The Corrupted Soul

Chapter 9

The next several days passed without incident. Once we were sure we were ready for a repeat of what had happened, Olive had spent a night in the park, as did Felix the next night, and neither of them even smelled the Feral, let alone had it chase them through the underbrush. Needless to say, I was irritated.

I was not the only one though. Both of them were just as annoyed that they couldn't track the creature down, and that it only seemed interested in me for whatever reason. This also thoroughly confused Clementine to the point it brought much of her research to a halt, as it had never been recorded in the past for a Crawler to be aggressive towards a specific individual unless that person did something to them, and I had never encountered the Feral before that night.

Originally she had thought it may have been aggressive towards Crawlers, but that was shot down as there was no chance it was the only Feral, and no dead Crawlers had been found. Olive and Felix proved it wasn't aggressive towards Sane Crawlers. She had also theorized it may have been the moon phases in some way, but there had never been an instance in which the moon phases effected anything other than a Crawler's sleep or urge to screech. We didn't know enough about it to figure out what it was about me that made it angry.

More sightings were coming in around the city though. Strangely, almost every single one was on the opposite side, almost as far from Riverview as it could possibly be while still being in the city itself. There had even been a security footage tape sent to us from the zoo, of what was quite clearly the Feral I met pacing around the pathways. It was unclear whether it was trying to hunt something or not, and no animals had gone missing during that time, many were frightened though.

We all collectively agreed Riverview had to be more or less safe now, seeing as we had proof the Feral was moving around, and it would be unlikely for it to still be here after traveling around so much, plus it was the middle of the day, so no Crawler would want to be out anyway.

I layed on my back on the park bench, staring at the slow moving clouds through my glasses. We hadn't discussed me returning, but I had more incentive than just rogue Crawlers - not like I wanted to meet that guy again. Martian seemed to be having a great time eating snow as he plowed through the stuff face first.

I chuckled a little as he looked up, panting with his tongue rolling out the side of his wide mouth, his face covered in bits of snow. The multiple tags on his collar clinked and rattled as he shook his fur off, only to dig his face right back down into the snow.

Olive had been asleep around noon when I took him out, I had never been too fond of animals since I turned, and they were more than ready to bolt the other way when I came within scenting distance. However, for some reason, Martian never reacted that way to any of us Crawlers. Olive had actually found him at a shelter when he was a puppy, and unlike the other dogs cowering, he had run up to the gate towards her, much to her surprise.

He was a strange dog, and seemed as babyish as most pitbulls I had seen since being freed from the lake, as no one that thought dog fighting was a fun pastime had survived the apocalypse - strangely at the same time as laws fell to the wayside and murder was now a common practice - meaning very few dogs were raised to fight anymore.

Yeah, that was definitely a coincidence. Definitely...

Martian suddenly whipped his head up out of the snow, his ears were rigid and he was standing completely still, staring towards the woods with his tail low. After several seconds, he let out a deep growl and lowered his head, not breaking his gaze.

I sat up quickly and followed his line of sight, not seeing anything. I took a deep breath in through my nose, and immediately froze as my instincts began to rise. Oh no...

"Martian, come."

He didn't budge, he just kept staring towards the treeline. My jaw started to chatter, my mind silently screaming at me that I was in danger.

I rose my voice as loud as I dared, "Marty. Come here."

He turned his head to look at me, and started to walk over. He glanced back towards the trees, before barking and coming towards me quicker. I exhaled heavily. Now is not a good time to forget your recall training.

There was a loud snap from the trees, and three things happened at once.

A large, shadowy figure launched out of the foliage with terrifying speed that shouldn't have been possible in the snow, making a beeline directly for us without looking at its surroundings.

Martian began barking loudly as he stood in front of me, my body freezing in place again despite how desperately I was trying to get my mind working.

The barking ceased suddenly, and the figure pounced at the young canine. A loud yelp made my stomach turn, and the image of the Feral running off the other way carrying Martian was branded into my mind.

I jolted and began running after them, even though they were already several yards ahead. The paralyzing fear wasn't even apparent in my mind anymore, all I could see was what was ahead of me, and my instincts protests were merely a whisper.

They darted into the thick forest that lined the park, I swiftly followed. Branches whipped my face and arms as I shoved past the numerous bushes and trees, but once I had passed through them, I could no longer see the Crawler I had been in pursuit of.

"MARTIAN!!"