She shoved him away, bloodied face unable to hide the amber eyes burning into him. ‘Why didn’t you do more!?’ She jabbed a finger at him – or rather behind him - as he stumbled back into the darkness. ‘Why couldn’t you stop him!?’

  He swivelled round, only to come face-to-face with that grey furred monster, smirking as blue orbs glowed at him. ‘Go on brother… why not kill her?’

  He stepped back, his heart pounding out of his chest as he stretched furred hands out to hold the creature off. ‘Hm… fine. I’ll deal with it myself.’

  The fist slammed across his face and a vice clamped down on his shoulder. He cried out as he flew aside and his head struck the ground.

  With a groan, he pushed himself up to his knees.

  Only to watch as the monster’s claws wrapped round her throat…

  Audas’ eyes fluttered open at the cool sensation that ran over them. But as he glanced round the room, there was no one else with him. He swept a hand across his face and peeled it back to find it wet and moist.

  He exhaled, nearly wincing as his throat started to itch. Must have passed out. His ears twitched at the gentle buzz of activity that reached out past the door. Scratch that, must have slept straight to morning.

  And… I’m still here…

  As he pushed himself up, his gaze settled onto a sheet of paper peeking from underneath the door. Mail. Of course.

  He scooped up and unfolded the sheet to find simple, clean handwriting etched onto the stiff paper.

  Hey Audas, I’ll be over at the nearest settlement to help with some trade deals today. Dray offered to give you a hand so if you need anything just ask him. He’s a good guy, trust me when I say you can count on him. One of the booths downstairs is passing out free food so you should be able to get something there. I’ll see you either later today or tomorrow.

  Take care,

  Alika

  He narrowed his eyes; he wasn’t surprised that she left a note for him with what happened so far. Audas didn’t even try and bother deciding whatever or not she was being genuinely caring or just trying to soften him up for some nefarious purpose.

  Then he remembered her words.

  “Just… give us a chance. I think you might be surprised about what we’re like.”

  Closing his eyes, Audas rubbed the bridge between his eyes, why had Alika said that? Why even say like that? But there was one bit of truth in there. He had been on edge ever since he woke up. At some point, someone was going to notice that. I guess I could try and ease up… at the very least I might get them to open up s-

  His stomach rumbled just as a whiff of rising bread flowed up into his nostrils. He sighed, placing the sheet back onto the desk. Suppose I better get down there before everything’s taken.

  Besides, he did appreciate one thing for certain with Alika leaving the note. It gave him a heads up on what he could expect at least.

  He changed some of his clothing round, wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with the old shirt and with a short shake of his limbs to get the stiffness out of them, he slipped out onto the walkway. Below him, the ground floor of the main hall swelled with Nyúlfur, strolling from booth to booth or through the main doors whilst others sat on a handful of tables and folding chairs that had been brought out into the space. The natural, dulled colours of the wolven creatures were only broken up by the glint of steel weapons.

  It was a curious sight to see for the former human. Alika had pointed out a couple of kitchens and canteens in the main building yesterday, but he didn’t imagine the central room to be turned into such a space.

  Bracing himself for trouble, Audas dipped his head as he worked his way downstairs and through the crowd. The last thing he needed was the attention and no doubt the potential questions that would be sent his way. The very thought of stumbling into an awkward conversation got his stomach roiling, even if just a little bit. Regardless, and much to his inner relief the most he got was a few of the wolves nodding politely at him. Another handful gave a friendly smile and a couple of them even waved at him.

  All he could do was to once more return a meek smile and another nod, silently begging them just to leave him be.

  Following his nose and the whiff of the bread, he slipped into one of the smaller booths opposite the smithy, where a set of tables were laid out in front a steel barrier which blocked the way into a kitchen. He gathered up some bacon and soft bread on a wooden plate, taking a mug of water too before returning to the central hall and easily finding an empty table out of the way. He must have woken up late, he assumed so at least judging by the number of empty tables and the small teams slipping through the main entrance.

  As he munched on the warm bacon, he watched the Nyúlfur get on with their lives, bantering and bartering with each other around the tables and entryways. Exchanging stories, or laughing about some small event. Or just commenting on the food itself.

  Not too much different from an old human town… he realised. At least one of the smaller ones…

  He guessed it made some sense; it was a tried-and-true way of running towns, even after the outbreak.

  “Mind if I join you?”

  Audas looked up to see Dryston standing on the other end of his table, holding onto his own plate and cup whilst a large black bag was slung over his shoulder.

  Well, I suppose this was bound to happen.

  He shrugged, waving a hand towards one of the seats. “Sure.”

  Laying the bag aside, Dray settled down opposite him, tearing a piece of bread in his hands. “Had a good night?” he asked as he broke the bread down into little chunk sized pieces.

  Audas shrugged again, gulping down the last piece of bacon. “It was alright.” Another lie, of course. He wasn’t in any mood to try and start sharing nightmares with anyone, never mind entrust such horrid thoughts to any Nyúlfur.

  Dray nodded, nibbling away at the bread fragments. “Couldn’t help but wonder if you needed to be shown around the Hub. Or needed something to do, at least until Zackery gets back up here.”

  “Not really no.” Audas quickly stated, tearing apart his own bread as he eyed the crowds of Nyúlfur.

  ‘Just…give us a chance.’

  Alika…

  He gave himself a brief mental kick. Come on Audas, give them a chance to show something about the town or their way of life… might as well learn something at least…

  “Actually…” he started, plopping the bread back onto his plate and lifting the cup for a sip. “I’ve got to ask… how many people live here? I’ve not seen quite so many in one place before.”

  Raising a brow, Dray sipped from his drink before placing it back down with a light thud as if readying himself, “The number? Well, I haven’t checked the census…”

  “You have a census?” Audas interrupted, feeling his fingers flinch. Who on earth had time for a census out here?

  “Yeah.” He replied, “I think it was something like sixteen hundred people?”

  Audas nearly choked on the water, barely disguising it with a soft cough as he blinked back at the Nyúlfur. “Shut up.”

  Dray grinned in response.

  “Okay then.” Audas said, scrawling back at the brown furred wolf. “How do you get that many people in one place? I’m no expert but what about the food at least…”

  “We’ve got all the farms for that.” He replied, “Hunting and trade covers the rest.” He picked up one of the bread fragments, poised between two of his fingers. “Bread and some of the meats are easy. But if we want anything like fish on a weekly, we’ve got to get it shipped in. Outside of the salmon runs of course. I mean, the Hub could probably survive on its own if the trade was cut off, but it wouldn’t be easy.”

  Damn… how long has it been since I’ve had fis-

  Shoving the thought aside, Audas nodded back as he picked up another bread piece and swallowed the fragment whole. “I suppose you have a lot of Nyúlfur settlements in Cascadia, right?”

  “A lot more than back in Britain.” Dray admitted, “Though some are definitely bigger than others. The Hub’s lucky to be sat in the middle of a lot of the major trade links.”

  Audas opened his mouth to reply, only to lean back as he processed the word back over. The Hub. It wasn’t just some weird name choice, there was a logic to it, and that realisation brought a smirk to Audas’ face. “A Hub of trade.”

  “Hence the name.” Dray replied, letting his own grin grow.

  Pretty clever, gotta admit.

  The Nyúlfur swiped up his last bread fragment. “Look, I know you don’t have anything in particular in mind to do, but I was going to head down to the yard to watch some tournament practice.”

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  It was Audas’ turn to raise a brow now. “Tournament practice?” he questioned, this time letting a hint of amusement slip through.

  Afterall, the idea of the Nyúlfur engaging in some kind of tournament was strange enough to nearly get him chuckling.

  “What?” Dray replied, the grin flipping over into a frown, “Didn’t you have them back home?”

  He shrugged again, “Not too often.”

  Half-truth. Far too many people get obsessed with football in Manchester, even after the outbreak. Though I got to admit, they are sometimes a blast to watch.

  The frown faded slightly, the Nyúlfur glancing away. “Anyway, a few friends of mine have just got back in from one of the other settlements. Want to tag along?”

  Audas hesitated for a moment, crossing his arms as he pondered the idea. Might as well find out that little bit more… and I can’t help but be intrigued on this ‘practice’.

  He huffed, “Sure, why not? It’s not like I’ve got anything to do.”

  A light chuckle came from Dray as he rose to his feet. “Alright, come on then.”

  Dray led the way through the yard, headed towards the rings at its centre. There wasn’t as many Nyúlfur spread around as yesterday, but there was still enough that Audas had to dodge someone every few metres. They had to be looking at a hundred Nyúlfur out here alone. Must have a lot of time to kill, or one hell of a decent system to keep the place running.

  As they swung past the climbing towers, he eyed the rings or rather, arenas. Each one marked out by a low circular fence. Standing in the centre of these wooden rings were pairs or larger clusters of Nyúlfur. Each one brandishing some kind of melee weapon. Striking, parrying, blocking and outmanoeuvring as they tried to outfight the other. A part of Audas expected someone would find themselves stuck on the end of a blade, or an axe head driven into their shoulder. But no, instead the weapons halted at the last second. Or merely bounced off skin with not a drop of blood.

  Guess death sports are too barbaric.

  “Look, there’s Dorian.”

  He turned to find Dray pointing towards one of the smaller arenas near the towers, where standing at the fence was a brown and grey furred Nyúlfur wearing a pair of dark shorts and a long-sleeved top. His hair meanwhile was short, yet vaguely a familiar chestnut colour. Audas frowned, eyes drawn to the colours. He looks… familiar… but… I haven’t seen him before…

  Dray motioned with a pair of fingers, moving towards this Dorian. “Strange… where is-“

  A shard stabbed into the ground in front of Dray, sending him staggering back in surprise. Audas half stepped back himself, eyeing the wooden fragment before glancing back at Dray. The shock faded away quick with an irritated groan, the Nyúlfur rolled his eyes upwards.

  Audas followed his gaze towards one of the towers, at least five metres tall. Halfway up, on a side platform sat another Nyúlfur, whose leg swung off the side. His grey fur contrasted with short black hair, only interrupted by the odd streak of white or brown. His black trousers and white t-shirt only served to add to the multi-coloured mess that was his appearance.

  “Kaine!” Dray barked, “What are you doing!?”

  The grey furred Nyúlfur flashed a grin, lifting another piece of wood into view. “Alex asked me to get rid of these broken shields!”

  “Then why haven’t you?!”

  “Eh, I got bored. Besides!”

  With a light flourish, he tossed the fragment away. It sailed through the air… and landed into a steel bin with a clunk. The Nyúlfur whistled, fist-pumping the air with an ever-widening grin. “It’s pretty handy for target practice!”

  Audas scowled upwards at him, a dull shiver running down his arm at many an uncomfortable memory. Great. One of those guys.

  He leaned towards Dray, the Nyúlfur shaking his head with a frown. “He’s… a bit of an ass, right?” he hissed.

  Dray’s eyes flicked back to him, “A natural ass.” He looked back upwards, “Can you just stop that and get down here?!”

  “Fine! Fine!” shouted down the grey furred Nyúlfur, swinging his other leg over. “Might as well say hello to the newbie!”

  Newbie? He did not just call me that!

  Spinning round over the edge, the Nyúlfur began to descend.

  “One of your friends?” Audas questioned, trying not to glare at Kaine and grind his teeth in the process. He had put up with enough jokers back in Britain, always thinking they could handle anything in their way only to end up getting others into more trouble than anything else. If anything, this Kaine reminded him of Ed. Ed was one of the regularly intoxicated types, and Ian put up with it because Ed could quickly do an 180 and become deathly serious. Scarily so in fact.

  Ed had been pretty tame, but the former human didn’t want to try and meet the Nyúlfur equivalent if they were any worse. That, and Audas couldn’t help and remember Travis smiling, teasing as he tossed him round like a ragdoll or murdering the guard… and killing Jack…

  This asshole was just a fresh reminder of it. Travis outright enjoyed killing the humans and wasn’t afraid of showing it. Maybe this Kaine was be cut from the same cloth.

  Dray narrowed his eyes in response, “He’s a good guy, just don’t let him drive you nuts.”

  Yeah, we’ll see about that. Audas mentally grumbled.

  Kaine dropped the last metre to the ground, breaking into a long stride as he landed. His grey eyes gleamed as he carried himself proudly towards them. “Seriously Kaine.” Dray groaned, stepping towards him. “That could have hit someone.”

  “Oh please.” The grinning Nyúlfur replied, resting his hands behind his head. “They’re only bits of wood! Besides, we’ve got iron bones right?!”

  “It’s a higher concentration of iron in bone Kaine.” Dray replied in fed up tone of voice that seemed to indicate he had explained this the other Nyúlfur before, “It’s not literal.”

  “Oh, I know. Anyway…” his gaze snapped round towards Audas. “This is the guy who came back from the dead?”

  Audas tilted his head, frowning at the jokester. “It’s Audas.”

  “Audas eh? Another fancy name!”

  The former human couldn’t stop himself from staring blankly at the new arrival, “…what…”

  He staggered forward as the Nyúlfur’s hand smacked against his back. “Come on, we’ve got Audas, Everest, Dryston, Alika…” he waved an arm across the yard, the other pressing down over his shoulder. “It’s always the fancier, unconventional names. Why can’t wave have more Sam’s, Tom’s, Alice’s… hell, even a few Bob’s!”

  Audas growled, tossing the arm aside. “Does it really matter?”

  “Who cares? It’s a good point.”

  He narrowed his eyes at Kaine, a low growl slowly simmering up his throat. “Just. Shut. Up.”

  “Kaine.” Dray started, raising a hand up as he looked towards Kaine. “Maybe ease up a bit, give him some room to breathe.”

  Kaine returned a heavy sigh. “Alright then! Sorry buddy.”

  Audas kept his eyes narrowed onto the grey furred Nyúlfur. “Right…” he uttered, not quite convinced.

  “Back to arguing again Dray?” came a deeper voice.

  The Nyúlfur Dray had called Dorian approached with a disapproving look and his deep green eyes flicked between the three of them.

  “It’s not that bad.” Dray said back, the frown vanishing. “Audas, this is Dorian. Dorian- “

  “I know who he is.” Dorian cut in, crossing his arms as his head turned towards Audas. A shiver ran down his spine, almost as if there was a chill forming from where Dorian’s eyes pierced him.

  “So you were the one they brought in…” Dorian noted, scanning him. “Coming out of the woods like that…”

  Audas tilted his head, straightening up and, silently, hoping that it would count as the Nyúlfur approach to holding his ground. “I needed help.”

  “Perhaps… or you could be hiding something…”

  “Dorian…” Dray started, raising a hand between them again. “He hasn’t done anything-“

  “Wrong?” Dorian finished, uncrossing his arms. With a single step, he had closed the gap enough that Audas could taste his warm breath as he tilted his head back. Dorian looked down on him, a good few inches taller and fur hiding bigger muscles. “I know something is up with you.” He growled, leaning in towards Audas.

  He narrowed his eyes, “I have nothing to hide.”

  Dorian barely reacted, a little glint as his lips peeled back a little bit, “I don’t believe that. I’ll be watching you.”

  He glanced over his shoulder, “And you two better do the same.”

  The big Nyúlfur glared once more at Audas. He opened his mouth to try and say something else, but Dorian’s shoulder thumped against his own, brushing past him and climbing back up the hill towards the Hub’s buildings. A low growl rumbled out of Audas’ jaws. Asshole.

  He cut the growl out, “Is he always like that?” Audas asked coldly, staring at Dorian’s back as he continued to open the distance.

  “He’s a bit slow to trust.” Dray explained, “He used to be more welcoming than that a few years ago but… just give him some time. He’ll come around.”

  “Might take a bit more time.” Kaine chimed in, the humour that seemed to dominate his voice gone.

  “And why is that?” Dray questioned in confusion.

  “He was muttering all kinds of shit about the newbie.”

  Audas snapped his head back round at Kaine, glaring at the jokester. “It’s Audas.” He spat.

  Kaine rolled his eyes, struggling to hold back a grin. “But you’re still the new guy though.”

  Fucking joker – are you looking for a fight!?

  Feeling a surge of heat in his throat, He turned fully round, “H-“

  Dray stepped in between the two, hands holding short of them both. “Look, how about we find something to do? Like some weapon’s practice?”

  Audas raised a brow, grateful for the sudden distraction as the heat faded away, “What? With swords?”

  “We could do that.” Dray replied with a nod.

  I suppose that could work… He frowned, “But I don’t have anything.”

  “We should have some training swords lying around. That or you could watch.”

  He glanced away, looking down at the arenas. Watching how the Nyúlfur continued to dance around each other as they trained. A knife I can use… but not against that.

  “I… I’ll just watch.”

  He followed the two Nyúlfur towards the smaller ring that Dorian had been standing by. Inside the fenced off circle, only about five metres in diameter, another pair of Nyúlfur were already sparing. More watched on, standing on the opposite side of the low fence.

  “Alright, come on you two! Time!” one of the onlookers shouted, clapping his hands. The two lowered their swords and heartedly shook hands, exchanging pleasantries in the process.

  “Don’t mind if I have a match?” Dray called out, unslinging that bag he had carried on down from the Hub.

  “I was staying on anyway D.” one of the fighters said, resting a short sword onto her shoulder. “Give it your best shot.”

  With a grin, Dray laid the bag down on the ground, lifting a light grey sword with a simple rounded cross guard and a metallic shield out of it, shaped much like those Audas could remember from old museums.

  Dray stepped over into the ring. Sword and shield at the ready as his opponent let her own weapon settle down in front of her.

  Audas slipped his hands into his pockets at the edge of the ring, watching the two circle each other. The Nyúlfur seemed to be obsessed with their damned swords, maybe he could learn something about how they fought. Or how he could use one of those things himself. The number of times a sword would have been handy to have was something he couldn’t really count.

  That, and he was hoping that-

  “Watch and learn newbie!” Kaine chuckled, standing aside him.

  Audas clenched his fist tight into a ball.

  Goddamnit…

  Sighing, he rested his head into one hand. I swear I’m going to kill him…

  He lifted his head back up to see the opponent lunge for Dray, blade bouncing of his shield. His own sword flashed, stabbing away at her.

  “Bet I could win this in say… thirty seconds.” Kaine said, smirking in the corner of his eye. Audas rolled them, focusing his attention back onto the duelling duo. “Ass…” he muttered under his breath.

  “What? I’m just having a bet!”

  Audas could just imagine Kaine standing in Travis’ place, smirking deviously through the shelving units of the warehouse back in Burningham, mocking his human prey. The thought was already enough to leave his blood simmering.

  A dull thud rang out as the shield blunted another strike. Dray stepped forward, the shield flying ahead. A crack rang as it hit her muzzle and she staggered back. He stabbed again; weapon barely parried with a swing of her sword. He kept stabbing at her, still driving forward like an unstoppable steamroller that ground down onto her.

  “Look, he’s keeping her under pressure.” Kaine quipped.

  Audas’ fist tightened again, remembering how quickly the train Nyúlfur were able to effortlessly send Jack flying with a good punch. Just stop… I don’t need this…

  The opponent leapt to the side, sword flying for Dray’s legs.

  The shield slammed against steel, sending it into the ground. As she buckled downwards, Dray’s sword flew up and stopped just short of her throat.

  As she froze, cheers broke out around them. A whistle pierced the air as she grinned and leaned back. She opened her mouth-

  And Kaine’s hand rested on his shoulder. “That trick works on everyone, but still, bet I can do it faster.”

  God damn it, shut up! I don’t want to hear you talking anymore!

  “Ferals, Nyúlfur, any of those crazy humans who think wrestling with us works!”

  In that moment, Audas could feel Travis’ fingers round his throat. Could see his sword gut a human soldier like a pig back in Birmingham, even as he begged he’s still be useful. Jack having a hole punched through the centre of his chest. Liana…

  Audas couldn’t hold it back anymore, as the pent up frustration and anger exploded.

  In that second, he spun round on the Nyúlfur and slammed his hands into his chest.

  Hard.