The Diseased Heart

Chapter 30

I was startled when I had first heard the scream from behind the wall, causing me to jump to my feet and run to the window. The sight inside was brutal.

Olive was seizing on the floor, or at least it appeared that way. The expression she wore was one of pain and terror as blood began to pour from her mouth slowly. I averted my eyes as a large burst of blood spurted from her mouth and another scream erupted from the room. No sooner did she scream a third time, and the sounds of bones shattering and cracking echoed through my mind.

The scream turned to a screech slowly, and was followed suit by snarling and growling. I looked back through the glass so see a blood soaked Crawler staggering around the similarly coated room. It reminded me of Raven's turning. As the newly formed, frail Crawler began to collapse, I opened the door silently and spoke in a chain of growls and hisses. "Don't worry, Olive. It's over now."

She hissed weakly in confused response and fell to the floor, out cold. I sighed slowly and got out a small package from my pocket. Olive had several minutes at the least before she awoke. Frankly, I was glad she had taken the calm route rather than the destroy-everything-in-sight route.

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Nearly ten minutes had passed before Olive began to stir. I was perched in the upper corner of the room with my Crawler legs splayed out. The weak Crawler, half bled out, sat up in confusion. No doubt Olive was getting a flood of instinctual reactions, as well as her enhanced senses, not to mention, she was scared. She likely couldn't remember what happened to lead to this at the moment.

She sat up on her knees and looked around bleary-eyed. Raising her shaky, blood coated hands so she could see them, her breathing and heartbeat picked up. At least we know she's still sane.

Her blackened eyes scanned the room, and locked with mine before she scrambled to the back corner instinctually. With a faint, threatless hiss, I tossed the package towards her. As it hit the ground it broke open, allowing her to catch the scent of raw fish.

She recoiled at first, but her Crawler side wasted no time tearing the package open further and devouring the meat. Once she had, it was visibly easier for her to control her instincts and her fear diminished.

She glanced back at me in faint confusion and attempted to speak, but all she managed was a snarl. Both her hands covered her mouth hastily.

I chuckled, "You'll get used to it."

Her response was another snarl and half a growl before she covered her mouth again. I climbed down the wall and kneeled down, "Try to follow your instincts. Sometimes they offer actual help, you have to learn to override them when your gut tells you to."

She blinked in surprise at being able to understand my speech as words. A long pause followed before she attempted any response, "I can....under..stand...you?"

I nodded, "Now you're a Crawler, you can understand our language. You'll need to practice a bit to get the hang of it, and more complex speech will come with it, like what I'm using right now. For the time, you'll have to speak in more...somewhat broken English."

"Why...Why can't I...speak...normal?"

"You can speak human, but your instincts are unusually high at the moment because of your recent turning. Once they calm down more, you'll be able to speak with a bit of a gravelly voice."

She nodded and looked at her Crawler legs, she flexed a few of them, "This is...strange..."

"I know, you'll get used to it soon. The enhanced senses also have a bit of a learning curve."

"What about...others?"

"I'm not sure yet about any other Crawlers, I've been here with you since you turned. I will have to go check on all the others though, and I'm not looking forward to it."

She simply nodded in response.

"If you're okay here, I should go check on those others. I will tell Clem about your situation, of course."

She sat up straighter and nodded firmly, "I am...okay."

"Good to know. I'll see you soon, hopefully when you're more in control of yourself." I stood and walled to the door, closing it behind me, but not locking it.

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I growled sharply as the bandages were pulled too tight around my broken hand. Clementine flinched, "Sorry, just give me a moment, I'm almost done."

I nodded wordlessly. Most of the turned patients woke up or calmed down by now, and nearly all went fine. Two were nearly paralyzed in fear at the start, and one was somewhat aggressive with me in confusion, but for her it was all instincts reacting to me trespassing in what they claimed as her territory.

The last one, was not so great. The man was confused, yes, but he was almost entirely in control. They seemed like someone who just got a tattoo and it finally set in just how bad it was, as if they had agreed to the turning without thinking. He attacked me, but being much smaller and having years more of experience as a Crawler, I escaped so he could calm himself. He did manage to tear my shoulder out of its Socket, cut my flesh to ribbons around my hand and forearm, and break several bones in my right hand, however.

I chuckled somewhat, "Thank God I'm a lefty, eh?"

Clementine just shook her head at my attempt at humor.

Maple sat uneasily in another chair, looking to the other side of the expansive room where the twenty or so Crawlers were, along with their families. Some were attempting to walk, others hung themselves on the ceilings.

She looked at me, "You're sure they won't try to eat anyone?"

I gave her an annoyed look, "seriously? I understand the concern, but seriously? They're all sane and trying to save humans, not kill them."

"I know it's just...freaky..."

"Well of course, Humans have a natural fear for Crawlers not only in their own instincts, but you all were taught to fear us, for good reason."

Olive suddenly bolted towards us, skidding to a halt on her newly formed Crawler legs, with a gleeful expression, "This. Is. Amazing!"

Jack stared in disbelief, "You mean you like being a bug person?? I find it way too creepy, having like a hundred legs in my back and eating bloody meat? Not a chance! Uh...no offense, Riley."

I snickered and rolled my eyes, "None taken, Jackass. Either way, it is Olive who's the Crawler, not you. Side note: theres only thirty six legs, not a hundred. And even then, that's the average. I actually only have twenty three extra legs not counting the main six."

"One word; ew."

Olive looked at me, "Most people, including me, are confused about what's going to happen next. Not to mention most of us don't know how to do...Crawler stuff."

I thought for a moment, we had assumed most of the patients would know how to act due to their instincts as all Crawlers had before, but some people may be suppressing their instincts too much to gain the knowledge.

I sighed, "I'm going to have to teach a bunch of adults how to function aren't I."

We all knew the answer, and none of us were looking forward to the next few days.