Animals By: Lauren Shain-Raque SMASHWORDS EDITION ***** PUBLISHED BY: Lauren Shain-Raque on Smashwords Animals Copyright © 2010 by Lauren Shain-Raque All rights are reserved and retained by the author and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of both the above listed publisher and author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Smashwords Edition, License Notes This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re- sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Animals Her hair flew wildly about her upturned face as she waited patiently for the convoy to pass. One by one, the tanks rumbled on down the dusty road as the late summer sky began to darken. The days since the outbreak had been difficult at first, but eventually, Dunia had come to like the seclusion that Hawthorne base offered. Sure the comings and goings of the soldiers and arms dealers were on occasion troubling, but all in all, things had changed for the better. Low groans from the inner workings of the base wake her from her reverie and slowly she came back to herself. The tanks were long gone from sight as she made her way slowly back to the dormitories. “Ezel, what are you doing out this close to curfew?” Blaton spat as he pulled her close to inspect the contents of her basket. “Just being Sir.” She whispered wistfully with a sunny smile. “Can’t you be somewhere safer? We’ve lost three this week alone in Handley’s quadrant, I won’t make it four.” “I’m awfully sorry Sir, I wasn’t aware that the quarantine applied to the buildings inside the base.” She did her best to keep the smugness from her voice. “Well, just get inside and stay put. It may not be that strict yet but it’s coming.” He was taken by her frankness, her utter lack of fear. “Yes Sir, just as soon as the curfew notice sounds.” She briskly walked away before Blaton had an opportunity to reprimand her for her blatant disregard for his orders. He watched her as she walked, her bottom twitching just for him he imagined. His sense of reason screamed for him to look away but before he had the chance, she stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. “Sir?” She smiled sweetly. “Yes Ezel?” “Would you mind terribly putting your eyes back in your skull?” She again turned before he had a chance to react. He flushed deeply with both anger and embarrassment. He turned and strode quickly toward his post, refusing to watch her leave, let alone acknowledge the small gasp of fear that escaped her lips. Her attitude would surely be enough to keep her safe. The man outside the electric fence stared wildly. His hair, unkempt and tangled, stuck out around his face like a lion’s mane. She clutched her basket close to her person. She tried desperately to glance back over her shoulder to see if Blaton still watched. As she turned her head slightly, wanting to keep the wild man in her sights, a stiff wind blew the basket from her hand toward the electric fence that enclosed the base. She moved to catch it; a low grumble welling up in the man’s throat, then dropped her hand quickly. She dared to move away from the place where she stood and he moved closer. His red hair clung to the sweat that beaded against his brow and a string of saliva clung to his beard. He was one of them, she knew it. His eyes glinted in the hot sun like black stones worn smooth by the course of a river. He watched her hungrily, and not with the same sort of hunger that Dania was used to feeling. “Bla…” “Grrrrrr….” The sound welled and erupted from his mouth as she tried to call out for help. The muscles around his eyes twitched angrily and more saliva trickled from the pinched coroners of his mouth. He looked for a moment as if he may speak, though she knew it was impossible. She watched the anger in his eyes build and crest and as he lunged at her through the fence. The crackling of flesh against the fence turned her stomach and as she bent low to vomit, Sergeant Blaton grabbed her about the waist and flung her aside. He glanced back quickly to make sure that she wasn’t injured before he called for the others for assistance. She folded herself in two and tried to block out the crazed screams from the sizzling corpse that had once served as a near human being. The men worked quickly, shooting the wild man to ensure death before shutting off the fence to scrape the remnants off the fence. He would be studied, of that she was sure, and after the scientists finish he will be burned to prevent contamination. The Animals had been changing for some time before the real quarantine began. The army killed as many of them as was possible before they fled to the inner recesses of the forest. The people were secreted away while the Animals slept, to keep casualties at a minimum, and the doors of the bases were closed. When the occasional human staggered up to the door of any of the compounds, they wither died on sight or were ignored until the Animals came to claim them. The electric fences worked to a point, with many of the Animals smashing into it and burning to a crisp. Coming back to herself, Dania rolled onto all fours and wiped her mouth. Blaton, along with several other men, zipped the corpse securely into a biohazard bag and discussed its destination. “What about the girl?” A burly private snarled as the men prepared to move the bag. “I’ll handle her for ya Serge.” One of the men leered as Dania moved to secure the top button of her blouse that in the through the tussle had become undone. “That won’t be necessary Elliot. Just take this to the lab and return to your post.” Blaton, without realizing he’d done it at all, was standing above Dania protectively. He squatted next to her, trying desperately to meet her gaze, but failing miserably. “Dania, why do you do this to yourself?” He held his voice in check, keeping the worry as distant as possible. “Do what Gil? Attract them?” Her mouth drew into a frown and she pulled herself to her full height. “I didn’t do anything that I shouldn’t have done.” “You didn’t do anything? Honestly Dania. I didn’t promise to look after you for nothing…” “I don’t care what you promised. I didn’t do anything.” With that Dania turned quickly on her heel and stormed off toward the dormitory, nearly knocking Gil Blaton off balance. In truth she hadn’t done anything to attract them. From the first day of the outbreak the Animals seemed to find their way to Dania. They turned before her eyes, just outside the gates and windows of her home before the army came to save her. Her father nearly died several times during the first few months of the initial change and when Sergeant Blaton and his men finally came to move her and her father out of their home, he succumbed to the illness that had been welling in his bones for some time. He died just after they reached the base and with his dying breath it had been Blaton that he turned to. Blaton promised just as Dania Ezel’s father died that he would keep her safe. Until now she hadn’t know just how necessary his protection was. She moved to the back of the dormitory, pulling her knees up to her chest as she settled into her lonely cot. In her mind she knew that Blaton would make his way to her at dinner and that he would try to make amends for the awkward moment they’d shared. The others in the base never welcomed her the way that they had one another. She was the exception to the rule, while many humans died alone in the world outside the base after the first phase of the quarantine was complete, Blaton and his men had made a special trip just to find her. “Ezel. Sergeant Blaton would like to see you. Don’t dawdle.” The stocky private from earlier came close to her as he said this, his eyes bore into her and she squirmed under his intense scrutiny. She pulled herself from the bed, tucking the coroners of her blankets back into the bed frame as she went. The walk to Blaton’s office was quiet. She held her tongue as she moved to the end of the hall. Private Elliot stepped aside and bid her enter the office when summoned. The office door swung wide as she raised her hand to knock, somehow he always knew where she was. “Come in Dania.” His lack of formality took her off guard. He hardly ever called her the way that he called the others, but the sound of her name from his lips still sent a shiver up her spine. The office was dark, with little more than the light from the oil lamp on his desk to light it. As she cleared the door jamb Blaton pulled the door securely to behind her. “Dania, I’m sorry for how I acted earlier, I just…” “You did what you felt, I can’t blame you for that. I just wish that you would believe me when I tell you that I had nothing to do with what happened today or any of the other times that the Animals came here.” She flinched away from his hand as he reached out to trace the outline of her jaw. “Why do you do that?” “What?” She knew what it was, but nothing could make her admit that she was consciously avoiding him. “Dania why can’t you just admit that you need me to protect you? Why can’t you just let me do what needs to be done?” He pulled her close then, not allowing her any room to pull away from him. “Gil I don’t know what it is that you are protecting me from. How can I consciously let you defend me from something that I don’t understand?” She struggled against his grip, trying hard to pull away from him. “Do you really want to know what it is that I’m protecting you from?” Dania watched his eyes as they filled with salty tears. “Gil I just…” He pulled her toward the door then, holding her tightly to keep her from pulling away from him. They walked into the hall, the faces of the pictures that lined the hall watching her as she struggled against Blaton’s chest. The door at the end of the hall that loomed before them was like none that Dania had ever seen before. Somehow she’d never noticed the door at the end of the hall that she was about to be pulled through. His face pulled tight as Blaton held Dania to him. He’d thought at first that he would never show her what it was that they were fighting. She’d brought this on herself though and as the prospect of what awaited them through the double doors at the end of the airtight chamber. The Animals had been effectively secured for the last few months and before today’s incident, there hadn’t been any sign of movement in months. Dania had a way about her, a way of bringing out the Animals even when there seemed to be none in existence. She squirmed against him, it took all his better judgment to convince himself that though the sensation wasn’t all together unpleasant, he needed to focus on the matter at hand. Blaton held her tight and shielded her eyes from the harsh light of the laboratory. He let her go then when her eyes adjusted to the fluorescent lights. Tables lined the room, fragments of near humans littering their gleaming stainless steel surfaces. “They’re monsters Dania.” The twisted faces stared up at her through the thin sheets of clear plastic that covered them. The man from the morning was still secured in the biohazard bag draped across the table furthest from the door. “What made them so Gil? What changed them?” Her eyes welled with tears that threatened to spill over and Blaton let her stand aside from him. “I don’t know. The scientists don’t know. It could have been the water, it could have been anything. All we know is that sometime last year after the heat of the summer passed the Animals started changing.” She knew the time that he spoke of. It was late July and the longest heat wave on record had just been broken. As the temperature fell rapidly, the Animals came in droves to the outskirts of the forests and began to morph into the creatures that resembled humans. Had they changed completely it may not have been such a problem for the humans, but as it were, the Animals changed into shadows of humans and became more violent with each passing day. The humans fled indoors and the Animals came with them. The major cities emptied and the army bases filled up. Dania and her father locked themselves away and waited for someone to come for them or for the Animals to break in and take them. The army came for Dania and her father but nothing that they did could have saved him. It was their duty to protect him, but they had come too late. The Animals changed slowly at first, changing bit by bit until they resembled the Neanderthal men that science said we had evolved from. The faces of the men and women that lay on the tables before her were strained with pain and fear. Not at all what she had expected, the creatures before her were nothing like the people that protected her here on the base. They resembled slightly the animals that they had morphed from. One man looked like a wolf, another like a feline, all of them however looked pained. She felt sorry for them at first before remembering the animal that killed her father. She’d recognized the man that attacked him as they were transported to the base and one of the Animals, but no one believed her. Now, here in this cold sterile laboratory, Dania saw the Animals for what they were, monsters. Blaton pulled her instinctively toward her, trying his best to protect her now where he could not protect her father. He failed the President, he would not fail the President’s daughter. As he and Dania moved toward the door, her hand muffling the quiet sobs that welled up in her chest, he knew that nothing would ever take her from him, Animal or not. . Animals By: Lauren Shain-Raque SMASHWORDS EDITION ***** PUBLISHED BY: Lauren Shain-Raque on Smashwords Animals Copyright © 2010 by Lauren Shain-Raque All. on sight or were ignored until the Animals came to claim them. The electric fences worked to a point, with many of the Animals smashing into it and burning