The Corrupted Soul

Chapter 2

I quickly pulled a pillow over my face. I just had to wake up with a beam of light directly over my eyes, didn't I? The sun must be sentient, there was no other way such a thing was possible.

I felt around the desk for my sunglasses and put them on before sitting up, and looking towards the window, the clouds were still covering the sky, but the sun from behind them still managed to find me. I hissed at myself for forgetting to close the curtains last night. Aside from the wake up call, I was surprised I slept as long as I did, it seemed to be about six hours of uninterrupted sleep, during the night. I definitely was not complaining.

I stood up and stretched a bit, ignoring the silent protests from the bruise on my hip. It would fade before the day was over, but for now, it was simply an annoyance. Had I been human, I would likely be unable to walk for days without a limp from falling that hard off a rooftop. Many joke that Crawlers were part salamander due to our impressive regenerative abilities.

Leaving the bedroom, and closing the door behind me, I walked down the hall towards the kitchen and living room where I could smell and hear Olive and her mother, Perry. As I rounded the corner, Martian immediately jumped up from his bed to run towards me, barking happily with his tail wagging. I chuckled and kneeled down to pet the young pitbull as he squirmed in his excitement.

Olive looked over, unsurprised that I had spent the night, "I take it the storm didn't let up for most of the night then?"

I looked up at her and nodded, "You have no idea, I slipped off a rooftop because of the snow near Saffron Street. I had to walk the rest of the way here."

"Eesh, that's gotta suck. I hope the others had better luck getting around. Though, if anyone was out, it would have been Felix, and that guy likes snow a little too much."

I simply nodded, Perry sipped at her coffee, "Speaking of the others, how has your search been going, for those Shadow Ferals?"

Olive sighed, "Not great. More reports come in almost biweekly, but there is just as little evidence of their existence."

I absently scratched Martain's ears, "I swear, I would think this was all some sort of really elaborate, and annoying, hoax if several people hadn't sent us evidence."

We, in fact, had assumed it was all fake until several weeks ago, when someone sent us security footage from their front porch clearly showing a large figure darting down the street, barely visible as it passed in front of the streetlights and obstructed their view from the camera. It was clearly a Crawler, but couldn't be any of us three. It was too large to be Olive, too hidden to be Felix - who always walked on the sidewalk- and the footage was dated at a time I had been helping Clementine in the lab.

The scientist had been quite baffled by the footage, though it only showed a shadowy figure running down a street, it was clear it was a Crawler, as their Crawler legs were visible as they passed in front of the streetlight. It put many of us on edge. The footage we received from someone's dash cam on the opposite side of the city days later didn't help any, as it was just as shadowy as the first video.

Martian seemed to notice my distraction, as he reared up and put both his front paws on my shoulders before licking my face. I sputtered and pushed him back, "Ever heard of personal space, dude?"

Perry and Olive chuckled as Martian resumed bouncing around me, occasionally barking in an attempt to get me to play with him. He was lucky he was so cute, that, and the fact that the virus in my blood was only dangerous for Humans. Olive turned to her mother, "Since Marty is all jumpy, and it is pretty nice out despite the snow, I think it would be a good idea to take him down to Riverview for a bit of a walk."

Perry took another sip of her coffee and shrugged, "As long as you two are willing to do that, I don't see a problem with it. Saves me from doing it later, plus he loves the snow, and I'm not too sure where I left all the tools in the backyard."

Perry had managed quite well with the news of her husband attempting to murder their daughter, and the entire human race to boot. She was of course crushed, but she got over it quite quickly. She seemed to realize she didn't want to give that waste of a man any more time in her mind. She had begun renovating their backyard to be more her style, including changing their shed from his office into her workshop. I was not surprised she had tools possibly scattered around the yard, she was a talented woodworker, but a disorganized one.

Olive walked to the door and grabbed Martian's harness from the small basket, and he practically bolted to her, excited to go for a walk. The year old dog should have outgrown some of his puppy energy by now, but clearly he didn't agree with that sentiment.

It only took Olive a moment to clip his harness on and affix the leash to it. She tossed me a thick jacket from the coat rack, and I caught it easily. I left this jacket here specifically for colder days like this. It was more a thick pullover than a winter coat, perfect for Crawlers. Each winter, our Crawler legs grew coarse fur to keep in the warmth, and it would shed again as the weather got warmer.

Olive opened the front door, her own coat half pulled on, only for Martian to decide she was taking too long and bolt out the door himself, she jerked ahead as his leash tugged on her arm. I chuckled, waved to Perry, before following Olive. Perry closed the door behind us.