Someone else had survived in this godforsaken place, and Carl was going to find whoever it was. Before Carl could form another coherent thought, though, he heard an enormous BANG, as the wall closest to him was mowed down. All Carl could hear after that was a snuffling sound, like that of a monster. Carl almost yelped, but calmed himself, put on a neutral expression, and looked at the animal near him. It was a man, seemingly mid thirties, good physical form.
Carl quickly tried to size him up, in a physical fight, Carl would not just be beaten, he would be snapped in half. The man standing in front of him seemed more monster than human, and was obviously eating “well” as was evidenced by the ring of blood surrounding his mouth. As Carl looked down further in horror, he noticed the large gash on the man’s leg and the blood on his hands, the leg wasn’t just cut, it seemed to have suffered some damage, and then, it… it had to be.
Holy shit, the man was drinking his own blood. The thought hit Carl, and he immediately dismissed it, the man had to have been eating humans other than himself, Carl continued to survey, in order to make sure he wouldn’t be the next goddamn meal. The man was wearing scrubs, much like Carl, quite clearly insane, but there was something in his eyes, a light.
The man was above cannibalistic need, although at the moment he wasn’t exactly showing it. The man could be reasoned with, Carl thought smiling crookedly. The exchange of neurons firing, of complete control over the situation gained in just under 3 seconds was exhilarating, and Carl knew the next meal the man would be eating would not be him.
“WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SMILING?” Carl was immediately shot out of his thoughts, reality seeped in, Carl would have to think through this one carefully.
“Ah, my bad, I was still thinking” Carl replied truthfully.
“About what? I’m about to eat you” Specimen A responded, confused. The man wasn’t offering any noticeable resistance.
“Well you might think so, but you won’t” Carl answered shrewdly.
“What?”
“Oh yeah, i mean if you really are that hungry, by all means go ahead,” Carl’s bluff wasn’t going to be easily caught. Specimen A took that as a solid acceptance and moved closer, snuffling.
“But,” Carl replied, putting up a hand. Specimen A stopped moving, immediately confused.
“Oh come on man, I’m pretty hungry”
“Yes i can see that, but I think we could work together”
“What? I work alone man, all I want is some food”
“You might think so, but all you want is what I want”
“How the hell do you know what I want? You took a total of 3 seconds to size me up”
Carl stopped for a second and looked up, his interest piqued, this cannibal with surprisingly good manners had noticed Carl’s analysis. The brute was smarter than he, Carl paused in his thoughts and looked down, than he looked. Carl looked back up and smirked.
“You, you knew what I was doing?”
“Do you take me for a fool? Why do you think I waited 3 seconds?”
“Interesting”
“Yes, very, back to more pressing matters, what exactly do YOU think I want?”
“Well obviously, ending The Beast”
“Huh…” Specimen A huffed a little and looked on in interest.
“It seems our motives match, you do not kill and consume to feed, you could do that with any food, you do it to expel The Beast”
“I mean, honestly we taste pretty nice”
“Brute” Carl said under his breath.
“I can still eat you, you know that right?”
“Did i say that out loud? Sorry I’ve been here alone for too long”
“Let’s break out” Specimen A said resolutely.
“I was planning on it”
“You sure you don’t want to get in my mouth?”
“I mean if it could be avoided, I would like to keep it that way.” Carl said with a smile.
5 MINUTES AGO
Specimen A crashed through the wall, like an animal, fueled only by hunger and the cold thinking capability of a hunter. The only way to surprise prey is to make it feel cornered. Well, as he crashed through the wall and saw the man sitting up, keenly aware of Specimen A’s presence, it was the predator who was surprised, as the prey looked on in interest.
Specimen A took his sweet time, sizing up his meal. The man had just thrown off a torn straightjacket, he was insane. Except as Specimen A looked into the mysterious man’s eyes, all he could see was clear, cold intelligence.
Slightly more interested, Specimen A continued to look downwards. The man’s hands and feet were slightly cut, oh well usually putting hands and feet through drywall will do that to you, Specimen A thought, suppressing a smile. Specimen A could smell the blood from there, it smelled of The Beast, but the man wasn’t infected, as it seemed.
The standard smell of ethanol and sterile materials messed with Specimen A’s sense of smell quite a bit, but he couldn’t act bothered. He tried to appear more intimidating, puffing out his chest and licking his lips, still stained with coppery blood. Specimen A narrowed his eyes and looked back up at the man’s eyes, cold intelligence.
It was almost scary, there was no sense of feeling at all, although Specimen A could physically beat the man to a pulp without breaking a sweat, he knew for a fact that this man would bargain for his life, and would most likely win. Specimen A would not eat the man, he would live another day. Almost as if Specimen A’s thoughts were being broadcast, the man started to smirk. Specimen A could put up an angry front for a little longer…
CHECK BACK SOON FOR PART 5…