The Infected Mind

Chapter 12

Without looking up from the knife in her hands, she spoke to me in a way that brought movie scenes of cops interrogating criminals to mind, "So, the first shot didn't kill you, and the second didn't kill you. I refused to let the others cut your head off like they planned so I decided to keep watch here."

She chuckled grimly, "Should have known you would be too stubborn to just die, although, I guess it is good to know you aren't rotting in that cave. At the same time, I'm sorry we couldn't prevent your pain. Now that you're basically an animal, that makes it all the more difficult. I expected you to be out for a lot longer, I'm surprised you woke up...I guess I can't procrastinate much longer."

There was no way she was serious. This couldn't be happening. I tried to speak to her, but when I opened my mouth all that escaped was a pissed off snarl. I recoiled, staring blankly at Megan, I hadn't meant to snarl at all.

I felt my instincts growing in the back of my mind, urging me to pounce. That helped it click for me. I was sitting, heavily wounded in the same room as an almost completely unarmed human. No wonder my instincts seemed so strong, they were trying to get me to eat and have the strength to heal myself. Crawlers could regenerate almost any wound, but without feeding, it would take as long as a human to heal. The ammount we ate dictated how fast we would regenerate, and my instincts wanted to eat now.

With a heavy sigh, Megan stood up from the armchair. She twirled the knife in her hand a few times, and slowly walked over to where I was tied. My eyes widened and I backed up as much as I could, but she was already standing beside me with the knife, my back pinned against the wall, the end of the knife in my shoulder bumped against it and sent a shock through my body, a pained snarl accompanied it.

She gripped the blade tighter, and I flinched, turning my head away when I saw her swiftly plunge it forward. Instead, I felt her other hand grab the ropes that bound my wrists, and she sawed against it for a moment before pulling back. The rope was still very much intact, but now I had been given a green light to undoing the rest. I looked at her, confused and cautious, but I pulled at the ropes anyway. They barely shifted, several seconds of sawing with a dull steak knife wasn't going to do much to these sturdy ropes. It seemed that Megan was about to step forward again, when I bit down on the rope. She jumped back, surprised by the sudden movement, and now wary of my jaws. It only took me a few seconds before I had bit through the rope, and was able to unfurl the rest.

I glanced up at Megan with suspicious eyes while rubbing my sore wrists, trying to coax my blood to flow back into them. She seemed surprised by the human-esk behavior, or maybe it was the lack of immediate attempts at killing her. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, then asked one of the strangest questions I heard all year, "Those other girls you were traveling with said something about you being a 'sane Crawler'. I don't really know what that means, but if it's what I think, I need you to prove it to me. Could you move your dominant hand?"

Now I understood the knife in my back. It was in my left shoulder blade making it impossible to properly move my arm, so I would instinctively try to use my right arm. Being left handed meant I had to raise my arm with a knife in it, and the intentional motion would be proof of my sanity. A Feral would not only ignore Megan, but would use their uninjured arm ten times out of ten. I had sat there for a moment without doing anything, and Megan stepped closer to me, close enough that I could grab her if I tried. My Crawler mind took hold for a moment.

I was already backed into a corner, figuratively and literally, so I had no way to move away from her. I growled to try and get her to back up, but she didn't heed the warning. She stepped closer still, I snarled at her viciously while reaching out to push her backwards before my mind lost control entirely. I used my left hand. I growled at the immense torment of my arm, the stabbing pain was quite fitting given the circumstances. It actually caused tears to well up in my eyes, which I blinked away quickly. I reached back, trying to see if I could pull the knife out. It was too far down, I could barely reach it.

Megan looked shocked. In a good way. She stared at me for a solid ten seconds, a faint smile appeared on her face. I felt like that was the first time she had smiled in a while. She whispered to herself, "It is you..."

She ran from the room, smashing against the wall for a second. I had to assume she was going to tell the others about me, wherever they were.

No better time than the present. I quickly untied the ropes that fastened my Crawler legs to the wall, having to chew through one of them. I stood up, my back hunched over with the massive ammount of abuse it had taken. Trying to walk with any Crawler legs that weren't the main six was like trying to walk with your hands, as the joints just didn't move the same way, and I wasn't even going to try walking with only three legs. My pride is already bruised enough thank you very much.

I walked over to the window and pulled back the blackout curtains, it was around noon, so I had to shield my face from the sunlight that came through. Damn, I really need to find new glasses. I would have to open the window and run into the woods before I blinded myself again. Once in the shadow of the forest, I would be able to see better, and even better, I could hunt.

I unlatched the window and slid it up, when I heard footsteps behind me running into the room, I turned and froze like a deer in headlights. Megan ran into the room with Travis and Jasmine behind her. Travis had a large scar across his cheek now, and bandaged covering his arms, blood seeping through some spots here and there. He still held his gun at his hip.

Jasmine stared straight at me, with a gasp. She saw me at the window, and knew I was attempting to flee, but definitely realized something wasn't quite Crawler about how I moved.

 I quickly vaulted over the window sill and ran into the woods, when I passed the tree line I looked back to see all three of them at the window, but with Megan looking distraught and afraid. I narrowed my eyes against the light, and mouthed 'I'll be back'. Her expression changed, and I quickly turned and ran into the woods.

That was too close.