Village
The evening sun trickled through the jungle canopy. Jamie did her best to walk through them with her new…legs, trying to adjust desperately to the surreal nature she was exposed to. It’s not every day when your normal walking speed is far faster than anything that could ever be reached before. If it weren’t for the strangeness and terror of the entire situation, Jamie might’ve actually liked the increased speed…might, being the operative word. Still, it didn’t take long to see the village that Steve had supposedly hailed from…or…what was left from it. It was clear the houses were constructed from Thatch of some sort, but said thatch was all over the ground, and the various buildings were in a state of ruin. The air stunk of death, and Jamie had to cover her nose just to attempt and block the overpowering coppery stench from her nostrils.
“Ugh! It smells fucking disgusting here!”
“That’s blood…both from us, and the Augments,” Steve knelt down, plucking a wooden bow from a skeletal hand, drawing the string before tossing it to Jamie; the tigress taur barely catching it. “It wasn’t an easy fight for them. Still, just…stand out here. I think the map makers had a hut around here somewhere. Once I recognize it, I can go search about it for the map if there’s one.”
“…and what if they took it? The Augments?”
“They can’t; most are too feral to even understand what a map is anymore; let alone process what to do with it. The real worry is if someone from the tribe survived, and took the map for themselves to go seek out the safe passage to the Gateway.” Jamie wanted to audibly groan at that information. So, there was yet a fucking’nother possibility that they were screwed…the only consolation was that this time, they were in a place that was driving Jamie nuts!
Driving her nuts…and…making her hungry at the same time. She kept her hand firmly clamped over her mouth as Steve searched around the broken-down homes, before soon calling out to Jamie.
“Hey! I found one of the huts! I’ll get looking for that map, okay?!” Jamie waved the man off as she just…focused…listening now. The smell was getting to her, and she knew it. But…as she stood in the ruined place, she could feel herself…acclimating to the smell, and growing to actually enjoy it…to like being around the stench of blood and death. It made her feel joyed. It made her feel happy…
…it made her feel hungry.
Something caught her attention; a rustle in the bushes. She didn’t have to wait long, as something exploded from it, landing and letting out a piercing roar, as the Augmented female clutched her spear and took up a makeshift defensive stance, even lifting one of her feline lower legs in response.
Written by AGhostInTheMachine on 31 January 2018
