I'm Not an Animal (Slow Updates)

Chapter 22

"Come on, T. Try to eat something." Ruby held out the bowl of chicken noodle soup. I looked down at it and sighed, then dipped the spoon into the gluggy liquid. I pulled out a couple of noodles and slurped them up, but they tasted like sawdust in my mouth.

"It's good, you know." Kaden said quietly. "That you feel bad about the killing. If you keep killing... it covers you, smothers you. Turns into a blanket and then into a cage. Traps you..." He turned to face me, then whispered, "Don't you turn out like that."

"You seem to know a lot about this," I murmured.

"I've learned from past experiences." Kaden replied. Ruby scooted a little closer to him and licked her lips slowly before digging into her own food.

"Well, what about the, uh, the Wolves? The first time." Zaki asked quietly. When Kaden gave him a quizzical look, he finished his thought. "Not long after we started dating, a couple hours, these massive black Wolves attacked us and we had to kill them. Then a while later there were the Leopards and, well..." he trailed off.

"You've killed before?" Kaden snapped, leaning forward. His eyes glittered savagely and I could have sworn his canines grew slightly longer, slightly sharper.

"They weren't really alive to begin with, the Wolves. It wasn't like those people who had been shot with Control Serum. They were monsters. Not truly alive to begin with. Even still, I only killed in self defence."

"And the Leopards?"

"I didn't kill that one. The others... the others killed the other Leopards but I let mine live. I don't know why."

"No, it's okay. That was good." Kaden offered me a smile and a sympathetic hand on my shoulder.

"I come bearing berries!" Marion's voice called. She stepped shakily into the clearing, white coloured berries in her palm.

"Jesus, she's shaking!" Zaki cried. He leapt to his feet and ran to catch Marion just as she toppled forward.

"Get me the Pethiocide and the Oxinogens!" I shouted, leaping to my feet. Eleanor rummaged through my bag and grabbed the two pill bottles. I scooped up my water bottle and a spare bowl, then rushed over to Marion. Her skin was pale and she was running a temperate.

"What happened?" Zaki asked, bewildered.

"Looks like white baneberry," I murmured, cursing to myself. White baneberry had been around since before the mega-continent was formed, and the radiation had mutated them ever so slightly. They were one of the few plants that became less dangerous when mutated.

White baneberry have a sedative effect on human muscle tissue. Ingestion can cause cardiac arrest and death. After they mutated, the effects of white baneberry slowed down, meaning if someone could find a way to remove the toxins from the body fast enough, the effects could be cancelled out.

I dropped the pills into the bowl and started grinding them with the spoon I had been using. I tipped in some of the water and mixed the powder until it became a thick paste. I then spooned some of the paste into Marion's mouth, praying that it would work. I placed the bottle to her lips and tipped some of the water into her mouth, then slowly Marion swallowed.

I sat back on my haunches and sighed, relieved, then pushed the bowl towards Kaden and told him to continue giving Marion the medicine. The Oxinogens would hopefully flush out the toxins.

Grabbing a lighter from Kaden's bag, I made my way between the trees until I found the white baneberry bush. I considered setting the bush on fire, but there was the risk that the flames might spread. So I instead gathered the remaining berries and set off back to our camp.