CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Now that the hunter was clean and Estelle was content Violet needed to make a game plan. She would head to Vincent's former home and then onto another supply run. She was going to have to get a lot more food if the hunter kept eating at the rapid rate she was now.
She prepared Estelle and grabbed the bag she kept her supplies in. She wasn't sure she was ready for what might be waiting for her at that house. She knew that the beautiful woman in the pictures was probably dead. She didnt even want to think about what had happened to the baby. But she needed to know. For reasons she couldnt explain she felt like she owed it to Vincent to find out what had happened to his family.
The human looked thoughtful as she placed things into her bag. She wished she could understand what the human said but her words were meaningless and unintelligible to her mutated ears. Her mate seemed to understand a little bit but he was usually guided by both sight and smell. When the human set out she seemed sad. Why was the human sad? Perhaps she didnt want to go out anymore. It must be tiring to have to put yourself and your cub in danger all the time. She followed the human and recognized the route. The human was going to collect more supplies. Perhaps she would get more orange dusty foods. She liked the orange dusty foods very much. Even more than the belly of a freshly killed hman. And that was the best part!
Violet surveyed the outside of the small house Vincent had called home before the infection had ravaged the city. It must have been nice at one time but she couldn't see that now. Decaying corpses littered the yard along with garbage and broken glass. Pieces of boards and a lead pipe lay in the alkway. As she moved closer Violet realized it wasn't pieces of board but pieces of the wooden front door. The wooden door had been completely blown off its hinges and Violet shuddered to think of what could have done that. She had heard rumors about giant armed special infected that blasted through walls to smash its victims to death. She had never seen such a creature but she didn't doubt its exsistence.
As she got closer to the door the more dread she felt. She didn't know what was lurking in that dark house. What sad scene would she discover? The decaying body of Vincents beautiful wife? A dead baby? From what she had seen no child had ever survived a bout of the green flu. She had never seen a child become infected. The disease had always proven fatal. In a way that was a blessing. No child should ever have to endure the horror of becoming one of those horrible creatures. She steeled herself to witness untold horror as she entered the dim doorway.
Instead of the stuff of nightmares, Violet saw a broken home. she could tell from the remnants of the living room someone had taken the time to turn this small house into a cozy home. there was still some pictures over a mantle, a few hadnt been knocked off the wall and Violet would have bet good mone that the shattered and overturned glass coffee table had been very lovel before its destruction. The furniture had been left untouched for the most part. Cozy tan leather couches and matching recliners looked well worn but also well taken care of. it was clear Vincent and his wife took great pride in their home but Violets previous assumption held true. These were not wealthy people.
Reluctant to head up the stairs, the human trudged around the lower levels of the den. the smell of this place confused her. She smelled her mate. The smell was overpowering in this place. But he smelled different somehow. Like he was mingled with a human. But she knew this smell was old. He hadnt been here for a very long time. she could smell another long gone human. She was intrigued because the other humans scent was also familiar to her. When she first met her mate he absolutely reeked of this human and he continued to bring items that smelled of this human to their den. She was very interested in this den. Almost more so than the human that paced around picking up various items on the floor. She wholey approved of the humans instincts to come here. Her human was intelligent. She was proud she and her mate had such an astute pack member.