Chapter 8

Levi's POV

Shit. "We have to go, Arthur." I breathed, staring at the wolf and the pig still. My heart went into a full-blown engine, beating like it has to pump my blood like there's no tomorrow. The sun's getting brighter and brighter, which makes it easier for the animals to spot us. As if the dark would change anything, Levi.

"Y- yes. Now." 

We scurried out of the car, hoping that we could outrun these creatures. It made me wonder how they learned how to walk like humans, I think wolves can stand on their hind legs- but, can a pig too? I was about to sprint across the street and hide behind a few houses when the clank of Arthur's pipe caught my attention. 

"Arthur!" I called out as silently as possible. He froze in a running position, glancing behind his back as he watched his favorite pipe roll towards the unusual animals. "Arthur? You know it's not worth it- Arthur!" He sprinted to catch his pipe before it got close enough to the animals, and I ran to catch him as well. I groped his back collar and pulled him as much as possible and we landed on our butts. "Cassidy!" I grit my teeth and groaned his daughter's name. We gave each other a swift look as we scurried and crawled quickly until we were back on our feet, running away from those two animals- who seemed to walk slowly. We hid behind a wall and stuck our heads out to watch them chase us.

"Look," said Arthur. I ensured that nothing was going to creep behind our backs before turning my attention back to him, pointing at the wolf. It stopped on its tracks and tried picking up the pipe with its paws. We were confused.

"I thought they might be trained by an owner 'cause I haven't seen any animals who walked like these two," I pressed my back against the wall. 

"It sure did freak me out," he glanced at me before watching them again. "I don't think they could keep up- walking like that."

"They still seem aggressive to me, following us and all. Have the wolf picked the pipe yet?"

"Yeah. It gave up and used its mouth instead. The pig's walking way slower, too. Its legs shake a bit."

"Maybe it's because of its weight? It's huge."

"Let's go, Levi. We have to go back to Cassidy." He tapped my shoulders and walked past me.

"Said someone who thinks his pipe is more important. That was a suicide chain back there," I murmured.

"Heard that." He hissed, before sprinting across the street. After passing a few blocks, crouching and avoiding animals, we had seen plenty of corpses lying around; but all of them have dogs, cats- huge pythons even- feasting on them, so we needed to find a solitary corpse.

"We should look inside houses, or a few stores- maybe we'd find some." I ran towards a house and used my hands as a telescope to peep through the windows.

"Psst! Come back- that's gonna take longer. Plus, the door is closed. I don't think their paws can turn those knobs. " 

"They just tried picking up a pipe and walking like us. Who knows? I just wanna go back." I whined. "One of them did, two of them walked- like idiots- now come on and let's get going," His brows furrowed, irritated. We're already wasting time arguing, Arthur. I rolled my eyes.

I walked back to him, stepping a little heavier. After a few more minutes, we then entered an electronic shop that was left open. TVs, cellphones, refrigerators that have built-in telephones and power banks, glasses with holographic screens; some old-school stuff sold at a cheap price, and inside sat a bleeding man in his overalls with half of his face pierced off; teeth and gums visible.

"Time to shop," said Arthur, his hands on his hips. 

"I'm gonna puke." I cried, holding my mouth and my stomach.

"Do it quietly, and fast- because you're gonna help me carry him."

"What- no. I can't!" 

"Don't be ridiculous. How are we supposed to bring this back? We've wasted enough time chit-chatting," he said. I groaned, stumping my right foot on the ground. I'm going to cry. We stepped on the pool of blood and grabbed his legs together when the man moved his hand to grab me. I screamed, letting go of him and slipping off the blood in the process.

"Shush!!" 

"He's still alive," I cried.

"We can't save him, he's about to die! Please, take something with a grain of salt!" 

I stood up, shakily, and went back to grab his legs, turning my head sideways before closing my eyes. We pulled, and pulled, and pulled him out the door until I couldn't hold it any longer. I vomited a sour and painful liquid on top of the body. I grabbed Arthur's arms, gagging, and gagging even when I didn't have anything to purge. It hurt. He scrunched his nose and groaned in disgust. "Stay here, I'm going to search for a shopping cart in that clothing store," he pulled his arms and ran away. "I'm sorry…" I said, staring at the corpse, before dropping on my knees. I noticed its chest rise and fall slowly until it no longer moved. We just let a man die. We even pulled him like a sack of dirt in his last-minute alive. We're monsters. I cried and stayed silent for a moment.

"Levi!!!" I jumped. Arthur ran at me with a shopping cart, pointing somewhere behind my back; so I whipped my head to look. The pig and the wolf with Arthur's pipe caught up with us already. I stood up immediately and grabbed the corpse's arms. Arthur helped me carry it into the shopping cart. 

"What happened? Are you okay? You're bleeding" I asked nervously, staring at the bite mark on his arm, his jacket wrecked. "No shit. I'm okay. Come on, pull!" We groaned and carried the corpse with great strength until it's all set. We ran towards the unusual animals, hoping we could run past them with ease, but it followed our point of direction. "We need to be quick on this one, okay?" 

I nodded in response. "Stay behind me, be quick." Arthur pushed the cart with speed and I followed. "Arthur what are you doing!" I asked when I noticed that he's about to ram the wolf with it. He growled when he was getting nearer so I closed my eyes in fear. The clank of Arthur's pipe made my heart skip a beat, hoping that it bounced on the floor when they rammed at each other- but, I didn't feel any contact, so I opened my eyes, and little did I know that the wolf managed to evade him and turned fast enough to bite my hair. 

I screamed in pain, and Arthur went to the rescue. He rammed the pig using the cart with great force before coming at the wolf who locked my neck with its right leg. I yelled and tried to punch its face with great force, while the sound of its growl vibrated through my ears. "OW. HELP ARTHUR!" My scalp felt like it was about to rip off my head.

He kicked the wolf as hard as he could and it yelped, releasing my hair. I stumbled on the floor, watching Arthur beat the shit out of it. "Arthur! The pig!" He turned around and dodged it, pulling me off the ground. "Run!" He went to the shopping cart and pushed it as I scurried off to safety.

I looked back and saw a goat on its hind legs a few blocks further. We ran as fast as we could, we didn't care if we caught the animals' attention, we just needed to go back to Cassidy. We were one street closer to her when we heard a baby cry. "Cass???" Arthur whispered. "Cass!!!" He yelled. We ran as fast as we could, and there, cried Cassidy, hanging on a pole three-story high.