Page 72 of Chained

"Neither do we for sure, to do the proper testing we would need labs like they have in your city. But as far as we can tell the effects of the contaminant serve to enhance the natural attributes in a host. For example a plant naturally strives to grow big and reach for the sun, so now they grow bigger and faster and are stronger and more resistant to anything that harms them."

"Okay, and a Cougar which was naturally territorial would become bigger, faster and more aggressive and decide they had a better talent for hunting if they ran in a pack?" I asked.

"Exactly." Hunter nodded approvingly at me. "Now, as far as we know, all other species developed in line with each other: all cougars got fiercer, all dogs got faster and smarter. Some prey creatures got smaller or better at camouflaging. It was always something that was best for the survival of the species. But humans were divided."

"How?"

"The majority of us appear to be much the same as we were before the change, but we are in fact stronger and more intelligent. Also, we have reason to believe that a lot of birth defects and illnesses no longer affect us when they used to pose a real issue to our population. We heal faster than we did a hundred years ago too. Howeve

r, other humans became more like wild animals, feral things, intelligence became an evil cunning, they're vicious and dangerous. They keep to themselves mostly these days, living in packs. We don't interact with them if we can avoid it."

"Are they really so different to us?"

"Yes. You can't understand unless you see one but, they aren't like us anymore. They barely use language, they don't have civilisation, they catch things with their bare hands and eat them raw. They live with some kind of hierarchy and fight to the death to stay on top."

"That's horrible," Laurie said.

"Now you understand why people don't volunteer to head into one of their nests."

I looked at Coal and Alicia. "I can't ask you to risk it for me."

"You didn't ask us, we volunteered," Alicia stated.

"So stop going on about it," Coal added as he pushed me aside to get a good look at the satellite image. "What's the plan?"

"We're going to take the road as far as possible but we'll have to walk the last few miles. The plan is for you four to sneak through and get into the bunker while we cause a distraction to draw the Creepers away from you." Hunter looked too excited at the thought of danger as far as I was concerned.

"Sounds like a plan," Coal said, he looked pretty excited too.

"We'll leave at first light." Hunter grinned. "Are you going to be staying in your house?"

Alicia glanced at Coal a little uneasily. "Have you got somewhere else where we can stay tonight? We aren't stopping and if we go home people will see us and then we'll have to deal with them. I'm sure Coal doesn't want to run into-"

"Anyone," Coal said firmly. "I just wanna get an early night so that we're ready for tomorrow."

Hunter laughed loudly. "Oh yeah I'm sure you wouldn't want... anyone, to bother you tonight." He slapped Coal on the back and Coal shook his head.

"Thanks," Alicia smiled. "You know how annoying people can be."

"I do. I get a fair few annoying people looking for me when I'm in town too." Hunter grinned.

I frowned at Laurie in confusion.

"So where are we going to stay then?" Laurie asked.

"I'll show you where you can bunk down, are you alright in with the girls Coal?" Hunter asked.

Coal glanced my way before he answered. "Sure, whatever's easiest."

"Man after my own heart." Hunter laughed and led the way.

Chapter Twenty Three

Hunter took us out of the guarded compound to a building full of apartments. It was a lot more like the kind of living arrangements that I had been used to in the city though it was much more spacious.

"There's power on in this block, so you can have showers and lights but it's a bit sparse on fixtures," he said as he opened the door for us.

There was one bedroom which was devoid of any furniture but Hunter gave us all roll mats and sleeping bags so that we could make our own beds. We set about sorting out our sleeping arrangements and Hunter produced some dried noodles and vegetables and made us all a stir fry.