Entering the café, we were greeted by Ana bounding our way, her head butting into her father's embrace as she cried tears of relief, her hands grasping onto his sweater tightly.
Behind her was Todd, staring our way as he wiped away sweat that had covered his forehead in his fear, his accusing yet relieved eyes piercing into my heart.
Holding his Daughter with his uninjured arm, he smiled in relief as well before he released her, his injured arm raised in the air.
"I have to wash this, honey." He softly whispered as he gave her a kiss.
"I'll do it for you, daddy." She said with a gasp before running to get the water bottle in Todd's bag that laid on the ground.
With a gentle blow at his wound, she poured water on top of it.
"Pain pain go away." She said, her brows furrowed as she carefully wiped the wound with tissues she had gotten from the toilet of the café.
Watching his Daughter with a gentle smile, he turned to Todd suddenly, asking, "Todd, did you find anything here?"
"Some bread and coffee, the cakes won't be filling enough, but we can still eat them." Todd said coldly as he turned to get some food.
"Yea, let's eat the bread and the cakes, the coffee I'll drink tomorrow. Let's save the dry food for emergencies." The man nodded as he wrapped his wound with a table cloth and held it together with the extra safety pin in kept just in case.
After eating a lukewarm meal of bread, butter and cakes, we pulled the shutters of the windows down to hide our presence and slept on the floor of the staff room, not forgetting to lock all the doors and windows.
Huddling together with Ana while the two Father and Son too, huddled together despite it only being spring. Even without the cold, we instinctively sought out each other, the perhaps finding a sense of stability and security with each other. With my feathery wings covering both my and Ana's body, my fluffy tail a pillow for her to hug, she slept like that.
Having the warmth of another human in my embrace calmed my heart, and hoping that this warmth would never disappear, I fell asleep without dallying, mentally exhausted by the events that occurred today.
Yet strangely, I was awake in two hours, more awake than I was in the afternoon.
Perhaps because of my four days of rest, or because I've changed to become more active at night, I sat up, noticing a pair of yellow eyes staring at me.
"Todd?" I whispered.
"What animal are you?" He asked, whispering back, "We're bears, so we don't get sleepy much."
"Bears?" I mouthed, "How'd you know?" Certainly, the didn’t have bear tails or ears, the only distinguishable feature being their brown hair.
"DNA test. We went to a hospital to get checked out, our DNA changed." He shrugged, "Ana's a fox, so she sleeps at night, we had to accommodate to her sleeping hours but we're usually doing other stuff at night."
"I don't know what I am." I muttered, "I only know I'm a mix."
Shaking free of Ana's hug, I stood up with a stretch and spoke, "I'll go walk around the store." Before leaving.
Climbing up the stairs to the second floor of the café, I met with that man who sat in front of the glass door to the balcony, the curtains pulled apart slightly for him to look outside.
Noticing my smell headed his way, he turned around, "Hey."
"You could smell me?" I asked.
Nodding in reply, he motioned for me to sit next you him.
"Where's your parents? If you don't mind me asking. Need me to contact them? I still have battery on my phone."
"I have mine too, they're already at the centre of the city, I'll have to meet with them there." I replied with a shrug.
Taking out my phone, I turned it on and browsed the web, with that man keeping watch.
Other than phone lines being toppled, buildings are also in danger of collapsing, there were apparently beasts, mostly herbivores, larger than trucks.
Other than staying away from large tall buildings which might collapse on us if a beast were to run into it, there wasn't much news.
From some netizens were complaints of being kicked out from the secured areas, hordes of humans bandung together to throw anyone changed out, with some people diabolically informing the changed humans to dye their hair.
"Will we be able to get in?" I asked, scrolling through these comments as that man peered over my shoulder.
"Who knows, setting up camp around there should be safe regardless, but that's just the worst case scenario." He spoke, rubbing the back of his head in frustration.
"You must hate the fact that you're changed, huh?" I mumbled, I hated it too.
"Not really." He said, to my surprise.
With widened eyes, perhaps because of shock and betrayal, I asked, "Why?" Not understanding why anyone would want to be isolated, to be different from humans, our current appearance reason for distrust and wary gazes.
"Ana, you see, was blind, at least until she changed." He spoke, "When the changing started for her, she commented on how the world became colorful, running into my embrace with happiness as she walked around the house, attracted by lamps and paintings which were at that point, only blobs of color for her."
"I don't regret it, her changing, even with her appearance now, at least she's happy, seeing her happy, it makes me want to preserve that happiness no matter what, even if it costs my life."
"……don’t talk like that." I mumbled.
"Ah, sorry." He noticed the darkness in his words, "I won't change."
"Please….don't." I pleaded softly, but loud enough for him to hear.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
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Upon sunrise, Ethan went to wake the children up, albeit Todd wasn't asleep, and after packing the remaining bag of bread, we set off on our journey.
Because of our changed bodies, our appetite was very heavy, and the man himself had finished two loafs of bread with ease, still craving more, yet he chose to let us eat our fill.
Currently, with Ana on his back and his bag carried in front of him, we walked forwards on the side of the road, by noon, the center of the city not too far away anymore.
However, he suddenly reached his hand out again, both him and Todd sniffing the air suspiciously. A second later, the nostalgic sound of a driving car and a strange thudding sound came from behind us.
Turning behind us, a black SUV was seen driving at breakneck speed towards us, behind it a charging rhinoceros slightly larger than a truck.
"Fuck!" The man cursed before running into one of the stores with closed doors next to us, "Find an open door!" He said, pushing the door before running to the next store.
"We should just run! We're close anyways! That thing should be too occupied by the car!" I shouted, the car was already quite far in front of us, the rhinoceros gaining distance, between them was only one meter.
Taking Ana from his embrace, Todd ran forwards, with his Father chasing after him quicker than before with Justine off him, his forte being strength instead of speed, myself flying a meter off the ground with a speed my running couldn't achieve.
As we ran, the telltale signs of gunshot could be heard as well as the rhino's furious cries followed by screams and sounds of destruction.
Chasing up to the secured area, the rhinoceros was seen knocking into the makeshift sand bags piled there, bullets raining onto its body as it flung soldiers away.
We had came to an entrance numbered 11, the number painted on with white paint on the sand bag piles.
In the confusion, a man with grey hair and tusks protruding out of his mouth who was knocked away suddenly grew in size as the originally red flashing light at his wrist turned blue, becoming an elephant whose size rivalled the rhinoceros's as it crashed against the floor before standing up, it's eyes gleaming red.
With an angry toot, the elephant charged with its head bent down, it's tusks positioned to scoop the rhinoceros up, as the soldiers who were perhaps once it's friends shot at it indiscriminately.
Skidding to a stop, Todd held back both his Father and I, "Let's go from another entrance." He shouted with gritted teeth, repositioning his Sister in his arms before getting up and running to the side.
As we continued running, I took out my phone and dialled the emergency number I had set yesterday with shaky hands, my heart begging for Father to pick up.
The moment the call connected, I screamed into the phone, "We're at the entrance, 11 is under Attack! We're running to the one next to it!"
"Wait! Aman-" before he could finish his sentence, my phone had already slipped out of my sweaty hand as my wings flapped furiously at an incredible speed, despite my head turning back, I knew I couldn't go back for it.
I could only hope he wasn't trying to give any bad news.
Yet my guttural instinct, no, my common sense, knew that it was bad.
Speedily making our way to the next entrance, we were met with wary eyes and gun nozzles as the army eyed us.
"The changed aren't allowed entrance." A soldier shouted from a distance, a distance with an invisible barrier we could see, but could fee.
"Him!" Ethan shouted, pointing a man within them, armed with a gun and outfit, yet his hair was ironically green and a wristband decorating his wrist.
"He volunteered to risk his life to protect the city, but too many changed and the humans will revolt!" The soldier shouted back.
"My father's Thomas Keathe, we should be allowed entrance!" I screamed, my feet planted on the floor and my wings folded behind my back, perhaps because of my insecurity.
Hearing my shout, the soldier pressed the walkie talkie on his shoulder, muttering into it as the soldiers all whispered with each other.
"Thomas……has a changed child?" A Whisper came from within the soldiers.
"Fuck, if that's true, he would've betrayed us…" Another soldier muttered.
"He must've dyed his hair…if he changes in the city, it'll cause a revolt."
Biting my lip in frustration, I shouted yet again, "That won't happen!"
I didn't know why I was protecting a man who wouldn't come to save his Daughter, but yet, I shouted before I could think about what I was going to say.
"I was adopted!"
As more whispers broke out, the soldier in charge finally spoke, "You're allowed in, but that three, aren't."
"What? Don't bullshit me! Go contact whoever you have to, get us in!" I shouted as the ferocious cries of the two beasts fighting became louder and the gunshots becoming rarer. They must've thought of letting the beasts fight and taking out the weak one afterwards.
However, what they didn't expect was for the elephant beast to run away, charging our way in coincidence, ramming into the Ethan.
""Dad!""
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Does anyone know any good apps for phone to write stories that can word count? Also, when you copy paste it doesn't have royalroadl register a font, causing the chapter to look weird.
Also, I wonder why I'm so into this novel, maybe because I've always wanted to write it? Or because of the support? Anyways, thank you very much for reading and supporting this story :)