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"How's dad?"

"He seems fine."

The two cordollians hissed and talked in the darkness once Nicholas was back in his room. Logan had long since opened his eyes when he sensed Dustin get up and move. Although blurred, he had caught Nicholas' glimpse stood only a few feet away, looking frightened and frozen in place.

The mutation—not only did it change their appearance and sexual drive, it also changed the relationship between them. The brotherly bond which was already tenuous, now turned even more awkward. A disturbing thought had sprouted in their minds.

Now, they felt like two males competing for a single female.

Neither of them said a word about it, but both understood the atmosphere clearly: the two unconsciously wanted to be seen as the best male by their father and to get rid of the other sibling.

However, killing or maiming each other, as the laws of nature dictate, would not help the situation at all. They both knew it, so they suppressed their wild instinct and try not to lose their cool and attack each other. They just glare at each other endlessly, cutting through the discomfort their instincts were telling them.

"Dus, we're out of food."

"Then let's go get some."

Since the structure of the cordollian's tongue was not well suited to pronouncing human language, there was a constant hissing sound each time they both spoke. It would have been a lot easier if they spoke in the cordollian way, but neither of them wanted to try it.

Being suddenly transformed into a beast had made them anxious enough. Like their father, they were plagued by a sense of foreignness in their new bodies and worry about the future. So fearing that if they communicated in the new way would lose their human speech forever, they rolled their stubborn tongues to keep making human sounds.

"What do we do?"

Logan's voice trailed off, eyes glancing in the direction of his father's room. It was not that troublesome for the two brothers to go outside and scout for food, but what about their father? What if he ran off while they were outside? That would be a big problem.

"Let's at least be prepared."

Dustin understood Logan's worries. He wasn't happy about the change, but their new form certainly had an overwhelming advantage over a human form in this situation. Their warm body temperature told them that they could survive for a long time on less food.

The real problem was their father. The food in the unplugged fridge had become spoiled too quickly, so Logan had to throw out half of it.

And Dustin himself had long also realized that now he wanted fresher raw meat. He was actually eager to look for one but when Logan brought it up first, it lifted his mood.

Nodding to Logan to get ready to leave, Dustin moved heavy furniture in front of Nicholas' door. Furniture big enough to prevent their father from escaping on his own unless he picked up a special tool.

"Do we really need to go this far..."

"Yes. You know what's out there."

It was raining, dark, and there was a decent chance that other mutants were roaming the streets. If Nicholas made a momentary lapse in judgment and ran outside unprepared, he'd be in for a world of trouble. As cruel as it seemed, Dustin decided it was better to keep his father locked in his room and avoid any accidents.

"Let's scout the outside first, see how things look, and then we'll take turns guarding him."

"...Okay."

Logan and Dustin made it out of the house after three days. The rain was still falling, but it had thinned to a trickle. Their pounding footsteps interrupted the rain.

Logan, whose transformation was less advanced, wore soaked shoes, but Dustin was completely barefoot. The soles of his feet were already fully scaled, it didn't hurt him to step on asphalt or stone chips.

"Looks like nobody is here."

"Of course none. Good for us, let's get in."

Normally, even if there was nothing to eat in the house, Nicholas would firmly tell the two boys not to touch anyone else's property, but that does not work anymore in this urgent situation now.

Dustin walked into a random store, checked to see if anyone was around, and immediately ransacked the goods. Not for him, but for his father who still had humans taste buds.

"Is this really okay...?"

Logan timidly asked, feeling a bit guilty.

"Who cares. Someone's been here before us." Dustin clicked his tongue, "And I'm only leaving the rest here cause my hands can't take them all."

He was sick of that kind of survival game, something the society had assigned him even before he was born. How many times had he fought to move up the invisible hierarchy?

"These are for Dad. The two us can't eat these anyway."

So at his brother's urging, Logan reluctantly grabbed an armful of food and stuffed it into his bag.

The two stout Cordillian youths went from store to store in, stealing whatever. Anything that looked like it might be needed, they grabbed.

Until now, as they walked around in the rain, they had yet encounter anyone. It felt like they were the only two people left in the world. The empty shops and uninhabited spaces seemed particularly eerie.

"Shhkh!"

The two brothers were about to head home when they heard a sharp sound in the middle of the street, causing them to turn their heads in the direction of the sound. To the human ear, it sounded like a mere hissing wind, but they recognized it immediately: it was unmistakably calling out to them.

"Who?"

Dustin shouted in the direction of the sound in a rude tone. It could have been an enemy, but if it was, it was better to make them reveal themselves.

There was no telling what might jump out. The cautious Logan grabbed his brother's wrist to warn him off, but too late because the other man had already heard Dustin's voice. However, what emerged from behind the ramshackle building was a purebred cordollian, not a half-human like them.

"Shit!"
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