Chapter 36: 35

The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife. Slowly, Natalie remembered that she thought she saw black mist coming off him, just as the monsters did when they died. Was she not just seeing things? Slowly as she thought over the scene in her head, she noticed some mist coming off of Gertrude. Instead of the black mist that came from the monsters, this was much thinner and green. She was sure that it was not present earlier. While she was staring at the green specks coming off Gertrude, a hand waving in front of her face snapped her out of her daze. "Earth to Natalie. Are you there sweetie?"
Blinking and regaining focus, Natalie answers in a daze, "Huh yeah, I'm here, what's up?"
"You were just kind of staring at me, quiet intently if I do say so myself. Do I have something stuck in my teeth?" Gertrude goes into her purse that was sitting beside the chair and pulls out a compact mirror.
"No, no, nothing like that. I was just remembering thinking that I was seeing things when I confronted Troy. I thought my eyes were fooling me and showing black mist coming off of him. The same that comes off dead monsters. Then I noticed that you have a green variant of it coming off of you"
Gertrude's eyes moved from the mirror to look into Nat's, widening at the younger woman's words. "Monsters have a mist that comes off their dead bodies? And I have a mist coming off me? I could not see any in the mirror. But that would mean that my eye sight is not going, as you seem to be oozing off a green mist yourself." Shocked at the words, Natalie gestured to the mirror. Looking at it quickly, she could not see anything coming off her. Turning around, she tried to get a look at Gertrude in the mirror. Again no green mist was visible in the mirror, but when she looked directly at her it was still there.
"Have I had this mist coming off of me all this time?"

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"No, I do not remember seeing it until... After I bonded with Finnigan..." Gertrude's words trailed off as both of their eyes met, widening this time out of a sudden understanding. The mist was only visible by those with a Soulscape that was active. Otherwise the people she passed by at the entrance would have reacted far differently to her when she entered. It was almost like an aura surrounding a person. So since green most likely meant that there were animals inside, did the black mist that came off Troy signify the monsters? It matched with what happened to monsters after they passed. Did dead animals have the same thing. She never really noticed with the elk, but that could have been because the horrid green skins that surrounded it. As she pondered what this all could imply, a sudden grumble resonated through the room.
"I guess we have been at this for a while. Want to join us for dinner dear?" Gertrude asked. Natalie realized that it was probably too late to make any reasonable distance towards Lethbridge, so she accepted the request. Getting up, they headed down the hall to the gymnasium. Once there, Nat noticed that there were a lot of tables filled with people. There was a canteen on the side that seemed to have a metal shutter, though they were cooking with a fire using coals inside the oven. With tech being down, they probably improvised it so it would work. Looking around the gym, she could not help but notice the looks people had. Most were sad, defeated, and lacking in any hope or drive. It was as if they saw this as the end and they were just staying here waiting to die.
Gertrude guided her to a table off to the side, which was completely empty of people. A fair number of the residents tracked the two with their eyes, with a bit of both curiosity and caution. Probably wondering who the new person was, and if they were staying. The biggest problem if she stayed would be securing food for them as well, as that would mean that much less to share between everyone else. Sitting down, Nat looked at the canteen for a second before turning to her dinner partner and cocking an eyebrow. After being told to look back, she noticed that two kids were carefully bringing over bowls towards her, while some other kids were carrying dishes to other people as they filtered in. It was not much of a surprise to Natalie though, as most of them were probably farm kids who were used to helping out at home. That was just the nature of the area. The meal that everyone got was a stew that was somewhat bland, but it still was pretty decent. Nat went straight into the food and ate every last bit, so as to respect the works of the cooks.
Dinner was a silent affair, where no one came up to them to talk nor did they talk between themselves. Once done, Gertrude guided Natalie into bringing her dish back up to the kitchen, before leading her to the store room. As part of the thanks for all of the info that Nat gave her, Gertrude offered a copy of everything they had in their storeroom. To pay back for the thanks, Nat had the wolves bring out a copy of everything that wasn't stored. The only thing that Gertrude was unable to take in herself to copy were the corpses of the freshly hunted hare and elk. Nat just got them a couple more elk and a dozen more hare to butcher up and use as a source of protein, at least until they were able to procure more themselves.
After the exchange of supplies ended, the room looked four times as filled as it was previously, with much more variety as well. Gertrude assigned people to sort it and deal with the butchering of the meat, before leading Nat away from the bewildered helpers. Quickly leading her back to her office, Gertrude offered for her to sleep in there for the night, and even join them. Thanking her, Nat gladly took the sleeping spot, but claimed that she had someone she wanted to meet up with. After being left alone as Gertrude went to her own bed, the wolves quickly set up a bed area up against the wall. The coyotes got out themselves and took up positions by the door, maintaining their decision to keep up night watch for the group. After they all got comfy, all the wolves and the coyote pups fell asleep pretty swiftly. Nat was kept up by her thoughts about everything they found out that day for a short while, but slowly embraced the quiet of sleep.
Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Lachlan, Coen, Adam, John, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times.

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