The pale blue orb shone in the night sky, surrounding it were little dots of light, the moon and the stars. The night was… Lucid and calm, brittle almost, like a stained glass mirror. Her breath came out in a foggy halo around her face; it was cold in the desert at night, scorching during the day. The chill of the night didn't seem to bother her; however, she was too tense to notice much around her. Her blood was running cold, as if someone had dropped ice into her veins, and a chill sweat was developing around her temples and forehead. Her face was ridged, expressionless, emotionless… Waiting.

"Some have been thought brave because they were too afraid to run away… In that case, don't be brave. Run." The gentle touch of a hand, a kiss on the brow, and then they were gone, like spirits in the desert, never to be seen again, not even in dreams. Faceless figures, pale skinned and empty pits for eyes, danced around behind her eyes like morbid ballerinas; taunting and teasing but never getting too close.

"Remember, love is odd, life is strange, nothing lasts, people change."

"Minka?" The person in question stirred, her back was stiff and it felt as if she had been sleeping on a shelf. "Minka, are you okay? You look… Unwell." The worried voice said, sounding far away.

"Y-Yeah… 'm fine," Minka moved her mouth, it felt as if she had been eating sand or some other dry substance. She slowly sat up, ignoring her back screaming in protest. She felt disoriented, as if she had been stuffed into a small box, thrown off the roof of a skyscraper then dumped out. Where was she? A clean, white room decorated simply, lying in a large, fluffy bed.

"Do you want me to get you something? Water?" The voice continued to question, still sounding worried. "Where'd you get that cut? It wasn't there before." A gentle hand was placed just over her eyebrow where a long cut twisted itself, shallow enough to not bleed so badly, but dirty and crusted with soil.

"Who… Are you?" Her voice caught in her throat, dried out and tight. Everything was blurry, as if she had gotten water in her eyes. Minka thought for a moment, but all she could remember were those morbid ballerinas with the white faces and endless holes for eyes, mouths agape and thin, grey tongues. She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself, forgetting for a moment what the space around her looked like. The whole place was transformed from white bedroom to a black, airless box.

"It's me; Viral! Minka, are you sure you're okay? Minka!?" Paws on her shoulders; a gentle shake.

"Viral?" Her voice was softer then it had been, almost like she had been afraid and was talking to some kind of monster. Viral's brow furrowed with worry, what had happened? Minka had been at his little place in the desert for a week or two now, he hadn't bothered to count the days, but he had never seen her act like this. They were sleeping in the same bed, had been for about a week, but they kept their backs to each other and nothing was going on between them… Not yet as far as Viral was thinking. He didn't know why, but he had woken up suddenly in the night and a few moments later, Minka had suddenly bolted upright and began to whisper things he didn't understand. He had caught a few words like 'Reno' and 'Serle', but he didn't understand any of it. She had a cut on her face that wasn't there before, making him wonder if she had gone out during the night.

"Yes, it's me." Viral wrapped his arms around her like a blanket, albeit a bit awkwardly, his oversized paws were not meant for small tasks. Her eyes had turned cloudy and she was stiff. He couldn't help but notice her scent, musky and earthy, but there was something sharp underneath, like sweat, fear or nervousness. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"…" She was silent; her lips pushed open by her teeth ever so slightly like they always were. "Have you ever seen them, Viral?"

"Seen who?"

More silence met him like a wall. This was just like her, she would say something cryptic and mysterious, then shut up as if she never said anything. They sat like that for what seemed like hours, not exchanging so much as a word or glance.

"Hey, Viral,"

"Yeah?"

"You wanted to hear more about the Abyss Grip and stuff, right?" She looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes were orange in the dim light of the moon, like an egg yolk or dusk. They had become intense and full of feeling.

"Yes, I would love to," He smiled, putting his paws patiently over his knees.

"The scientist who created the new model of beastmen was a… Dr. Mickle, as I recall. He was brilliant, but once he found out about the human's plans, he decided to start working on his own. He finished perfecting the new model three years before the humans found out, and four years after we were discovered, the Abyss Grip was released."

"How many more of the newer model are out there?"

"Dunno, maybe thirty, but no more then fifty of us are out there. The Abyss Grip got the rest of us, the population of the new model used to be a few thousand…" She went into thoughtful silence for a moment. "But that data is more then four years old, probably. As far as I'm concerned, there are less of us now." Minka crossed her legs, staring out the window as the horizon began to turn a pretty yellow-orange. She wondered what else there was out there, yet to be discovered, but so limited by the Abyss Grip.

Viral watched her, curious yet knowing, every single one of her movements seemed to be carefully calculated, even a simple shift of her arm seemed to need much mental thought on her part. That's why she always seemed to be lost in thought, no matter what she did, yet her eyes were intense and intelligent. Maybe that was a by-product of always having to think… Or maybe it was because of the constant endurance she had to face, the constant drive and instinct to survive engraved so deeply into her mind.

But… What did he know? Viral sighed deeply, frowning as a cold, hard fact hit him. His life before in Lord Genome's military, life with the humans and the time between, those had always been dangerous, there was a constant risk of injury or death, yet… Comparing his life to Minka's, he had always been sheltered in one way or another, a sheltered life. With Lord Genome's military, if he were injured, it would be just a few days in the infirmary and he'd be fine, with the humans it was the same, safer even, and the time in between, living on his own in the desert; he never felt any real threat to himself as he was immortal, and there was nothing of a real danger on his heels.

With Minka, life was different. From the day she was born she had been targeted and hunted down by the faceless monster; the Abyss Grip. There seemed to be no shelter for her, no safe haven or peace of mind.

"Minka… Do you feel… Safe here?"

That was the moment her intense eyes faltered, pupils giving a slight tremble that lasted a split second as her mind worked. She gritted her teeth, the three sets meshing together perfectly. A minute passed in tense silence, then two before she finally answered.

"No."

Viral's shoulders slumped visibly, his expression showed that he was hurt. "Oh…" Was all he said, his eyes downcast as if the white sheets had suddenly become extremely interesting.

"Don't take it personally. Really, I don't exactly feel safe anywhere." Another second of thought. "There's just something wrong with this place… Have you ever felt it?"

"N-No," He stuttered. "I've been here for…" He stopped, but it was frightening. How long had Viral been in his little spot on this earth without others to talk to him, alone and trapped. He had lost count of the days and years, he would've even forgotten his own name sooner or later. "I… Don't know."

Minka looked down and smiled slightly, only now did Viral realize how unnatural a smile looked on her face, how stiff it seemed. Was she forcing it just for him, or was it like that? "Don't worry 'bout it. You know what they say; Live now, there's plenty of time to be dead." She laughed a bit, looking out the window again. The sun was out, it was just another day.

Viral tried to laugh too, but it came out as an uneasy little grunt. "Live now, there's plenty of time to be dead…" The words rung in his mind, repeating and echoing itself. "Live now, there's plenty of time to be dead… Plenty of time to be dead…Plenty of time… To be dead." He shut his eyes, grimacing almost as the words planted themselves deep into his memory. No, they were wrong, there wasn't plenty of time to be dead. He knew, many beastmen would pay any price to be immortalized like him, but when it came down to it, immortality was just as bad a watching everybody you know and love wilt away and die while you don't look any different then you did fifty years ago. "Death isn't so bad," He often found himself thinking when he was alone. "It's better then being lonely, I bet."

Weeks passed without anything else strange going on and Viral began to get more comfortable, falling into a daily routine with Minka around. He liked being near her, even if she could barely keep up a conversation for long.

It would start early in the morning. It seemed no matter how early Viral got up, Minka would always be awake before him and out to get breakfast. She would come back later with something to eat, Viral would be the one to prepare it most of the time because he thought since she did the hunting, he should be the one doing the other half of the work. Then Minka would meditate, she would often do that hours on end while Viral kept himself busy with miscellaneous things. Viral often took cat-naps because it was coded into his DNA (the cat part at least) that he needed a lot of sleep. In the afternoon, Minka would be finished meditating and she would sit around and read or write. Viral would be curled around her feet or even on her lap taking another cat-nap. Minka often said Viral meowed or murmured in his sleep, but when he asked what he said she would just laugh and walk away.

At night they would eat again then a few hours later, go to bed. Viral would mostly head to bed first, then it was Minka afterwards. It was a comfortable routine.

It changed one afternoon, however…

Minka was reading a book on desert plants and Viral was taking a nap curled up on her lap, ears twitching every few minutes.

A gentle, almost hesitant knock on the door…

Who could that be?