After the Virus

[AutumnRaven]

With a powerful surge Of his muscles, Simon Was able to pick up the man by his arm, Swing him over his head, and bring him crashing down on his Companion with the baseball bat that was attempting to break his rib cage. It hadn't been that hard, not with the man in shock, And both men lay sprawled on the floor When he finally opened his jaws Once more. Golden brown gaze Sweeping over the two men That were dumbfounded, One of his ears flicked Towards the sound of Eve Retreating and the man attempting to pursue her. Baring his fangs, His body quickly whirled Around to face the threat. Growl Rumbling out of his throat, The brown wolf leapt Onto the man's back, Toppling him to the floor. And just as he got his teeth into the soft part of his shoulder, a hot flash of pain seared Along his right hip. Yelping In surprise and pain, Simon's head Twisted around to stare at the man who had had the baseball bat Now holding the knife. Without hesitation, he charged Towards the attacker And tackled him to the ground, Mouth closing down around his upper arm And slamming it into the ground. With a soft clatter, the knife fell to the floor.

[mandachan]

Eve backed into the closest aisle she could get to and still keep an eye on the wolf, just in case it decided it was finished chewing on the poor men who had bothered it. I can't go too far, in case Simon comes back... She thought, frowning and allowing Nala to lay down. It looked like the men had not only kicked her, but cut her, as well. Luckily, the cut wasn't too deep and with some pressure, the bleeding would probably stop fairly soon. Eve was definitely grateful that's all they had gotten to do, but she still needed to bandage the wound, so it wouldn't get infected. There must be a first ai kit or something in the store, she hoped she'd be able to access is quickly, if there was but pushed that from her mind and pressed her hands on the wound carefully, keeping her peripheral vision on the men and wolf.

It seemed the two shocked men had had enough, and both began running, one even tripped the other, every man for himself, it seemed. Though she wasn't paying much attention to the retreating men, she was glad to know she wouldn't do such a horrible thing to someone, and hoped Simon wasn't the type to do something like that. He had disappeared, after all. For all she knew, he left her alone, and this wolf might be the death of her, but she was sure that wasn't the case, otherwise he wouldn't have been so defensive in the first place...right? Eve shook her head, trying to ignore the worry and doubt in her mind and focus on Nala.

[AutumnRaven]

The site of the men running set his blood running hot, but Simon fought Down the urge to pursue after them, though his lip curled Slightly. Picking up the man beneath him by fastening his teeth around the collar Of his shirt, he managed to get enough leverage to be able to slam his head into the ground, rendering him unconscious. Finally. With a huff, He got to work finding a place to put them so that he could face a Different sort of challenge: Approaching Eve. Gripping the first man by his shirt, He managed to drag the body backwards, growling slightly at the effort. Luckily enough, he came across a storage room that wasn't too far from their position and pulled the unconscious man Through the door and up against some empty cardboard boxes. He trotted Out to retrieve the second man, Chagrined to discover that he had to resort to pulling Him by the pant leg, since he had seen fit not to wear a convenient T-shirt. With both men placed in the empty room, Simon Maneuvered the door shut with the side of his body and managed to place a few heavy boxes of what looked to be unloaded dishwasher soap in front of the door. He Snorted at his work and looked slightly smug for a moment.

Stop gloating and get your tail over to Eve. Was his next thought however, Vanishing any idea of being smug from his mind. Ears Lowering, he glanced around to see if there was anything he could bring with him that would soften the blow at the site of the medicine I'll not too far Away, memories of Nala Sprawled out on the floor came back to him and he darted Forward without a second thought. If anything was going to make a positive impact, his helping her dog would be the thing.

It didn't take him long before he found some ace bandages and was making his way back to where he had left Eve, Toenails clicking on the linoleum floor. He rounded the corner of the aisle She was down and finally hesitated, uncertain if she would attack him or allow him to approach. He decided in the end to take it halfway closing the distance between them by half and Settingdown the box of bandages on the floor. After a moment, he scooted them forward by bumping his nose against it. Then His golden brown eyes lifted to her face to gage Her reaction.

[mandachan]

Eve stared at the wolf in confusion, admittedly having a bit of fear in her eyes. She was hesitant, but she took the bandages nodding, "Um, thank you." She was actually considering praising him like a dog with something like, Good boy, or dog, or wolf, or whatever, but she figured a wolf probably wouldn't fancy being treated like a domesticated animal, that wouldn't make much sense. Her hands left Nala, who was resting her head in a way so she could look at the wolf who wasn't far away. Whines came from her, ears back as she watched the creature in confusion, not in aggression. "You're alright." She grumbled, beginning to treat the wound, careful not to push too hard on the cut or bruises around her.

Eve's eyes soon darted to the wolf and she tilted her head to the side. "Don't you have a family or a home? You shouldn't be sticking around here, I'll be okay, I've got a friend somewhere in here...I think." She gave a soft laugh at herself, shaking her head. "Not like that matters to you, even if you could understand what I'm saying. I don't have anything for you, okay? No good food for a wolf, I'm sure you figured enough from the smell of rotten meat here." She leaned forward, talking a bit slowly as if the animal would understand her, it seemed, at the very least, he wasn't going to attack her.

[AutumnRaven]

The fear in her eyes hurt more than anything the men had been able to do to his body, But Simon was able to return to sensibility by reminding himself that he was a wolf After all. Not many people had ever been this close to one of those outside of a National Geographic's magazine or TV program. Still giving his tail a wry Twitch, he stepped forward a few feet and settled down onto his belly with a soft groan. His head lowered until it was resting on his paws And for a moment he focused on Nala. At least one good thing about this form was that he would be able to communicate with her

In a small series of huffs, yips, and growls, He spoke to the dog in a language that no human would ever be able to understand. "Nala, Calm down. It's me, Simon. The tall lanky human that was with your mom... You're hurt, so try to hold as still as possible. I'm going to try and talk with your mom now, so don't panic if she suddenly freaks out..." His ears Twitched for a moment as he stared into the canine's face, impressing the importance of her ability to stay calm. He then slowly lifted his head and turned it to face Eve.

A soft whine Escaped him to get her attention before he concentrated. After a moment, his throat moved strangely, contracting and bulging for a moment before he quite suddenly sneezed and shook his head. It always felt strange to change his body to be able to talk in his wolf self.

"Eve, Please don't scream. I never did leave you. It's me, Simon." He said, staring into her chocolate colored eyes with his golden brown ones, His body preparing for the worst.

[mandachan]

Nala huffed, figuring as much was true, but unsure how this was possible. She'd seen it herself, but it wasn't something she really expected, even though she had noticed he smelled somewhat like a wolf, she wasn't expecting this. Still, her whining stopped and her breathing slowed, trying to calm herself. Where as Eve, on the other hand was in between freaking out and staring in shock.

"I really need to get some sleep." She stared in disbelief, her hand left Nala to rub at her eyes, her hand trailed down her face after to rest in front of her mouth. She had no clue what to say. It seemed more likely that she was dreaming or hallucinating than this actually happening. Then again, if humanity could be wiped out as easily as it had been, what made this impossible? Aside from everything she knew, that is. She rested her face in her hands, taking deep breaths to try and clear her head, so maybe it would go away, all the strange things happening around her.

[AutumnRaven]

Ever Grateful that he was able to communicate in some way with other canines, Simon Found himself more willing to allow his body to relax with Nala Also calm. It helped him understand more that Eve Was slightly in shock, unwilling to let herself believe what was in front of her , Especially with his nose clear Of extra worry.

With a grunt, the big wolf Rose to his paws, Taking a few Careful steps towards the frightened woman. After a moment, he hesitantly licked The back of one of her hands. He then whined Slightly, repeating the small gesture.

[mandachan]

Her hands left her face, and she blinked at what was supposedly Simon, trying to take it all in. After a moment, she reached over and patting the wolf's head, as awkward as it seemed to her, "Sorry." Eve was mostly apologizing for her reaction, she wasn't sure if she could accept this easily, but she was sure by reacting as she was, she was being hurtful to him. Simon seemed like a nice person, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt his feelings, even if it wasn't purposely.

"How is this...happening? Are there...more?" Eve figured the easiest way to take her mind off the situation was to ask about it, strangely enough. The more she knew, the less strange it would feel...maybe.

[AutumnRaven]

It was better that she was asking questions, instead of the screaming and running that he had been expecting. Sitting down on his haunches, Simon thumped His tail a few times to show his approval of her questions. If this was something that was going to help her, he would give her anything. Besides, it wasn't as if he could change back into his human form right at that moment, Lacking any whole Pieces of clothing To be able to put on.

Snorting softly, He tilted his head slightly To make sure that he had her full attention. "It's something in my DNA, Though I am not sure where the strand was first introduced. I guess it is sort of like magic, but to me it is more like Putting on a different pair of pants. But it's much closer to me then just simply putting it on Or taking it off... It's just who I am. Who my family is, or was. There used to be quite a few of us, my family and a few of our friends. I don't think anyone has survived Besides myself. Not that I know of. And before you ask, the gene is just like it works in genetics, it could be passed down through offspring, It is very dominant...." Finally taking a breather, Giving her the opportunity to speak up, Simon twitched his ears And glanced down at his own toenails. "Lycanthropy... It's called lycanthropy.." He mumbled softly as an afterthought.

[mandachan]

Eve nodded, trying to take all this in for a moment. Though she couldn't help but smile a bit at observing how he looked when he talked as a wolf, it reminded her of whenever Nala ate peanut butter, and it was just a strange sight in general. "Can you change whenever you'd like? Why aren't you changing back...?" It hadn't really crossed her mind that, as a wolf, he wasn't wearing clothes so as a human, he wouldn't be wearing anything, as well. It was logical, but it just wasn't the type of thing to cross her mind. "It'd be a bit less strange to see you talking a =s a human, you know..."

Despite how calm her speech was, Eve was very nervous and fidgety. As much as she tried to hide how uncomfortable she was, it didn't take a genius to see that she was acting differently than she usually did. The problem was, she didn't know how to deal with something like this. She was a nice person, she couldn't just tell him this was too strange for her and that they couldn't talk anymore, even though they just met, it would be too harsh for her to do, especially with most of the population being gone. And just brushing it off wouldn't do, this wasn't something she could just ignore. It was too different, too big of a change.