Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 118: A New Life

-News Channel 14-

"Tonight's top story: Ghost Town. Alerted by a trucker who found a couple of abandoned police cars outside of town including a old truck that had looked like it had been slashed by large blades, state and country police forces, unable to contact the town police force, closed off all entrances into and out of... Investigators searched through the remains of... to find that the entire town was empty. Hot dinners on the table along, tv's still on and even some cars just idling on the street. As for what happened to the residents, no one is able to know for sure..."

-News Channel 21-

"Strange mutant creatures have been spotted in wooded areas around the state. As was previously reported by believers who thought that Bigfoot had finally come out of hiding, we will go live to the scene where a massacre took place. Over 200 dead and injured. The creature was finally taken down by a combination of police and National Guard solders using heavy weaponry. No word yet on exactly what this creature was but sources inside the investigation have told us the remains of the creature will be moved to the Global Sciences research facility for testing purposes. We will be back in a bit with a reconstruction of the events..."

-News Channel 32-

"Government officials have been tight lipped about recent events, but we have secured an interview with a doctor who is part of the containment team to explain exactly what they are doing to keep us safe. As always, if you come into contact with a person who might be infected by the unknown blood disease, please contact your local law enforcement agency and do not approach or attempt to apprehend the suspect. This disease that has hit the east coast and started spreading at a mind boggling rate with cases popping up in various towns and cities across the country continues to baffle researchers. As such, the government has approved of special measure for those who's infections seem dangerous to be put into an isolated, containment facility where they will be given the best care and treatment until a cure can be found. For those who are not deemed dangerous, they simply need to register with their local government so that they can be notified of when the cure is found to help facilitate it's distribution in a timely manner. Please remember that the one's infected are not contagious and no one has to worry about those around them getting sick due to contact. When we return after the break, we will interview doctor...."

-News Channel 8-

"In a stunning revelation, Global Sciences have come out with new evidence suggesting that while the unknown blood disease is sweeping the nation and the world, there are signs that some people who have thought to be infected are actually clear of the pathogen that is normally present. According to their report, those who are clear of the pathogen have also undergone changes to their body chemistry as well. In what they have described as an 'unprecedented leap in evolution,' those who are found to not have the pathogen and yet have gained miraculous abilities can only be described as have passed the previously known threshold of human ability. They concluded that while some humans will suffer from illness as their bodies can not handle the change, others, who can only be described as chosen, or lucky, have evolved into a higher species than human. While others in the scientific community have rebuked the claim, so far no evidence suggesting otherwise has been brought forth to contradict the claim. The question we attempt to answer tonight is simply this, how likely is it that more than one species of human will be present on this planet in the coming years?

Click.

"Well, this is some bullshit."

*Why are you comparing a news broadcast to cow excrement?*

"It's just a saying."

*Which means?*

"That people are making up and saying what ever they want."

*Isn't that how you humans usually do it? Believing what you want, even if it can't be proven?*

"Now why would you think that?"

*Have you seen the websites saying that this is all caused by aliens trying to take over the planet?*

"You think the web is your best argument right now?" Laz looked over to the faded recliner where the wolf pup Vivi was munching on some beef jerky.

*What? This again? How was I suppose to know that dogg style didn't mean fashion trends? A girl has to look her best after all,* came the mental response back from the cute little black wolf who raised her head to look at Laz's accusing stare.

"Right. Have I ever explained to you what a search history is?" Laz said back out loud.

*No need. By the way, you should really stop watching the kinky fetish porn or you might go blind.* Vivi returned to her beef jerky while ignoring Laz's dumbstruck face..

"How did you... You know what? Never mind. It's not important." Laz got up and stretched his body a bit that was a little sore from sitting on the worn leather car seat on the ground just outside the door to the camper. He and Vivi decided to take a night or two off after the last demon beast hunt they went on. Since Vivi insisted on calling them demon beasts, Laz just did the same although he still sometimes questioned where this knowledge of hers came from. When she tried to explain it, the best she could come up with was that one day she woke up and it was already in her head, like someone had downloaded a massive compressed file into her brain that was slowly decompressing day by day. Laz honestly thought that this was some sort of massively unbelievable cheat, but could only conclude that someone had something to do with it. There was no way Vivi just happened to pick up all this information by chance.

It had been a year and a half since his grandpa was taken away and he had fled 'The Shack." Laz, now 16, looked much more mature than he had back before everything had started. He was almost six feet tall with strong, finely chiseled features. His blue eyes seemed to shine in the sun while his perfect white skin made him look almost sickly. But that couldn't have been farther from the truth considering his muscled and well defined body looked anything but unhealthy. Laz's black hair had continued to grow and could almost reach his shoulders. The strange thing was that it seemed to grow back to that length in just a few nights whenever he had cut it, almost like it was programmed to be that length. The only thing that really bothered him was his skin color as no matter how much time he spent out in the sun, he never tanned or burned. The only benefit was that his skin was much tougher than it had been before it became this shade of white. Had a regular person tried to stab him with a knife, even using all of their strength, it might itch a little, but it wouldn't be enough to draw blood.

Vivi had changed as well. Before, she had only been around about two feet long and a bit on the skinny side. Now, she measured almost three feet in length and had grown some muscle of her own underneath the luscious black fur. This was mostly thanks to Laz dragging her along to exercise with him. On top of that, the fur around one of her eyes had turned white and appear in the shape of a star, giving her, what she called, a real Moe appearance. Of course, this was only how she appeared while in her lazy form. Her fighting form was anything but cute. Laz knew a bit about levels of power thanks to the blue haired, red dress goddess-demon who like to show up in his head every now and then, but he had no idea about animals like Vivi's level. Luckily Vivi was able to explain things to him. As he understood it, she was already a level 2 beast thanks to her own growth over the past year and a half. This was also why she had gone through the changes that she did.

As far as why they were able to communicate, it had been initiated by Vivi herself on the drive here. At first, once they got on the road and began their long trek, Laz had been ok for the most part. He spent his time getting used to driving the camper and setting things up the way he wanted them as though he was unpacking his stuff after moving into a new place. That didn't last for long though. As is normal with shock, the depression and pain didn't hit him at first, but once it did, he was in a really bad spot. Thoughts of Kat haunted his dreams while images of his grandpa suffering stalked his waking moments.

It would be accurate to say that there were times when Laz was only this side of insane and other times when he crossed that line.

At some point, Vivi decided that she needed to do something and started talking to him through their spirit sense. The only reason she waited as long as she did was because didn't know how Laz would react to it or to her for that matter. As she soon found out though, she had worried for nothing. Laz was more than accepting of her and found that she was kind of like a little naive sister while Vivi felt that Laz was basically a big, stupid older brother. They bonded pretty quickly.

As far as why Vivi got close to Laz in the first place, she explained that to him as well as best as possible.

*You smelled good, like the thing I had been waiting for.*

"I smelled like the thing you had been waiting for?"

*Yes.*

"That's... not very helpful."

*Did you expect it to be? Why do you need a reason for everything?*

"Because, it matters."

*Why?*

"Because..."

*That's not an answer.*

"UUHHH... FINE."

The conversation ended there. As Laz would soon discover, Vivi was way more practical than he was and although he didn't admit it out loud, quite a bit smarter too. It was almost impossible to change her mind and she always had an opinion. Of course, she also would always listen to what Laz told her to do without question. That was because she knew that he would not harm her in the slightest and she trusted him. When he told her to do something or not do something, it meant that it was important. Because of the trust they had built up, they had become good friends.

Their current place of residence was a trailer park outside a city in West Virginia. They had actually been living there for almost a year already after having wandered around for a bit. There were several reasons for this. The primary one was because they blended in nicely and wouldn't stand out. Another reason was there was quite a bit of wooded areas just outside of town that had connections back to the days of the Civil War. For reasons that Vivi explained but Laz didn't understand, many demon beasts and monsters would pop up in the area, giving them a large hunting ground. And the things they killed supplied them both with things they needed to grow stronger.

*Your fan club is here again,* Vivi said while finishing up the jerky and icking her paws.

*I don't know about that. The girl seems to be mostly watching you,* Laz replied back as he had noticed them show up a minute ago. Since he didn't want to appear crazy, he would only talk to Vivi out loud when others weren't around. Not that crazy was a rare sight in this trailer park. These two came around here often and watched him and Vivi for a bit before going away. They started doing it almost a month ago while trying to hide themselves. Since Laz and Vivi felt no threat from it, they just let it slide. They might just be some weird kids who had some problems or maybe they stalked all the neighbors the same. Since they weren't a threat, Laz just let it slide and didn't bother with them.

*Maybe, but I can tell they are here for you.*

*Oh? Why is that?"

*Cause they stay around even if I go away.*

*Oh. Ok. Well it's just a couple of kids anyway, no need to worry about it,* Laz mentioned while shrugging his shoulders.

*Kids? They are your age.*

*Oh.* Knowing this, Laz decided he would just be direct and ask them if they needed something. As such he walked straight up to the young male who was sitting in a bush while attempting to hide. As Laz got closer though, the young man and woman noticed his approach and took off like arrows released from bow.

"Well than."

*Mayhaps you smell or something?* Vivi suggested while pulling out another piece of beef jerky from nowhere and began munching on it.

Laz just shook his head and thought this may end up being a bit more difficult than he had previously thought.