Cursed

I get too friendly with a zombie

Devvie

I carefully approached the cage and peeked inside. But as soon as my hand touched the cold iron bars, the thing inside pounced at me, its hideous claws almost in my face.

"Woah, bloodsucker. This ain't yer dinner." the man behind me said, poking his silver spear into the cage. The creature howled and I flinched at the unpleasant noise.

The man soon turned to me with a crooked smile and I immediately raised my hands up like a criminal, as I don't want to get stabbed. "Devon, say hi to Prao," he said.

I looked around the man with a surprised look on my face. The creature, Prao as the man called it, was now in the candlelight. It looked some what humanoid, no, it looked exactly like a human. Other from its long claws, its bulging veins, and the stab wounds on its arms, it looked just like any other girl. Prao stared at me with its gigantic amber eyes and I was forced to look away eventually.

"Hey..." I mumbled and the thing hissed. Then, I turned to the spear man. "What is it?"

The man snorted as he jabbed the spear into Prao's arm. It wailed in pain and glanced at me with its now teary eyes...I couldn't help but feel bad. "Tell him what cha are." the spear man growled.

The creature looked at me like 'come closer', but I didn't dare move an inch. At last, the man pulled the spear out, leaving a giant cut with thick red blood pouring out, and Prao spoke with a trembling voice, "Cha...I...m..."

"It probably doesn't even know. Anyways, kid. Do ya still think ya can handle her?" the man asked as if he's mocking my decision. Of course, I can. If I want to make my dad proud, I have to.

"Yes, I'm sure I can," I growled, but it came out way more violent than I expected and even Prao raised its eyebrows. "Just take leave us alone for like 5 minutes and I'll get it to love me."

The man snorted as he swung his spear onto his bear-like shoulder. "Ya sure, kid? I feed her everyday and she still ain't grateful."

Prao squinted at the man and parted her lips to let out a little hiss which only I heard.

"Okay...just leave." I mumbled.

"If she infects ya, I'm not responsible, got that?" the man grumbled, adjusting his cap to cover his eyes.

I nervously nodded and the man left immediately, locking the door behind him. "Grab your guns, mate! Things are gonna get dirty!" I heard him yell faintly and gulped.

"Hey..." I mumbled, slowly walking closer to Prao and it hissed like a python protecting her eggs. "You can trust me, I won't hurt you."

Prao seemed to relax a little, but its eyes were fixed on me exactly the way it did before.

"Uh I'm Devvie, by the way." I grumbled.

"De...Dev...Devvie...Dev?" it stumbled.

"Yea, Devvie!" I said happily like I'd always do when my dog, Bruno, learns a new trick. Prao's reaction was no different from Bruno's; its eyes lit up with joy and its lips curled into a smile.

"Devvie!" it repeated.

"Yea, Prao, Devvie!!!" I shrieked.

And we just stood there saying Devvie like it was some kind of exclamation like 'Yippy' or 'Yay' or 'Holy Moly Guacamole' At last, we both burst out laughing at the idiocy.

I was first to recover from the sharp pain in the gut and I spoke, "Damn, you're cute."

"Cu...cute..." it murmured. "Devvie cute..."

"I'm cute? Heh as if." I giggled, my eyes tearing up. Prao's eyes glimmered before changing into a soft ocean shade of blue. 

I slowly reached my hand into the cage and Prao didn't flinch, just stood there, staring at me.

"Mhm," I hummed before letting my hand touch Prao's soft undead cheek. "Cute."

Prao reached its hand out and did the same. "Cute."

After a few moments of affectionate stares from Prao, the spear man burst in with a bunch of men, yelling something about danger in what I recognized as Welsh.

I felt a tingling sensation on my hand and turned to look only to see Prao biting it. It gave me an apologetic look, but kept on biting.

And just like that, I fainted.