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

“So you think he will be able to fix Luke? I’m not acting like a doubter here but if he plans to do some weird solutions to fix him I do not feel comfortable with him coming here and curing Luke.” Chris explains to Reginald.

“I have held you long enough from your duties now go forth with Luke and I will be expecting your arrival around dinner time you hear,” Reginald says to Chris. After Reginald finishes his mini-speech Chris had to dart away since Luke was back at it again drinking large amounts of water. After Chris grabs him from the horns away from the watering hole they walk off to the Highlands once more.

“Alrighty buddy it's just you and me...just like old times…” Chris says to Luke. Luke gives no response as they struggle to even keep a walking pace. At times Chris had to realign Luke to walk straight and not tip over.

“So… I was wondering right, after this we should go explore down the river once we're done surveying. Wouldn’t that be something great?” Chris asks Luke.

“I like…….water…..” Luke grumbles under his breath.

“Yeah...yeah!! There will be lots of water for you to drink and we will just hangout you know…” Chris says with a little excitement that Luke responded and that he was listening and not off-topic.

“I wish…...for the kids meal sir…..” Luke says with his tongue out. “Oh wait, I forgot there will be some sweetgrass that you would enjoy so we better hurry ok,” Chris says to Luke.

They continue to walk along and sadly Luke’s bladder was not with him at the time, due to the vast amounts of water consumed he had to pee constantly. He would also yell out he was peeing and proceeded to piss all over the area as if he was marking his territory. Chris would have thought this would be funny if Luke as normal but unfortunately he does this all the time and even if it annoys him so much just to stop and wait until he is done and then pull him over from walking in circles he just takes a deep breath and shakes off the anger and continues on the trail with Luke. It was late afternoon as they arrived at the Highlands once more. Chris looks back as now Luke is just standing there still and then he leans his head forward as he falls down and then he just lays there as he sticks his tongue out to lick some grass. Afterward he stands up and sighs as he walks up to Luke and drags him back to the riverside.

“Gee your like really light you know that...I mean I know you have not been eating recently but geez it's like really weird that you just barely ate and now for some reason you want to eat now? I guess it's just you being weird and silly am I right Luke?” Chris says to Luke.

Luke grumbles to himself as he salivates heavily dripping down to the grass. Chris rolls his eyes as he sees this and just stands by the river bank and looks down to catch himself a meal. He watches as his friend just poorly manages to stand back up still drooping his ears down and his head aimed to the ground.

“Hey uh….can we like... leave???” Luke says out of nowhere.

“Wait why?! We just got here!” Chris says to Luke as he loses his grip on a fish he had in his hand.

“Hey hey...we just started to have some fun,....wait I got an idea,” Chris says as he notices a bush full of berries and thorns and begins to shake in them.

“HEY LUKE WATCH I’M ACTING LIKE A TOTAL DOOFUS AND NO ONE IS GONNA STOP ME!!” Chris shouts at Luke hoping to get some sort of a reaction or a smile. Yet again there is no facial expression of anything not even in negative just a blank stare with his mouth open and saliva dripping down to the ground.

“LUKE!!! LOOK!!” Chris yells out as he tosses some berries at Luke as he just stares at the ground and nods his head irregularly closing and opening his eyes slowly. He looks at his friend and his panic is consuming him as his breaths are cut short and he goes up to Luke.

“Here...EAT IT!! PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LUKE EAT IT!!!” Chris desperately force-feeds Luke some berries as he puts his hand near his mouth, which Luke just loses his balance and falls over again. Chris taps his sickle claw as he views Luke breathing but notices his ribs are protruding even more than a couple of days ago. This worries Chris to stop his surveying mission and rush him back to the Smoky Den.

“Come on Luke we're gonna get you better….I am sure of it….” Chris flashes back to his mind as a child. His mother is writing notes on a table with multiple pictures of horned animals namely deer, elk, and moose all thin and have a red hole on their heads. Another paper on her desk was a map with multiple scribbles and dots placed in heavily forested areas. His mother looks at him as he is confused about what is this. Young Chris is picked up and his mother tells him about what she has been working on.

“It is a shame to see that there is no cure.….” Chris’s mom says. Chris regains his stability again as he gets back to the real world. Chris drags Luke fast but still gentle that he is not hurting him.

“Do I even want to be rough on him?? If he didn’t react before he probably can’t feel pain either..” Chris says to himself.

“What….you said?? You….said…. you want to paint???” Luke lazily looks with his eyes as he slowly says to Chris.

It was a long walk but at sunset they arrived at the Smoky Den with 2 figures standing in front of the entrance. Reginald was standing there with a chimpanzee that Chris had heard about.

“Well if it isn’t my two boys I have been telling you about Dr. Ling.” Reginald nervously chuckling.

Chris walks up to Dr. Ling, a chimp and snorts his nose at him.

“So they tell me you're a monk of sorts?” Chris asks him.

“Ah, yes is this the patient?” Dr. Ling says as he shakes Chris’s hand vigorously.

Reginald coughs as he points to Luke.

“Oh wait...you're not the one hehe…my apologies.” Dr. Ling waddles over to Luke who is rubbing his antlers on the dirt.

“Hello my name is Dr. Darren Ling. I am here to help you today.” Dr. Ling says as he puts his hand out to Luke.

Luke gives no reaction to him, just another blank stare.

Dr. Ling comes closer to him as he lifts Luke’s ears and looks at them and sticks his finger in them. “Hmmm….normal amount of buildup of wax….warm….no evidence of poor hearing….” He then proceeds to feel the nose of Luke as it's wet and then rubs his hand around his mouth and jaw. “Hmmm how interesting….excessive salivation and some deterioration on the teeth…” He pulls out his hand wet with spit then rubs his hands together as he waits for a few seconds and yells and begins to punch Luke. He stops himself midway a few inches from his face..”Hmmm...very little reaction to verbal and physical endangerment…how obscure..” Dr. Ling says as Reginald and Chris look at him oddly.

“So…..what are you like doing to him? Should we be concerned?” Chris asks.

He replies, “Oh no no...I am just giving him a checkup. So far nothing concerning…” and he continues to inspect Luke. “Has the patient swallowed any foreign substances? Has the patient been in any mental trauma recently? Has the patient been physically abused?” Dr. Ling bombards Reginald with questions.

“I...uh...well...um…” Reginald tries to answer Ling’s questions as he continues to ask him more questions. Chris walks up to the small chimpanzee and taps him with his tail.

“If you don’t know here, we are quite slow people so will you please….take it easy with Reginald…” Chris says with a smile as he taps his sickle claw hard.

“Oh, I understand sir. Well if it is alright then, I would like to take Luke into my care for a while. It will not be long I promise...just a few tests and then I will cure whatever he seems to have.” Dr. Ling looks at Luke as he calls him over. Luke strangely responds as he trudged to him he then guides him with his antlers back to the Den.

Chris looks at Reginald “So you are sure he will be alright right…??”

“He is the best in the area. Yes I know he is different from most doctors and they may have some strange tactics but if this person was able to prolong a human life with cancer for 5 years...I am sure they can fix Luke. Keep your hopes up Chris I am sure everything will be fixed..” Reginald says as he walks away from him.

Meanwhile Dr. Ling takes Luke back to a large room and turns on some lights. “Ok Luke….I am going to try to put you on this chair. I want you to cooperate with me... Ok…”

Dr. Ling places Luke on top of a platform, and secures him tightly.

“Ok Luke, I am going to have to cut you open just for a little bit to understand what is going on with you. This may hurt a bit but, seeing you don’t respond I’ll assume you have my consent to do so and that you won’t feel anything.” He grabs a sharp rock from the ground. He begins to center the rock on Luke’s head as he taps the rock on his head, and then he pushes against his fur cutting it, and then with his other hand he spreads the skin tightly as he taps the rock again. He gently scrapes the rock to make a small cut and continues to scratch it back and forth until he has made a small patch of skin removed. He then cuts deeper to take out some tissue samples. He takes a deep breath as he cuts the patch. Luke is blankly staring at a wall as he feels no pain from this operation whatsoever. Dr. Ling finishes cutting the patch as he peels the tissue off fast from Luke’s head.

Suddenly Luke jerks his head as he grits his teeth loudly.

“Well….well...you do feel pain….probably since I’m close to your brain. Now my friend we shall see why you are like this…” As Dr. Ling tells Luke and begins to apply a bandage along the small patch he removes Luke’s scalp and flesh.

He then makes sure to guide him to a large bowl full of water. Luke drinks and drinks and continues to want more water.

Dr. Ling had the patch of flesh and carefully pinched it in his hands and walked towards the back of the room and placed it among some cloth. “Hmm, this tissue sample is a bit thinner than I thought...it should be much thicker like normal animal tissue… I question his internal health. Although there are numerous amounts of evidence of malnutrition which can explain the breaking down of proteins in the flesh. That still does not explain this abnormal behavior….” He then stops and pauses for a second. “Is my patient a mutant???. No...There would be a struggle for me to even be near him or the fact he would have died weeks ago. He could have been in contact with one of them and possibly had some of its bodily fluids have entered Luke’s body, therefore, entering his bloodstream entering his