Chapter Text
“Meyers! I'm going to take the short cut to the town! Meet me there!” I hear Lukas shouts after me before I hear his footsteps fade away but the much louder and faster ones get closer.
The only thing I know for a fact is that this thing is a mutt and it had to have run before being mutated to be this fast.
I look over my shoulder only to see it. Its ribs are protruding through its skin. Its face is sagging, looks almost as if it's melting. Its limbs are elongated, a somewhat common trait among them. Its joints poke out, just a mangled mess, though at least this one doesn't have extra limbs. Those ones are hard to escape. Though its fingers are long ass claws that look like they could tear through me without a second thought. That is if they think, which doesn’t seem likely with how stupid they can be sometime.
I ran towards a part of the forest where we made some snares that would break through the skin if you pulled on it. I jump over one of the snares but the mutt does. It gets caught and its leg just… snaps off. It's a horrible sound, the bones twisting and crunching as the entire leg comes off and blood gushes out of the now empty socket and I taste bile rising up my throat.
I reach for my belt and pull my pistol out of its holster, something small I took from a police station. The mutt can't run with only one leg. I shoot its head before turning and walking away, holstering my gun. I'm hopefully not far from the town I found a few weeks ago.
It doesn't take long for the forest to slowly give way to the outskirts of the town. The town seemed to be mostly empty, at least during the day. No one knows how many nocturnal mutts may be hiding out until it’s dark enough, similar to the small city the library is in. Maybe we could finish covering the city and then move out here, it would be peaceful. Maybe we could even get a break from the fear and teach some basic things to Izzybell, she always seems interested in learning. She also needs to learn how to fight off any threats that come her way.
We really just need a break. All of us.
I look at the row of houses on either side of a destroyed road and decide to go through a couple before trying to meet back up with Cy. We'll be fine being separated for a little bit. Not the worst thing to have happened to us.
I walk over to a two story house and pull a lock picking kit out of the back on my belt, I start to work on picking the lock to a door. It's a small house but it probably still has food inside. And any food is good. That is as long as it’s not spoiled.
As I enter I hear breathing… it’s too ragged to be human, much more on pace with a mutt. Fuck. This might just be what gets me killed. I hear the loud thunderous crash of footsteps coming towards me. It knows I’m here.
Run fuck run. Just run the things going to fucking kill you! It's all I can think as I rush out the door only to hear a crash and feel plaster hit my back. It's big.
Very big.
I sprint towards the forest. Maybe a trap could slow it? No. It's too big for that.
I zig zag through trees trying to lose it. It's only until I pay attention to the footsteps that I realize it either has four legs or there's two that are both massive. Either way I don't want to stick around and find out.
I almost slipped on some mud, it’s getting colder and more risky to maneuver spots that don’t get a lot of sun.
I swing around a tree rushing to get back to the town. I can see it again.
Then, suddenly a massive hand wraps around my torso, squeezing for a second before I fly into a building with a loud thud.
My vision starts to blur around the edges. Blood drips past my face, though I don’t feel the pain I should, probably thanks to adrenaline.
I hear a deadly hiss and then a bright red flash and a whistle goes off behind me. A flare. Odd.
A figure that looks like a wolf starts to make its way up to me. It's only until it’s around eight feet away that I realize it's a… IT'S A BIG ASS CAT.
The cat walks up to me and rests their head on mine, purring softly. Is it trying to comfort me? Because all it’s doing is making my head feel worse.
“Damn kid, you look like shit.” I hear someone call from behind me, a bullet like pain shooting through my head, even though the voice is quiet.
I try to focus on the voice. They sounded like a female, voice too high to be a male. They also don’t have that child-like tone that usually lets me identify them as a child. So probably an adult.
I just groan in response to her statement. My head is killing me and my vision is continuing to blur and darken around the edges. I’m going to pass out soon and I don’t have the strength right now to fight it.
“Setaphina! Get off of her!” The woman commands and the cat hesitantly leaves. I can only tell that by the loss of warmth on my head..
I try to watch where the cat goes but I can’t, already in too much pain and it’s just getting worse.
I lay my head back against the building and closed my eyes, giving up on seeing my savior until I feel less like I’m being shot in the head and my ears stop ringing.
“Come on. No sleepin’ yet.” She tells me before grabbing one of my arms and dragging me to my feet.
I wince as another sudden sharp pain shoots through my entire body and resonates in my head.
“Let's get you to my camp.” She says before hoisting me to her back and starting to carry me.
I try to stay up but as the pain slowly numbs I can't keep my eyes open and I just pass out on her back.
+++
I groan as I wake up. I haven't opened my eyes yet, though there's a heavy warmth on top of me. It has fur. Maybe the big ass cat I saw?
“Seraphina, give the kid some space. She looks like she's only 14. You're going to crush her.” I hear the woman say.
I try to myself up and I feel the cat Seraphina move off of me and then a shadow blocks out the light.
“Hey kid. Don't move. My name's Lizzy. I'm going to help you.” She explains. “Your head took a pretty bad hit back there. I’ve bandaged it the best I could with my supplies so the bleeding’s slowed.
“Oh.” Is all I manage to mumble at this point, my head still killing me though my ears have mostly stopped ringing. I can hear more clearly now.
She sets a blanket on me before turning and putting wood in a fire.
The cat comes back over and lays down on me again, purring softly.
“I’m 16.” I mumble to her, leaning back into the cat, Seraphina.
“Ahh such a difference you're still a teenager.” She responds.
I just roll my eyes and start to pet her cat. Wincing at another sudden pain in my head.
“Um, how did that thing get so big?” I ask quietly. If I raise my voice anymore I feel like my head might just explode.
“Oh, I just call them big fuckers, they've only been around for a little bit, I think the virus is getting stronger.” Lizzy explains.
“Um, I had some bandages in my bag if you need them, also I've set traps-mostly snares-around the forest, so if you go out you might wanna be careful, I'm pretty sure they're west from here,” I explain as Sera curls up closer, keeping my body warm. “oh, and if you see a dude with faded hair dye and dark blue eyes, that's my friend Cy. He's probably looking for me.” I add, just as quietly. She would probably like to know there's another person.
“Oh, I found some of those, I didn't take them down though, they're useful. Also I think Sera girl likes ya. But I haven't seen anyone other than you out in this town so I can't say much on where your friend might be.” Lizzy responds, reaching over and patting Sera on the head.
“I think so, she doesn't seem to want me to leave.” I responded attempting to sit up only for her to press her head on my neck to force me back down.
“Yeah, she thinks you're her kitten.” Lizzy answers, turning back to the fire as we fall into a comfortable silence. “Also, just know she did get mutated, at least I think so, it would explain her size.”
I yawn, pressing my face into Sera’s chest fluff. “Yeah, I guess that would. What breed is she?” I ask. The gray fur covering me from the outside world.
“Maine coon. Now go back to sleep, you look malnourished and tired.” She almost demands me.
I just yawn again and close my eyes, quickly drifting off and falling into a dreamless sleep.
+++
The sun is what wakes me up and the smell of actual fresh meat is what keeps me up.
I just groan as I stretch, wincing at the pain in my head. “I think I might have brain damage.” I mumble, quickly noticing the lack of fluffy warmth around my body. “Um, where is Sera?”
“Ehh, just a concussion, you'll heal kiddo, but eat something, you look almost as skinny as the fuckers.” She says, turning to me with what looks like that rabbit that's almost as big as a dik dik. “Here, eat. And Sera is hunting right now.”
Lizzy then promptly shoves part of the rabbit towards me.
I slowly and cautiously take a bite out of the rabbit, I don't really know if I can trust her yet, though Sera seems really nice.
“It won't kill you.” Lizzy says before looking past me and shouting. “Sera girl, that's not a rabbit!”
I turn only to see Sera holding a grown ass deer. Something that I'd be lucky to find and she drags it over as if it's nothing.
Sera drops it next to the fire before curling up around me and resting her head on my leg.
I continue to eat the rabbit, finding it peaceful and also nice to have a pet that kinda reminds me of Bites. The way that she just always sticks around. Though Sera is also a lot like Oyster. Way too willing to run into the line of danger just to save someone.
“Um, Lizzy, when do you think I could travel like 30 miles?” I ask, looking up at her. I need to get back to my team. They probably think I'm dead. That's all I can think about.
“Not for a while, why? You have someone to get back to?” She responds, she's now giving me her full attention. She's so attentive, it's odd, why would she care so much about me? We literally met yesterday.
I hesitated, looking into her soft blue eyes. I don't want to tell her, but I guess I should. So I sigh before giving in and explaining everything. “Uh, yeah I have a team, they're my friends and I told them I wouldn't be gone more than a week and I had to take the long way here to avoid mutts.” As I go on I try to explain without spilling all of my stress onto her, she doesn't need to know. “And well this is the third day I've been gone and I don't really know how long it'll take to get back in my current state. If I don't get back they'll probably come looking for me.” I finish, she's looking at me with something in her eyes, but it's not pity like most adults I previously knew would. She's looking at me the same way… Sgt. Collins looked at me the first time I vented to him about what my family was like–though I guess it wasn't really a vent, I didn't know anything was wrong. I don't want to– I can't remember him through her. That's too much of a weakness I can't afford in these times.
Benny already has a lot of stress leading us. Arlo is doing his best to help keep everyone alive and as healthy as possible. Izzybell’s been through enough already, losing everything at such a young age. Bites is trying to keep our supplies high. And I just need to focus on hunting, protecting, and traveling. They know I can protect myself and evade almost anything that's too dangerous, they might think I'm impossible to catch.
“Kid, I'm going to try to get you back, can you tell me where you’re from? Maybe I'll know.” She offers. She's nice, safe even. No, I can't have any more weaknesses.
“Um, alright, but what about my bag?” I mumble, leaning back against Sera.
“Sera's strong, she can easily carry it.” Lizzy reassures me.
“Um, if you say so.” I respond, petting Sera's head, her soft fur almost completely covering my hand, it's a shock her fur can stay this soft. “Oh, I think the city I was at was called Pigeon Forge, or something along those lines.”
“Finish your part of the rabbit. I'll cut up the deer and we can set out in the morning.” Lizzy explains before turning and stringing the deer up using a tree branch and some paracord, she then cuts the thing open and the blood starts to spill out, painting the ground red.
Sera starts to purr before her head snaps up and her lips pull back into a low deadly hiss.
That gets Lizzy’s attention and all three of us turn to see a pale elongated hand gripping a tree. It's a fuck– mutt. It's a mutt.
Lizzy puts shooting muffs over my ears and Sera stands over my body protectively. Claws piercing the earth, ears pinned back against her head, tail lashing violently. Lizzy puts a hand on my shoulder and gently presses me to the ground to keep me out of the way.
I watch as a massive mutt steps out, it has five arms, two where they're supposed to be, another pair sticking out of its torso, and a final arm sticking out of its back. Its jaw is unhinged, the muscles, just barely holding it on, there's a hole in its chest, it has two hearts, both just barely still connected to its body. I've never seen a mutt survive this condition before.
I see its head jerk back along with the dampened sound of a gun, the thing crumples to the ground.
The shooting muffs are removed but I don't react, frozen in shock.
A hand gently shakes my shoulder, I don’t react. Then a soft nose nuzzles into my hair, that finally brings me back.
“How was it alive?” I mumble mostly to myself.
“I have no clue, but you should probably rest while I clean the deer.” Lizzy answers.
“Won’t the blood attract more?” I ask, wondering why in the world she would do that, just leave blood out for any mutt to track us down. "Anytime I'm near blood I usually see quite a few mutts.” I add on, wondering if she somehow doesn't know that.
“Oh, kiddo, that's for humans mostly, deers, rabbits, and most other prey animals you can actually bleed out with relative safety, it seems they actually avoid prey, just another reason onto the pile that catching food is honestly the best way to survive.” Lizzy explains, she knows so much. How?
“Oh… well that's good at least.” I answer before pushing myself up only for Sera to plop herself down behind me again.
“Now, sleep, your head is probably killing you.” Lizzy almost commands before returning to cleaning the deer.
I sigh before laying back against Sera and falling asleep again.
+++
I rush through the streets, glass stinging my feet, I just need to escape papa and then I'll be safe. Escape to be safe. It's all I can think as I run, the one thing I'm good at. As long as I'm fast enough I can survive. As long as I'm fast enough I can't be touched.
But as I run I trip over a pot hole and suddenly feel a terrifyingly tight grip on my arm. But the grip is not that of my father but instead of a… mutt. Wait, how? My father was arrested and killed in jail long before the outbreak started.
As I think I'm suddenly hoisted into the air and thrown down on the road. My ribs cracking on impact. Then my ribs are fine and I'm with Sgt. Collins, he's panicking and rushing me out of bed and towards a bus with a bunch of other exhausted kids.
“We need to go now!” I hear someone scream from behind me.
We all load up on the buses and they rush out of the parking lot down a road filled with mutated people. A few even got hit and killed. Then I see a plane with a bunch of people loading up. As Sgt. Collins leads everyone off the bus and he starts to cough. I rush to his side only to see his muscle compacting and hear his bones snapping. What is going on?
A gun goes off behind me and hits Sgt. Collins in the head. He's dead.
+++
“Kid! Kid! Wake up!” I hear Lizzy's frantic voice call, she sounds worried but also calm? Kind of.
I jolt up only to feel my head throb, not as bad as it was originally but still pretty bad. All I can do is groan as Sera starts to purr against my back, her body wrapped around mine and her tail resting on my lap.
“Kid you alright?” Lizzy asks?
“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just a nightmare.” I mumble back, finding comfort in Sera.
“Well, we should head out soon, I've smoked the deer so we have plenty of food for the trip but the trip will take a while to complete, we can try to follow the roads.” Lizzy explains, standing up and holding a hand out for me to take.
I hesitantly take her hand and let her pull me up. I stumble a little but I'm fine otherwise. Just disoriented from my nightmare. That's it. Is what I tell myself mentally.
Lizzy throws me on her back after strapping a duffle bag, two back packs, one mine, a sleeping bag and what looks like a small tent to Sera's back.
As we start our long trek back, Lizzy carries me despite my insistence on walking. She's stubborn, like me. Though maybe we'll be able to find Cy on our way, he said he would meet me at the town. Hopefully he'll figure out I left and then head back and tell the group not to worry.
“Kid, by the way, I never caught your name and I think I ‘aughta know that.” Lizzy randomly says, breaking my line of thought about Cy
“Oh right, you can call me Meyers, though some people call me Wisp, not really a name I gave myself.” I explain quietly, resting my head on her shoulder and relaxing.
"Hm... So I'm guessing that's a last name?" Lizzy replies and I just nod in response.
“Why do you call them fuckers?” I counted, enjoying the light conversation.
“Simple, they fuck up everything, now you.” Lizzy answers, keeping this light, she might understand I want to avoid serious topics or she just wants to either way I'm happy to avoid talking about everything going on.
“I call them mutts because mutants is too annoying to say and they don't deserve my time.” I answer, acid filling my voice, coming out like a snake bite.
“Eh, that's fair, boring but fair.” Lizzy replies. We then fall into an easy silence.
I look around, the leaves are turning various shades orange, yellow, and brown, some falling off and crunching under our feet. We settle into a steady pace. Though my head is pounding, it's just the concussion, this is going to suck. Maybe I can sleep through this trip?
I try to lay my head down on her shoulder but the bouncing just makes it worse, maybe I can zone out long enough that we'll be there. It shouldn't take too long at this pace.
+++
After a few hours Lizzy sets me down and takes her bag off of Sera.
Sera curls around me purring protectively.
“Let's get some food, I'm sure you're hungry.” Lizzy says, pulling out some jerky from the looks of it.
She hands me some, then sets some in front of Sera who graciously devours it in a few bites, she then finally takes some out for herself.
We all eat in some comfortable silence, all listening for a mutt to come through and ruin it, like they ruin everything. Nothing feels peaceful anymore. Nothing can feel peaceful anymore. Not since the bioweapon came and turned people into that.
After we finish I try to stand up and manage to with the help of Sera and we start off again, at a slower pace this time. I can't continue to be carried, I need to walk some before I go stir crazy.
+++
Lizzy picks me up again after a little while and we finally manage to finish our trek, though it's too dark to make our way through the city, so we take base in an old office building that's already been cleared out.
“Hey Lizzy, if you don't mind, what was your life like before this?” I ask, I seriously want to know what she did before she was thrust into this world with no warning other than a war.
“Well, I was an EMS, made sure that people didn't die, useful knowledge now but, did you go to school? Before all of this?” She asks, looking towards me.
“Oh yeah, I was sent to a military school, there I met this amazing dude named Sgt. Collins, he kinda became my dad. I don't really know what happened to him, we got separated.” I respond, only willing to give her a half truth, not wanting to unpack all of that trauma to a stranger, though she's been one of the safest people I've been around since this whole thing happened.
“Damn kid, family problems? You seem too sweet to be a problem child.” She responds.
“Oh, is it that obvious?” I ask, pulling my knees to my chest. Sgt. Collins told me I needed therapy but I never actually got any. Running was always enough until this happened, until running wasn't an escape or safety, it was just survival. “But I definitely caused problems, got into a few fights, tried to runaway at one point but I was caught. So not the best, but I calmed down after my second year of military school.”
I want to spill everything to her, tell her how much pain I'm mentally in. I need to escape this life. I need to escape everyone and everything. Maybe if I just live my life out with her, someone who seems to want to take care of me I could feel safe and even happy again.
No, that's way too selfish. I can't leave everyone to struggle, they'd be trapped here. Forever stuck because none of them can make a map or use a compass to travel.
“Hey kid, you're drifting into your thoughts, you wanna talk some more?” Lizzy asks, waving a hand in front of my eyes.
“Oh, yeah sorry, just a lot to think about.” I responded.
“Well, what role did you play in your team?” She asks, looking at me. She wanted to help, she wanted to help every second of the day.
“Oh, I did multiple things, I led fuck–mutts away from the base. I hunted anything I could find. I obviously scavenged for things. And well I traveled to fine new places for us to stay, which that town was supposed to be where we moved to but now I don't really know where to go now, maybe we could go somewhere you've already been?” I suggest.
Lizzy yawns before looking over at my slumped over form. “Meyers, how about you get some sleep, I won't leave you alone or vulnerable.” Lizzy offers.
“You promise?” I respond, looking up at her.
“Promise.” She answers, her voice firm.
“Fine.” I mumble before closing my eyes, choosing to trust her for some reason, I'm not really sure but I do.
I quickly fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. It's comforting after everything that's happened the last nine
months of my shitty life…