Of Mice and Men Ch. 01

He snapped out of his trance when the clock chimed once, signalling the half hour mark. He stood faster than he should have, and turned to leave.

"Oh... I guess our time is..." Mackenzie was interrupted when Ethan slammed the door, "... up."

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"How many more do I have?" Ethan asked, after he had finished the fourth infected.

"Just one more, he's a real sweet one, very shy." Trish giggled, dropping her voice to a whisper she added, "don't tell the others, but he's my favorite." She winked.

"Right," Ethan said. He had a throbbing headache and several knots in his neck and back from the stress of being around so many people he hated. The migraine seemed to worsen every time Trish laughed, which was about every three words. "Who's next?" he asked, just wanting to get this over with so he could go home and crawl into bed.

"Carey," she smiled.

"Carey? I thought you said it was a guy," Ethan frowned when she handed him the room key.

"He is a guy," Trish frowned. "It's a unisex name," she stuck her nose up and returned to her computer. When Ethan was beginning to walk away, she called out. "Ethan!" He turned around with a roll of his large green eyes. "If you hurt him, jail won't be your biggest problem, k?" She laughed and winked, returning to work. Ethan raised an eyebrow, before heading towards the last room of the day.

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He knocked on the door, and at first he thought there wasn't an answer, but when he waited a second too long, he heard a very soft "You can come in..."

He opened the door and looked inside the dimly lit apartment. After visiting the five infected rooms, he noticed that was one thing they all had in common. They all liked it dark. He stepped inside and for a long time he didn't see anything, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust and then he saw the figure in the corner.

The man stood in the corner, nervously playing with something in his hands. He was fairly short, even across the room Ethan could see that the man was probably only 5' 4", give or take an inch. He was thin, whatever he was wearing clung to his lean body, showing off all of his small frame. In the pitch black of the room, Ethan thought he could make out a white long sleeve shirt, and some jeans. He didn't look like he was wearing shoes, only socks. The man had one foot on top of the other, moving his toes nervously. He lifted his right foot and used the top of his foot to scratch his left calf. He coughed nervously.

"Sorry, I'll turn a light on, I bet it's pretty dark in here, huh?" he said, his voice very quiet and delicate. Ethan could hardly hear him. The man moved quickly, darting across the room to a wall. Ethan nearly lost sight of him, he moved so fast. There was a soft 'click' as the lights were turned on so that a normal person could see. The man had his back to Ethan and now he could see that he wasn't actually wearing a shirt. What he thought was a white shirt before, was actually a fair amount of white fur. The fur danced down his back, and moved all the way around to the front of his body, stopping just past his sides, leaving most of his chest and stomach with only pale skin. The fur continued down his arms, stopping just at his knuckles, leaving his palms bare.

Ethan had been right about the pants. He wore a pair of blue jeans that hugged his small slender hips tightly. Even the small pants didn't fit him and he was forced to wear a belt. But again, Ethan found himself wrong about another aspect of the man's appearance. Covering his feet was more white fur, not socks. Sticking out from the back of the small blue jeans, was a long, long, tail. He held his tail nervously in his left hand, while his right still remained on the switch. Ethan swallowed when he saw the unusual sharp claws that decorated his fingertips. The man turned to face Ethan, who shivered at the sight of his beady black eyes, and the many long whiskers that protruded from just under his nose. Large round ears were pressed back against his head, a hint of fear and nervousness was given away by their placement.

"Hi, you must be Ethan," his soft voice said again. Ethan almost couldn't believe how soft and delicate his voice was. He wondered if he had always been that soft spoken, or if it was new with the change.

"Yeah," Ethan mumbled. "Carey, right?" he asked. The mouse hybrid nodded, his ears wiggling a little bit with the jerky movement. He walked over to a couch that sat nearby, and sat down. Ethan was weirded out by how little sound his tiny feet made on the hardwood floors of the small apartment.

"Yeah... you can sit anywhere," he replied in his soft voice. He held his tail nervously, but his round ears were now up and on alert. Ethan sat down and stared at the mouse, the anger starting to bubble up from nowhere. Carey was the one to start the conversation between them. As the half hour got further and further along, Ethan was suddenly aware of how calm he felt. The small bubble of anger had vanished and Ethan found himself only a little uneasy. It was as if Carey had some calming affect on him. He didn't know what it was, and he didn't particularly care what it was. All he knew was that it was nice to have a break from the rage.

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TBC...