Mᴜᴛᴀɴᴛ Aᴘᴏᴄᴀʟʏᴘsᴇ 5: Bʟᴀᴄᴋ Mᴀsᴋs ❪✓❫

40 || 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐃𝐀𝐘

𝐎𝐬𝐚'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕

When Leo stood before us like a king, he told us that we needed to keep moving which was our priority. So many of us are affected and we did want to take time to heal, yet we could not stay in these woods for too long.

There were only a few horses left, though. Stamina, Lucky, Streak, Rain, Tilly, and one horse we do not know of. It's a dark-colored mare sticking close to the group of traveling people. The mule, Dally, and Mikey's horse, Cash went up in flames in the war.

Most of the smaller children were already getting tired of walking and wanted to sit on the backs of the horses. I became a horse myself and so did Amber. A few of the children giggled and pet our smooth coats while we march through the forest.

As we strolled, my sensitive ears heard a dog crying in the very back of the group. It's Shado's dog, Sunny. It looks like he's limping. "Mikey." I nickered quietly, gesturing my large head to the injured dog. "Mind checking on him?"

Mikey walks toward the back and accompanies the poor canine. "Hey, Sunny." Says the mutant, stroking the black dog's head and ears. "What's going on?" Then, he begins checking the pooch for any physical wounds, and right away, Mikey found a wound behind Sunny's left shoulder. It looked like a scratch of some kind with little crusty bubbles. "Oh, no..." He says sadly.

Shado notices that her furry companion was with Mikey and asked what was the matter. "What's going on? Is he hurt?"

Michelangelo lifted up Sunny gently and carried on with the walk. "He's infected." He whispered to Shado. "Must've happened during the fight."

Shado's eyes watered when she found out her best friend on four legs was going to die soon. There really is nothing they can do to save the poor animal. All they really can do is make Sunny comfortable. The fever will settle in and then he'll turn. When Mikey or someone else has to put the dog down, they better not hesitate or it'll be another bloodshed we don't need. I whisper to Don while three kids chatter on my back. "The dog, Don."

"I know," He answers.

I keep talking. "We've never actually seen what it does to a dog. We know it infects them, but never saw the transformation."

"Half of me wants to see and the other half doesn't because I have respect for Shado," Donnie said, pausing. "And, uh... it's Outbreak Day."

Outbreak Day? N-No way... Did Donnie mean that as in... It has already been a whole year since the apocalypse? 365 days in a world full of infected people and misery. "Outbreak Day." I repeated, somewhat feeling proud of myself for making it this far.

****

𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝗼𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕

Vincent didn't want to let go of Duke's hand because she loved the connection they had while growing up and still loves it to this day. She was so happy that she got out of the war alive, pregnant, and fragile. Vincent also didn't want to let go because after the war, she was always on edge.

Duke believed that Vv really did go with the other women and children, but she never did. She chose to stay behind and fight. Now, Vincent will tell her boyfriend about her choices. "Duke," She started. "I didn't go with the women."

At first, he didn't understand her. "What do you mean by that?"

Vincent cleared her throat and became specific. "I fought."

Duke understood now and he didn't like it at all. "You what?!" He sharply said.

"I-I had to help EdgePort." She paused. "Duke, everyone needed help.'