The Corrupted Soul

Chapter 30

I leaned back against the trunk of the large pine tree, watching the clouded sky slowly lighten as the sun rose behind it. Thankfully the snow had settled down somewhat, but not nearly as early as I had hoped. There was a good half foot of snow coating the landscape, and it was only just now stopping,

I groaned to myself as I heard the motor of a vehicle come closer, before shutting off. I looked down the path below me, but I couldn't see anyone yet. I knew by scent that Olive and Sketch were still very close by, but neither of them were looking forward to this either. Olive knew roughly what was in store, and wanted to avoid it. Sketch had no idea what to expect, and wanted to avoid it. I simply wondered when life became so complicated.

It had only been a week since we were still calling them Shadow Ferals, and now not only was I being more or less hunted by them, but one of their own had joined us. Now isn't that a twist?

Muffled footsteps approached from the ground, I looked down to see Clementine, Felix, and Julie below, unaware to our silent watching. Felix couldn't smell us from the ground, but if he got much closer he may be able to tell one tree specifically has our scent coated over multiple branches.

I found it funny how none of the three even noticed our footprints in the snow. They had been somewhat filled in, but they were still very visible. The three had almost walked past us before I gave a sharp whistle.

Felix whipped around fast enough I thought he got whiplash. It took him several seconds to think to look up to find the source of the noise, when he did he pointed me out to both the humans who had also been searching.

I waved lazily at them, before carefully climbing down the tree. A fall from this high could easily break my legs or spine, and I did not need that at any point in my life. Glancing over, I spotted Olive descending from her own tree. I had no idea where Sketch was.

When my feet were finally on solid ground, I barely managed a breath before Clem started pelting me with a flurry of questions that rivalled the storm from last night. Most of them would be answered inadvertently by the most burning of those questions, "What happened yesterday?"

I sighed heavily, "This will take a minute to explain."

Julie leaned back against another sturdy tree, "We have time."

I rolled my eyes at the immaturity of this grown woman. Felix jumped as Olive fell from the branches above with a faint thud, the branch she had broken off fell down a moment later and settled beside her. I looked up to see where she had been perched, to instead see Sketch, peering down nervously. I decided to start elaborating before someone preemptively noticed his presence.

"Anyway...after I left to hunt before, I realized just how many of the Lurker traits returned ereyesterday. One of which, I discovered in a rather painful way..."

Clementine narrowed her eyes, "Which was?"

I inhaled deeply, clenching the muscles in my throat, and very faintly feeling the heat building. I had accidentally figured out how to do this when Sketch and I ran towards the city last night. Thankfully I hadn't hit him with the accidental fireball, but that small tree wasn't quite as lucky.

I exhaled sharply, feeling a click in the back of my throat, and seeing a blinding fire move through the air. The snow stopped it from latching onto anything, thankfully. I carefully breathed in through my nose before a bout of coughing, small clouds of smoke emerging with each cough.

I looked back at the shellshocked group, "That."

The four stared at where the blast of flame had been moments before, Felix was the first to snap out of his dazed state with a massive grin, "Holy Shit!! That's fucking cool!"

Julie snickered silently, "Felix, your Irish is showing."

Clem stepped forward, staring at me, "How are you able to do that."

The way she said it, it was more of a statement than a question, I shrugged, "I felt heat in the back of my throat, and accidentally breathed fire. I think something in the virus is making my lungs produce some sort of flammable gas, and I have something at the back of my throat that must ignite it."

Olive still seemed frozen in both awe and shock, her voice was shaky and quiet, "You can breathe fire..."

I raised my eyebrow. I shook my head slowly, "Back on topic now. When I realized I could do that, I went back to the treehouse quickly. While I was there, I heard Jack scream in the woods, following the sound lead me to the Crawlers."

Clem seemed worried, "And you fought them?"

I nodded, "Yes. I'm sure you figured out yourself that that would send me off the deep end. I beheaded one, paralyzed another, and on the last I tore their throat out. Sadly, I told them how I was alive before, so they know how to revive the one I beheaded, and if course the other two will heal and reform."

Julie looked sickly, "That is seriously overkill, kid."

She narrowed her eyes as I stared her down, a faint growl in the back of my throat, "I'm not a child."

She spoke to me the way a parent might speak to a small child, "You're fifteen, technically you are."

I growled, taking several steps towards her, "First off, I'm sixteen. Secondly, since we are bringing technicalities into this, I'm three hundred and twelve, so why don't you shut your mouth before you need me to teach you to walk, got the shit?"

She shrunk backwards and nodded, Clem narrowed her eyes at me, clearly unhappy with me threatening her friend. I didn't care, Julie and I never liked eachother, it wasn't the first time I had threatened her, and it wouldn't be the last. She also knew I would follow through on those threats, because risk of infection wasn't something I was worried about. If she turned, I could properly fight her without risk of killing her.

Clem sighed, "Please continue."

I nodded, "Their venom is extremely potent, remember. I got poisoned, and it was enough to put me under for a few hours. When I did wake up, I was back in their nest. One of the four was...not part of the whole scheme, and wasn't even aware of it in the first place, and had brought me back to try and explain things."

Felix, taking in a deep breath, growled and looked up, finally catching Sketch's scent. I looked up just in time to hear the humans gasp, and see Sketch rocket off the branches in an attempt to avoid their gaze. Olive sighed and ran after him.

Clem darted her eyes to me, "Were you aware of him!?"

"Yes." I stated it very bluntly, "Like I said, he was not part of the scheme. Sketch wanted to come here, as now he refuses to live with people he sees as evil. He was worried you guys would react negatively, so he's rightfully skittish."

The three looked between eachother, clearly unsure. Julie looked where Olive ran off, "I don't think we can trust that. He's probably just trying to double-cross us."

Olive came back, literally carrying Sketch with her Crawler legs. I raised my eyebrow at the cowering form, side-eyeing Julie, "Does that look like someone capable of a double-cross?"