CHAPTER TEN
Violet didn't sleep that night. She was unsure of why she was feeling so sad. She didn't really know him. He was just a dead animal, like so many of the other animals she slaughtered without thought. But he wasn't the same. She knew that. He held onto his humanity even after the disease ravaged his body, changed him physically and mentally. He held onto his compassion even after he was sick and violet couldn't understand.
The next day she looked through her cupboards and sighed. She had been putting off this food run but she really couldn't procrastinate any longer. Estelle was down to half a can of formula and violet had two bottles of water left. So it was definitely time to make her way to the store and stock up. She made a quick mental list of things she needed, knowing full well she'd just grab whatever struck her fancy. Even in an apocalypse she was still a compulsive shopper.
She readied her weapons, and then got Estelle ready. She was ready to step outside when she heard loud shrieks. She immediately secured the door and backed away. She put Estelle on the tattered couch and crept to the barred window to peek out. She was amazed to see the smaller hunter was back and guarding Vincent's corpse. The common infected were trying to feed off of it and the female hunter was having none of that. Violet could respect her protecting her mate's body and realized she was embarrassed. She should have buried him so something like this wouldn't happen.
She shook her head. Fairly disgusted with herself she strapped Estelle to her back and went outside. The commons immediately gave up attacking the body and hurtled towards her. With a few quick swings of her sledgehammer they were lying at her feet. One was incapacitated. She had clearly broken its neck. But it clung to life and made pathetic whimpering sounds. Violet looked down at it with a cold distant stare, before she slammed her booted foot down on its head, effectively crushing its skull. She looked up to see the smaller hunter hissing at her.
She could smell the human. The human wasn't scared anymore. The human didn't have any emotions. This scared her. Why was the human unafraid? Human had killed the other females. Human would kill her too. She hissed at the human in fear. Go away human. Go away. Leave her and her mate alone. Go go go!
Violet approached the smaller hunter quickly. She showed no fear so the little beast knew who was in charge. She reached out and smacked her. The hunter recoiled and lowered herself to the ground submissively. These things weren't unlike dogs. She spoke slowly and clearly. "We need to move him so the others will leave his body alone. Estelle and I are going to move him okay? Just relax. We are going to take him into the mausoleum over there." She pointed to the cemetery about three blocks over.
The human was odd. It had struck her and was now making odd noises. Her movements showed she wanted her mate. Why would the human want her mate. Did she want to eat him? Humans didn't eat meat did they? She was too scared of this human to deny her. So she watched anxiously as the human started to drag her mate away. She followed the human and watched curiously. Why was she headed away from her den? She scared off some of her common sisters that smelled the humans small creature. It had begun to stink and was easy to pinpoint. She wondered if the human knew the thing on her back was like a stinky target. From the look on her face, she knew.
The human dragged him to a hill that was covered in rocks. She knew this hill was special somehow but all she knew was it smelled like death. She came to a building made of stone. The human broke the lock on the door and dragged her mate inside. She understood now. The human was guarding him from the others. She nodded enthusiastically. Maybe this human wasn't stupid.