The Corrupted Soul

Chapter 22

"-so basically, this means my instincts were altered way more by Mr. Eriksson than we originally thought."

Olive slowly held her head in her hands, thankfully in frustration rather than sorrow. It grew within her for the past ten minutes as I explained just what had happened before, and answered her earlier question of how I escaped with Martian. Clem was unsurprised, for the most part. Felix hadn't descended from the ceiling yet.

Olive sighed heavily and finally looked up from her hands, and looked at me, "So you're saying we have a pack of angry Crawlers to deal with, and the risk of you possibly going off the deep end?"

I reluctantly nodded. Felix spike up from his perch, "I'd say, if you do go nuts, we should just make sure you're angry at those other guys, and not us. If we can use this to our advantage somehow, it would be better than trying to avoid it all together, right?"

I tilted my head, "Is it worth the risk, though? What if I do attack the pack, and then immediately turn around and go at your throats? Or what if...the eyes are only the first things to come back?"

They looked between eachother with worry. It only solidified my fears when Clem didn't pipe up and say such a thing wasn't possible. In theory it shouldn't be, I shouldn't be able to just grow horns and spikes, but logic was thrown out the window the day the first Crawler was infected. Crawlers weren't physically possible, for many obvious reasons. In the grand scheme of things, this wasn't too far a stretch.

I sighed heavily, as I did a strange taste formed at the back of my throat. It was like I had been in the lab too long and their constant use of cleaning products was leaving a taste the longer I stayed breathing in the residual fumes. I stood up, mentally exhausted and reaching my limit of staying in this lab, especially if I was starting to taste chemicals in the air, "I haven't hunted for a few days, I'm going to do so before I take a chunk out of someone here."

The others nodded, and Clem waved me off, "Just be careful. Those Crawlers might be waiting for you to leave the city so they can try to attack you. That, and I doubt even you know how strong your control is if Olive made you snap."

Taking her words into account, I nodded, before swiftly making myself scarce, heading to the main doors to escape this place and go find something to hunt. I was only half joking about taking a chunk out of someone, and that scared me. I had eaten normal food within the past two days, of course, but I hadn't hunted anything. The Virus wanted blood, and it wanted it now.

Several security guards hastily moved from my path as I approached the doors, they knew Felix, Olive, and myself didn't need authorization to come and go whenever, they also knew trying to enforce human rules on us would likely get them in hot water with all three of us, including Clem who held enough authority to fire them on the spot.

I extended my Cralwer legs the moment the door closed behind me, and climbed atop the roof of the lab, before launching off and over other buildings.

○ ○ ○

Animals were few and far between in the snow covered woods, but the odd deer or owl still showed up, foxes and raccoons weren't too uncommon either. The red fur of a fox caught my attention, and seconds later it was dead. The woods just outside the city - apparently - stretched much farther than I had realized, but with the recent threat of those Crawlers within, I wasn't going to hunt any farther than I had in the past.

Even after I ate the fox, the strange taste still lingered in the back of my throat. I couldn't place what it was, but it seemed stronger now. I could tell it wasn't cleaning products like I had thought before, but it also definitely wasn't something from the fox. The harder I exhaled, the stronger the taste got. It made my throat itch in a very uncomfortable way.

Resisting the urge to cough, I tried to force myself to think clearly. A quick jog put me at the walking trails of a nearby park, so I retracted my Crawler legs and began slowly walking down the winding gravel pathways.

What was happening to me made no sense. It was possible the other Crawlers had somehow awakened dormant Lurker traits by triggering my instincts so, and Crawlers could adapt and evolve absurdly fast, but then what was the extent of it? Just how much of a Lurker was I?

Thankfully, it was unlikely I would grow a tail or horns again, the extension of my spine covered in bony scales would be impossible to just grow on a whim, and the horns really had no reason to come back, it wasn't like I headbutted my opponents. I prayed those damn wings never showed up, and was thankful for how low a chance they had. I am terrified of flying, by my own volition or within a plane, does not matter...

The itch in my throat turned to a faint burning very suddenly. It hurt, it was more than just an itch now. I coughed out if reflex, and immediately felt like time had slowed down. There was that taste, but only for a second, as it burned away.

My cough sent a small plume of fire shooting out my mouth, and I gasped sharply, causing me to pull the searing flame back into my throat and lungs. I doubled over as I struggled to breathe, and soon was entirely incapable of pulling in air past the smoke and literal fire in my windpipe even as it swiftly died out.

I had started seeing stars by the time I was finally able to pull in air, thankfully so, as my legs were threatening to collapse. I simply stared at the gravel at my feet trying to process what had just taken place.

I guess I answered my own question. I'm way more Lurker than I would like...