day twelve - bones
part of the in.ktober fics i’m doing for my FH monster AU!
masterpost here
warning!!! contains gore
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The simple fact about Adam’s existence now is that he needs to eat human brains to survive. Blood is optional to that fact. Through hanging out with creatures who need blood to survive, though, he’s learned that, yeah, blood smells good. It tastes good, too. It’s really good. Sure, he’s not gonna pull a Joel and dunk a croissant in it, but his instincts say that blood is good. He’s tried rationalizing it in the past, that maybe smelling blood is a way for him to know where his prey is. Maybe it’s a good way to tell if they’re wounded and vulnerable….
When he hunts now, it’s in teams. Elyse doesn’t really need to eat humans but she finds fun in it sometimes, she’s said. Lawrence eats any meat provided to him so it makes sense for him to tag along, too. But Joel is the only other one who needs, really needs human blood to survive. So they do hunting in teams. Sometimes just Joel and Adam. Sometimes with Elyse, sometimes with Lawrence. Tonight, they’ve caught someone walking alone in the park. Joel made the approach, Elyse knocked them cold. Now, in Elyse’s basement, her jaws close over the person’s left arm. The bone crunches easily under her strength and she smiles to herself, a half-human grin that seems like a grimace on her fur covered face. As Adam prepares his saw, he can smell the blood. He sees Joel grinning as he fills a thermos with it from the cut on the person’s wrist. At the sight, Adam’s stomach turns in a way that almost speaks of hunger. He turns away, slipping on his apron, his face shield. He’s always been grossed out by himself when he does this. Those first few years when he was getting adjusted to being undead and eating brains, Lawrence helped him procure the things. He’d hunt for Adam while Adam cowered in a motel bedroom somewhere, hungry and scared that he’d hurt someone. Lawrence taught him to hunt, after Adam had grown accustomed to his new affliction. Now, with two other human hunters, he felt more at ease with the task. He has help. And he doesn’t have to get close enough to his targets to smell the fear. He can quench down the urge to bite them and feel their death on his lips. He shakes himself, tamping down the zombie rage mode inside him. He hasn’t let himself go into it for a while now, hasn’t needed to since he met the others. But lately, it’s been tickling at the back of his mind like an itch he can’t scratch. Maybe he can talk to Lawrence, see if there’s a place around where he can let go of himself and nobody would get hurt. Adam revs the saw up, placing it over the person’s skull. His least favorite part. The saw crunches through the person’s skull, splattering blood over Adam’s apron and face shield. He stops when he feels the saw’s power soften, and he knows he’s hit brain. He prepares himself for another cut when Elyse says, “Adam.” Adam stops the saw, lifts his shield. “Wha—?” Elyse drops the now disembodied arm she was holding while Joel looks on, curious. “You got a little,” She makes a motion to his face, as if he has something on his cheek. His hand flies up before he realizes his hand is covered in blood. “I got it,” She says, taking a step or two before reaching over and wiping Adam’s face with a clawed hand. “You want it?” Adam looks at the piece of brain on Elyse’s finger and swallows hard. His rage mode buzzes in his head. He shakes his head. She shrugs, brings the piece up to her mouth and bites through it. She hums. “Not bad.” Without looking, she offers her blood-covered finger up to Joel, who laps at it like he’s the canine here. Adam swallows hard again, taking a few calming breaths and hoping no one notices. He restarts the saw and flips down his mask, trying to breathe through the cloying smell of blood and monstrosity. He has to talk to Lawrence. Or something. And soon.
