Cynophobia

☠₁₀☠

When I woke up, Vincent was eating a granola bar at the table. He looked over to me when I sat up. "Good morning. You can go shower up then eat breakfast if you want. Come back here whenever you're done. I'll take you to the doctor's office to see Rose."

"Thanks, I'll see you after I'm done," I said standing up and stretching.

"Oh wait, here Ivy brought you some new clothes. We found another tank top but we don't have any army shorts in stock," he said handing me a pile of neatly folded clothes.

I almost drooled as I felt the clean, unworn fabric. "No these are perfect, I'll have to thank Ivy when I see her."

Almost on cue, Claude came running out of his room. He nearly tackled Loki to the ground when he lunged for him. "Good morning Loki! Good morning Cynthia!"

I laughed as Loki stared dumbfounded at the kid. "Good morning Claude."

"Can I watch Loki while you're out?" he begged.

Loki didn't seem to dislike Claude so I agreed. I waved to them before heading outside of the cabin. I was glad we got the tour now because I knew exactly where to go. It was down one tunnel and to the left. There was no one in there when I arrived.

"Guess I get the place to myself," I thought. I took my clothes off and threw them in a corner

I walked over to the edge of the wall. I lifted a hatch about a foot, making the water run through tiny holes punctured near the bottom of the hatch. There was some home made soap made from tree sap that I used on myself. It was better than the smell of sweat and sea water that has lingered on all of us for the past two months.

I didn't want to waste water so I was quick about my shower. The water was room temperature, I guess I expected to much wanting warm water. I lowered the hatch, restricting the flow of water.

I dried off with a towel, using my fingers as a comb for my hair. Then I put on my new, soft clothes. It was a dark gray tank tom with black shorts. I looked at the floor of the shower in the puddle of water that was still draining and used it like a mirror. I looked more clean and less savage. I put on my boots and left the room

I walked back through the tunnel into the main cave. I easily navigated my way back to Vincent's cabin, it was the biggest. I gently knocked on the door before walking in. Claude was feeding Loki some dried meat while Vincent was in his room with the door closed. I could hear him talking on the intercom through his door.

"Welcome back," Claude greeted.

"Was Loki behaving himself?" I asked looking at the Cynoid.

His platinum hair bobbed up and down. "Uh huh, he let me ride on his back! Loki is such a good boy."

I looked at Loki proudly. This must all be new to him. He was a wild wolf before he was turned into a Cynoid. He was being very gentle with Claude.

"What kind of breed is he?" the ten year old asked

"I don't know, I think he is a mutt. He looks like he has some Siberian husky or German shepherd in him," I lied.

Claude walked over to me and looked into my electric blue eyes. "Hey, did you dye your hair black? I thought that only people with blonde hair could have blue eyes. That's what Vincent told me."

"No my mother is Japanese. I got them from my father, he has blonde hair and blue eyes too," I explained. "They were more hazel when I was little, but they started looking blue as I got older."