Chapter 21: Chapter 21: The Day I Stopped Being Human

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Day: 10 / Time: 2:00pm-4:00pm

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Two days of deep, tranquil sleep passed. It was a prolonged peace Artie didn't know was possible.

The time to awaken came sooner than later when his body was suddenly shaken to consciousness. A pair of human hands had been on his chest, desperately shaking him. The words of the person were lost to his clouded ears and mind.

Very slowly, he began to gradually wake up.

"..."

Flickering eyes made the person aware he was awake. Artie faintly groaned and inched his head off the bed's surface.

"Where…" He thought.

The setting was remarkably blurry and could not be made out through his tired and squinted eyes. Only hazy shapes were displayed, one of a woman and another of a rigid ceiling.

At the time, Artie did not want to wake up nor understand his reason for being there.

"LISTEN t me, y- ru-"

Her voice faded in and out, the message being lost entirely by his troubled ears.

Sight, hearing, and even his sense of touch felt… Unfamiliar. Despite this, he wasn't scared or worried at all. Without recalling too much of the past, he knew terrible things led to him arriving there.

"Y- ha-u RUN."

Gradually, more and more sounds could be made out. Artie's sight had also started to adjust; Though, they felt unusually alien and untrained.

The hazy human form eventually came together. It created the familiar face of the doctor he'd met days ago. Her vague face was smeared in panic as she leaned over and pleaded with him. Artie still couldn't understand what she'd been saying but began to discern that it was crucial.

Gently pulling himself up, he hunched over and blandly stared down. Artie noticed that his hands were wrapped with white cloth and could feel the same material around his head and feet.

"I feel strange," He thought.

Thoroughly dazed by the ordeal, he sat momentarily, allowing the gray smoky feeling that shrouded his mind to lessen.

A pair of hurried hands grabbed Artie's blank face and turned it.

"Focus!" Shouted Paula, clenching onto his thin face.

The stimulation from the act aided in his revival, and he felt himself becoming slightly more aware.

"Listen to me, you have to go, now!" Exclaimed Paula, clearly distraught.

Artie absorbed her entire message, and while he still struggled with a dense, misty mind, he acted on the woman's command.

Lifelessly, at his own pace, he swung his legs from the bed and stood. The location could faintly be identified as a room in the town's clinic. This knowledge was useless because he still scanned the room several times before locating a door.

Paula walked behind then pushed Artie in the correct direction. Once outside the room, she hurriedly grabbed his shoulders with her hands.

"Look, I know you're probably confused right now, and this will sound like nonsense, but you've changed. The hunters aren't in their right mind, so you need to leave the town."

Paula's distress rubbed off onto Artie. Her words may have been drivel to his current mind, but heavy emotions can be contagious.

Without inquiring further, Artie separated from her then directed his slackened body down the hall.

"No, go right, take the stairs, then leave through the rear exit." Instructed Paula, pulling him back by his shirt.

Artie groggily nodded then shifted his direction towards the right. As he walked, he heard Paula's guilt-filled voice.

"Sorry I couldn't hide you longer…."

Mind adrift, he used the building's walls as support while exiting. Once he was clear of the clinic, Artie made way for a cluster of wooden buildings. He avoided the main road and slipped behind the structures into back alleyways.

 

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Very little occupied his thoughts as he drifted down the town's shady alleys. Everything about his body felt imbalanced and foreign. Artie worried and ultimately became too frightened to inspect himself. He Ignored the unfamiliar muscles and nerves at his rear and the strange sensation on his head. Escaping was the objective bestowed upon him, so he continued without distractions.

Somewhere nearby, a commotion had spurred, but Artie could not perceive it. His one-track mind guided him in the direction of the south exit, stumbling as he walked and holding one hand on the sturdy walls for balance.

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More than ten minutes had passed, and the effects that haunted him persisted. Artie stopped and calmly leaned against a wall. He then peacefully closed his eyes, yawned, and began to sink towards the dirt-covered ground.

"Area clear!"

Soon after Artie ducked down, several bodies began to run past the dark alleyway. The shadowy figures that rushed by alerted him, so he faintly opened his eyes and observed them. One after another, hunters ran by unsuspectingly. When it seemed like they'd all passed, Artie groggily pulled himself up.

He continued to wobble forward persistently, but unfortunately, there was more. Trailing behind, a single hunter sped past the alley. The man appeared to be in a hurry, yet he still looked down each backstreet as he ran. First, looking down the left path, then right, exactly where Artie stood. The stranger unintentionally passed the building because of how quickly he'd dashed. Still, Once he came to a halt, the man hastily returned.

"..."

Artie leaned against a wall while staring blankly at the man who'd happened to see him. The hunter's chest rapidly filled and emptied while his sweaty face peered daggers at Artie.

"Over here!"

"I found him!" Roared the man, drawing his sword.

The armed hunter held his weapon at Artie as he cautiously approached. The man moved to Artie's rear and roughly pushed him forward, escorting him out of the dimly lit alleys and onto the main dirt road. Artie did not resist and went along with the hunter's orders. Already discovered, he knew his goal of escaping had concluded.

With a firm shove, Artie's body was throttled onto the ground. He landed at the center of several other citizens who peered at him with cutthroat expressions, cursing and belittling him. Dirty, Artie lifted himself onto his shaky knees. He didn't acknowledge the mob around him but looked demoralized at the floor; his hazy sight fixed on a random shoe's footprint.

"He's tricked us; he's been working with that monster all along!"

A rough hand shoved his loose head down onto the floor. Others promptly grabbed the cloth that wrapped his head, hands, and feet before yanking it off. Lastly, the rear of his dusty pants was slightly pulled down.

"It's true!" Gasped a random civilian.

The offensive hands immediately retreated from Artie, and he could lift his head from the ground. He felt like something had been freed and unbonded. It was a new and unknown limb he could roughly control.

Calmly, Artie raised his open hands over his knees and looked down at them.

"..."

His heartbeat steadily as he observed black outgrown nails. They extended an inch from the tip of his fingers and came to a sharp point. The dark ink-like color resembled modern nail paint, except he couldn't rub it away. Moreover, he guessed the discomfort and heaviness of his mouth was from overgrown teeth.

"So that's it," He mumbled.

Raising his view slightly higher, he could see his shadow cast by the sun. The form it took was not his, or rather it was not one he'd ever known. A pair of furry ears now sat on top of his head; Animal ears, to be exact, identical to the wolf monsters. In between those irregular ears were three-inch-long black horns.

"Then this must be…."

Nonchalantly, Artie reached behind his body and grabbed the dark tail that grew above his hind. Pulling the base in front of him, he could feel his own hand holding the sensitive new limb.

It'd become clear why he'd been surrounded because he, too, detested his vile appearance.

"He is possessed by the God type," Uttered a calm, husky man.

Silent, the townsman realized the possibility. They didn't fear Artie but the odds that they too could be infected and transformed.

Unannounced, a hunter several feet ahead of Artie pulled back his bow. The sound of the string being stretched reached his altered ears and alerted him.

A subtle Swish sound triggered Artie's head to unconsciously jolt up to glimpse the arrow. Thoughtlessly, he jolted his arms up to cover his face. The arrowhead pierced clear through his left forearm and stuck out the other end.

Bewildered, Artie looked at the weapon lodged in his bleeding arm. A delayed grunt and moan erupted as he hunched over and grabbed onto his injured arm.

"Again!" Shouted another unrecognized hunter.

While his eyes were still slightly fuzzy, his hearing improved as soon as the cloth was removed. The same sound of a drawn bow met his ears. Artie fearfully pulled one of his knees up to his chest and prepared to kick off the floor and dodge.

"The hell are you doing!?"

A resounding THUMP sounded after the sudden shout. The arrow was not released from the bow; instead, a body hit the ground hard.

"Sebastian," Groaned Artie, slowly raising his sights.

Breathing heavily, the man swiftly sped from the hunter he'd knocked down and to Artie's side. Objections from the mob began immediately after, shouting reason at Sebastian to convince him to reconsider his stance.

"Move out of the way!" Roared a man who'd aimed a sword at them.

"Hell no!" Snapped Sebastian, his face lit with rage.

It was plain that those assembled were intent on killing Artie. This fact scared him, yes, but… Sadly enough, he didn't blame them.

 

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