CHAPTER THREE
After placing the baby in the center of the bed and surrounding it with pillows, Violet locked the bedroom door and secured the adjoining rooms. She then secured the whole sanctuary. It had been quiet since Vincent's return and she wondered if he had anything to do with the decreased Infected activity. Either way, she only had to kill one infected on her way to the store.
The store was only a block away. Violet made the journey quickly and silently. A familiar shadow followed her path from above and in an odd way, she felt more secure knowing he was there. The streets were deserted. Rotting corpses dotted the maze of broken glass and shattered hope. Violet saw none of this. Every sense she had was tuned in for survival. She listened and watched for any signs of approaching Infected. The last thing she needed was to be ambushed by a large horde.
He watched her quietly. Something was wrong. She looked nervous, jumpy, not at all herself. He barely noticed when a small figure jumped beside him, growling quietly. Without sparing a glance, Vincent gave a low growl of welcome to the small female hunter. She attempted to nuzzle him and he pushed her away roughly. His human was acting bizarre. He needed to see what was happening and had no time for Little One and her odd games.
Violet slipped into the store, in search of baby items. Thoroughly disgusted with Vincent, Violet realized she had no idea on where to start. Diapers would be as sensible as any item. She made her way through the abandoned supermarket, ignoring the smell of rotting food coming from coolers that had long since stopped working. This particular store had been fairly ignored by looters, so there was a fair selection of shelf stable items. This store was one of the reasons she was reluctant to leave this sanctuary. She was well provided for here. But she sensed she would have to leave soon.
She stumbled upon a section of the store that seemed entirely dedicated to small children and felt instantly alarmed. How on earth was she supposed to know what this thing needed? It was so small, what size clothes did it wear? What did it eat? There had to be thirty kinds of formula here! And in her haste, she had forgotten her pillowcase to carry her spoils. Damn it all to hell when she got back she was going to throw that damn creature into the street and let the infected fight over it!
As she was fuming, an unfamiliar figure crept closer and closer to Violets inattentive figure. She started piling baby items into a bag she found near the diapers when she heard a faint hiss of breath. Dropping the items and whipping around quickly, Violet readied her pistol as she scanned the dark store nervously. She saw nothing but knew something was there.
The fear came of the small human in waves. It positively reeked of fear and anger. Anger wasn't the proper response. Humans ran, not stayed. Humans didn't fuss around with weapons when scared. What was wrong with this human? The nerve of this creature. It would suffer for its impudence.
Violet wasn't sure where the infected was. But she knew it was a witch or a hunter. Either one was deadly, especially when it had the element of surprise. Yet she was unwilling to abandon her supplies. The little bastard on her bed needed this and she refused to have it making a mess and stinking up her sanctuary. She quickly collected the clothes, diapers, formula and other baby items she had collected and started to cautiously make her way out of the store. Just as she was reaching the front of the store a shoe fell out of the bag and she leaned over to grab it, cursing the small creature on her bed silently.
Violet didn't believe in luck, but she was certainly lucky at that moment. Just as she leaned over to pick up the small bootie, a small hunter leapt at her, shrieking loudly. It just grazed her back and violet was momentarily stunned. She jumped to her feet preparing to defend herself. She fired off three shots, and all of them missed. Something had already thrown the hunter across the room. Violet fought to see in the dark, and she just barely made out Vincent. He was over top the smaller snarling and yipping. She had no idea why he had protected her but she wasn't sticking around to find out. She grabbed the bag and ran for the sanctuary, firing at the Infected that had been drawn in by her previous shots. She never missed; save for the three shots that didn't make it into the small hunters' skull.
Vincent was angry. Females were nothing but trouble. Little One never listened to her instincts! She had tried to attack prey that outsmarted her tenfold. If he hadn't pushed her away the small human would have swiftly ended her life. He did not want to smell the life leave Little One. He hated when Little One behaved this way. She had already been injured in her first attempt to hunt. He didn't need her endangering herself any more. He always hunted for her. What had provoked her into attacking the dangerous prey?
Violet ran into the sanctuary quickly, her heart pounding loudly. She ran to the room, and listened at the door as she searched for the key. There was a quiet cooing coming from inside and it took her a moment to realize that the noise was in fact, coming from the creature on the bed and not an infected that had busted in. she opened the door to see the small bundle gurgling happily as it wiggled on the bed. Covered in dirt and gore, Violet collapsed onto the bed next to Estelle, shaking. Blue eyes stared at her sweetly as Violet felt tears rolling down her cheeks.