The Corrupted Soul

Chapter 28

As the wind shifted direction atop the cliff, several scents were brought to me. The light grassy scent of a deer or two was closest, but further in the trees I found the rodent rich smell of an owl. It was hard to find those in winter around here, and I loved owl meat.

It tasted similar to chicken, but with less actual taste, like most birds of prey. Hawks, eagles, owls, and other predatory birds were some of my favorite kinds of meat. I looked over my shoulder at Sketch, "I'm catching some scents upwind. What do you think about hunting before it snows again?"

He now had an uneasy look, as he shifted his weight somewhat, "I want to, but...the others always hunted for me. I know how, but...I don't like it."

I nodded, half expecting that response, "Olive is the same. She's literally never hunted for herself, she just buys meat from the store in town. Normal stuff like chicken, beef, stuff like that."

He chuckled to himself, "I almost forgot that was an option for you guys. You have a job or something?"

"Eh, not exactly. Sometimes Clementine calls us into the lab for blood work or a test of some kind, she usually pays Olive and I for these. She offered with Felix, but he refused. I hunt myself and don't see the appeal in spending just to spend, so I'm content."

"Oh, interesting. That means she will probably want me to do those things too, huh?"

"Yep. Don't worry, she's no mad scientist. More of a doctor than anything."

He nodded and stood up, walking to the cliff next to me and taking a deep breath in, "There's some deer pretty close by. Can't tell from here if they are bucks or not, but if so, why don't we go after them? If I'm going to be coming to the city filled with humans, I want to make sure my bloodlust is sated."

I nodded firmly and jumped off the ledge, half skidding down the steep hill. When I finally hit the ground, I darted off into the underbrush, following the weak scent of the deer. As I got closer, I was able to make out the finer details in the scent, and was happy to find a third deer, a buck. The two I had smelled before were a mother doe and her fawn, needless to say, we weren't going to be taking those two down.

Sketch was somewhere behind me, I could almost smell his unease rolling off him in waves. I can do this for you this once, but you have to figure this stuff out.

Getting down into a crouch, with my Crawler legs mounted around me, I stalked forward, eyeing up the young buck. It flicked its ears around, listening to the trees. It was unaware of my silent presence, as I made sure to move only when the wind rustled other trees and bushes. I narrowed my eyes, remembering the vibrant red glow that would surely make hunting much more difficult. Actually, I haven't had instinctual surges all night, I wonder if that means my eyes are back to normal somehow...

The wind suddenly changed direction, and the buck whipped its head over to stare in my direction. Dammit. I launched out of the bushes and grabbed the face of the deer, to use my own body weight to snap its neck as I jerked behind it.

It fell to the ground, dead, and I looked around for Sketch. He was staring from a small group of trees, watching me. I nodded to him, and he crept forward, "You almost looked Feral there..."

I shrugged and rolled my shoulder, wincing at the dull pain from the bite. I had bandaged all the wounds I gained from the fight, but that didn't stop them from hating the sharp movements of hunting, "Not every Crawler hunts the same, this is just my style. You can have this, I'm going after that owl I'm smelling."

I didn't wait for him to reply before I was already running down through the trees. It only took me a couple minutes to locate and slaughter the large bird. Even though I was careful to avoid getting blood on my clothes, some was almost inevitable.

I was definitely going to keep the skull of this bird. I usually kept the skull of animals I hunted, if they were small enough, and this owl fit the bill, not to mention it just looked cool.

I found Sketch by a nearby river, cleaning off the outside of his winter coat in the frigid water. He was wearing a sweater underneath with zig-zagged stripe pattern, though the back was unraveling and was a mess of loose threads. I hopped off the trees and walked over, he could definitely tell it was me by scent, as he was downwind.

He growled to himself, "How do you get the blood off your clothes, I can almost never get it out before it stains."

I sat down by the riverbed, one arm slung over my knee, "Most of the time I don't get it out, I just get a new jacket."

"I guess Ferals were always covered in blood then huh?"

I shrugged, "More or less. The first time I brought one back for Maria and Harris they thought we got in a nasty fight by how soaked their clothes were. Somehow they didn't notice neither of us had any fresh wounds."

He paused as he slowly put his jacket back on. He looked at me, "Maria and Harris probably wanted Crawlers to help people when they needed to. The way things have gone, I think we let them down."

I tilted my head to the side, "Why do you say that?"

He looked up at the sky, now filled with dark clouds, "Well, they probably didn't want us to be a secret once the apocalypse went down. They probably wanted Crawlers to be part of human life when they needed, and for generations we have been in hiding and secretive. Especially now, the others are basically under the impression they can force you to do whatever purely because they want you to."

I saw a few snowflakes start to fall from the clouds above, and looked up as I thought. It was a while before I replied, "I guess we can start turning that around, huh?"

I looked to him, and for the first time I could think of, I saw him smile.