Blood Soaked Hands

Jay softly nods as she emerges from the closet and gently pets the dog. Neil nods as he walks down the steps, his gaze falling on the shattered and chipped door. The door is blocked by the table, which has been pulled out of the way. As Neil steps back into the room, she sits on the bed, her hands trembling, and she hastily puts them in her pockets. He sat next to Jay and sighed, he blushed as he mumbled,

"We're going to have to lock ourselves in here for the night, the door is broken, and it's not safe to be alone."

She slowly nods and drags some blankets from the other room to make a bed for herself next to the bed on the ground. He hid his knife in her camo bag and removed his shirt to wipe his face with it; she hurriedly averted her gaze and covered her face beneath the blanket. She wraps herself in the blanket and leans against the wall. Jay couldn't sleep because of what had happened earlier in the day, but Neil gently patted her head, and she slowly stood up and sat next to him.

"One word, and you'll regret it" she murmured sheepishly as he zipped his mouth shut with his finger, they laid down and Jay shyly got closer. He was glowing red as she snuggled up to him. He gently slipped his shirt on and held her close. Holding her head to his chest. As she fell asleep, she hummed to his heartbeat. He patted her head and pushed her hair out of her face. He had a bad feeling about Jay as he was falling asleep, so he gently got up trying not to wake her and got his knife out. Neil covered Jay with a blanket and his jacket, and he lay on the ground in the bed Jay had built.

Jay's stomach hurt when she woke up as if she had eaten something terrible. She turns around and sees Neil sleeping on the floor, and downstairs she hears something. She gets out of bed silently and shakes his shoulder softly waking up Neil. He slowly sits up, gripping his knife.

"What's the matter?" he asked while stretching, and she covered his mouth with her hand and pointed to the floor. He heard footsteps downstairs. He got up quietly, going through the camo bag, he got some food out for her before going to the door to unlock it. He gripped the blade and Jay grabbed her bat. She stood behind him, he warned her that it is too dangerous for her and for her to stay in the room with the dog till he gets back. He slowly opens the door looking outside cautiously.

He closes the door quietly and goes down the stairs slowly. Neil looks around and hears nothing until he notices six wild dogs in the living room devouring the body. The corpses of the man who attacked them earlier, their eyes gradually turning white. Neil steps back gripping his knife, ready to fight as the dogs slowly look at him and begin to growl in a low tone. Jay puts her ear to the floor and hears the growling, fearing the worst. Neil's dog barks loud enough for the other dogs to hear, and the dogs look up. Neil slashes the alpha's throat and two jump Neil. They push him over onto the ground and twist his leg in the wrong direction.

SNAP! He screams at the top of his lungs, Jay dashed down the stairs as quickly as she could. She swings her bat at them, hitting them off of him, standing in front of him, her fist clenching her bat. The two dogs slowly rise, limping, and the others charge at her, causing her to collide with both of them. She shoves them back. The alpha's body is slammed into by the others. The dogs gradually close in on Neil and Jay. Neil's dog growls at them as he steps in front of Jay. Neil notices that her eyes turn bright blue as she hits a wild dog in the head and blood splatters all over her shirt, and Jay smirks. Suddenly, the wild dogs grow, nearly tripling in size. Neil's dog whimpers seeing the wild dogs change and his dog looks at Jay nervously. Jay patted its head and the dog lay next to Neil nuzzling his arm.

"Jay we gotta get out of here," He said trying to get up, she swapped their weapons.

"Lean on the bat, it'll hold your weight. I'll see you upstairs," He nodded and limped upstairs with his dog. She counts the dogs in her head and sees that they are down to three, she grips the knife and stares them down. Neil hears a loud bang, and then the wild dogs howl and whimper for an hour before all is quiet. He felt shivers down his spine and clung to his dog.

The dog repeatedly scratches at the door. Neil slowly opens the door and pokes out his head. Neil's dog bolts through the door running down the stairs. Neil limps after it and finds the mutated wild dogs on the ground; they've been cut up, and one of the wild dogs' necks has been strangled, with blood around its throat. He froze and slowly turned to face Jay; she locked her gaze on him and closed her eyes. Neil stands there, Jay bloodied and cut in the stomach, and collapses onto the ground. Neil's dog rushes up to her and softly licks her face, nudging her to stand up, but she remains motionless.

When she finally wakes up, Jay is in excruciating pain and immobile. She looks around and sees Neil sleeping in the corner chair with his dog on his lap. Slowly rising, Jay limps to her bag and searches through her smashed first aid kit. Neil slowly awakens, and he looks at her cautiously because he is frightened. He quickly raises his leg and fastens his belt by putting it in his mouth. He feels dizzy and his head blurs. Her hands twitch as she glances at him, and then her eyes return to their original state. She shakes her head and rubs her face while looking around. Neil stands up and approaches her, touching her shoulder and wanting to know,

"You don't remember, do you?" She shakes her head rapidly as she remembers the blood from the dogs and the knife in her hand in brief flashes. As she tumbles to the ground, Neil catches her and grabs hold of her. Jay turns to face Neil.

"I only remember bits and pieces, the knife, t-the b-blood," she says shaking, Neil grabs Jay's hands and holds them close. He warms her hands by blowing his warm breath into them, and she notices his leg is bound from knee to ankle with a wooden ruler and bandage to keep it straight. She dashes away, slamming her head against the wall. Neil attempts to approach her, but she pushes him away.

"I did that, didn't I… Didn't I?", she stares at him, and he shakes his head.

"The wild dogs did, don't worry, it's only slightly broken." She notices the bruises when he unwraps his leg. She cries as she looks at him. She looked at herself after feeling awful and saw a large bloodstain on her side and blood dripping from her hand onto the ground. A large bite mark with a tooth stuck in it is visible when she lifts her shirt. The first aid kit's tweezers and bandages are removed by Neil. The tooth is torn out by Jay, who also drenches her hands in blood. Looking down at her hands, she added,

"Grab the alcohol wipes and disinfectant."He nods as he hands it to her. As she applies the disinfectant to the wound, she rips the belt out of his grasp and stuffs it in her mouth. She tidies it up and looks shyly at him. He cautiously hands her the bandage as he experiences goosebumps all over his arms. Neil holds her hand while she wraps the bandage around herself to cover the wound. She turns to face him and grinned softly.

"What was the last thing you remember?" he asked, looking at her hands.

"Getting the dogs off of you, I guess." She doesn't remember that her eyes were blue, he realises as he stares at her in shock. He places his hand on her cheek, gently massaging it with his thumb,

"Your eyes aren't blue anymore," he says to her as she looks at him confused.

"They were blue? What do you mean?"

"While you were fighting the dogs and passed out, your eyes were glowing blue, and they only stopped when you woke up."He said as he gradually released her cheek. She considers, then notices that the strange butterfly was glowing blue. She wondered as she observed her hands.