Necrocide

Chapter 20

"Why the hell are you covered in so much blood?" Aaron asked.

"I just ate," Harry replied, placing his hand on his belly. "They don't call me Bloody Harry for nothing. I guess you can say I got my nickname the same way Bloodletter got his, except that I don't kill my food."

"So the difference is that he's a murderer and you don't have table manners."

"Exactly, mate! You get it."

"I was being sarcastic!" Aaron hissed. "And what were you eating? A cow?"

Harry gave Aaron a confused look. "What's a cow?"

Aaron wasn't amused. "Are you taking the piss?"

"I swear I have no idea what a cow is."

"Then how the hell do you know what veal tastes like?!"

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed in realization, followed by a few chuckles. "My bad. Ever since Bloodletter said humans taste like veal, that idea stuck with me ever since."

"Do you at least know what an animal is?"

"Of course. Dogs, cats, birds, et cetera. We have tons in the forest if you want to see some."

Aaron thought about it. It would be interesting to see wildlife for once. The last living animals he saw were the cows and pigs in Matheson's indoor ranches, nearly all of which ended up getting butchered. Plus, the frantic sounds of the DZI soldiers beyond the walls looking for Dan's killer helped motivate him to take a brief vacation from Matheson.

"Yeah sure," Aaron replied. "It'll be like a trip to the London Zoo."

"What's a zoo?" Harry asked.

"Shut up, Harry."

With that, they made their way through the plains surrounding Matheson and entered the Forest of Bowland (though the DZI usually referred to it as the Bowland Fells), which was more spacious than Aaron remembered. He didn't realize how flat the world seemed around him and the surprisingly low quantity of trees despite trekking the roads before with his old squad mates. His journey to Longridge made the area seem greener now that he was free from the isolation of the Matheson bus.

Twenty minutes had passed and Matheson was a couple of miles away. Aaron could see a bus exiting the tower driving in the direction toward Longridge. At first he was surprised it took them a while to finally leave, but then he realized they were still probably searching for a suspect in Dan's death. And if they checked by taking a headcount, Aaron would be screwed.

"So what exactly were you eating?" Aaron asked. "Or should I say who?"

"There was still a little bit of Cutthroat remains from last night," Harry replied. "Believe it or not, Bloodletter sometimes likes to store leftovers, as you people call them."

"Where the hell does he do that?"

"Usually he either hides them in the first floor of that abandoned hospital he's always chilling in or he buries them. I hate it when he does the latter though. The remains start tasting like dirt and bugs."

"You're disgusted by the fact you ate a bug, yet you're not concerned about the fact that you eat human beings?"

"I wasn't disgusted. Just creeped out."

All of a sudden, a figure jumped down on top of Harry, both of them crashing to the ground. It turned out to be Jade. Aaron could tell from her laughs and her messy hair, which had enough leaves stuck in it to craft a wreath. She got up from the floor and crouched down on Harry's back, who was still splayed out on the dirt.