Ensuring we were good and cleaned up, we made our way upstairs, finding a shotgun and some shells waiting like Nolan said they would be, along with a tire iron he’d apparently found.

Naturally, Liz claimed the shotgun, something Millie genuinely didn’t seem to mind after she’d tested the weight of the tire iron and took a few test swings, and I definitely wasn’t about to try and get the feisty Scot to swap with me.

Before long, we were on the road, marching up towards the markers on our maps, me in the middle while the girls’ eyes darted to every bird and tree-dwelling critter we happened to pass.

“I didn’t used to get it,” Liz said as she watched something moving above the trees, “how Vampires could go feral, but now…”

“It’s hard, huh?” Millie muttered, her gaze transfixed on something in the forest, “All you want to do is hunt, to feed, and you know it’d be so… liberating.”

“Settle down,” I chuckled, barely hiding my nervousness, “we’ll get you leveled up and you’ll feel better, alright?”

“That’s just the thing, Alistair,” Liz replied without looking away from her prey, “I don’t know if I want to feel better.”

“That sounds… healthy.” I said before pulling out my phone and checking the map, effectively ruining my night vision, “Look, we’re almost there, if you can just keep your shit together ‘til then, I promise this’ll pass.”

“Easy for you to say,” Millie sighed as whatever she’d been watching disappeared from her view, “this is like lust and desperation and starvation all bundled up into one, carnal feeling.”

“Use that on the Ghouls,” I replied, “well, maybe not the lust part.”

“You’re hilarious,” Millie said, shaking her head, “but yeah, I know you’re right.”

“I’m not convinced…” Liz murmured to herself more than anyone else before looking back to me, “Kidding, obviously. It is tough though.”

“I have no doubt about that,” I agreed as compassionately as I could, “but think about it, a couple hunts, maybe the odd job here and there, and we’ll be back on our feet. You guys go feral though, that’s it, you’ve committed to a life of murder and mayhem.”

“It’s sad that we can’t trial run it,” Millie lamented aloud, “you know, get a little taste of what it feels like to give in, of that brutal freedom, without losing ourselves.”

“Alright, I’m good now.” Liz said matter-of-factly.

“Really?” I asked amusedly, “Why?”

“It’s one thing to feel it, it’s another to hear it,” Liz replied, “no offense, sweetie, but you sound like a junkie.”

“I…” Millie trailed off before nodding in agreeance, “Yeah… Yeah, I hear it now. Alright, let’s get this over and done with, how far?”

“Couple minutes,” I quickly replied, once again checking my phone, relieved to know that the girls had smothered the urges for the time being, “we have to turn off the road soon, then it’s just a matter of finding them.”

“Just walking through the woods?” Liz asked, “Anywhere specific?”

“Nope,” I sighed, locking and putting away my phone, “it’s not a huge area, but it ain’t small either.”

“Of course it isn’t…” Liz muttered before racking her shotgun with one hand, catching and pocketing the unspent shell with the other.

It was an interesting little quirk of hers, she said it helped her be certain that it was loaded, but I think it was more to do with the fact that she liked the way she looked when she did it.

Deciding silence would help my companions focus on the job over their animalistic desire to go bounding through the woods in search of meat, I led us into the forest and gestured for them to keep their eyes open.

I didn’t like trying to control them, much less using the fear of being attacked by Ghouls to do so, but it seemed preferable to finding Liz or Millie hunched over Peter Cottontail after six months of tracking a trail of destruction and death.

Thankfully I didn’t have to live with my guilt for more than a few minutes as a light up ahead of us indicated we’d found our bounty.

As we drew nearer, we heard a good deal of clanging and crashing as the Ghouls seemingly did Ghoul-type things, but before long we heard a voice.

‘Voice’ may be a bit of a strong word actually, it was mostly just babbling and cackling.

By the time we’d reached a nearby rock and could peek into the small clearing, we’d all figured out what was waiting for us.

Well, most of what was waiting for us.

Prying my eyes away from the baffling sight, I looked to Liz, “Is that a…”

“It certainly seems to resemble…” Liz muttered.

“Why?” Millie asked confusedly, “Just… why?”