Catti bit her.
It blurred through Noelle’s head as she tried to pin down what exactly happened, this fever making it hard to focus on the exact details. It was stuck in her head, looping over and over until she finally “had it”.
She was walking home from the Librarby after a study session with Berdly, and while passing by QC’s diner, she saw Catti leaning on the wall behind it—and then suddenly slump down to the floor. When she ran over and asked Catti what was wrong, reaching out to help her stand up, Catti lunged at her and bit her.
Noelle gave Catti a hard shove with her other arm, and her fangs pulled out of Noelle’s arm as Catti stumbled backwards. It gave Noelle the chance to sprint away in a blind panic, not looking back once and clutching the wound the entire way home.
It was a perfect bite mark, leaving multiple bleeding puncture wounds in her arm. She had disinfected and bandaged it… but it still stung as bad as before. No matter what she did, it only kept getting worse. The pain from it was slowly traveling up her arm, and it hung limp, completely unresponsive.
The medicine she took to stop the pain wasn’t doing anything, and this fever had quickly formed in her head over the last hour. Peeking at the wound, some of the fur had fallen away, and the skin around it almost looked… rotten?
This wasn’t happening, right?
A pinging noise emitted from her phone, and she closed the bandage. Hesitantly reaching over with her good arm, she grabbed it and turned it over, staring at the notification of a text from Mom. In a slight daze, she opened it and started trying to read it.
Go home right now, lock all of the doors and windows, close all of the curtains, and stay inside.
Don’t open the door for anyone, don’t go near anyone, and don’t go outside until I text back.
The phone vibrating and another message appearing interrupted her while half-way through reading it the first time. The second and third time, her mind drifted off or got stuck, the words hard to understand or focus on. Shaking her head, she put all of her effort into focusing on reading it, and then the message below it.
I love you.
This is bad.
The fever was getting worse by the minute and had already reduced her into a sweating, mouth-breathing, and shaky mess—but she needed to see what was happening.
It took most of her energy to roll out of bed, then the rest of it to slowly walk out of her room and down the hall to the balcony. Her hand fumbled with the door’s handle, and she had to shove it open with her shoulder.
The air felt freezing against her skin and embedded itself into her, despite her thick fur. She gently closed the door behind her and took a few steps onto the balcony—then stumbled, catching herself on the side railing and leaning on it for support. Her whole body felt extremely weak. The pain from the bite had fully enveloped her arm, stinging constantly.
She stared at the little bit of Hometown she could see from there, having a hard time processing any of it. An orange sunset and dark sky served as the backdrop of Hometown, and the whole world smelled like smoke. Something—or someone—was burning, a fire raging somewhere. The smoke plume, flickering light, and loud crackling sound of it immediately filled her senses.
Slowly, she heard other random noises of chaos with anguished screams and despaired cries mixed in. A loud wailing drilled into her ears and made all of her fur stand up, causing her to let go of the railing and fall to her knees, desperately trying to keep it out by holding her ears shut.
Suddenly, it sounded like someone set off multiple loud fireworks one after the other, and the world was silent for a few seconds.
It was hard to see all of it through the tears and her blurring eyesight. She could hear, smell, and feel the chaos and panic slowly overtaking Hometown. Sometimes Alvin talked about something like this during church—but she had never taken it seriously. Even at its worst, it wasn’t described as anything like this.
This is it. This is the end of the world.
She wasn’t ready to die.
A rattle far below the balcony made her jump. She listened for a few seconds… and it happened again, closer this time.
Noelle tried to stand up without the railing’s help and failed, her good arm flailing and managing to catch it again. Whatever was climbing up the side of the house was fast.
Forcing herself to stand up again, she leaned against the wall and dragged herself to the door, breath quickening as her hand fumbled with the handle. Once, twice, a third time her hand slipped off as her fingers failed to grasp it properly—and then something thumped onto the balcony behind her.
She should’ve listened to Mom.
Noelle’s head whipped around to look at it, the world a haze as her eyes settled on and stared at the green-yellow-brown blob. She immediately knew it was Kris from the colors, size, and their apple-shampoo scent. Kris shouldn’t be here—why were they here at all?
Her mind was still stuck on getting the door open until her hand finally managed to grab the handle instead of slipping off again. It didn’t matter why they were here; she had to warn them to get away from her and go somewhere safe.
“Kris, you should…” Her breath caught in her throat, and a knot tied in her chest. She tried to ignore it and continued, “Y-You shouldn’t b-be-”
Loud and harsh coughs interrupted her, leaving a sickly, metallic taste in her mouth. She wanted to yell at them to get away from her and go somewhere safe—but the coughing made her throat feel torn apart. A frustrated growl escaped her, and the colored blob shifted slightly.
Everything she looked at barely registered to her… but she could hear Kris. She could smell them. It was more than their apple shampoo; it was their odor and other random scents that rubbed off on them that were masked by it.
When she closed her eyes, the world became perfectly clear, and her head hurt a little less. Through all of those noises and scents around them, she could easily single out Kris’ small shuffling, breathing, heartbeat, and smell. She didn’t need to see to know they took a few steps towards her—instead she heard their footsteps shuffle closer, and the strength of their scent increased by tenfold.
Noelle instinctively sniffed at Kris’ scent a few more times. They smelled… good.
It made her realize how hungry she was, and her stomach let out a low growl. Maybe that’s why she felt so bad—the last time she ate was a few hours ago. Everything would go back to normal once she got something to eat.
She opened her eyes and stared at the slightly closer multi-colored blob. Letting go of the door’s handle, she stumbled towards them and reached out with her good arm to try and grab them for support. With each step, the blob slowly formed into Kris and let her make out more features.
Kris quickly stepped back and held up their hands, eyes wide and lips pursed together tightly. Stopping her momentum was hard, her legs shambling towards them for a few more steps than she wanted to before finally stopping. Standing there, wobbling and swaying in the wind, she loudly sniffed at Kris’ scent again.
They smelled delicious. She just… just needed one bite. One bite of that sweet smelling flesh surrounding their entire body. She didn’t know why there was this sudden craving for meat after disliking it for her entire life, but she had to have it—it was all she could think about.
Her mouth salivated at the thought of being able to sink her teeth into Kris—to eat her fill. Kris would be fine without an arm, or leg, or with just their head and torso. They were so selfish for having all of that warm, delicious meat on their body and not sharing it with her.
Then, the bite wound started to itch. Badly.
It itched… it itched, it itched.
She ripped the bandage off and clawed at the wound—fur and skin flaking away into dust—all to satisfy that itch. It didn’t hurt anymore, it just itched—but it didn’t matter how much she scratched, how much fur was pulled out, or how red and raw her skin got, it still wasn’t enough. She had to bite it, gnaw on it, chew it, and even then it still wasn’t satisfied.
Her stomach growled again, and another pang of hunger pain brought her attention back to Kris. There was some way to fix all of this, she just had to… had to…
Noelle stopped chewing on the wound, letting the bitten arm fall away to hang loose again, and shook her head. She couldn’t control herself. Kris HAD to get away from her, before she lost it completely and hurt them.
Another unexpected coughing fit wracked her, nearly making her fall over and spit up bloody phlegm on the balcony. Looking back up at Kris, they were at the very edge of the balcony, arm behind their back and grabbing something.
She knew what they were grabbing.
She couldn’t—wouldn’t let it come to that. They shouldn’t have to live with that. Her tongue quickly darted out, licking her lips, and the words croaked out of her, “Kris, g-go… Go home. I’ll be… f-fine. Please, I p-promise.”
She couldn’t see their expression as she smiled at them. It took all of her willpower to not lunge at Kris the same way Catti did as she bared her teeth, steaming breath blowing in and out. Their smell was in her head and invading every part of her mind and body.
A slow, blurred nod from Kris as they backed away to the balcony’s furthest corner. They climbed back over the railing, watching her the entire time. Both of them stared at each other, the smile still plastered on Noelle’s face as she sniffed loudly, breathing heavily. She mentally begged Kris to leave before she lost control again.
Despite all of the chaos around them, the world went silent when Kris spoke.
“Everything’s going to be okay, Noelle.”
Noelle knew Kris didn’t believe that as they mumbled it. They both knew it was a lie said to comfort her… Yet she still nodded her head with that same smile and tried to say something—but another coughing fit took over, forcing her to her knees.
When she looked up, Kris was gone. All that was left was their scent.
She had to lock herself away before she hurt someone.
Noelle crawled to the door and fumbled for the handle again, before opening it and crawling inside. Her stomach was in absolute agony, begging her to eat something. It felt like she had never eaten before in her entire life.
It was a long crawl down the stairs, nearly slipping down them multiple times, but she reached the bottom and used the wall as support to stand up, pushing herself towards the kitchen. She never understood why each door in their house had a lock, or why they bothered to keep the keys, but now she was glad they did.
The drawer nearly fell out as she pulled it open with too much strength, everything inside clattering loudly against each other. She grabbed all of the keys she could find—not knowing which was hers—pocketed them, and started the long, stumbling march back to her room.
Going back up the stairs felt impossible. Her legs shaked up every step, and the railing was her permanent support the entire way up. Another coughing fit nearly knocked her unconscious as blood and spittle splattered onto the carpet, flashing black and white dots filling her vision as she gasped.
Something warm slowly leaked onto her bottom eyelid.
She paused and touched it, letting it absorb into her fur. Pulling her fingers away and looking at them, the stained fur was red. She hastily wiped both of her eyes and pulled them away again, staring at her now crimson colored fingers.
It wouldn’t stop coming out no matter how much she wiped. She had to force herself to keep going—she had to keep going. She couldn’t spread this to anyone else.
The door was left open as she tested each key. Insert key, turn it if it fits, turn back, pull out, next key, repeat—until she found the right one that made the lock’s bolt stick out. She hurled the other keys out of the door, slammed it shut, and locked the door… but now what did she do with the key? She had to get rid of it, but where-
Her head turned towards the vent above her wardrobe. Stumbling closer, she pulled her arm back and flung the key into it, a loud clanging emanating from the ducts as the key bounced around. She listened to it, waiting for it to finally stop and for silence to fill the room again.
Her stomach hurt.
Noelle clawed at her aching stomach and flailed her head, letting out a snarl and spittle as her teeth gnashed. Her bitten arm swiped at her study desk, sending the book and pencil holder flying. Pencils flew everywhere, loud wooden clinking sounding out as they hit the walls, desk, door, and floor.
She bowed her head, hands gripping and clawing at it, and she had to shake them off. There were still two things she needed to do before she lost herself—she just needed a little more time.
The couch was impossible to pick up and move, but pulling at one of the backrest’s corners gave her a chance. It took a few tries—each one leaving her breathless and the world spinning—but with one final pull the entire thing tumbled forwards, nearly crushing her under it.
Clothes and other random objects scattered the floor as she emptied the wardrobe. Her entire body was on fire, blood marred her slack lower jaw, and the pain from her stomach stabbed so badly that she almost tried to rip it open again, but she resisted long enough to finish pulling everything out.
For a few seconds, she didn’t realize she had finished pulling the wardrobe in front of the window after letting go of it, instead staring at it thoughtlessly and letting out a low groan. She… didn’t even realize she had started pulling it at all.
But there was just one more thing. Just one more thing. One more.
The phone screen lit up, and she held it inches away from her face to see it. Her fingers fumbled while inputting the password. It was done purely off of muscle memory; she couldn’t remember what it was.
No one had texted or called her since her Mom did. She pressed Mom’s contact, and her fingers trembled as she thought out the message. It had to be short—if it was too long, she would forget what to type. As it formed in her head, her fingers frantically typed it out, leaving small smears of blood and spit on the screen.
When it was finished, she re-read it multiple times, the phone shaking in her hands and thumb quivering over the send button.
Dotn come in my room imesd up im sorry i love you
The faint thought that it wasn’t right sat somewhere in the back of her deteriorating mind, but her thumb pressed down and sent the message anyway. Noelle let the phone slip out of her hand and bounce against the carpeted floor.
That was it.
That searing, white-hot pain in her stomach refused to stop panging through her whole body and making her shake. It was all she could focus on, the only thought she had now was how she NEEDED to eat something—anything.
Her hands tried to claw her own stomach open again just to try and make it stop. Why did she let Kris LEAVE?! She should have grabbed them, pushed them to the floor, and-
She viscously gnawed at her fingers and her arms, but it wasn’t the same, it was wrong. The taste was wrong, the smell was wrong—it wasn’t anything like Kris’ smell or what they would have tasted like. How could she let all that flesh get away from her, that meal? She was STARVING!
A loud, annoying noise came from the floor and ringed in her ears. Noelle let out a rage filled growl and kicked the thing that made the noise, a loud shatter as it smashed against the wall.
She had to get out of this room, she had to find Kris, but the door was locked. Somehow she knew it was locked—even though she couldn’t remember how—and could smell the key for it in the vent. She didn’t know how it got in there, but she had to get it.
Dragging her desk chair over and standing on it, her fingers pried and tugged at the vent’s cover, the bars digging deep into them and making them bleed slightly. No matter how hard she pulled at it, it wouldn’t come off.
So she tried pulling it off again. It wouldn’t come off. She tried again—it wouldn’t come off. She tried again and it wouldn’t come off-
Rearing back her fist, she smashed it against the vent. Then she did it again—then again—then again, again, again, again, AGAIN!
Blood smeared the punched in vent cover and her arm thrashed in the duct, hand flailing to grapple the key, and she snarled as loud bangs echoed through the vents and into the room. She couldn’t see it but she could smell it and it was right there. If she could fit her head in she could get it, if she had a little more space she would be able to get out of here and FEAST.
Eventually Noelle gave up on the key, ripping her arm out of the vent and tearing her sleeve open. She turned towards the door blocking her from satisfaction, grinding her teeth together.
If she couldn’t open it, she would break it down.
With a running start, she slammed her shoulder against the door, a loud bang reverberating through the room. She tried a few more times, flinging her whole body at it as hard as possible. Then she punched it with her bloody fists, pulled at the handle and nearly ripped it out, kicked it… but it refused to give in.
Picking up the chair, she smashed it against the door with all of her strength. The legs split in half and splinters exploded out, showering the room, and some embedded into her skin.
There had to be—was another way out of here… but she couldn’t remember where it was. She wasn’t even sure if it actually existed. If she wasn’t so hungry, she’d be able to THINK! Letting out a scream of frustration, her hands futilely clawed at her own stomach again.
Noelle tried everything as she flailed and stumbled around her room. She tore into her bed and ripped out whatever was inside. Her fist smashed through the computer monitor and she flung it into the far wall, the desk flipped over soon after. The trophies above her bed were smashed into a wall out of desperation to escape; the shelf they sat on was ripped out to help further smash against the walls, before being flung away when it broke.
A strange bubbling feeling in her stomach interrupted her rage, and she stumbled over the couch. Her arms splayed out and caught her as she fell onto all fours. She took a few deep breaths—and then vomited up a dark red bile.
Her entire throat and mouth burned, the tightness in her chest was getting worse, and her arms wobbled as she crawled away from the bile before collapsing onto the floor. She let out weak wheezes, groans, and moans as she laid there.
More bloody coughing. Her arms and legs convulsed wildly. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t breathe, the entire world was a blur. That thing made another horrible ping noise on the other side of the room. The sound of distant banging against the door filled her ears, but was quickly drowned by the rapid and heavy beating of her heart.
It all hurt so much, but the hunger was the worst pain. Noelle would do anything to stop it, but she was too exhausted to move at all.
Maybe if she slept for a little while, she would be okay. After a short nap, she would be… okay.
All she had to do was… close her eyes… and…
…
(73279806 is AO3 fic number)