We somehow manage to get to the next town, far up north from the city I stole from the werewolves, and with Nolan running non-stop until now, the excessive exercise finally catches up with him, making him put his tongue out and start to wobble to the side.
Couldn't blame him, beyond the distance and speed he even needed to dodge and dash, first from the wolves, then from the zombies, so he earned a rest.
He jumps up at the first roof he can, going up and up and out of the streets, making my already sore arms to work even harder and keep us steady as he jumps up, but the view was worth it; and not because of the beauty of it.
Is funny, now that I remember, how in a zombie apocalypse the cities are always grey and cloudy and overall sad, but in truth this place was far prettier than before, taking off the destruction of it all that is.
Is like a cemetery, the eerie silence and the grey tombs are oddly saddening, but the calmness of the place and the well-kept garden have a beauty of their own in it.
A cemetery… that's a good comparison for what I was seeing right now, only that the tombs were far bigger than the ones on the ground.
And that this city was far bigger than I anticipated too, with skyscrapers even, and that makes me worried; not only for the number of zombies that it was sure to have, but for the type of zombies it could have.
You see… When the next war began, they first used the traditional way of fighting, with the cost of human lives, but when they started digging trenches and were unable to advance, planes shooting at either side, a stalemate lasted for a long time without any side wanting to cave in.
That's when the battle grow to the point where they had to choose… And one of the sides chose the nuclear weapon.
Bombs weren't threw everywhere and explosions shone in the horizon like one would think, that would have destroyed the planet and the ones who send it would be affected too.
No no… they were smarter...
They probably prepared for such measures from the start; they first started to throw bombs on the main cities as a form of attack, many being intercepted mid-air, some carving holes in the heart of the cities and killing many humans.
But that all was a diversion to something… to the zombie virus.
The bombs had capsules with the virus and with radiation to cover it up, infecting from both sides, plus some even dare to say that infected people from the other country where send here to make sure the infection spread.
And it did alright.
But none of it matters anymore to me; what is done is done, but the major problem is, in a city like this, there is a higher chance of higher-level zombies, not only in level of troublesomeness but of rarity as well.
Only I knew that I really, really did not need more problems than I already have.
I shake my head; the quicker we are the less chance of encountering any of them. With things calming down a little I have some time to think as Nolan keeps an eye out while walking with us and jumping from roof to roof.
Probably because his sense of smell and hearing is still better than mine I'm unable to figure out why, but suddenly he finally chooses a place to stop, an old smaller apartment building hidden among the modernity that the other buildings exuberated.
As we get closer I can see some good points to it too; the fact that the building was surrounded by a thick brick wall with some distance from the building, allowing us to see that there were no zombies inside; at least in the courtyard; and that the gate was still close, so if we were lucky there were only a few zombies inside from the previous owners.
But damn I had to use the infamous word, now I'm not feeling so comfortable about it; not that we have a choice in that regard.
He climbs from the outside, making me hug his neck hard and my legs to almost lose their grip over his body, and with an awfully slow hike we manage to get in, opening a window to a dusty small apartment room.
Once inside I'm finally able to put my feet on the ground, feeling that my legs were about to give in from the tension of keeping myself on his back all this time, holding the same pose for a very long time, when I'm able to take Kira off my chest and lay her down on the couch, only after dusting it off a little with a pillow.
Not much I could do with that, only if I had a free day to clean this place up and down; which I obviously did not have.
Plus unfortunately… I was kind of being forced to get used to this as the years pass by and all places stay abandon, getting older and dustier.
She was sleeping soundly now, but I could only guess the damage that all this stressing situation caused on her and her wound, and thinking about it I try to find a solution to the lack of medicine while I give the last painkiller I have to her in the last can of food.
I lay my backpack to the side, feeling how swore I was from the last few days, and maybe changing literally into a wolf without even knowing, and all I wanted about now was a good night of sleep.
But I couldn't afford that, or rather, I don't even know if I would be able to sleep knowing Kira's state.
"Fuck, that wolf did some work on my arm." I say, finally calming down enough to have a proper look at it; and I thought wrong at first, it shouldn't be his teeth that grazed my fingers or something, but rather his claws manage to scratch my arm somehow, and the drops probably flow on his face.
Everything went down so quickly that it was difficult to be certain.
I look it over, on how the warm dark red blood traced my white skin, on how I was spilling out like an open can, on how many bacterias could easily get in; and it gave me the goosebumps.
I take a tissue and close the view with my other hand, closing my eyes and trying not to focused that his claws had pierced my skin, that many bacteria should have already entered my body, that even soil, earth, small stones, could have entered as well, crawling under my skin, tainting my body with who knows what.
"Fuck, I think I'm going to be sick." I say to no one in particular, trying to hold back a panic trembling attack, always trying to hold in, taking deep breaths and thinking that now was not the time to break down.
That's when I find some utility to my so newfound wolf abilities for my instincts were screaming at me.
I frown at first, not convinced of that sensation, but since it doesn't go away I try to look for the reason behind it.
"N-Nolan?" I say, afraid of what my voice could attract in this place as I turn to see him on the side, looking at me with a weird glint to his eyes.
That's when I notice that he wasn't looking at me, but at my wound.
"Mutt, stop with that, is not funny." I say, trying to keep my cool, only to watch him approach with a deep stare in his yellowish eyes, making them almost glint in the dark like two small suns.
That's when he is suddenly on top of me, pinning me against the wall, his breath so close to my neck and a strong paw over my wounded arm.
"Let go!" I say only to meet deaf ears as he gets closer to the blood, and suddenly his wet tongue is brushing it off my skin, losing control after the first liquid reaches his tongue, almost like he wanted to suck in every last drop of the crimson liquid, making it all hurt even more for it.
That's when, without even realizing what I was doing, I hit him on the ear with a good punch, making him lose his balance enough so I'm able to escape to the side, holding onto my even more pained arm.
I stare at him as he stands, shaking his head and brushing the blood from his snout, and for a second I think that, in the end, I haven't escaped the other Lycan, that he had actually got me and now was holding me captive.
For his ferocious attitude couldn't have come from Nolan… right?
I stay to the side, petrified, not knowing what to do, what to say, and what had just happened here.
"N-Nolan…?" At that he looks at me, startled, and with a once over at me he suddenly seems to be very… confused and scared.
'I-I'm going to have a better look around, clean the building, you rest here.' He simply says with a shaky voice in my mind before jumping out into the darkness of the night, leaving me even more confused.
What the hell was going on here?
Wake up already wolf of mine, we have a lot to talk about!