CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Violet had fitful dreams that night. God it was sweltering! She dreamed of Estelle, solemn as ever, Vincent pacing around her. She thought she heard Liam but she couldn't move so it must be one of those dreams that the world didn't work quite right.
She wished someone would turn off the lights. The glare was making her head pound. She wished for water. Begged for ice, wailed for anything to soothe this furnace she had once called her body. She was tired. There would be time to take a cool shower after her nap.
The human was not well. She radiated heat and thrashed around her bed wildly. Her mate was sad. She watched him crouch and fold his hands by her side, speaking to the sky. His behavior was strange, but he and the cub were both sad. She did her best to teach the cub but the cub wasn't even old enough to pounce yet.
The male human brought more food to his sick mate. He always brought small white rattley food and warm liquid that smelled like meat. She thought it was stupid that he made his mate eat the small white food with water and forced it down her throat. If she didn't want to eat then why did he force it on her? It was improper and disrespectful of their bond. Stupid rude humans. Thank goodness the cub had her.
The cub was growing well. She growled well, and could roll and sit up. She could even make human noises! She was a smart cub and she delighted in her. Her mate even took notice of the cub and even played with them when he wasnt too tired.
She watched the male human pace restlessly. He was worried, and so was her mate. There was another human male close by. They could smell him. She didn't know what it was doing there, and as she watched the male human let her mate outside, she growled unhappily. No good ever came of lingering outsiders. With one very ill pack member and the other still very weak, the pack wasn't ready to face an attack. She debated taking the cub into a new, uncompromised den but quickly dismissed the idea. No human would drive them from their home without a fight!
He knew the human was close. It reeked of sweat, blood and death. He crept up slowly, knowing that alerting the object of his attentions could be a fatal finally came into his view, and appeared to be resting. It looked similar to his humans mate. Tall, with fair fur on its head, not as pale as his mates, but much lighter than his own hair. He didn't have as much as Little One either. He seemed to be wearing the same clothing as the humans he had encountered when the streets were awash in blood and screaming prey. These humans brought large weapons and were very organized. One or two was hard enough to deal with, and at first there had been many of these humans. He also remembered being intrigued by the fact that all these humans had the same metal ornamentation around their necks. He assumed they were all from the same pack. A pack of fierce warriors that defended other prey as often as possible. Eventually they migrated away, some of their pack staying to stumble with the commons.
He slipped away quickly. The human wasn't an immediate threat, in fact, he looked tired. He trotted along silently; content that he could go home to Little One and let her know they were safe. Perhaps, if he hadn't been weak from his injuries, he would have noticed that he was being followed sooner. By the time he noticed the human male trailing him from a distance, he was walking through the door of his den. He froze momentarily, causing his humans mate to step outside and survey. He watched the human freeze before shooing him inside. The human rushed to gather weapons and left the den.
She could hear the two males speaking; she could smell her pack members' sweat. He was afraid. She was proud of herself when she could sort of understand what was being said. The human speech was becoming easier to grasp as the humans continued to use their language around her.
Her pack member said "You need to move on. There's nothing for you here"
The other male replied "Kid are you crazy or just plain stupid? Do you know what you just let in your damn house?"
Her male snorted and said "I am well aware of what's in my house. You need to leave. There is no room for you here."
"Well no shit, you're sheltering a damn zombie. You twisted fuck, what do you do? Let it sleep in your bed like it's a dog?"
Her male let out a low snarl before snapping "Get the hell out of here."
There was a long pause before the intruder said "Look kid, I didn't mean to offend. To be totally honest, I'm pretty creeped out by your choice of house guest. But I do need help. I have nothing to drink and I'm on the move. Do you have any water? I can trade you for food or other shit."
Her human said nothing and she let out a startled yowl when the door was thrust open. She backed away irritated and curled up around the cub protectively. Her mate stood in a defensive stance, growling unhappily. Their pack member had welcomed an intruder into their den and with the female human sick, she didn't approve of the situation.
"Jesus Christ. There's two of them in here? Is that a damn BABY?" the intruder demanded.
"Her name is Estelle. The hunters are Vincent and Hayley. I can give you twelve bottled waters, but we need medical supplies."
The intruder thought for a moment and asked "What kind of meds? I don't have any bandages to spare; all I have are a few bottles of ibuprofen and some antibiotics. Nothing really hardcore, if that's what you're looking for."
Their pack member was quiet for a moment before asking "Would ibuprofen help with a fever? A really high one?"
"Well I guess so. You got a fever kid? You look fine to me." The intruder questioned.
Their exchange was interrupted by a loud thump. The intruder immediately crouched and readied his weapon demanding "Is there someone or something up there?"
"Yeah. Estelle's mom is up there. She's sick. I need to go check on her."
He headed up the stairs and the stranger watched as her mate followed close behind. Not wanting to be alone with the intruder, she picked up the cub by its coverings and followed suit. She heard him follow her up the stairs.
Violet felt disgusting. She smelled bad, was sticky and sweaty, and really needed a drink of water. To her horror, when she tried to get out of bed, her legs refused to hold her and she crashed to the floor in a humiliated heap. Good lord what on earth was wrong with her? It looked to be midafternoon. Had she really slept the day away? Hadn't the sheets been blue when she went to bed? Why were they yellow now? What the hell?
Liam walked into the room and she beamed at him before she remembered how gross she felt. He crouched immediately trying to help her stand. She struggled to her feet and inhaled sharply when she realized there was a stranger in her room. He was wearing what appeared to be army fatigues, thought they were well worn. He was tall with short, dirty blond hair and was holding a nasty looking rifle that she was displeased to see pointed at Vincent.
"Welcome to my home. Now stop pointing your gun at Vincent or I will be forced to throw you out" She croaked
To her chagrin, the man just chuckled and said "Honey you look six different shades of shitty, I don't see you throwing a tennis ball for your zombie to play fetch with, let alone throwing me anywhere. You know how dangerous it is to be having zombies in your house with your baby. I don't know if you hadn't noticed but the zombies are trying to eat us."
Violet sat on the edge of the bed and glared at her unwelcome houseguest before asking him if her friends seemed like bloody thirsty monsters.
"Well sweetheart, you may have found the only two peaceful monsters in the world, 'because the one I'm after sure as hell isn't nice or polite. He's a smart bastard though. I been tracking him for a while. Your friends here aren't all that unique in the intelligence area. The dumb ones are all but wiped out. It's the smart ones we have to worry about. They're getting their act together, and when they reach their full potential, we won't make it out alive. That's why I'm hunting them down. I'm after a particularly nasty one. He takes pleasure in killing. I figure he must have been a real piece of work before the infection hit. Now he's nature's deadliest predator."
Violet considered what he said before she spoke. "I think the personality does carry over post infection. Hayley lived here in this very house. She was an athletic, happy teenage girl. Vincent here was a teacher at the local high school. They're both reminiscent of their pre infection selves. Vincent likes kids; he brought Estelle to me after he found her. He could have eaten her but he didn't. Hayley is still a happy bubbly person, jumpy and playful. I think what most people don't realize is that these are people. They're sick and horrifically mutated but they have that spark of humanity, somewhere."
She was interrupted by a coughing fit. Was she sick? She felt sick, but she didn't understand why. She asked Liam for some water, which he quickly got her. She watched as Liam and the man bargained a trade of supplies. She wanted to argue and tell Liam they had plenty of meds, that they should ask if he has any extra ammo but she was just too tired. Her head drooped and she heard the man ask Liam what was wrong with her.
She heard Liam say that she had been sick for two weeks. Why would he say that? They didn't even need the meds. She tried to lift her head, but found the task too monumentous. So she just sat there and was surprised when the man stopped at the door and said "By the way ma'am, my name is Colten. I may be headed through this area on my way back, and I sure hope we can meet up again. You take care of yourself" Then he was gone.
She didn't resist when Liam got her tucked into the bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Damn it was getting hot again.
He watched as his humans mate walked around the den with the stranger. The stranger was making his humans mate agitated but he couldn't see why. He was just pointing out weak points of the den that should be fortified, in case of intruders. His humans mate didn't seem to want the stranger to stay and he got him out the door as quickly as he could. Then his humans mate looked at him and grumbled irritably.
"You know why I like you? You aren't some judgemental know it all asshole. You know he was sitting there telling me how to secure the house like I'm some sort of idiot? Then he tried telling me how to take care of Violet. Why is it that everyone older than me seems to think just because I'm young I'm totally incapable of intelligent thought or reasoning? I made it all the way here by myself, no help from nobody.
I killed so many zombies, I've lost count. No offense meant of course, but I mean, they were trying to eat me. You seem like a nice enough guys, but I'm still pretty freaked out by you. Violet likes you a lot and she thinks you guys are trustworthy. I'm not saying you're not, but I mean, well… you're not really a person anymore are you? You're all deformed and shit, and don't operate on the same level as we do. You know they say that's because the infection drives you to spread it? That's why you don't really eat people do you? If you ate them this thing would have been over before it started because you guys would have eaten each other to death.
Nah, you're basically controlled by the disease. Green flu sounds so benign, but I guess they couldn't call it the Holy Shit Its Zombie Time Flu could they? I'm sorry this shit happened and I'm sorry you lost what you had. I'm sorry everyone had to go through this. It sucks. I'm glad you didn't eat Estelle, and I'm glad you're here. In fact, I'm glad you let me be here. It's good to be alive my friend."
Whelp guys, that was a long one huh? I snuck another borrowed character in here. Colten comes from How To Save A Life by lux et tenebra ninja. That story has an interesting premise, you should check it out. Hope you've been enjoying the ride, as this story is nearing its end =[ Cest la vie though. But I have it on good authority that the author (that's me!) is already cooking up a sequel. Yay! Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing, and if you can guess Estelle's first word, I will kill a character of your creation in the final chapter! So guess and review!
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