Felicity's Beast World Apocalypse-Chapter 1: Felicity

Felicity first noticed the pain when she reached the bend in the riverside path where the jacarandas leaned over the water and the air always smelled faintly of sunscreen and wet concrete.

It was late morning, the kind of bright Sydney day that made everything look clean even when it was not. The river glittered. The pedestrian path was busy in that calm, everyday way. A couple walked side by side with iced coffees. A man jogged with a pram, earbuds in, face set like he was winning an argument with himself. Two teenagers sat on the low retaining wall taking turns recording each other, laughing at their own footage. Further up, near the outdoor exercise bars, a small group of people moved through a circuit routine, counting reps out loud.

Felicity had been jogging for twenty minutes, not chasing a goal so much as running away from the feeling that her life had become a room with the windows closed. She did not even like running. She liked the part afterward, when her body was quiet and her thoughts stopped biting.

Her shoes hit the pavement in a steady rhythm. Her breath was measured. Her ponytail slapped gently against the back of her neck. She wore an oversized T shirt and shorts that were a little too tight at the waistband, because she had promised herself she would stop buying the next size up and then did it anyway. The sun warmed the tops of her shoulders. The world looked like it had no intention of changing.

Then her hips began to throb.

At first it was faint, like the beginning of a cramp, a deep ache that could have been from overdoing it or sleeping wrong or simply being thirty minutes older than she wanted to admit. She slowed slightly, telling herself to loosen her stride. She tried to breathe through it.

The ache did not settle. It deepened.

It felt too specific, too concentrated, as if the pain had a location it was expanding from rather than a muscle it belonged to. The sensation crawled along the bowl of her pelvis, then pressed downward with a sharp, insistent pressure that made her stomach clench.

Felicity’s pace dropped to a walk. She glanced around automatically, as if the world could explain her body to her. People passed her without looking twice.

Somewhere behind her, someone’s dog barked in a sharp, annoyed rhythm.

She told herself she was fine. She told herself it was stress. She told herself it was nothing, because she had spent most of her life surviving by making herself small enough that nothing became a problem.

The pain disagreed.

It flared suddenly, an intense pulse that stole her breath. Felicity stumbled off the path and onto the grass, hands bracing on her thighs. She bent forward, hair falling around her face, eyes squeezing shut as she tried to ride it out.

Her vision swam. Her pulse felt uneven, like her heart could not decide what speed to be. A thin sheen of sweat broke across her spine.

A scream cut through the air, Felicity lifted her head.

Across the path, near the café kiosk, a man had dropped his coffee. The paper cup hit the ground and rolled, spilling a dark streak over the pavement. He stood very still for a heartbeat, one hand raised to his throat. His face was twisted, eyes wide with confusion, like he had only just realized he was in pain.

He made a noise that was not a word then he folded to his knees.

People froze around him. A woman reached for him, hesitant, and then pulled her hand back as his body jerked. His shoulders tensed. His spine arched. A wet cracking sound carried over the open space, too loud to be a small injury. Someone yelled for an ambulance. Someone else started filming, because that was what people did when reality threatened to make them helpless.

Another scream rose from further up the path.

A ripple ran through the path like the surface of water disturbed by a stone. A stroller tipped slightly. One of the teenagers dropped their phone. Someone cursed loudly.

The pain in Felicity’s hips sharpened at the same moment the river sloshed violently against its banks then the screaming started.

Not one scream.

Several.

Felicity turned just as a man near the railing staggered backward, clutching his head. A crack split the pavement near the edge of the path. It spread fast, jagged and branching, splitting the concrete like glass under pressure.

People began to move without knowing where they were going another tremor hit.

Harder.

The air changed.

She smelled earth where there had been none before. Damp soil. Rot. Something green and raw, a shout rose from the direction of the road.

Someone yelled that the ground was splitting, someone else yelled to get away from the river. earth beneath Felicity’s palms cracked open.

A vine punched through not growing

It erupted, thick, wet, dark green, it burst upward through the fractured soil like something breaking free from a cage. More followed. They forced their way through concrete, through seams in the pavement, through the edges of the retaining walls.

People screamed as the path warped.

Benches lifted and tipped as roots split the ground beneath them.

Felicity tried to stand her hips burned.

Buildings across the river shuddered visibly. Glass cracked. A distant car alarm began to scream. Somewhere, something collapsed with a deep, thunderous crash that vibrated through the air.

Heat flooded her lower spine there was a sudden, sharp release.

The pain vanished, Felicity gasped and sagged forward onto her hands something heavy lay against the grass behind her.

She turned.

A tail rested there.

Pale gold.

Thick and soft, its fur catching the sunlight in a way that made it appear almost luminous. It moved slightly as she shifted, the motion instinctive.

Her heart hammered.

Her hair fell forward as she moved, longer than it had been moments before. It spilled over her shoulders in bright waves that held the light around her face, framing her features in a soft glow that did not belong to sweat or sun alone.

Her reflection appeared in the black screen of a fallen phone nearby.

She looked different not dramatically so, but unmistakably.

Her skin appeared clearer, almost flawless beneath the dust. Her lips were fuller. Her cheekbones more defined. Her eyes looked larger beneath lashes that cast shadows across her cheeks.

She looked composed in a way that did not match the chaos around her, like someone who had stepped out of a film set into the wrong world.

Her ears twitched.

She lifted a shaking hand and touched them they were no longer fully human.

Softly pointed and covered in fine pale fur, set slightly higher than before.

A shout pulled her attention back to the path, a man who had collapsed was moving again.

He pushed himself onto his hands and knees with unsteady force. Someone crouched beside him, speaking urgently.

His back arched his head snapped up his eyes were unfocused.

He lunged.

The person helping him screamed as his teeth sank into their arm, People scattered.

More tremors rolled through the ground.

The earth split from the fractures, something emerged.

Vines forced their way upward through the broken pavement. Thick green growth surged from beneath the soil, splitting concrete and wrapping around nearby fixtures. They did not grow slowly.

They erupted.

Lamp posts tilted as roots pushed beneath their bases. Benches lifted and toppled as the ground beneath them fractured further.

The city began to change.

Across the river, sections of road buckled. Cracks ran up the sides of buildings. Windows shattered.

Felicity pushed herself to her feet.

Her balance felt different but not weaker. Her body moved with unfamiliar ease around her, more people were collapsing.

Her tail dragged behind her the tremors continued.

Vines spread along the ground and up vertical surfaces alike, forcing their way into the structure of the city. The riverbanks were already being overtaken as roots pushed into the soil and stone.

The skyline remained intact But the ground beneath it was shifting.

Felicity moved toward the street.

Cars had begun to collide as drivers reacted to the shaking. Some vehicles were abandoned mid lane. Others sat with doors open.

A man staggered across the road, blood on his shirt.

He fell.

Then rose again.

His head turned toward the nearest moving figure her reflection appeared briefly in a shop window.

Even covered in dust and sweat, she looked untouched in a way that felt unreal.

Her hair framed her face perfectly despite the chaos.

Her skin remained unmarked her features held a composure that belonged to staged lighting and careful direction rather than a collapsing city.

She looked like she had stepped out of a film scene while the set burned behind her.

Felicity kept running the city was not overgrown yet was being taken in real time.

Growth forced its way upward through infrastructure that had never been meant to contain it.

More people were turning, some staggered without purpose.

Others tracked movement with frightening clarity.

Lamp posts tilted as roots forced their way beneath them, Sections of the path lifted and fractured.

Cars began colliding along the nearby road as drivers reacted to the shaking.

He moved toward it.

Deliberately.

Felicity moved away quickly.

She weaved between stalled cars and scattered debris.

An overturned car blocked part of the street ahead, its undercarriage exposed and one wheel still spinning slowly.

Felicity slowed without meaning to, someone was crouched beside it.

At first she thought they were hiding.

Then the figure shifted and she saw them properly.

A girl, about her height but built tighter through the shoulders and legs, like someone who expected to run or fight more often than stand still. Her hair was short and blonde, cut close enough that it framed her jaw instead of falling past it. Dust streaked her skin but her features were sharp beneath it.

Her ears were not human.

Rounded and furred, the shape unmistakably feline.

Her hands were pressed against the overturned car’s frame Claws extended from her fingers.

Not small.

Not subtle.

Real.

She looked up when Felicity approached.

Her eyes flicked over the tail first, then the ears, then back to her face.

"Well," she said, voice flat with dry disbelief, "that answers that."

Felicity glanced at the claws.

"You too?"

The girl lifted one hand and flexed her fingers. The claws slid forward slightly.

"Yeah," she said. "Lion, apparently. Which is great, because I was really hoping for something subtle today."

Another tremor rolled through the street.

The overturned car creaked.

She braced against it automatically, then glanced back at Felicity.

"At least yours looks decorative," she added. "I’m pretty sure I could open a tin can with these."

A scream sounded behind them both turned toward it.

Someone had fallen. Another person tried to help them up the fallen figure convulsed.

The girl watched for half a second, expression tightening then she looked back at Felicity.

"So," she said, "you running somewhere specific, or just vibing through the apocalypse?"

Felicity hesitated.

The girl snorted softly.

"Cool. Same."

She pushed away from the overturned car and stepped up beside Felicity without waiting to be asked "I don’t know you," she added, "but you don’t look like you’re about to bite me, and right now that’s a strong endorsement."

Another tremor hit she glanced toward the shifting street, then back at Felicity.

"Lead," she said. "I’ll complain while we do it."

"My names Felicity by the way,"Oh "im rose. "

Felicity’s legs trembled, but they didn’t fail her. They moved quickly, instinctively, as if this body had always known how to run. Strength and fragility twisted together beneath her skin.

They crashed into a corner store. Rose shoved the door shut and dragged a rack in front of it. The aisles were stripped bare. Broken glass crunched underfoot.

"Water. Sugar. Batteries," Rose muttered, sweeping items into her bag. "Civilization’s gone, but somehow AAAs are immortal."

Felicity drifted toward a warped security mirror. She had never considered herself beautiful.

The reflection staring back looked carved for appetite.

Something slammed against the door.

"They found us," Rose said, voice level.

The door burst inward. A scaled, lizard-like creature lunged through the wreckage, its gaze snapping to Felicity.

"Pretties," it crooned.

Rose charged. The creature lashed out, claws ripping through her arm.

Felicity snatched a bottle and hurled it. It shattered against scales. Rose seized a length of rebar and drove it up through the beast’s jaw. It dropped hard.

A shadow swallowed the doorway.

White fur. Ice-blue eyes.

"No time," the bear-man growled.

"And you are?" Rose shot back.

"Finch," he replied. "Your exit."

They ran.

Under the overpass, Felicity faltered. Heat flared inside her feral, unfamiliar.

"I feel strange," she breathed. Light leaked from between her fingers.

Gold poured over them. The ache vanished. Rose’s mangled arm stitched itself whole.

"What the hell," Rose said, flexing her hand. "That was my heroic wound."

Finch drew in a sharp breath. "Magic."