Jude awoke to something damp and cold—too cold, like ice—patting his arm. He swatted at it dismissively, as someone might shoo away a pesky fly. Then something too warm planted itself on his forehead, and he couldn't help it—foam rose in his mouth, and he lurched forward, an involuntary growl tearing from his lips.

"Ow!" Claire cried. "Dammit, Jude. Thank fuck you didn't bite me."

Jude peeled his resistant eyelids open, but the scene before him was too bright and blurred to make sense of. His head throbbed with each pulse of blood that entered it. He clamped his eyes shut again, leaning his heavy, teetering head against the wall. "Why are you still here? Fuck off," he slurred, faintly surprised by how weak and strained his own voice sounded.

"I've got to make sure you haven't OD'ed, considering I just gave you an overdose. Do you have any idea how medically irresponsible it would be—"

Jude allowed his head to fall forward, his shoulders and torso naturally following, until he was in a clump on the floor. The concrete was pleasantly cool against his clammy skin. Just right, he thought dimly.

"Okay, so you're not quite back yet. Maybe I can't blame you for this one," Claire murmured. "You probably won't even remember it later..."

The sounds coming off of her lips were so delicate and comforting, but Jude couldn't understand what she was saying. He opened his eyes again, glimpsing Claire at an odd, tilted angle from the floor. Her mouth was still moving. She stared at the wall, hugging her knees to her chest with trembling hands.

This was hard on her too.

Her voice faded into his head again. "And I know you didn't mean it when you told me to fuck off, right, Jude? Or should I leave?"

"No, no, no." The words slipped out of his dry throat as a breathy whisper, muffled against the ground. "No, stay. . . please, stay."

He reached out and blindly took hold of her ankle, the first part of her his hand made contact with. Too hard—because she flinched and grimaced in pain. He tried to loosen his grip, but his brain couldn't seem to find the correct pathway to execute "gentleness," a confounding concept for him at that moment.

"I'm not going anywhere," she stated, catching him off guard to shine a blinding beam of light in his eyes. He groaned, unclamping his hand from her ankle to shield himself from the light. "Your pupils are still very dilated. I've got my naloxone locked and loaded."

She then drew in a big, shaky breath, her expression softening. "I've been meaning to ask, and since I've got you in this...compromised state..." she trailed off, biting her lip anxiously. "Real talk, Jude, how long are you going to keep going like this?"

Jude froze. Then he propped himself onto his elbows to glare at her. "What other choice do I have, Claire?" His voice emerged as a hoarse, affronted growl. "More murder?" He stared at her as she eyed the ground, a heavy silence pressing down on them. 

"I'd argue it's manslaughter, technically," she said.

Jude reeled internally at her words. His blood began to boil with rage. Soon, he was clawing at the concrete floor, his muscles contracting with urges to thrash and tear and kill—

Before he was consciously aware he'd made the decision to move, Jude was on his feet. He swayed unsteadily for a moment, then darted out the hefty metal door and into bracing daylight. 

Outside, in the desolate field, there was no sound but the rhythmic crunching of frosty grass under his boots. Jude closed his eyes and felt the brilliant sun warming his face despite the iciness of the air swirling around him.

Interrupting his serenity came a rustling of branches in the distant patch of woods. Jude instinctually drew air through his flared nostrils. The wild, warm scent of a deer, pulsing with life, caught in his nose. He stiffened, automatically gearing up to hunt.

Then the wind shifted, and he caught a sweeter, more powerfully alluring scent.

Jude lurched in two ways at once—both toward and away from Claire, each part of him fighting with all its strength. This internal battle left him flattened on the frozen ground, writhing, unwitting noises ripping from deep in his throat. Slowly, his senses came back; he panted deeply as his heart surged with heavy relief and intense shame.

Jude shook his head rapidly, willing this savagery to leave him already. He couldn't go in public in this state. It was bad enough to continually put Claire at risk—especially, he thought, when she didn't seem to be taking it seriously enough. She'd unshackled him much too soon. The beast was still in him now; he could feel it—an unwelcome visitor attempting to seize control of his body from within.

And Claire was wondering when he could kick the habit. It was ridiculous to think that it would ever be an option to get clean, now that he'd finally found a way to contain himself.

Unless, of course, he did something more final. This thought crossed his mind at least once a day. He could stop himself for good. It would do the world a service. It would be a safer place with him gone forever.

The sweet scent filled his lungs again, but this time it was dulled. Rather than a sharp blade, it was now as if a blunt butter knife was stabbing at the hungry part of his brain, encouraging him to act on his worst urges.

Claire thought she was sneaking up on him. Jude's senses were fading back to normalcy, but he could still hear her careful footsteps creeping closer. Maybe he would have even heard her with regular human hearing. Nonetheless, he decided to humor her, rising from the ground, still facing away from her and the bunker's hidden entrance.

"You gonna stand there all day?" she said, in a mocking but uncertain tone, from inches behind him. He tried to act startled by her presence, wheeling around to meet her curious, piercing gaze.

"No, let's go, I'm starving," he said, discreetly licking his lips as his mouth watered heavily, feeling practically smothered by her scent.

Together, they strode off toward the car parked at the edge of the desolate field. Jude glanced back and spotted the deer at the faraway tree line, counting the eight points of its antlers with ease.