Evolution

Evolution: Chapter 17

Vomit.

I felt it curdle at the bottom of my throat, forcing me awake. When I suddenly leaned over, my mouth snapped open to release the contents of my stomach. Leaving a bile taste on my tongue until I was dry heaving.

Sunlight blinded me, bare and beating down on my skin. It was like a light sheet warming me up, disorientating everything happening around me. Confusion tilted my thoughts, making my head feel heavy on my neck.

My nails dug into earth, something stringy and flattening under my palms. It felt like my weight had doubled because I felt so heavy, a shaky hand rose to wipe my mouth. Bringing a fresh taste from an old hunt with it.

Blood.

I tasted it on my lips, under the bile. Why was I covered in blood? Panic rattled inside me, until it dawned. It was animal blood. Splattered across my hands, and buried deep under my nails. I recognized the smell of...deer?

Fear twisted in my gut at the realization. Blood stained the front of the oversized shirt I had been wearing last night...when Zero tried to kill me. The clothes I wore were still damp from the bathwater, making my skin itch.

"What...?" My disbelieving eyes took in the land around me, lips trembling at what it could mean.

Wherever I was, it was outside of Genesis. Green stretched further than I could see, trees towering in the sky at a distance. Pine scented the air sweetly, like a light kiss to my nose. None of that was what I really saw though.

It was the death surrounding me.

Hares shredded to pieces, squirrel's half eaten discarded, even a skunk laid askew...all of them left in the area surrounding me. I guess I knew why I felt so heavy now, because I had eaten more than my weight in wildlife.

Made me wonder how I managed to take down the deer by myself. Would have thought that itself would have been enough.

I felt myself shake as I tried to figure out what it meant. Questioning how I managed to make it this far out here, why didn't I remember? Dread pooled inside me when all the memories compiled together, piece together things I didn't want to see.

All it did was force up the rest of my stomach's contents.

An early dew settled across the ground around me. At any other time, I would admire its scent. Normally, I wasn't fond of it but today I found it oddly...comforting. Maybe because it hid the sight of the mangled animals I'd torn through.

Surprise filled me at how easy I found it to stand. Better yet, I didn't even feel tired in the slightest. I was torn between feeling horrified, and intrigued by myself. The grass felt good against my bare feet as I started to walk.

Right now, I didn't want direction. I just wanted to distance myself from where as I was, as much as possible.

Blood matted my hair together, drying it hard. It itched at the skin around my face as I walked through the forestry ahead, and something felt different. Not about the area around me, but something inside me had changed.

It's...hard to explain.

Weightlessness made every step I took lighter. It was shedding the pressure on me when I woke up, and now all that was left, was energy. Maybe I should hunt more, because this felt amazing.

Yet, I knew the hunting alone didn't do this.

I tried to piece together what happened last night. Zero's blurry features from above the water filled my mind. How her hands had forced me under the water until it consumed me. After that, all I could see in my mind was darkness.