“Ethan-“ Akiva grunted out, voice tight and limbs trembling. Her pupils were blown wide, blacking out the flame-red eyes she begun to sport after the turn, and she couldn’t stop staring at Clementine. Her lips quivered, upturning just enough for the unnatural pointed canines to peek from their hiding spot. “Get. H- Her. Out of here.”

Just as Ethan hastily reached out for Clementine’s arm, Akiva snapped. She hissed, surging towards them with unnatural speed.

Before she could reach them, however, another blur came from out of nowhere and slammed into Akiva’s side with a high-pitched whistle.

“Noah!” Clementine gasped, wincing as Ethan tugged their arm and started running. The duo stumbled, tripping on the lip of the doorframe as Ethan slammed open the slab of wood.

“Come on, Clem!” Ethan growled, pulling open the car door and shoving her inside. Once she was secure, Ethan hopped into the drivers seat, patting his pockets with a growing look of panic. “Shit. Shit. Shit!”

“Here!” Clementine called, the jangle of keys following soon after. Ethan grabbed them from her with a nod of thanks and jammed them into the ignition.

Roaring to life, Ethan reversed the car out of the driveway, flattening an innocent rose bush. The sound of glass shattering and a high pitched wail was soon drowned out by the screeching of rubber against asphalt.

With the engine roaring in their ears as Ethan pushed the pedal to its limits, Clementine twisted from staring out the back window to looking up at the driver’s seat.

“Ethan, what the hell was that?! Why would she freak out like that? I thought she was doing well on her animal diet?”

Ethan lifted his head, sniffing the air. “You’re bleeding.”

“What? No I’m not-“ Clementine looked down at their finger. They’d ripped off a hangnail earlier. Barely a spec of crimson in the raw flesh. “This is literally less than a pixels-width of blood. That seriously broke her?”

“She’s new to this, Clem,” Ethan turned down the street a bit harshly, both teens having to brace themselves against their seats. “Every instinct she has is telling her to either eat or protect. When we’re all together, she must have seen it as ‘safe’. Er, her mind labeled you as ‘safe’ and moved onto hunger.”

Clementine furrowed their brows, crossing their arms over their chest. “This sucks.”

“Yeah it does-“

The road wasn’t very wide, walls of trees encasing the stretch of pavement on either side. So when something landed against the roof, Ethan swerved.

The car made a harsh screeching sound as it side-swiped a road sign and the windshield cracked and shattered as they ran straight into a tree–

…

“-em! Clem! Get up!” Something was pressed against their shoulder, shaking it. They groaned, wincing at the pain filling their senses. “Shit, Clem…”

Clementine gave a yell of pain as arms forced their way under their arms and in the backs of their knees.

“I know! I know. I’m sorry. You’re gonna be okay, but we gotta go.” They we’re sat down against something. Sharp, scratchy, rounded, and knobby. Probably a tree then. “How the hell did they manage to get here so fast…”

There was the tearing of cloth, the snapping of bones, and a gnashing of teeth followed by an exhausted growl next to their ear. Clementine wrinkled their nose at the smell of dog breath and opened their eyes.

Another pair stared back. Ethan’s. Except not how Ethan’s normally looked. They were bigger, set further apart. And, the most obvious being that they were attached to a wolf and not a human.

The wolf have a low bark, shaking his head from Clementine to his back. Clementine understood and pushed themself to their feet with a grunt and climbed onto the large wolf’s back.

There was a crash against wood and dirt a few feet to their left.

Noah was looking worse for wear. His right eye was squinted, his arm was sluggishly bleeding. Which was unfair, in Clem’s opinion. Why could Noah be losing cups of blood and just get his head slammed into a tree but Clementine gets a cut and Akiva sets out to pin and bleed them dry?

The answer is simple, in all reality: Humans are the only susceptible beings to become another species and Clementine? Unfortunately 100% human.

Ethan shook under Clementine and then he leapt forward, bounding through the trees and slipping over mud spots. “Ethan,” Clementine called, face buried deep into his fur and arms wrapped around his neck. “Wha’ bout Noah?” They slurred, shivering as the wind bit at their skin.

Ethan simply whined softly and continued forward.

They opened their mouth to ask something else, but fog filled their head. Clementine blinked harshly, slowly. Their brows pinched as they felt their arm stinging.

Looking down, Clementine dropped their jaw. “Eth’n. ‘M bit. Got her cooties.”

And their eyes slipped close.