章 21: All of Us are Dead
A few kilometers away from the booming explosion that came from Kay's crude use of his cryptic abilities, Felis sped forward, carrying the little girl on his back with Glit running beside him. They were all chasing the other woman who made it into their group. Although the woman was right in front of them, he found it hard to catch her even with assimilating a bit of the Amber potion within him.
"Stop chasing me, just stop please!" The woman yelled, as she dashed through low branches and overgrown shrubs. Felis could already sense the peculiarity of the situation but he didn't want to gamble a human life if he could save it.
"Stop, why are you doing this?" She demanded. "Just leave me and go! We are all going to die anyway," the woman yelled.
"Just stop for a second and let us talk," he yelled.
"You don't understand, we can't talk. Usain only brought me along because he felt he could cure me! He cannot, when the hunger starts, I have no control over it, so just stop," the woman said. "Oh gods! I already said too much," she whispered, coming to an abrupt stop.
Felis stopped running too, almost clashing into her. She glanced around, her eyes darting like she was about to go crazy. "What is wrong?" The captain asked, glancing around with her, although he didn't need to, he could sense everything happening within a fifty meter radius around them so if anything were coming from the deep darkness, this time he would be ready.
"It knows," the woman said, her lips trembling, she held her stomach tightly, as if protecting it.
"What knows?" He demanded. "You broke off from the team and ran into the woods, what makes you think this place will be safer for you than for us?" He demanded.
"I wasn't trying to protect me," she said. "I was protecting all of you. Maybe it would leave you alone instead," she glanced around. "You all don't know it like I do, it's… it is death incarnate." She backed away from the three of them.
Felis dropped the little girl and Glit clasped her in a hug. "What are you talking about?" He asked. "Is it the Óró?" He demanded.
"No…" the woman shook her head and this time Felis decided to actually study her emotions, maybe he would glimpse something from that. He could hear her heart beating at an absurd rate, she was obviously beyond just frightened. "Not the Óró, it is the beast. The one that killed Azim…" she paused. "That little boy died and it is my fault!" She trembled, breaking down into sobs.
"I don't understand you. That monster isn't the Órö?" Felis inquired but he still strained his ear to listen to the woman's breaths and all, he wanted to tell if any of those natural processes increases when she speaks, this way, he could detect if she was lying or not.
"No it isn't. I don't know what it is, and I don't have the time to tell you what I know. It could be anywhere now, it's no use… all of us are dead anyways," she said.
Felis then moved closer to her, assimilating up to two percent of the Amber potion feeling the power surged through him as he assimilated almost zero point five of the potion at once. The last time he'd assimilated more than this in one go, he was trying to destroy the ship of a Narvach. Although it was more tiring for him to keep the potion from assimilating, his body was already used to this.
He held the woman. "Look at me, calm down!" He said. "I am a Cryptid; an Hazard and I assimilate the Amber Sigil. If you are familiar with us, you know how much physical enhancement I possess. I can sense everything for more than a kilometer now and I tell you, nothing is coming towards us. I promise, just trust me for a few minutes and tell me your story, what the hell happened to you. If not for you, do it for your baby, we might have a chance to save you both!"
Felis' abilities had improved after he assimilated more of the potion and he'd heard another faint heartbeat within her. The woman glanced at him, clutching her stomach, she exhaled for a while before she started to speak. "I got lost from the rest of the crew after the shipwreck and two of the pirates found me and decided to use me as bait for a creature they encountered in the woods. They claimed it killed three of them," she began, speaking quickly while her eyes still darted around.
"I was afraid and I thought this was the end for me, but when the creature came, it attacked them all and left me alive. I didn't know why, it held me in the neck and sank its claw into my stomach, I thought it was going to kill my baby but…" she paused, finding the tale absurd herself. "It just withdrew and left but I could feel it was watching me."
She clutched her stomach tighter. "I was lost for two days. I had no food, no water, I was dying… I didn't want to do it but I… I had no choice. I ate from the decaying body of those thieves," she said. "I didn't know why I did it, but I wasn't in control of myself, something pushed me to eat it, or that's the lie I told myself, I don't know. But after I ate their bodies, I began to see clearer, sense things better and I saw the monster, watching me and it made a sign for me ro keep quiet… like a human would. It told me to shush and it led me to Usain and the rest!" She sniffed.
Felis took a step away from her. "You said it dug its claw into your stomach?" He asked, stepping back further.
"Yes," she nodded. "It did."
"And after that you ate human bodies?"
"Look, I know I wasn't supposed to, but I… I just couldn't help myself," she sniffed. "I was just so hungry!"
"Oh, no. I know what that monster is!" Felis said. "You can't have that baby!" He declared and before he could say his next words, the little girl pushed Glit away from her, lunging at the woman; transforming into an ivory creature with claws long enough to be called talons and body that resembled a mass of muscle. It slammed into the woman, slashing her repeatedly until she was nothing but a mass of flesh and blood.
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