Animalia by Cristian Johnson (free novels to read txt) 📕

“Wait? You don't remember the tussle you had with Cole?” Chris asks.

“Oh yeah… I guess I was moody but that doesn’t matter now when I have you nowhere with me. Which makes me ask, why are you here?” Emma asks.

“Well...I got into a fight, and then I pretty much kicked myself out and ran away until I found these guys.” Chris states as she looks for his new friends.

Chris starts to look around the den for them but they are nowhere to be found. They have disappeared without a trace, not one sign of Sam, Monroe, Claudia, and Chuck. Chris’s expression changes, but there is nothing to do. He decides it was time for him and Emma to go back and hope that he can be accepted back again. Little did he know things were about to get more grave and serious. From a distance Chuck looks at Chris and Emma walk away.

“So, Boss...are we going to just leave them?” Sam asks.

“No, I’m just afraid the young rabbit might give us away, and we don’t want that to happen. Let's move out now.” Chuck stated.

Chuck and Sam walk towards the woods and disappear in it. Chris and Emma walk back to Smoky Den. They use their ability to smell, to find their way back home towards the city first then back to the desert/savannah?. Chris continues to be apprehensive about what will happen when they get there. As they get closer to the Nursery home the smell of blood and raw flesh grows stronger. They both look at each other and decide to move faster toward the smell. When they finally reach the back of the Nursery Home both are in shock to what they see.

The grass is covered in brownish taints of blood, with corpses of the white abominations scattered across the area. Emma starts to get a little nervous and she stays close to Chris. At last they arrived at their destination. Or at least what it seems to be the Nursery Home.

“I have a bad feeling about this Emma, I want you to stay here alright,” Chris says with a serious tone.

“But,...what if something jumps you again?” Emma whispers, staying closer to Chris.

“I already saw you get hurt and I don’t want that to happen again. So please listen to me and stay here for your safety.” Chris tells Emma as he walks away from her.

He begins to walk inside the Nursery Home and out of nowhere a furry humanoid creature bursts from one of the windows. It falls to the ground in front of Chris's feet, shakes the glass off and sprints down to the tall grass.

“DON’T LET HIM ESCAPE!!!” Isaac shouts.

Chris learns what has happened during his absence and he does not like the news. A small warning was given to these animals by the mutants and their new leader, a large creature named Roberts. Isaac and his council decide to prepare defenses of what is soon to happen. Is it too late for peaceful negotiation? Or is it time for the fall of animals as of now?

Chris decides to take the whole day to think of all the events that just happened since he and Emma arrive at the Smoky Den. He goes to find a spot out of the way and just let it sink in, the most important thing in his mind is the attack from the mutants.

Emma and Chris arrived as Issac was holding a meeting with all the animals. At the meeting he remembers Isaac going over the safety protocols and what to do if they encounter any of the mutants out in the wild. First was to report back to the council and Issac and not to attack them.

In a mocking voice Chris says to himself, “Unless they become hostile only then you are allowed to strike.” He laughs and his toughs go back to the meeting.

He noticed that most of the animals were not listening and knew that they would search for the mutants and fight them. Most of them couldn’t fight at all and were too meek to fight. He did notice some animals had strength and looked powerful but he knew that they would not step up in battle. Isaac described the mutants and to his surprise it was the same one he saw. Skinny, pale, and bloody. He said that the mutants were regrouping in the city and that we had the countryside for coverage. He doesn’t know if they are ready to fight them now, but he has called support from other councils and villages that are nearby to join him. He remembers Issac repeating again not to attack unless it's a life and death situation. Some of the animals had attacked some mutants and they discovered that their blood was toxic. The blood flowing from the corpses was killing any type of plant life it touched. These mutants were very different from regular humans or animals as a whole, not only as well plant life that absorbed the blood died but if an animal was to consume the flesh that was part of the heart or the brain it changed them completely. If a wolf was to eat one then the individual would have similar symptoms to rabies and as well have symptoms of the flu. The specimen would live even if they ate it, all they have to do is keep the infected animal from eating anything for a week if they consume any type of blood that is of regular red blood they will then convulse violently and then furiously kill anything until their own physical hearts rupture and internally bleeds out to death. A painful death that is almost always fatal for there are no known creatures that survived not eating for a week with this condition and the fact that most of the other animals tend to kill the infected individual. Although despite how deadly it is, the only way someone of this matter would only get it is if they were dying from hunger and unaware, plus if the infected individual was to kill or bite another animal they would not get it, only if another animal ate the infected animal.

There was a sad story Isaac did say to Chris and everyone about an incident of a predator that forced another to eat a mutant corpse. The story is long and has many life lessons but Chris remembers the main focus point. A cougar and his gluttonous friend a pig end up trying to be heroes and kill mutants across their town. When they arrived to kill mutants they killed them, they also made a mistake as they did not eat anything before the hunt, they decided to eat the corpse. The meeting ended with Issac repeating himself no hunting down the mutants, or they would be punished.

Chris decides it's time to get back inside, the sun has set and the stars start to fill the sky. He walks around the Smoky Den and he notices tracks. The tracks are large, larger than a human's foot. He leans in to sniff at the tracks and his mind fills up with a familiar scent. He then remembers what he was told about the attack that happened there.

It was Issac that first encountered the new creatures. One night he had gone off after discovering tracks on the ground. Large tracts of an unknown animal. In the dark he noticed a campfire and decided to go investigate. He made sure not to be seen, and in the campfire he saw two mutants with the creature that made the tracks. One the mutant was long and dark the other had many legs and was heavily armored. He sensed that a familiar being he once knew was near. He went off one night and searched and found him with a campfire. The first man-made fire in thousands of years. He saw two creatures with him. One looks of a long dark creature and the other with many heavily armored legs. The “giant” as Isaac likes to call him, peered at him closely and felt as if he was being watched. Issack decided to go back home. What he did not know was that he was being followed by the “giant”. It followed Issac to the Smoky Den and easily climbed its walls with his mighty hands. Once on top he was able to grab the hinges of the roof and hang on the rooftop accessing an entrance from a broken window up top. Once inside it noticed a lot of the animals were asleep except those who were on the night watch.

That's when Isaac returned and told the night watch to be extra observant. Isaac decides to go sit in his chair and tries to get some rest. He could not sleep, his mind was racing filled with questions of what he saw. How many mutants have already been enclosing the area, his home? He finally decides to close his eyes and calm his soul down from his problems. The giant did not rest but instead quietly sat down next to Isaac and watched him the whole night.

Morning arrives and that's when the giant decides to go in for the kill. He rose from his feet, raised his fists, and began to slam it down on Issac. It was the mandrill that saw the giant and its loud screeches stun the giant and wake up Issac. He roared and began to swipe his claws toward the giant. The giant countered the attack by grabbing his attacking paw and flipping him over. The mandrill then had its turn to strike in revenge for its fallen master. Although injured it still dared to stand up against the giant beast. The giant saw as the mandrill ran at it with a fit of rage and with calm movement it grabbed the mandrill as it lunged midair. It slammed it back to the ground and ripped his broken arm from its socket. A loud popping noise echoed as the mandrill began to cry in pain of its arm being contorted strangely. As more animals wake up from the commotion they decide not to be part of the fight. That's when Reginald and Luke arrived at the scene. They looked in horror at how the mandrill and Isaac got manhandled so easily. So they decided to back off and let him go. Isaac of course was furious about this, that they did not join the fight.

As fast as the giant entered the Smoky Den in the middle of the night, it left as more animals started to wake up. That was what happened to the past days that Chris and Emma were gone. Now it was time to prepare for war. Chris had a long day ahead of him in training and must sleep before anything serious happens.

Chris is woken up by Reginald, who reminds him that today will be the start of his training. Training is behind the compound, with plenty of space to train. Chris feels a bit pumped to be able to fight, but still, a bit scared that Cole is in alliance with the crab monster and the Giant. He needs to stow his fear as he