Book 2: Children of Violence
Cristine her heart thumped. She could hear blood passing through her ears - thump, thump, thump-and looking down saw her red coated chest moving up and down. She even tasted textured meat that was never meant to be chew...
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The rest of Cristine's day was ruined.
Everyone on this damn Ranch wanted something from her. What about what she wanted?! Peace and quiet for once. Not having to figure out if any and evrything had an angle, always on guard for people's selfish motives.
It was mentally draining and that wasn't even talking about the issues with her father and now Dolores?! She rather have the woman ignore her and treat her like a pariah.
Tugging rather aggressively at the loop of her rucksack on her shoulder, Cristine shoved the bag througg the oening of the fence. After a look around for any patrol, she crouched down on her legs and maneuvered her body between the barbed wires. She remembered where each wire would cut or sting and swiftly slipped through.
The sinking sun still bathed the grounds of the Ranch. Routinely, Cristine crawled over the blind spot that were a few rocks before she scaled down the uneven sandy pathway that eventually led her to the small forest.
The road was quiet as always.
There was barelt any sign of life across her, hence the perfect place to trek. Cistine still moved with purpose and she watched and waited whenever she thought that she heard something. Luckily, she hadn't seen anything worth investigating. No movements.
Cristine held the loops tightly as she followed the path she'd taken more than dozen times. It was a wonder, no one had caught her yet for sneaking out loke this. Then again, it was good they didn't watch out for her that long.
After a thirty minute stroll, Cristine finally saw it. A lone creature listlessly shifting on the exact same spot. No groans. No real sense of direction to its movement. Lost in a world without end gomals. Its arms were sliced clean together with the jaw and Cristine took a deep breath.
As she closed the distance between her and the docile creature, Cristine untied the rope fastened against the tree and keeping the infected in place like a dog on a leash.
She and this thing were going on a walk to run some tests.
Cristine already figured out that the infected could be used as camouflage amongst in the open, but she wanted to know if that was purely based on scent, behavior or both.
She'd seen a herd in action and it was the most horrifying and aggressive phenomena she ever saw in her life.
"They're more aggressive than smaller groups, as if they're affecting each other like some sort of hive mind. That's classified as behavior."
Also, this infected she used wasn't always fully docile. When she moved unexpectedly or made loud noises, sometimes it noticed her and, albeit weakly, reacted to her.
But now, stepping in line with it's movements and footsteps when she was quiet and focused, that didn't happen. Perhaps a reaction wasn't the same for all of these things...
