Chapter Twenty-Four

I wake up without opening my eyes at first, feeling how sore and heavy my body is, especially the arms, like two blocks of ice were attached to my body in replacement of them, weighing down on me.

Then a sound, very subtle, makes me flinch a little, followed by some touching, something fuzzy brushing, a weight on my chest and then a wetness…

I grunt and everything stops as I open my eyes ever so slowly, the sky barely dark in waiting for the rising sun, the sunlight shinning their saber light as if trying to conquer the fleeing night.

Then I finally remember why I was down on the ground feeling like shit.

And why Kira was on top of me, her snout barely touching my skin, cold and wet.

I sit up slowly as she goes and lays on my side, seemly tired, but even though I move slowly it was still far too quickly for me which makes me dizzy for a moment, but once I caught my breath I look down at her once more, her tired slim figure waggling her tail at me.

I was so happy for seeing her there, by my side, and yet strangely feel like crying at that moment.

"Good girl, good girl." I say, stroking her, only to realize… That I was touching her with my bare fingers, petting her smooth fur and feeling her texture and warmth for the first time.

And yet, the clothes, the protection I usually use… they seemed odd, 'wrong', to me now, which makes me frown.

I did not bother with the details for now, I only embraced that new strange feeling as I caress her.

Yet I know, I could smell on her, a sickening, almost rotten smell, that she was very close to the turning point where we wouldn't be able to save her anymore, where no medicine will take her out of.

I slowly stand, then take her back to the sofa to have a once over her as I think; here the hell can we get her medicine? The hospitals are probably or already scavenged or too full of the undead for us to reach.

My only hope may lay that none had the courage to enter this big town, or that none survived enough to get in and out, especially with that special zombie around.

That's when I stop to wonder about what had just happened. The zombie was outright savage and chaotic, bound to kill me in her frenzy, but suddenly simply… stopped? Could that have something to do with the dog on her head; being her head rather.

Was it because of Kira? If so… could it have had something even scarier and thrilling like some level of consciousness in her undead brain?

Guess I would never know.

I look at my arms now, turning and looking as if seeing them for the first time, and they were… fine. Reddish, soft as baby skin, sensitive as such, even more where Kira touched it, even the brushing of her soft fur, but otherwise they were fine.

What bothered me the most was this growing hunger at the pit of my stomach, as if someone had squished me dry, putting their weight on my belly and emptying it like a balloon, without resistance.

It was underrated to say that I was hungry.

I was starving.

A rumbling sound resonated on the empty apartment, and it took me a second to realize that I was growling low, a hand on my belly as the sensation was on the frontier of being painful.

With forced steps I reach the kitchen of the place, open up in American style with a counter separating, and reach out for the cabinets, throwing out without care whatever could be in the way; pans, cups, everything in a lousy clattering of sounds until I found the canned food, lined up nicely and probably protected by a very angry zombie for years, and finding their purpose now.

And I ate. And ate. And ate, until I couldn't keep counting the amount anymore, until a pile of cans was added to the mess I had made, until I could breathe without feeling that my stomach was glued to my back.

I stood there for a second, breathing in, breathing out, and I could somehow feel that something had changed, that I was not the same as before, as if I had been on the edge of a cliff.

And had just jumped out.

And the healed wounds on my arms were proof of that.

I look around with a newfound curiosity, but beyond the darkness my vision stayed mostly the same, taking off the need for glasses though.

But the smells… the sounds… They were excruciating strong.

My head would shot for the side from time to time, thinking that I zombie was by my side when the sound was coming from down the street, the buzzing of a fly from the other side of the room making me flinch as if wanting to shush it away.

But nothing could compare to the smells.

The sound I could somewhat manage; they were louder, yes, but known, familiar, but the smells… they were so odd to me, so abnormal, that I could not tell more than half of the things that were reaching my nostrils.

And even more, the smell of decay did not bother me anymore. Is not like I cannot feel it anymore, is only that it is more on the… natural side, as I would smell anything else, not troubling me anymore.

I approach Kira with small steps, too delighted in this new world that every step sounded loud in my ears, a gosh of wind bringing a world of odors unknown to me, yet intriguing nonetheless.

And that why, for being so thoughtful of my surroundings, that I find something hanging on the wall that I did not look at before, that gave me the answer to what I was looking for; When I saw a University Degree, with their complex symbols shinning over beautiful calligraphy, and the writing Veterinary in caps taking their time to sink in into my mind.

Of course!

The hospitals may or may not have been scavenged, but the veterinarian clinics had an even smaller chance of being searched!

With renewing strength and shining eyes I look at Kira, and nodding to myself I fix the bag; now mostly empty; so that Kira could stay in more comfortably, and set foot to find the place.

It was strange how, at that moment, I did not think of waiting for the Mutt to return, on how, filled with confidence and power, this… werewolf thing seemed like spiders crawling under my skin, giving me an electric static sensation that feels like an adrenaline shot, an impulse that made me sure that I was capable of anything I wanted to do.

That's why I did not question it; that's how I simply jumped out of the window without giving a second look to the height or the zombies beneath.

On how I felt strong, free, but most of all, alive.

I feel the wind, smelling the air and, with Luna's help, we follow the smells of medicine that a clinic would have as we jump around.

And as for the mutt, he could wait for me to come back… because Kira could not wait anylonger.