The Corrupted Soul

Chapter 27

The moon hung overhead, periodically being blocked by clouds. It smelled like it was going to snow again soon. Sketch and I both ran through the woods, not trying to go anywhere or find anything, but just running.

He was purposely not going at his full speed, so we were staying more or less at eachother's sides. I looked at him over my shoulder as I pulled ahead slightly, "How did you become a Crawler, even? We are the same age, but I was attacked by a Feral. You definitely weren't."

He looked ahead, up at a fairly steep and large hill. He started running up it, I followed close behind. He sounded solemn, "When I was twelve, my family and I were on a road trip of sorts. I don't remember where we were going, but it doesn't matter."

He latched onto a tree and pulled himself up, still climbing the steep slope, "A deer ran out in the road, the car swerved, and...let's just say, I was the only one who got back up."

I paused in my shock, before hesitantly following again, I opted to not speak, and simply let him continue, "I was pretty badly hurt, my leg was damaged, I still think it was broken. I was also covered in cuts from the shattered window. I basically crawled away from the car, but...I knew I was a goner.

"Cap, Tank, and Victor heard the crash, and came looking. They didn't see me, and assumed there were no survivors, so they went right up to the car, I couldn't believe I was going to die from Crawlers. Victor was the one to see me. They basically explained to me that they were a pack of Sane Crawlers that lived in these woods. They offered to let me join them. Because I had nowhere else to go, and nothing to go back to, I accepted."

He looked at me, he looked pained, and flattened. I gave a sympathetic look as I pulled ahead, jumping up to somewhere near the top of the hill. He sat down on a large boulder nearby, and looked at me, "What about you? I know a little of what happened to you, but I'm curious."

I climbed a tree and hung off one of the branches. He had told me about a very painful time in his life, it was the right thing to tell him one of my own. I went on explaining how everything happened. The day the apocalypse started while we were at school, the days after in hiding, how I got infected and betrayed, everything.

When I told him of Travis shooting me, he grew angry, "Your own friend did that to you? Why would someone do that?"

I sighed slowly, feeling the scar on my forehead, "Well, I've definitely had time to think about it. He didn't really have another choice. His options were, leave his friend alive only for them to be left in agony as they turned and likely killed one or more of his other friends, or shoot them mostly painlessly to stop them from turning at all, but have their blood on his hands. I'm not angry anymore, I understand his reasoning."

"But, you still turned."

I shrugged, "He didn't know that until months later when we met again by chance. We never knew I'd be sane, it was a one in a million chance I would wake up from being shot, and I did. Fate is a cruel bitch, and she wanted me alive."

He simply looked at the moon above. He sighed heavily, "At least now I know how to live in the wild. I'm going to go back to the nest one more time, to grab my stuff, and then I'm going to try and make sure they never find me again. Maybe realizing they made me run off will make them leave you alone."

I blinked hard and looked down to the Crawler, "You're just going to run off somewhere?"

He looked up at me, "Where else can I go?"

"Back to the city with me. Crawlers are obviously accepted there, and it isn't like you need to live in the city itself, I live in a treehouse outside it, but Olive and Felix live within."

He stared, blinking slowly, "Wait what? You're serious?"

"Of course I am. I know exactly what it's like living in a wild world where everything wants to kill you. Trust me, the city is a thousand times better than anywhere else you could run."

We both grew silent. A thought occured to me, "I've never heard any Screeches from these woods. We are a long way off, but those things travel far."

"Screeches? Like Ferals?"

I jumped down out of the tree, "Olive, Felix and I do it often, it isn't just a Feral thing. It's like...our own way of howling at the moon. Its therapeutic in a way sometimes."

He seemed skeptical. I turned to look up at the sky, and walked towards the edge of the small cliff we were on. I slowly inhaled deeply, and let out a loud screech to the sky. Though faint, and overpowered by my own screech, I could hear Sketch doing the same behind me. Based on how far we were, Olive and Felix might even be able to hear us.

When we both finally ceased our calls, I was only a little surprised to hear in the far off distance a reply. By how distorted it was, I couldn't tell who had replied, but it was absolutely from the city. Sketch looked afraid, also having heard the distant scream. He looked at me, wide eyed, I chuckled slightly, "Don't worry, that was a friendly reply."

"How...how can you tell?"

"I lived with Ferals that screeched constantly, I know what different tones and even lengths and pitches mean. You'll figure it out eventually, just let your instincts resurface a bit in that area."

"If you say so..."