It pushed me back and I fell, first on the stack of bricks and then on the paved grey floor. It also fell right beside me. Luckily, I didn’t hit my head, but I did hurt one of my rear feet.

JOIN ME!

My foot was merely sprained and was already healing, but not quickly enough. I heard the two screaming from the other side of the wall and the sound of them scratching it in an attempt to climb over.

I shouldn’t have let them distract me.

The screaming dog jumped at me and tried to pin me to the floor, but the protrusions on my back didn’t let it. At least they came to some use.

I rolled to my feet, hissed from the pain, and stumbled away from it. It didn’t follow me as I expected. Instead, it lowered its head to the ground and growled like a real dog.

It looked to be in no hurry. Was it waiting for its friends to climb over?

A black sludge dripped from its quivering lips to the floor. It reminded me of cob, and of the dog that he had pinned underneath him.

Bloody hell! It was him!

My eyes went wide at the realization. It was one of the first ones to be killed. No wonder it smelled sweeter than the rest combined and had managed to get so big!

I shook my head and jumped to one side as it lunged at me. I didn’t need any distractions, but the scent coming from it was so good! How could my mouth not water at that?

I stopped holding back. It was alone and that made it not scary enough. It turned around and charged again, this time with its arms stretched forward. It planned to take me to the ground. My foot was already getting better, running way was still not an option. I meet it head-on, but it was stronger. It prevailed, while I was pushed back. Its nails dug into my sides, and sharp teeth bit my shoulder. It tore a mouthful, which was painful, but not hindering. The blood clotted before it had even started flowing, and the wound started healing.

I attacked when it tried to pull back. I caught it from the neck and pulled it to the ground.

The shoulder pain made my jaw clench. There were squelching sounds like both of us separated. Its head dropped and it stopped screaming, but its eyes still burned with the same hunger. They were scarlet red. Mine was also at the point of no return. And I lost myself when it thundered toward me.

Its long, sharp nails scraped past my cheekbones. Mine wasn’t far behind. It took another bite, I took three. Its nails gorged my chest. Real horn-like protrusions grew from the side of my temples as the redness took over. I stabbed them into its chest, bellowing mindless jumbles. It flailing as I screamed and lifted it above my head.

I had gone berserk.

However, that much expenditure used a lot of warmth, and the redness started receded. I saw the bricks and charged at them with the dog hanging from my horns. We crashed into the bricks with such intensity that my horns broke and its spine. I fell back, head-spinning; while the bricks fell upon it, burying it.

They were not enough to kill it, but I was. I had the motive, the means, and the chance. I took it, though my vision was spinning, darkening.

The sweet aroma of the shard stuck in its head spread out from under the pile of bricks and I lost control of my body once again.

I uncovered its head from under the bricks and screamed at it in a show of dominance. It started moving, trying to get out of the pile, but I bit its head. My teeth scraped its flesh and took hold of a fist-sized skull underneath. I bit hard, harder until my jaw started hurting.

The beast struggled under me, but I didn’t let it go. Finally, I heard a crack. The screamer screamed one last time before its skull broke and a shrunken grey brain exploded inside my mouth. It didn’t matter. All I cared for was that small piece of solid warmth hiding deep within. I let the head fall and then tore the thing out, splattering black rotting blood all over.

The gem was significantly larger than the one I had gifted to Kalki. Four of them had fused together to create a star. That reminded me: I hadn’t smelled the gem upon Kalki. Either she had thrown it away or eaten it. I hoped it was the latter.

The glowing shard smelled so good! I ate it. It melted right in my mouth and the warmth flowed down my throat, to my stomach from where it reached my heart, which gave out an echoing beat and pulsated with strength. My heart was content. However, a small trickle of flow went separate from my stomach and climbed up my neck and toward my head. The world turned dark when it touched my brain.

I found myself running down the road that led outside the town. It was almost evening. I couldn’t hear anything, but I could feel my heart was racing inside my chest. I was scared and breathing hard. And I was being chased.

I was almost at the park when suddenly a cold gust of air ran a chill down my spine. It had come from behind me. I knew who was chasing me; still, I looked over my shoulder. It was cob. And his eyes were shining scarlet.

I woke up wheezing, unable to breathe. My sight had returned to normal and so had my body, but… what was that?

I leaned against the stack of bricks, full of energy, yet mentally tired. Singer flew past the wall above my head. She was tweeting in joy. I looked at the sky just in time as tens of pigeons covered the sky above and flew past me. They flew together, following the small blackbird.

Wait. I just remembered. She still hadn’t told me where Rusty and the others were. However, I smelled the cat before I started running after it. He sat on the wall, which he climbed from a different place since the screaming dogs on the other side hadn’t gotten excited. They were still there. I could feel them, now more so than ever. He refrained from coming down though and watched me from up the safe distance. His tail was straight up behind him in vigilance and so were his ears. He wasn’t taking any chances. If I moved even a little he would bolt. I knew it because that’s how he usually acted.

His eyes passed over me. I was back to normal but he had seen what I had become. They stopped for a long time over the bloody mess that was the corpse beside me, before returning back to me.

Did you kill it?

You rescued them. I countered. I didn’t want to talk about it; not after what I had dreamt. It was not my first one, either. As I remembered, I had experienced something similar to it just that morning.

You… you —here it came— that was you, wasn’t it? He sat on the wall, already still, but now he was also on his haunches. He was frightened, but I couldn’t hide the truth.

I acknowledged it.

And you ate it. He meowed as if I was crazy.

I barked, saying you don’t understand, but he stood up and shook his body. He didn’t come down from the wall.

I’m leaving.

BUT—

The Sing-Song told me where she saw them last.

My ears stood up upon hearing that. Finally, we were getting somewhere.

Where? I asked, anxious, and worried.

They went toward the farmhouse. That where the bird last saw them yesterday. Maybe they’ll still be there. Finished saying, he didn’t sit back down on, instead started walking.

You should have told me. He meowed.

Told you what? That I’m not much different from the screamers?

He was atop the wall, and I was on the ground. He had made up his mind, and I had no say in it. He was a cat. I expected nothing less from him. However, it wasn’t as easy to go our separate ways even though we hadn’t even spent a day together.

You are leaving? I felt something broke in me when he agreed.

Farewell. He meowed without looking back. I hope I was of some help to you. He said and disappeared past the house. I could still smell him on the wall, but he was gone in presence, and I was alone once again.