The Diseased Heart

Chapter 21

The flimsy metal handcuffs restraining my arms in front of my body were barely strong enough to hold me now, my instincts surged with every passing minute. I really wish I could have had a chance to hunt those rabbits, or do something with that wolf thing that attacked Olive.

Clementine had filled me in on her condition. She was completely fine. A medicine was derived from the Crawler virus, one that does not infect the humans it is given to, but instead allows them to heal wounds much faster, like Crawlers can. This allowed Olive to be saved from her fatal wound, and she will walk out with minimal scarring. She told me that if I hadn't made such a scene, they wouldn't have been called to deal with me, and Olive would have died.

It was a chilling thought, that I was so close to nearly making the wrong choice before the extent of her injury was made apparent to me.

I snapped out of my own mind when I heard a shrill yelp, looking around, I realized I had snarled at a passing scientist while in my trance. It was a good thing I still had the brace around my torso containing my Crawler legs.

"What is that thing doing here?! I thought it was killed!"

Clementine was still gripping tightly onto my arm, keeping me from lunging at the prey who the virus believed was challenging me, "She was able to survive, and now we realize how killing her would be a grave mistake. She, being a Crawler, has the virus we need to make the regenerative medicine. The only reason they are currently not restrained in the cell is because, as you can tell, they need to feed. Now unless you want to make her loose control and become food yourself, I suggest you step aside and let us pass."

The woman was suddenly shocked with fear and quickly stepped to the wall, allowing our passing. Clementine pulled me with her, with my human mind wanting to follow her, but my Crawler body wanting to show the offending human why we were at the top of the food chain.

Thankfully, as we walked in opposing directions, the urges faded with distance. A sudden, familiar scent began flooding the air, drowning back the smells of cleaning products and unfamiliar humans.

"You're alive!"

I whipped my head around only to be tackled, nearly falling backwards. I held back a snarl of rage and merely growled at the surge of my hungry instincts. When I was finally able to process what I was seeing, what had tackled me, they had already let go and backed up, "Sorry, forgot about the hunger thing."

It took me an extra second to fully process what was before me. Olive, alive and well, from what I could tell. She was acting like her usual self, and, thankfully, her scent didn't show I had unknowingly infected her.

I still was unable to speak, the most I could manage now would be a snarl, indecipherable even in the Crawler language. I just smiled at Olive, hoping my relief carried through. She smiled back at me, I hoped that meant she understood.

She looked down at my hands, which were still held by the thin metal cuffs, "I feel like I had something to do with that..."

I shook my head. I wished I could tell her otherwise that the brace and the handcuffs were only in place to make sure I could not snap and go on a rampage. Clementine agreed it was merely a precaution at this point in time, "No, Olive, this is not because of you. This is to protect everyone around us from their instinctive hunger at the moment."

"Oh, well, I'm so glad you're okay! They said you were dead, they said they killed you! I felt like it was my fault, you were trying to help me, and all of that happened to you!"

I let out a shallow growl to stop her, and put my hands out, motioning for her to calm down. The last thing I wanted was for Olive to leave this fiasco with more mental scarring than physical scarring.

"I'm glad you are alright Olive, and I'm sure she is too, she just can't speak yet. Would you like to come with us? Once she feeds she would be able to communicate properly."

Olive nodded eagerly and Clementine began leading me again, she followed behind us. I looked around the area, I was able to smell outside, but I couldn't tell from where. It may have been from an air vent, or from a door or window far off. I couldn't tell, but my Crawler side wanted to be out of this confined space with so many humans, and they wanted it now.

I finally let a snarl escape my throat, causing both Olive and Clementine to jump, they both began walking faster as a result. I was clenching my fists and jaw tightly, and trying not to slip into another trance where my instincts would take hold. It was much harder than I had expected.

The minute the cuffs were unlocked, I bolted. I was in a fenced off area of the forest, but I knew there would be prey here. I needed something. Smelling the air, I could pick up several raccoons, mice, and small birds. But I also caught a scent I hadn't caught for, technically, three hundred years.

I couldn't use my Crawler legs, but I could still climb. I began climbing a small tree with low branches before jumping to a larger one at the proper height. This tree had stronger branches and was easier to climb, it was also closet to my prey.

Moving as silently as I could, I shifted across the branches, and locked my eyes on my target. Taking the lack of my Crawler legs into account, I prepared to lunge.

The creature began to move from its perch, and I took my opening. I lunged towards the eagle and grabbed onto it, swiftly snapping its neck around to kill it as quick as possible.

I barely wasted a second before tearing into the bird.