New Revelations
#4 of Lycans and Zombies
I was awoken by a strange shuffling sound a little after two in the morning. I knew it was two, because I had a solar powered alarm clock in the shape of a Dalek from one of my favorite TV shows. I made it myself, with great frustration.
There it was again, that shuffling-stumbling sound. The full moon cast an eerie glow on one face of my tent and in it I could see the shadow of a figure. Immediately I grabbed my bow, recognizing the limping walk of an undead. I was about to burst from my tent when a second shadow joined it- this one of the great big hulking wolf that was supposed to be sleeping in the tent a few yards from my own. He took the zombie's neck in his jowls and twisted, the whole thing going down without a sound.
Until someone screamed. Until a shot was fired.
I saw Caleb stumble, but he didn't go down. I burst from my tent and stood between him and the other camp members, holding up my crossbow to show that I was willing to shoot anyone that tried to pop off another shot.
"You know the rules! No shots in camp! It will draw more of them now, thanks to you!" I screamed.
"But that...that thing!" The man I assumed shot the round said. He was still aiming his pistol at Caleb with very shaky grip, and Marco wrestled it from him before he could shoot another. I turned to Caleb to see him plucking the copper bullet from his fur as if it were just a minor annoyance. There was only a single streak of blood that was already drying in the cool night air.
"Are you alright?" I asked him. He looked at me and nodded. I couldn't get over how bright his eyes were when he was in his wolf form. And what a magnificent form it was indeed. He definitely stood at least six foot, ten inches to seven feet. I myself am a measly five foot ten, so my earlier assumption about his wolf height was probably correct. In the moonlight I could see well-toned muscle rippling beneath his fur- probably a reflection of what the man underneath looked like. Is it wrong for me to be attracted to the wolf side of him too?
"But what is it?!" The man shouted again, clearly in hysterics.
"He is not an it. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Caleb. He is a Lycanthrope and a new member of this camp, if he will stay of course. He can be an asset to us, as you can probably see, there's five zombies dead around us. They all came while we had been asleep, though I fear our guard probably didn't fare as well. And Caleb killed them with no trouble."
"But he was bitten! I saw it!" Said a woman near the back. Caleb chose that moment to shift back into human form, much to almost everyone's embarrassment. He didn't have the luxury of even slightly tattered clothes this time. I pulled a blanket from my tent and draped it around him, though he seemed perfectly fine with being in his birthday suit. "I am immune to the virus," he stated simply. The woman in the back that had shouted her complaint fainted when he changed, and I assume it wasn't from his huskyness.
"What? How? That's impossible!" Said the man who shot him.
"My blood runs too hot for the virus to survive. It dies almost as soon as it enters my system. In turn, I guess it makes my blood like a poison to them, because every one that's bitten me has keeled over dead in an instant," he said.
"It's true, I've seen it. When we found him, he was surrounded by a group of them, and one bit him and immediately let go. His mouth was frothy and stuff. Kinda like when you put salt on a snail is the best analogy I can come up with," I said. Caleb chuckled beside me, probably at me labeling him as salt.
"Then we can take your blood and make new weapons from it!" My God, these people are barbarians! Caleb chuckled again, and I wondered for the first time if he could hear my thoughts.
"It doesn't work like that. I've tried it before." No, it was from that person's absurd idea. I relaxed slightly, knowing my thoughts were still private.
"And no, we're not going to send him out there alone. There are people that know how to kill him out there," I said before someone could suggest another idea. I felt overly protective of him, and I didn't really know why.
"We should probably move camp again. That shot echoed off every canyon wall around here and may as well attract more of them," Marco said. Half the group was nodding and glaring at the man that had fired the shot while he looked properly ashamed.
"That would probably be for the best," I said, lowering my crossbow. Everyone started breaking down camp and loading the wooden hand-carts that we had made. It was a tedious job, moving camps, but it was a necessary evil. Everything I owned could easily fit inside a huge hiking bag.
"I will hang around the back of the caravan. Not only to encourage them not to lag, but to pick off any undead that may be following," Caleb said, returning from his tent with a pair of dark wash jeans on. He handed my blanket back to me and I stuffed it in the bottom of my pack.
"Alright, I usually stay towards the back also and Marco leads the front. Willa and Alan stay more towards the middle. It just seems safer that way." Caleb nodded, breaking down the tent that he was in. Within the hour, we were heading out and away from our camp of three months.
Note: no critiques, this is just for shits and giggles, nothing professional that's ever going to be published
Prologue: http://www.sofurry.com/view/496375
Chapter 2: http://www.sofurry.com/view/497275
Chapter 4: tomorrow!