A/N: Some POV's will be shifting, but will remain in first person. Just a heads up.
The night was long and cold. The wind had picked up from the east, and without shelter, I was left to freeze. The hoodie I wore provided no cover from the chilly night air, and the survivors no doubt cared little for my personal comfort. Once or twice, a human from the group came to keep watch over me from a distance. And later in the night a young boy with messy brown hair had stopped mere yards from my location to offer me a strangely warm smile. I snapped at him and sent him running, garnering nothing but self gratification.
Strange, unusual and unaccepted feelings made the inside of my skull itch painfully, like my brain was attempting to force rusty gears into working again after an age of inactivity. With no oil in a metaphoric sense, those gears in my head just wouldn't budge.
And that feeing... The feeling of loneliness by being set apart was jarring to me and unfamiliar. I was alone all the time, so why was this any different?
I strained against the bindings that kept me secured to the tree, gurgling nonsense and drooling over my jacket. It was already stained, and I had no sense of hygiene anyway, but it must have looked disgusting.
My head snapped up. Rustling. Human. Male, and pretty young but not boyish. He appeared from the foliage with the barrel of his gun pointed at my face. Nothing new. "Damn monsters. I'd kill you right now if I weren't so hungry." I winced at the sound of his voice. I didn't understand his words, but they still hurt. Could I even feel emotions in this state? It said I couldn't. The man-boy said nothing more and left, scuffing the ground with the tip of his sneaker. I only watched.
Lowering my head, I took a moment. Forced my mind to fall into something sensible rather than jumbled and primitive, as it had been at the attack. Thoughts, murmurs of thoughts, came easily and now I understood them. Thinking clearly wasn't as difficult as It had made it out to be. I looked around, assessed my situation in the simplest terms I could come up with. No escape possible, as the bindings were too tight, restricting my movement. I'd be stuck here until released.
By now, I understood that would never happen. So I closed my eyes, and drifted off to unconsciousness.
'Where's the city map? Charlie, get me my pack!'
'Ay, Claire, whattabout the hun'er from last night? Ya want me to shoot it?'
At the sound of the nearby voices, I shook myself awake. Groggy, I scanned the area, blinking often to clear the film that had coated my eyes while I slept, rotating my shoulders to stretch the muscles. Shoot... I know that word. That was bad. That meant no more survival. I hissed and squirmed, gnashing my teeth, short spluttering growls bubbling deep in my throat. No, I did not like this and It agreed, clearing my mind enough to think. Two humans, the humans from last night who'd tied me up here in the first place, appeared in front of me, bickering between themselves.
"No, idiot. You stupid? Give me my map," a rustle of paper and a displeased grunt from 'Charlie'. "See this? CEDA has those outposts and old labs. They give rewards for captures. Need something to test a cure on."
Capture? Labs? Even worse. Even worse than dying I'd much rather die! I made my thoughts apparent by snarling and lurching forward against the rope, forcing the humans back. Another growl, dry and rough, tore itself through my throat, but ended abruptly when the air around my face warped and something cool and metallic struck the side of my head. There was no blood, and the stinging that set in seconds after the hit startled me into a pained silence interrupted by quiet breathy noises of pain.
"That wasn't really necessary... Take it to camp, ask Karen for one of the wagons, find someone who isn't an idiot to pull it." 'Charlie' nodded quickly and wrapped his thick fingers around my wrist to drag me face first through the dirt into the center of the camp. It was humiliating, even when I didn't entirely understand the meaning of the word.
Those around us stared and startled, eyes wide and incredulous. I could feel their anger and fear, and it was pleasing. To know that I struck so much emotion into these humans was... rewarding in it's own sense.
Fear. They fear. Don't understand. Can't. No experience. No understanding.
The man dropped me and looked around, then his eyes rested on an older woman near the edges of the camp. "Karen! Get the wagon, blue one, and clear it. Claire wants this," he nudged me with the toe of his boot, "to ride to the outpost." I hissed at the word. Didn't understand the meaning, maybe, but I was beginning to associate it with something very bad. And with It agreeing with me, I knew the ominous feeling was exactly what I should be experiencing.
The woman, Karen, tensed. She'd probably kill me if she could. I knew it, and for whatever reason, that was comforting. At least if I were dead, they wouldn't be dragging me to some 'outpost' that I knew nothing about. She stood and disappeared into one of the larger white tents, grumbling the whole way. Charlie stared down at me, "I kin make those ropes tighter hunter, if ya'd like." I grimaced at the word. Hunter. Predator. Something that kills to survive. I do not kill to survive, do I? I kill because it is right? Isn't it? That's what It tells me. And I believe it... "Didna' think so."
Karen returned again with a small faded blue wagon, the paint chipped at the corners and old drying leaves scattered around inside. Not unlike the woods on my weekly hunting trips. The dominant, primitive part of my mind decided that yes, this would make a comfortable place to sleep.
She wrapped her arms around my chest while the man gripped my ankles in a crushing grip, turning her head as her face contorted into that of disgust, though I didn't know why, and hefted me into the wagon. It was small and I had very little room, and with my ankles now tied, I couldn't even sit up or change position. I wriggled the whole way and snapped at the woman's hand, blooded eyes narrowed and unblinking. She did not respond to me.
And here I was stuck, in a rusting wagon covered in dirt and grime, and in some places that my nose could reach, the bodily fluid of one of the bloated infected. Disgusting stuff to humans. Nothing new to me. Though it did make me scrunch my nose; the smell was revolting, but something about it induced a sense of curiosity that drove us to find the source. It always covered humans, and in close proximity made us aggressive. I guess it did its job.
A younger boy, short with long brown hair and squinting eyes stared down at me. "Cooool. Momma! We gonna keep it?" He had a gap between his front teeth through which he poked his tongue.
A gap between his front teeth...
"Boy! Get back! Those things ain't animals. Don't fear you and won't hesitate to bite your arm off." A voice I didn't see the source of called the boy back. The kid shot one last glance at me, to which I responded with bared fangs, then ran off to join this 'Momma'. I couldn't explain why that gap between that kids teeth bothered me so. It drove the thought away, and I was back to surveying my surroundings and trying to squirm out of the new bindings that reduced my mobility further.
I tilted my head up to the rising sun, just enough to see the clouds over head. It would be a bright day. And a long ride.
That boy is going to get himself killed. And what's worse, is he probably knows it too!
I'll berate him later when we get out of the city. Having one of those... things with us, so close, was terrifying. Hey, if I could I'd shoot it. But Claire wants supplies, and I can't say I have an argument against that. But with seven year old Jonny running around, what were they thinking? Tying it up isn't going to stop it! I'd seen plenty of those creatures easily break the ties binding them together and killing everyone. They took my husband from me. Took away little Jonny's father, and for that I was furious. No amount of rations or supplies would stop me from killing that thing the moment I had the chance.
I wouldn't look at it, and for once, I'm glad they have the sense to cover their ugly faces with those hoods. I wouldn't be able to restrain myself if they didn't.
Charlie and Claire are good people. They know what they're doing, know how to lead and take care of our little group. And so far, we've only lost one person. Didn't know his name. Big guy, probably a gang member for all I know. I'm not upset, though. I know it's horrible, but one less person in the group means more rations for the rest of us, and Jonny was already getting worryingly thin. I had to get something into him.
Currently, I was sitting out on one of the plastic containers we normally kept in the wagons, holding the pistol Claire had given me when we'd joined up. I looked it over, examined it's edges and feeling it's weight. A good weapon.
"Chris, it's your watch."
Right. It's my two hours to keep watch over that hunter for the first half of the journey. I sighed and stood up, snapping the magazine back into the gun and making my way to the center of the camp where the wagon sat, while everyone around me packed up and started moving.
Walking and watching a monster at the same time? Can't wait.
The sun was at the beginning of it's descent by the time I heard the sounds and smelled the animals and humans. Dogs, I think. I couldn't remember what they smelled like, but something told me that's what they were. The started barking the moment the humans started speaking, and the sound hurt. Aggravated me. Surprising that none of the other infected were attracted by this noise.
When I attempted to sit up, or do anything that wasn't laying still, the but of a rifle struck me in the back of the head and sent me back down. I had no way of knowing who'd done it, but I had the suspicion that it was the older woman who'd retrieved the wagon earlier today.
A voice, high up in a place I couldn't quite pinpoint, spoke up. "Stop! Don't move. Keep your hands above your head, all of you." Claire was the one to speak, striding forward, at least I think she did from the sound of her boots moving away.
"Everyone healthy. No wounds, bites, or infections. There are thirteen of us not including a child." She gestured behind her, probably to my wagon. "We have a... gift. For your scientists and request entry." I growled loudly at his words and lifted my head to glare at him, only to drop it back down in defeat once more.
The man scrutinized the wagon, and upon noticing my wriggling form, called out something to someone behind him. "Mitchel, get a sterilization team and Doctor Dominic for me. Tell them we have guests; they brought one of the specials." Doctor... doctors were good, I think. I can't remember, but had the feeling that they had done good things in the past.
As me and the group were guided through thick steel gates, the dogs continued to growl and snarl, sniffing in my direction. If I could turn around, I'd snarl back, but settled for a hacking noise in my lungs instead. A wet, sickly cough.
I heard an additional three footsteps, a clap of hands, and an aged, professional voice. He sounded much too happy. "Ah! Welcome to Outpost Theta. You're lucky you found one of our... larger outposts. And, sadly, one of the few still standing... Mm. Anyway! Are you here for the camp, or..." His pause signified that he noticed something. Namely, me. "I see... is that what I think it is...?"
"Yup. Shot it down, tied it up. Brought it here." Charlie shook the wagon. "Just for ya, Doc. Happy birthday."
The Doctor broke out into raucous laughter that was more unsettling than the cold winter nights of the city. "Excellent! More than excellent, actually! Bring it here, I'll have one of these wonderful men here take it off your hands..." He raised a brow and smirked. "While I take you to our storerooms, yes?"
He was talking quietly now. "We have plenty of.. extras to go around..."
A/N: Cliffhanger, sort of. You'll see what happens next, and hopefully things will pick up. I bet you can't guess what happens next. Anyway, please review, critique... you know the drill. I look forward to your feedback! I'll try to improve the next chapter and make less line breaks, keep it simpler.
~ Sam