Chapter 20: Trust

Night began to fall, Ferral and Dr. Atlas decided to head back to the village and start working at the crack of dawn. “Well, I guess I’ll go find another bush to sleep behind.” Atlas stretched, “I’m not joking when I say the grass here is actually really comfortable.” He started walking off, but Ferral grabbed the back of his coat. He started dragging Atlas, his heels cutting through the ground. “Hey, what are you doing?” “Shut up before I have you sleep outside the village.” Ferral replied, his head still facing forward.

They made it to the mansion, and the guards opened the doors. Ferral lightly tossed Atlas inside. The doctor stumbled back a little. He followed Ferral into the dining room, where Nia, Leona, and the kids were eating dinner.

“PAPA!” Laura and Berus jumped out of their seats and rushed over to hug Ferral. He laughed, patting their heads. He knelt, “How was your day, my little pups?” “Awesome! We spent the day with Mama and Ms. Leona!” Laura said. Beurs nodded rapidly, “Yeah, yeah! It was so much fun!” Ferral looked up at Nia, raising an eyebrow. “Nice to see you two getting along.” He teased.

“Tolerate is a better word.” Nia scoffed. Leona rolled her eyes, “I can see how you ended up together. You’re both inside.” A smile on her face. Laura looked up at Dr. Atlas, who looked back and smiled. “Hi, Mr. Atlas!” She walked over to him. “Hello, little one. Please, call me Armin.” “Did you and Papa save humans yet?” Atlas shook his head, “Not yet, but we made some great progress today.”

“Atlas,” Ferral said, holding Berus in one arm. “Are you gonna eat?” Dr. Atlas, Nia, and Leona were surprised by this sudden gesture. But he smiled, “Sure, I’m starving.” “OH! You can sit across from me, Mr. Armin! Laura grabbed one of his hands and pulled him to a chair. “You can just call me Armin.” Ferral put Berus down, and the two joined the table. Their table was rather big, able to fit eight people. Ferral and Nia sat together, Berus and Laura sat together, Leona sat between Laura and Nia, and Armin sat across from Laura.

One of the housekeepers came by bringing a large plate of hot food for Ferral. “Thank you, and could you bring one for our other guest?” The housekeeper looked at Atlas, then back at Ferral with a confused look. Ferral raised his hand, “It’s fine.” The housekeeper nodded, taking another glance at Atlas before walking off. Ferral looked down at the food, his mouth watering. Two large slabs of seasoned meat, sliced seasoned potatoes, steamed broccoli with lemon and pepper, a large glass of squeezed orange juice. He dug in, the juice from the meat running down the sides of his lips.

After a minute, a new housekeeper came with a plate of the same food for Dr. Atlas. “Oh, thank you.” The housekeeper didn’t respond, didn’t even make eye contact when delivering the plate. Atlas looked down at the plate…it was certainly a lot of food. Portions that could be split for three people. But everyone else seemed to be tearing through it easily in between conversations. He chuckled to himself; he’d never seen how experiments act on a daily basis. He never really knew what to expect. But it was nice, this sense of familiarity. Atlas looked down at the food again, took a deep breath, and dug in…

He barely made it a quarter through.

After dinner, everyone continued talking for another hour. Laura and Berus berated Ferral to tell old stories of his youth, but he did his best to dodge the questions. Leona teased the kids with embarrassing moments that happened to Ferral. He groaned, putting a hand over his eyes in embarrassment. Everyone laughed loudly, even Nia, who covered her mouth, giggling.

Then, it was time to head to bed. Ferral led Leona and Dr. Atlas to the third floor. “Every room here, besides the two middle ones and one at the very end of the hall are bedrooms.” He told them. “Pick whichever ones you want, don’t hurt yourselves.” He started walking off. “Thanks for this, Mr. Ferral.” Dr. Atlas, making Ferral stop. “Yeah, I’m surprised you even let us be near your home.” Leona joked. He didn’t respond right away, but let out a small exhale. “Don’t get used to it.” He responded coldly, his back still turned. He walked down the stairs, leaving Atlas and Leona alone in the hall. “It’s hard to get a read on him.” Atlas looked at Leona. She chuckled, resting her hands on her hips. “Oh, Ferral.” She smiled, “He’s not hard to understand when you know him long enough.”

Ferral quietly checked on the kids’ rooms. They were fast asleep. He smiled, then headed to his room. Nia was finishing brushing her teeth as Ferral walked in. “I’m quite surprised you let them stay.” She said, sitting on the side of the bed. “Especially Atlas.” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “Growing a soft spot for him?” Ferral had started removing his dirty, tattered clothes. “He just…reminds me of someone.” He walked over to his dresser and grabbed a pair of pajama pants. “I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. That’s all.” Nia lay on her left side, facing Ferral, resting her head on her hand. “This person he reminds you of must’ve been very important then.” Ferral didn’t respond. He walked into the bathroom to start brushing his teeth.

Once he was done, Ferral walked out and sat on the edge of the bed, his back facing Nia. “Maybe I am making a mistake.” He muttered. “I know what I have to do, so why bother keeping him around?” Nia moved, sitting on her knees, gently wrapping her arms around his neck, and resting her head on his right shoulder. “You know my stance on humans.” She said, “Most of our stance, honestly. But I’m not opposed to change. As long as the kids and our village are safe, you do whatever is necessary, and I’ll support you.” Ferral grabbed one of her hands, kissing the top of it. “I know,” He said softly, “I’ll make sure we’re all safe.” She kissed him on the cheek and moved away, lying back on the bed. Ferral sat for another minute before lying down as well and blowing out the lantern that was in the room.

At the crack of dawn, Ferral and Dr. Atlas started their work on the cure. When they entered the Facility, the fungus had reproduced and spread in the cracks of the floor and in the control panel. “Shit.” Ferral growled, “We should’ve known this would happen.” “But that’s impossible, there shouldn’t be anything to have the disturbed the spores.” “Well, let’s hope it’s only in this room.” Ferral sighed, “That’ll be fine because this area isn’t entirely necessary. Follow me and watch your step.” They moved, carefully avoiding the fungus. As they made their way toward the other rooms, the fungus was still under their feet. Seemingly knowing what path they’d take.

It finally ended in front of the rooms. The two peeked inside, and all the computers and machines were destroyed. Ferral gritted his teeth, “Damnit, we needed this room.” “What happened? What could’ve trash it?” Just then, they heard the sound of loud footsteps coming from the room next to them. They looked left, a wheezing sound getting closer. A familiar red and black beak moves out of the door. It slowly walked out, the Thunderbird.

Its head cocked to the side, labored breaths passed out of its mouth. It had gotten bigger as well, similar to the crocodile. Gaining an extra two feet, the feathers on its body started falling off. It stared at them…completely still. Ferral and Dr. Atlas looked on in terror, sweat starting to form on their foreheads. Keeping their eyes on the bird, they slowly started walking back. As they did, Dr. Atlas accidentally stepped on one of the fungi, its spores shooting upward. They quickly covered their mouths, but then the thunderbird let out a horrible screech, rushing at them.

It was extremely fast. Faster than it was before, and it picked up its right leg, swiping at Ferral. He dodged it, its talons slicing his shirt. It kept swiping at him until his back hit a wall. It attacked again, swiping its right leg. Ferral knew it was trying to pin him into the corner of the room, but he couldn’t find a way to get out of the way without hurting the creature. Now, in the corner, Ferral had to act fast. Atlas and him or this special species? Just before it could attack again, Dr. Atlas jumped onto its back, pulling out a small switch blade from his coat and stabbing repeatedly into the bird’s neck.

It bucked, a large cloud of spores launching out from its mouth and into athe ir. Atlas couldn’t uncover his mouth, but without a free hand, he was thrown off and slid on the ground. The bird charged at him, the knife still lodged in the side of its neck. Before it could attack, Ferral jumped in front of Atlas and sliced the bird’s head clean off with his claws.