Predator vs. Prey

Beebee's whole body shuddered under the pressure of the predator's gaze. Its color-wheel eyes seemed to glow with malevolence, slit pupils boring into her soul like those of a hungry snake. They oppressed her with their sheer intensity, stripping her of the desire and ability to flee.

This was it. It was too late; she was dead. Just like her rational side had warned her, her new obsession with shiny things had led to her doom.

Alesha, for her part, was just sleepy. What was this fancy-looking, elongated fox/bunny thing? Why did it have a clear ball on its forehead? It looked absolutely terrified.

And… oh. OH. Something about the way it was shivering in fear, staring with wide, helpless eyes woke her up inside. She… was hungry. She hadn't found any food since returning to Elantris, which meant that she hadn't eaten for about half a day. Her mouth, which had been feeling dry, began to salivate and the void in her stomach begged to be filled.

This strange little creature, so pitiful, so afraid, suddenly looked quite appetizing to her. Should she eat it? 

[I forgot to mention, one of the effects of the cursed earring Flynn gave you is to amplify your instincts.]

Blinking rapidly and forcefully returning her claws to fingers (they were changing far too easily these days), Alesha pinched the bridge of her nose between both hands. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply to calm herself. 

Actually, why was she resisting this particular instinct again? She was hungry, and though she hadn't yet eaten anything she'd hunted herself, she was now quite accustomed to eating raw meat. It just tasted better that way. Wouldn't it taste even more delightful if it were still dripping with natural juices, warm from having been alive just moments before?

Her stomach growled audibly and she swallowed, her saliva definitely flowing now. Shit, that just sounded so freaking delicious right now. Being hungry was not good for retaining rational thought, it seemed.

Alesha opened her eyes. Was the creature stupid? She had expected it to have run off during the time her eyes were closed, but it seemed that instead, it had opted to hide behind Alesha's tail. Like that would do it any good.

"Please don't eat me!!" It said, voice squeaky. "My name is Beebee and, and, and, I don't want to die!"

Dumbstruck, Alesha's jaw dropped. Had the food just talked? Er, it wasn't food, it was a little fox thing. It had talked, right? Seriously? 

"Wait, you can talk?"

"Y-yeah, I can talk! I was human, just like you, before that day. I dunno where everyone disappeared to, I was, I was just happy to find someone else alive, please don't eat me!!" It was shivering violently in fear.

Alesha placed a hand over her mouth, surprised and delighted. She had found a survivor! This was such a lucky find! If only the survivor didn't look so delicious, she'd be ecstatic right now.

"Hey, Beebee, do you know where I can find something to eat? I'm trying really hard to resist, but I guess you can tell I'm a carnivore now and you look really freaking delicious. I want to talk with you but it would be best if I can eat first."

Beebee nodded vigorously. "Yes, Mrs. Green's Groceries is nearby! There's lots of food in there."

"What? But there wasn't any way in, I checked," Alesha protested.

"Maybe not for you!" Beebee corrected. "I'm small! I can get you stuff while you wait outside and don't eat me. Deal?"

Alesha laughed, feeling relieved. She'd found a survivor -- a source of intel -- and a way to find food. "Deal. Should we go now then?"

Forty or so minutes later, Alesha licked raw meat juice (she was in the habit of mentally censoring the fact that it was probably blood) from her fingers. She'd been surprised when Beebee brought out still-cold packages of meat out for her one by one. Apparently, though the store had mostly been buried under rubble from the collapsed apartments, the store itself was largely intact, with the electricity still functioning. If it hadn't been for Beebee, she'd have missed the valuable food source. The meter-long rodent had no trouble navigating the rubble to bring out food. Sure, it was a slow process, but it had gotten faster once Alesha had suggested using a tote bag for the trip. 

Beebee twitched her ears, shuddering as she imagined what might have happened had she been unable to provide the predator woman with food. Just how could she exude such a terrifying aura despite her near-human appearance? It was nearly unbelievable. Beebee hadn't felt this scared even when the huge dinosaur thing had torn the city apart. Whatever this woman was, it was far more dangerous than the mere beast she'd seen at the time. 

"Feeling full?" Beebee asked, hoping that was the case. She really wanted to talk with her now. Somehow, the woman's aura (though still intense) had gradually become less violent as she'd eaten, and now that it seemed scary but non-murderous, she was fairly certain it was safe to converse.

"Yup," Alesha replied, wiping her fingers. "Thank you, by the way. I hadn't eaten for half a day."

"Sure thing!" Beebee said cheerfully. "Anyway, I was really surprised to find you. I thought everyone disappeared. Were you hiding underground?"

"That's… ah… complicated. I actually don't know what happened here? Maybe I fell asleep, I'm not really sure. Can you explain?"

Confused, Beebee flicked her tail. "Seriously? You changed as much as you did and you have no idea how?"

"Something like that, I guess," Alesha lied clumsily.

[Seriously, you're the best liar I've ever seen,] Rogork teased. [The orb weasel won't doubt your story at all!]

Sure enough, the little rodent looked suspicious. "Well, I guess you could've gotten amnesia or something. Weirder things happened that day. Anyway, I suppose I'll tell you. How much do you already know?"

"... Next to nothing. Just that I got up and the city looked like this."

"Wow, you're really clueless! So I guess I really do gotta start from the beginning. It was just a normal day, right? Well not for long! Suddenly, people started mutating and biting other people, all at once! It happened so fast that no one could tell how it started. Except I happened to be watching from my balcony! So I saw the first people change. Well, except for the monsters that came out of Lightscale Apartments, those ones were probably mutated people too. For some reason, they got changed first and everything spread out from there. Dunno why.

"Anyway, chaos everywhere, people turning into monsters or dissolving into smoke or turning into statues, it was like some kind of disease! Anyone touched or bitten was changed. Next thing I knew, I was changed too! Took me a bit to get a hold of myself after that. Just kinda ran around hiding in terror. The weird part is, after I slept and woke up again, everyone was gone! All the statues of people, all the mutated creature people, vanished without a trace! And only I remained. Until I found you, of course. And that's that."

Alesha's breath caught at the mention of "Lightscale Apartments." That's… that's where her family lived. Everything started from there?

She had a horrible, horrible feeling in her gut.

"Beebee," she barely managed. "How long has it been since that day?"

"Mmm, about a week I think? Maybe eight days?"

Alesha felt like throwing up.

System, she thought, horrified. Is all of this because of the dose of Korak I gave to Dennis's friend Marshall?

[Ding! Quest Complete!]

[Quest: Mystery of the Broken City

Goal: Find clues as to where you are, what happened here, and why! 

Quest Conditions: Discover 3 significant clues and form a logical hypothesis as to what happened in this city

Reward: 100 XP, 2 Chaos Energy]

[Level Up!]