Chapter 18 - The Other Side

When Jenny woke eight hours later, she had been excited by her new strength. But had to go outside to get used to it, by hunting down some stray werewolves. While also integrating the last pearl to her own werewolf, which had also advanced thanks to Jenny's advancement.

Haley had woken up two hours after, with a sore body, for having used power beyond what her body could handle. But Emily had noticed a change in her, she found Haley withdrawn from everything.

She was even muttering to herself, Emily thought it was something she had to address later, as they had a journey to begin, towards Phil's Survivor Settlement. After all, they still have the moon-heart, it would be a shame to let it go to waste.

Along the way Jenny had confessed to Emily, and told her, she had received a reward from the Golden Moon system. And she thanked her, and promised to be by her side forever. Which Emily attributed to the True Title already at work. Even Haley was stuck to her.

Because of that, Fenrir and Vixie were jealous, and made it a point to also, get close to her. And it made Emily's travels, very uncomfortable. She could only breathe a sigh of relief when they finally reached the Settlement.

'If the streets weren't full of dead bodies and debris from the broken down buildings, perhaps we would have driven here,' Emily thought after an hour and thirty minutes of walking towards the Survivors Settlement.

Though she had a large amount of stamina to spare, a strong body to endure almost anything. And if she wanted to she could've ran here and it would've taken less than 5 seconds. She still felt like complaining for no reason at all.

It was like a part of her still identified herself, as human. Though it wouldn't be incorrect to think like that, it would be idiotic. Being not human is what makes her special, unconfined by their morals, she could do the unexpected.

She had to start thinking like an animal, she partly is. She wouldn't want to one day sacrifice herself, because she grew back her human heart that would let her be capable of empathising with the struggles of humans.

During her journey here, she had scented lost, fearful humans, trying their best to survive their inevitability. And some of the humans gained the courage to come fourth and beg her to save them.

Because Emily still didn't have the heart to kill a child, which was amongst the humans. She chose to ignore them instead, but of course this world was harsh after all. Once they had walked not ten minutes away from those humans, did she start to hear their torturous screams as they were being ripped apart by the werewolves.

Jenny had gone back to save some of them, but even with her speed, all she met were bloodied corpses, and blood hazed werewolves that failed to use their nose to identify Jenny as a very strong human. And ultimately lost their lives.

But such was the new world Emily had been thrusted to, a world of nothing but death at every corner. And surviving meant having the will to endure it's harshness.

Emily breathed a sigh, after reorganization her thoughts, and looked towards the heavily fortified settlement. Even this far away Emily could scent out many human survivors.

'Even a mouse, given a chance could survive the unthinkable, why wouldn't humans?' Emily calmly thought.

The Survivors Settlement was located deep in the heart of the ruined residential district, where apartment buildings have been heavily fortified.

The survivor settlement stood as a rough blend of broken down buildings and improvised structures, the entire residence was encircled by a barricade of stacked cars, and metal sheets.

Two human paired with their own werewolves guarded the North, South, East and East side. This was the information she got from Jenny, who was happily chatty about her former settlement.

Though they fortified the apartments, at it's very heart by the main square, they still made makeshift homes, like small shacks made from corrugated iron, broken bricks, and weathered wood and they formed a close-knit community.

This was a Settlement composed of the largest human group, with most diversity, and was made up more of regular civilians who banded together. Their goal is to survive day by day, avoiding werewolves rather than engaging them directly.

And they did well with the help of some of the strongest humans, who hid amongst them, Emily could tell. Werewolves are capable of scenting strong enemies, and the only time they would be foolish enough to attack such enemies, is when they are hungry.

Despite the piles of bodies they leave in their wake, they are picky eaters. And they would rather die than eat rotten corpse, that's why the werewolves Emily had killed, that gave her enough requirements to awaken from her sleep mode ignored the fat body, that had enticed Emily enough to want to devour.

The people here scavenge for food in nearby markets and old stores. They rely heavily on underground passages and tunnels to move safely.

After pulling both Fenrir and Vixie into her shadow. She, Haley and Jenny started moving towards the Settlement. When they got close to the human guarding the East side, he was already on high alert.

It was when he recognised Jenny did he somewhat relax, while maintaining vigilance towards Emily, because of her eyes. They simply made trouble for her. She cursed both the red and golden moon for this.

"Back so soon, eh?" His voice was thick with an accent.

He was a black man, dressed in casual clothes. His casual demeanor, hid the aura of a dangerous wolf.

"Seth, can we go inside now?" Haley asked, her voice flat, unfriendly.

Seth shrugged, as he could tell from Haley's dwindled numbers. They had suffered a huge sacrifice that would make no strong man, want to talk, lest a fragile woman.

He opened the a car door, which led to the other side. He first let Haley pass, then Jenny but when Emily was about to pass. He blocked her. He eyed her from top to bottom, assessing her, but Emily spotted obvious lust.

She sighed, not really surprised, she did live as human the first three months of the apocalypse. She was not ignorant of human nature.

"What do you want?" Emily patiently asked.

The man, smiled, showing slight yellowed teeth, "but of course, a fee to be able to pass."

"I don't have it," Emily blatantly said.

Of course her words seemed to excite the man further. He went to unzip his pants, but before he could even touch the zipper, his neck had already been twisted.

His werewolf disintegrated, and he was dead. Emily placed inside his corpse inside her shadow, not wanting to to cause a scene. The people inside will just have to assume he ran away. That's why she didn't outrightly castrate him. The blood evidence would only serve to cause panic.

And that's not what she came for, even though she's certain some women, would actually be grateful towards her. If there's one thing Emily was certain of, it was not this man's first time doing this shit.

She took a deep breath, not allowing herself to regret not torturing him first, as apposed to the mercy killing. She got inside the backseat of the car, and appeared on the other side.