"What are you?" He asks me, breaking the silence. I am quite shocked by this question. Mostly because I don't even know how to answer it.
"Werewolf. I think... And you are a vampire," I state. He nods.
"You don't smell like a werewolf." He lifts his...
I try to shake the feeling of being followed off, but I feel the chill deep in my spine. I get chills and try to shake my arms to get rid of them. Hera looks up at me, and I send her a forced smile trying to signal that I'm okay. We walk on for some time in silence. Slowly the pressed air lightens, and I almost convince myself, that I was really just dehydrated, and I had imagined it all.
"Hey, look!" Kai suddenly exclaims, points in front of him, and jogs to the place he just pointed. Hera and I look shortly at each other and then we both jump after him. I gasp in relief as I realize Kai just found a trail.
"You guys know what this means right?" Kai asks looking at us while kneeling at the trail. He continues, "It means civilization. We are close to a city". We all exhale excited that our hunt soon will be over.
We decide to follow the trail in the western direction. We walk for almost 20 minutes when the trail suddenly splits in two. We choose the right trail which leads more to the north.
~~~~~~~~
After about another 40 minutes we reach a spot on the trail, where we to the right can see something between the dense trees. We walk to it and spot a small hut. We kneel and stay on the lookout for a bit, trying to get an overview of the area. The hut is made from timber and a small chain of smoke is rising from the chimney. To the left of it is a red pickup truck parked with its front facing into the woods. Further away from us, and on the other side of the hut is a small dirt road leading to the left. I guess the city must be this way. I begin to stand up, but Kai grabs my arm and pulls me down sitting again. I look at him confused but he puts his finger up to his mouth and then points towards the hut. The next second we see a short and chubby man walking to the pickup truck with a cigarette in the corner of his mouth. He climbs the side and swings himself into the truck, ignites the engine, reverses out of the driveway, and drives off on the dirt road.
After a little while Kai is the first to stand up and approach the hut. The smoke from the chimney is slowly dwindling out, indicating that the hut must be empty. Hera and I follow, all of us still ducking a bit in case anyone should be nearby. Kai yanks open the backdoor, slips in, and waves his hand for us to come closer. I go in first, and behind us follows Hera. We trip silently through the hut. Hera abruptly starts sniffing in the air aggressively and jogs off into the kitchen, not without bumping her hips on a few corners in the tight space. She looks back at me and I walk to the fridge and open it. Inside is a tray with lasagna where only one corner has been eaten. I pull it out silently thanking the gods as I put my hand in it to scoop out a big chunk. I eat it in big bites. Kai grabs a handful as well, and then I lower it down to Hera. She eats the rest in three big mouthfuls.
I walk over to the sink, turn the faucet on, form a bowl with my hands, and slurp the water in me. Kai drinks next, while I look down at Hera, who is looking up at me while continuously licking around her mouth. I grab the dish that just had lasagna in it and put it in the sink as Kai finishes drinking with a big satisfied sigh. I fill the tray with water and then sit it on the floor for Hera to drink.
I dry my mouth in my arm and then I walk on to keep exploring the hut. I open a door, and on the other side is a big bed and closet. I open the slide doors of the closet and smile at the sight of all the clothes. I grab a flannel shirt and put it on. It is checkered in black and white and with some green as well. It reaches my thigh. It feels nice to wear some clothes again. I keep searching the closet and find some loose trousers in light brown and some loafers. It doesn't really match, but it is the only thing that kind of fits. I get startled by a sound by the door, but as I look over, I realize that it's just Kai.
"Sweet! Clothes!" He exclaims, and I barely step back before he is all up in the clothes looking for something. I decide to let him get dressed alone, so I walk into the living room. Here I spot Hera who is standing completely still by one of the doors leading outside. Her fur is in brushes on her back, and she is showing her canines.
"Hera, what is it?" I ask quietly. She doesn't look away, but Kai approaches us.
He whispers in my ear, "She says it's an animal on the other side." I look up at him worried, and then back at the door.
"Do you think it's awake and know we are here?" I ask Hera. Kai adjusts the collar of his white shirt. It's a bit of a tight fit, just enhancing his muscular body. His tattoo is visible through the slightly see-through material. He is wearing some baggy black cargo pants. He has also found a pair of sneakers that are just barely fitting.
"She says it doesn't seem like it has noticed us yet". Just as he finishes his sentence, the animal begins barking. My tense body begins relaxing and I let out a little laugh.
"That doesn't sound so intimidating!". I walk closer to the door and Hera looks a little concerned. I slowly open the door and stick my head out to see what animal is making the sound. I meet the eyes of a little creature that looks surprisingly much like a mini wolf. But it has short and all brown hair and its ears are hanging down by the sides of its head instead of standing up.
"Hii," I say in a high-pitched voice. The animal sits down in front of a little house and wags its tail. Above the entrance of the house is a sign that says 'Domain of Dog'. I look back at Kai.
"Do you know what this is?". He approaches, sticks his head out, and begins laughing.
"Yeah! This is just a dog! They are descendants of wolves. I don't think he will hurt us." He opens the door all the way up, and the dog trots off to Hera and begins sniffing her butt. I look confused at Kai, who also looks a bit tensed up.
"This is how they say hi, but I can't say I'm okay with it..." He snarls a bit, and the dog backs away. I look down its neck and notice some kind of leather strap around its neck. He shakes and the strap makes a metallic sound. I sit down and grab the strap and see that there is a little metal disk attached just under its chin. I turn it over and read 'BEAR'.
"Maybe we should grab that dog collar and put it on Hera, so she looks more like a tame animal, rather than a vicious wolf," Kai suggests. I open the buckle and take the collar off of Bear. I remove the metal disk and put it on the counter. I walk over to Hera, who looks at me a bit skeptical, but hesitantly she allows me to put the collar on her. It barely fits around her neck that's at least double as wide as Bear's. Kai leads Bear into the bedroom, where we found the clothes, and closes the door after him.
We are getting ready to leave when the front door suddenly gets unlocked. We look at each other in panic, afraid of being caught.
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