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RekkuzaThirst
Toffee was thirsty. She rubbed at her throat and winced as she swallowed her saliva in the desperate hope of relief. It felt, oddly enough, like sand.. A flash of pain pulsed behind her eyes and she shut them. With a quiet moan she placed a hand upon the nearest tree to steady herself. She hadn’t been quite the same since Sab found her in that daze and ever since she had the acute awareness that something was wrong, but she didn’t know what.
She still couldn’t even recall why Sab had found her in the state to begin with. She had a vague recollection of a haze, red like blood… Blood that had been on her, dried to burgundy stains. And her spear had been destroyed. Sure, the tips broke all the time but that was only carelessness or when it was lodged in a big animal. She grimaced, opening her eyes. It was all concerning, to say the least. But survival was now the most prevalent focus of her mind, at least she tried to make it be that. But her throat…
“Sab?” she called. More hoarse than she had ever been. “Where are you?”
As she waited, Toffee realized that If someone had told her that she’d soon be adrift on her own, family scattered and that her closest companion would be a pile of sand, she would have laughed in their face. But she couldn’t because it was true. Much to her chagrin. There had to be some sort of irony there, right?
Then those thoughts drifted to her siblings. More and more she wondered why she had even left Tad and Teefee behind. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She was still furious at Teefee for her violation and she didn’t really know how that was ever going to be resolved. But she had just straight up left Tad behind without even saying goodbye and that just felt… Terrible. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe she should have turned around by now to go find her sister, who was probably distraught beyond measure but something told her no. It would be a terrible mistake to do so, it seemed to say.
She could only wonder why.
A rustling came from a nearby evergreen bush, followed shortly by a high-pitched whistling and the sound of sand pouring. The sounds mixed strangely, until they started to vaguely resemble speech. “We are near, Toffee!”
From the bush emerged a mass of sand, a being that called itself the Sabulon, and who had more recently been known as Sab. It shook off a light covering of snow, not entirely unlike a dog. “Apologiesssss, we had sssseen a small beast-bird sssscurry away. Ssssadly we did not catch it…” it explained, as bashful as a miniature dune could look. “Do shyou need more wet-water? Shyou sssssound a bit bad…”
“Yes.” Toffee nodded slowly. “So thirsty…” she trailed off, licking her lips as her mouth began watering. Had Sab mentioned food? She shook her head, how could she salivate now? She swallowed again and it stung, which made her wince again. “Have you found any wet-water near us?” she asked, trying to distract herself.
“We only found mud and ssssnow. But we heard ssssomething, too. Something we do not know.” Sab stretched up to a good height, about half of Toffee’s, and stayed still, listening for something. “It ssssounds like flowing. But not ssssand or ssssnow. West from here.”
“You taught ussss of ssstreams. Maybe isss that?” it asked, hopeful. “Lots of wet-water for Toffee-Friend then! And maybe food too!”
“Lead the way, Sab-Friend.” Toffee said and she followed as Sab began to roll along. She watched the Sabulon like a hawk watches a dove, but instead of striking Sab (something that had never crossed her mind) she just stared at the mass of sand and how it moved. How it weaved itself through the snow and underbrush, carrying along bits and pieces of the land and running across others. How in the ancestors did she ever come across such a strange thing? It proved a wonderful distraction from her throat and she said, “I’ve been meaning to ask, how long have we been traveling together now? It hasn’t been a week yet, has it? Or, uhmm, do you even keep track of time?”
Sab raised up one end of its body and nodded it once, a habit it had picked up by watching Toffee do it herself. “Yes, yes, time useful! We remember it, remember the dark-light cyclesss. It has been… six dark-light cycles ssssince we met!” It nodded once more to punctuate its declaration, then added, “We don’t know if issss equal to a ‘week’ or not, though.”
“Yeah, what even is a week honestly?” she found it in herself to muse. They fell into companionable silence and for once, Toffee found that the world around her was vivid in color. The air was growing warmer, she thought, as the game trail they followed was a tad mushy. Green shoots were popping up here and there, whispering about the promise of spring. Birds sang joyous songs and animals were chittering and talking in the absence of her and Sab’s voices. Then she noticed the bough of the tree and how it dripped with snow melt. She tilted her head and focused, noticing a small droplet of glimmering water. She watched as it rolled down one pine needle, then the next and on and on until it ran off the edge and into oblivion.
She had seen blood drip like that, hadn’t she? The recollection was like a punch to her gut and she froze. She looked away from the tree but could only notice other droplets, rolling, rolling, dripping… dripping… She shut her eyes. Her breath quickened and her thirst doubled. She thought of the water and wanted to gag. She thought of the blood, running like a stream from an open wound, blotting the snow like dye on fur and her mouth watered.
Sab didn’t notice the change in Toffee, too focused on following the sound of the stream through the trees. It sometimes paused for a brief second, making sure they were still on the right track, or momentarily distracted by a nearby bird taking flight. Once or twice it even stuck part of itself inside a bush to rummage around, fascinated by the burgeoning plants. With how young it acted, it probably never had seen any before.
Then it stopped, and stood tall, suddenly focused on something. It slowly flattened itself, trying to be as silent as possible… and then leaped off the animal track they had been following, throwing itself like a net. The sound of a brief scuffle ensued, peppered with the very unhappy croaks of some kind of bird. It only lasted for a few moments though, and soon Sab rolled back on the trail, enveloped around a plump ptarmigan, the animal’s neck dangling limply. Cleanly snapped.
“Look! We did it!” it called out happily to Toffee, “We caught a beassssst-bird! Like shyou showed ussss! Food for shyou!”
Sab had barely even uttered ‘for you’ before Toffee had descended. She grabbed the ptarmigan and there came a vicious ripping sound as she tore the head off. Her pupils had blown and she held a very odd look on her face as she cast aside the head. Next she tipped back her head and held the body over her mouth. Red crimson began to dribble from the headless corpse. As much as it entered her mouth, the same amount coated her face and her chest but she didn’t care. This was highly unlike anything Sab had seen from Toffee but at the moment, all she could think about was subduing the burning in her throat.
She thought she would have gagged, that the taste would have been repulsive- but it was not. If anything, it was memory. She had never thought something else could taste like a shiny rock she had once found along a riverbank in her youth. It had been orangish and looked funny and only on a dare from Tad had she licked it. Only now, in such a moment of barbarity could she recall that alien taste and how this bird reminded her of it. When the blood became a trickle she began to lick the open wound and her face with mad glee. Before she knew it, she had bit into the feathers, realized that was a terrible idea and then spat them out before licking furiously to get to the meat underneath. Puffing and blowing out feathers before she reached the raw flesh.
Sab recoiled at the sudden show of viciousness, visibly taken off-guard by it. But it quickly settled down, simply observing Toffee as she devoured the bird raw. After a few minutes, it finally decided to pipe up. “Shyou not need to put beast-bird in fire?” it asked cautiously. “Shyou always put beast-food in fire before. Shyou said is better for shyou, no?”
“If shyou too hungry, we can sssstop for now. Far maybe-stream will not disappear. We can find more beast-food for shyou…” it added quietly, worried for its friend.
These words seemed to jolt Toffee out of her state of being and once more she froze, mouth full of raw flesh. She looked down at the half eaten ptarmigan and then she looked at Sab. What was she doing? Why was she eating such disgusting-
Toffee turned to the side and wretched violently. The bird fell from her hands as she collapsed to her hands and knees. Tears stung her eyes as the contents of her stomach emptied just as quickly as it had filled.
When she at last wretched and only bile came up, her breathing was ragged and she felt feverish. “W-What’s happening to me?” she cried out, afraid and terrified of herself.
Sab twisted its body around, staying silent, letting Toffee catch her breath. It spoke up after a few moments. “Let’s resssst,” it simply stated. “We think shyou might need dormance. Shyou might be sssssick…”
It went slightly off the path to pick up some sticks, keeping the dry ones and dropping the wet ones. “We make fire for shyou. Find plant-food too, maybe.” It dropped the pile of sticks at Toffee’s feet, avoiding the spot where blood and bile soaked the soil. “Then we look, make ssssure shyou okay. Okay?”
“Yes…” she whispered. There was a terrible weight behind her eyes at the mention of rest and her body felt feverish. Perhaps that would be good. She’d get some sleep and feel better. She huddled into a ball before the pile of sticks and felt a shiver run up her spine, not from the damp earth (for it actually felt cool upon her skin) but deep inside. Her eyelids shut without any hesitation and Toffee entered a fitful sleep within seconds by the sound of her breathing.
In the meantime, Sab got to work. It quickly started a small fire by Toffee’s side, using the sticks it had brought, and once satisfied by the flames’ vigor, went off in search of more food. Hunting was off the table, since visibly meat had made Toffee sicker than she’d already been, but plants were still on the menu. With spring finally arriving, green shoots were plentiful, and Sab could recognize a few it had seen its friend eat before.
It soon returned to Toffee’s side, carrying a small bouquet of dandelion greens and young yarrow stalks, as well as a bough of old but still edible winter berries. It set its bounty aside, and began observing its sleeping friend. She did not look well, even while asleep. She moved around a lot, never seeming comfortable, and when it gently reached out with a tendril, she was much warmer than it had ever sensed from her before.
And then it felt it, something different. Towards the back of her left shoulder, something was wrong with her skin. It felt both like a bump and a series of small holes, as if something had pierced the skin and it had swelled up around it, in a vaguely circular shape. A wound too subtle for its approximation of sight to have picked up alone.
It had a feeling it might know what that wound was. It moved to the bird carcass still lying around, and felt through its feathers, until it found what it was looking for. Similar indentations, exactly where Toffee had bitten it. When had Toffee been bitten? By who, or what?
It was when she slept that Sab began to notice something else. Her skin, once sun kissed tan, was fading into a pallid, almost ghostly white. Not quite unlike the snow. Her brown mane of hair was turning darker at the roots and even her tail was growing black, and somehow even fluffier. The tips of her ears had begun growing into points. More alarming was that her fingernails, sharp in their own right before, were growing into finer points. Her muscles seemed to be more defined as well, like she was extremely dehydrated. The flickering behind her eyelids was growing more and more rapid and her breathing was rapid and short.
It didn’t like what it was sensing. It knew little about people still, but it was pretty sure that Toffee would have told it if it was normal for humans to change like that. It braced itself, before gently reaching out and shaking her awake. “Toffee-Friend, awaken. Something sssstrange-wrong isss happening to shyou,” it called out. “Shyou change color, shyou injured… what is happening?”
It grabbed the plants it had gathered, and brought them near her face. “I found plant-food for shyou. Shyou need food. Please eat.”
Her nostrils flared and Toffee awoke. Her eyes were no longer that shade of green that seemed to twinkle in the light. Instead they had turned a fiery orange that cast her gaze in a sinister glint. But if anything, she just looked confused. “Sab…?” She asked, her voice still hoarse and now groggy. “What’s going on? What’s that smell?” She began to sit up, wholly ignoring the plants in front of her. Her eyes darted as she scanned the trees and horizon.
“Smell? We not know, we not smell…” Sab answered, surprised. It dipped part of its body in the smoke coming from the nearby fire, then focused back on Toffee. “Smell is in air, smoke is in air… Shyou smell smoke? Fire?”
“No…” She whispered and began to stand on shaky legs. It was only when she took a step forward and crashed back to the earth that she seemed to focus. She spotted her hands and lifted them to her face in quiet inspection. In doing so she snagged some of her now black hair and her eyes caught the contrast of the hair against her skin. “Sab…” she began again, “Am I dreaming or did-” A strong gust of wind hit them, causing the fire to flare. Toffee’s mouth went slack as she sniffed the air. Her orange eyes seemed to grow larger. “Can’t you smell that…?” she asked, a strong sense of longing in her voice. “It smells like blood.”
“Lotssss of blood on ground near. Shyou can smell even when not in air like ssssmoke? Maybe issss that.” Sab was starting to feel even more lost than it already was. Its friend was changing strangely, and now she was entirely focused on something it could not sense. It didn’t like how eager she was to get up. It would have much preferred she stayed down and rested, so that she could recover from the strange illness. “Shyou is acting different than normal. We worried for shyou…” it admitted quietly.
This seemed to pull her back from wherever her mind was wandering and she looked down at Sab with sudden fondness in her expression. She was still Toffee, even if her appearance had suddenly changed. She leaned down and gave the pile of sand a few gentle pats. “I don’t know what’s going on with me Sab.” she said, her voice calm and measured. “But my fever is gone at least and I… Strangely, I feel good. Maybe I’m just a little parched. Come on, let’s get away from this… place. “ She looked over to the discarded bird and her refuse. “I won’t lie, I’m a bit scared, Sab. But as long as you are by my side I think everything will be okay.” she smiled, revealing a mouth full of pointy teeth, no longer stained yellow but now stark white. Her canines were slightly longer than the rest and it almost looked predatory if not for her kind eyes. Another breeze ruffled her black-brown hair and for a second, she stiffened before standing and beginning to walk in the direction the wind was blowing from.
“Are you coming?” she called.
Sab stood still only for a moment, before hurrying behind her. “We are coming! Where elsssse would we go?” it answered honestly. It sincerely couldn’t think of anywhere else it wanted to be, ever since it learned of the joy good company could bring. Toffee was acting a bit more like herself now, too. It was reassuring, even if the threat of illness still hung over them. Sab would have to keep close watch on its friend’s state, to make sure she wouldn’t get worse…
After a short walk of companionable silence, the trees began to thin out and before long they were replaced with dead brown grass, whose new green shoots were just beginning to emerge from the muddy earth. They began to crest a short hill and the wind was blowing something strong now, a warmth enveloping the both of them as it did. Sab could smell something strange now but could not quite place it.
It was only when they reached the top of the hill did Toffee stop. Once Sab joined her, they were able to see what lay before them. A stream broke through the growing land like blue fire and stopped near it, just below them and across, were more ur-humans! They had made camp just like Toffee and Sab had on many occasions. There were so many!
Sab was literally vibrating with excitement, a slight buzzing sound emanating from its body. So many more people! And they looked very different from Toffee, too! So many new things to learn, new friends to make! Though one thing worried it a little… “Are the new people going to kick usssss like shyou did?” it asked Toffee. “Ssssscattering is inconvenient, we not want to rissssk forgetting, or changing too much too fassst…”
Toffee was silent. Too silent, for too long. Sab was on the verge of asking her again when she finally said, “They won’t kick you.” Her voice had a whimsical note to it, as if she was speaking but far away. “In fact, you should stay here Sab. I’ll go and… scout. Yessss, scout.” And then she was gone. Rushing down the hill before Sab could even blink. When had she gotten so fast?
When she reached the stream’s edge, they noticed Toffee, and a few people walked towards her. They looked a bit strange, with no long tail at their backs and no pointy ears on their heads, and some seemed to have hair growing from their faces. Sab observed carefully, fascinated by how different humans could look from each other.
It began to roll down the hill too. Sure, it was worried about getting kicked, but Toffee had said she wouldn't let that happen, and it trusted Toffee. Surely she would warn the other humans of its good will, and they would trust her.
It did not get very far down before things went… wrong. A light-haired human raised their hand, probably to catch Toffee's attention. Toffee crouched for a second, and then leaped over the stream and tackled the same human to the ground. And then the screaming began.
Sab could see that Toffee had latched her mouth around the man’s neck and with a sickening squelch, much like the bird from earlier, blood exploded forth from the neck as she reared back. There was no more familiarity in her face, just an animalistic fervor. She licked the man’s blood from her lips and for the briefest moment, euphoria bloomed before she tore into him again. This time she ripped open his throat and his screams turned into a ghastly gurgle before he grew quiet.
There were shouts as the ones with facial hair lurched forth from where they had been sitting or standing, brandishing weapons and things that glinted in the light. They ran at Toffee, who seemed oblivious as she… had her way with the corpse.
Sab froze, its mind reeling as everything it thought it knew about people and humans was thrown aside. People didn’t eat other people, didn’t they? Toffee had only ever eaten beasts and plants. Toffee had never been this aggressive before. Toffee… wasn’t acting like Toffee anymore.
And then it rushed down the hill as quickly as it could. It had no time to waste. It needed to stop her from damaging the other humans, or protect her from them. Probably both, at this point. It fully threw itself at her side, knocking her off of her meal’s body, and sending them both sprawling on the ground. As soon as it had gathered itself back up enough to speak, Sab cried out in a high-pitched whistle, louder than it ever had before. “SSSSSTOP!”
She was in the midst of hissing at Sab when their cry broke through. Toffee blinked and her wide pupils retracted back into a normal shape. She looked confused, shocked even and then her eyes darted to the human she had slain and her mouth opened in abject horror. “S-S-Sab!” She mewled. “W-” but before she could speak again there came a strange whistle and a sudden impact of bone and flesh, and Toffee was the one screaming this time. For a spear had gone straight through her shoulder. The other humans were approaching, shouting terrible things.
Things were dangerous for Toffee. Urgent, even. It needed to focus, now more than ever. Half of itself concentrated on the surrounding humans, still wielding their weapons, and the other half on Toffee and her wound. Feelings were put aside for now, panic and fear dulling, as Sab fully dedicated itself to thinking for a way out of this situation.
Problem number one, the humans were rapidly approaching. Solution? Run away, quickly. Unfortunately, Toffee still seemed a bit out of it, and was injured to boot, which led to problem number two, the spear sticking out of her. Solution? If the spear being there is the problem, then simply remove it. Sab firmly grasped the spear near the blade, where it had gone through its friend’s shoulder, and snapped the shaft in half, then pulled it out of her flesh. It did its best to ignore her scream of pain; a bit of pain now was better than death.
“Up, up!” it chanted, pushing at Toffee. It tried making itself seem bigger, like it had seen some beasts do, which did manage to have some humans pause for a second, but they still approached much too quickly. “Run, run! Quick! NOW!”
Except Toffee did not run. Her head had dipped after Sab had pulled the spear out, her black hair obscuring her face. And from behind that curtain, Sab could see her lips had curled into a smile. A strange smile. She no longer screamed despite the bloody wound of her left shoulder and the arm that now hung limply there. There came a deadly sort of calm and Sab knew that something terrible was about to happen.
A red haze, almost like smoke, began to rise from her skin. The wound on her shoulder stopped bleeding and she moved the arm as if testing she could. Within a blink she had gotten to her feet and Sab could now see that her once green-turned orange eyes had completely filled with a burning red.
She only said one word to Sab, “Hide.” and it sounded like the old Toffee. Before she was gone, leaping with explosive legs. She landed in front of the first human and before he could react, she had slashed through the fur of his tunic, through the flesh and muscle of his body and his organs tumbled out with a sickening thud. He was too shocked to scream as another man thrust his spear at her, she caught the spear, yanked and threw her first into his head. There was a large crack and he dropped. The other humans now truly paused and the red smoke became thicker, billowing to the ground about her body.
Sab could not see her face but it knew Toffee was smiling.
