Alternia Comics

Day Six

The car broke down yesterday. Somewhere in Ohio. I think that's where I am. Highway signs are less useful when you're on foot and don't see them often. For now, I'm keeping the Hunger in check by avoiding temptation (by which I mean living people) and focusing on the Judo forms.

It's hot during the day. I wish I had a hat, or sunglasses to shield my eyes. My face must be red and blistering, but I don't have a mirror to check. At least there was a duffel bag in the car. Makes it easy to carry the books.

Day Nine

I haven't seen anyone since I left Deputy Northman. Sometimes my mind wanders to the loneliness and I remember what it was like to talk to people, to have friends. Then the Hunger rumbles and I remember the my Sarah, and the Deputy. I set the bag down and work through some motions, throwing imaginary attackers, until the Hunger subsides and I can walk on.

Day Ten

I heard a car coming up behind me and old habits turned my feet toward the shoulder, out of the path the car would probably take. The driver stopped and asked if I wanted a lift. A pretty brunette, Lisa, she said. I guess my face doesn't look as bad as I imagined; she didn't recoil in shock or horror when I leaned in the window. She said she was heading West, to California, then up and down the coast before returning East.

As soon as I sat down in the passenger seat, my bag on the back seat, she pulled the car back on to the highway and away we went. I took a deep breath, intended to help me relax from the days of walking. Instead I inhaled her scent, her perfume, her sweat, the fundamental melange of scents a living human gives off as a matter of course without realizing it, or even thinking about it. The Hunger leaped to the forefront of my mind and I could only hear a little of what she was saying, my attention focused on my daughter, my wife, the deputy. The consequences of what would happen if I gave in to the Hunger. It would have been so easy, just to turn toward her in my seat, reaching a hand toward her. Perhaps I would start with a gentle caress of the side of her neck, brushing aside a few strands of her silky hair, before wrapping my hand about her neck and pulling her toward me, biting into the soft flesh, drinking the warm flowing blood and rending the meat from her bones before the car careened off the road, into the median and perhaps onto the opposing lanes of traffic.

Even now, while she sleeps and I tend the fire, the Hunger demands my attention. She noticed I was not responding to her questions, or her story, an hour after she picked me up and we spent the rest of the day in silence.

In the morning I'll tell her why I did not speak. For now, I must focus my mind on other things.

Day Eleven.

Lisa understood my unwillingness to talk yesterday and offered me an easy exit from our shared travels if I desired. I told her I wished to rejoin human society at some point, and that I enjoyed her company. She agreed to let me stay, on condition that if I ever felt the Hunger taking over I would warn her. Her escape plan consisted of stopping the car just long enough for me to get out, then driving ten miles and wait. If I regained control I would walk toward her and rejoin her within four hours. After four hours, she would continue on with or without me.

We've managed to make it through today without any incidents, and I was able to keep up a conversation. She's traveling as a favor to a friend of hers in New York: an information gathering journey to discover what the rest of the country has become. I told her about the problems I had last week at the library, and the clothier, and with the Sheriff's Deputy. I haven't told her about Sarah and Angela yet. I know she's seen my wedding band though. She's been polite enough not to ask so far.