Only one thing should be feared, The Animals.
It was late, too late for me to even be out but me being well... me I just had to go on a late night snack run. I was on my way back home when I saw it, a person laying almost lifelessly on the ground, blood coming from a scratch on their arm. Without much thinking I rushed over to them, thinking they got into a fight with another person or something, I was far from right.
Once I reached the lifeless body I come to find that it was the body of a beautiful girl with raven colored hair, she had several other injuries but none measured up to the large gash that was bleeding on her arm.
I kneeled down next to her and place her head in my lap, inspecting her for any more injuries. I then checked the pulse to see if she was even alive, luckily she was. I lifted her limp body up off the ground and struggled to carry her to my house, which was only a few houses down. We reached my house and I set her down on the bench I had on my front porch, she let out a soft groan when I laid her down.
I stopped in my tracks and looked at her, worried that she'd wake up and freak out, luckily she didn't, she probably just woke up for a second before passing out again.
I quickly pulled out my house keys and unlocked the door, once I pushed the door open I walked back over the where the raven haired girl laid and picked her back up, carrying her into my house, kicking the door closed behind me.
I laid her down on my couch and went to go retrieve the little medical supplies I had, once I had that in hand I made my way back down to where the strange girl was.
She laid in the same position I had left her in, I crouched down in front of the couch she laid on, I held the small first aid kit in my hands. I opened it up and took out the gauze and rubbing alcohol, I began to clean up the large and small cuts that littered the young woman's body.
Once I had finished cleaning and bandaging up the girl I took a seat in the small arm chair to the right of the couch and waited for the young woman to wake up.
Around twenty minutes later I had fallen asleep but was quickly awoken to the sounds of someone making a groaning noise, I quickly shot up and my eyes landed on the raven haired girl who was now sitting up, looking at her arm with tears in her eyes, she was mumbling something I couldn't understand.
I moved in my seat to get a better look at her, my seat made a creaking noise causing her to jump in her place then looking over to where the noise came from, once her eyes landed on me they widened.
"Who are you?" The raven haired girl with what seems to be green eyes says.
"I'm Y/n and I just found you out in the street and couldn't leave you there" I explained, she looked down at her hands, fiddling with her ring.
"I'm Lauren but you'll regret helping me" She said in a whispered tone as she continued to fiddle with the ring on her finger.
"No I won't" I said, trying to reassure her.
"I was scratched" She whispered, my eyes widened and I knew that at the end of this I would be the one who would end up hurt.
You see there are these creatures that lurk in the dark, The Animals, and one scratch or bite from this breed of human will end badly for you, you have exactly a week before you change and once you change there's no going back.
The change is painful and a very sad process to watch. Each day something about you changes until you completely lose yourself and go mad, then all that's left is your body and a crazy mind.
"I won't let you go through this alone, no one should" I said in a soft tone, hoping it would calm her nerves.
"Okay" She said, I looked into her green eyes and just felt that she would change my life forever.
Day 1: Teeth
I woke up the next morning to a scream, I jumped out of my bed and rushed down to the living room where I had left the raven haired girl for the night.
When I arrived in the living room I found Lauren staring at herself in the mirror, her mouth slightly open.
I walked up behind her and tried to look at what she was seeing. That's when I saw it, her teeth were razor sharp and pointy, they kinda looked like shark teeth. This was stage one of the transformation, only the beginning of all the pain she'd have to go through.
There's no way out of this, once you're infected you can't die, The Animals live forever no matter what.
I watched her as she looked at herself in the mirror, crying her eyes out before I took a step closer to her and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into my embrace.
For the rest of the day she sat in my arms, crying and wishing that this would stop and somehow she would be magically cured.
Sadly that wouldn't happen.
Day 2: Veins
I woke up with Lauren still in my arms, she had cried herself to sleep that night and I was there to hold her the whole time. Lauren's head was in my lap, I looked down at her and instantly my eyes widened, her skin had gone really pale and her veins on her arms were turning a purplish color.
I didn't want to wake her up or frighten her so I kept calm and gently stroked her hair so that she would wake up and know that she was still beautiful.
As the minutes went by the raven haired girl slowly woke up, her pale arm went up and rubbed her eye, wiping the sleep out of her eyes.
I continued to stroke her hair until she sat up, she looked over at me a small smile on her face.
"Sorry I kept you up" She rasped out, her voice still sounding as if she was asleep.
"I don't mind, are you hurting any?" I asked her, my concern lacing my voice.
"Just a little but I'll get use to it" She said then finally looked down at her arms, she jumped and hid them under the blanket I had covered us up with last night.
A tear slipped out of her eye as she looked me in the eyes, fearful of what I could of seen, but I don't care about that, when I look into her eyes I feel a lot of things, I may have only known the girls for about two days but I could only wish that we met under different conditions, preferably ones where she wasn't slowly losing herself and I didn't have to watch.
"You're still beautiful" I said as I wiped her tears away, she went as if she was going to bite her lip but when one of her teeth reached her lip she instantly stopped, her sharp tooth had pricked her lip and a little bit of blood had came to the surface.
She winced in pain and I retracted my hand from her eyes and brought it down to her lip, slowly wiping the little bit of blood away, she bashfully looked away, not daring to look me in the eyes but I wouldn't allow that. I placed my hand under her chin and made her face my direction, forcing her to look me in the eyes, we stayed locked in the stare off for quite some time before both of us were slowly leaning in. We were so close but instead of our lips touching, our forehead bumped against one another, causing us to quickly pull away from each other, rubbing our own foreheads.
"Sorry" We said in unison.
"No I'm sorry I shouldn't do that, I don't know if I could infect you by doing that" She said with a frown.
"You won't" I said in a hushed tone, I cupped her cheeks and pulled her in for a short, loving kiss, putting everything I've got in to this one kiss, it's going to be her one of her last kisses so I have to make it good and it is my first, but I do plan on kissing her a few more times before she's totally gone.
I know you may think I'm crazy for doing this but I want her last sane days to be good days, and I may have a little crush on her, it's not healthy since I know it won't last long seeing as she's slowly changing and soon won't even be herself but this is my chance to be happy, even if it is for under a week.
Day 3: Markings
I was quickly awoken by screaming, Lauren's screaming.
I shot awake and looked over to the other side of the bed and saw Lauren writhing in pain and she held tightly onto her right arm, it was bright red and you could see black markings form onto her arm.
I couldn't do anything but hold her and wipe her tears away, on the third day the infected host would receive the special marking that only The Animal's have, it's like a full sleeve tattoo.
I held her as she cried out in pain as marking burned its way into her skin slowly, I would imagine it being as if someone held a hot iron to your skin and held it there for hours, cause hours was how long it took before her markings were complete.
After her skin stopped burning she laid, exhausted, in my lap. Her legs straddling my lap and her face buried into my neck, I softly stroked her back as she drifted off into a peaceful sleep, it's moments like this were I could imagine us living happily together, maybe in an alternate universe we get that happy ending.
Lauren woke up several hours later, her eyes showed that she was still exhausted but she fought through it and stayed awake.
That night she stayed in my arms and we watched all of her favorite movies, ate her favorite foods and fell asleep in each others arms.
Day 4: Diet
Lauren couldn't keep anything down today, we tried everything. She would eat and the automatically throw it right up, she spent a majority of the day in the bathroom. I had to do some research to find out what changed today, it was the food she was eating, she couldn't eat it anymore, no more of her favorite snacks and foods.
I read online that today was the day that her diet changed and she could only eat meats, cooked or raw it didn't matter, I chose to feed her cooked foods since I really didn't want to have to watch the girl I was falling for eat raw meat.
I place a some uncooked meat in my pan and started cooking it, once I cooked it just right I turned off the burner and place the food on a plate. I set the food on the table and walked over to the bathroom where Lauren sat in front of the toilet in case she threw up again.
"Laur, I made you something" I said, she looked up from the toilet, disgust written all over her features.
"I mean I'm hungry but I really don't want to throw up again" She said and I chuckled.
"Don't worry I did some research and found out what you can eat, meat" I said and a smile appeared on her face, she got up from the floor and followed me to the kitchen table where I had placed her plate of food.
She instantly sat down and dug in, finishing rather quickly. Once she cleaned her mouth and hands up a little bit, she look up at me, she soft green eyes instantly melting my insides, I took a mental image of this moment to remember it forever.
"You're so gorgeous" Slipped from my lips as I admired her, she blushed and looked down at her hands before shaking her head.
"I'm not Y/n, I have fucking shark teeth and black veins, that's not gorgeous" She said but I shook my head.
"Lauren I don't care about how you look, I think you're beautiful inside and out and I will always think that... even when you're not here with me anymore. You're beautiful and that's that" I told the raven haired girl, I noticed a tear slip out of her eye, I quickly wiped it away and pulled her in for a hug.
"Thank you" She whispered in my ear.
I nodded my head and pulled her in for a short loving kiss, we could go much farther then that due to her teeth but I still really enjoyed it.
"You don't have to thank me beautiful" I said after I broke our short lived kiss.
"I know you may not feel the same way but I'm kinda in love with you Y/n, I know we may have only met a few days ago but it's hard not to fall for you..." She rambled on and on about how I was easy to love and how she love me even after the short time we've known each other.
"I'm kinda in love with you too Lauren" I said then gave her a peck on the cheek "I just wish we had more time" I said honestly, she nodded then pulled me in for a long hug.
We stayed that way for a long while until it was time to sleep.
Day 5: Smell and Hearing
All day Lauren has had this expression of pain on her face, it seemed as if ever time she breathed it would hurt her.
"Laur? Are you okay?" I finally asked
She shook her head and turned the other way, not facing me anymore.
"What's wrong?" I asked, all I got was a head shake. I decided that since Lauren wasn't talking that I'd have to look up and see what change she went through today.
It was her sense of smell, it was heightened and she craved the blood that was in my veins.
Her hearing was heightened as well so she could literally hear the blood pumping through my veins as if it were teasing her.
Online it said that there was one way I could prevent and take away her heightened sense of smell for a little while, I could put vapor rub under her nose, like you do when you have a stuffy nose. It said that that would block out the smells and it would hurt less, I instantly went over to my bathroom counter and grabbed the vapor rub, walking back over to Lauren I crouch in front of her and she turned the other way, the look of pain washed over her once more.
"Laur I found something that will make it hurt less" I whispered from behind her.
She turned around, her green eyes screaming for me to help her, her eyes looked away from mine and were locked at one of my pulse points.
I pulled out the vapor rub and got some on my finger then proceeded to rub it on her upper lip and around her nose.
"I'm sorry there's nothing I can do for the hearing part except for give you some headphones or ear plug's" I said and she silently thanked me, she leaned in a quickly pecked my lips. Once she pulled away a permanent smile was etched on my face for the rest of the day.
"I love you Y/n" She said before she closed her eyes and went to sleep.
"I love you too" I whispered, still in a bliss from the kiss I had received from the green eyed girl.
Day 6: Eyes
I woke up to a tapping on my face, I opened my eyes and was met with Lauren's now bloodshot green eyes.
"I'm sorry for waking you, I just don't want to be alone, it's my last day and I want to spend as much of it as I can with you" She said and I practically melted at the girl with the sharp teeth and sleeve of a tattoo, it's who she was know and I have accepted the fact that my time with her was limited, I would just have to make the most of it.
"You look sleepy" I said and she nodded.
"I kinda am but my eyes are just like this now, sadly" She said with a frown, her eyes were one of my favorite things about her but they were still beautiful no matter what, just like her.
Most of the day we cuddled and messed around, we shared a few occasional short kisses here and there but that was it, for dinner Lauren made me her favorite food that she would eat when... well she could eat regular food.
As the day continued on you could tell Lauren was losing herself, she was slowly forgetting everything she once knew, if you would've asked her who her parents are, she couldn't tell you the answer.
Her eyes also look as if they were getting more and more irritated, progressively getting redder and redder.
I was loosing her.
Day 7: Mind
All night I stayed up with Lauren, spending even last second with her until she was fully gone. it wasn't until 11:30am the next morning until she was gone, none of the Lauren I once knew was there anymore, all that was there was crazy.
I cried as I had to open the door so she could leave, once the door was open she ran out, using every thing in her not to hurt me in anyway but it was too late for that I was already heart broken, it wasn't her fault, if anything it was mine I knew what I was getting into the minute she told me she was scratched but I don't regret one minute of it, they were some of the best days of my life.
When I noticed that Lauren was fading fast I gave her one last kiss and told her that I will always love her, I wanted her to know that I loved her, I could only hope that it stuck with her even when she lost her mind and ran out of my house.
I didn't want to open the door and let her go but she begged me, she didn't want to hurt me, she knew she would because she couldn't help it, it was in The Animal's nature to hurt, it's all they knew.
She begged me to open the door, her last word to me will be forever imprinted in my mind.
"Y/n please let me go, I'm a crazy fucking Animal and I don't want to hurt you, please Y/n i'm begging you."
1460 Days Later:
"Stupid piece of shit" I yelled at my car as it slowly came to a stop, right in the middle of a road that was four blocks away from my house, I let out a sigh and checked the time, 7:37pm.
I was fucked either way, if I stayed in my car The Animals would find me and find some way to break into my car to get to me, I have a better chance of making a run for it and attempt to get back to my house.
I slowly opened up my car door, trying not to make any noise, I succeeded and took off running towards my house. I had to cut through an alley way to get to my house and that's when it all happen, I was suddenly trapped against the wall, something pinning me there.
I had my eyes closed, not wanting to see the crazy being that I knew was holding me there.
Slowly I opened up my eyes and saw a pair of bloodshot blue eyes, I scanned their body and saw the same tattoo I had seen all but four years ago on the love of my life, the skinny male who was holding me against the arm looked as if he had been one of The Animals for far much longer then just a couple years, his skin was sagged and he had plenty of scars.
I closed my eyes once more and accepted the fact that I would be dead soon enough, that or he would turn me.
From a distance I could hear rushed footsteps, the skinny man who was much stronger than he looked was suddenly pushed off of me, landing on the floor a few feet away from me. My eyes instantly opened I was confused as to what had happen.
I saw a black figure hovering over the skinny crazy man, growling, the blue eyed man cowered in fear, he instantly got up and ran the opposite direction.
The black figure turned around and walked towards me, twitching slightly.
As The Animal got closer to me I could see that it was a woman, not just any woman though, it was the woman who I had fallen in love with all those years ago.
Her raven hair was a much longer but her bloodshot green eyes were still the same as I remember.
She had a slight smirk on her face, she walked closer to me, still twitching slightly.
Her mouth parted slightly, showing my her razor sharp teeth. She instantly shook her head and place her face in her hands, tugging at her hair slightly.
She released one of her hands from her hair and pointed towards the exit of the alley, I nodded and got the idea of what she mean't, she was telling me to leave and now.
I gave her once last look, love in my eyes but my heart was feel that heartbreak all over again, it was as if she was leaving again but this time it was me leaving.
The whole way back to my house I thought about how she remembered me, wasn't she suppose to lose all her memories?
Once I arrived home I instantly went to my computer and did some research for the last time
The Animals only remember the one they loved most
A/n:
I didn't proof read the last part cause I literally fell asleep on the keyboard... oops. I just wanted to get this posted before I forget, hope it was okay if not just lie to me haha