Bonus chapter: The City of Humans - Sirius POV

It takes me a couple of days to get there. I can see the wall. Along the way, I have had to run, hunt, and take rudimentary baths in the river, and I am somewhat exhausted. How am I supposed to return there with an elderly human? Carrying her? No, thanks!

"Return with honor, and your mother will be left in peace. You will be able to join a girl, and you will be recognized throughout the town."

That's what Orion said, and the truth is it didn't sound that difficult, but when I come across the city wall, I wonder if they'll let me pass, to begin with.

I enter from the side closest to the laboratory, taking advantage of the night. Behind some armored booths, I can see two armed human men. I approach naturally, but they immediately become alarmed.

"Hey, you! Come in fast!" One calls me while he opens the door.

When I enter, the light almost blinds me. Since my pupils are small and round, it takes me a few seconds to get used to it.

"We have seen some EH nearby. How did you get out?" asks the other, "What city do you come from?"

"Identification, please," the first interrupts.

I look for it with relief, having luckily dodged those questions. The man looks outside suspiciously while the other rubs his arms.

"It's a bit of a cold night, huh?" he comments.

"Turn on the reflector," the person assisting me orders, "Something has moved through that bush. Surely is one of those savages."

The man does so, and I can see a pair of eyes flash before the evolved one runs away, letting out a loud growl. The men tighten their lips. They're scared. I can smell it.

They let me in, and I was surprised.

On the outskirts of this horrible place, there are only a few houses very close to the wall, which really would have made it easier for me to climb a tree, jump, and fall to the roof of one without hurting myself, but anyway.

By the way, the homes are deplorable; their quality of life must be terrible. But as I move closer to the downtown, it changes. Could it be that those humans did something wrong?

My town is far away now. It is close to the human capital but far from this smaller city where they have the toxin. I assume they know that having it in the capital is risky, and they think no one knows where it is.

I check the map of the city they gave me and the path to find the first objective. But I look up and am amazed by the height of a few buildings in the distance. I blink a couple of times. I'm already close to the central area, and instead of a street market, they have some amazingly large buildings.

Of course, I know that, and I've seen them very far away once a couple of times, but it's very different up close.

"He must be from another city," I hear them murmur.

I frown and go back to what I need to do. I have to try not to seem impressed by these things, or I will get into trouble.

But I stop again when I see myself passing by a giant wall full of what they use to watch their 'movies' and so on. I am completely stunned. It's like a mirror. I don't recognize myself when I see my eyes so different.

Are they recording me? I look to the sides and notice other humans are watching me, so I better hurry up.

Wow, how can they breathe? I hardly see green areas; everything is made up of buildings.

Well. What will I do now?

'Tell him that we attacked you and you lost your memory,' was Orion's plan. After gaining his trust, he will take me to the laboratory, especially if I tell him that the EHs had me captive. He will want to know about them; that way, he will make me meet more of his companions.

Although Orion did not make me kill anyone so as not to stain my honor for being very young, now that I am a warrior, he advised me to do so if things get too complicated. Especially a human. Practically all my life, I have been told they are evil, so I don't care what happens to them.

My real goal is the woman. It will be easy to convince her; she is the only human I have been forbidden to kill.

"When she sees what you are, she will be scared. She's going to want to scream, to escape from you, but you're going to have to catch her and knock her out," Altair said that time a few weeks ago. "Can you do that?"

"Of course. It must be as simple as catching a little bird," I mocked and stopped when I remembered.

The last time I caught a bird, just by darting with agility, something happened. Although I liked catching birds because they were a challenge, I had been somewhat aggressive, and I saw the terror in its tiny eyes as it tried to move in my hands, extremely fragile and harmless. I was frozen as Altair laughed, and I only realized that I was behaving like a monster.

No, I wasn't like that. I'm not a monster. I'm not a murderer... So I just stopped squeezing the bird, and it seemed relieved; it fixed a couple of its feathers.

"Sorry," I murmured.

It flew away, singing a little while Altair patted me on the shoulder a couple of times.

"Hey, don't let the human go free if you suddenly don't feel like you're predatory enough," he mocked.

I smiled and pushed him away.

"Humans are a very different thing."

I can be wild, but that doesn't mean I become cruel. I don't have to attack humans if I don't have to. My father and the teachers once said that it was not honorable to attack someone who did not have weapons.

I won't be someone I'm not, but I can't let them kill me, either... My mother. It would break her heart. It would completely disgrace her name. I have to do it for her. But I won't kill anyone. I'll bring the human, and that'll be it; it's not that difficult.

Anyway, I can't compare those beasts with the innocent birds, so I won't have a problem...

When I arrive downtown, I am finally surprised and even more scared.

This is crazy. How chaotic and messy they are! And they are so emotional! The air reeks of emotions and stress! Now I understand why the leaders get us used to blocking that and living in peace.

Another problem is that my voice is a bit deep compared to most of them, and ugh! How they scream! Has no one taught them to speak correctly? How come they don't lose their voice? They only talk for the pure pleasure of making noise.

And here I am, in the middle of their city, and I'm already getting disoriented. I go to one of their stores when I smell freshly cooked meat, and a young woman smiles when she sees me.

"Good evening," I greet, and her smile widens. "Do you have anything that contains meat? Or, preferably, just meat."

She bites her lower lip and doesn't give me an answer. Maybe I did or said something wrong.

"Yes," she finally speaks, "do you want it... here or somewhere else?"

I knit my eyebrows together, confused. I don't understand you, shrill voice.

"Excuse me?"

"I apologize, young man," a man speaks. With so many smells, I didn't realize he was here. "I think my worker understood other things." He looks at her with disdain, and she leaves. "I have roast beef sandwiches."

Yes, finally.

"Thank you," I reply with a kind smile.

Fortunately, Orion has given me human money, although I don't know where he got it from, not that I care. I'm hungry.

I end up eating five of those sandwiches and taking another one to go, spending the little human money I had. The meat is not bad, but the bread tastes artificial. It tastes and smells like pure chemicals. Anyway, I can't complain about the food, it's not good.

I head to what seems to be the only nearby park in this horrible place, and I am disappointed to see that it is crammed with more concrete floors.

It's night, and I have no choice but to sit on a bench. I listen to humans talk about endless, unimportant things, so I don't pay much attention to them.

Orion and his colleagues have told me that humans' flirt' and do things, which is why they are contaminated and spread diseases. This is how they gain trust, make friends, and even achieve their union or similar, leaving whoever they don't want as a friend.

Orion taught me what it took to go unnoticed. I frown when I remember how he made everyone tear my shirt after hitting me when I was fifteen so that I would get used to being like humans who are not ashamed to show their naked torso to people. At least, according to him. Although I trained like that a few times, forced by him, I still feel slight discomfort.

Humans are weird.

I'm about to eat what's left of the sandwich when a dog approaches. I immediately feel sorry for him, and I know that he has just realized what I am because he lowers his ears and dares to cry, begging me for something to eat and not to attack him. He's almost skin and bones; it's unfortunate. Without a doubt, I give him the rest of the meat left, and he eats, wagging his tail.

"Look what they've done to you," I whisper. "They don't feel pity for anyone, right?"

I smell a strong perfume and hear footsteps approaching. The female human is dressed in clothes she got the wrong size. She needs one more size, or three.... I don't look at her straight; it wouldn't be good manners.

"Are you alone?" she asks as she slides over the seat, getting closer.

Well, I'll try to be nice. Maybe she can help me locate myself well on the map. I must get used to the constant overload of noises and aromas quickly.

"Yes, in fact, I'm looking for an address." I turn, and she looks at me in a way I can hardly decipher.

Expectation? Excitement? I don't know. Is it because of my voice? Oh no. Has she noticed that I'm not human? I must not forget they are very smart.

"Show me. I can help you," she says as she finishes approaching and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with me.

I stir with the excuse of taking out the map. Diseases and pests, I must not forget that. Of course, we rarely get sick, but it's not pleasant.

I show her a building near the laboratory, and she moves closer, leaning in to see. She places her hand on my knee.

Oh no... Diseases.

"Uhm, I'm sorry," she says, although I know she's not, "I don't know. But if you don't have a place to spend the night, you can stay with me." She moves her hand on my thigh, and I immediately stand up.

"No, thank you," I respond kindly and walk away.

What was that? She didn't need to touch me. I know they usually do it, but still. Aren't they afraid of getting sick? Don't they know it is bad? I don't know why she started moving her hand, whether something was interesting about my leg, or whether she could infect me with something specific.

I stop dead. Maybe yes.

I look at her, and she winks at me as she bites her lower lip. Oh geez, she's evil. She seems to know something I don't.

Anyway, I have to find this Gomez guy. It doesn't matter if I don't sleep.

I keep checking the map, lost in the early morning. The humans don't sleep because it's almost as busy as early. Some very bad-looking ones pass by and make strange signs.

"Hey, buddy," says one as they approach. "You're lost?"

I don't need a good sense of smell to realize their evil intentions. They're lucky I don't feel like knocking them out. I'm about to run away, but they do it first. I worry that maybe my pupils have become bigger or something, but some screams catch my attention.

A group of evolved men comes chasing people.

What? How did so many get in?

The humans run, passing me by, sometimes colliding with me. However, they don't manage to move me, perhaps because I am more balanced despite everything. The evolved ones also pass me by, and some turn to see me briefly.

I'm really frustrated. This attack could cause my targets to move from their marked location on the map.

I have to hurry, and since I'm already close to Gomez, I run without caring if some humans see how fast I am.

When I get close, I recognize the scent of the man running towards me, fleeing from the evolved ones.

"What are you doing? Run!" he shouts.

I can't lose sight of him.

"Over here!" I call, guiding him down the ugly street on my side.

We run and some of my peers are surprised. Others growl angrily and come after us. It must be because they know I'm one of them.

"Don't kill him by yourself!" one shouts.

We are near a bunch of wooden planks that lean against a wall. One of the evolved ones reaches us, and Gomez, who is with me, begins to ask for his life.

I roll my eyes.

The evolved man looks at us both and smiles barely.

"Well, this is not what I'm looking for," he says, "I'll leave the crybaby to you. You can handle him."

Gomez silences his pleas at that moment and looks at me perplexed. I turn to see him, and he jumps back in fear, hitting the wood planks and worrying me.

"You're one of them!" He gets anxious.

"Wait!" The planks fall. "Careful!" I exclaim as I push him to safety.

But I don't measure my strength, and he hits his head. Something strikes me at the same time I see him fall unconscious. Everything turns into darkness.

So this is how I got trapped...