Chapter 65: Chapter 65: All Life Is Precious

I listen to them celebrating, laughing. Smell the stench of cooking flesh on the fire and know I will never eat meat again. I can't get the buck's face out of my head, the way his liquid brown eye met mine, the connection I felt to him. How I knew if I could only have enough time I could find a way to speak his language, to understand the changes done to him and his kind by the Sick. Could he have been as smart as the dog? It's quite likely, if the herd of horses who followed the train are any indicator. And the puppies already show their own form of intelligence.

It's not a unique phenomenon. I'm positive of it.

My mind tells me the crew and my friends eat something sentient, self-aware and are enjoying every minute of it.