The Corrupted Soul

Chapter 13

My mind raced, it was impossible! He couldn't be sane, he had killed Martian and attacked me! But what I had seen was proof, Feral Crawlers weren't smart enough to wear sunglasses or otherwise shield their eyes from the light.

A quiet and deep male voice came from outside the semi in a whisper, "What the hell..."

I hissed, trying to appear threatening even as my confusion trumped my rage. He walked forward again and looked through the gap, this time not nearly as careful around the foliage. I tried moving farther backwards, but I was pinned against the very back corner. I frantically looked around, but the only exit was now blocked. There were several gaps where trees broke through the metal, but with the trees and leaves in the way, I would never be able to fit out the few that I may otherwise be able to.

Looking back at the Crawler, I inhaled sharply as I realized he was pulling himself through the gap. What was he thinking?! He was trying to corner me!

I bared my teeth and snarled wordlessly at him, flexing the pearly white claws on my Crawler legs. He growled faintly, his own claws curving up to land a more dangerous strike. I was even more confused to see him shake his head, and unclench his jaw along with his claws.

He looked me right in the eyes, a sign of challenge. My instincts flared and I swiped my hand out, though my fingers were curled, I couldn't have hit him if I tried, he was still about twenty feet away from me, but the obvious warning strike would hopefully tell him I wasn't messing around.

To my infinite irritation, he kept stalking closer before he stopped about ten feet away. My claws dug into the moss on the ground and the metal everywhere else as a continuous growl rumbled from my throat. I did not like his proximity, it was triggering instincts that hadn't awakened for centuries at this point. The sense of fear around him was showing signs of emerging again, and I was trying as hard as I could to suppress them. The last thing I needed was to freeze up in terror I didn't even consciously feel.

"Where did you come from I wonder..." He mumbled quietly enough I could barely make out the words. He was talking to himself, but how would he not know the answer to that question? He knew where I was from, he attacked me there and killed Martian yesterday!

I swiped a Crawler leg at him with an irate snarl. My movements were swift and he hadn't been expecting it, so my sharp claws easily cut three shallow gashes through his jacket and into his shoulder. He jumped backwards and held the steadily bleeding wounds, before backing out of the trailer. I could still hear his muttering, though it was much quieter.

"I need to get the others out here. She's definitely not stable enough to deal with." I heard him run off through the trees.

My eyes widened. Others?! And what did he mean by saying I was unstable? I was acting out of instinct from being cornered by something that had attacked me in the past, in a very enclosed space. Did he not know that?

I dug my nails into my forehead, trying to figure out what I had just gone through. I jolted lightly as I accidentally pierced through the scab on my forehead from colliding with that tree yesterday, and I felt some residual dried blood crack apart. That's when it clicked.

I had a wound on my face that was still somewhat bloody, and I was in a dark and enclosed space without glasses. My clothes were a bit dirty because I had been running through the woods for hours on end. To top it all off I had done nothing but snarl and growl at him. He thought I was the Feral here somehow. I wasn't entirely sure how, as he had no doubt seen me clearly sane yesterday, but there was no other explaination.

He must have somehow not seen the lack of bloodstains on my clothes. Yes it was dark in the semi, but to a Crawler it wasn't that dark. I hissed to myself in frustration, I couldn't even try to explain things now, because I couldn't leave this space to follow him without blinding myself.

I hated the fact I had no choice but to wait for him to return with the 'others'.

○ ○ ○

I heard several sets of Crawler legs approaching rapidly, and I tensed up, holding in a growl with how uneasy I was. I still knew next to nothing about what was going on, but it seemed soon I would likely get more information than I had bargained for, for better or for worse.

Several minutes passed, and I had begun worrying if they were stationed and waiting for me to leave by nightfall and attack. A very stern female voice finally spoke, "So, she's in there? I didn't even know this old truck was here."

A young male voice piped up, I had to guess he couldn't be too much older than me, "This thing must have crashed sometime before or during the apocalypse. There must have been an unpaved road here at some point, though now it's buried under several centuries of vegetation."

The same man from earlier spoke quietly, "Keep it down, we might be pissing her off. Wherever she came from, we are lucky she ended up in here and not back home or in the city."

Now I was really confused. He doesn't realize I'm from the city? But he saw me multiple times! What the hell is going on here?

The woman spoke again, "You and Sketch have been there several times. Didn't you say there were Crawlers in that place?"

"Yes, but only sane ones. I never saw them myself though."

Liar. You sure as hell saw me at least twice, assuming you never spied on us some other time.

The young man scoffed, "Of course you never saw them, if you had you would have gotten yourself shot at best. Better you than me though, you're called Tank for a reason."

Someone started to approach the trailer, not one of the first three. I groaned internally. How many of you are there?

It was another man, "You need to get your nose checked if you can't smell that. She reeks of the city. From what you said she can't be one of the Sanes, so maybe they had some ferals somehow and one escaped from that freaky laboratory of theirs?"

He crouched down and looked into the trailer. He had light brown hair that was cut just above his neck, and he had a small - but very visible - scar just below his eye, I had to guess it was a snakebite. He narrowed his eyes at me as he lifted his own pair of sunglasses. I glowered at him, how dense could someone be? I was almost tempted to play feral and see how long it would take them to notice.

He started to climb in towards me, and I noticed he wasn't even wearing a shirt despite the freezing temperatures. I hissed, not wanting him any closer. To my surprise, his first reaction was to hiss back, I snarled in my ire, offended that he would have the audacity to approach and threaten me.

I tensed my claws again, not seeing a need to speak at the moment. My instincts told me to get this stranger out of what they considered my territory. He narrowed his eyes to mere slits as he muttered to himself, "You are a bit of a bitch, huh..."

I snarled in rage and swiped at him, but he jumped back and dodged my claws. He was much slimmer than his friend out there, and was able to move around easier in the small space. I could see out of the corner of my eye the other man - who's name seemed to be Tank - watching from the door.

I stared at him for a second too long, and didn't see the incoming punch from the lanky man near me. His fist connected hard with my jaw, if I hadn't already had my back against the wall, that likely would have thrown me backwards. I saw red.

"Oh you did not just do that."