Page 18 of The Dire Legacy

One lip turns up revealing a yellowed top to a long canine. His breath reeks of rot with each exhale.

“Your father, pup.” He drops so one of his hands rests on the ground. His haunches are gathered beneath him. It’s like he’s ready to leap.

“Whatever he did to you, I’m not him.” Readying my palms towards him, I hope they’re enough to stop him if he decides to attack.

The half-breed sits back, raises his dark nose to the sky and laughs. A deep, rich, rasping sound.

I don’t understand what is happening.

His dark nose twitches as his gaze falls back to me. “He saved me, all of us. Taught us how to survive in this new world.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Everyone always told me he was a monster.

But, to others, he was a hero?

His massive head leans forward, close enough I can see the graying around his muzzle. Air shifts around my hands with his inhale, making the thick skin around his nose wrinkle.

“You aren’t like the others, either.” He tilts his furry head. One pointed ear flops as he stands.

He must be eight feet tall. I’m not exactly short, almost six-one. But, he towers over me.

“Dumber than the rest. You’re lucky it was me that found you. Didn’t they teach you not to wander alone outside the lunchbox?” He turns with a gesture for me to follow.

I don’t know what the fuck to do. He’s right, I would be dinner for a pack of dogs.

Dammit.

“What’s the ‘lunchbox’?” My feet may have been rooted to the ground, but I find myself falling into stride next to him.

“That prison you all hide in. We just wait to see what treat escapes next.” He doesn’t walk quite like a human or a wolf. More like a gorilla. The muscles of his shoulders ripple and flex with each step.

I bet he could hand a gorilla its ass. My stomach rolls. I’m puny compared to him. Where in the hell is he leading me? Am I going to be dinner?

“Are you going to eat me?” My legs lock up. I’m not going to walk into my own demise.

Another deep rumble of a laugh emanates from the depths of his chest. “The way you smell, you’ll make us sick if we did.”

“Oh. Well, I guess I have that going for me.” Apparently I’m fucking toxic to everyone. Man and monster. “I never knew your kind could talk.” My voice drops. All those times we were shooting first, before there was a chance for them to get too close.

A different sound vibrates out of him, dark and menacing. It makes my ears prick and the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“I used to look like you, too. Then I changed and people tried to kill me.” His head turns as he side eyes me. “So, now, I kill them first.” A long tongue languidly runs over one of his canines before he turns away.

I’m going to be sick. A simple roll of the genetic dice made him this way.

Just like me.

His claws click on the ground as we walk in a hypnotic cadence.

“What can I call you?” Do they even use names?

“Haven’t had a need for a long time. I’d rather not remember that life.” His ears flatten briefly and he turns so I can’t see his head.

Weaving through the destroyed remnants of the city, I’m almost finding it easy to be near him. Mom would be freaking out if she saw me. She told me stories about how animalistic they became after the change. More beasts than men.

Was everything I was told a lie?

“Why are you taking me with you?” I just can’t wrap my head around this. Why isn’t he attacking me? I’m not my father. I never want to be.

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