Girl, There’s A Better Life For Me And You
Raven
Samhain, 1980 — Raven Visits…
“Rave?” The Edinburgh voice echoed throughout the house.
“Up here. Main bedroom.”
Bingo was there in seconds. Raven was finalising her new wardrobe. He looked at it with interest before asking, “Ye sure ye want to dae this?”
“Aye. It’s happenin’.”
“Your post,” he said as he tossed it onto the bed. Raven opened it. It was the comic she feared. ‘DC Comics Presents’ had a new hero. She checked her nemesis out and read her story. Pathetic and typically over-sexed, but still effective. And what was that thing on her forehead? Raven wondered what her name would be now. One thing was certain, it wouldn’t be Elizabeth Jennifer, but that didn’t matter right now. She’d sort that out when she returned.
Bingo looked over her naked body as she read the comic. It was different. Slightly thicker, especially in the waist and she had a new small layer of fat over her whole body but her breasts were nearly non existent now.
She looked at him as he asked, “The changes go okay?”
“Aye. Ye wan’ to test?”
He nodded and approached closer holding up his right arm. Raven did the same. They grasped hands and pushed against each other. His eyes widened as he realised her strength was now greater than his. The contest ended when she forced his arm over.
“Impressive. I read your paper but I wanted to see it for myself before I committed. You’ve copied Neanderthals?”
“Read closer next time. I used Neanderthals’ and chimps’ and weight-lifters’ muscle structure as templates. They’re surprisingly similar. I increased me muscle density as well as adding additional extra bone spurs for the muscles to attach to. It’s tricky but doable. Takes a while though.”
“Fat layer as well. Hides the muscle and keeps ye warm. Could be useful.”
She nodded. “Aye. I’ll need it for travellin’.” She started to dress herself.
“No boobs either. I’ll miss them.”
“Shut up. They’re not needed on the journey.”
“Periods?”
“Long gone. Ye should know that.”
“Sometimes doesn’t happen, Rave. Ye should know that. Yer long distance running’ll be impaired.”
“Aye, but I won’t need that. Me sprintin’s improved dramatically.”
Raven had her underclothes on now and she pulled on her trousers. Some sort of hide, as were her boots. Her basic, red, knee length tunic was sheep’s skin over some sort of linen base garment. There were no buttons anywhere. She started to pack her goods and hide-cloak. Bingo looked around.
Bingo looked round and his eyes lighted on her record collection in the corner. Siouxsie Sue albums were prominent. He could see their Spellbound album sleeve was empty. ‘It must still be on the turntable’, he thought.
Looking round again he saw her rations. “What’s that? Two weeks food?”
“Aye, if I’m careful. I’ll be living off the land long before that runs out. I’ve got some energy bars as well and I can make them from scratch, now.” She picked up her shield and slung it on her back. Two knives and two different sized axes hung from her belt.
“No sword?”
“I thought of it but axes are better. They’ve more uses.” He nodded approval. “Gotta go now, I’m sweating. Make sure the house is like this when I get back.”
“Aye.”
He hugged her and watched as she went downstairs and out the front door, shutting it carefully behind her.
Curtains twitched across the street and her neighbour saw her exit and wondered what she was up to now, dressed like that. She blinked and Raven wasn’t there any more.