Marien's POV
"Take this, honey." My mom's voice... "Don't forget to bring your books. You plan to study more than I do, don't you?" she said with amusement.
"Yes. I'm going to graduate with honors, don't worry," I replied, happy.
When I woke up, I felt heavy. The deathly silence reigned. I turned cautiously after feeling a chill and was suddenly relieved to see Anthony still there, showing peace in his face. He was really close, and I could admire him in detail.
Mom, if you knew what was next to me...
I barely smiled, bringing my hand closer to his, which was resting nearby. I went over its details. His claws seemed to be barely growing. He gave a slight growl at that moment, and I froze. He frowned, opened his eyes, and I blushed. Surprised, he looked at me with those big feline green eyes like a curious and cute cat.
I heard a giggle, turned around, and saw my aunt's two children peeking out of the bed edge. I cried in surprise and practically jumped away from Anthony, falling off the bed.
Anthony picked me up off the ground without difficulty. My cousins were laughing on the floor, and they ran out of the room after a few seconds.
Anthony was watching me worriedly.
"I'm fine, don't worry," I said. "Good morning."
"Good morning, miss," he replied with that voice I liked.
We got ready to leave; we kept our things in the backpack. My aunt started preparing breakfast as soon as she woke up. Anthony left my bag on the sofa and sat beside me at the table. My cousins were in front, and my aunt at the head. There was milk, bread, cold cuts, cheese and other dairy products, jam, fruits, and fried eggs. Anthony tried a little of everything I was offering him, but he didn't leave the milk aside, of course.
What would I expect if I traveled with him? Maybe my mom would have known.
Had he really escaped from his society to see humans? Or was it something else? I wanted to know more about him.
***
Anthony already had my backpack and offered me a slight smile. My aunt handed us two food containers and gave me some special pills that counteracted drugs like those used by security guards to sedate the evolved people.
"Thank you," we both said.
"Sorry for the inconvenience," I added.
"Don't worry. Please let me know when you arrive in the capital."
"Yes, I'll do it when I can."
We said goodbye, left the house, and walked a few blocks.
"I think I have something for you." I took out my sunglasses.
"Why?" he wanted to know.
"Your eyes..."
"Uh, sure." He put them on, and I smiled.
"You look great!"
"Well, I'm not used to having something on my face."
"Oh, you'll handle it."
I patted him gently on the shoulder, and we continued to the city exit. The guards would think we were trying to kill ourselves by leaving, but we wouldn't be the first to do so, so it wasn't a problem. Getting out of the city was another new form of suicide. However, the extremists also liked to travel on foot and thus prove themselves. There was everything.
"So... You ran away, huh?" I wanted to know more about him.
"Yes."
"Won't they try to find you?"
"No. They are not interested in what each one does, almost." Almost? "I hadn't planned on ending up trapped. That night, I thought about my disappointed mother..."
"You see? Your mom does care about you," I accused him.
"No, she... I shouldn't dishonor her anymore, that's all." Dishonor her. What the heck was he referring to? "Don't worry about those things. Then, you showed up, and, as I told you before, I think you are different, so it didn't bother me when you came closer." He barely smiled. "And you kept looking for me day by day..."
I blushed and smiled too.
"You were making me curious." Then, I remembered something else. "Julio said he had seen your pupils," I commented.
"Yes. I made that mistake. They were small and round, but sometimes they returned to their natural shape because my transition phase had just started. When I woke up, a few days passed, so you no longer saw them and didn't believe him." He laughed lightly.
I laughed with him.
"Yes, poor Julio. He might be thinking he had hallucinated."
"What about you?" He looked at me. "Did you suspect something?"
"Not at the beginning... I like y—" I stopped talking. I didn't know how much they knew about liking. It seemed that he didn't know much so far. "I thought the color of your eyes was too dazzling to be normal."
"Do you like my eyes?"
There was a particular amusement in his question, and I noticed that he did know what it was to 'like,' but of course, not if he knew the romantic way.
"Yes. I like them," I replied and winked at him.
I could see his cheeks starting to show a slight blush, and his lips curved into a smile.
"I think I like that you like them. I thought they scared you," he commented.
It was the first time I had detected any shyness in his soft, low voice, and it was the first time I had made him blush. I smiled happily.
We got to the border. Security men inspected the wall and took notes on the virtual boards, so we kept walking. I assumed they were investigating how the Evolved got in last night. We were near a slightly marginal area of the city. Anthony pointed to his right, and I turned to see what he wanted to show me.
Some people had built their houses next to the wall, which was forbidden, but since our local Security Ward branch didn't take things seriously, they overlooked it. Besides, people hated following the rules, and if the government told them something, they began to claim and fight. Then, people complained about the problems EH caused and wanted them to solve them.
"They certainly used those houses' roofs. If I get closer, maybe I can still smell them," said Anthony.
"I see. Because houses are so close, people asked the government not to invade their privacy by surrounding this area with security patrols, so it is practically no man's land," I explained.
I saw a boy crying near the guardhouses next to the great wall, and I walked over right away, letting Anthony go to investigate.
"Is something wrong, little one?"
"My daddy," he whimpered.
"What happened to him?" I wiped his tears, looking around.
"Dad wanted to get money, and he left."
"Get money?" There was no money out there, only death.
"What happened, little children? Are you lost?" asked a man.
I looked up and saw three men, very bad-looking.
"We are fine, thank you," I replied reluctantly.
I took the boy's hand and wanted to move towards the house, but he stopped me.
"Let's see, let's see. I heard money, and you will give it to me if you have it."
"Mind your business." I wanted to walk away again, but he pulled me hard. "Let me go!"
"I'll take that boy. I saw him first, and they will give us good money for him!"
"NO!"
They seized the crying boy and picked him up to take him. I elbowed the man, and he released me. He was angry, rubbing his jaw.
"Stupid!" He attacked me with his knife, but Anthony grabbed his arm, stopped him suddenly, and punched him.
The man fell a few feet further, unconscious. The other two were stunned, dropped the boy, and fled in less than a second. I was shaking.
"Anthony," I looked at him.
He looked at the guy lying on the ground, perhaps waiting for him to get up. An evolved would, but a human could be knocked out with a single blow. I wasted no more time and ran to the little boy.
"Daddyyyy," he kept crying.
"Are you okay?" Anthony asked, approaching.
"The boy has lost his father."
"We must go."
"Let's ask where your dad might be, okay?" I calm the little one.
We reached the south exit. It was an area full of armed guards. Their armored buses and trucks went in and out as well. Guards detained us.
"Identifications, please," ordered one of them.
Perfect, my plan was ruined in seconds. I had entirely forgotten that Anthony was not one of us. I was about to turn around and climb those houses' roofs next to the wall, but Anthony took out an ID and handed it to the guard. I tried to hide my surprise, rummaged for mine and gave it to the man. The guard reviewed them and returned them.
"Minors cannot go out."
The boy began to cry again.
"His father went out a couple of hours ago. He says we need to go get him and bring him back."
The man looked incredulous.
"He may have gone to look for evolved humans. You guys don't seem to be capable of hunting EH."
"What?"
"Lately, people go out looking for them. I heard some psychopath offers a lot of money for one alive."
That was impossible.
"That's illegal. It has to be just stories."
"Well, it's a fact that people go out. In the end, they don't make it, and we have to bring their bodies during our rounds at dusk."
The door opened, and the boy ran.
"STOP HIM!" the guard yelled, but Anthony pulled my arm, and we ran too. "Hey!"
They didn't chase us. I assumed they didn't really care what happened to us; they just fulfilled their formalities, and that was it. Anthony stopped when he saw I had already gotten tired after running a good stretch, fearing they would shoot tranquilizer darts.
The child was waiting for us. I saw the beautiful forest that welcomed us, the scent, and the sound of the birds. Those things were not seen in the city. Nature had claimed what had been hers. The new road avoided the mountains to prevent ambushes since the sea had taken the coasts from us.
"Did you still have the identification?" I asked Anthony. I remembered Marcos said he had one.
We walked around looking for any clues that a human was nearby. We had entered the forest, following Anthony because he knew where he was going, thanks to his nose.
"You didn't think I'd infiltrate humans without having an ID, did you?"
"Sir, why are you wearing sunglasses?" asked the boy next to him.
"It is because of the light," I replied.
I noticed how the boy looked at him with curiosity. Anthony looked at him too, and the little boy seemed frightened and looked straight ahead.
"Why was your dad looking for money out here?" I wanted to know.
"He said it was a good quantity for my university. I know he's going to make it. It's just that I'm scared. The monsters are out here."
I tightened my lips. Yes, the monsters...
Anthony looked attentively to the left side, and I knew he had smelled something immediately. Again, I was dragged into reality. This was not a storybook forest with butterflies and little birds.
"What?"
He put his index finger on his lips, implying that I should be silent, and I did so. We kept moving forward, and soon, he put his arm in front of us to stop us. I saw blood on the ground, and an awful feeling enveloped me.
"DAD!" The boy ran out of my grip. I ran after him and was shocked.
A dead man was on the ground. The boy uttered a piercing scream, and I covered my mouth.
'Ma'am, we regret to inform you that your parents were killed in today's attack.'
No...
I fell to my knees with tears in my eyes. 'They were beasts...' I remembered what everyone said. They were wild and ruthless.
Anthony took the boy, scaring him.
"Hey, what—?!" He handed him to me and lifted us into his arms. "LET GO!"
I felt like falling and landed on some leaves, hugging the crying child.
Anthony started growling, scaring me more. I held the boy against me when I saw an evolved man a few feet away. There was blood on his face. He wiped it off with his forearm and showed a sinister smile. His clothes seemed handmade, and his hair was somewhat long. His eyes' irises were of a hideous smoke-white color. He looked like something out of a horror movie.
"Do you want to steal my prey?" he questioned. "Isn't the one you have enough?"
I covered the boy's mouth and stepped back as soon as they both rushed to fight. I huddled behind a bush. Someone bumped into the tree next to me, and I recognized Anthony's stifled scream. The thick tree had been shaken, so dirt and leaves fell on me. Anthony had returned to the attack when I peeked out to see, worried.
This evolved man looked older and very strong, but Anthony was fast and skillful, dodging and jumping with great agility. He dodged a blow and responded with another. I was distressed when the man caught and bit him on the forearm. Anthony drowned out his pain by clenching his teeth and giving him a sharp blow in response.
The EH staggered a few steps and furiously spat blood onto the ground. Anthony had marked his face with his claws. Again, he launched at the man, knocking him over and hitting him. The other hit, too, throwing him aside. The man crouched down and attacked, but Anthony, faster, dodged him, and the man crashed to the ground. Anthony lunged and started slamming him head-first into the dirt.
'Wild and ruthless...'
Anthony pushed him to the ground to suffocate him against it, and the other tried to scratch unsuccessfully for being weak and with his face against the soil. Anthony only had fury in those eyes, which I didn't like, which made him stop looking like him.
Anthony, please...
The boy was crying nonstop behind me.
"Anthony, stop!" I shouted, but he wouldn't stop growling while the other stopped fighting little by little, scratching the ground.
'They are monsters...'
"ANTHONY!"
Without realizing it, I was already a foot away from him. Anthony released the evolved man, who began to cough.
"I'll kill you and your human," the man growled with difficulty.
Trembling, I took a couple of steps back.
Anthony gave another growl of fury. That noise made me shudder at the low sound frequency it had, the sound of my nightmares. In one second, he grabbed the man's right arm and twisted it, pulling back, dislocating the joint. I cringed at the roar of pain and covered my ears.
"Damn you!" cried the EH.
I looked again. Anthony was standing, and the EH writhed on the floor in pain, complaining.
"Anthony..." I murmured.
He looked at me. The bloodstains on his face and clothes...
The child's cry made me react, and I ran to see him. He closely watched us, and I had to be strong for him. He had already suffered enough.
"It's okay. It's okay..."
"He is also a monster," he sobbed.
"N-no... No, he's on our side. Calm down. You'll be fine. We will take you back, okay?"
"Go ahead. I'll get rid of him," Anthony murmured coldly.
"Will you kill him?" I asked, scared.
He raised an eyebrow.
"I know you're thinking about it, but I'm not a murderous psychopath. I'll knock him unconscious if the pain didn't do it first," he smiled. "Then, I'll leave him tied to a rock."
"Okay, that's pretty psycho already," I mumbled. "Just leave him away, please."
He gave a slight laugh and left.
I easily forgot what he was. My aunt was right. I couldn't predict what he was going to do. His eyes could be very expressionless when he wanted to, and the fury that emanated when they fought was... Terrifying.
Had he killed others before? What was he really like? How did he know they were difficult to kill? In the end, they were similar to jungle predators. Unpredictable, uncontrollable.
I wondered if he could control that fury... Or was I in the same danger as my parents?