"So, do you know why you can't see in daylight?" Murphy asked, back to driving. He seemed to be able to handle the vehicle better than his brother.
"My theory is that because my eyes funnel light away from my pupils, not enough reaches them to be able to see. I don't think my eyes are normally like that, since at night I have no trouble seeing."
"Can you make your eyes not do that?" Connor questioned, facing backward in his seat to look at her.
She snorted.
"Can you control your heartbeat?"
He took that to mean a no.
Turning back into his seat, he suppressed a yawn. It was starting to get dark, and they still had about an hour and a half of driving ahead of them. Or at least, Murphy did. Connor grinned, turning his head out the window. His sight was starting to fail in the dimming light, everything becoming a mixture of purples and grays.
"So, how well can you see now?"
She turned her gaze to him, sun coming in at the right angle to flare directly into her eyes. The light reflected off the silver and back into his face, causing him to make a face and turn his head away, blinded by the rays.
"I can see every hair on your head. I can see each individual bug in the air around us, and see the grass waving as we drive by."
Murphy coughed.
"Well, I guess it's your turn to lead us around, eh?"
Animal rolled her shining eyes, and turned back to continue looking out the window, feeling drowsy herself. She was used to a nocturnal lifestyle, not being awake during the day. She didn't sleep well at night, since the dark invited nightmares about what she had done.
Feeling her eyes slipping closed, she shifted more comfortably against the door, leaning her head against the cold window and letting the dimming colors guide her to sleep.
The family stood before her, bodies bloodied and faces hidden. She had slaughtered every one of them, as they had attempted to do themselves the day before. They had believed their success, and were not expecting her return attack. It had been easy to slip into the house unnoticed and assassinate every one of them.
One of the bodies turned its faceless head toward her, and she snarled a threat, hand shifting to her pocket where she normally kept her knife. However, her pocket was empty, and she felt a brief surge of panic when she realized she was weaponless against her nightmares.
The light was bright, and even though awake she would have never been able to see in this light, in her dream she saw colors she had never before known, and saw everything with brilliant clarity. The slashes on each of their necks, a second red mouth drooling red saliva. Bruises on their skin, from when she had pinned them to the ground, screaming in fear. The broken wrist on the young boy. She had had to snap it in order to keep him immobilized. He had woken up before she had finished killing his parents, and she had to kill him. She could leave no witnesses to her first crime.
Then, joining the four before her, more faceless bodies appeared, the many she had killed over a half decade since her thirst for killing had awakened. After her first kill, she had been unable to stop. She needed to kill.
The bodies, many and still faceless, began to swarm around her, pressing close. She snarled again, but this time a note of fear crept into the growl, and they heard and grinned. Faces suddenly appeared on the bodies, and they opened their too-wide mouths and began tearing at her flesh, stripping her muscle from the bone as she had done to them.
Unable to scream, since the dream would not allow her, she could only wait helplessly as her body was torn apart by her nightmares. Before she could fully die, however, something woke her up.
Without thinking, a reaction to her nightmare, she attacked the person that had roused her by shaking her shoulder.
Murphy sighed at the monotony of driving on the highway, wishing for anything that would provide a little stimulation. In the dark, all he could see were taillights and dark trees on each side of the three-lane highway, and it bored him. The CD's had long since been played out, and the silence was just as bad as the lack of sights. He sighed again.
"Oi, Connor, can ya' at least talk? I'm about to fall asleep here."
"What the fuck am I supposed to say?"
"I don't know! Just say something!"
"Alright, fine!" Connor paused to think for a moment. "So, I wonder how Romeo's doing."
Murphy snorted.
"That's the best you can do?"
"Oh, shut the fuck up, will ya'?"
They sat silently for a bit longer, than Murphy spoke up.
"Romeo's probably fine. Knowing him, he escaped in the ruckus we caused. We just need to find him again, and the easiest way to do that is to get back to Boston."
"So keep driving, eh?" Connor teased lightly, and Murphy stifled a yawn.
"I don't think I can. Come on, we might as well pull over for the night. Help me find a parking lot somewhere."
Connor looked out the window, straining to see before growling and turning around to talk Animal.
"Hey, do ya' think-"
He broke off as he realized she was sleeping, yet again, and her body was twitching convulsively, caught in a dream.
"Oi, Murph, what do ya' think she's dreaming about?"
Murphy looked up in the mirror to watch her twitching limbs.
"Who fucking knows? Probably chasing down some poor homeless man."
Connor studied her.
"No, I don't think so. Looks more like a nightmare to me."
"Just let her sleep through it. She'll probably kill ya' if ya' wake her up."
"Wouldn't doubt that."
He turned away and continued looking for a parking lot they could stay in for the night, and finally spotted another Wal-Mart.
"Christ, those things are fucking all over the place, aren't they?"
"It's like every time you turn around, there's one more."
Murphy pulled in and parked in the back corner of the lot, stretching as he shut the truck off.
"Hey, we forgot blankets, didn't we?"
"Ah, fuck!"
Connor swore and opened his door, getting out before opening Animal's door, watching to make sure she didn't fall out. She merely sagged back against the seat, still twitching as she dreamt.
"Oi, wake up."
She didn't seem to hear him, though one of her hands clenched. He sighed, losing his patience, and reached out to grab her shoulder the moment Murphy came up to watch.
Her eyes suddenly snapped open, catching the light from one of the lamps above them. Snarling ferociously, she lunged at his hand with jaws gaping. Connor yanked his hand back, but her teeth still closed on it fast enough to leave tears in the skin. He yanked his hand free and shouted as he stepped back, glaring at her as she finally woke up all the way.
She seemed confused, licking her lips as if wondering why she tasted blood in her mouth. Her eyes ran over the two of them, Connor standing ten feet away and holding a torn hand, while Murphy had automatically placed himself between his brother and a threat.
"What the fuck was that?" Connor shouted, and Animal turned her glowing gaze to him.
"What happened?"
"You fucking attacked my brother!" Murphy shouted, and Animal cringed.
"I did? I'm sorry. I don't remember doing so."
Murphy growled and took an intimidating step toward her, but stopped at Connor's uninjured hand on his shoulder. He stood there, seething.
"You're fucking lucky", he snapped before stalking away, Animal's cold eyes on his back, watching him. Looking more confused than ever, she looked at Connor, voicing a questioning growl.
"You were having a nightmare, and I woke you up."
She winced and gave him an apologetic look, which he accepted with a shrug. He knew she hadn't meant it.
She looked around, and it took Connor a moment to remember she could see now that it was dark.
She shot him another questioning look, and he answered her unspoken question.
"We decided to stop for the night. Murphy was having trouble staying awake. Frankly, so was I."
She accepted his answer with a small nod, then sprang lightly from the truck, seeming more awake now than she had all day. Her glowing eyes flicked around, pausing here and there in the darkness.
"Anyways, we were going to go back into the store. We forgot to grab blankets while we were in the last one."
Again she just nodded, looking around into the surrounding trees. Connor was starting to feel vaguely threatened the longer he stayed alone near her.
Unconsciously edging away, he said, "We'll be going in to grab blankets and some food. We'll be back in a bit."
Her eyes suddenly snapped to his face, and animal light hidden in their cold depths. He froze suddenly, alarm ringing through his body. Something cold was creeping over her expression, and she started to look hungry. She shifted her posture, only straightening herself to him, yet there was a hidden threat buried in that motion. He tensed, wondering what had come over her.
"Hey, are ya' coming or not, Connor?"
Connor nearly sighed in relief at the interruption Murphy's shout had brought. Suddenly, Animal dropped her aggressive stance, going back to ignoring him as she looked around into the darkness.
Feeling shaky, he called back, "I'm coming, I'm coming. Hold onto your pants."
He turned to look once more at Animal, unsettled, then walked toward the business of the store, infinitely safer than what the darkness out here contained.
Animal wasn't quite sure what had come over. Suddenly, tasting blood in her mouth, she had felt that same urge to kill come over her. Coldness had taken over her mind, and she had begun to hunt Connor, even though she knew he was not to be hunted. Luckily, Murphy had yelled, distracting her. If he hadn't, Connor would probably be dead by now. He hadn't thought to bring his gun out of the vehicle with him, while she always carried her knife.
She sat on the edge of the parking lot holding her knees, staring into the trees. She could see bats flitting about, snatching insects from the air. Everything was bathed in silver light from the lamps behind her, bringing sharp edges to everything.
A sudden, cramping pain twisted her stomach, and she bit down on her hand to keep from whimpering. She stayed tensed until it passed, then removed her bleeding hand from her mouth, staring at the blood hungrily. She lapped the blood until she caught herself, then snarled softly and turned to face back into the darkness. She needed to kill.
Soon.
Still feeling unsettled from the intensity of Animal's gaze, Connor walked up to Murphy, who had begun to calm down. Murphy had always been the more impulsive of the two, and often reacted without thinking.
Murphy noticed Connor's silent mood, and asked, "Oi, what the fuck's your problem?"
"Nothin', my brother. Come on, let's just get the blankets and go to bed. If we're lucky, we might be having Mexican for lunch tomorrow and beer for dinner."
Murphy grinned at the thought, then followed his taller brother into the store, looking for blankets. Connor glanced one last time out the glass doors, and followed Murphy into the store, the hairs on the back of his neck still tingling. Something was not right with Animal's mind.
As they exited the brightly lit store, Connor led the way into the farthest reaches of the parking lot, peering into the darkness for the dark vehicle. It was almost impossible to see, and only the gleam of the paint allowed him to find it. They walked up to it, and could hear the sound of a small motor running. Giving each other looks, they walked around to the back of the vehicle, where they saw Animal filling up the air mattresses. One was already completed, and lay cross-ways in the large truck bed.
"Holy shit, on the job, aren't ya'?" Murphy laughed, climbing into the truck bed and walking hunched over to the filled mattress. With an exaggerated sigh, he flopped down, spreading out his limbs to take up as much room as possible.
"I call this one!"
Animal rolled her eyes, shifting her hand to straighten out a corner. Connor caught sight of bite marks on the flesh of her hand.
"What happened to your hand?"
She quickly snatched it away and out of sight, averting her eyes.
"It's nothing."
Connor let it go, though he did give her an odd look. She seemed edgy, and twitched at every sound.
"Hey, wait a minute", Murphy called from his bed. "There's only two mattresses. Who gets the other one?"
"We can all fucking share. There's no reason why two and a half fucking people can't fucking fit on two mattresses."
Animal snarled at the remark on her size, and Murphy chortled with glee, impish look on his face.
"Brilliant, Connor."
"I thought so myself", Connor stated, chuckling himself. Animal merely shot them dirty looks and turned away from them, growling softly to herself. Connor began unwrapping the blankets, tossing one to Murphy and putting the other one on the newly-filled mattress.
He then glanced at the sulking Animal.
"Aw, come on, lighten up. It's all in good fun."
"I know."
He blinked as she turned back around, heading to the mattress Murphy was currently laying on. Grumbling, he slid over, claiming the middle of the makeshift bed. Connor lay down on the other side of him, and they went to sleep, Animal as far away from the two of them as she could get in the small space, Murphy facing away from her. With their combined body heat, they were comfortably warm, and swiftly fell asleep.
Murphy woke up in the middle of the night at the feeling of something warm laying against his side, uncomfortably close. He groaned.
"C'mon, Connor, stay on your own fucking side of the damned bed", he muttered, turning to glare at his brother. In that instant, he realized the weight pressed against him was too small to be his brother, and he turned to see the back of Animal's head.
She lay still, and only the feel of her ribs against his side told him she was even breathing. If he had given her a glance, he could have thought she was dead, she was so still.
He studied her in the glare of the lamplight. She was small, and seemed even smaller when she slept. In that moment, helped by the fact that he could feel her ribs against his side, he realized that she was not only small, but thin. Maybe that explained why she killed and ate people. She was hungry.
Yawning, he turned his back to her, and fell asleep again, her back against his.
Connor grimaced at the sound of knocking on the glass above him. Yawning and stretching, he sat up, feeling his brother move beside him as well. Bleary-eyed, he peered through the glass to see what appeared to be a security guard.
He pushed open the glass, and blinked at the man in the early dawn light.
"'lo? Can I help you?"
"Would you mind telling me why you're sleeping in the parking lot, sir?" the man asked, and it took Connor a moment to process the question and formulate an answer. In that time, he could hear Animal wake as well, shifting to see what was going on.
"We needed somewhere to stay the night. Is that a problem?"
"No, actually. It's just protocol to make sure nothing's wrong with you. We once had a vehicle sitting in a parking lot for a week before someone realized the owner was dead in the back seat."
Connor made a face.
"Oi, can we please go back to sleep? I'm fucking exhausted", Murphy grumbled, burying his face in the blankets to block out the light. The guard finally noticed Animal in the back.
"Hello, Miss. You are with these two, right?"
Connor turned to look at her, to see if her eyes might be giving her off, and he froze as the same look from the night before found its way onto her face. The lean, hungry look, with a tinge of insanity in her eyes.
She shifted, eyes watching the guard hungrily, and Connor could hear the guard take a step back, as he had done the night before.
He turned to see the guard's reaction, and suddenly Animal launched herself past him through the narrow window, snarling as she attacked the guard. Her teeth unerringly found his throat, and with a quick, savage motion, she jerked her head back, tearing the windpipe from the body.
Dying, the guard dropped to the ground, and Animal stood, blood dripping down her face. She swallowed the bit of flesh in her mouth, then looked at Connor, eyes glowing eerily, though the hungry look was now gone.
"What the fuck was that?" he shouted, flinging himself away from her and stumbling over his brother.
"What?" Murphy yelled, looking up. The attack had been silent, so Murphy had not known what was going on. As he looked, he saw Animal's blood-soaked face, and pushed himself back as well, stricken.
Animal looked sadly at the body on the ground before her, then closed her eyes and knelt out of their sight. They heard a few mumbled words, and she stood back up, into their sight. She looked at them with a blank expression, waiting for their reaction.
"What the FUCK was that?" Connor repeated, wishing desperately for the gun he had left in the cab of the truck, out of his reach.
"Better he than you", she finally answered, meeting their gaze, defending her actions.
"What the fuck is that supposed to fucking mean?" Murphy shouted.
"…It's impossible to explain."
"Try me", Murphy snarled, and Animal flicked her glowing eyes to his face, narrowing them in irritation.
"I can't."
"You fucking bitch", he growled, moving to go attack her, and Animal shifted her weight, preparing to fight him. Her wrist flicked out, and Connor could hear the click of a knife blade.
He grabbed his brother and hauled him back, saving him from certain death at Animal's hands. Murphy struggled against him, but Connor was able to hold him back, keeping a wary eye on Animal. Just when they had started to trust her, she had pulled a stunt like this, contradicting what she normally acted like. But then again, they had only known her for a few days. How could they know how she usually behaved?
"Why the fuck did you kill him?" Connor demanded, forcing his brother down. Murphy struggled under him, giving up when he realized he couldn't get loose and glaring at his brother.
"I can't tell you."
"And why the fuck not?"
"You won't trust me anymore."
"And you think we fucking trust you now?" Murphy snarled, looking up at her. She shifted her gaze to him, head tilted curiously to the side.
"No. But this will guarantee it."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Murphy shouted, frustrated, and Connor had to agree with him. Animal was speaking in circles, evading their questioning. Connor shifted his weight on the air mattress, and heard the click of metal colliding with metal. He glanced down, and his heart soared.
They were no longer cornered and weaponless. Murphy had brought his own guns into the truck.
Sending a prayer of thanks to the Lord, he picked it up, checked the chamber to see if it was loaded, then leveled it at Animal's face. She didn't even appear to notice, though her eyes shifted to lock on him.
"Give me one fucking reason why I shouldn't blow your fucking brains out!"
"We should have done that in the first place", Murphy seethed, glaring at his brother and then shifting his glare to Animal. "Back when we first had her cornered in that fucking ally."
"One fucking reason!" Connor demanded again, pulling back the hammer with a deafening click.
"I can't."
"Can't fucking what?"
"I can't give you a reason why you shouldn't kill me."
Connor gave her an odd look, gun wobbling in his hand. Her eyes met his, and he saw no fear in them, nothing that would show she was scared. Instead, she seemed to be…. playing with them.
Murphy took advantage of his brother's distraction and wrenched himself free, throwing himself across the other mattress and grabbing his other gun, in turn pointing it at the blood-soaked creature before them.
"Down on your knees", he growled, and she merely looked at him.
"No."
"I said get down on your knees!"
"And I said no. If you're going to kill me, shoot me in the head while I stand. I will not die on my knees."
Murphy snarled and shoved his way out of the vehicle, keeping the gun on Animal's face the whole time. She took a step back, to give him room to exit, and Connor followed his brother, prepared to defend him.
He glanced down at the body of the guard, and was surprised to see the eyes were closed. He had to have died with them open, so why were they closed?
He remembered Animal kneeling out of their sight for a moment, and mumbling to herself.
"What the fuck did you say when you knelt?" he asked, still looking at the body. Murphy flicked a glance down to it, then brought his eyes back up to Animal's face.
"I was apologizing."
"For fucking what?" Murphy demanded.
"That he had to die so that you may live."
The brothers froze, looking at her. She seemed to truly regret killing him, looking down at the body with faint pain on her face.
"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
She looked at Connor, meeting his glare with cool eyes.
"I cannot tell you."
Connor growled in frustration, leveling the gun on her head once more.
"Tell me, or I will kill you."
To his surprise, she started laughing, though it was a humorless cough that lasted only a few short moments.
"Either you will kill me now, or someone else will kill me later. Either way, I will die at someone's hands. What difference does it make if it's at yours?"
Connor suppressed a shudder, then looked at his brother, meeting Murphy's own questioning glance. Meeting a wordless decision, they both growled and slowly released the hammers of their guns, lowering them from Animal's face. She looked at them sharply, and Connor was satisfied to see she was unsettled.
"Give me your knife."
She hesitated for the briefest of moments, uncomfortable, then wordlessly offered the handle to him, blade still in her hand. He reached out and grabbed it, folding it before putting it into his pocket.
"Get back in the truck. Sit in the backseat and STAY THERE until we tell you otherwise."
"I don't need a knife to kill. If you're trying to disarm me, you might want to tie my hands and feet."
"We might just fucking do that!" Murphy shouted, and Connor had to pull him back again.
"Just get back in the truck like we told you to do", he repeated, and Animal looked at him carefully before walking by them, opening the back door of the truck and climbing in, shutting it behind her. Murphy turned to Connor furiously, seething.
"Why the fuck are we letting her fucking live? We should fucking kill her!"
"Get a hold of yourself!" Connor shouted back, grabbing Murphy's arms to still his pacing. "Calm down. Now, before you talk-" He held up a finger to silence Murphy before he was interrupted, "I need to say something. I'm not going to trust her until she proves herself trustworthy, which I doubt will ever happen if she keeps this type of fucking thing going on. I'm just going to do what I originally intended to do: just point her in the direction of our targets, and let her go. That way, she draws the bullets, not us."
"What makes you fucking think she'll do that? She'll probably warn them just to make sure we get killed!"
"I don't think she will. She keeps her promises."
"Then why the fuck didn't she tell us why she fucking killed that guard?" Murphy yelled, shout ringing over the abandoned parking lot. Connor glanced around, and was thankful to see the lot was empty.
"I don't know", he finally admitted. "I don't know. But she hasn't hurt us yet, and I'm going to make sure she doesn't. Now, are you with me?"
Murphy stayed silent, refusing to look at his brother.
"Murphy, I need to know if you're with me. I can't do this on my own", Connor said, pleading. Murphy shot him a tired look.
"Of course I'm fucking with you, you fucking idiot. We're brothers, aren't we?"
Connor smiled.
"That we are."
"And brothers stick together until the end."
"Wherever that may be", Connor confirmed, then took a step forward to hug his brother. Murphy accepted the hug for a minute, then pulled away, a mock look of disgust on his face.
"Don't get all fucking emotional on me. Don't forget, we still have to drive another fucking hour with an insane mass-murderer in the back seat."