~Noelle~
On the broadcast released by the doctor, he never mentioned how long it took for the infection to turn you into a werewolf. We were only informed that the faster reaction to it would be a brainless, so all should be warned. He's lucky I can't find him, because he is useless. What's the point of passing out information if you're going to withhold the important parts of it?
I can now confirm that it takes precisely, one week, six days, and sixteen hours for a mark to appear.
I can't speak for the zetas, gammas, betas, omegas or alphas, I'm not sure how long it takes for the infection to create a mark for them. But I know for sure, when it comes to the most horrid thing you could ever become, it takes less than two weeks.
"My life is cursed." I swore, glaring at my reflection with sadness and hatred. I'm as naked as I can be in my own bathroom, I've cried for hours. My eyes are puffier than usual. Those same eyes have taken on a different shape and color. Their glow tranfixes me until I'm reminded of what I am now. A Luna. Of all the things I could be, life just had to throw me a Luna.
It really said; hope is for losers and fantasy characters. So here's more bad luck to back this up.
After getting bitten, I stayed for hours at the mall. Waiting to see if I'd change fast. If I did turn into a brainless, I wanted to be away from Micah. She had to be safe. When nothing happened, I searched the whole mall for a bandage and other necessities. I used the car the Baton Boys had come with, to take all the items back to my home. There wasn't enough food in the mall but it would last us the next two months, if we eat once or twice a day in small portions. Some were due to expire in a month, I'll work out a way to eat them, and save them as well.
Unfortunately, the mall didn't have medication for dogs. And even if it did, I wouldn't know what to give Micah. There's no internet connection in this place, only a few packs have those, so I have no way of researching what's good. The meds I've been giving her where from memory, the kind my parents used to buy whenever she fell ill.
I wonder how long it'll take before one of those beasts to come for me. The mark on my stomach and in-between my breast are red, maybe purple? Or cherry red. Yes, that's the color of my small hope and happiness leaving my body. It's so beautiful.
The design of the mark is fairly unique, but to be honest, I haven't seen a Luna ever. I haven't had contact with another person in years. I'm either fighting them off or avoiding them. I don't check their bodies for certain things. Which was my mistake. I should have seen the marks on the girl's arm. Now here I am, infected and doomed to be some jerk's battery and birth canal.
What will they do with Micah when they come for me? Can I still run?
My eyes have grown darker, and in the midst of the black pools is a bright purple crescent shape. I don't recognize my own eyes, they're half moons. How is that possible? That doctor left a lot out of his broadcast, and I'd like for him to explain how a virus can do this much to a person's body.
I'm not myself anymore.
My body has changed, I feel fuller if that makes any sense. Like every part of me is now incredibly healthy, and the pounds I'd lost, returned. The marks appeared over night, I didn't feel the changes until I got to the bathroom to take a shower. My hair had changed too. It's now auburn, but there are strands of blonde mixing with the color. I have light blonde friggin hair for goodness sakes! Why didn't it just turn my whole bed of hair blonde? Why make some black?
I have more questions than my head can handle.
There are also freckles dusting the area of my cheeks, just underneath my eyes. I've never had freckles. Not anywhere on my body. And now, ha ha, I do.
I heard Lunas have exceptional beauty and even I am wowed by my looks, but what kind of infection does this? It completely changed me to someone else, I barely know the girl in the mirror.
I was naïve to hope that maybe, after a week and nothing, that I wasn't infected. That maybe, I could go on with my life. But that's not how things are, shit ain't sweet for some people. Especially me. My eyes slide shut, and I balled my hands into fist.
I want to break something. I could go for a run to clear my head, but that is too risky in this world. I eyed my marks again with distain, sadness ebbs its way into my heart, holding it in a vice grip as the implications of these marks continued to weigh on me.
If an alpha comes I can try to kill them, but I doubt I'd be able too. I'm sure my urges will change, my vision is already different, I'm seeing things in a fuzzy way. I'll be forced into a pack for sure, and If the Baton Boys have taught me anything, packs are the safest bet for wolves who need good food, protection from the brainless, water and a stable life. But they're also breeding grounds for assholes and how they treat their people is beyond me.
The only time I've witnessed as pack is when I ran into the Baton Boys for the first time, I was able to sneak into their camping grounds unnoticed but god, the horror I had seen solidified my thoughts of packs for the entirety of my life. They are monsters.
The things they did to people…
No one should have to endure what those people went through.
I shuddered at the memory.
And Micah, my only family. How will they treat her? I'll be nothing but a battery pack and a baby maker for whoever marks me. We'll barely get to see each other, and she'll die without me.
Why is life so fucking unfair? I've done everything right! One weak moment of compassion and this is what happens.
No matter how pissed I am at that little girl, I'm glad I saved her from those animals. What they would have done to her….
A shiver courses my body, tensing it up and creating goosebumps all over. I don't regret saving her, but that's the last time I'll ever do that.
"What am I going to do?" I eyed my expression, becoming twice as confused.
I need to formulate a plan to escape for when those bastards show up. We can't leave our home, I have no other place to take Micah. I- god, I'm freaking out.
Micah barked, the sound pricked my heart because it wasn't as loud as it used to be. She sounded weak and tired. "I'm coming girl, let me just clean up." I can worry about this later, once I've eaten and taken care of my dog.
I quickly brushed my teeth, and showered. Throwing on the first bits of clothes I saw before dashing to the kitchen.
****
Micah ate slowly, she could barely keep her eyes open. I watched her attentively, wondering if she noticed the changes in me. The difference in my looks, she didn't show it. Worry fills my core, she's not going to be okay. Maybe I can track down a doctor, or anyone with expertise in the animal department.
Threaten them to help her. I can't be alone, not now that I'm infected.
Once she had eaten her fill, I made her drink some water before following her slow form back to the bedroom. Micah struggled to get on the bed, she used to be so full of life and now she's-
"She's okay. She'll keep fighting." I tried to convince myself but my eyes were locked on the greyish gold fur. I didn't believe a word coming out of my mouth. I wanted to apologize to her, she must be in a lot of pain. And now with me being a luna, I've brought more problems for us. I'm really sorry Micah, it wasn't intentional.
I may be overreacting. It could be years before anyone actually comes for me. I'll have enough time with her, I just need to be cautious. Stay indoors where no one can smell my scent. Wolves have a heightened sense of smell, but not great enough to smell someone from two states away. I learned that from a journal I found in this house when I first got here.
I think that Lunas smell delicious, they have too for the other people to be drawn to them like bees to honey. They're alluring to the eyes, the nose, and other unmentionable parts of a person. And the broadcast had confirmed that. I'm a walking target right now.
What an accomplishment.
I live in a deserted place, my heart clings on to the hope that no one will come for me. They can't smell me from thousands of miles, can they?
I should learn to stop having hope.
I shake those wavering thoughts out of my head, and proceed to do some chores around the house making sure it's spotless. My mind reels back to my marks as I flop onto the couch, feeling tired and bored. If they had been on anyone else, I might have admired the curve and shape of it. The cherry red color creating a small blush over my skin, and how it stands out as one of kind. I wonder what it does.
The infection is still a mystery to the majority of us, I don't think about it too much. I was born during it's highest time, most of the masses where turning into brainless. They filled towns, and cities like zombies. I'd have preferred a zombie invasion than this. The book I'd read, one of the only story books my parents could scavenge for me, had talked about a girl surviving the world of zombies.
I compared her life to mine and deduced that hers was easier. Because with zombies, you can kill them with kill shots to the head, or bombs and nukes. That isn't the same for the Cerberus genes, you're gonna need specific things to be able to even kill an ordinary brainless. And in an apocalyptic world, silver and wolfbane aren't just laying around everywhere for you to find. And the best part about a zombie apocalypse is the lack of packs. And Lunas. And super human wolf creatures who can hunt you down for miles on end.
Yep, I'd rather face zombies.
I bat my lashes a couple of times, on the last one the room shifts and everything turns to a purple shade. My nose scrunches as I pick up on a disgusting smell. It's not close by but It's stench is pungent. It's hard to ignore. Fuck how can- right. Shit, my sense of smell is greater now. I force myself out of the worn-out couch and march upstairs to the bathroom. The smell is kind of familiar, like a brainless.
Blood drains the color from my face and I go into full panic mode, I dash out immediately grabbing one of the guns that's hidden in the living room.
My mind spins for a second, confused as to how I did all of that in what felt like second. The more changes I notice the harder it is for me to breathe. Dropping to my knees, I wait patiently. The gun is clutched between my hands, and pressing to my chest. The tip is under my jaw, I could blow my own head off. I won't be doing that, the safety is on.
This is my method of trying to unwind myself from heading down a panic.
If a brainless is heading this way, and it doesn't find any food it'll leave. But if it remains and ventures further to where I live, I will kill it. If it's only one, I'm not sure how to fend off more than one of those things. They're massive and like I said, I've done a good job avoiding everything.
Why'd that kid have to come in fuck everything up?
That night nothing comes and the days blow by with the smell still hanging in the air but there's no growl or sign of anything approaching my general area. I'm tense, I haven't gotten a wink of sleep. Constantly worried that the moment I shut my eyes, everything will be over.
"Here girl." I place the metal bowl in front of Micah, and another bowl filled with water. I think she's grown tired of treats, but I can't cook for more than myself or I might run out of gas. Speaking of gas, I need to check how much I have left for cooking. Soon I'll have to switch to snacks. There no place for a refill. "Come on girl, you need to eat. For me, please?"
She still didn't move, her body plaint and stiff on the floor of the kitchen. My fingers brush her fur, stroking it lightly. She's going to be okay.
A soft knock snaps me up from my crouching position, what in da fuck?
I tip toe on my barefoot to the boarded door, snatching the shotgun off its place.
'I can hear you clicking the safety off, if you shoot that I can't be blamed for what I do next. Now open the door, I won't ask you a second time.' An empty voice speaks in my mind. It takes me a moment of pure shock to even realize that.
The voice was in my head, not out loud.
The cold sensation that suddenly takes over my body nearly has me on my knees. That voice, it was deep and gravelly, it floated into the space of my mind without permission. Who in the world?
I don't understand why, but my body moves to do as it's told. Removing the planks, and detaching the bolts. My hand trembles as it twists the knob. Whatever is on the other side- My heart lurches to my throat when I see the person behind the door.
I need a new count. It's only been seven days since the mark appeared, just seven. A week, how did this man find me?
Standing outside is what I can only call a scary, sculptured to perfection, dark skinned hunk. I haven't seen enough men in my life but I doubt any of them could even be half as good looking as this man. With long, full black curls resting on his shoulders. A thick beard on his face, smoldering piercing silver eyes with green flecks in them, and a big muscular body.
He's gorgeous. And really, really tall. So tall, he had to hunch over for me to be able to see his face.
This man stared me down with the most impassive emotion anyone could ever muster.
And I found it hot. I must have a fever, because I'm not thinking straight.
His blank expression only made him more appealing to my eyes, I think I need a doctor. My pulse quickens and my throat grows tighter. My breath seizes and I drink up every inch of his form before the alarm bells go off.
He's dangerous, Noelle, kill him before he can take you. A small voice in my head commands out of fear.
I raise my gun to aim at him, one blink of my eyes and it was yanked out of my hands. I watched this sexy brute of a man break my favorite weapon in two, as if it was some thin piece of wood.
He tosses the weapon over his shoulders, the sleeve of his shirt rolls on his arm and for split second I'm blessed with a view of his bare, tatted, forearm before fear sheaths itself in my veins.
"I-" My throat is dry, what do I even say? Can I still make a run for it? I have no clue on what to do.
He moves one feet to the side, shifting his body away, and I catch movement from below. My gaze drops to see the same girl from the mall, that little demon that ruined my life.
And curse me for thinking she looks even more adorable with her afro in pigtails.