The Degenerate (TO BE REWRITTEN...SOON)

CHAPTER 11: The Shepherd

CHAPTER 11: The Shepherd

After being stuck in a desert for hours, I had come to believe three things:

A.) We were lost. Like, really lost. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz lost. Somehow though, I doubted if I kicked the heels of my runners together and mutter 'there's no place like home' I'd end up the warehouse.

B.) We were still in the West Coast. Though the area we were in at the moment didn't totally match up to Carson City's, what with its reddish orange mountains and saguaros, it was relatively close (as compared to New Jersey or something) to our previous location.

C.) Every other degenerate the blades found had been killed, captured, or stranded like us.

I myself was glad that no other soul was around for me to potentially rip the throat out of.

"We have two objectives here," said Anthony in his Captain America tone, "We need to focus on survival. You two," he pointed a dirty finger at Karson and I, "will go look for cactus. Shave them with a sharp rock or something and eat them- save some for us. Phoebe and I will go hunting."

"For what? Lizards and scorpions?" I scoffed, irritated for absolutely no reason than that he was talking.

"No," Anthony rolled his eyes, "ground squirrels. Jack rabbits. Though, actually I guess we could eat lizards and scorpions. Also, if anyone sees any trash or wood, pick it up. Now, our second goal is to find civilization. We'll walk east and see if we can't find any trails or roads. Everybody got it?" I grunted in unison of Karson and Phoebe's yeah's.

We scavenged for food and supplies within the mountains until the sun died, both of us silent. I found a rock chip and used it to shave the thorns off of the cactus pads like Anthony said, the stupid things poking and tearing at my hands. But my mind was left with nothing to be kept with, so it wondered to darker things.

I kept thinking about when I killed that man. His blood- I wanted it. I could still feel it streaming in my throat, the way his heartbeat pressed on my tongue. I remembered LIKING it.

What kind of a person- human- does that? The question bounced on the sides of my head, the answer nothing but irony laughing.

All monsters are human, silly Banner. I flinched at that. Than what the hell did that make me?

Sitting on a rock and shaving cactus pads, I threw up a little in my mouth.

"Banner? Are you okay?" Karson's said, her eyebrows reflexively bunching in concern. Then there was the matter of her- she could never now that I murdered someone. I could bear with Anthony, Phoebe, or even Pete- had he still been alive- to know what I had done. Just not Karson.

I smiled weakily. "I'm fine."

Of course, her having known me since the second grade, Karson knew I was lying. She squinted at me. There was a long pause. I looked back at my hands to continue shaving the cactus, when Karson spoke. "Banner, tell me what's wrong."

I sighed and scraped away at the thorns that continued to make my hands bleed. I felt nauseous. "I guess I'm just scared." I sighed. That wasn't a lie.

Karson laughed bitterly. It didn't suit her. "We're all scared. You're not alone in that."

I smiled, this time trying to put some authenticity in it, as a lead ball of dread wadded in my stomach.

All four of us met up again at around evening. Phoebe came back carrying a pile of twigs and brush, Anthony with a few dead things that looked like that had been ran over.

Anthony, apparently Survivorman of the group, started the fire by using a stick to make a groove in half of a log, going faster until the friction created a spark. I watched his face as he worked on the wood, biceps and forearms clenched and relaxed, the motion causing something to spark in me.