Stay of Insanity (Teaser)

Teaser

It felt strange. I thought I'd be more used to it by now. But the stickiness of the blood clinging to my hands still felt strange to me. It dripped off my fingers. Spatting onto road as I stood there. My breath was coming in quick bursts. I tried to slow it.

The excited tingle that ran through me didn't help.

I shook my hands. The loose blood was flung off at the action, some drops landing on my coat. But more still covered them, already drying.

Shit. I kicked the arm laying at my feet, sending it flying a good few meters, before looking around me. I might have gone overboard. I'd completely ripped the creature apart, leaving its limbs, some organs, and blood resembling a gory art project on the street.

My breathing finally returning to normal, I turned from the scene and retrieved my backpack from where I'd dropped it when I'd attacked the creature.

I sighed, noticing the new blood stains. Obviously, I hadn't left it far enough away.

You didn't have to rip it limb from limb.

The new stains didn't matter in the long run.

You could have stabbed it and ended it there.

Slipping the backpack over my shoulder, I started walking.

Phineas would be wondering after me if I took too long.

I'd already been gone too long. Stupid. Brushing my hands together, I tried to knock off the near dry blood before focusing on its colour. Not red, black. Not human.

Nether are you.

I didn't do anything wrong.

Except take too long. I glanced up at the sky, watching the sun dip behind the clouds, painting them in hues of pink and gold. Curious, I lifted my sunglasses to see the sunset is its full gory. Even with diminishing light, my eyes burned and watered, and I replaced the sunglasses after only a few seconds. I blinked, moving to rub my eyes before remembering the blood and dropping my hand back to my side.

It wasn't too far to our temporary camp. I split off from the road, speeding up to a jog as I cut through an alley between decaying shops. When I had first taken notice of the state of the town, I wondered if there had been riots when the world went to hell or if the mutants had been the ones to break the windows and trash the stores.

The shadows cast by the buildings helped ease the dull stabbing in my eyes. My nails dug into my palms. It wasn't fair. None of this was.

First time I took a short cut through one of these back alleys, I'd feared that one of the creatures would jump out and attack me, now I almost wished for it...