroon tin box. She pried it open easily, inside was a piece of paper. A very old letter, yellowed from oxidation. Narumi took it out and could easily read it in the dark, it only gravely reminded her just how much she was not the same anymore.

"This is Narumi.

To the couple willing to take her as their child, please take great care of her. Please give her the love she deserves. Please be the parents that she needs, the parents that we could not be. You have our eternal gratitude and blessings.

To our dear precious Narumi, words cannot express how sorry we are that this has to happen. But know that your future is a bright and wonderful one. You will grow up to be an incredible and beautiful girl.

You are in our hearts and we love you very, very much."

Narumi let out a trembling sigh after reading this letter, a letter she held onto for so long.

A knock came from the door. "Narumi? Narumi, are you okay?"

Narumi put the letter back into the tin box and under the table. She eyed the door and Satsuki knocked on it again, "Narumi, please say something."

Narumi did not move from her spot, everything was so confusing. She thought she had a plan with the group before. But with the mess after school, she was clueless about what to do.

"Narumi. I'm...I'm sorry." Satsuki's voice turned solemn, which perked Narumi's attention. Satsuki bit her lip and continued. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you before. You came to me scared and I didn't believe you. I'm sorry Narumi, will you open up please?"

Satsuki waited for a moment but it felt like ten minutes to her, just waiting for any response from her daughter. The door opened and Narumi stepped out clutching onto the towel covering her. Satsuki could see the exhaustion in Narumi's eyes. She brought Narumi into her arms for a warm embrace. Narumi buried her face into her mother's shoulder, she said. "I'm going to go shower."

"Okay dear." Satsuki said, running a hand through her daughter's hair. Narumi pulled herself away from Satsuki's hug and went into the bathroom.

The rain had stopped. Satsuki and Narumi in a change of clothes were seated at the dining table. Satsuki was rubbing the side of her head, she wanted to help her daughter but she had no idea about what to do. She had retrieved her phone from the yard and contemplated on whether she should call her husband immediately. Her train of thought was brought to a halt when suddenly the doorbell rang.