𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐔𝐬

CHAPTER 4: TOOTH FOR A TOOTH

I've never felt more alive.

The cold drizzle of the night, mixed with the sounds of the rustling leaves around the light inside the abandoned building, everything was under my perception, and nothing could escape it.

I was familiar with adrenalin, but not this much. I could feel every muscle, every cell of my body urging for more, for more action, for more revenge, for more blood, like my inner desire was controlled only by my taste of violence.

It was my father's trait, but I didn't care about that anymore, the only thing that mattered was killing the people who hurt my friend.

Did I just say, friend? I asked myself.

Ignoring the previous thought, I walked forward, still crouching, holding the perfectly balanced bow on my paw, I still used the gift from my mom after all these years. It should've broken, but I took so good care of it that now it was perfect for me.

The flickering lights inside the building, which looked like an abandoned McDonalds, showed me what I needed to see: shadows. Four of them.

Four shadows belong to four survivors, if one of them goes out to search for the rat, then only three people.

No sooner said than done, one of them inside the McDonalds, a zebra, left with her handgun aimed. I waited for her to leave the perimeters, and then aimed an arrow at her head.

Breathe, aim, breathe, pull, hold your breath, shoot.

That was my shooting ritual, and it worked every time, including this one. The arrow shot out of the bow, producing a low and almost inaudible whistle, but when the zebra had turned around, it was too late. A faint noise on the ground told me she had already fallen.

If I waited, our situation could get worse, so I decided to get closer.

The bow wasn't useful in close combat, so I put it on my back and grabbed my pocket knife. This knife was very hard to find, and one of my most precious objects, given the utility of it.

Getting closer to the building, I put my back against a wall and tried to listen to their conversation before entering.

"So, any news on the ghost?" asked one of them.

"Nah," the other answered. "We only found a coyote fucking around, didn't last a few hits,"

And then the others started laughing, filling me with rage. I looked around, looking for anything that could draw attention, and found an old glass bottle. I picked the bottle up, aimed in the direction of the corpse of the zebra, and threw as far as I could.

The noise was loud enough to draw their attention, making two of the men walk outside with their guns pointed at the darkness, and one of them stood in the building to keep guard, just like I wanted.

When they were far enough, I jumped through a broken window silently, and, still crouching, went for the otter in front of me.

He was faced to the other side, that's why he didn't see me, so I used my advantage quickly, jumping onto his back, holding his arms with both my legs and one arm, and with my other hand, I stabbed his neck and pulled the knife all the way around.

He fell to the ground, writhing and trying to scream, but he couldn't. After a few seconds, he was dead.

I knew that if the other two came back and didn't see their friend, they would find it weird, so I grabbed the weak lantern and waited there, hidden, for them to come back, which didn't take long, since when they found the corpse, they started running back to me.

When they got close enough, I threw the lantern at them. One of them, the lynx, managed to dodge, but the koala wasn't so lucky. Apparently, they've been drinking, so the alcohol on his clothes lit up instantly.