As Amaru said hours before, he didn't do much sleeping. He listened. A staple response to a foster kid's new home.
He did it for as long as he could remember. He'd go to his room, get real close to the walls, and listen. It was better than talking. More truthful. Less awkward and painful. And he didn't have to fight anyone.
Only now he didn't have a room. And he didn't understand what he was hearing. They weren't talking negatively about him. They spoke of him with a weird sort of reverence.
The little girls asked to wrestle. The older women asked him how much he could bench and what his SAT score was. Like they were on his football team or classmates.
When sleep finally took most of them, Ms. Markos spoke with Elena, two other adult women and Lexa— her daughter with the axe.
She was practically speaking in a different language with the words and terms she used.
Things like Banes and Gifts and Fetishes. Speaking of corporations like they were monstrous entities and Taint being on the backs of wandering men on the treeline.
He heard the word Cainite again. This time in combination with the word Gangrel.
Whatever reaction Ms. Markos was afraid he'd have after hearing such words was innacurate because all he felt was exhaustion, confusion and hunger.
It was the last feeling that got him heading out of the motel as they whispered in the bathroom.
If he was ever good at one thing beyond fighting people in a blind rage, it was sneaking out of houses.
Without his shoes, his steps were soundless, even with all his bulk and brawn. Between Ms. Markos' word about some agreement and Lexa's reply about Cainites being known to break them, he was out of the hotel and into the night.
The air was as rich as the head of Pentex. He loved it. It made his skin tingle and his bones stretch, pulling at his muscles in his shoulders, wrists and knees.
He inhaled again and the scent of sugary sweets, meats and nuts behind processed plastics rode the winds afterscent.
He turned to his left and made his way down the sidewalk bordering the motel frontside. He kept his steps silent, hoping not to attract the attention of any suspicious characters high off any suspicious substances.
After a few seconds of silent striding…., he made completed his hunt.
Almost.
He stood in front of a vending machine. It's interior lighting flickered on the expired snacks and revealed his reflection in strobe light flashes.
For as long as he could remember, he tried to stick to the jerky. Sugar and other additives made his stomach turn.
With that being said, he eyed the bag of lamb bites and fished a five dollar bill out of his pocket. With a yawn, he lifted the bill and slid it into the—
A wolf howled.
Amaru spun around, eyeballing the forestry lining the highway beyond the parking lot.
Another howl came in reply.
His blood pumped, warming his ears and fingers. Making his gums itch.
He remembered the dogs Ms. Markos owned. She left them outside.
A yelp echoed.
Amaru was frozen as he listened.
Nothing followed.
"Must've been a scared Coyote." Amaru thought before turning back to the vending machine.
He slid the bill in and clicked the right number and letter sequence to hit his protein goals.
"Oh come on…."
The jerky was stuck as the metal coil holding the packages jammed.
Amaru gripped the machine and shook it.
The frame cracked and six packets of meat and candy flew into the window.
Amaru casually settled the machine and reached into the flap at the bottom. He came back up with three bags of jerky. For a moment, he simply stared at them before saying, "What are you looking at?"
He turned and found Lexa staring at him.
She was silent. Not as silent as him but just about.
She held her axe in her right hand with the blade facing the world behind her. She didn't bother answering his question and instead asked her own, "You heard a—"
Another yelp echoed from the forestry across the street followed by a howl. Only this one wasn't the usual somber call of the wild.
It was an alarmingly loud and violent roar laced with dread. It made Amaru's skin burn and he flinched so hard he got whiplash momentarily. But not long enough to stop him.
He took off across the parkinglot. Bare foot and flinging jerky in his wake.
"HEY! Stop!" Lexa yelled as she chased after Amaru.
"It's the dogs! They probably ran into some coyotes or hit a bear trap!" Amaru yelled back to her, "Go tell your mom, I got it!"
He didn't even know why he had it. But he couldn't stop. His legs moved on their own. His terror was overshadowed by an urgency that was blend of both excitement, determination, love and rage.
It wasn't as toxic as it was natural. It felt like it was supposed to be there. He felt like he was supposed to he chasing the howls of dogs in a dark forest.
As soon as he hopped over the highway fence, he was falling down a hill that led straight into the green.
He dropped into a slide, letting his pants take on the brunt of tossed beer cans, wood shards and grass.
Behind him, Lexa flipped over the railing and landed in a slide after him, using her massive battle axe to steer.
Amaru eventually came to a stop in the forest and fought off a gag as the smell of rot and blood rode the winds. It smelled like if a butcher shop and landfill had an architectural baby.
In the shadows, flies buzzed and sweltered. But whenever Amaru tried to look directly at them, he found nothing.
"Amaru! You need to listen—"
Another yelp followed by a roar.
He pushed on, moving faster on the uneven land. He vaulted over felled trees and bounded across rivers full of oil and sewage. And flies.
As he blasted past trees, bats hanging from the branches flew, causing shadows to flap and dance overhead.
His nose led him in the dark. Beneath all the foul overscents, an under scent of fur and water lingered.
Until it was no longer lingering.
In a clearing, one of the dogs stood over another. The smaller dog was wounded with a dozen circular wounds that leaked blood in bubbling pulses. It's fur was torn and matted. It whined. The dog guarding its wounded friend snarled into the darkness.
"Marta!" Lexa yelled.
The dog turned its head and whined at the realization of their presence.
It was then that Amaru realized they weren't dogs.
They were wolves.
And all around the clearing — in the trees, bodies absent of all fluids hung from the branches like dehydrated husk ornaments to fit the dead aesthetic.
Amaru was going to say something when a shape in the distance slithered upright.
A worm.
A giant worm with blood red flesh and a million bulging veins. It's eyes were like two giant black holes sucking in the scarce amounts of light. It was there that Amaru noticed the face was human. Or it used to be.
"What the fuck is that?!"
Lexa raised her axe.
"It's a bloodworm." Lexa said, "You need to leave. Now." Her voice was deeper. Significantly.
Amaru didn't immediately notice though as the bloodworm lunged at the wolves.
Before he knew it, he jumped.
He jumped across the clearing and over the wolves, straight into the bloodworm that he tackled through a tree.