I crept slowly and eased my breathing. I need to be quiet and watch from a distance. The screams and whimpers got louder when I took another two steps.
I used a big old tree as my hiding spot and gave Alice the signal. She nodded and lay bottom down on another tree. She had her crossbow cocked and ready, waiting for my next decision.
I secured my double-bladed sword and flexed my claw and climbed onto the lowest branch, and watched. I inhaled deeply and held my breath.
Humans. Dirty and rotten ones. In the distance, a man was sitting on a falling log and cackling. His men were toying with a human female.
“What do you think boys, should we eat her now or play with her first?” The ugly fat man who was sitting on the log said while licking his blistered mouth and his rotten teeth sneered at the female.
The woman whimpered and tried to move away, but her hands and legs were tied, so she fell on her ass. The men laughed at her, enjoying her feeble attempts.
“Boss, it has been a while since we were with a woman with full white teeth. We can eat her tonight after.” The boss stood and circled the poor female, his eyes eating her up.
“I think you are right even though she is so skinny.” He said and palmed her ass and breasts.
Alice made a small sound to get my attention. She made some quick signs and I shook my head no.
She wanted to help the woman now, but we can’t there are at least seven men right in front of us and I could smell the stench of another four or five.
I sat straighter and used my hand and signed. ‘No, we can’t do anything right now. If we were to save her, then we will wait for nightfall that is our best bet.’
She shook her head furiously and I growled silently. Stubborn teenager.
She started to sign quickly. ‘We need to do it now. They will rape her.’ I glared at her, annoyed.
‘These are dark times Al, people have lost their last ounce of their humanity after that plague. We will help her, but as long as we stay safe. I won’t risk our safety for a female that I don't know.’
She glared at me from behind her ski mask and faced forward. I sighed. I know this look. It means that she will do something stupid now.
I made a small chirp, and she looked at me again, then I signed. ‘Be ready and attentive. They won’t do anything now. As you can see, they are preparing for their lunch. We will free her when they are busy eating.’
Her green eyes brightened and I tsked. One day she will be the death of me.
I climbed higher and checked the area. There was no undead close by or any other travelers. I can’t say if that was good or bad. I sniffed again and now I could tell where the others are.
They were busy……….. I cocked my head to the side. Are they having sex? I gagged this was disgusting. Not because they were gay, which I doubt, but because they looked ugly and deformed.
Cannibalism can do that to you. Your body won’t be healthy feeding on human flesh, especially one full of diseases and goddess knows what else.
I went back to where I originally was and signed to my companion. ‘I will go and get rid of these three on the east. After my signal, go and cut the woman loose.’ She nodded her head eagerly.
I walked on my tiptoes and stood behind the men. I unsheathed my Tactical Bowie silently and held it between my teeth, then I took off my backpack and sword and hid them behind a bush.
I wrapped my hand around the first one’s throat and stabbed him three times in his heart. I lowered him slowly so as not to alert the other two.
They were talking about what they should do with the female and wanted to rape her together.
I snarled and stood behind them; I used the knife in my right hand to slit one’s throat and my left claw dug into the other's vocal cords. I flashed my canines at their slowly dying eyes and went back to the main camp.
I gave Alice the signal, and she went to the woman who screamed, but nothing came out from behind her gag.
Alice worked quickly and efficiently, but luck wasn’t on her side. The big ugly man saw her and alerted the others.
I cursed and moved quickly, discarding my knife, and flexed my claws. A man saw me coming from his left and shouted.
“Shifters. We have shifters here. We need the torch.”
I took off my ski mask and growled loudly. My muscles expanded and my eyes glowed neon green. I reached the snitch and used my lengthened claws and tore his arms off.
His screams were music to my ears. Even though I don’t have a wolf like other shifters, I basked in the smell of blood and the agonized cries.
Someone at my back pushed me forward, making me fall. I turned to see what happened and there was heat licking my front.
“Burn that bitch now. Don't give her the chance to stand up or she will kill us all.” The fat man shouted.
Suddenly there was a weight on top of me and I gasped for breath for a few seconds. Alice was on me, shielding my body from the scorching flames.
I groaned. Now I have to find her a new hoodie, and those were hard to find nowadays.
I pushed her and she stood. She used her leg to kick the man in his stomach and I took the chance and ripped his throat off with my teeth. I spat the rotten flesh and faced the last two.
The big man hid behind his cronies and shouted. “Leave us alone you she-devil. We did nothing to you.”
I cackled and circled the frightened men, who cowered away. It is all fun and games unless you become the prey, but I stopped and strained my ears.
When the hissing and crawling noise registered, I cursed and turned to Alice, ignoring the humans.
“We need to hide, now. Crawlers are coming and they are not alone. They have two vampire masters.” Alice signed quickly and I growled, this was not the time for argument.
‘But what about the human female? We can’t leave her here. They will drain her blood then eat her after.’
I punched a tree. She was right and anyway, we can’t escape now. They are almost here.
“Ok, bring her to that huge tree. We need to hide our scents, too. These creatures have sensitive noses.”
I went for my backpack and rummaged through it to find the Moss Phlox extract. This plant will hide our scent and make us blend with nature.
The human boss charged me and tried to grab my hoodie, but I sidestepped him.
“What are you talking about? And you can’t leave us here alone to face whatever is coming. You are a bitch wolf, so you are strong. Protect us.”
I ignored him and went to my friend and the human, then dragged them away from here.
The human female was shivering and her teeth chattering. I faced her and shook her body harshly.
“You need to get a hold on yourself if you want to overcome this. These beasts won’t be as kind as those filthy human males. So get a grip and focus.”
The female breathed a shudder before nodding. Alice took off all her clothes and stood in her underwear and bra and I did the same.
We won’t be able to dose them now, they were too near and we don’t have much time.
I sprayed my pulse points inside of my wrists, inner elbows, below the belly button, and behind my ear lobes.
My knees, then under my armpits and between my legs too. I had to make sure nothing of my scent would be carried away.
I signed to Alice. ‘Come, we need to move. They are a few seconds away now.’
I moved the human in front of me, then climbed first. Alice gave her a little push and I helped her to sit next to me on some dense branch. Alice climbed above us.
I raised my finger to my lips and made a shush sign. She nodded, and we waited.
It didn’t take long, and the cries and screams began. Someone ran and stood behind our tree, trying to hide. The clacking noise and hissing followed him.
“No, stay away from me. No, don’t come closer.” A crawler moved on its eight legs and leisurely eyed the human male.
The creature was ugly with its weird body combination. It was a mix between a human and a spider. His upper half was almost human with a big head and long fangs.
The lower half looked like a huge spider. They were some vampires hunting hounds. Vampires were the only species to tame them so far, and no one knew how.
“No, please don’t eat me.” The human whimpered, and the creature stopped to look to the right. A slender vampire male came into the view.
“Don't worry little human, he won’t eat you unless I tell him so. Come to me, don’t be afraid.” The vampire said in a sickly sweet tone and the human inched closer to him.
“Yes, that is it. Don't be afraid of me. I just want to taste your blood and if it was good I will spare your life.” The male swallowed and stood before the vampire, shaking, and offered him his neck.
The vampire male chuckled and took his hand instead. He opened his mouth and instead of two sets of fangs, there were rows and rows of sharp teeth.
I shuddered involuntarily. He was a tainted one. A supernatural who was deformed, because of the virus and the poisonous shit the governments had unleashed in the world.
He took small sips of the male blood, then gagged and threw it up. His eyes turned from dark brown to glowing red.
“Ah, you are one of this filth. You eat your own.” The male took two steps backward, his eyes were wide open.
The vampire turned and gave his crawler a signal. The crawler advanced on the male.
“No, please don’t eat me. I know where I can find you pure ones. Three women, they were here, I swear.” The vampire stood and raised his nose.
I gritted my teeth anxiously. If he chose to search the area, he would easily find us. The woman beside me started to tremble again, and her mouth opened, ready to scream when the vampire turned to glare at where we were hiding.
I clamped my hands on her mouth and almost suffocated her.
“Hm. I think you are telling the truth. If I concentrated on it, I can catch their faint smell.” He licked his lips and smirked.
“It is so sweet and subtle. A she-wolf, human, and something else I don't know what she is.”
The human turned her head towards me and shook her head. I raised my finger to my mouth again and ordered her silently to stay quiet.
The vampire squinted his eyes at the dense foliage, but he couldn’t see anything. “It is here, but faint. They have left a long time ago. Stop wasting my time.”
The man screamed and when the crawler attacked him. In seconds he was cut open and his entire stomach was eaten. These abominations eat only the soft body parts and leave the rest to rote.
The vampire called after his companion and went towards the rest of his group. But not before looking around again, inhaling, and moaning with a shudder.
I paced the small clearing we have found, back and forth angrily. Alice sat watching me while eating a damn Twinkie I had got her last week. It was a luxury that she didn’t deserve at the moment. I stood in front of her and stomped the ground to get her attention, but the damn girl lowered her head and kept ignoring me. I raised my arms up and screeched as silently as possible. “You know what you have done. This entire thing was wrong, Alice. We could have died over there and for what, a human? A human who next time she sees us will try to fucking cut off our heads. We had to leave her all alone again to fend for herself, so all of this was useless.” Alice licked her fingers clean after finishing the damn thing and looked up at me. ‘I don’t care Alexandria. I can’t stand there and watch them rape her. This is fucked up.’ She said, c
We left the family in the clearing and moved early in the morning. There was no point in sticking around. If we did, we would be an easy target for all the infected. Especially the supernatural ones. Our scent would be thick in the air and they would find us easily. We walked through the dense foliage for half the day, and then Alice groaned. I chuckled and stood, checking our surroundings. “Ok let’s get some rest for now.” Alice huffed and dropped where she was standing. “Drink and rest but be alert.” She rolled her eyes but nodded. I tapped my sword and bowie knife to make sure they were where they should be and made a circle around where we were, to check for the undead, stupid or not. Fortunately, there was nothing and I relaxed a little and went back to Alice and found her snoozing in the damn open with no care in the world. I stood in front of her, frustrated, then kicked her l
“Alexandria. It is me, Benjamin.” I narrowed my eyes at him and growled.“Sorry pal, but that name doesn’t ring any bells.” I debated cutting his throat and leaving or just run the fuck out of here.I can’t waste more time. I already had decided to take my pup and search for another territory.The male squirmed under me and tried to get away, but I didn’t let him. I was still conflicted and he might howl for his friends to come and help him.“How do you know my name? How did you smell me?” I lowered my mouth to his ear and snarled as silently as possible.He shivered, then swallowed audibly.“I didn’t smell your scent I caught the scent of the moss phlox plant. I followed the scent of cannabis, Alpha Jordan used to tell us that it is the best solution to disguise our scent. And that was my clue
I followed my petulant pup and the beta silently and sulking like a teenager. I’m still not sure of what we’re doing now or what are we going to do next supposedly. I just want to grab her and run the other way. My instinct kept screaming at my stupidity. This won’t end well for any of us. We barely living, how can I be responsible for a pack and humans too? I growled under my breath and the beta gave me a side glance and I narrowed my eyes at him. All of this is his damn fault. He looked back ahead but I saw his smirk. I growled again and tried to stop myself from breaking his neck. He will live. Something like that won’t kill him, but I will enjoy doing it. It would be a good stress reliever. He stopped where I was earlier spying on them and motioned us behind the big tree then spoke.
“You of all people should know not to touch what isn’t yours, Johnson. Sapphire isn’t yours to abuse.”The vampire mused while walking toward the alpha, who was still hurting the witch.“He has a thick skull lord Crispin. You might need to beat those words inside his head literally.”The witch sneered and snatched her arms away.The vampire lord walked leisurely to her and caressed her wounded arm, then raised it to his lips.He licked the few blood drops with closed eyes and when he opened them; they were red.Benjamin gasped, and I clamped my hand above his open mouth. I think it was the first time for him to see a tainted one.Alice signed.‘This is turning ugly, Ria. I’m not sure now if we can help them. This vampire looks dangerous and powerful too.’&n
We walked back to the bunker quietly. Each one of us was buried deep into his thoughts and his own world.I looked at Alice and wanted to say something to ease her worries, but my mouth didn’t cooperate.I needed some support myself, someone to tell me don’t worry and everything is going to be alright.This situation was fucked up more than that one with the cannibals.At least those monsters didn’t hide their identity or play saviors, but Johnson was like someone was raising cattle, then selling them.I shook my head, no there is no need to fret about this, I won’t interfere in anything. I have Alice to think about. Her safety comes first.We reached the bunker and I signaled her to go inside first. I need to check our territory to see if we have been followed or there were some stray undead.I thought it was odd
I ran north and kept running for half an hour, and when I was sure that I was a safe distance from anyone, I howled.I howled and howled until my throat felt scratchy and it throbbed from the pain. I wasn’t disappointed when a minute later I heard them.They came from every direction and from their loud noises; they seemed a lot. I dropped my sword scabbard and roared.Seconds later I was tackled to the ground and a huge rotten wolf was on top of me trying to bite my head off. I pushed his weight off of me and jumped backward.His pack circled me and I bared my canines at them and flexed my claws. I eyed my opponents and circled them, too.These were wolves that got infected and stayed in that form. The thing about that virus was that it keeps you in that state, neither dead nor alive.Just an empty husk of yourself, while your mind weathered and your f
I woke up startled and Alice jumped on the opposite side of me. There was awful pounding on metal and it was so loud that it rang all around us. I stood and swayed on my legs. I was sore and cranky; I didn’t get enough sleep and because of yesterday's activity and that incident I wanted to spend one day in peace, but I guess it’s too much to ask. And yeah, I was in a bad mood, so whoever the hell was pounding out there was going to die. I signed to Alice to stay put and stood with my knife in my hand, then headed to the small hatch. I inhaled and then groaned, annoyed when I smelled Benjamin. How the fuck did he know about this place? I made sure that he didn’t follow us yesterday. Yeah, I’m going to kill him this time. I bitched and cursed all the way climbing up, but my mind blanked when I saw him standing next to some tiny teenager.