Cautiousness

[And so, we can conclude that this virus has varying effects when it comes to humans, right? Does that mean it's easier to find a cure for this virus? Having various effects means the virus is weaker than we initially assumed, right professor?]

[It depends on the virus. Right now, we can confidently say that it would be much harder to procure a cure for this virus. Why? Because we have no idea what all of its effects are on the human body. That means... this virus has more than one strain, and our knowledge about this said virus had barely scratched the surface. If we managed to discover a cure for this virus, there's a possibility that only one strain of it could get affected. We've seen the various effects of the virus and what it could do to the human body. That means the virus had evolved to the point where the other strains could hardly be related to the original virus.]

[That means... it's basically impossible to find a cure?]

[It is not impossible, per se, but it is incredibly hard. It will require extensive amounts of research as well as an extensive amount of time before we can understand the nature of this virus. However!]

[However?]

[However, if we can get to the origins of the virus, we'll highly likely achieve a breakthrough!]

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"Why are we even listening to the radio? I mean, they're just saying what the masses wanted to hear. It's obvious that they won't find a cure for his virus. It's obvious that the world has come to an end." The red-haired girl muttered to herself as she applied blood onto her lips. With a satisfactory smile, she grabbed her phone and looked at her reflection. "Hey look! Who'd have thought that blood's got such a deep red color." She muttered to herself.

"Stop it, Lina, why don't you help us butcher this deer or something instead of amusing yourself with blood lipstick." Sano Izanagi, the other red-haired guy in the group with phoenix-red slits for eyes, spoke after heaving an exhausting sigh. "If you want to eat a portion of this deer then you should at least help us."

"Come on! What's the big deal, onii? I was the one who hunted the deer for us! Shouldn't you be thanking me instead of complaining? At least you get to butcher something today right? If I didn't go out of my way to hunt that elusive piece of meat, then we'd be starving to death by now." Lina Izanagi continued.

"Stop it, Sano, we all know that this is where our conversation ends up every single time we complain. Your younger sister's right. We should just shut our mouths and dress this meat." The third person in the group who was much older than the Izanagi siblings, Yoshihara Yoshiyuki, continued working on the deer without averting his gaze from it. He was already fairly used to the usual altercation between the siblings so his focus wasn't halved at all as he continue with the task at hand.

"In any case, we should find shelter for tonight. We can't just stay here out in the open. even with Yoshiyuki's sense of smell, one of the more powerful hybrids could sneak up on us if they approach us against the wind. We should be careful." Sano muttered to himself, a bit frustrated by the fact that the shelter didn't let the three of them in just because they have bites on them.

"Yeah, we cannot take our chances. It's still in the afternoon so we have plenty of time... but we shouldn't really... and why are you crying, Lina?"

Just a moment ago, Lina was in high spirits, listening to the radio while putting blood on her lips. The last thing that Sano and Yoshiyuki expected was for her to bawl her eyes out once again. And yet there she was, crying her heart out for who knows how many times by now.

It wasn't a wail, but more like a silent whimper as she sniffled. Tears streamed down her cheeks and down to her neck as they flowed on the edges of her collarbone. No matter how much she wiped her tears, they just continued to flow without giving her a break.

Yoshiyuki silently nudged Sano, gesturing that he comfort his younger sister at such trying times. Sano obliged, and he stopped dressing the deer with Yoshiyuki.

"Come on, imouto~ what is it this time?" Sano called out to his younger sister, hugging her head as she continued sobbing.

"I... I miss Charl... sniffle~ sniffle~... we were supposed to go out today after school... why did this have to happen... why..." She mumbled, clutching onto her older brother's shirt.

"There~ there~" Sano patted his younger sister's head. He could tell exactly what his younger sister was feeling right now. 'Those jumbled emotions after you watch everything disappear in front of your eyes... why did this have to happen?' Sano muttered in his mind, vividly recalling what happened yesterday.

Sano felt the frustration and rage welling up from within him, causing him to bite his lower lip until it bled. He growled as his eyes turned bloodshot, adding more vibrance to his already deep-red-colored pupils.

"Relax, Sano, don't let yourself get out of control. I can't possibly deal with the two of you if you both lose it." Yoshiyuki calmly called out since he could sense Sano's bloodthirst emanating from him. He almost choked due to the heavy atmosphere. Fortunately, Sano managed to calmly warn him before it was too late.

"I'm sorry," Sano regained his composure in a snap of a finger, slightly bowing his head towards Yoshiyuki as he apologized. "I'll be careful," He continued.

From a distance, the group heard the sound of rustling leaves, and with it came the scent of humans. It was a pleasant smell, one that reeks of blood and prey. The urge to bite was there again, but the three had already eaten their fair share of the wild deer so the urge wasn't that bad.