Sundered by Shannon Mayer

going to try and eat people soon. I don’t think you have to worry about getting that bad,” he said. I knew he was trying to lighten the mood but he failed miserably, the shadows of what was coming for him lay heavy on us, a physical weight we both tried to ignore but couldn’t. I saw an image of Scout in my mind eating the body and it morphed into Sebastian, feral and nasty.
     
    Sebastian stood up. “Come on; let me show you what I found.”
     
    I followed him downstairs, prepared to be dazzled. Boy was I disappointed. The kitchen table was covered, but most of it wasn’t food. There were a number of different drugs; he’d found me some allergy medicine, batteries, and then some canned food of miscellaneous types. Nothing that would last much more than a week if I stretched it.
     
    I forced a smile. “Looks good, how far did you have to go for all this?”
     
    “ All the way down to Bowser. Most of the homes have been ransacked and I was chased by a few smaller packs, but it was quiet for the most part.”
     
    “ What about Dan’s? Why didn’t you go there?” I brushed my fingers across the package of batteries, wishing they were edible.
     
    Sebastian shook his head. “I went there first, but he . . .”
     
    A grimace crossed over his face, twisting it into a parody of the man I loved. I reached out and he pushed my hand away, stumbling towards the front door.
     
    “ Bastian.”
     
    He didn’t turn around, just kept walking, using the furniture for support. I followed, knowing what was about to happen, wishing there was some other way, wishing I could help him. Wishing I could take his place. I let out a sob, it should have been me, I should have been the one to turn, not Sebastian.
     
    He turned at the door, his pupils shifting, sliding into the vertical slit that was becoming so familiar to me. Tears dripped off his chin, the last tears he would cry as a human.
     
    “ I love you.”
     
    I ran to him; he tried to push me away. I wouldn’t let him go that easily. I pulled his head to mine and pressing my lips to his our tears sealed what would be our last kiss.
     
    “ Always Bastian, you will always be my love. Forever,” I whispered against his mouth and then he jerked himself away from me and ran for the gate, climbing clumsily over it. As his feet touched the other side he let out a roar, guttural and wild. I slid to my knees, tears streaming down my face. The pack emerged from the bush, Scout creeping forward first, the Alpha and Jessica at the back like always.
     
    They milled around him, sniffing and grunting and he pushed them away easily, making them keep their distance. When one got too close, Sebastian snapped his foot forward catching it in the mouth and sent it flying backwards. After that they easily gave him the distance he wanted. As they turned to go, the pack slipping back into the bush, Sebastian stayed, standing in front of the gate like a sentinel.
     
    He turned his head and looked back at me, his now-foreign eyes meeting mine. With a low moan he dropped to the ground, tucking himself into the shadows that Scout had previously occupied. With my own moan my head dropped forward till it touched the wooden railing.
     
    Sebastian wasn’t going with the pack. He was staying to guard me. I didn’t know what was worse, having him gone completely and knowing he had no memory left of his life before, or knowing that he was trapped inside a body with unnatural desires, and still remembering me and our love.
     
     
     
     
     

14
     
     
     
    I spent the better part of the next three days hiding inside, sleeping and wishing I had the courage to take my own life, only moving when Nero whined for food or to go out. I dreamed of blood and death and knives, Sebastian making love to me, our child we never had, the men who broke into our house, and Jessica with her sweet smile. The dreams left me moaning and tossing, my own cries waking me up only to let the sadness swallow me down