The Corrupted Soul

Chapter 23

I dared not go back to the lab without knowing exactly what was going on. I knew some details, but not as much as I would like. When I was held in the Lurker facility, I only knew a few things about what I was being turned into, and one of them was giving me the strange abilities of the Crawler King.

I didn't know all of what he could do, but one thing was obvious, there was something supernatural about him. Manipulating temperatures to his will was the strangest one I knew, because he caused the storm that trapped Raven and I in the cabin, as well as froze the small lake for centuries after he died.

Something else I knew first hand, was his ability to breathe fire. I had no idea how he did, but it was clear that he could, as he spat fire directly into my face. Not to mention I could do that too now.

The itching at the back of my throat had to have something to do with it. Extending my Crawler legs, I began running towards the treehouse, I had a mirror there I could use to check my throat.

It only took me ten minutes to run across half the city to the other section of woods where the treehouse and shed were, when it would normally take me the better part of an hour. It didn't feel like I was running any faster than I normally did. It made me wonder again just how far these changes would go.

Over the past two years, I had changed the treehouse to be more of a livable settlement than simply a fort where young kids played. I put a door on it, and put glass in the open window frame. The small square room was maybe six feet across, it was a tiny ammount of space, but it was plenty for me. I had attached several beams of wood to the ceiling so I could hang off them while I slept, it was more comfortable than a bed at this point.

I only had a few possessions, and most of what I did have was at Olive's house, so the room was mostly empty. I had two backpacks, a cooler with perishable food or meat in it incase I couldn't safely hunt for some reason, and a small shelf holding books and some other foods that didn't need to be kept in the cooler, as well as a few other odd things. The handheld mirror was one of them.

I picked it up and dusted it off with my sleeve. Opening my mouth, I tried to see if there was anything notable at the back of my throat, and sadly, there was. It was a black lump with what almost looked like a split down the middle. I had no doubts that that thing somehow ignited whatever this virus was making me breathe out instead of Co2. That would account for the taste...

I leaned heavily against the wall. Just thinking. Isn't dealing with the occasional urge to eat a human alive bad enough? Now I have to deal with shaky control and the risk of setting everything on fire? What did I do in life to warrant this?

A distant, but loud scream of terror made me jump and whip my head in the direction of the sound, obviously unable to see through the wooden walls around me. I recognized that voice.

I wasted not a second climbing out the door and bolting in that direction. What the hell was Jack doing out here? That guy never left his house nowadays, unless he was going to school, and even then he stayed in the theater most of the time. Why would he be out in the forest alone? Could he have been trying to practice an acting role where he was sure no one would see him?

He wouldn't be stupid enough to do so in the forest where wild cats, coyotes, and even bears lived. Or at least that's what I had thought previously. It took me too long to find his scent in the thick trees, and when I did, I ran towards it. He was way deeper in the trees than what was safe.

My heart dropped when I was hit with the sharp metallic scent of his blood. Pushing myself to run faster, I hoped he had just fallen out of a tree or down a slope and got a bad cut. Maybe an angry raccoon or coyote took a swipe at him.

I skidded to a stop while my eyes scanned the small section of trees, across some of the bark and patchy snow on the ground, were streaks of bright red. I couldn't tell if the second scent made it better or worse. Not all the blood was Jack's, some was Crawler blood. Of course, I recognized the scent.

With a snarl, I chased after the tracks in the snow. The bloody tracks. With my bizarre boosted speed, it only took me a minute or two to have the fiend in my sight. Cap was carrying Jack in two of her extra Crawler legs, and he was struggling in her grasp, unable to move much without getting cut by her claws and risking infection or poisoning.

I grinned to myself at seeing Jack had torn the shin of his pant leg, and was steadily bleeding from several superficial wounds, whereas Cap had a pocket knife lodged in her shoulder blade, and several slashes across her arms and face, which oozed blood rapidly. This meant Jack was at high risk of infection, but she was much worse off than he was. The fact she hadn't killed him meant they planned to use him how they had used Martian against me, it made my blood boil.

Cap was running the opposite direction, she couldn't see me. Even if she was facing me, the foliage in this part of the woods was so thick there was hardly any snow on the ground, and I doubted she knew her way around half as well as I had, having lived here for several years hunting. I was downwind of her, the speed at which we were running also worked in my favor, so my scent wouldn't have a chance of making it to her, though the stench of her blood was almost gaggingly strong. She couldn't hear or see me. Yet.

Jack looked around slightly, looking for a way to potentially escape his odd capture, when he saw me on her tail. He likely knew no more than the average person about the Crawler issues, and no one but our small team knew about this pack specifically. He had no idea what was going on, but at least knew I wasn't going to let him get eaten alive.

We made eye contact. We both nodded. I darted forward low to the ground, rapidly closing the distance between me and the oblivious Crawler.