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Run This Town (Rory+Ishu)

As excited he was at the prospect of trying new things, Cade was also nervous. Not that he was scared of beans or ingesting any plant-like; he knew they wouldn't hurt him. Physically, Gamatoms mimicked the human body structure almost perfectly, except that the female genetic code had been rewritten and become obsolete, resulting in the mutated men possessing an instinctual urge to eliminate and consume a biological rival. So, the bloodlust and feeding on women didn't completely replace their body's ability to eat the same foods that the humans did. But the bloodlust overwhelmed any concept of eating anything other than human women making all other "edibles" appear tasteless and undesirable to the Gamatom psyche.

No, what he was mostly anxious about was the prospect of NOT liking the food that she offered. Ever since they'd met, what he was and what he was biologically programmed to do had been hanging over their heads like a looming presence he couldn't completely ignore or forget about. There was no desire to hurt her or eat her, even though he was definitely hungry at the moment. But if fruits and other plants that she liked became too abhorrent to him to consume "food" would remain a taboo subject and it would become that one thing that they could never share as she continued to eat the things that came from the ground and he remained stuck...eating the flesh of other women.

In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that big of a deal - beans were just ONE thing and it wasn't the end of the world if it ended up being something he wasn't fond of - but it was the steps he was taking to try and bridge this gap between them and he found he desperately wanted to be like her and to enjoy the things that she did.

So, when she returned to his side with a can and proceeded to open it, he set aside the empty fruit cup container and rubbed his palms on his dark grey pants, sniffing experimentally in the direction of the can as she set the top of it aside. Watching warily as she put her own spoon in and inserted it into her mouth, he blinked and looked from her to the can.

Hm! Not green! In fact, the contents of the can were a rusty, tan color, reminding him in some ways of what different parts of flesh looked like. The actual "beans" themselves weren't something he could find a comparison with in the human body, so as far as that went, it was unfamiliar ground. But when she smiled and pulsed to him a mental promise that it tasted good, he relaxed and reached hesitantly forward with his own spoon, pausing to look at what he'd scooped up before inserting it into his mouth.

The first reaction as Cade began to chew the cold, wet bundle was to crinkle his nose in revulsion at the alien texture. But as his mouth continued to move, the tension in his face eased and he registered the actual taste. She'd been right. It was sweet. And it was--

"Not bad," he said with a small nod and a tilted smile, swallowing and eagerly moving his spoon forward for another scoop. And it was a weight off his shoulders to have reached and passed that milestone with her, the second mouthful passing through his throat more pleasantly than the first.

Glancing off to her side where she'd set the book she'd been reading when he'd come to visit her today, he instantly recognized it as the same book from yesterday. The one with Little Red Riding Hood in it.

"Rereading the one about the girl and the wolf?" he asked, nodding at it and making sure to swallow the next mouthful before speaking to her, each bite getting easier than the last and his stomach welcoming the foreign food gladly. "When I was looking at the mythology books at headquarters earlier, I started to think that the brethren don't really have anything like that. You know, stories and whatnot. But that's not exactly true. I remembered one tale that I was told as a boy - that all the younger Gamatoms get told to scare them and make them obey their gang leaders."

"Thought I might share it with you, if you wanted to hear it?" he asked with a shrug, filling his mouth with another spoonful and giving her an open and questioning look.
 
She smiled as she watched him eat and felt the need to explain, Not all vegetables are green. I don't know why these beans are brown, but I do know that beans are a meat substitute. They have a lot of protein in them so you can eat them instead of meat. She paused and fidgeted with her spoon, not wanting to tell him "you should stop eating human flesh!" but at the same time... well, at least she didn't have to watch him do it.

Anyway., she pushed the can over to him, you can have the rest. She wasn't very hungry and she couldn't ignore his stomach growling for more. She was glad that he at least liked it.

Gang leaders? She smiled, giggling inside. That term was so... modern day. Pre-Gamatom. Adolescents and young adults with no intelligence or hobbies joined gangs. Maybe Gamatoms evolved from that? She shook her head at herself, feeling a bit ashamed for belittling her friend and his ways.

Please, tell me. She curled up on her seat, bringing her knees to her chest and looping her arms around her legs. I love stories. She watched him, eagerly awaiting him to speak again.
 
Interestedly he listened as she explained the coloring of the beans and their particular make-up and he had to agree - although there wasn't the blood and taste that he normally associated with meat, they did appeal to him in much the same way and he supposed it had to do with the similarities they shared with what he was used to eating. As she handed the rest of the can over to him, he smiled widely and continued to take scoops from it as he settled himself a bit more in his seat preparing to tell her the story.

But then he paused at her question about the gang leaders, understanding from the amused look she gave him that it probably wasn't a human thing that she'd be familiar with.

"Well, yeah, gang leaders," he said with a nod and shrugging a little bit. "Young Gamatoms are usually kept secluded in special compounds called nests - most of the time they're old schools or prisons," Cade, himself, had been raised up with a gaggle of other boys in a high security penitentiary that had been gutted and made-up to keep them safe and secluded. "At least until they reach maturity and can hunt and protect themselves. Until then, they're kept isolated behind the walls of the nest while a small group of adults look after them and keep them in line. New babes are brought in occasionally and the younger boys mix with the older boys, the more mature ones gaining dominance over the rest until they're too old and forced to move out and join their own pack."

Briefly, he found himself remembering his youth, running within the cement and concrete walls of the old human-made institution, with the flock of other boys he'd grown up with, naked as jay-birds and scrawny in youth, like a pack of wild dogs. Cade hadn't gotten his first pair of clothes until he'd reached puberty at 14 and they'd kicked him out of the nest. But even those early years had been plagued by violence and a animal mob rule, all of them feeding and play wrestling together and sometimes enacting private territory wars that the elders neither knew or cared about. Thinking of it now, those squabbles seemed so juvenile and silly compared to what he dealt with now and the family unit he'd grown to be a part of as an adult. But the soft smile he had adopted while sifting through these memories was tempered when he remembered how he'd been feeling towards the brethren lately.

"Well, anyways," he said again letting out a sigh and running a hand through his short hair before looking at her again. "They don't just let the kids run around free all the time, occasionally gathering them together for evening lessons - like how to read and write and small mathematics. Sometimes, it's fairly easy to get the young-one's to listen and obey and do what they're told, with just a bit of firm discipline." He quickly smacked his palm with the back of his left hand, miming hitting someone across the face, so she'd understand what he meant.

"But other times, it helps to instill a sense of fear right away. I don't suppose you humans are familiar with the story of the Woe Man?" Cade waited for her to indicate if she had or not before continuing, assuming that it wasn't something most humans had ever heard about.

"It's a story about a demon that the first Gamatom brethren encountered after the uprising. Having conquered the free lands, the eldest brethren set out to mold the world in their own image, taking what was left of civilization and filling themselves up until they were full and happy." As he told that part of the story, and remembering how the tale had been recited to him, he moving his hands outward to mime himself having a huge stomach, his hand waving in mid air as if he were patting his imaginary girth in a satisfied way.

"There was peace and the brethren found an affinity towards the ancient race, Hue Men, and welcomed them in their ranks with open arms, letting them join the feast upon the back of the world. When the Gamatoms and Hue Men joined, they brought a strange creature with them into the new pack that they'd formed together. The Hue Men were very fond of this creature and called it a Woe Man. It looked as the Men and Gamatoms did and was very pleasing to the eye and the heart, and everyone who met it fell in love with it.

"Then, one day, Gamatoms and Hue Men began to show up dead in the mornings, their eyes burned out of their sockets and their genitals severed and missing. Nobody in the pack could figure out what happened and the mystery became more disturbing as each dawn more bodies were found, mutilated in the exact same way. Finally, the eldest brethren decided that something had to be done to protect themselves and their new friends, so a nightly guard was set up to keep watch over the community while the rest of them slept.

"At first, it seemed the tragedy had been dispelled, as the first mornings after the night guard had been established, no one ended up dead. A month went by and there were no more deaths and everyone was happy again. But thinking that the night guard had scared away the murderer, the brethren kept the posts stationed every evening after the sun went down, hoping to further deter any more victimization upon their community.

"Meanwhile, while all this was happening, the king of the eldest brethren had fallen deeply in love with the Woe Man and sought to make it his mate. It was a coy and fickle creature, loving to tease and play games, but easily dazzled by gifts and generosity. However, despite the king's adoration and showering it with all the possessions he could get his hands on, it declined the king's advances over and over without returning more than the same flirtatious words and gestures it gave to everyone.

"When a month had passed since the night-guard had been established, the Woe Man finally gave into the king's advances, going with him to his bed when the sun went to sleep. That night, screams could be heard coming from the king's house and the night-guard hurried to protect the leader of the brethren from the murderer who'd surely made his return to wreak havoc on their community again."

For a moment, Cade paused, remembering how quiet the Father Gamatom's voice had gotten as he'd leaned over the fire to tell the young boys this part of the tale. "When they got to the king's house, there was no stranger invading to murder him, but the Woe Man and the king were alone. The king laid naked on the floor, his crotch bleeding, with nothing but a hole where his penis should be. Even as he lay gasping, still alive, he was dying, his eyes still smoking from being scorched out of his skull.

"The Woe Man stood, naked above him and slowly turned to look at those who'd come to aid their king in his time of despair. Unlike the smooth bodies of Hue Men and the Gamatoms, flat and hairy chests and genitals that hang outside the body, the Woe Man had a pair of bulbous eyes attached to it's chest, normally hidden by the clothes it wore during the daytime. When the Gamatoms locked gazes with it's second pair of eyes their feet and cocks turned to stone, hypnotizing them and drawing them near. And between it's legs where it's penis should be, there was a second mouth filled with horrible teeth which it used to feed it's insane hunger every night.

"It had them snared and the Gamatoms who'd arrived first were helpless to defend against it, already feeling their eyes melting away because of it's penetrating, laser-like stare. But the night-guard's screams brought more Gamatoms and by this time of the month, the moon was full outside. The Woe Man tried to flee but in the silver light of the moon it was rendered powerless, and the Gamatoms attacked and killed it.

"When the morning of the next day came, they had a funeral for the king and buried both he and the Woe Man in the graveyard. When night fell again, terrible sounds and shrieks could be heard from the cemetery and when the brethren rushed to see what it was, they found the Woe Man's grave lying open and empty with no trace of the creature left behind, it's body having awoken as the moon rose again in the sky."

Cade gave her a wry grin as he continued on with the warning part of the story. "It is said, to this day, that the Woe Man wanders the earth searching to feed it's insane hunger, often cornering lone Gamatoms who rebel and live without a pack to eat their dicks with it's hideous lower mouth, leaving them with empty eye sockets and bleeding trousers, in the light of the morning." He gave her a shrug and rolled his eyes in amusement.

"It's not the most accurate account of Gamatom history, but it's the only fable that our culture has and it keeps the kids from disobeying the dominant leaders. Most of the time. Anyways, that's the story. What do you think?"
 
She listened to him explain, though she still found the term to be juvenile and jumped when his hand hit the other. She shook her head when he asked about the story and she listened. She could not help but notice what he called the characters. "Human" and "Women". The more he told her the story, the more she realized the problem.

Ishu waited for him to finish, feeling attacked by the tale but she knew he did not mean it.

I think your people lack intelligence. She paused, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... She fidgeted with the end of her coat, The story is talking about humans, and women, like me. Your people are threatened by the female sexuality. She gingerly lay her hands over her chest without touching anything in particular, There are no eyes on my chest and, quite frankly, there are no teeth inside me.

Ishu rubbed her forehead and sat on her feet, trying not to let him see how bothered she was by it. Is this why the Gamatom's ravaged the world? Because they were scared of being ruled by the beauty and sexuality of the woman form? That was so ignorant!

She would not believe it was their fault- it was the fault of their elders and leaders. They were too afraid to take responsibility for their actions and fears so they made some ludicrous tale. Probably what upset her the most was how obvious their references were. Did they really think "Woe Men" was so great a visage that someone wouldn't notice?

Granted, they controlled the Gamatom's education until a certain age- and by then they certainly wouldn't want to learn more.

I'm sorry. She felt the need to apologize as she was still upset and she didn't want him to think it was his fault.
 
Now it was Cade's turn to feel attacked, her reaction to the story he told not at all what he'd expected. As soon as he'd "graduated" to adult Gamatom society, he'd understood the intricacies and symbolism in the old tale. But it was just a silly story! He hadn't expected her to get upset and he certainly hadn't expected to be called ignorant.

Ignoring her hesitant apologies and focusing instead on what she said about the story itself, the hair along the nape of his neck and back of his head bristled and stood on edge as a glare warped his features. "Don't you think I fucking know that? I already told you; it's a kids story."

All at once he found himself disappointed in her. Not only had he brought the damn thing up intending to share something personal with her and imparting a part of his culture to her - that he had absolutely no doubt not a single other human on the planet had the courtesy of knowing about - but he also had hoped that by doing so, she'd see the gesture for what it was, him letting down the walls that normally separated his kind from hers. Now, instead of feeling validated by doing so, he felt a little betrayed and a strong urge to defend his brethren against her accusations overwhelmed him. After he'd tried to understand her and what her people had gone through and the first chance he opened up, she had to label his race as a bunch of idiot savages, scared and haunted by things they "supposedly" didn't understand!

"When we're in the nest still, they don't give us women to eat. They give us small animals that are easy to hunt down and kill in our packs, while we're young. I didn't get my first taste of woman flesh until I was fourteen years old and by that point, I'd already figured out what Woe Man meant! The story isn't told among the adults, AT ALL, and I've seen more of the inside of your bodies than you probably ever will - I KNOW there aren't any teeth inside you. So, don't fucking talk to me like I'm some savage who doesn't know better! I'm not scared of you!"

With a small growl, he stood up and turned away from her, walking back to the mattress and the vent against the wall, still filled with anger as he contemplated leaving. If that's what she thought about the Gamatoms - about HIM - then screw her! What had he been doing these past couple of days but proving her wrong?? Had the new experiences he'd had with her just been a waste of time?

Looking up at the vent, Cade paused and stared at it, thinking about what awaited him if he DID leave her. His "home" with the brethren. And that of course brought up a strong string of memories, first last night, the way Bast had stolen his book away and began tearing it apart just to get his attention - because the fool didn't care about books and had not seen the value in what was written on the pages, nor had he possessed enough respect for Cade and his feelings to not fucking destroy something that wasn't his. And that was how everything always was.

He remembered nights feeding alongside his brothers, naked and covered in blood and sweat, not bothering to cook the meat they ate, being able to consume it raw and not even having enough restraint during the bloodlust to sit at a freaking table to eat their meals. Brothers on either side of him, mouths drenched in blood passionately kissing each other and rutting overtop of fresh corpses as their animal desires overwhelmed them.

And of course...finally, he remembered how he'd felt and thought just a few days ago, ruled by his hunger and lusts so completely that anything that didn't fulfill either one of those was beneath his attention span and cast aside as irrelevant. Even men and women's lives were so useless that they became "toys" when he was bored, begging and looking for any excuse to harm and kill them for his own amusement.

Ishu was right about that at least.

Letting out a heavy breath, his shoulders drooped as the rage left him and he turned back to her with a solemn look. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, his eyes looking down at the dusty mattress beneath his boots. "I didn't mean to yell and.. I didn't mean to get so angry..."

With a sigh, he leaned back against the wall and slowly slid down it to sit on the mattress on the floor, suddenly feeling extremely tired. Not exactly in a sleepy sense, but emotionally drained, the fire of anger being burned out as if it had been the only thing keeping him standing and moving around. With his head tipped back and touching the wall, his hands held limp in his lap and shoulders sagging, he glanced back in her direction.

"I don't know if you're right about the whole...women's sexuality thing... I guess it's possible... it's as good a thing as any to explain the bloodlust and why it's only human women... But...you're definitely right about the other thing..." Again, in his head he got an image of Bast's idiot grin as he teasingly waved the book at him and the faces of the brethren as they stood by watching him beat the shit out of their fellow. "Calling what we have 'culture', is giving us way too much credit..."

Then he was silent and glanced at the vent again, realizing that he'd practically shouted her head off over nothing and also realizing that she'd apologized several times already. He supposed you could try and change the tiger but you couldn't erase his stripes...or something foolish like that. "If...you want me to leave..." Cade didn't want to go, especially not home, not right now, but he would leave if she asked him to.
 
She didn't expect him to snap at her- or to continue for that matter. She was barraged with his words and his emotions. She tried to get a word in but quickly understood why he was upset. She had belittled everything he said to her- and he had never done that to anything she had said. Ishu curled up in a little ball and she buried her face into her knees as she listened very closely to everything he said, only able to feel guilty.

She could see it now. Feel it even. Flesh being torn open and the scent of warm blood dripping to the floor. She touched her hands to her face, squishing the liquid on her features. She pulled her hands away and watched, blood seeping out of her mouth in chunks. She panicked at the sight, standing up in reality and now looking at her hands, porcelain and untouched.

Ishu looked over, seeing Cade standing near the vent. She wanted to beg him to stay, because she was genuinely sorry and she was afraid of being alone. Her arms looped around her body, holding her tightly and as secure as her own body could.

No... it's my fault. I should not have said anything. She wiped one of her sleeves under her nose and over her mouth, making sure the blood wasn't real. Unfortunately the tears were. She looked away from him and cleaned them with her other sleeve.

Deep down, she wanted to share more. But, her analytical nature already got her in trouble. She didn't want to make it worse.

No! He said something about leaving and she immediately shouted her opinion. I mean, she took a breath, calming, You don't... you don't have to. Ishu rubbed her hands over her arms, You didn't do anything wrong.
 
Even as the tears were cleared away from her face, sorrow filling her blue eyes like watery pools, he felt himself pulled towards her, magnetized. All over again, Cade felt like a monster again for reacting the way he had and causing her to cry, but instead of staying where he was steeped in self-pity, he was on his feet and crossing the room back to her side. Muscled arms wrapped around her slight form and held her with a gentle care as if being cautious and trying not to break her, his breathing leveling out as the act of holding her calmed the frantic fears running through his head.

"I don't want you to feel like you can't say how you feel or to tell me your opinions," he said softly, the words coming easier now that he was opening up again, the anger fading like the heat from a healing burn. "Because it's one of the best things about this...thing we have. Getting to share with you back and forth - I want to hear the things that you think about and to know everything about you.

"These last two days, the more I learn, the better it feels and I don't want it to stop. I want you to teach me more - everything. But I'm not used to all of this emotion and lately, it's been feeling like something inside me growing, getting ready to explode or...I don't know what..."

There was a slight shiver running through him at that thought, remembering the blue eyes of his dinner last night and how it had stopped him from eating further. Then he drew back to look at her, his arms reluctant to release her but doing so he could face her when he said this. "You have to know that what we have is different and I'm working against pure biology to stand here talking to you like this. That part is easy though, thankfully. It's the rest of these gaps between us that feel dangerous and hard to breech."

He supposed that explained in a way why he'd gotten so angry over her reaction to the story - he still felt attached to the brethren and even just the small things she'd said about them, even though they were mostly true, had hit him harder coming from her. "Just...be patient with me and I'll try not to be so...defensive about everything." A smile came to his lips again, offered hesitantly, as if he was hoping that she'd mirror the expression and everything would be okay again. Then he was glancing at the spot where they'd been sitting feeling it pull to him as if the act of sitting here with her had been "safe", anchoring him in this harbor.
 
Feeling his arms around her startled her at first. She was not very accustomed to being touched, but she felt safe. She pressed her face into his chest, crushing the frame of her glasses on her nose but she didn't care. It felt so good having him hold her. She could hear him, apologizing and explaining how he felt. She took her arms off of herself and wedged them out, wrapping them around him so she could hold him too. She hoped he felt as safe as she did.

Before she could say anything she felt the warmth ripped from her. She looked up, her eyes meeting his. She adjusted her glasses, now able to see him perfectly though with a bit of smudge. She moved hair from her face and absently held onto his hand as he pulled away. Even just a little... if she could just be near him, touch or hold his hand. It would make her happy.

He was right. Though she thought the sociology of their people and the culture could be wiped out, it would take a lot of time. For now, they would have to accept the dangers of what they were doing. If he was seen just looking at her and didn't make any violent advances- it could cause problems. Her thumbs stroked over the top of his hand as she thought about it, not noticing the fingers falling off into her palm and rolling to the floor until a horrid smell birthed in her nostrils.

Her features twisted and she looked down, seeing an arm hanging from her grip. She swallowed, hard, and tried not to panic. Her hand shook and she squeezed him harder, trying desperately to control her breathing and her anxiety. She blinked, teeth marks staking the flesh, and blinked, the flesh now rotting off, and blinked, what scraps left of the muscle had turn green, and blinked. Cade was standing infront of her.

She looked relieved and touched his hand with both of hers, breathing still. You're right.

Ishu sniffled, I trust you... this will just take time. She smiled up at him and carefully let her fingers lace idly with his, Did you... want to read today? I mean, She looked away and pressed her glasses up so they wouldn't fall off, I just wanted to... if there was something here you hadn't read before... I don't know. She didn't want him to think she was calling him stupid or even suggest that he might not know something- not wanting him to take offense.
 
Something was wrong... Dark, bestial eyes widened briefly as he watched her features contort with something akin to panic rippling beneath the skin. Cade's instincts picked up on the tension in her muscles right away as she stood looking down at their hands linked together. He let his eyes trail down there as well, wondering if the contact was bothering her for some reason - for him, the touch of her skin and the fragility of her hands was a delight for his fingers to experience, so new and different from what he was used to. But...if she didn't like it he could--

Whatever had been troubling her quickly passed as she looked back up at him with a smile and she pulsed to him that she trusted him. He wanted to say something about that small moment, to ask her about it, but the fear of losing the warmth of the hopeful look she gave him stilled his tongue. And the next moment she was moving on as if nothing had happened and he let himself be swept up in the distraction she offered with an excited grin of his own.

"Yes, I would love that," he said with a smile already starting to look around the room with bright and almost hungry eyes. The feeling of her fingers lacing with his and how perfectly they fit together had him feeling weak in his lower limbs with a warm pulse in his abdomen, so he didn't detach himself when he began searching but tugged her gently along as he looked over the different stacks with interest.

There were other fantasy books much like the other one he'd read and although these other covers displayed just as engaging artwork, highlighting the exciting stories within, he passed them by and searched for something different. They passed a stack of history books and titles like The Revolutionary War or World Wars I and II got a firm look over, especially considering the brutality of their titles that appealed to him - he picked up one before something from another stack caught his eye and he set it back down before moving over a few steps.

The cover was green, different shades meshed together to form a picture of something with long straight tendrils and flowing green gowns. But what really stood out was the bright red and bulbous balls nestled close to the straight neck of this "creature's" neck. Gardening: Growing and tending your own food at home the title plainly declared, and opening the heavy cover briefly, Cade's eyes were met with other vibrant colored pictures of odd, living things dominated by green but splashed with other colors as well, alongside sprawling text and bolded letters declaring names he vaguely remembered hearing.

"This," he said with a nod and lopsided grin, closing the cover and picking it up to show her, even as she was standing right next to him the whole time. "I want to read about plants you can eat. Those beans were good and that fruit..." the words were only a small stumble now, his tongue feeling adventurous to utter them since he'd taken a bite out of both now. "I want to know about the others that you humans eat from."
 
She watched him set out among her collection, her feet following without a second thought. Her thumb continued to stroke over his hand, excited by the warmth that he emitted. It was stronger, much stronger than anyone she had met. Well, human-wise anyway. Her other hand came up and swatted at a pulling sensation on her face. Ishu looked around, seeing nothing. She dismissed it and looked at Cade, watching him pass the fantasy, soon the history books and stopping at her plants and gardening section.

Oh-. He wanted to know more about "human food". Well, the ones you ate were kind of processed. Natural or organic fruits and vegetables will taste different. She gave him an uncertain expression, her large eyes made even larger with the glasses blinking at him, You might not like them... She swept the uncertainty under her feet and continued, B-But I can still tell you about them! We can read books too.

She let him bring the book to their sitting area and she sat down with him, opening the book, Um, there are grapes. Seedless ones so you don't have to bite into it and spit the seeds out or pick them out. The green ones are kind of tart and the red or purple ones are kind of sweet. You should brush your teeth after eating, well... any time but especially after eating most fruits. They have natural acids in them. You don't want that sitting on your teeth.

Ishu pushed her glasses up while turning away, briefly, a bit shy about her "nerd" side that would pop out when she was explaining something she knew a lot of. There are lots of different kinds of apples. Bananas are good too- there are really small ones and some normal sized ones.She stopped before over-loading him, What do you want to learn about first? She thought it might be better if they started from something he was familiar about or at least wanted to know.
 
At first, he wasn't sure what to make of her uncertain expression, but even when she explained it, the curiosity he felt about the subject only grew. He'd been told all his life that plants were nasty, tasteless things and that the humans were too stupid to know what good food was. And yet he'd never tasted any before today and only seen "edible" plants a handful of times - and from his experience today everything he'd been told and led to believe had been completely blown out of the water. He didn't care if it ended up being true and the humans really did tend to eat sucky food! He wanted to try it for himself, dammit!

But he kept his eagerness low-key as she escorted him back to their chairs and he sat down with her, looking over the pages of the book as she explained grapes and the different qualities about them. At her mentioning of the term "brushing teeth" he gave her a blank look - remembering that was one of those odd human activities which the brethren didn't encourage - but he said nothing, nodding and filing it away as something new to keep in mind.

Then she was listing off others that he'd heard about but again, no images came to mind to put to the names - even so, there was something in her tone that he liked and he found himself blinking, a bit disoriented when she finally stopped with a question.

"Oh, well..." he sat back and thought for a moment trying to remember things he'd been told. "Today was the first time I've ever eaten a plant of any kind - whether processed or...or organic, And I don't know anybody personally who's tried these things - most of what I know, I've heard from other brothers talking about things that they've heard from someone else. Beans are suppose to be green and tasteless and that's not true - at least for these kind that you've given me - so I'm almost certain that everything else has gotta be bullshit as well. I just want to know if anything I've been told is a lie and whether we can try some of the stuff I've heard about."

Cade paused, and scratched behind his ear with a finger, trying to think about the different words and names for things, hoping that at least those had been somewhat correct. "Okay, so, Tomattens are red and they're one of the only things I've actually seen with my own eyes, and they're really soft and squishy. They're...fun to step on..." he gave an uncertain laugh before clearing his throat and continuing.

"Uh...Onions and Pepper are suppose to taste really bad. Potattens are suppose to taste like rocks, but humans eat them anyways. Carrots taste like rocks. Corn taste like rocks. Cumembers are suppose to taste like rocks. Basically, the general opinion I get from a lot of the different plants you guys eat from is that it's tasteless or tastes like rock."

He shrugged and began thinking again. "Blue bears are suppose to be poison. Straw bears will kill you if you look at them at night. But I don't really believe that." Still, the look he gave her was a little searching, watching to see if her expression indicated that indeed just looking at a plant could make someone drop dead. "Lemonades are suppose to be nasty... uh..." he tried to think again. "I don't know any others, really. I've heard of Applers--I mean Apples before, but I've been told they taste like rocks." He laughed a bit at that and tapped his knees and looked at her again.

"So, does any of what I said make any sense or is it just a bunch of fantasy?"
 
Her lips curved into a delighted and almost entertained smile. She watched him, her eyes lighting up as she wished so deeply to show him to truth. She waited for him to finish before she lay a hand over his and began to go over everything he had just told her.

Well, Tomatoes are strange. Many people call them a vegetable but more scientist types believe it is a fruit- because it has seeds and only fruit are supposed to have seeds in them. I, personally, think it should be a vegetable because it doesn't taste very sweet. She laughed timidly at herself and rubbed the back of her neck before continuing on.

Onions and peppers are supposed to kind of season certain foods, like soup or meat. You aren't really supposed to eat them by themselves. Potatoes can be added to food too. They grow in the ground because they are a root. You are supposed to wash them before you eat them. Most people don't like the skin so they take it off. They are hard on the inside but if you add something like sour cream to it or butter, it will get softer. It would be like eating a warm, thick cloud in your mouth.

She smiled at him as she recalled he described everything tasting like rock. Maybe that was because they came from the ground? Gamatoms weren't exactly earth types. Carrots need to be washed too because they grow underground. They are kind of... bland. I don't know how to describe them. You can add them to food, like you would a potato, or you could eat it alone with dressing- some liquid seasoning you can find a store. You are supposed to keep it in a fridge after you... open it.

Ishu caught herself getting a bit off topic and went back, Corn is... corny. You don't want to eat too much of it because it can flush out your system. You can eat it at different levels, kernel and cream. Cream tends to clean you out faster but it can be uncomfortable- but it also tastes better with all of the sugar. Cucumbers- they are pickles before you pickle them. Most people eat them in a salad- which is a giant, green conglomerate of vegetables. I won't lie, if you don't wash the food or eat it right, it will taste like dirt. Especially organic food.

She turned pages in the book, showing him some of the foods before continuing, Blueberries are not poisonous, infact, they help your memory- but only if you eat a lot of them every day. Strawberries, she smiled, are one of my favorite fruits. No, they will not kill you if you look at them. Ever. They are very sweet and kind of watery. They taste wonderful with yogurt. She turned the page, showing him some of the fruit she was talking about.

Lemons, the yellow fruit, can be squeezed to make lemonade. But, you shouldn't drink it alone unless you really like it that way. You are supposed to add water and some sugar. Lemons are very very VERY sour, but it tastes much better once you add the sugar, which is sweet and mellows it out. She showed him the lemons with a lime tree next to it. Those are limes. They are not quite as sour and a lot of people use them with their drinks. They like to pour salt on the lime or on the rim of their alcoholic beverages. I don't know why. She trailed off, not really having much of an interest with alcohol.

So... I guess, yes. It does sound kind of like fantasy. I mean, it is sweet but... It was only sweet if it was in a book. To her, it sounded like more brainwashing methods.
 
There was a burst of relief running through him to hear her say the word "Tomatoes" and although how he'd remembered pronunciation by word of mouth wasn't completely exact, it was still a small victory to know that it WAS indeed a thing and he hadn't mistaken that small red plant for something else. Cade's shoulders relaxed as her voice echoed within his head, soothed by the intellectual manner in which she spoke and clinging to every word hungrily, savoring each new fact as it was revealed.

There were a few more corrections of pronunciation here and there but she did not draw attention to them or make him feel like an idiot for saying them wrong, and her whole demeanor was one of a gentle guidance while instructing him about the different qualities of the foods he'd named. When she mentioned a few times putting the plants together with other foods, his eyes widened excitedly to remember that humans cooked some of the things they ate.

Also, the explanation about needing to wash the things first, made sense to him. For things that came out of the ground, it was logical to assume that Gamatoms who might have been curious enough to try a carrot or onion in the past might not have cared or been discriminate enough to clean the item of dirt and debris first. It came from the ground and that's how the humans ate it, wasn't it? Because they were an inferior race and ate dirty things.

Looking over the different pictures as she assigned names to them, he nodded and smiled again to see that like tomatoes, beans and fruit, not everything was green, but often they were odd and wild colors. Naturally, however, he found himself drawn to things that were red in color, like apples, strawberries and tomatoes.

"You...know how to cook? How to make these things into meals?" he asked in interest. He still wanted to try these things on their own, just for the sake of having done so and file the experience away as an accomplishment that would further separate him from the brethren who were willing to accept rumors as the truth. But if turning the plants into something else and heating them made them taste better, he definitely wanted to do that as well.

When she finally seemed to come to an end, her sentence faded off in the middle and he found himself waiting for her to go on, but she didn't. "It's sweet, but what?" he asked, gently probing her. He had the feeling that this was the price he was paying for exploding at her earlier and he was eager to try and correct his mistake; he wanted to hear what she had to say without her holding back and feeling scared of him.

But right at that moment, anything she might have had to say was cut off as a voice came echoing from the rooms above. "Caaaaade?"

Instantly, Cade tensed and stood from his seat, eyes wide and looking towards the vent, his whole body moving into a position of attack and placing himself between her and the hole in the wall. Whoever had come looking for him wasn't anywhere near their hiding place, but still their mere presence in the building put him on the defensive.

"Argh! What the fuck is he doing here?" he murmured around a growl as another echoey call rang through the building, a bit more distant this time as whoever was above searched for him. Glancing at Ishu, he gave her a worried look and almost contemplated telling her they could stay here and be quiet and he'd probably leave. But then images of the books in the mayor's old library covered in dried cum and stained with urine flashed in his mind.

"I...better go...and make sure he doesn't destroy anything while looking for me..." he said reluctantly, his shoulders slumping a bit and unable to stifle a wince as the sound of something heavy falling over came from one of the rooms above. "We'll meet again tomorrow?" even as his dark eyes held a hopeful look, he felt himself drawn to the vent, his body pulling away from her to go deal with the problem breathing down their necks before the other Gamatom found them or destroyed their special meeting place in his search.
 
Ishu nodded, Yes, I used to cook a lot but... she trailed off for a moment, my stove doesn't work any more and I haven't really been in the mood to bake anything. She thought about the complex she lived in and knew of a few apartments that were empty, but she did not know if the things inside them still functioned properly.

She could practically feel his fingers poking into her, begging for her to finish. She adjusted her glasses and moved her hair from her face, fidgeting. Before she could answer, however, a voice rang throughout the library, making her body quake from being startled and the imminent fear as Cade stood up. This couldn't be good.

He talked about leaving her here, alone. She stumbled up to her feet and grabbed his arm, whispering into his mind, But- what if it's worse for you to go out there. She couldn't tell the future, or at least she didn't think she could. Sure, if Cade went out there he could draw the other Gamatom away- but what if there were more of them and only one of them was making itself noticed?

She had to trust his judgment because what if he was right? What if he went out there and the other Gamatom left? Or however many there might be. She was too frazzled to try to control herself as a few books teetered in their places. Ok... just... please, be careful! Her voice whispered again, as if the other could hear her.

She gave Cade a hug before letting go and watching as he would leave her now.
 
When she grabbed onto him, concern and anxiety creasing in her delicate features, her eyes made bigger by the glasses she wore, he smiled fondly at her. "It'll be worse the longer I wait to show up if they're looking for me. They don't normally do that, so something's up. Besides, I'd rather confront him now then let him get bored and start trashing the place for fun."

He didn't want to say that he considered this place his territory - at least as far as the brethren were concerned - but it was a similar feeling that he'd had when Bast had taken his book away. Almost like his personal space was being violated by another. And to top it all off, Ishu was here, while whoever was sniffing around merely a set amount of feet from them - it was too fucking close for comfort. He wasn't going to let any of the brethren get close to her if he could help it.

Cade started to turn away and stopped as her arms briefly wrapped around him, staying just long enough to link about his shoulders and give him a small squeeze before she was drawing her soft warmth away again. Another smile danced on his lips as he looked down at her, realizing that other than holding his hand, this was the most contact she'd initiated between them - the rest had been him starting it, because he couldn't seem to get rid of the urge to touch her sometimes.

Stepping back to face her fully, a long fingered hand came up to gently cradle the side of her face, fingers trembling slightly as they first touched her smooth skin. Letting his eyes wander over her unabashedly, he took everything in about her once again - the womanly features that had first caught his eye and he found himself growing fond of more and more each day; the white strands of hair around her face and shoulders, looking impossibly soft; the blue eyes, even as they were slightly warped behind her heavy glasses, still causing his insides to melt with the vibrant color locked on his own darker ones.

His thumb moved tenderly over her cheek for a moment and everything seemed so perfect, his body wanting to draw him forward as if weighted and magnetized by the pink curve of her plush lips. But he stopped and everything seemed to shudder as his name was heard again echoing through the building, feeling as if it were closer this time than before. "Tomorrow," he promised, brushing his thumb against her cheek once more before fully stepping back towards the mattress and waiting vent. "Wait an hour before you leave this place, alright? Just in case." And then he was turning to the vent and climbing out again, leaving her alone in the room for a second time.

***​

Valheru walked the halls in his heavy boots, leather jacket creaking around his broadly muscled frame, and heavy-set chin stuck out in a permanent glower. Looking around the dimly lit place, nothing but light from a few windows illuminating the dusty, cave-like building, he held back a shiver as his eyes wandered apathetically over the towering shelves of books. Alertly, he turned his head around as whispers flittered in the hall around him, but as his rusty colored eyes looked over the darkened space there wasn't anything there.

Damn. He frigging hated being awake this early. What was wrong with Cade? Valheru didn't understand why Quin had sent him out to fetch the other in the first place - if the fool wanted to go gallivanting around during the daytime, that was his business - but orders were orders and he wasn't going to disobey the more dominant Gamatom or ask questions about something that didn't involve him.

Walking past another row of shelves, his deep, rumbling voice came out from his thick muscled throat, "Caaaaade! God dammit, insomniac asshole...where the hell are you?" The last he mumbled to himself, thick lips barely moving to utter the words. Then more whispers could be heard from behind him and with a snarl, he turned towards them and shoved a book shelf over to hopefully unearth the owner of the ghostly voice following him. Walking over to the shelf that had now been relieved of it's contents and stood slanted at an angle against a table, he peaked in the small triangle space beneath it and peered over it. Nothing. The place was fucking empty.

"Val," a familiar, slightly raspy voice echoed through the hall and the large Gamatom turned towards it with relief in his eyes.

"Cade! There you are!" he said in his deep rumbling bass of a voice, sounding a bit like a bear welcoming his brother as he joined him on the other side of the fallen shelf where he stood at the arched doorway. Ignoring the small sneer on Cade's face, he clapped him on the shoulder with a heavy hand, his muscled arm fitting around the slender physique of the other like three large hams strung together in a line. "What the fuck are you doing in a place like this? It's fucking creepy in here, yeah?" the taller Gamatom asked in a low voice, raising an eyebrow to glance at the area he'd been walking through for the past few minutes.

"Just...hanging out. Found some shit to vandalize, you know," Cade answered with a nonchalant shrug, feeling a bit uncomfortable by the other's arm around him like this but not willing to tell him to back off. When he saw Valheru nod his head in understanding while still looking around as if he was idly searching for something, Cade moved away from the other and started heading to the front doors. "Why are you here?"

Without needing to be prompted, the larger Gamatom began to stalk towards the front doors as well, his heavy footsteps going faster than Cade's as he was more eager to leave this boring, dead place. "I was told to come find you. Something about the fight with Bast. I don't know." And his broad shoulders lifted in a shrug, the leather of his jacket protesting with the movement. It was obvious he hadn't been told much and didn't really care about the situation on a whole.

Nodding his head silently, Cade allowed the other to exit the building first, afternoon light falling over the front steps and the proud eagle statue that stood out front. Pausing in the doorway, he cast a glance around the semi-darkened room before following the other to where he'd parked the truck.
 
Before he left her, his hand touched her face, her eyes darting up to his. All she could see was an array of colors, washing over everything in a way that she couldn't assess. She licked her lips and watched them combining, mixing into each other and draping over his form. She saw him again, his features humming with energy. Her cheeks became a soft pink, warming against his hand. She thought she was was on fire.

Just as it started, it was put out by lack of contact when he pulled away. He told her to wait and she nodded. She had plenty of books but also enough worry to keep her distracted. She watched him go, jumping up into the vent and crawling away. She wanted to seal it but she did not know if he would come back.

She could hear him, the other Gamatom. From what she was getting, he was not so bad. His aura seemed sweet, in a larger-than-life manner. She tried not to focus on it as Cade left with him, leaving her alone.

She set up a few things infront of her, having decided that she needed to practice her skills. She could do quite a bit, but she could not control everything. She spent an unknown amount of time levitating things around the room; pencils, a few books, eventually one of the seats and finally the mattress. The mattress was difficult as it was heavier and naturally limber.

Everything seemed dark, like it did throughout the day except when the sun was higher and its rays beamed in through the smudged glass. She didn't know what it was, the mattress crashing onto the floor or the book landing in her lap, but she came out of some kind of trance that she had not even been aware of.

Ishu stood up and looked around, seeing the mess. Determined, she cleaned it up with her mind, levitating things back to their places until the room was the way it should be. Her stomach growled, making her wonder how long she had been "gone". She looked up at the smudged windows, no light coming in. No wonder she couldn't see anything even with her glasses on.

She removed the frames, no longer needing them seeing as she wasn't reading anything, and stood up. She put them away in their case and stuffed it into her pocket while looking at the window. This wasn't good. It was definitely past the afternoon, probably early evening.

Normally, she would just stay here and wait but her body trembled as she thought about her brother, alone and unfed. Sure, he could probably get out of bed and stumble to the kitchen and spend five minutes struggling with a can. She had to get home and take care of him.

Despite knowing how reckless her actions were, she made her way up to the vent and carefully wiggled her way through, coming out the other side and covering it back up. She just hoped they were hunting somewhere else, somewhere more populated.

Ishu made her way towards the entrance, keeping her senses open to everything around her incase she suddenly needed to disappear.
 
Back at the mansion, the first thing that Cade noticed was one of the other trucks was missing - the one the south-city pack had brought with them for last night's hunt. Apparently they'd parted ways while he'd been out and had gone back to their terf in the lower end of the city where the suburbs were situated.

Entering the mansion, he paused to give Valheru a questioning look, but the other silently pointed off to the right of the main hall to the downstairs den. Not another word was spared as they parted ways, Valheru already taking the coat from his large frame as he walked off in another direction, the sigh coming from his chest sounding like a harsh wind blowing through a hollow tunnel. He'd already discarded Cade and the stupid little retrieval mission this morning out of his mind, thinking of the sensual body of one of his fellows and the warm comfort that sleep would bring in these daylight hours.

On his own, passing through the heavy wooden doorways, Cade's mind moved rapidly trying to figure out why Quin could have called him back and also trying to come up with any reasonable excuse for his behavior lately. It was an odd feeling, the guilt, and needing to explain, because normally, the gang leader would have just left him alone to do his own thing. As long as he came back to the base and did what he was told when he was told, there shouldn't have been a problem. So what was this?

Entering the large room, his eyes adjusted to the dark as the curtains over the large windows on the right hand wall only let in a sliver of light, the marble floors gleaming in what little came through the covered panes. Sitting beside them at a large piano, Quin's body was half-illuminated and drenched in shadow as he smoked and poked at the dead keys, merely getting an occasional "clink!" sound from them. He had pants on but his upper body and feet were bare, the black tattoos on his arms barely distinguishable in the light that made everything seem black and white.

The dominant Gamatom did not look up as Cade approached him, standing silently a few feet away, watching as Quin's dark fingers tiptoed over the keys and smoke slithered from the cigarette dangling between his lips. "The southern pack left this morning before noon," he said, his voice eerily quiet. "Missed you at the send-off."

Cade felt tempted for a moment to explain, but it hadn't been a question. He would sound defensive if he started blurting things out before he'd been asked directly for answers, so, he clamped his mouth shut and waited. Eventually, Quin turned his yellow-green gaze on him, about the only color in this room at all and lifted from the weathered music rack a small scrap of paper. Cade's eyes widened a fraction of an inch and his breath caught as he recognized the missing piece of the cover from the book Ishu had lent him.

"Whatever lesson you'd been trying to teach Bast, he learned it well although he wasn't much help in illuminating it's purpose." He paused to give the other a wry grin, speaking to him as an equal. "You know me, Cade. I'm not a hardass when it comes to these inner conflicts, but I will admit it embarrassed me a little in front of the other pack. Especially since nobody can seem to figure out what the hell happened - not even Bast knows what he did wrong." He waved the scrap at him in a manner that indicated he wanted that explanation offered now.

Somewhat relieved that this was what it was about, Cade let out a long breath and ended it with a shrug, making the gesture as casual, yet respectful as he could. "He...was just pissing me off is all. Destroying shit that wasn't his to put his hands on. The moron took it too far and he wasn't listening to me so...I had to use my fists. I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of our guests but...the bitch wouldn't back off - by the time we got downstairs, I was already too angry to let it go."

Quin listened attentively, his pale eyebrows knotting together in the shadows, trying to fit what Cade was saying with what he'd seen happen. "So...you were messing around and wrecking some books; Bast tried to join the party but you didn't want him to and he ended up bugging you to the breaking point, is that it?"

Silently, Cade nodded - sure, that'd do for a reasonable explanation; no need to bring up reading or anything complicated like that. Quin's shoulders relaxed a little bit as he registered the other's response. Taking the cigarette from his mouth, he touched the tip of it to the face of the man on the cover, idly watching for a few minutes as the burn spread to engulf most of the small triangle before he tossed it somewhere on the floor.

When he looked back up at Cade, he didn't notice the tension rippling through him or realize how badly the slender Gamatom wanted to hit him just then. "Alright, I suppose that makes sense - Bast was being a bit of a jackass last night, getting on everybody's nerves, so it's good to know someone finally had the nerve to pound into the sorry shit and make him shut up for once."

Despite himself, Cade found he was relaxing as well. The piece of cover was destroyed completely now, but at least this whole suspicion situation was over--

"But I feel the need to ask about these morning adventures you've been taking," Quin continued, taking a slow drag from his cigarette and fixing Cade with a renewed, penetrating look. "Normally, I wouldn't care, but again, it was a bit of an embarrassment not to have all my men assembled for the send-off earlier - especially when it was noticeable." Cade nodded his head and swallowed hard as the other Gamatom stood and stepped forward so there was only a few inches separating them and he looked at Cade with something akin to sympathy in his neon colored eyes that almost glowed in the dark.

"I understand, you like to go off by yourself, and it's not a problem - I don't care. But I can't shake the feeling that you're sneaking off, like you're keeping something from me." There was a long silence then and Cade looked at the other realizing there was another question in his eyes.

"Are you consorting with a different pack?" There wasn't a reaction, so he automatically assumed that wasn't it. "Is there a...special friend? Someone that you wish to keep private from the group?" There it was, a brief widening of the eyes, and Quin waited until Cade nodded guiltily, a smile coming to the dominant Gamatom's lips when he did so.

Letting out a very relieved sigh, Quin snaked his arm around Cade's waist, pushing them together hip-to-hip as he said, "Well, considering how much sharing there is among the brethren, I don't blame you for getting a little greedy and wanting to keep a toy private. I won't force you to bring him into the group if you want to keep him to yourself, but I would ask that you be here when you're needed and expected to be present. That's all I want from you. And don't take the truck out without permission - you never know when it might be needed." Lightly, he ran his hand through Cade's hair and kissed his temple, the other's body relaxing in his intimate hold.

Quin hadn't really known what to expect from this interrogation - sometimes you heard about Gamatom packs in other cities fighting wars over territory, their own brethren turning on them to go rogue with another pack. He didn't want to suspect Cade of doing that sort of thing, but there was always something a bit distant about the one's who liked to be alone. You could never really tell what they would or wouldn't do. Either way, to know that the Gamatom was getting up early to fuck human ass that he didn't want to share with the others was a completely understandable motivation.

Letting out a soft chuckle, Quin leaned close to nibble amorously at the other's neck as he whispered in his smoke laden voice, "There's still a few hours of daylight left - why don't you come show me some of that skill you've been keeping for this...special friend."

And Cade went willingly as the other dragged him off to the lone chair in the room, using it as a perch on which to engage in their salacious activities.

***​

When night fell, another hunt ensued, the 7 brethren setting out together in the large black pick-up truck. During the ride there was a bit of wild hollering and laughing, the Gamatoms in the back of the truck getting themselves riled up and feeding off of each other's energy. But as they moved into the heart of the city, they grew silent, filled with death-like seriousness, the black truck blending into the night only illuminated by the occasional street lamp. As they passed the apartment buildings and shops where Cade had met Ishu, he felt a small tremble of relief flow through him, knowing that she was probably locked away in her home, safe and sound hours ago.
 
Everything was quiet. In most cases, that was bad, but the Gamatoms liked to make noise when they were out so there was no way she could miss them. With the street lamps broken and no light to shine on her, she crossed the street while buttoning her coat, hoping its dark color would help her blend in and be less noticeable.

She walked up the street, peeking around a corner. She saw nothing, heard nothing, and assumed it was safe. Her small frame hurried up the street, ducking behind small spaces when she thought she heard something or felt the need to hide.

It felt like it took forever, her heart pounding in her ears and she crossed streets, hid behind trash cans and lamp posts, tried her best not to run. She was almost home, it would be just another block or two.

Taking an alleyway as a shortcut was a terrible idea- probably the worse, but it led straight to the back of her complex and she could get in faster. As far as she knew, Gamatoms weren't capable of high jumping and the fence around her apartments were pretty high which no horizontal bars to climb on.

So, she went for it, slowing trekking up the alleyway and ducking behind thing while being extra careful not to step on anything noisy. It has been such a long time since she had been out at night, or heard the sound of nails ripping through flesh.

A vein on her forehead pulsed and she put her hands up over her ears, wincing in pain while ducking behind a dumpster. The pain was agonizing and vivid. Something bad was going to happen if it hadn't already. Infact, she couldn't tell where this was coming from. For all she knew, it could be in the alley with her. But she couldn't see, she couldn't open her eyes to look.
 
The night was taking a while to have it's usual effect on Cade. There was a low burning humming deep inside that he recognized as the desire to hunt, his body's silent plea for blood. But overall, his superior consciousness remained intact, even when the truck came to a stop several blocks away from the grocery store where his life had been irreversibly changed. The other Gamatoms, although quiet for now, were locked deep within the hold of their animal instincts, consumed by the bloodlust. Cade could feel it trembling through them like the mechanical hum of a very large machine, and fear gripped him to realize that he was still consciously aware of himself and would have to live through this hunt as if he were like the rest of them. No hiding in the oblivion of his basic instincts this time. He would be in control and have to deal with that when he saw her again.

As they disembarked from the truck, the 7 split up in two groups peeling off in two opposite directions, bodies moving like sleek shadows as they crouched low and silent, letting their senses guide them to any prey still lurking about in the cover of darkness. Cade ran with Valheru and one other, Rek, a Gamatom with swarthy complexion and hair shaved in a criss-crossing pattern. They both ran faster than he did, swooping over streets and sidewalks, obviously on the trail of something. Lost without his senses opened like their were, he followed behind them, glancing around warily for any sight of what they were chasing down.

Slowing as they reached an alleyway, Valheru made small motions to both Rek and him, his square jaw held in a bestial grimace as he indicated they'd cut off the other side while he progressed from this end, hopefully trapping the target between them. Nodding silently, he watched as the other two split up and went around the corners on either side, before he inched forward into the opening of the alleyway.

Immediately, his eyes adjusted to the dark, picking out small scraps of trash here and there, and a bit of exposed piping connecting to a dead and silent electrical box of some kind. Further in there was a dumpster, and he could sense movement behind it as he drew closer, peering around it's bulk to see what they'd cornered here.

A young girl in her teens with auburn hair looked up at him from her hiding place, dark brown eyes half-seen from a far off light source that leaked into the alleyway. She whimpered pathetically, pleadingly a him, her eyes searching the shadows cloaking his face for some kind of mercy. And for once, the bloodlust was not triggered as he gazed down at her, sympathy instead spreading through him as she quietly, beggingly sobbed at him, any words she might have wanted to utter, cut off by her overwhelming fear.

Not seeming in control of his movements or his emotions, he bent down low and enveloped her in his arms, holding her to him in a soothing embrace. "Shhhh, it's alright...it'll be alright..." he promised in his raspy whisper, having no clue what he was saying or what he was even doing. This was madness! The other two would be arriving soon and if they found him like this... He needed to get her out of here, to help her get away... but no doubt the brethren would sniff her out and chase her down anyway... He needed to try... maybe he could slow them down somehow...

But Cade did not make a move to help her towards the opening in the alleyway, suddenly rooted in place with his hand stroking the long auburn hair on her back. She'd at first resisted the gesture he'd made towards her, fought him a little until he'd spoken those words of comfort. Then she's cuddled against his flat chest and shivered against him....like a frightened animal...making soft panting and mewling noises in her distress...

All at once, he found himself becoming aware of how small and fragile she was...the smell of her adrenaline and fear-induced sweat coming harsh to his nose and drawing him in against his will... He could practically hear her heart beating in her chest, wildly like a bird trying to escape it's cage, and for a few moments he let his eyes flutter closed, listening to it's frantic pace, letting it call to him...

There was barely a ripple in the transition once it was made, one minute crouched and petting her, holding her in his arms - the next, his teeth digging into the side of her throat, blissful snarls and growls rumbling from him as the metallic tang of her boiling hot blood gushed over his tongue and down his throat. Jerking his head side-to-side violently, there was a wet tearing sound and gurgling flop as a piece of her came off in his teeth, her body shivering spasmodically as she lay on the floor of the alley.

Light from the other side cascaded over her, fully illuminating her face and body as she stared up at him gasping in that animal confusion where death inevitably looms but takes it's sweet ole time. Mouth dripping with her fluids, Cade let his dark eyes wander over her, blinking as clarity registered again. For several seconds, he sat on his haunches, watching her attempt to breathe through her damaged throat, before he let out a panicked breath himself.

Hunching over her body, he reached forward with trembling hands, attempting to cover the wound in her neck, blood gushing out between his fingers in a heated fountain. "You're...you're going to be okay... it's okay..." he promised in a gasping breathless voice, fruitlessly trying to put pressure on the large hole, not willing to give in to reason and the fact that he'd taken too large of a chunk out of her for her to survive. But he didn't have long to worry about it as shadows drifted to obscure her face and he looked up to meet the faces of the other brethren.

"She having trouble dying?" Rek asked in a panting voice, inching closer to them with Valheru by his side. Not having a plan or even a coherent explanation, Cade merely gaped at them and took his hands away from her, looking back down as her slender, tiny fingers reached out to touch his arm weakly.

Just as he was about to put his hand over hers, Valheru was there standing over her, his nude muscles rippling with inner energy, coiling and filled with hate. Without warning, he crouched down and reached over her head, his large, thick fingers digging into her abdomen and breaking through the skin with an intense squelching sound. Then his whole, meaty hand disappeared as it became buried inside her body, reaching under her rib cage as if he were digging for hidden prizes. With a small pull of his large muscled arm, he brought forth a slightly knotted organ, purplish and red, swollen with blood, small tendrils of muscle and flesh keeping it attached to the rest of the body.

Her heart.

With shining wet eyes, Cade looked at the proud bestial grin the other possessed before beginning to consume the meat he'd fished out, and then glanced down at the woman's face again. In the small bit of lighting that made it past Valheru's body, her dark brown eyes stared blank and empty at him, her hand laying limply between them as if frozen forever in the act of reaching out and asking for his help. He did not join as the other two began ripping into her flesh, but neither of them noticed as they filled the bloodlust churning within them.
 
Filaments being stripped from each other as more flesh tore apart. She pressed her hands onto her face and curled up tighter as she heard it, some poor soul screaming for mercy. It was horrible.

She did know now that it was not near her, but she could feel it. That poor girl.

Without another thought, she jumped up to her feet and ran, tears pulsing out of her eyes and flooding her face. She bolted across the street and ran until her body hit the metal gate, knocking her down onto her back.

The girl stumbled up, her hands shaking as they grabbed for the gate. She could smell the flesh and the agony, death swelling up on her throat and bursting through the spit ducts in her mouth. She sobbed as blood and pieces of skin dripped out the corners of her mouth.

Her hand felt around until she found the box with numbers on it, her hand slipping across it due to the blood on her skin. Ishu pulled herself up to it and pressed in numbers, getting the combination wrong. No! She had to get it right but she just couldn't see!

She wiped her hand across her face, gasping as another set of eyes pushed their way into her skull. She tried to swat them away but found herself panicking, the eyes pushing hers as far back as they could while screaming.

Her hands latched onto her face, pulling at the sockets and trying to fish out the second set of eyes. She winced when she caught something, shutting her eyes tight and making a face as if someone had just spilled some cajun seasoning into her eye (it sucks, lol). She coudn't open them, no matter how hard she tried.

Her ears rang, hearing something distant that sounded too close. She put both of her hands on the box for the code and traced each button. She pressed one button and another. Just two more. Her eyes hurt, really bad. She tried to open them but found them rejecting her, only shutting tighter.

Maybe that was good? Maybe it was keeping her from seeing something she shouldn't? Another sound roused her anxiety and she quickly hit the third button. With difficulty she found the fourth and heard the door click. She rushed to it, pushing it open. She fell through in the hurry and tried to get up.

She felt something touch her- she didn't know if it was real or not. Her body turned over and she kicked as hard as she could, shutting the gate firmly in place.

Breathing, trying to calm herself, she turned back over and got up to her feet, hurrying into the shadows that bred under the second story of the complex. She couldn't believe she made it.
 
Bast ran with the other group, falling a little behind the rest of them because of the injuries he still carried from his fight with Cade. They were hot on the trail of prey not too far from here and the others had already passed a corner onto a different street when something caught the Gamatom's eye. As he came to a stop at the corner, his vision caught up with the darting figure as she slammed loudly into the gate and fell down. He didn't even spare a glance towards his brethren who were already on another street further away as he made his way across the street, stalking silently as she fiddled with the keypad by the door, her movements jerky and frantic with fear.

When he'd turned from the side-street, he'd progressed in her direction going slow, with his back hunched and his eyes fixated on her slight form. As the feet separating them were slowly eaten away, Bast progressively sped up, a low, threatening grumble starting in the back of his throat, his lips curling back in a frozen snarl. With just a few feet separating them, she'd broken through the barrier and was quickly inside, his short stature and tight packed muscles rippling as he quickly closed the gap.

Even as she lay on the other side of the gate, scrabbling away, he was reaching for her, fingers clawing wildly to find purchase, his mouth open exposing a long row of canine teeth and violent growls erupting from his throat. Then the gate was between them, and he pressed his whole body against it shaking it against the lock as his guttural voice erupted in angered snarls, the bloodlust driving him crazy as she stayed safe on the other side of the wall between them.

Yellow eyes burned brightly like tiny flames in his head as he glared at her hatefully, a string of obscenities passing through his lips as the reasoning part of his mind faded in momentarily to mix with the animal still in control. "Fucking bitch! I'll flay your body open! I'll tear your guts out and rip your skin off to make myself a coat! I'll cut off your breasts and shove a pike through your cunt! You hear me, you ugly whore!? If I ever see you without a wall between us, you better pray death finds you quickly, because I guarantee, I'll draw it out for as long as I can!"

Glancing up at the top of the gate, too far for him to reach, being one of the shortest of the brethren in their pack and still too bruised to attempt the climb over it, he let out another small growl of frustration as if cursing at the height of the barrier. Then he spat harshly at the ground, staring at her with pure rage in his eyes and jerked the gate one final time before running off to join the others, his small naked form blending in with the night once more.
 
She clasped her hands over her mouth to hold in a scream as he yelled at her, her body stumbling under the shadows and he just continued. She stopped where she was, not believing he could get over the fence. She slid down the side of the complex and cried into her hands, muffled sobbing vibrating against her fingers. He sounded so... vicious.. so angry. Was that how Cade was at night?

That was too close. She waited until he was gone, hearing him run off. Ishu got back up to her feet and tried to open her eyes, tears seeping out as her eyes hurt. She made her way back to her apartment and unlocked her door, going in and shutting it behind her. The girl slid down the door and cried again, her sobs silent as they bumped back and forth in her throat.

Ishu touched her hands to her face, spreading the tears and thinning them as they melted into her warm skin. She sniffled and stood up, walking forward only to stub her toes. She hopped once, kneeling down to press on her toes and make sure they were still there.

"Acacia?"

She stood up, turning her head slightly in the direction of the voice. She tried to open her eyes and could barely see the outline of her brother. No! He wasn't supposed to be up! Before she could argue with him, he pinned her, verbally.

"Where have you been!? Do you know what time it is!?" He walked forward, wincing and holding his side. He ignored it and made his way to her, touching her arm as she felt around the air, "What are you doing? What is wrong with your eyes?" He didn't wait for her to answer and he took her to the bathroom, sitting her down on the lid of the toilet and shutting the door before turning on the light.

She jerked away from the bulb, putting her hands up defensively.

"Oh... what- what happened?" Her brother went through the cabinet under the sink, taking out a first aid kit. "Did one of them get to you?" He seriously doubted it. He knew full well what they were capable of and how impossible it was that one of them would just do that and let her go. "Don't move." He leaned against the rim of the sink and dabbed at her eyes.

Ishu jerked again but stopped once he got a good hold on her face. He wasn't usually so forceful, but he was her brother and he was worried.

After cleaning her eyes, he carefully opened one of them, seeing a few cuts immediately, "Jesus." He held her head back and held her eye open, pouring in a few drops of solution.

Her jaw opened in pain and she hit her hand on his arm, wanting him to stop what he was doing.

"You will be ok. It looks like only one of your eyes has been damaged." The other one had a scrape but it was nothing solution could not fix. "Now, we will talk about this tomorrow- alri-" He was cut off as he watched his sister get up, toss the lid up and vomit into the toilet. He sort of didn't want to know why she was throwing up and decided not to question her just yet.

___​

The next thing she knew, she was waking up to the sun. She touched her hand to her face and winced, rolling over and gasping as she fell off the bed. She blinked, or tried to, and sat up. Everything was sort of blurry and she felt like she was only half blind. The bed was empty, which meant her brother slept on the couch.

She got up and walked towards the door, smacking face first into the frame. She stopped, gripping her nose and wincing. Her depth perception must be way off- but why? She didn't remember much from the night before- except that one Gamatom... he almost got her.

Once by the couch, her brother caught her, "Hey,"

Ishu jumped and looked at him.

"How are you feeling?"

She tasted her mouth and shrugged, touching a hand to her face and finding bandages. Startled, she poked them a bit and looked at him.

"Oh," He sat up, "You had some cuts on your eye... I don't know how you got them. You passed out last night after throwing up. You weren't out partying or anything, were you?" He was joking at first but his features became serious.

Ishu gave her brother an offended look before dragging herself into the kitchen. She remembered throwing up and, suddenly, didn't feel like eating anything. She did make her brother some soup and she brought it to him.

"Thanks... were you gone all day yesterday?" He figured as much because he didn't find any soup next to his bed.

She nodded and fidgeted.

"Ishu- you can talk to me."

She waited before telling him, Yes, I lost track of time. That's all.

"And it almost got you killed- where were you that was so important that you had to risk your life just to get back here?"

I'm sorry! I was just worried you would starve...

He sighed, dipping the spoon to the bottom of the bowl, "Just... don't do it again. Alright?" He looked at his sister and waited for a response.

The girl nodded.
 
Hunger pains pulled him from sleep early the next morning when the sun was still dancing just beneath the horizon, the heavy curtains over all the windows in the mansion making everything feel like it was still locked in the grip of night. Rolling over, Cade eased himself from the upholstered chair he'd found in the library, careful, even in this unoccupied part of the house, not to make any sounds, lest he unintentionally disturb Quin or one of the other brethren again.

After cleaning himself up from last night's revelries, Cade made his way outside, passing the trucks that sat solemnly underneath the lightening sky to the garage that sat separated from the main house. Opening the large mechanical door, he found the mayor's old car, the Audi smiling and gleaming at him as he removed the featureless dust jacket. With keys he found in the house, he climbed in and got the thing started, pleased that it still worked as smoothly as in the days the mayor had used it.

Driving into the city the sun chased him as it finally broke over the horizon and he moved into the part of the city where the brethren had gone hunting the night before, the neighborhood looking like a completely different place in the growing light of day. Parking the car on the curb outside of the same grocery store where he'd met Ishu, Cade climbed out and entered the building which was just starting to wake itself, expectantly waiting the business that still dragged itself inside occasionally.

The girl, the cashier from before, manned the register once more and she started to cry softly when she saw him, instantly recognizing him - the day he'd allowed her to live had been the most traumatic event in her life and she would never forget his face until the day she died. His first reaction was to feel the urge to sneer hatefully at her, to tell her to shut up or possibly throw something at her. But even as those feelings rippled through him, his stomach growling at him loudly but feeling no urge to turn her into a meal, he merely gave her a sober look before passing her by and wandering further into the store.

In looking for food, Cade let himself wander to the meats section, the aisle cold from the refrigerated shelf that housed the different packaged products. But the smell of the different pieces of flesh assaulted him and caused a different reaction in his gut than was encouraged by the still greedy rumbling coming from within. Stifling the urge to be sick as he felt his tongue filled with that same metallic taste from last night, he turned quickly from the aisle and searched out a different section of the store.

Eventually, he found himself in an aisle dominated by cans, but these were not the soups that Ishu had been looking through on that first day they'd met, the different labels covered in pictures dominated by greens, reds and yellows. His dark eyes zeroed in on a familiar name and he reached forward with a shaking hand to pick one of them up. The small picture on the front of the can showed a close-up of a dish filled with bright red and pulpy wedges, the word "Tomatoes: diced" overlapping it in clear lettering.

Glancing in either direction up and down the aisle, he turned the can over in his hands once, before licking his lips and attempting to open it. There was no special tab on the top like the one of beans that Ishu had given to him, apparently needing some secret, extra key to getting the contents out. Taking a knife from his pocket, he used it to stab a hole through the top, curving the blade along the edges until the top had become a lid malleable enough to tear out of the way.

The contents looked much like the picture had described them except an excess of juice and water collected around the small fleshy wedges. The hint of an almost sweet smell came to his nose, easing the wary expression from his face, hesitation lifting away from his shoulders as he plunged his fingers in to scoop the small particles out. The taste was subtle, and the texture was soft yet watery, but all of it was an extreme reprise from the tough, chewy texture and savory, bloody taste of meat.

After the can was emptied, he eagerly attacked another one, his knife burrowing into the top with ease and his fingers scooping out the contents in handfuls and shoving them into his face eagerly. After the second can dropped to the ground, empty and rolling off somewhere to be forgotten, he paused over reaching for another as he noticed a man standing and watching him from one end of the aisle. There was a confused look on the guy's face as if he was trying to figure out what Cade was doing - a basket over his arm identifying him as one of the early morning shoppers at this mart - but when their eyes met, the man tensed in fear at having been noticed in his voyeurism.

Without a word passing between either of them, Cade stood for several minutes just sharing a long stare with the guy, before letting his eyes quickly dart back at the shelf and grabbing a few cans and putting them in his pockets. Then he was slinking away in the opposite direction, stopping as he was heading towards the front door as he passed some shelves with product names like "mouthwash" and "tooth brush".

His eyes momentarily widened to remember the things Ishu had told him - it was important to "brush" the teeth after consuming fruit and...she'd said tomatoes were fruit, hadn't she? Something about seeds and scientists... - and he picked one of the slender plastic containers up before proceeding up to the front. It was important not to let the...the acids sit on your teeth...or something like that... How long did he have before it became a problem?

Thinking that it'd be best to deal with it right away, instead of walking out the front doors when he got to the front, he stopped at the counter in front of the cashier, shoving the thin plastic container in her face. "You. Do you know how to use this?" She spent a few minutes garbling something as if her tongue had tugged itself free and was flopping around inside her cheeks, but finally she nodded hesitantly, giving him an uncertain look as she tried to explain and mimed something that looked like she was attempting to punch herself in the face. She also made it somewhat clear that he was missing a piece - something vague was mentioned about a tube and some kind of liquid that was suppose to go on the damn thing.

Annoyed, Cade shoved it at her. "Show me," he demanded in his gruff, raspy voice, causing her to quake briefly in fear. With shaking hands she opened the packaging and took out the slender plastic contraption and, grimacing widely, stuck the end with bristles against her exposed teeth. Fascinated and a little disturbed about the process, Cade watched as she moved her hand back and forth, only stopping to tell him that you were also suppose to open your mouth and stick the bristles inside to brush the "tops" of the teeth.

After she was done with the explanation, he took the brush in his hands, giving it an odd look before picking it up in his fist as she had and jamming it into his mouth to scrape along the rows of canines in the front and residual molars in the back. "'ike 'dis?" he murmured around the intrusive object, raising an eyebrow at her for her approval.

"Well...yes," she said with a slight nod, seemingly growing bolder now that he'd adopted a more conversational tone with her. "But you should probably get another one; that one's been inside my mouth."

Removing it from between his lips he looked down at it for several minutes, not understanding what she was trying to say. He needed a new one? They...couldn't share a tooth brush? Looking up at her and holding the slender thing away from himself in a small act of cautious revulsion he asked with a disgusted sneer, "Why? Do you have a disease?"
 
Ishu opened their fridge and saw how little was inside. She picked up the slim jug of milk and opened it, wafting to fumes to her face to make sure it had not gone bad. Her brother was not a big fan of milk, being lactose intolerant and all. She fastened the lid back on, I am going to Rupert's.

Haijime looked over his shoulder from the couch, "I think he is open today. Just be careful."

Alright. You should go back to the bed, She stuck her head out of the kitchen and looked at him, You know you need it.

The two kept each others gaze for a few moments before her brother gave up the battle, "Ok." He stood up, holding his side, and made his way to the bedroom.

Have you eaten anything? Ishu asked with a worried tone while following him to the bedroom. I can make you something before I go. She watched her brother lay down and saw the dark circles under his eyes. He hadn't slept that night...

"You don't have to-" Before he could finish, his sister left the room and went for the kitchen. He smiled and shook his head.


After making her brother some soup, she took the jug of milk and left the apartment. However, she did not leave the complex. She went all the way to the other side of the complex and knocked on an apartment door before opening it, Rupert? She looked around, seeing a TV with that screen- the one with nothing but static.

She heard a noise and a cracking sound, followed by the bedroom door swinging open and an old man bustling through with seemingly nothing to support him but a cane. She smiled at him and held up the jug with just 1/3 of the milk left over, I brought you something.

The old man cackled cheerfully, welcoming her into his home. "H'ow 'ave you been? I 'ave not seen you in a long time!"

I am well. She took the jug to the fridge and put it inside before returning to him.

"What 'appened to your eye?" He leaned up, squinting through his glasses.

Ishu felt bad for taking advantage of his poor sight when it came to communicating with him, but she did not wan to answer questions she did not know the answers to. She gave the man a hug, I just had an accident. It will be fine in no time. and then she pulled away.

"Aye, alr'ight then!" The old man bustled to the bedroom and opened the door, sticking a wooden stopper under it, "Go ahead then, everything just finished today." He cackled cheerfully again and bustled over to the chair infront of the TV.

She knew he was a strange man, eccentric, but she still found some of his ways odd.

Ishu walked to the bedroom and picked up a plastic container. The room was cleaner this time so she did not feel the need to wrap her feet in plastic. She walked around the room until she found the riper planters, picking things off of what looked like a bush.

Rupert hummed and mumbled some words from the other room, something about bugs taking off their shells and dancing.

This made Ishu stop and look up as she listened. She saw them again, the bugs peeling out of their shells and throwing them down, then jumping ontop of them and dancing with little canes and small hats. Bewildered, she wondered, was this where she got that dream? OR nightmare- she did not like giant bugs very much. The girl shivered and finished filling the container, then shut it tightly.

She walked back out of the bedroom and thanked Rupert, giving him another hug before walking to the door. She listened to him more, watched him talk to the TV and demand the cicadas not stop dancing. That was all she needed- she knew she got that from him. But why? How? He lived so far away...

Ishu left his apartment and the complex altogether. She walked across the street and headed out for the library, squinting under the sun. She put her hood on as she thought, wondered how far away that poor girl was the night before. However far she was, Ishu knew her abilities were growing. She was catching things at a further range... she did not know what this would do to her.
 
Back in the car and driving down the streets once again, Cade started to sink into a solemn mood. First, there was the troublesome fact that meat no longer had any appeal to him - nothing but eyes and faces and gasping breathless screams running through his head to see even mere slabs of animal flesh. Feeling the now heavy pockets of his long coat against his thighs, the cans of tomatoes stuffed inside to practically bursting the seams, he began to worry how he was going to deal with eating.

Ever since he was a toddler, able to run on two feet, he'd hunted and fed with his brethren, hunched over fresh corpses, shoulder to shoulder at times, usually two or three Gamatoms to a body, picking the bones clean among their divided efforts. There was no way he could simply opt out of the hunt and not draw attention to himself and it was one of those things that would be taken extremely serious no matter what excuse he could come up with. If it was illness, the brethren would likely kill him. Gamatoms were immune to everything that had plagued the humans, so if one of them sudden grew sick, it was a sign of something having broken through the defense and could mean death for the rest of them if it were allowed to spread.

If it was mere disinterest as it truthfully was...they would likely kill him as well. The hatred for women and the hunger for their blood was hardwired into every cell of their bodies and every section of their fractured psyches. Disinterest in their sole food source and a rejection of that genetic hate could only mean that he'd gone mad or regressed and such a mental weakness could damage the rest of the pack. There was a fine line of loyalty among the brethren and if the problem could be corrected the easiest by his death...

Cade didn't want to think that way, having grown up with these men and bonded with them in the bestial ways that they connected with the world, but more and more he found it difficult to consider them anything other than monsters who killed and fucked to fulfill their own selfish needs. Any issues he was having would only stop the fun and dishonor the rest of them. Why would they let him live in any scenario?

So, they couldn't find out and that meant, even if he wasn't willing to actually go through with it and kill another woman...he'd still have to shove his face in her guts and get himself dirty, pretending to feed, which was just as bad. There hadn't been much out of the ordinary going on with him lately, but just the slight ripples of change going through his mind and body, even as well as he'd kept it hidden, had set off Quin's radar. And now the bastard was watching his every move. He could probably get away with standing in the background for the most part - like he had last night, watching disgusted as the other two finished their meal and proceeded to fuck each other wildly overtop of the gutted and stripped corpse - but there were going to be times when the spotlight was too hot on his back and he couldn't avoid having to play the game.

Cade almost felt like he wanted to ask Ishu for help but every time he considered it...he didn't want to get her involved. He didn't even know what she could do to offer advice - if he didn't act "normal" and join the group, then he'd get caught and questions would start being asked and conclusions would be drawn - and she didn't know enough about the complexities of their culture to truly understand what he was up against.

It wasn't just the effort of having to explain himself to the other men and the possible truth coming out in the open - that he'd for some reason lost his mind the day he'd laid eyes on her - but if they didn't kill him, but instead allowed him to live or tried to "heal" him, he'd be tainted and marked. He'd never be free to do as he pleased again, eyes on him at all times, watching his every move lest he suddenly turned violent against his own kind in a fit of spiraling madness. And that meant giving up what the two of them had created...this friendship.

Rubbing a hand over his face, he let out a heavy sigh and decided that he was just going to put it behind him. He did not want these Gamatom issues to invade the sanctuary and heaven of being with her - they controlled enough of both of their lives already. Thinking about her again, he let the tension fade from his shoulders and muscles and a smile crawl across his face, her beautiful features filling his mind and the feel of her skin tingling on his fingertips. Maybe they could fold cranes again today? Or possibly she'd be open to going out to the orchard with him? Nobody was out there and although Quin had known about the library, there was no reason for him to suspect Cade would go out to the countryside. They could be alone and remain unbothered without the worry that someone might come looking for him again...

During his drive, Cade had passed one or two people walking on the sidewalks here and there - most of them probably wandering to jobs they still went to, helping human society limp on in it's morally damaged state - but at one point he passed someone whom at first glance he did not recognize. The coat caught his eye as being familiar, but it wasn't until he'd passed her and looked back in the rearview that he caught a glimpse of her youthful face and a surprised smile spread over his lips.

Stopping and backing up, he let the car rumble by the curb as she came abreast of it and leaned out his window with a grin and a low whistle. "Hey there, lovely lady. Want a ride?" Playfully, he stuck his tongue out from between canine teeth and grinned at her, not yet having noticed the bandage on her face.
 
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