novelraw Chapter 468 - [Z] Left On Unread, pt2
Chapter 468 - [Z] Left On Unread, pt2
Black hair up in those unmistakable twin tails of hers. Even if her eyes are glowing... some kind of pale purple? It’s her.
Dressed altogether in something that looked *way* too nice for an underground bunker. Like she was just on another model shoot and moving through the crowd of humans like she owned it - which I guess she kind of did now?
Since everyone is under the protection of the Rimecoat and I heard rumors that... yep, she’s Marked! And there was something strapped to her chest. A pouch, the kind you’d use for...
Her baby. She really had a baby. Or pup, whatever!
"CITRA!"
My feet were moving before my brain caught up to the fact that I yelled. The crowd parted around me without my asking. Probably because my face looked like murder.
She turned before I reached her. Eyes that found me and lost their vigilance. Lost the glow that warned of her wariness.
Just gray again. Because of seeing me. Filled with something softer in that, which I didn’t want to see!
"Zoé. Hello. I’m glad you’re okay."
My name in her voice. All the things I’d rehearsed inside. All the cold and cutting things I’d planned to say. Because I heard she came back but hadn’t come to see me.
"You never read any of my texts."
They jumbled together. And what came out was small, stupid, and childish. I hated it. Hated that everyone was just standing around us, watching me act my age.
"No. I didn’t."
Her voice was so calm. Matter-of-fact. But she was talking *to* me when she said it. Not *at* me. Something that it feels like no one has done in weeks.
An apocalypse was happening and she apparently had a child to deal with other than me... and probably a million more important things other than some kid she’d been nice to a few times.
But still, I have to ask.
"...Why..."
"My phone has been off. Still haven’t turned it back on."
An answer, but not an answer I wanted. Just like the one Claire gave when I messaged. To ask what the heck was going on with my sense of temperature.
What the heck was [Dunno. Boss-Lady #2 is doing stuff again. Composing pack-wide anti-panic message now anyway, lol.]...
"Since the day I decided to leave the city and den to deliver my child, I wasn’t reachable to anyone. So... I suspect there are a lot of messages that are going to hurt to read. Like yours."
"Off. For five weeks...?"
Something in me rebels at that. Going without my phone for that long, back when everything was working right still...
"Yes. I guess it’s been about that long since I’ve seen you."
Her hand raises - and for a moment I want to move away. Not because I thought she was going to do something bad.
Because I knew, as soon as she touched my forehead a hot feeling would press behind my eyes. And I was right.
"I thought you were dead at first..."
"Sorry that I put you through-"
Her attention shifted when she suddenly stopped speaking. Her new gaze cutting past my shoulder. Toward a rising commotion deeper in the corridor.
Voices getting louder. The way that meant someone was about to start throwing punches or crying or both. I’d heard those sounds a lot these past two weeks since I started patrolling on my own.
Usually it ended with Rimecoat security pushing through. And everyone dispersing with their anger still simmering. Or sometimes with a medical team rushing someone away.
"Zoé. You good with kids?"
Her hands moved to the pouch on her chest as she asked. Before I understood what was happening, she was securing the whole thing around me. Adjusting the straps to fit against my thinner frame.
I’m actually not much shorter in height and not *that* thin. So that means all that just now was just because of her chest...
"Doesn’t matter. I trust you. Hold him. Stay here. Stay safe."
Looking down I see the dark fuzz. Curled paws and nose. Can feel the sound of it sleeping against my chest.
Oh. My. God. What do I do with it?! What if someone-
"W-wait."
But she was already walking toward the noise. With head held high. Like she dared someone to get in her way.
But I stood there where I was. Frozen and panicking while people streamed around me. A few glanced at what I held but didn’t stop.
A couple looked right at my face... and probably my glowing eyes. Since they had hunter badges sewn on their arms. But everyone was too focused on seeing what was happening ahead.
"-three days of the same slop! While those dogs get all the fresh meat."
"Sir, there isn’t ANY fresh meat. Distribution protocols are set so that-"
"Protocols?! My kids are crying that they are hungry and you’re telling me about fucking protocols?"
I strained my senses to hear this argument. What sounds like a human hassling someone... who I’m guessing is a Rimecoat Omega. Not that I can see them or pick out smells that well.
Or focus on anything but how many people are around her son I was just asked to protect! At least until I hear her voice cut through everything.
"You want more food?"
The shouting stopped. Entirely. Not gradually, like when security comes in. Just an immediate quiet. Her voice is so powerful!
"Are you working for it?"
"What? Who are-"
"It’s my understanding that there already exists a very well thought out method of supplementary rations. Allowing those who actually aid in the *many* much needed services around this place to acquire a sort of currency to trade for them. Am I wrong?"
With her argument out in the open, it didn’t seem like the other speaker had something to say back. I guess she’s right. A lot of people could be helping out that aren’t.
"There’s also a whole forest out there filled with completely frozen creatures. Much more meat than this shelter could eat in a year."
"Outside?"
"Yes. But - you have decided to stay *here* of your own free will... since I’m certain it was made perfectly clear that no one is forcing you to survive amongst us."
Her words... are harsh. I feel like she is trying to convince him to go out and die... or at least make him think she considers it an option he has?
"You chose to come here. Because here is warm. Here has protection and a sense of order. And it is that, among many things, which keeps your children alive. When so many have perished."
I couldn’t see through the many bodies standing around listening to her. But I imagine she looked amazing.
"All of you should remember that. Before you begin to make demands of the world around you, learn to be grateful for those who make no demands... beyond two very simple ones. Live. And help others live, should you be able to."
Silence. Then low muttering everywhere. But not the kind I hear when people are being ordered to go back to their areas and disperse.
More like...
Ah. The pup moved. Made a cute little mewling sound. And while I look down at him, I scent them.
Werewolves. Three. Moving my way. Not aggressively, but rogues like me. Patrolling to feel useful.
But they weren’t actually looking at m- ...No. At the baby?
My heart... thumped. I don’t now what it meant. That I was standing here with the Rimecoat Alpha’s Mate’s Baby strapped to *my* chest.
I just knew that look. It’s the look of trouble.
The look of bullies. The look of-
"That’s far enough."
Turquoise eyes rush up and slow the other three. A fourth werewolf. Ellie... I realized.
At least after a few deafening heartbeats... In which I almost sung to my wolf to transform us, right here. And run like hell.
I haven’t even done that *once* since my parents saw me. Since that evening. When humans screamed. And the child I caught cried and smacked my snout.
"She’s of a tribal pack. And that’s who you think it is in her arms. So let’s all just-"
W-wow. One second there was empty space, the next there was a wolf.
So close that I felt her fur brushing me, even before the screams registered. Black with cream facial markings.
She was the size of a small horse flowing past me like a cat. Positioning between all of them and me. Or at least them and her son.
I’d heard about this. The entrance when she’d first arrived at the tower with Kyrie. But hearing about it was different than seeing it right next to you.
She didn’t even growl. Didn’t bare her teeth. Just stood there until the three wolves lowered their heads and backed away.
The moment they did, she lowered herself to the ground. Front legs folding first, then settling fully. And it took me a *stupid* long set of seconds to understand what she wanted.
"...Oh. Uhm. Okay..."
My legs were shaking as I climbed onto her back. I’ve never even ridden a bike!
Worse, people were *staring*. Hundreds of people, maybe thousands. Looking at me.
Citra stood back up in one smooth motion and dove into a crowd that scrambled out of her way. After that, I couldn’t think about anything at all except holding on.
And... that I screamed so high pitched when she bolted forward...