Thorax shivered due the negative temperatures he was forced to endure. He adjusted the blanket that was warming him up a bit as he walked through the forest. It has been a few months since he left the Hive and his queen. As much as it was hard for him to admit it, leaving the Hive was one of the best decisions he ever made. Every changelings, including his own brother Pharynx were crazy. All they wanted is to fed off love of the other creatures, unlike him. The only thing he ever wanted since hatched was a friend. He was hoping that he'll be able to make one, after leaving the Hive, but because of the bad reputation his species had, every potential friend he could make, ended up attacking him or running away from him.
He looked up at the sky to see smoke which was coming from the distance. Someone could be camping out there! He quickly rushed towards the place from which the smoke was coming from. As he was in the middle of the distance, he started to question what he was doing right now. The creatures who were camping out there would probably attack him because of his spieces, but he didn't care about it. It was so cold out here and he wanted to warm himself up, even for a moment.
Once, he made his way to the place. He looked around in confusion as he saw a few of bi-pedal creatures, laying on the ground, lifeless. He let out a long deep breath and nervously looked around because the creatures that could be responsible for the deaths of those creatures could be this here, then he looked at the house and looked down, sadly, because the house was burning, which caused his hopes that he'll warm himself up to melt way.
Suddenly, the door of this house shut open, which made him gasp in fear, as four bi-pedal creatures walked out through the front doors. Three of theses creatures seemed to be male as the fourth one seemed to be female.
"What the hell is that?" One of the men asked, holding a lantern in his right hand.
"I don't know Morgan, but it's dangerous for sure." The other man said to Morgan, before pulling out a strange device which Thorax assumed to be a weapon, "I mean, have you ever seen something like that?"
"No! No! Please!" Thorax said, tears appearing in his eyes.
The man who was aiming his weapon at Thorax, eyes shot open in suprise, "It can talk?"
"Please! Don't hurt me! I'll leave! You'll never see me again! I just wanted a shelter to wait out the storm!" Thorax explained, covering his face with his hole-filled hooves.
"Arthur. Take this woman to my horse. I'll talk with that creature over here." The person who seemed to be in charge of these creatures ordered.
"Whatever you say, Dutch." Arthur said back, handing his lantern to Dutch before leading the woman to their horses, "Get on, you can stay with us at camp till you can figure out what are you doing to do next."
As Arthur took the woman to the horses, Dutch stepped forward to Thorax who seemed nervous about it, "Who are you, sir?"
"I'm Thorax..." Thorax replied fearfully, stuttering.
"Thorax... What are you exactly? We've never seen anything like you before." Dutch asked.
"I'm a changeling..." Thorax replied.
"A changeling? What does a changeling do?" Dutch wanted to know.
"We feed off love to survive and we can also shape shift..." Thorax replied.
"Well Mr. Thorax, if you're a friend in need of assistance we can help you. I and my friends here found a shelter in an abandoned mine town not far from here. How about you go there with us and warm yourself?" Dutch asked as Thorax looked up at him in disablief. He couldn't believe that another creature just invited him to come to their shelter, as if they didn't care about him being a changeling at all.
"What are you doing Dutch? We can't trust him!" The man said, still aiming his weapon at Thorax who seemed not to be afraid of it anymore.
"Micah. He is out here in the storm starving just like the rest of us, we don't turn anyone away." Dutch said to Micah who was angered by it and growled. He wished he could change Dutch's mind but he knew he couldn't. Arthur didn't really care, it just meant more people for the gang.
"Dutch. We should go." Arthur said to Dutch who nodded, before moving to his horse, followed by Micah and Thorax.
"You okay, Miss?" Dutch asked the woman.
"They came three days ago... and my husband they..." The woman replied, almost breaking into tears
"It's okay, Miss. You are safe now." Dutch told her.
"You have a name miss?" Dutch asked the woman. The woman was silent for a moment, "Miss?"
"Adler... Sadie Adler... I... he was my husband..." Sadie replied.
"Miss. We will make sure no harm comes to you, we will try to keep you fed and protected." Arthur assured Sadie.
"Thank you, you two are kind men for letting me and this changeling stay." Sadie said, shooting a look to Micah who a had smug face.
They group finally arrived at the camp and saw one of the men, keeping his watch as he readied his rifle, "Guys! Somebody is coming! It looks like Dutch and the others." He lowered his rifle as the others started walking out of the cabins.
"How did you guys get on?" The old man asked as Dutch, Arthur, Micah and Sadie hopped off their horses. Soon enough, the three men were surrounded by the others, as Sadie and Thorax stood in the back.
"We found a homestead, but Colm O'Driscoll and his scum, they beat us to it. We found more of them there and they're appereantly scouting a train." Dutch replied.
"That's the last we need right now, Dutch." The old man replied.
"Well... it is what is it... but we found some supplies, some blankets... a little bit of food... and this poor saul." Dutch said as he pointed at Sadie, "Ms. Adler. Miss Tilly, Miss Karen, would you warm her up and get something to drink?"
"Sure thing, Dutch." Tilly said, moving towards Sadie with Karen. The two young women were about to grab Sadie and lead her into the cabin but they stopped, once they saw Thorax, their eyes widened in suprise, at the view of a strange creature.
"Guys? What's that?" Karen asked, pointing at Thorax to which Tilly nodded.
"That's Thorax. Don't worry everyone. He means no harm to us. I'll explain everything later." Dutch replied as Tilly and Karen nodded in understandment.
"Ms. Adler. Everything is going to be okay." Arthur said to Sadie before the widow was taken into the cabin by Tilly and Karen.
"They turned her into a widow, animals. I need some rest, I haven't sleep in three days." Dutch said with disgust in his voice.
It was when an old woman walked over to Dutch, "Your cabin is over there, Miss O'Shea will show you the way." She said before turning her attention to Arthur, "Arthur. Your cabin is over this way."
"Thank you Miss Grimshaw." Arthur said with a nod.
Miss Grimshaw nodded as she looked at Micah, "Mr Bell. You're with the fellers over there." She said, making Micah groan in frustation as she looked at Thorax, "And you're Thorax, right?"
"Yes." Thorax said with a nod.
"You'll be sleeping with Arthur." Miss Grimshaw said as Thorax nodded before looking up at Arthur who shrugged his shoulders before making his was into his cabin.
"What? A creature gets a room and I get a bunk next to Bill Williamson and a bunch of darkies?" Micah asked, annoyed.
"Get yourself to bed, Micah." Arthur said, before walking into his cabin, followed by Thorax. Inside, they found a room with two beds, then they laid down as Thorax spoke up.
"Arthur. Thank you for letting me stay here." He said to Arthur.
"It's Dutch you should be thanking to, but no problem." Arthur said back.
Then, they both began to drift to sleep.