Animalistic

by Nunn, Alexis

  Feliks was ready and waiting for us out by our small fire. Fadiyah didn’t take anything with her like I did. We relied on my backpack. Feliks, now sporting only fur, had nowhere to carry stuff. We could’ve put a pack like they put on horses and donkeys on him but what was the point. Besides, we didn’t have something like that. I had my backpack and that was good enough. We never needed that much from my pack if we ever opened it that day.

  Something about heading out scared me this time. It was the fact that we knew there was something going on that we needed to address was worrying me. I hated the possibility of running into something, but so does everyone. That was a natural response to the situation. Then again, it felt like a premonition.

  This better go smoothly. I wanted to lie down and sleep for the rest of the day. I felt tired already.

  Fadiyah was happily chatting with Feliks. My brother kept a skip in his step, talking just as enthusiastic as her. I couldn’t stay low around them. Something about my friends and family just made me so happy, even if I’m just seeing them be happy. I walked right behind them, triangle position. The paths weren’t large enough for me to walk beside either of them. I was best off being the one that falls behind since I had the weapons. I had the watch-out duty to keep their backs safe.

  We entered the forest. When we got on the paths, I readied my bow and kept my position stiff. Our task was simple enough, and it was on a check and get out order. Besides, I had some cookies I decided to make with our rarely used oven. I had the supplies and I wanted cookies. While they were cooling, we were going to go out and survey our territory, not passing our boundary, and then head back inside. The forest was quiet today, generally a good sign.

  Fadiyah turned around to me, “Do you always have to look so terrified or focused?”

  “We are in a dangerous place.”

  “We know. It’s not that dangerous. We have protection.”

  I laughed to myself, short and only one time, “So it’s all on me?”

  “Well,” Feliks waved his tail up in the air at me, “You are the one with the bow. You expect me to hold a gun?”

  “I wish you could. How’s it like not having thumbs?” I taunted him back, wiggling my thumb on the hand holding the bow.

  He squinted and stuck out his tongue at me. He swiveled his ears back forwards and kept walking. If he had a middle finger he’d be flipping me off right about now.

  We were now in the darkening part of the forest, where the trails got into winding patterns and the underbrush became thick and stood as tall as Fadiyah. At this point, we started our survey. The trail we were on was damp, keeping a trail of our feet in it. Yet, we saw no signs of a werebie at that point in the trail. We had two places we knew we were going to look; the trail behind our house and the divided trail that went towards the nest. Right now, we were closer to the split so we headed there first. The closer we got to the trail, the more carefully I held my bow.

  When we got ready to turn off onto the left of the trail, ultimately towards the nest, we saw paw prints speckled across the trail. Feliks went right into smelling them, informing us there were both new and cold scents. He moved slowly, edging closer to the ground, trying to peer into the long, tall grass that lined the sides of our trail. He put it muzzle into the grass before pulling back, laying down his ears, and sneezing. Two birds flew up and out of the grass, making Feliks jump back onto his rump and scuffle away. Fadiyah started to laugh, but cut it off, carefully looking around. We started to take a short break since we had been walking for close to ten minutes, which wasn’t much but enough to garner a break.

  I set down my bow and arrows, crouched, and set my backpack in my lap. I just wanted the water bottle out of it, honestly, but my bag didn’t have that neat pouch some had on the outside where you could put pop bottles or water bottles. I had to stop and open my pack to get my stuff out of it, putting me five minutes at the most out of my way. Not a big enough problem to complain about. It wasn’t as rough as it was when you were listening to a cassette and hear it cut to silence because it broke. Then you have to unscrew the cassette and tape it back. That was a problem that was annoying. Anyway, I was mostly thirsty at the time being.

  My water bottle wasn’t hard to find. It was tucked in the crook of the gun and the corner of the bag. The gun was loaded and I wasn’t sure if the safety was on, so I am positive that it was intelligent planning on my part. Sarcasm. We were lucky my gun hadn’t gone off and shot someone. That wouldn’t be a problem, that’d be a tragedy.

  Fadiyah was away from Feliks and me. I was close to the curve where the trail split and Feliks was beside me, investigating the trees, standing by my bow. Fadiyah looked suspiciously down at the ground and walked further down the path. I was still crouched on the ground, now opening my water bottle. When I let my sense of guard drop, I took a long drink and almost missed the crack of snapping wood. Feliks jumped up, opening his mouth. He held a silent snarl, prepared. I jumped up as well. In my process of jumping, I picked up my bag from instinct.

  That was when I saw Fadiyah reappear with a passenger on her back. There was a bony werebie with a crooked jaw trying to bite her, but her quick-paced jerking and constant jabbing with her elbows kept it at a safe enough distance for the period that it took her to come to us. I started to get scared, so I grabbed the gun instead of my bow that was lying now feet away from us. Feliks lunged at it, toppling over and off of her. The werebie, canine in stature, started trying to bite at Feliks. Feliks just started to twitch and miss and that was when I saw he got dirt and fur in his eyes.

  So, I raised my gun and screamed for Feliks to move. He listened. Feliks jumped up and away, leaving the werebie rolling in the ground. I shot it square in the middle of the throat. It struggled but squirmed away from us.

  “Run!” Fadiyah called to us with a raspy urgency.

  We didn’t even hesitate. I abandoned my bow and backpack there on the trail, caught up in the fear telling my feet to burn up the ground by running. Feliks took lead but tripped easily, rolling down the side of a sharp cut off. I swerved, going to catch him but instead, I twisted my ankle and went rolling down with him. That was when I felt a cold snap and a furious pain. It was like sharp but jagged knives enclosed on the side of my head. The specifics, something was cutting into my ear and it felt worse than stitches without anesthesia. Feliks got the debris from his eyes and pulled on the back of my shirt but the pulling only caused more agony.

  “Darylene, your shoulder and ear is caught in a bear trap, but it didn’t cut off completely. Be careful,” Feliks whispered into my undamaged ear but I could only barely lend him my attention. My shoulder wasn’t caught, only my thankfully loose shirt.

  Right now, it felt like my body was abandoning me. I felt a weird mix of panic and calm fighting to tell me what to do.

  I could barely hear Feliks’s instruction but I could hear the growling that echoed above us. Feliks grabbed my shirt again and pulled me away. There was a wet pop and my ear split clean into two parts still attached to my head. I screamed, unfortunately giving away our position along with the scent of iron-rich blood. The growling doubled.

  Feliks and I started running after that. My vision had unfrozen and only then did I realize that I temporarily lost partial vision when I fell. I felt the sticky pulse of blood running down my neck and in my face. I started to come back into reality but I couldn’t help but constantly fight the lightheadedness swarming my head and consciousness. A vague figure was running in front of us. It took me a while to remember who else was with us and to remember why my fist was so heavy. I was still carrying the gun but now it only had five bullets in it. My head started to clear but the hot, scratching pain was spreading out into my jaw and cheek. The blood was running into my mouth with the pouring sweat when I let my head fall limp to look at the ground under my self-sufficient feet.

  Feliks almost tripped me again when he changed from my right side to my injured left side. When I came to my clear, level-headed min
d, I finally noticed the snarling and growling that was following us. I heard snapping of jaws, teeth on teeth, close at our heels as well. Fadiyah was far ahead of us, disappearing. I hadn’t even noticed how much faster she was than us.

  The pulsing, leaking blood from the side of my head hadn’t slowed, probably covering my entire left side down to my clothed shoulders at this point. There was one thing brighter than the pain in my ankle and ear, the wispy hope of the fire I saw in the clearing of our home. But suddenly, Feliks was no longer by my side. I skidded to a halt, my weakened ankle rolling in the socket and bringing me to the ground too. I watched Feliks closely. A wolf werebie was on top of him, but Feliks had his jaws firmly tucked under the wolf werebie’s jaw. No matter how many times Feliks jerked his head, he couldn’t tear the werebie’s throat loose or tear it out. The werebie had paws wrapped around Feliks in a tight and vicious embrace. I did what I could. I shot the wolf werebie in the skull, entering from the side of his nostril and exiting with a splat from the back of its skull. Feliks almost looked caught in the beast’s taut legs but he got loose, now covered with a splatter of blood. He quickly rolled in the ground, spitting out the remnants of werebie the best that he could and went running into town.

  I ran into town with half a breath left in my lungs. I rolled into the center of town, feet away from the crackling fire. My gun was tossed to the ground so I could support myself with my empty, shaking hands. Air was no longer existing anywhere around my face, or it felt like it because each shuddering breath I took only choked me more. I felt terror like I’ve only experienced once before but I knew whatever was happening was only scratching the surface of the true definition of fear. Suddenly, chilly, sweaty hands were around my face and Fadiyah was calling my name to ask if I was okay. Feliks was rolling around in the sand again. I looked up to answer her but a jolt of pain pierced into my neck and my jaw locked into place.

  The door to Robert’s house slammed open, frantic calling echoing towards us. It was Robert, concerned by the fact we came home stumbling, crying, and covered in blood. But, something I would never have guessed from Robert when I first met him, he swooped down to my side, hand on my shoulder and other under my head. I felt a rush of dizziness and it clouded my eyes. He lifted my head up from my steadily weakening body.

  “Darylene! Are you okay!” Robert was begging for me to answer him.

  “Please, run. They gunna kill us,” I whispered, gasping in and trying not to cry like Fadiyah was. The werebies were only thoughts away before they reached the outskirts of the town. After just our brief interaction, I heard the crazed calls of the werebies again.

  THIRTY-TWO

  Robert abruptly stood up, staring into the line of the forest, seeing the reflection of the fire in the werebies’ eyes. Pairs upon pairs of eyes emerged from the thicket, a rare single eye hovering above some of them. Muzzles poked through next. I saw deer, wolves, cats, and some odd hybrids created in between. There were at least ten of them and each one, no matter if naturally an herbivore or not, bared dangerously crooked, needle-like teeth, possibly a localized adaptation to the virus. The wolves and cats still had canines but they were densely crowded.

  The older man looked as if the personification of Death herself was at his throat, choking his soul away. Yet, another factor we hadn’t accounted for was Lilya, who at that very moment appeared on the top step of her house, turned to see all the werebies and screamed.

  I had enough time to get back to my newly energized legs, grabbing my gun and facing towards the wall of death. When Lilya screamed, Fadiyah and I both anticipated the same thing but she angled herself for it first, ready to run and grab her. One pair of almost hollow eyes appeared far above the rest, darker in comparison. Tall round saucers with spikes hovered above them but then I figured out what I was looking at. Before I can make a noise, the moose werebie made the first move and came bursting out of the wild straight at us. Before it could charge at her, Fadiyah was on the steps and then off in a matter of a heartbeat, taking an already sobbing Lilya in her arms and running as fast as she could to the other side of the forest. Feliks started to blockade against the werebie but he too saw no hope and left. My ankle made an uneasy pop but I kept running behind him.

  Robert, however, was closer than not to the werebies instead of us. His legs weren’t carrying him fast enough. I kept my head angled to watch him, crying out his name to try and encourage but that was the fastest he could run, until he fatefully tripped.

  The moose werebie took no time in consideration before it reached him and reared up, kicking its massive, furred hooves and bringing them right down on the center of his back. I heard his screeching and the burbling sound, followed by a pitiful silence. It kept jumping up and coming back down, pulverizing the corpse underneath it. We were close to the other side and by that point, many of the waiting werebies tore loose from the forest barrier too. I saw the werebie gnawing on Robert’s head and rolling it around until I saw something sever under the tremendous weight. Robert was dead. About two stopped and joined in to feast on the fresh kill but the rest saw more sport in chasing fresher meat than the meager now-pulp the moose had fetched. I held the gun out, still scared out of my wits. I aimed dead set at the werebie murderer’s head and fired my third bullet. The moose collapsed after taking a pained step.

  “Lene!” I heard my brother calling from below me. He was yards ahead but still not in the forest. He was waiting for me, “Don’t think about it, Lene. Don’t think about it, Lene. Don’t worry about it, Lene.”

  Maybe he wasn’t repeating himself that much, but I just willed him to in my own mind. I stole his voice for my own conscience as I desperately needed.

  “Darylene!” I heard one, almost nails on chalkboard piercing howl, trying to get into my thoughts.

  Feliks was trying to look at both me and where he was running. I snapped myself out of my consuming trance, knowing all too well, this was not the time and place to let that take me away. I couldn’t control it, but I swear on my worthless life will I try my ever so hardest not to let my will die on me until it was safe.

  Fadiyah, I could hear her struggling to take in oxygen fast enough to keep up with her ragged breaths. I knew she knew Robert was dead. I knew Lilya did too, but she didn’t understand it yet.

  Before my eyes, I saw a rise in the ground, somewhere I had never been before. There was a tall, rocky mountain that rose up and curved around to my right. I must have never saw it past the trees since the tall, lumbering giants of the forest guarded the looming secrets behind them easily. Yet, the longer I thought, the more I recognized this particular mountain. I had seen it from a distance in a faint memory.

  There was a choked barking next to us, and I saw two werebies cut us off. One of the werebies looked in our direction, sniffing the air fervently and the one next to it, scoped the ground. Our gang of four froze in our place. The shortest had a crushed nose and half a tongue lolling from its dark, invested mouth. The tallest canid werebie bumped into the second and I saw Feliks trying to hold his breath. He was shivering his head, holding his eyes shut, shoulders rigid. If he made a noise or sneezed, we were dead. Thankfully, to our rescue, the werebies went running in the directions we came from, following a scent.

  The two werebies we just encountered had to be deaf and blind.

  Fadiyah pointed at the rocky mountains and nodded quickly before going up a winding path etched into the side. Feliks and I followed, me ahead of him.

  The pack of werebies from the other side of the forest found us again. When we were a decent distance above the ground, climbing higher and higher, there was a convergence beneath us. They drooled from their wretched maws like thirsty coon-dogs after the hunt, watching the new kill dangle on the smokehouse walls. The smallest were the first to dare climbing up after us but a few tumbled down to where they began. Lilya was so loudly screaming, I was sure she was a beacon into the forest. My bloodstained clothes couldn’t have been any better. She was audible and I was de
tectable. I was going to get us all killed. We are going to die.

  The path we followed up the rocky slopes were runnable. The problem was that some of the areas were unsupported and you could fall because of a sideways footstep. I had to focus on myself to not fade away from my unfaithful thoughts. I saw a blur of neon in front of me and I saw the fuzzy ears of the matted rabbit hanging from above Fadiyah’s shoulders. Safety, Lilya had something she was keeping safe too. I was keeping Feliks safe, or maybe him keeping me safe and Fadiyah was keeping Lilya safe. There was a good trend going on.

  There was a long stretch of dirt ahead of us that lead to a plateau. Fadiyah pushed Lilya ahead of her and climbed up, followed by the rest of us. Fadiyah was breathing labored, sweat nearly blinding her dark eyes. Lilya clung to Fadiyah’s side like a baby opossum to its mother.

  Fadiyah took a deep, reassuring breath, “Listen, keep heading in the direction we are going. These places cut off into a spot that looks like stairs. Head down them and head down the tree tunnel. It’s a tunnel like section of trees with a cut out section underneath with a beaten path in the center. It should lead you out to a clearing. That should lead you out in the direction Lewis’s town is. If I don’t make it, please join the town. Please!”

  My friend was in despair. Lilya was crying quietly, running out of steam.

  “Why are you saying that? You are coming with us!” I told her, staring out at the sound of claws on rocks. The werebies were here.

  “I’m out of breath! I need to get it back. I can’t keep running. I can’t do this right now,” Fadiyah started crying, managing to waste more energy.