“How much farther is it?” Asked Mark.
“It won’t be long now. It’s an apartment over there” Jack answered pointing at the building at the end of the street.
“So why exactly are you still here? I heard they were moving all people away from here. They say the situation is hopeless.” Mark inquired.
“I could ask the same to you. Well I’m here because I couldn’t find my parents. I already went to the check-points but they weren’t there. So I volunteered myself to go to the city and find more people to help, hoping I’d find them. No such luck until now. Pretty much all others lost hope of searching the city.”
Mark remained silent for a while but then told his story: “I was with a group of people. We’d heard the east side was already overrun so we moved west but it got messy. People started stealing supplies from each other at night and it was only a matter of time before the shouting and the screaming lured them to us. I saw them before the others and shouted but no one heard me or they didn’t care; either way I knew I had to flee before they arrived. I never knew what happened to the others.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Two days ago. Don’t think about going there: either you’ll get turned or the others will rob everything you own. Trust me on this” Mark advised with a serious expression to which Jack responded “Well I can’t just let them be! My folks could be there!”
Mark shook his head. “You’re being an idiot, Jack. But if you must then I’ll go with you. You’ve helped me today when no one asked you to. I’m in your debt.”
“You owe me nothing and you’re free to go if you want to. I won’t leave this city without my parents.”
“Fair enough. We should hurry. Night’s coming.”
Darkness had already claimed the city by the time Jack and Mark got to the safe spot. Mark was fairly surprised; the place looked good especially considering the numerous looting incidents in the city the weeks before. There was an old couch and a small table but what was incredible was that there was still electricity in the small apartment and even a TV.
“Not bad at all. I’m impressed you managed to keep all this stuff” Mark said.
“Thanks. This is probably the best spot I’ve been since the crisis began. Luckily it’s been deserted for a while now so I don’t really have to sleep in fear.” For a while both remained silent, unsure of what to say but then Jack spoke, trying to make Mark feel more at home “There’s warm water if you want to take a bath.”
“Really, that’s great man! Mind if I go take a shower now?”
“Go ahead, it’s your place as well now.”
Jack told him where the bathroom was and without delay he undressed his dirty clothes and let the warm water clean him. He hadn’t had much time to sleep, let alone take care of his hygiene in the last few days. The eastern side of the city was overrun with the hooved-beasts. Every corner and every building hid one or more of them. Mark had learned to be stealthy and swift but if weren’t for Jack he would have become one of them by now. Still he didn’t want to lose focus on what was going on: right now this place was safe but at any moment things could change. Apparently Jack knew it too as he kept a backpack right next the door. Chances were that with the migrations people had taken towards the check-points the city was practically deserted by now and that meant the creatures could move at ease. Would this be the last time he would feel the commodities of warm water and electricity?
After he was done showering he looked himself in the mirror. At least now he looked somewhat presentable. His wavy black hair no longer seemed oily and the dirt in his tan skin was gone making it clearer. For the first time in days his green eyes had lost their fear. He sure could get used to this place but of course he shouldn’t; not in the uncertainty of the city.
After a small talk Jack learned that Mark was 18 and he also didn’t know what happened to his parents since the crisis began. All he knew was that they were on a business trip out of the country. He saw no way of contacting them, though he hoped to see them well soon. The rest of the evening went on without incident. They both ate some food Jack had managed to scavenge and decided to watch some TV. They tuned to one of the last channels available. However what they heard was bad news. The military had begun retreating from the city, bringing the refugees towards improvised military camps. They were now too late for rescue. But Jack wasn’t much affected by the news. Escaping town was meaningless until he found his family. Mark tried to talk him out of that. Mark argued it was hopeless but Jack wouldn’t hear a “no”. He merely sat on the couch and analysed the names of those that had been rescued on the TV. He spent hours and hours just checking the screen but his parents’ names weren’t there. But still his heart lightened up when he recognized the names of his fellow friends and classmates.
Still Jack was sad and he merely sat, looking like stone. “You know that doesn’t mean anything. They could have come out of the city by some other way” Mark said, trying to cheer up his new friend, although he himself did not believe that. To Mark, Jack’s parents had already been corrupted or something. It was highly unlikely that they were just around the corner. But he couldn’t be so ruthless as to say that.
“Well anyway, what else is on?” Asked Mark as he took the remote from Jack. He changed channels quickly which led to Jack react at once: “Stop!”
However it was too late, a new channel was on. “Wait, are those…?” Said Mark as he recognized the figures on the screen as satyrs, a male and female who were having sex as another satyr played with a flute. Jack grabbed the remote and immediately changed the channel, where there was nothing but static. He then turned the TV off.
“I really wasn’t expecting that” Said Mark.
“The satyrs use anything they can to corrupt: music, darts, seduction and who knows what more. They’re quite good at spreading the corruption. The TV has been recently been one of such methods” Jack explained.
“Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t know…”
“It doesn’t matter. Are you alright? Do you feel different somehow?” Asked Jack, checking Mark once again to see any physical alterations.
“No, I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting that. Damn this shit’s too crazy.”
“I know. We should probably get some sleep. There are two bedrooms: you take one and I’ll take the other. Make sure to lock the doors in case they suddenly attack, and remember not to open the shutters.”
“Okay, I got it. It’s been a long day and I feel like crap. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye”
“Bye Mark.”
Jack remained up for a while. He was concerned about Mark. He had been exposed at least twice to satyr ways of transformation. Could he be infected now? Luckily he had been too far away to actually hear the melody when he first met Mark but now he remembered some of the notes that had come from the TV. He blocked them off his mind with catchy tunes from other times; times when satyrs were just legends and such songs were sung everywhere. Would those times ever come back? Jack fell asleep with these nostalgic thoughts.
Mark also took a while to go to sleep. It amazed him how Jack, despite being younger than him, was so knowledgeable about the new world they now lived in. “I guess that’s what he gained by being alone” He thought. The boy had most likely saved him from a doom of becoming a satyr twice in a day. How would it be, being a satyr? Being free, dancing, singing and fucking day and night? That didn’t seem so bad.
Mark got hard from those thoughts and his erection only grew stronger as he recalled the satyrs fucking on the TV screen. Shit he was feeling so horny. He humped the mattress as silently as he could while picturing the big male satyr ploughing that giant breasted beauty of a satyress. At the same time the tunes that he had heard twice that day filled his head and everything seemed hazy. The tunes told him of tales of lust and love but he only knew a fraction of them. After a while, Mark’s mind was his again, though he didn’t even understand what he had been doing. All he knew was that he was tired and within a minute he fell asleep.