Chapter 8

            In the list of fucked up sights I'd seen since the beginning of this trippy nightmare, Fred gorging himself on fresh alien brain was on a fast track to the top. Transfixed, I watched him scoop up a handful, the flesh glistening in the sunlight, shoving it into his mouth in a mindless, mechanical frenzy. The real horror of the moment crept up on me as I stared, the moment my stomach clenched and I realized what the sight of those slimy purple chunks did to me. For the first time since I woke to this existence, I hungered.

            What the hell was wrong with me? I found my hand lifting, reaching towards Fred and his victim, my mind beginning to fizz around the edges. I dragged forward, my sight tunneled on the alien body. A growl brought me up short, like a slap in the face puncturing the instinct trying to blindside me. I reared back, stumbling away, covering my mouth. Fred was crouched over his victim; his eyes catching the sun, luminous as he snarled at me, feral, gone. We faced off, the moment on a knife's edge.

            "Are you going to attack me?" I asked, attempting to evince a response, a hint he was still in there. My speech was slurred. It was difficult to form words. My jaw must have shattered during the alien smack down. Fred stiffened. At first I thought I got through to him, until he arched his back with an agonized scream. The hole in his chest writhed.

            Flesh moved, threads spearing across the gap, knitting the wound closed. I sat down; arms limp at my sides, as Fred healed. Not just his wound either, skin flushed up his neck, covering the exposed bits from before. He didn't seem to enjoy the sensation, clutching the side of his head, screaming himself hoarse as his body fixed itself. The process concluded and left him palming his chest. Was he panting? His head snapped up, startling me. His gaze came into focus as the alien began to dissolve into the pavement. He frowned, his eyes darting around, comprehension dawning. He glanced down at the alien.

            "Shit," he said, frantically scooping up a bit of brain before the body turned to a puddle. I couldn't figure out what the hell he was doing until he jumped to his feet, rushing to my side. So he could shove brain in my face.

            I pushed his hand away, even as my stomach tightened. "What the fuck are you doing?" The words were a garbled mess, the pieces of jaw bone created an unpleasant grinding sound in my ears. The face I got was classic annoyed Fred. Despite the attempt to feed me alien flesh I was so happy to see it.

            "Would you trust me and eat the damn thing." His eyes widened as the handful began to give off the tell tale smoke. "Come on Li, this is a limited time offer!"

            My body shook from the effort not to reach for Fred's offering. Heal us, maybe, but Fred's reaction to the "medicine", the wild look in his eye as he ate, the pain in his voice as his body recovered, gave me pause. Did I really need to talk? Fred drew up, his eyes hardening as he saw me hesitate.

            "Please don't make me force you," he said softly, bringing the handful to my lips once again. A smell hit me, almost like coffee sprinkled with cinnamon, slightly spoiled by a sulfur chaser. My stomach clenched again, sending a twinge straight up my throat and my thoughts drifted again. My body was giving me an opt out, I could surrender to this rising hunger and let it carry me through the motions, or I could make the conscious decision to open my mouth and eat brains.

            Despite the nightmare fodder quality of the moment, I opened my mouth, staring into Fred's animated face as he fed me, careful not to jostle my jaw. I didn't chew or savor the taste, swallowing the fleshy lump as fast as possible. Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it. While my mind went into overdrive being disgusted with myself, my veins sizzled. I seized up as the familiar feeling of ants crawling beneath my skin rose, except this time the sensation was amplified, like the ants were on fire. I gasped, reaching out to find Fred clasping my wrists, letting me grip his forearms to ride out the wave of pain. I could feel the bones in my jaw realigning, fusing back together, while the hole in my ribs created another immense flare of pain before subsiding.

            "That sucked," I moaned, sagging against Fred's hold. He hopped up, his movements fluid as he helped me to my feet. I barely planted my heels back on solid ground before Wolf Girl slammed into me, her arms wrapping around my waist, squeezing for all she was worth. This was new, I wasn't sure how to react, giving her an awkward pat on the back. She reeked of sulfur. I saw why when her clothes started smoking from all the alien blood.

            "What am I chopped liver?" Fred grumbled, a second before she detached herself from me and gave him the save treatment. To my surprise, he hugged the kid in return, resting his chin on her head. "Yeah, I thought I was a goner too."

            Wolf Girl pulled back from him with a frown, placing her palm on his chest. I didn't have time to observe the interaction as I caught sight of J.D., dragging the body of an alien, the first one he plugged with his gun. It took a moment for the significance to hit, I was a bit slow coming down from the brain matter snack.

                "You caught a live one?" My steps were unsteady, carrying me over to where J.D. propped the unconscious alien against the husk of the Humvee. Oh, that vehicle was so toast, I was hoping to ride it all the way out of town.

            J.D. turned to me, glancing me up and down, nodding to see I was in good health. His gaze narrowed when caught sight of Fred, but aside from tensing his jaws muscles he didn't comment on the miraculous recovery. Did they miss the whole scene of him devouring brains? Of Fred feeding some to me? Sweet Jesus, I hoped so. J.D. beckoned me over. I obliged, sinking into an uneasy crouch in front of the surviving alien. I couldn't believe it shook off a bullet through the face mask.

            "I was hoping to nab the one you clipped, but Lannie went to town on his ass. There was nothing left but pieces before he started smoking." His eyes shot over his shoulder to the approaching Fred and "Lannie". "To be honest, I'm not sure I want to know what happened to the other guy."

            "It wasn't pretty, and while we are being honest, we call her Wolf Girl, we don't know her real name, I think Lannie is a stupid name for her." I pressed the heel of my palm against my mouth to stop blathering on. J.D. grinned, though the black gum, white teeth combination wasn't so shocking with his skin tone, lucky bastard.

            "After what I just saw, Wolf Girl fits her." He nodded to our captive, his expression changing gears to a savage intensity. "What are we going to do with him? He could have answers, but I'm not sure how long we have before more aliens arrive, or more zombies. All this noise is going to draw someone."

            Either encounter would end with a fight. I sighed, scanning the street, gripping J.D.'s shoulder as I pointed to the blasted out shell of brick building, the sign long gone. It wasn't much cover, but it would get our rag tag group out of the open. "Let's drag our friend in there and regroup. Any guns salvageable from the Hummer?"

            "A few, not much," J.D.'s tone was grim.

            "You grab what you can, you'll know better than us what still works. Fred?" I swung around, finding Wolf Girl perched on the vehicle's engine block, studying Fred with a closed look on her face. I shook myself. Why did she keep distracting me? "Think you can handle dragging the alien to our temporary hideout?"

            He rolled his eyes. "Sure thing boss." It was the work of five minutes to drag and drop our guest, while J.D. managed to scrounge two assault rifles, a few pistols and a handful of other goodies in an intact duffel bag. It was not the impressive take from before but it was better than my warped machetes. That alien blood was something else, it melted the handle off the one Wolf Girl absently dropped, fatiguing the metal. Even after I cleaned her up and threw a fresh shirt on her, I kept checking her for burns. How could something so acidic not do a number on her skin? For that matter, how was it not eating a hole through our stomachs?

            I tried not to think about it, observing our hideout. It looked like the remains of a hardware store, clumps of rusting tools and rotted out cardboard lining the shelves. Fred located a relatively intact length of chain we used to secure our captive for when and if he woke up. J.D. kept watch through the blasted out front window, creating a sniper nest with Wolf Girl next to him. She was completely at ease with the mammoth soldier. I had no idea what was running through her mind, or what she thought of us now. Because my gaze kept shifting to her, I noticed how she kept looking over at Fred as he poked around the racks. What was with the sudden preoccupation? Did she see him 'zombie out' on the alien? She didn't seem all that afraid of him, more puzzled by him. My thoughts were interrupted by a sound, a hacking cough.

            A fresh gush of shimmering purple blood emitted from the bullet hole in the face mask as the alien struggled to sit up against the chains. He froze once he caught sight of us.

            "The Catrawa will not negotiate for my release, your efforts are in vain." The alien spoke slowly, his bulbous head turning to each of us, pausing the longest on Wolf Girl.  Fred appeared from between the racks, his arms full of miscellaneous items which he dropped at the aliens feet. I scanned the pile, coming up with a theory to the assortment of nails, pliers, hammers and other tools he amassed.

            "Why do you think we plan to negotiate?" He asked, his voice low, eyes like chips of ice. Yup, Fred intended to go full out Mafia on the alien. Without warning, he swooped down, plucking the mask off. I started, catching my first glimpse of its face. Fred forgot himself, gaping at the thing, even J.D. turned his eyes, giving a low whistle at the sight of it.