Post 19: Run Away

Vehement and I were walking down the street towards where the map said the Hospital was. I was slightly in front of him, holding my flashlight out to help us see through the fog.

“Why do they call you Vehement?” I asked as we passed several boarded up shops.

“It’s my...my nom d'esprit.”

“Nom d'esprit?” I blinked in confusion. “What’s that?”

“It means Spirit Name in French...it’s a name that reflects who you are... I figured it out when I was ten... I had a dream... in this dream you were holding my hand and you called me Vehement... that’s how I knew that was my nom d'esprit.”

“Does everyone have one?”

“At least in Dad’s family.” Vehement shrugged. “You should have one... ever had a dream where someone called you by different name and it seemed right?”

I blinked and thought about it. “Ummm... not that I remember. When does one normally have these dreams?”

“I had it at ten, Bitter said he had it at 17. Oldest he knows of is 20, youngest is six.” Vehement sighed, scratching his head.

Before I could question Vehement further, my radio flared to life. We both froze and in two seconds we were back to back, looking around for something. There was a high pierced screeching and out of the fog in front of us came what appeared to be two hamsters, sew up back to back, one’s legs making it move, the other’s legs thrashing about in the air.

“That’s....” Vehement started.

“Odd.” I finished, as the hamster came up and started gnawing on my shoe. I shook my foot lightly and the hamster flew away... only to come running back. “Stuborn little guy.” I hissed as Vehement stepped forward and bent down, quickly cutting the hamster thing into two separate hamsters, which squealed as they died, throwing blood on my shoes.

“Yuck.” I squirmed. “Can’t get any worse then this... conjoined hamster blood on my shoes.”

“Never say ‘It can't get any worse’. Fate has a sick sense of humor.” Vehement said, looking around as the radio blared to life again.

To Be Continued