Bonus 2: The Demon With a Heart

Ferral and his group scouted through the aftermath of the city they finished destroying. The humans they let go had long since fled, but stragglers were common. Ferral had made a set limit on how many humans were allowed to live. Aerial scouts kept count, and once the limit was reached, anyone left was killed on sight.

“There are no humans left, sir,” Nia said. She had been traveling with the group for two weeks already.

Ferral gave a smile and nodded. “Thank you,” he said, taking a seat on a bench.

After waiting for the rest of the group to come together, Ferral got up and was ready to head back to their camp. However, they were all stopped by the sudden sound of loud crying. Everyone went on guard, Ferral whipping his head around. The crying came from a nearby home. It was the wailing of an infant. Ferral cautiously made his way toward the house, peaking his head inside a shattered window, and he heard the crying coming underneath the floor of the living room. He tilted his head in confusion, then jumped over the windowsill and into the house. Ferral got closer toward the middle of the floor, crouching over, and drove his hand through the carpet. There was no ground. He reached his arm further down until he felt a tiny baby's head. The crying suddenly stopped. Ferral then felt something grabbing onto his hand. He lifted his arm out, pulling the infant with him. The small child clung to Ferral’s hand with an almost iron grip. Ferral and the child’s gaze met, the baby boy’s bright, icy blue eyes stared back at his dark crimson eyes.

“Mn, seems we missed one,” Ferral said to himself.

The baby, curious, climbed up Ferral's arm, hugging onto his fur tightly. Ferral shook his arm. “Let go of me,” he ordered, but the infant wouldn’t budge.

Ferral sighed, getting up and heading toward the front door to the house, and walking back to his group. They were all surprised to see Ferral holding the child in his arms, the frightened boy hiding his face within Ferral’s fur.

“We missed one?” An experiment asked.

“Would seem so,” Ferral responded, looking down at the child. “His parents were stupid enough to hide him, thinking anyone would come back.”

Nia stepped forward and asked, “What are we going to do with him?”

Ferral continued staring at the child. The boy looked about two, older than his daughter, Laura. He had killed many children already, so ending this child’s life wouldn’t be anything new. However, something in the pit of Ferral’s stomach felt that maybe he… shouldn’t. Why? What was so special about this child? Even Ferral couldn’t think of a reason, and yet…

“I will go dump this child off at the nearest human camp,” Ferral said. “I’m sure they haven’t gone far.”

“But, sir,” Another experiment spoke out, “that would put us one over your set limit, and you said…”

“I know what I said,” Ferral snapped, “but no one’s perfect. Some will get away.”

The other experiments were confused, but didn’t dare further question and upset their leader. Nia could see there was more to this than Ferral was letting on, but chose to keep quiet, cracking a small smile.

Ferral continued, “I will go alone, track down the nearest human camp, and simply dump this infant with them. All of you, head back to our camp and stay there till I get back.”

Some nodded, no one having objections, and started leaving the city. As Nia was leaving, Ferral grabbed her hand and stopped her.

“Nia, wait,” he said.

She turned around and said, “Yes?”

“Watch over my daughter while I’m gone, okay?”

Nia smiled and nodded. “Of course, sir.”

The two parted ways, Ferral turning toward the opposite direction of the group and bolting with the child in his arms. They had traveled for a week, and Ferral was actually surprised the humans got that far. During the trip, Ferral cared for the baby boy, feeding or changing him. He would rummage through abandoned stores for new clothes. All the while, the child would cling to Ferral’s arms, never wanting to let go. During the nights, he would sleep on the experiment’s chest, Ferral draping his arm over as a blanket. A pack of dogs once tried to snatch the baby in the night, and nearly succeeded, but Ferral chased after them and grabbed the infant back. On the seventh day, Ferral spotted smoke in the sky. A campsite filled with humans lay just at the end of a small creek.

Ferral raced into a nearby dollar store that was inside an abandoned shopping center. He looked around until he found a small plastic basket. He took the basket, then a packet of hand towels, and formed a makeshift bed. Ferral grabbed note cards and a marker, then tried to place the baby inside the basket. But, he wouldn’t let go, even begging to cry after a few failed attempts.

“Let go,” Ferral said, shaking his right arm.

Ferral looked into the infant's eyes, and for a moment, maybe…he thought he should just keep him. But he shook the feeling off, gripping the back of the baby's clothes and using more force to peel him off his arm.

“I have to get rid of you before I become attached,” Ferral mumbled as he started setting the baby inside the basket.

The baby was a bawling mess, but Ferral ignored him. He took off the cap of the marker with his teeth and spat it out, writing down a name onto a note card and setting it into the basket. Ferral slid in some small containers of baby food as well as diapers, then headed back to the creek. The baby had managed to calm down somewhat, now kind of back in Ferral’s arms. Ferral knelt and placed the basket into the water, then stood up and pushed it away with his feet.

“May we never meet again,” Ferral said before turning and dashing off.

The baby burst into tears, now separated from his caretaker. The basket traveled down the creek for a little less than twenty minutes, stopping once someone picked it up. It was a human woman who was washing clothes with some of the other survivors when they heard the sound of crying coming closer. The crying had ceased once she picked up the basket.

“Where did you come from?” Everett asked worrily, before looking up toward the creek.

She lowered her head at the sniffing child; his clenched fists had tuffs of black fur sticking out. Curious, Everett took one more look to see if anyone was hiding behind bushes, but there was not a soul to be found.

“What did you find, Everett?” Another woman asked as she came jogging over.

The two looked at the baby boy. Everett spotted the note card that was tucked on the left side of the basket and pulled it out. The note only had one thing written on it...a name...

ANTHONY