CHAPTER 7
Into The Fog
YEAR 009X
The sun was out earlier than it should have been, it's rays pierced through the cracks in the treetops blinding anyone who was sleeping below. 64 rolled over, covering his face with some leaves while Alucard couldn't keep his eyes closed and peeked around at his surroundings. It took a few moments to realize where he was and what he was doing but when he did he sat upright, still dazed by sleep. The fire that was alive and burning was now doused with black firewood that still had a strong scent of ashes and smoke. Alucard glanced over at 64 who was still scrunched up in a ball and was tempted to throw a large heavy object at him so he would wake up. But he refrained from his violent thoughts and was just too lazy to do anything right now. He looked over to where Dakota was supposed to be sleeping, but her spot was empty. He looked around more thoroughly but there was no sign of her anywhere. Did she just abandon them? But the sound of light footsteps caught his attention as Dakota came into view with three fluffy rabbits caught in her jaws. The smell of dead flesh seeped into his nostrils heavily and since his sense of smell was alot more sensitive now, it was almost impossible to ignore any scent at all.
Alucard covered his nose, "Were not really going to eat that are we?"
Dakota dropped them to the ground, "why not? You're hungry aren't you?"
"Yeah but, it's just raw" Alucard examined the raw meat, "it's quite disturbing knowing that you have eat something with all it's fur on it still"
"Oh really... and what have you been eating for the past few months then?" Dakota shot a look at him
"Well..." Alucard knew that the things he was eating weren't healthy for the body he was in. But he couldn't just eat something that was freshly killed just moments before, "nothing in particluar" he smiled weakly.
Dakota threw a rabbit over to him, "eat it, or else you won't have any strength to get where were going"
Alucard poked at the corpse with hesitation while Dakota ripped apart her rabbit and gulped down stringy chunks of meat. He wrinkled his face with disquist but clamped his jaws around it anyways. At first it was just gross and a bit regretful but Alucard was hungry and he soon started to enjoy the craving that his body wanted for so long. However, he refrained from eating the organs and simply tossed them aside. There was still one more rabbit left and Alucard was still hungry but he knew that 64 needed to eat. 64 was still sleeping like a log and Alucard just felt like eating his rabbit and then telling 64 that it was 'his' fault for not waking up earlier.
"you know what?" Dakota looked at Alucard, "I never got your names"
"Oh.. right. I'm Alucard and that's 64 over there"
"64?" Dakota looked a bit puzzled, "doesn't he have a real name like us?"
"I've asked myself that question so many times, but I've never brought myself to asking him why his name is simply a number" Alucard hardened his look at the sleeping 64, "even though I was an experiment they still called me by my own name and not some number"
"Well it could be possible that he came from another part of the world that was also conducting these experiments?" Dakota suggested.
"It's possible, but what would be his reasons for coming all the way over here?" Alucard paused, "I can't help but think he's hiding something"
Dakota nodded in agreement but then also remembered that she wasn't completely truthful about what she knew about DOMINION.
"You know... " she started to say, "I-"
64 yawned loudly, cutting off Dakota. He rolled over onto his other side and closed his eyes.
"HEY!" Alucard yelled, "Don't you dare fall asleep again!"
Dakota had a look of guilt cross over her but she pushed it away to the back of her mind. Instead she just tossed the third rabbit over to 64 where it landed beside his face. Apparently the smell was too overwhelming and he opened his eyes. Alucard towered over 64, stepping on his face with his mechanical arm, "hurry up and eat it"
64 frowned and pushed Alucard away, "it's too early to get up" he complained.
"Too early?!" Alucard growled, "it's almost noon!"
"Fine, fine" 64 lazily got up and poked his nose at the rabbit that lay beside him, "I'm supposed to eat this?"
"Yes!" Dakota and Alucard shouted in unison.
64 frowned again but didn's say anything and began to eat. Ten minutes passed and 64 had finished his meal and was licking his lips, "Let's hurry up and get going so we don't waist any more time here" Alucard said looking at 64 accusingly.
"hey, you guys should have woke me up earlier then" 64 said defensively.
The three of them came upon a road that was accompanied by rows of trees on either side. It was lush and green and it gave one peace of mind when walking through it. An old white fence rode along one side of the road, separating the trees and the road. Yellow lines were still faintly visible and it could make you think that a car would drive by at any minute. It was fairly shady and cool where they were and the three of them broke into an even paced run. If they were to get to Washingtion D.C. on a decent date then running was the only solution.
"what's that smell?" Alucard asked, sniffing out the air.
"I don't know but it feels like it's been following us ever since we got onto this road" Dakota kept running, "maybe we should stop"
"No, let's keep going" 64 insisted, "maybe it's just a deer or something"
The three of them kept running, trying to ignore the mystery scent that eventually became quite overpowering.
"I can't keep going like this" Alucard stopped, "that smell is definetly not a deer"
64 covered his nose, "you're right, and it's become quite a stench if you ask me"
Dakota looked around, this smell, it was so familiar to her but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She turned herself in a few circles before completely stopping and then a horrific laugh cut through the silence.
"what was that?" 64 looked around, "I can't see where that laughter is coming from"
The air grew foggy and hard to see out of, the trees almost looked like they just withered away from existence and all that was left were the sillouettes of them because the fog was so heavy.
"What's with all of this fog?" Dakota asked, "I can't see anything, even you two are no longer visible"
"Let's keep moving, the light from the GPS on my arm should be bright enough for you both to see" Alucard looked around at the trees, "follow the pathway that the trees provide, and follow the light on the GPS"
Dakota and 64 didn't say a word and followed Alucard through the fog. After a few minutes they managed to make their way out from the fog and into an old wheat field.
"we made it!" Dakota squealed.
"I don't know about you guys but I want to get to Washington as fast as I can so I can figure out just what's going on around here" Alucard kept walking.
"hey wait" Dakota puzzledly looked around, "where's 64?"
"huh? 64!" Alucard shouted, "he must have gotten lost"
"I'm not going back into that fog"
"You don't have to" Alucard put on a worried face, "I'll go back there, he couldn't have been too far off"
"yeah but-"
"just wait here, I'll be back with 64" Alucard bounded off into the fog. Being inside the dense fog made you feel like going mad, nothing was clearly visible and that horrid laughter threw chills up your spine. As Alucard dug his way deeper inside he familiarized himself with the scents around him. One was that mystery scent, the other one was... 64! Alucard ran towards it but only to find a large, fat, dark beast pinning 64 down onto the ground.
"Oh, Alucard!" it shouted, "you've come, you've come!"
Alucard looked at 64 who seemed unconcious, "who are you?!"
"My name is Gluttony" it laughed.