Short Stories and poems

Feral Human History

Feral Human History, as written by Dr. Hanna Greyfur nee Wolfe.

About the Author:
Dr. Hanna Greyfur nee Wolfe (ScD), daughter of Robert Wolfe and Julia Wolfe nee Blacktail, is a part owner of her family’s farm, as well as part owner of the Wolfe Family Park, a sanctuary for feral human herds, especially the Wrangler herd, the prior head of which her family once owned. Formerly well-regarded for their human livestock, a rustler managed to steal and destroy most of their human herd. Despite this setback, Hanna and her family managed to form most of her land, and that acquired through subsequent legal battles with the rustlers’ family as part of the legal fees, into a sanctuary, where vampires and werewolves are able to interact with feral humans in a safe manner.

She has also spent the last twenty years acquiring her degrees in Human Behavior, Biology, and Breeding, among other human-related studies. She has also spent a lot of time traveling with and living among Feral populations of humans, and thus understands them in a way most don’t get to appreciate. She also has a habit of rambling, and admits her personal biases and fallings.

Humans in General:
Censes records indicate that there’s nearly ten billion humans alive on the planet. Most of them are Livestock, and by the time that they between 25 and 30 years of age, they will become the centerpiece of a Meal, either shared between a family, or devoured whole, thus providing around 130K worth of calories, total. Of course, this could be more, or less, depending upon the human’s weight and diet. Most other humans are kept as Pets or Slaves, and are taught to do various tasks and tricks. Of course, such humans, Slave, Pet, or well-behaved Livestock are useful for when one needs sexual relief yet has no partner to help them take care of that. Then there are the Domesticated humans – if it’s provable that the prior 10 generations of a Livestock, Pet or Slave human had all been Livestock, Pets, or Slaves, it’s traditionally acceptable to adopt that human into the family. Likewise, it’s possible for other loyal humans to get this treatment. They learn how to live among vampires and werewolves, and are general given the classification of Protected, with their adoptive family having what are called First Dibs, should they get caught by a law-biding Human Catcher. Then, there’s the topic of this article, Feral Humans.

Origins:
Homo sapiens, or humans, have been around for over 300,000 years. Most seemed to have lived a semi-nomadic life, which many still do to this day. While their initial reactions during their first encounters with early werewolves and vampires is unknown, other than what was most likely a scream followed by a belch, it’s also possible that some of their early encounters resulted in the human yanking out the fangs and claws of these early vampires and werewolves, and adding them to a necklace filled with other teeth and claws, a practice that continues to this day, which I’ll explain more of later. Conflict between the races would occur repeatedly, and even to this day and age, still occurs.

A Social Creature:
Humans tend to be a social creature. Even those that might otherwise be enemies are willing to peacefully communicate with one another, if there is incentive to do so, such as if offered food and Strong Juice – a type of liquor made by fermenting the juices of various fruits – or medicine, or perhaps mating partners. Even vampires and werewolves can benefit from this – I’ve offered more than a few deer, and bottles of wine or other strong drinks, to gain safe passage through the territories of ferals that I’d had no prior contact with. Activities are done in groups – hunting, fishing, foraging, and scavenging, and so on – to help ensure the safety of others. More than once, I’ve be having a chat with one feral, only to catch the scent or sight of another human. If the human I’m chatting with seems calm, the interaction might stay peaceful, and might even invite the watcher over, as if noticing them. If the encounter has become aggressive, things can get very violent. That being said, should the encounter be peaceful, it’s possible for the other groups’ members to be invited into the camp, where one could be the guest at a feast. Feasts can occur for many reasons – a highly successful hunt, a betrothal between a couple, the rescue of a herd member, the funeral of a herd member, especially one that died protecting the herd or of old age, or to just get rid of a surplus of food that can’t be easily stored and would just go to waste otherwise. During a feast, in addition to the eating and drinking, there are dances, poetry, and storytelling. I’ve learned many things about the various herds, simply by being a guest, and plenty of curious humans have learned what the insides of werewolves look like – of course, to stay on the herd’s good side, I bring these particular humans up. Some don’t mind making repeatable trips to have what my family calls Stomach Baths, but don’t want to make a permanent stay at the moment. Others, however, are just as curious about what it’s like to have sex with a werewolf. Some are even curious about doing similar things with vampires, but not become blood bags, of course.

Equipment:
Depending on their main role in the herd, one of the things I’ve noticed is that everyone over a certain age, of around thirteen or so years, carries at least one knife, with many carrying more. Even those that don’t expect to fight carry easily half a dozen knives. The blades on these knives vary in length from a couple of inches to a little over a foot in length. The main purposes of these knives range from trimming off shoots from fruit bushes and vines, to skinning animals they caught in traps or hunted, with some being dedicated for primarily self-defense. Many also carry a hatchet and or a small hammer, for one task or another. Many will also carry baskets, rope, cloth or tarp to wrap things up in. Hunters will also carry a hunting pow with a dozen, if not more, arrows in a quiver, usually ones with fire-hardened sharpened points, maybe ones tipped with metal or flint for larger and more dangerous game, and possibly a spear, usually a sturdy one with a crosspiece just past the blade – keeps wild pigs and bears from getting to the hunter, and this can also apply to any werewolf or vampire that gets stuck by said spear. Those on guard duty also carry a spear, a heavy-duty one, along with a sturdy bow with a quiver filled with arrows that are tipped with flint or metal points, not to mention a very sturdy hide shield, study enough that it can withstand a 12 gauge deer slug being fired at it from twenty feet, although the force of the gunshot might break the arm of whomever is using the shield. Clothing tends to be a mixture of tanned hide and regular clothes looted from enemies or gotten through trade – there is a thriving market where trading Strong Juice for used clothes is concerned, where a handle of Strong Juice is easily worth the equivalent of $400 worth of clothing – pants, shirts, coats, shoes, boots, gloves, and so on. Some hunters and guards will even wear armor that’s reminiscent of gambeson, made from the outer shell of canvas-type winter jackets and padded with scrap cloth, as well as colored to break up their outline – it’s good enough to stop blows from most blades and blunt weapons in melee, along with teeth, claws, arrows, crossbow bolts, as well as smaller and lower powered firearm rounds, at any rate – tends to be issued when heading into situations where physical harm is a high probability, like hunting bear, wild pigs, dangerous predators, or going on the offensive against hostile foes. They will also carry rations and a bottle of water for those that go far from camp.

Domestication of Ferals:
Since their first contact, it’s well-known that werewolves and vampires have enjoyed the taste of humans, both in terms of meat and blood. Granted, they are not the optimal source of food for many werewolves and vampires, who might be lucky to get one or two B-Grades a year, and four or five C-Grades during that same time, especially given their slow rate of maturity and reproduction capabilities – most other human-sized creatures achieve sexual reproductively within a year, and pig tends to make for a very close substitute in meat-based dishes for those whose religions or dietary choices forbid the consumption of human flesh or blood, especially those slaughtered for the purposes of consumption. That being said, they are indeed very tasty – although personally, I prefer the meat of wild humans over that of farm-raised ones these days. How this early domestication occurred is unknown, although in my personal opinion, based upon my own experiences with both wild and farm-raised humans, it’s possible that enterprising werewolves and vampires took in orphaned or seriously injured humans – those raised by vampires and werewolves would be less likely to run, while those that had been crippled might not be able to escape anyways. Of course, it was often beneficial to weed out certain undesirable traits, like a predilection of violence towards others – be it towards werewolves, vampires, or other humans. Sometimes simply devouring, or draining, the problem human took care of the issue. Sometimes though, a more gentle approach was needed, such as simply mating with them, as this can tire them out enough that they aren’t much trouble. My own family utilized such practices, back when we used to raise humans for meat – we’d even captured and tamed plenty of ferals, especially the younger ones – although, admittedly, the adults were always tricky, like one known as John Wrangler, whom I’ll talk about on and off in this report. Careful breeding helps to take care of other potential issues, as does being careful about just how many humans one eats per year.

Human Behavior:
Several so-called researchers, who have never left their air conditioned offices, will claim that humans are a skittish creature, that frightens easily. Several brave first-time human hunters will claim that humans are easy to capture. Then they encounter the real genuine Feral, and these delusions shatter. I was once on a deer hunt, during my honeymoon, and during the night, while the party sat around the campfire, the tracker told a story of a feral that brazenly walked into his camp, nearly two decades prior, stole some of their cooked meat with a spear, stabbed a vampire in the hand with a thrown knife when the vampire made an attempt to attack the human, demanded to see the tracker’s capture tags, and afterwards, told the group to clear out in the morning. The tracker then told of how the vampire had gone after the human, only to be mauled by a bear, yet have injuries that could have been made by arrows. The tracker swore up and down, that the only reason the rest of the party had survived was because one of the hunters was a young werewolf, that was out on his first hunt with his father, and the feral had made a statement to the effect that they’d lost their father at a younger age than the werewolf was, calling him lucky, and had asked if his luck was going to hold. The father decided, out of concern for his son’s well-being, to head back. I might have thought that the story was an exaggerated one brought on by the effects of some very good whiskey, until the name of the feral was mentioned – John Wrangler. I’ll admit to spitting out my swallow of whiskey upon hearing that name. John Wrangler was a feral my father had caught, because of them being injured by a bear, and planned an escape that took time that, had it been enacted, would have resulted in my family’s human herd just walking out the front gate, never to be found, for he would have trained them on how to survive in the wilds. Knowing what he’d planned, and what he’d done, I had no issues believing that he could have done what was said.

Of course, where this story was concerned, there was another listener, a feral human, who, just like John Wrangler himself, strode into the camp, speared some cooked deer, and began to eat it. The sight of him caused the tracker to go paler than usual. He then gave me a look, one that chilled me to the bones. It was the same look that John gave my father when he’d done something the captured feral didn’t like. In that moment, I knew that if I did anything that the feral might see as hostile, they’d kill me. I told my husband to not make any movements, as the feral had their hand on the handle of a knife, possibly waiting for an excuse to copy what John had allegedly done. For over a minute we were like that, and between his looks, and scent, I was able to figure out who he was – John’s son. Then, they laughed, pulled out their knife, and cut off a piece of the meat that they hadn’t taken a bite out of, and offered it to me, saying that it could do with some seasonings, like salt and pepper. I had to agree with him there. Then they pulled out a pair of pliers and yanked out two of my teeth. Thus, my first encounter with Tobias. The rest of my family would likewise have encounters with John’s family, with Tobias later meeting up with my older brother James, and knocking out two of his teeth, Tobias’s younger sister, Sally, meeting up with my younger brother William, while he was hiking with the Scouts, only to wrestle with him and yank out two of his teeth – William complained about being beat by a girl – and my parents would meet up with the one known as Bella. My father swears up and down that the only reason that he’s alive has to do with the offer he made to that mare – access to John Wrangler’s genetic material, so that she could have more of his children, in addition to a safe place for her herd, claiming that it was part of John’s last request, one that my father had to honor, out of respect for the feral he’d captured. Needless to say, knowing that this was her dead mate’s last request, Bella spared both of them, but took two teeth from each of them, as trophies. In short, they had quite the grudge for what my father had done to John, but they were willing to respect their mate’s/sire’s last request, that of peace between our families.

Trophies:
I remember one hunting lodge I went to. They had a collection of human heads – bucks and mares – those that had caused issues for other hunters. The collection had been amassed by one hunter, who had a reputation for bringing in humans that others were unable to do so. There were easily a dozen heads in this collection. I then asked what had happened to the hunter. The lodge master had no answer, as they’d gone hunting one day about five years prior and never returned. But the lodge master had a picture of them. By this point, I was on good terms with Tobias. Thus, I made a copy of the picture, and asked him to talk to the local feral herds, to find out if anyone knew anything about the missing hunter. Someone did, and I was invited to listen to the story. Seems that the hunter had a habit of abducting a cub, and threatening to eat them, unless they one that they were looking for came forward. There was merit to this method, as they had indeed eaten the cub in the past when the target hadn’t come forward. Their death was rather ironic – the child they’d gone after this time had yanked out the hunter’s own knife, and had stabbed them in the heart. As for the body – head, hands, feet, and tail were cut off, the rest of the body was then skinned, and the meat was dumped into a river. The parts kept were turned into trophies, and were gifted to the child as a symbol of their victory over the hunter. So yes, the one that kept the heads of humans as trophies became a collection of trophies himself.

So, why do humans keep trophies? While werewolves and vampires keep trophies to show off and brag to others, over the success of a hunt, to a Feral, trophies are a sort of resume. We might brag about that trophy 10 point deer, and how we cooked it up, for instance. A human will say that they killed it to feed their family. A bear, we’ll brag about how far away we were when we killed it, and with what gun, while a human will state that they killed it to protect their family. This also extends to those of rival humans, whom ferals see as too dangerous to let live, to say nothing about those of vampires and werewolves, of which I’ve seen more than a few of. Sometimes I’m able to convince the feral to give up their trophy, especially if it turns out that said human, vampire, or werewolf has a substantial bounty – dead or alive – that I can then use to help benefit the herd – clothes, tools, non-perishable foodstuffs, and other such things that can be legally given to feral humans – not weaponry, obviously. That being said, if a feral vehemently refuses to give up a trophy, it’s best to not push one’s luck, unless one wish’s to end up as a trophy themselves. To be fair, I don’t fancy ending up dead for no purpose other than trying to recover the remains of those no one cares about – nobility only gets you so far, at some point, pragmatism takes priority.

Teeth are a very common trophy for Ferals to keep. The teeth of deer, cattle, pigs, bears, wolves, and other such creatures are obtained through hunting or in some cases, such as the teeth of livestock animals, raiding farmers for the livestock, or potentially trading for the livestock. The teeth from humans, vampires and werewolves tends to be acquired through besting them in some way – Tobias bested me simply by being able to make me fear for the lives of myself, my husband, and my then unborn child. Likewise, my other family members were beaten in some form. However, since they decided that killing me and my family wasn’t worth it, they settled for just yanking out our teeth, which, admittedly, is humiliating, and made eating a bit tricky for a while, until our teeth grew back. That being said, having one’s teeth yanked is better than being dead.

That being said, falsely claiming how the trophy was gotten, unless to save the life of a herd member from an enemy that’s related to said trophy, is generally frowned upon. For instance, if a hunter locates a deer that was struck and killed by a vehicle, it’s better for them to tell the ones preparing the meat, so that they can be on the lookout for bad meat. Likewise, should a sick, or crippled, herd member have killed a hostile from another herd while protecting themselves or others, if a member of the hostile herd shows up, seeking vengeance, it’s possible that a whole and healthy herd member might claim that they did it, to protect their herd member from an unfair honor fight.

Hidden Gardeners:
Imagine one is out hiking, only to feel a minor hunger pang, yet have no jerky, or canned meat, and yet aren’t hungry enough to eat a nearby human, the fruit of a nearby apple tree or fruit bush might strike your fancy, especially if there’s a nice ripe apple. However, as you munch on it, you might notice a few things, like how the fruit might be spaced out, or that certain branches have clean cuts on them, or that the particular fruit tastes like something found in an organic fruit produce bin, and even be some sort of named cultivar, like a Honeycrisp, which shouldn’t be in a forest. You might even notice where the branch was grafted to the tree. You might even notice some other fruits and vegetables that normally don’t occur naturally in the wild. It’s entirely possible that you have come upon a feral herd’s garden, where a nearby herd might grow certain plants. If you have a good nose, you might pick up on the scent of an additional nearby human. If you have a sharp eye, you might even catch them, watching you. If you really know what you’re doing, you might pick up on the other two, also watching you. You might also notice that all three of them have crossbows. If you’re smart, you’ll finish the apple, place the core on the ground, and resume walking. If you’re lucky, you might be allowed to take one more apple, if you ask for it. Never take more than what you need, especially if you’re looking at a human that’s looking at you – they might forgive one that’s unknowingly a thief, but one that knows that they are, well, stealing, well, the thief better offer up something that will make up for the fruit taken, like a good knife perhaps, as a sort of trade. Otherwise, there will be a warning shot from a hidden human that the thief doesn’t see. Disregard this, and the thief’s arm will be shot by another hidden human. If the thief fails to leave at this, the first human will aim for the heart – one last chance to leave, or die. That being said, it’s a terrible idea to decide to hunt humans at what is known to be a garden for nearby ferals – lucky ones merely suffer broken bones. Unlucky ones, well, they end up as trophies. These trophies are among the more mutilated ones, as the ferals don’t settle for simply killing such hunters, as their eyes are gouged out first, their noses slit, and their ears sliced – it’s a way to show that the hunter wasn’t worth the respect of keeping the head intact. Other body parts are likewise mutilated.

Humans out Hunting:
As previously mentioned, hunters of the herd are typically armed with knives, bows, arrows, and spears. Should they knowingly go after dangerous animals, they will wear the canvas-coat armor. If a herd has acquired firearms, as well as ammunition for them, the hunters normally won’t use them, valuing stealth above all else. They will use many methods, including the Push method where some make more than a bit of noise to drive their quarry to one or more waiting in ambush. Sometimes they’ll use calls, either those they’ve made, traded for, stolen, or they’ll use their own voice to mimic the sounds of other animals, along with some additional effects. Sometimes decoys made from hide and feathers are used. While out hunting, ferals will use mud, clay and charcoal, and makeup, to help break up their outline. Likewise, they will use the urine of other animals to help hide their scent, especially from those out hunting humans. I remember once, while working alongside the Wildlife Conservation Agency, tracking what I thought was a sick deer, only for something to tell me to look closer at a fallen log. Said log was actually a pair of humans, both armed with crossbows, the quarrels pointed at me. Thankfully, most Ferals won’t attack a werewolf or vampire without provocation, and I was able to, carefully, pull out a charm that, if one uses, grants one a certain amount of protection, so long as the one wielding it follows certain rules, namely not immediately trying to claim a feral while having it on one’s self. I’ll explain more about said charm in a bit. I told them what I was looking for, and why – seemed that the urine that they’d used had belonged to a deer with a chronic wasting disease, the meat and blood of which, if consumed while improperly prepared, could result in serious health risks for those that ate it, werewolf, vampire, or human. It was also highly transmissible between deer and certain other animals that the local herd hunted. We were able to find this deer, kill it without undo suffering, and destroy the remains, thanks to the help of these ferals. I have noticed other ferals out hunting – at a glance, they can pass for logs or rocks, or even a shrub with the right additions and alterations to their outfits.

Conflicts with other Ferals:
Usually any physical altercation between ferals of the same herd involves the use of fists and feet, and rarely results in long-lasting injury, with the participants drinking Strong Juice together afterwards. The use of weapons against fellow herd members is generally frowned upon, unless it is to protect one’s self or another from a would-be murderer or rapist. Likewise, violence against those from other herds tends to be rare, as long as rules are followed. Again, most scuffles involve to usage of fists and feet, no weaponry. Likewise, using weapons tends to be frowned upon. Please note, attempting to rape or murder another person – herd member or outsider – tends to be punished with exile, at the lowest, up to execution for those that went all the way. That being said, sometimes it’s possible that the would-be murderer or rapist ends up being killed by either their would-be victim or someone else. An investigation might be done to see if the killing was needed – sometimes with the assistance of a more neutral party, like a member of another herd, or even, oddly enough, a vampire or werewolf that has the Ferals’ trust, in order to try to conduct things as fair as possible. I myself have been involved in a few such cases – one turned out to reveal that a non-herd member had prevented a member of the herd in question from being raped by one of their own. Although, in that case, couldn’t complain too much about my payment – there’s something about a feral human that tastes so much better than farm-raised ones.

However, there are times where weapons must be drawn, such as in an honor fight – be it for justice or some such thing. Sometimes the fight is to the death. Other times, the fight is to first blood. Sometimes, it just depends on the situation. That being said, there are times where the one that’s forced into an honor fight cannot fight, due to sickness, injury, or other reasons – in that case, they can get someone to fight for them. I remember one honor fight, which involved an older feral missing an arm from a Great Bear attack. Their son had offered to take his place, but the older buck told the younger to not interfere. The old buck was a respected herd leader. The challenger was the leader of another herd that had been rather aggressively expanding their territory – their brother had tried to rape the mate of the son when the older one interfered, and killed them. The older buck’s mate advised me to not interfere, especially since the challenger and I had prior history involving another brother, who with a few other “renegade” herd members had tried to take over the Wrangler territory while my family had been visiting – they’d learned the hard way to not try to steal the Wrangler’s territory – my family didn’t need to do anything, although we didn’t complain too much about the free meals we got. I watched as the old buck took on the challenger – most would think that losing an arm would have cost him the win, but, that old buck managed to win, killing the challenger. This lead to a power vacuum of sorts in the challenger’s herd – guess there was no more brothers left – and there was rebellion from the herds that the brothers had taken over.

Now, let’s discuss Herd War. There are many reasons, but the initial battle consists of heavily armed and armored members of one group going after the members of the other herd, with the aim of killing or capturing important herd members – leader, second-in-command, healer, distiller, and anyone a herd might rally around. During a Herd War, firearms, if available, will be used, ranging from single-shot muzzleloaders on up to automatic weapons. Much like hunters, raiders will use mud, clay, charcoal, and makeup, among other things, to hide from casual observers. That being said, if you’re visiting a herd that you’re on good terms with, and a hostile herd attacks, you’ll be unable to just “sit it out” as it were – the hostile herd will want to turn you into a trophy anyways, and if you just leave the herd that you were on good terms with, they will not trust you afterwards. In such a case, if your issue is that you’re not the sort that is able to or willing to just fight, take the cubs to a safe place, and protect them – it will allow the local herd to fight without needing to also keep an eye on their cubs, and it might even cause the hostile herd to split up to chase you, which might make things easier for the locals. Of course, if you are able to, and are willing to fight, usually your friends will be the ones that aren’t wearing mud, clay, charcoal, and makeup, although anyone attacking you or your friends is probably fair game – go for non-lethal attacks, just in case. That being said, fight to win – losers of Herd Wars tend to be made into slaves for the winning herd, if they are lucky, or they might end up dead, or they might end up being delivered to a werewolf or vampire that the winning herd is on good terms with – if there’s a bounty upon their heads, it’s only fair to share it, and not many werewolves and vampires are going to turn down a free human, especially one that’s been wrapped up like a Kreestice or birthday present. That being said, should said bound humans show up at one’s place, before consigning them to the status of livestock, or just putting them into the oven, it might be worth one’s time to listen to the feral’s story – there might be more going on that what appears at first glance. Compare their herd markings to those in a national database, such as one I’ve compiled – Feral Human Herds of America – which gives one more than a bit of information about a herd’s territory, general behavior, and recent history. Sometimes more aggressive herds will force members from recently taken over herds to act as gullet fodder – either they raid, or their loved ones suffer, and they might suffer anyways, if said gullet fodder was killed. That being said, captured gullet fodder might want a chance to save their loved ones from an aggressive herd that had overthrown their prior way of life. You’d be surprised at the sort of information one is willing to talk about, if you treat them kindly, give them a wide area to wander around in, and don’t threaten to just stuff them into an oven – personal experience. Likewise, should there be such an aggressive herd taking the area over, it’s not unheard of for many smaller herds to join forces, even convince the enslaved herds to join them, and take out the aggressive herd members. Sometimes these ferals will talk to werewolves and vampires that they are on good terms with, explaining the dangers of the other herd, and how there’s a war going on. That being said, it’s illegal to provide weaponry to these ferals, for understandable reasons, but it’s not unheard of for blades, hammers, and other such things that could be used as a weapon as is to vanish for a few days, only for them to show up suspiciously clean, along with some restrained humans or human bodies. Call it a payment of sorts for the borrowing of the tools.

Conflict with Vampires and Werewolves
Imagine that you’re fifteen years old – old enough to hunt humans. Your father, or mother, takes you out hunting, perhaps with the aid of a tracker. You eventually locate a human. You get ready to raise your tranquilizer gun to aim at them, only for your parent, or the tracker, to tell you to keep the barrel down. After that, your parent, or the tracker, walks up to them, and begins to talk to them. Perhaps puzzled, or annoyed, you look around, only to see a strange shape that waves at you, and you realize that you’re looking at a camouflaged human that has a crossbow. Luckily, in this case, it’s pointed at the ground, but it’s clear that it can be raised rather quickly – the real question is, who is the target? Good news is, probably not you – most ferals avoid targeting youths, unless they point a weapon at them. Bad news is, it might be your parent, especially if the Tracker doesn’t have their weapon out. Good news is, the shot probably won’t be fatal, and the ferals might be nice enough to drop off some freshly killed small game – rabbit, squirrel, bird, beaver – which can be eaten to help with the healing. The bad news is, they’ll have pliers, and they will be collecting teeth, including yours. Of course, don’t try anything to cause trouble, and you’ll be able to walk away without needing to eat something to heal from injuries. That being said, it’s possible that your parent, or the tracker, has learned of a human that’s worth hunting – such as a highly dangerous exile or aggressive herd group. It’s one of those humans that you end up going after, with a few of the other humans assisting your party, especially to avoid any traps in their territory. That being said, be very careful, because the human you’ll end up going after will be fighting for keeps, and won’t hesitate to kill you.

Yes, as previously mentioned, feral humans will utilize vampires and werewolves to deal with more aggressive rivals and troublesome herd members, even leading hunting parties towards them. Sometimes though, this is a double-edged sword. It’s not unheard of for the whole thing to be an ambush – one where you’re killed and looted. Make sure that your tracker is legit in such cases, and figure out if the human is indeed of the herd they claim to be from. That being said, most legit hunters, that abide by the rules, hire a good guide, and are helped by less-aggressive ferals, tend to get their prizes. However, poachers, and those that don’t follow the rules, will end up in trouble, and not just by the law. Ferals, in addition to their weapons, make use of traps, which range from non-lethal things like nets, to highly fatal ones, like deep spiked pits – there won’t be enough blood or meat that could be readily used to heal your injuries if you fall victim to certain ones. Also, do not be surprised if they use firearms against you, because they will. If you should manage to survive such a hunt, and you find an arsenal of firearms and ammunition, especially military or police grade stuff, make sure to report it, if you can. That being said, don’t be too surprised if the ferals that helped you out grab the more basic ones, like the hunting grade stuff, for loot. As with finding werewolves and vampires as mounted heads, pragmatism is important. If they grab a military assault rifle, that’s one thing that ought to be reported, but a generic pump shotgun could be given a blind eye, for your personal safety. Please note, the herd will move after this.

Raids on human farms and blood production facilities tend to be rare. Usually, these tend to only occur if they know that the owner happens to have a member of their herd. Very rarely are they willing to free a farm-raised human, or one that was groomed and raised to be a pet or slave. Mainly it’s a sort of pragmatism on their part – freeing a captive-bred herd means additional mouths to feed. While they can handle a few, especially if the additions have skills like medicine, distillation, food preservation, or an understanding of machinery, which can negate the cost of having those who otherwise lack the skills for hunting and foraging, freeing say, five thousand, tends to be beyond their means, unless, hypothetically, a large number of feral herds get together and decide to help take care of said captive-bred humans. There is speculation that this could happen, and according to the ferals themselves, the feat is possible.

That being said, while hunters are one group that humans tend to engage in conflict with – even the worst encounters tend to be tame, compared to encounters with poachers, rustlers, and others that engage in illegal human trades. I was once taken to the site of an illegal blood production facility – where several hundred stolen human slaves, pets, livestock and improperly procured ferals, were taken to, where they were then rendered braindead – kept alive only to produce blood. However, it seemed that the workers had incurred the wrath of the local feral herds when they went after cubs…… the place was raided, the surviving humans that where sound of mind taken in by the ferals regardless of their past status, with those too far gone being killed to end their suffering, and as for the workers, they suffered, greatly. The ferals recovered all the human bodies they could, and then torched the place – the workers that were still alive were burned to death. As for the human remains, they were placed in a large grave, buried, and had Strong Juice poured over them, in accordance to the ferals’ beliefs in treating the dead that weren’t an enemy – which I’ll explain more later on. Among the dead were the cubs, including the herd leader’s daughter. As they told me the story, the one herd leader, who had on a necklace a dozen teeth from vampires or werewolves, broke down, and started crying, calling out her name – Alice. He’d been the one to find her, braindead, and he, to end her suffering, slit her throat. As a mother, I felt empathy for him. That’s when I borrowed a pair of pliers, and pulled out my own tooth – I converted to being a Bone Carrier soon after this. Not easy, given how much I love the taste of human meat, but I couldn’t just kill a human in order to eat them after that story, and I certainly couldn’t do that to one that never knew what it was like to be free.

Of course, if you’ve done a feral wrong, best be careful. Grudges get passed on. It was why Bella Wrangler and her offspring had initially attacked me and my family – we’d taken their John from them. Because of the rustling of our livestock, and the killing of John, they were unable to save him. They were going to settle with causing us harm, and embarrassment, which might of lead up to killing us. However, the offer of John’s stored genetic material and sanctuary for their herd, as mentioned, stopped them from doing any serious harm, beyond injuring my father’s shoulder, and the taking of teeth. Others are not so lucky. The family that had stolen our herd, for instance, even to this day, cannot step foot onto the park, unless they make reservations or something, unless they want to risk the wrath of the Wrangler herd, who will great them with spears and loaded crossbows, while wearing full “War” gear. They get off lucky – they get to walk away – any place else, they might end up dead, with their skulls smashed, among other things.

Other Dangers
While vampires and werewolves might be the better known threats of a feral human, along with enemy ferals attacking them, there are other dangers out there, including predators. Greater versions of bears, wolves, big cats, and other such predatory animals present a grave threat to them. Ferals see them as more dangerous than werewolves and vampires, to the point of working alongside of those that had previously tried hunting them, to deal with these much larger predators. My own father is alive because of such an alliance with John Wrangler – my father had tried to hunt him, and John was going to beat him for going after his herd, when they were attacked by a Greater Brown Bear. Only by working together did they manage to survive – although John was Claimed by my father after this, because the feral had suffered a serious injury, nearly losing their leg in the fight, while my father’s ribs had almost been pulled out, a few being broken. In my own personal time, I’ve observed the actions of these Greater beasts, how much they eat and such. I have also seen the results of an attack by many of them – sometimes there’s not enough left to identify the body. I even had a close encounter with a Greater Cougar once – almost too close – thankfully, the herd I was spending time with had been looking for that cat, and were able to save my life. There are some that want to bring back the live feeding of humans to these beasts that are in zoos – if you’d ever been a chew toy of such a creature, you wouldn’t wish such a fate upon anyone, even on those that wanted you dead.

Another danger comes from infected or contaminated sources of food. As mentioned above, deer and other creatures infected with chronic wasting diseases can pass it on to other animals, such as humans, if the meat is improperly prepared. Fish from polluted streams, rivers, and other sources of water can, in a sense, poison a human that eats them. Likewise, fruits and vegetables that are heavily coated in herbicides and pesticides can cause problems, especially if the spraying of said chemicals was done illegally or improperly, such as if it was done in an area where such spraying wasn’t allowed like a wildlife or sanctuary park, or if the person spraying it mixed it incorrectly. These sorts of things can cause the human to become sick soon after, or contribute to the complications of other sicknesses later on, or, such as in the cases of heavy metals in the flesh of fish, cause problems with fetus development in pregnant mares.

One of the biggest dangers, which can cause conflict between them, and vampires and werewolves, is the development of their traditional hunting and foraging territories. Ferals prefer wilderness areas, and thus it’s not uncommon for herds to use nature preserves, wildlife parks, and other such places where development is restricted or not allowed. Sometimes one can get a special permit to hunt such a feral. Often times though, the ferals make an arrangement with the park rangers and other such people – such as giving the officials those that are dead, dying, or are causing too much trouble, assisting the officials in times of trouble, – like locating a missing child or hiker, or a helping to handle a wildfire – won’t harass the tourists, and in return, the officials make sure that tourists don’t harass the ferals, and sometimes, there might be a safe hunt where a hunter can go after a certain feral, perhaps tranquilize them, get a photo of them, and either a pint of blood or dibs on a cut of meat when the feral dies – of natural causes, old age, or accident, or whatever – or the hunter might end up in a net trap, or something similar, and get a tooth yanked by the feral – the possibility of which is mentioned in the hunting agreement. Of course, humans are quite adaptive, surviving, and thriving in many environments – rainforests, mountainous regions, temperate woodlands, forests, grasslands, deserts, and even the artic – the biggest surprise is the number of urban ferals, which I’ll explain later.

A Feral’s Childhood
Most anyone who breeds humans knows that a buck’s sperm must inseminate a mare’s eggs. Likewise, most know that it takes around nine months for the fetus to develop and eventually become an infant human cub. Then it takes around 16 to 17 years for them to be of a breeding age. Mares tend to be bred as often as possible, with bucks doing the breeding. Baring those of special lines, most tend to end up on the table centerpiece between the ages of 25 and 30 years, as mentioned above. It’s also not unheard of for those in the business of raising humans to teach them how to read, write, and do math – easily 80% have the reading and writing comprehension of a 6th grader by the age of fourteen, and maybe 20% have the reading and writing comprehension of a 12th grader by the age of 20 – although their understanding of sciences and history tends to be, understandably, lacking. It’s also not unheard of – in fact it’s rather common – for farm raised humans to be used for physical labor on the farm, raising non-human livestock and produce, which most farmers do as a means to supplement their income, especially during the initial start-up years. Then there are those used for sexual relief – trust me, there’s plenty of truth about farmers having sex with their human livestock – it’s usually safer than doing it with other types of livestock. Livestock humans are raised by a joint effort between other human livestock, as well as the farmer and the farmer’s family.

Among ferals, during ideal conditions, the biological parents will raise the offspring, assisted by other members of their family and herd. Cubs tend to play with others their own age, engaging in familiar activities, like hide-and-hunt, wrestling, make-believe, mock fights, and so on. They also learn to read and write – easily a comparable ratio for understanding 6th grade stuff by the age of 14, but what’s surprising is the fact that 60% of those around the age of 20 have the reading and writing comprehension of a 12th grader. Even more impressing, easily 75% of them are a type of bilingual – in addition to knowing the local language that most vampires and werewolves tend to use, and possibly knowing a few minor ones, many are fluent in a type of pictography system of writing, which they call Feral Script. Some of these symbols are identical to images used by werewolves and vampires, like a skull over crossing femur bones symbolizing something causing death – I have noticed such symbols carved into dead trees by heavily polluted streams and such. Others are actually a series of images, messages between travelers, scouts, traders, and more, showing where there’s good water, hunting, safe sheltering areas, and even if the other local herds, or nearby werewolves and vampires, are friendly to be around. Other skills many ferals learn are things like hunting, fishing, foraging, survival skills, with some becoming more specialized – like becoming a skilled hunter or warrior, or becoming a skilled food preservation specialist, distiller, or medicinal specialist. Then, between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years, a third, or more, will leave their herds – sometimes for a few years, sometimes for ever – and travel to try to join another herd. These leavers will be given markings, stating their skills and such, and that they had left in good standing – conversely, an exile will be given markings that state what crime they’d committed, and that they had left in bad standing.

Life as a Loner
After leaving a herd, be it of their own free will, or exile, or being a survivor of a raid or hunt that had cost them their herd, the feral is what’s known as a Loner. They might meet up with other Loners, forming temporary packs, where they look out for those they trust, or prove themselves trustworthy. This time can be dangerous, especially since they may not know the local herds or vampires and werewolves. Likewise, there is the possibility of having an encounter with a hostile feral, especially one that wants to take the territory over. That being said, it’s also a time when alliances might be forged, along with friendships – with the possibility of romance. They also hone their skills during this time – most will have several teeth on a necklace – mostly deer and feral pigs, and some wolf teeth, with the occasional bear, but a few will have the fang of a vampire or werewolf, or another human. When they encounter a proper herd, some will follow them, becoming a Trailer, and attempt to join them.

Joining a Herd, and Courtship
Joining a herd, and Courtship, are, at times, related, and are very similar. Both involve proving one’s self to another. But while one is done in an attempt to get a mate, the other is done to gain a home. Both require proving that one will not be a burden to the herd, or family. Mares tend to have an easier time in this regard – as they are generally expected to care for cubs – but they need to show a certain amount of competence in looking after younger members of the herd, even a certain amount of medical knowledge, as well as taking care of where the herd tends to set up camp, and other things that could be termed “domestic”. Still, despite this seemingly easier lifestyle, it should be noted that mares are more dangerous than bucks – case in point, John Wrangler, easily one of the most dangerous ferals I’ve known, claimed at one point to have killed nearly five dozen werewolves and vampires, making their deaths look like accidents, infighting, or attacks by other wild animals, and had also easily killed a dozen hostile humans. His mate, Bella, had boasted a comparable kill count, with a similar capacity for altering the sites of these kills to look like accidents, infighting and wild animal attacks, and even in her old age, was rather ruthless when need be, while, at the same time, being a very caring motherly figure to those under her care, even, oddly enough, to my younger brother, John Wolfe. In addition to proving how good they were with specific skills, Trailers can earn their way into a herd by proving to be a competent hunter, forager, fisherperson, scavenger, assisting in a hunt against a dangerous animal, protecting the herd from hostile forces – enemy ferals, poachers, hunters – or saving them during times of natural disaster – floods, fires, bad storms, and other such things. In fact, my younger brother, John, more or less, became a full member of the Wrangler herd by protecting Roberta, Bella’s daughter, from a would-be rapist that had been kicked out of a lot of herds. Sort of a full circle thing – John Wrangler saved my father, Robert Wolfe, from a bear, and now my brother, John Wolfe, saved Roberta Wrangler, daughter of John Wrangler. Still, this is not an unheard of situation – there is currently a human pet that has been allowed to become a mate to another member of the Wrangler herd, because they had assisted in protecting, and thus rescuing, that particular member, from a poacher/petnapper. I’ll explain more about that sort of thing later. Once the perspective herd/family member has been approved of, there is a ceremony, which includes a feast, with the new herd/family member receiving the first portion of the meal, symbolizing that they have the support of the herd/family, and are now part of it. Life thus continues, and soon, new life is formed.

Death of a Feral
It might come as a surprise, but among ferals, the most common form of death is actually some type of cancer, usually occurring in those over the age of fifty. Of course, those who live more of a sedentary lifestyle, such due to an injury that has cause mobility issues, cardiovascular problems tend to be a result. Respiratory issues, especially among more urban populations, are also common. In general, disease of some sort tends to amount to about eighty percent of deaths each year. Accidents, predation, conflicts with other ferals, along with self-harm tend to make up most other deaths. By comparison, humans killed from hunting, tends to amount to less than one percent per year. If the herd is in possession of the person’s body, there tends to be a feast. Stories about the deceased are told. Afterwards, the body is dealt with. Some will just bury it. Others will burn the body, mixing the ashes in with the dirt. Others will even eat the body – especially during leaner times, and bury the bones afterwards. Others might give the body to a werewolf friend to eat. In these such cases, the dead is usually spoken about in reverence, and afterwards, a bottle of Strong Juice, or another alcoholic beverage (or another type of drink, even water in poorer situations), is poured onto the gravesite – or into the septic system of a friendly werewolf, all while the pourer and nearby mourners say the name of the dead. Should the dead not be known by those who found the body, there is still the offering of the drink. Should the body have belonged to an enemy not worthy of any respect, the remains are severely mutilated, not buried, and the head is spit upon. I’ll explain the reasons for this in a bit. After such an event, life goes on.

Superstitions – Charms and Curses
There is a scene in “The Outlaw Joseph Greycoat”, where the titular outlaw pulls out their fang, and the feral herd leader, Ten Fangs wraps it in a string of leather, and hands it back to him, the outlaw wearing it from that scene onward. This is because, Clint Bloodwood, a devout Bone Carrier, did not wish to drain his opponent-to-be, William Sandstone, a captured feral with a crippled leg, in accordance to the script. In the biggest Wag the Director move of his career, to the point that he also fired the director and took over filming the rest of the movie, Clint made the decision to spare the feral’s life. Apparently, William had been motivated to fight Clint because the Director, among other things, knew where William’s herd was, and was threatening to send then to one farm, or another. According to an interview that I had with the aging director/actor, while his religious beliefs were one reason as to why the vampire did what he did, there was another. Before that particular scene, there was a sudden thunderstorm, one that lasted several hours, delaying shooting. During it, Clint found himself wandering to the feral’s cage, where he talked about his dilemma. Apparently, William understood, and realized that he didn’t hate Clint enough to do what he himself was supposed to do – attempt to “remove” the fangs of his character’s “captives”, before getting into a fight with the actor. As it turned out, William’s herd had an encounter with the real life Joseph Greycoat, and suggested that if Clint wished to be true to the real outlaw, not to mention his beliefs, he’d personally yank out one of his own fangs – the real outlaw had done this as part of a peace agreement he’d had with the herd. Upon going over a few more details, they had a pretty good plan worked out – they had their little speech about how some leaders are blind to the needs of their people, and aren’t worth respecting, while others are willing to do whatever it took to protect their people, even accepting personal pain – William yanked out one of his teeth (seems the herd’s healer was going to pull it anyways, due to a bad infection, before William had been caught) and Clint yanked one of his own. The director yelled out “Cut!” at that moment, very much upset, and complained about how it ruined things. The director soon found himself fired, with Clint taking over directing – he actually rewrote a number of scenes, altering the fates of the human characters and cast by extension, such as Dan 2509, a well-train slave owned by George Lupine – they were to be eaten by Paula Whitefur when his character “betrayed” the group during the planned “Feral Herd” attack scene. Paula was glad for this alteration – she and Dan had struck up a friendship off-camera, even purchasing him afterwards, and was rather sad when they got cancer, the sort that wasn’t operable, and later ate him when it got to be too much. As for William, he was bought by Clint afterwards. As for the former director, when he went after William’s herd, seems that they were prepared – by the time he stumbled into the hospital, all his teeth had been yanked, bones in both arms broken, a fractured tail, and a messed up nose – said injuries being healable, but the process was rather painful.

So, what does it mean when a vampire or werewolf yanks their own tooth, and have it put on a string, to wear on their neck like a necklace, or even as a bracelet on their wrist? It means that as long as they display that tooth, they will not hunt a feral human. They also will not make the first move in a confrontation with a feral human. It is much like waving a white flag (or a black one in some areas) – a symbol for a truce. Most of the time, as long as a werewolf or vampire doesn’t attempt to attack a feral while wearing the tooth; the feral is unlikely to attack them. Of course, exceptions do exist – if a feral human decides to attack, the tooth wearer can protect themselves, or others that they are looking after. Should a tooth wearer attack a feral while wearing the tooth, barring cases where they are protecting themselves, they risk losing all of their teeth, if they are lucky. That being said, it is perfectly acceptable to take the tooth off, but only to go after a feral other than the one whom the tooth wearer had been talking to – that particular feral gets a grace period of at least six hours at any rate. Likewise, should a tooth wearer die while protecting a feral, there is a practice where the tooth is placed into the dead werewolf or vampire’s mouth, as if to say that they get to keep their teeth. In a similar manner, those that are Bone Carriers tend to have a friendlier interaction with a feral than most.

Now, why do ferals pour Strong Juice, or another drink, over the graves of the dead, or spit on the heads of dead enemies? This is because of an entity known as a Vendalg – a spirit that exists to torment and kill the living. Pouring Strong Juice is said to show respect for the dead, sending their spirit on to the Afterlife. Spitting upon the head of the enemy supposedly traps the spirit in the skull. That being said, those who do not do this are supposedly tormented by the spirit of the dead, unable to sleep, or rest easily, being driven to madness. I remember listening to one story, and while I might have once scoffed at such a story, seeing the storyteller talk about it with fear in their voice, gave me pause, especially since they had the teeth of many dangerous animals, and more than a few humans, vampires, and werewolves. A few nights later, I had my own encounter – voices, the feeling of being watched, yet smelling nothing, there was not even the traces of a nearby human hiding. Fear entered me, as if I was being hunted. Then I saw it, an exposed skull and a few bones – a traveler that had been the victim of a wild predator, picked clean. I took my camp shovel, dug a hole, and carefully placed the remains in it. Afterwards, I took some Strong Juice I’d been given as a gift, and poured a glass’s worth over the makeshift grave. After that, the feeling of fear was gone, along with the voices. Perhaps it been the wind blowing through the trees calming down, and the animals nearby might have been downwind of me. Or, perhaps, I’d freed a spirit to go to the Afterlife, and they were thankful for it. I do not know. I slept well after it though.

Another superstition is that one shouldn’t harm a child – discipline them if needed – but they were not to be harmed. This is true regardless of species or status. Even if the child belonged to a herd that was usually an enemy, or even a werewolf or vampire, most ferals will not harm them. This is because those who harm children often find themselves being mutilated, sometimes by their own herd. Even herds that are normally hostile towards one another will help each other find missing child – there might be some sort of political deals, like an arranged mating, but they will help out. In the illegal blood production facility raid mentioned above, after easily a dozen feral cubs were abducted, nearly a hundred adult ferals from five separate herds came together to take the place down, including a pair of herds that were otherwise sworn enemies. As mentioned, the workers of the place were mutilated, before being burned alive, along with the facility. To be honest, I can’t find much fault in their actions myself, especially since several of the cubs had been rendered braindead, and thus were already dead in the eyes of the ferals. Coincidentally, a rather wealthy werewolf, who was suspected to have ties with the illegal blood production trade, was involved in a car accident, where after having some issues with their brakes, they crashed into a tree, and the car burst into flames, the locks in the car being engaged and damaged in such a way that opening the doors was impossible.

Unexpected Rescuers
It might surprise people to know that, upon first encountering a lone vampire or werewolf, a feral’s response isn’t to just run up to them to collect their teeth. No, instead, they like to have a little chat, to figure out the vampire or werewolf’s intentions. In fact, if you’re out hunting humans, admit it to them, and carefully pull out the tags allowing you to do this if asked – as I’ve been informed, “An honest enemy is better than a false friend,” in so far as they are concerned. Funny enough though, should you be in trouble later on, such as due to putting a foot wrong and spraining your ankle, or get attacked by a dangerous predator, like one of the Greater beasts, that same feral might help you out, possibly saving your life. Granted, you might end up owing them a tooth, but you’d still be alive.

This following story comes from a Garlic and Silver agent I know. Despite their current exceptional record of capturing criminals, back when he was a rookie, he made a mistake, one that almost cost him his life. At his request, I will not disclose his name, for understandable reasons. He had been after a group of murderers that were also poachers – and his intelligence had underreported the numbers that the group had – almost two dozen of them. He’d been captured, tortured, mutilated, and the leader was going to cut his heart out. Luckily for the agent, but unluckily for this murderous criminal, there’d been an observer, a feral human out hunting, and they put an arrow through the leader’s heart, killing them. Several other criminals also fell to this archer, before one of those that decided that they were in charge decided to go after their attacker. The GaS agent would find many bodies in one fatal trap or another, with a handful having their skulls bashed in. Their teeth had also been yanked. The feral had then cut the agent free from their restraints, and gave them venison to help them heal up their injuries, before yanking out teeth belonging to the dead criminals nearby. When the agent asked why the feral saved them, the response was, “They (the murderous poachers) were after my herd. You were not.” As to whether or not the feral took a tooth from the agent, the agent has told me that, given that he’d been punched in the jaw, at least one was going to get yanked anyways – Strong Juice helped to make things a little easier, even numbing the pain. The agent would have later encounters with said feral, locating other criminals in the area – some would get their teeth yanked. As for the feral, turns out, I knew the feral mentioned, long before I met the agent – John Wrangler. (To be honest, as long as it doesn’t involving him driving a vehicle, almost anything involving John Wrangler, I don’t really question it – as to the point as to why he never escaped, was because the family farm’s herd wasn’t ready to do so themselves. I will wonder what would have happened if he could have pulled it off, his Grand Escape.)

Another incident, one that I was personally involved in, occurred in when I was in Edinburg, Scotland, learning more specific information about human biology – the university there boasting about how their veterinary programs being among the best to be offered. Part of the time, I was working at a nearby national park, one with a feral population of several thousand humans. I had managed to gain the trust of a few local ferals – having recently converted to being a Bone Carrier, as well as taking out my tooth amulet, they were more willing to come within say about 20 feet, or 6 meters – close enough to not yell, yet far enough away they could run if they believed I’d become a threat. Some of my co-workers believed that it was a waste of time to talk to the ferals, especially since many of the local herds were suspected to be involved in cattle theft – that part turned out to be rather interesting, once the truth was revealed. In fact, a special group of hunters was due to arrive to try to cull some of the population. During this time, a vampire child, whose family had been camping in the park, went missing. Local constabulary were called, to help search for the young pup – but after five hours of searching, thirteen after they apparently went missing, there was still no sign. I sat down to take a break, a little ways from the group. That was when a local feral, wearing a necklace with over a dozen werewolf and vampire teeth upon it, came out of hiding, and came up to me, asking if I was the Tooth Wearer and a Bone Carrier that had been talking to the others. I nodded, not trusting to open my mouth, as I was hungry – the fact that a few of my co-workers, who didn’t realize that I had a human visitor, had also decided that now was the time to start grilling a cut-up human that had been bought from a butcher didn’t help much – in a way, trying to cut out the consumption of human meat, cold turkey, was worse than having pregnancy cravings, and it had been, at the time, three month since I’d dined upon human flesh. They looked at me, and passed me a package – it contained pork from a wild pig. As politely as I could, I accepted the offered meat, and began eating. The feral identified themselves as a local herd leader, and told me that they had information as to the whereabouts of the missing pup – the fact that they called the pup a girl told me that they were on the level. The missing pup preferred to be called one of those nicknames that could be used on a male or female name, like Sammy being short for Samuel or Samantha. They also told me that they had information about who was stealing cattle, saying that the two were connected. That was when one of my co-workers made a comment he shouldn’t have said – that maybe the pup had been abducted by a group of, and I quote, “borb, goid crodh, daoine fiadhaich”, or something like that – “savage, cattle-stealing, feral humans”, for those that don’t know Scottish Gaelic too well, although I’m certain that I mistyped that, to be honest – that carved the pup up to eat. Piece of advice, when in known, or suspected, feral human territory, never just insult them, as they might be listening. This feral, not only did they understand my American English; they also clearly knew the local language. They marched right up to my co-worker, who spun around upon being tapped on the shoulders, gasped in shock, and got their teeth gripped by a pair of pliers. Then, in Proper English, the feral said, “I might be a savage. I might steal cattle. I might even eat the flesh of vampires, werewolves, and my fellow humans. But, I would never, ever, harm a child.” They then took out a bottle of Strong Juice – an apple based one, similar to a cider – and carefully poured it upon the human meat that was being grilled. “I always prefer to baste my human meat with something apple flavored,” they said. They looked at me. “You show pretty good restraint – you have earned yourself the breast.” I had to admit – it was delicious, and the looks on my co-workers’ faces – priceless. Afterwards, we soon found the missing vampire pup, who had been abducted by the cattle-thieves when the pup had spotted them during a rustling attempt. As it turned out, said rustlers were also the special hunters that had been trying to stir up trouble for the park’s ferals. Needless to say, a more official arrangement was made, one that benefits the ferals rather nicely.

Urban Ferals
While more commonly found in wilderness, and rural areas, feral humans, like many other animals, have adapted to living in urban areas. While rural and wilderness herds can have over fifty members, most urban herds are around two dozen members, the size of a typical street gang. Skills such groups tend to value are the sorts of things most criminals look for – like disabling alarms for stores, picking pockets, keeping a lookout while not being obvious, and, on one occasion that I caught the tail end of, hotwiring and stealing vehicles, like my one professor’s new car – the police found it twenty miles away, crashed in the river, the thief not found – understandably, the police wouldn’t have believed me if I told them that the thief was a human, as some folks are rather small-minded at the capabilities of humans in general, and ferals specifically.

Urban ferals tend to ditch the hide and rags of their rural and wilderness counterparts, wearing clothing that pets, slaves, and Domesticated humans might wear, in order to blend in. This includes affecting similar mannerisms, like being willing to be eaten or drained, only for the werewolf or vampire to change their mind, and walk away. I actually learned the reason for this when my one professor – who later got their car stolen – tried to have me perform some sort of sexual favor, as they had gave me less of a grade than what I’d earned, and clearly didn’t accept the fact that I was married as a reason as to why I didn’t want to have sex with someone that was old enough to be my father. I guess this feral had been listening as I was trying to walk away from the professor, because next thing I knew, this female human walked between us, looked my professor in the eyes, and said, “She has already told you that she doesn’t want you as a mate. Leave her be.” My professor tried to laugh – like a human was going to tell him what to do. Their expression changed to one of surprise, with a tinge of pain – they walked away. He would later be fired for Academic Dishonesty. As the human turned to face me, I saw the knife go back up her shirt’s sleeve – one of those small reverse-blade things, the sort where you can stab and go up with. Needless to say, I understood why my professor left – he didn’t want to be gutted, or worse yet, castrated. At the same time, I had a good look into her eyes – there was a certain amount of defiance that indicated that she wasn’t some tamed pet or slave. I asked if she was related to someone in the Wrangler herd – turns out, her father, the local herd leader, who all but ran the other herds in the city, was the brother of none other than Bella Wrangler – seems that they wanted someone to keep an eye on me. It was kind of creepy initially, seeing the various humans that were paying me a certain amount of attention beyond the “Is this the one that will try to eat me?” look that many domesticated humans have. After a while, I got used to it, and having them nearby came in handy when someone tried to steal my stuff – the thief was later found with their teeth all yanked, clearly traumatized by what happened, and my stuff was returned to me, undamaged.

Other urban ferals actually perform little civic improvements – keep the mailbox clean, pick up trash, and other such things. Some even help out the homeless, especially those that help them. It’s not uncommon for an urban feral, with a terminal illness, to, basically, give themselves to a homeless werewolf or vampire that they were on good terms with. Homeless werewolf gets a meal, and some Strong Juice to drink, and the dying feral, well, at least their body isn’t picked up to be used as dog or cat food.

Cannibalism, and the Consumption of Vampire and Werewolf Meat
As mentioned, it’s not unheard of for humans to eat their dead, especially during leaner times, when hunting, foraging, and fishing haven’t been so good. A bad winter can cause this to occur more often. The same holds true for eating the flesh of vampires and werewolves. It is usually done to ward off starvation. Now, most will find the idea of a human eating the bodies of werewolves and vampires appalling, but, as my acquaintance in that Scottish herd said, “When you eat us, you don’t want us to complain. But, when we eat you, you act all surprised. You eat meat, and so do we. At least we don’t act like we’re superior when we eat you.” As for how we taste, he compared vampires to duck meat, and werewolves to chicken – I didn’t ask which he preferred more, especially since we were eating some feral-raised chicken and duck, which he ate in equal portions. Of course, there was a certain look in his eyes that indicated that maybe he was joking with me, although, given the teeth on his necklace, there might have been some truth to the story. That being said, he did prefer it when venison, mutton, ham, and beef were on the menu.

That being said, there are indeed packs of ferals that enjoy eating the flesh of humans, vampires, and werewolves. Some of them prove to be so dangerous; other ferals will forge a temporary alliance with nearby vampires and werewolves in order to get rid of them. I myself have been part of such hunts – the breakfast in the morning tends to be rather delicious, especially when the human is garnished with strategically placed eggs, and pineapple slices.

How do Herds Form?
Herds form, in part, from when humans form groups, especially those over 20 members. Now, the important distinction between a pack and a herd is duration – packs are temporary, lasting only a few months at most, while herds last for years, if not decades, or, in some cases, centuries. Fun fact, that Scottish herd has been around ever since the Wallace Rebellion during the early 1300’s, the leader claiming to be a descendent of the famous human rebel known as William Wallace. Records of the time indicated that prior to the rebellion, the Wallace herd, or the herds that later formed it, had been mostly livestock, with the occasional well-behaved feral buck being allowed to breed with the mares. This changed when the one later known as William Wallace killed either a minor lord or perhaps just a sheriff, encouraged the livestock to take up arms, head to the hills, and formed a rebellion against the rulers of the area, especially the English. For several years, they raided the area, battling the English forces, even having some impressive victories, for a bunch of ferals going up against armored knights and such. Eventually, William was captured, and set to be executed. The English King, a werewolf who was called Longtooth, having heard of the local delicacy known as haggis, decided to have him prepared in a manner reminiscent of one, the human rebel being wrapped up in sheepskin that was stuffed with the other traditional fillings. However, upon taking his bite, eating the rebel in the legs first manner, Longtooth found out that William Wallace had shat himself – the king claimed the rebel had done so in fear, but was unable to finish the rest due to the befouled taste. The feral herd claimed that William had fallen for some sex slave; one named Marion, and had wanted to make her his permanent mate, even offering twenty feral cattle he’d captured for her. However, the one running the estate – lord or sheriff – decided to eat her, rather than give her up, doing so where William had a good view, but was unable to do anything to stop it – the killing of this person was done out of revenge for the sex slave. Everything else is basically the same up until the reason as to why William shat himself – the ferals claimed that he did it to spite the king, even as he died. Personally, I think the reason William shat himself has to deal with the fact that, prior to his execution, he wasn’t given anything that would allow him to properly vacate his bowels, nor the time to use the toilet before he was wrapped up, which meant that, after he died, those muscles relaxed, and, well, soiled the haggis. It’s something that most who have plenty of experience cooking live humans tend to realize, which was why my family, prior to Big Meal day, would give the selected meals-to-be special food that helped to make it less likely that we’d be eating shit during our evening meal.

Besides being the result of a rebellion, there is also the possibility of escape. This could be self-implemented by livestock, pets and slaves. A small group of ferals, especially one looking for abducted herd members, could be the reason. They could have been stolen by rustlers, only to escape them, and never go back to their owner. Depending upon how they were raised, not all of them will have the skills needed for long-term survival – hunting, fishing, and foraging, and so on. This was an issue John Wrangler faced, because there wasn’t going to be time to teach adults how to use these skills, for one reason or another. Teaching the cubs though, that was more doable, though it added years to his plan. Said plan didn’t work in the end, but if it had, it would have resulted in a whole lot of trouble for my family. My father had to chuckle at how the rustlers had, indirectly, saved us a whole lot of problems.

Other herds form when survivors from other herds that had been decimated through overhunting, or a raid from hostile ferals, meet up. Likewise, they might meet up with other small groups that want to become part of a bigger group. Leadership tends to be a joint effort, for the most part, with one handling day-to-day stuff, one handling diplomacy, and another that can get others to work together during times of crisis. Such things are rather interesting.

Markings
If you spot a feral, one thing to make a note of is their markings. These indicate things like skills, herd affiliations, if they left a prior herd in good standing, or bad standing. Some tell you about various fights that they’d been in, especially if they were the victor. Most tend to have theirs on display for all to see, although urban ferals tend to have smaller ones, which are less obvious. One thing to look for is where they are marked repeatedly, especially if it looks like they are covering something up. This is because, if a feral herd decides to adopt a farm-bread livestock, pet, or slave, they will see about covering up, if not disfigure, any ownership markings. If you do see such ownership markings, be very careful, as such strays can be very dangerous, even compared to the average feral, if they believe that their freedom is at stake. After all, most don’t want to go back to their prior owner; some might have even killed them.

Taming a Feral
Taming a feral isn’t easy, especially adult ones. However, this can be done, so long as one is careful. Trust is the most important thing to have with them. My family found that open honesty was one of the more effective ways of dealing with them – that one day, we’d probably breed and either sell or eat them. To be honest, in addition to having a crippled leg, the main reason John Wrangler never escaped was because of the standard reward for returning escapees being to reward the returner with a human of one grade lower than the escapee – John, being Prime Grade, would have watched someone leaving, possibly being eaten, due to his failure to escape. Funny enough, with him around, there was never a successful escape, some attempts, but none succeeded. Our taming was such that, despite John having a walking-club, a length of wood with a dense knob on the end, and was strong enough to crush the skull of many bears and wolves, and was eventually used by my father to save his own life, John would watch over my father as he slept under his favorite tree, like a faithful dog does with their master. Still, I will admit, John was very clever.

Can a Domesticated, Slave, Pet, or Livestock Human become a Feral?
Surprisingly enough, yes. As mentioned, this sort of thing takes a bit of time. After all, while a child raised by ferals learns things while growing up on how to survive, a farm-bred and raised human will lack many of the skills for hunting, foraging, fishing, scavenging, or lighting fires using primitive methods, among other things. However, also, as previously mentioned, it’s possible that one lacking such skills could still find a place among a feral herd, if they do have some sort of important skill. An unintentional example of this occurred when Bella’s sister’s son’s mate, who was the main healer of their herd, was having complications during pregnancy, and the other healer that the herd had had lost the use of their hand during an attack by a pack of wolves, and the healer of Bella’s herd was ill, and in no shape for delivering a newborn. Mother, having plenty of veterinary knowledge, a must when raising and breeding humans, offered to help – Bella’s sister refused to let her do this, because she was a werewolf. To be fair, the mare didn’t trust my mother, and thus was concerned about keeping her grandchild safe, which I can understand. This was where Jeffrey stepped in to help. Jeffrey is a slave that my father’s family took in as a child – origins unknown. More of a household servant than anything, mother, occasionally in need of help in taking care of sick or injured livestock, taught Jeffrey plenty of basic veterinary things, especially where being a midwife was concerned. Utilizing what he’d been taught, Jeffery preformed a successful Caesarean section, saving not only the child, but the mother as well. Because of this, he was seen as a member of the herd, and was given a tattoo that marked him as such, along with one stating his role, that of a healer, including one depicting him cutting the mare open, getting the baby, and then making the mare whole again. Granted, at Jeffrey’s request, said tattoos were placed where they’d be covered by his clothes, out of decency around our place’s guests, as to refuse these tattoos would have been rather insulting to the herd. Since then, he’s helped out with other similar issues, helping to fix broken bones, performing various surgeries, and other such procedures that normally require a veterinarian, or a qualified surgeon, especially upon those who don’t wish to be operated upon by vampires or werewolves. To be fair, in many cases, having clean, high-quality tools helps out. Still, the ferals have, more or less, taken him in as one of them, teaching him survival skills and such, although, in the words of Tobias, “Jeffrey might be good at cutting mothers open and delivering babies, but he can’t track deer, nor use a bow good enough to kill it!”

Another similar incident occurred when, after being abducted from their owners, a pet-child saved the life of a Protected feral, when the poacher tried to use them as a shield during a sanctioned recovery raid – please note for those who don’t understand, Protected humans, regardless of if they are Domesticated, Slave, Pet, Livestock, or Feral, are treated as Vampires and Werewolves in the eyes of the law, with the abduction of one seen as kidnapping, and the unauthorized destruction of one seen as murder. While the pet-child was returned to their owners, a couple who were infertile, they were given a message from the herd leader. Basically, they are more than welcome to mate with the herd leader’s daughter, and if they ever got tired of the soft life of a pet, they were welcome to join the herd.

In these situations, the reason that Jeffrey and the pet-child were allowed to join the feral herd is because they had saved the life of a member of the herd. This sort of thing will give, in their point-of-view, an uneducated livestock, pet, slave, soft domesticated one, someone with no skills listed, or even an exile, a certain amount of leeway in joining the herd. To quote Tobias, “While teaching skills might take time, saving those you care about is very important. Even if you can’t hunt too well, you can still save the lives of others.”

Conservation Status
In general, feral humans seem to have a Conservation status that depends on where one is. In some areas, feral populations are extinct. In others, they are so common, there’s actually road signs posted near areas they use like crosswalks. Many countries even issue Capture or Hunting tags to those in the business of hunting humans – each tag costing the equivalent of $50,000 generally. That being said, hunting humans is very risky, because they will fight to protect those that they care about. For every story someone posts about getting some big buck or delicate doe, there’s plenty of untold stories, ones involving would-be-hunters having their arms and legs broke, with their teeth yanked, and then there’s those where the hunter was killed, the body mutilated, and while I’ve never seen them do it in person, as mentioned, I have seen the trophies, and not just teeth which grow back.

With the rise of technology, and the existence of social media, to say nothing about pre-paid smartphones, some enterprising parks hand these devices out to ferals that visit, even helping them to set up accounts. Because of this, not only is it possible for someone from a herd in the United States to contact someone in a herd in Scotland, it is now easy to track, and count, the various herds and members they contain. Some ferals have even formed friendships with vampires, werewolves, and those domesticated free humans, slaves, pets, and livestock that have access to social media. These have even come in handy for getting missing cubs and pups back to their parents, alerting authorities about criminal vampires and werewolves that are on the lame, to say nothing about sending alerts in regards to wildfires, mudslides, avalanches, flooding, and other such things. Please note, do not use social media to hunt them, in any shape or form – not only might this be seen as a violation of online privacy rules, it can also be seen as poaching.

One thing to note is that there are indeed herds whose members are seen and listed as Protected. This is because, like mentioned above, one or more ferals saved the life of a vampire or werewolf. Sometimes the Protection is limited towards those of a certain line, or it is spread out to include relatives of their offspring, including those not directly related to the one that the initial Protection was placed upon, such as the mate that helped produce the offspring – my father did this to John Wrangler and his line, and those that they were related to. This does two things – in the first place, my family has First Dibs upon claiming a member of that line as one of ours; in the second place, they are treated as if they were a vampire or werewolf in accordance to the law – abducting them is seen as kidnapping, unlawful destruction is seen as murder – which some have found out the hard way.

On a related subject, do not engage in poaching. If they are lucky, perpetrators are fined the equivalent of $50,000 plus twice the value of the human’s meat at the minimum, with the possibility of having the items used during the incident seized – weapons, vehicle, traps, decoys, and other items – to say nothing about the possibility of jail time; as stated, these are the lucky ones. The hunter mentioned in the trophy section, was only successful because he’d use a hostage, putting the life of a cub in danger, forcing the herd to make the hard choice of whom to save, and whom to sacrifice; a method that is legally questionable at best. Turns out, the ferals had placed their own bounty upon his head – when his last hostage turned the tables and killed him, they became eligible to become the herd leader of several herds, along with other things, like having the first choice of being the mate of the daughters of those herds’s leaders, or other suitable arranged matings – even funnier, said hostage had once been a pet that was adopted by ferals after their Masters had been murdered by a group of serial killers.

While the Wolfe Family Park was the first known park to establish safe and peaceful interactions between feral humans and the general public, since the incident in Edinburg, many more parks have provided similar services to their programs, or have opened up with the intentions of providing such services. Among other things, it’s possible to get to know one another – the children playing together for one, the sexually curious ones being allowed to do so, and those curious about what higher grades of human blood and meat may do so, so long as it is safe for both predator and prey (meaning no fatal draining of the humans for vampires, and no digesting of any humans in a werewolf’s belly – they get brought up). Overall, it’s fun for the whole family, along with the ferals having theirs. Those teenagers of mine sure do enjoy it.

Homo sapiens familiaris
Ever since werewolves and vampires started capturing humans, some have taken to breeding them. Over time, this has led to a reduction of certain traits, like aggression, and the increase of others, like compliance. It’s very possible, in some cases, for a farmer to put a machete, hammer, or hatchet, or other similar tools, near the livestock, take a nap nearby, and wake up unharmed, the object left where it was. In fact, it is common practice that, after owning a line for ten generation, where the lineage has been tracked to have been livestock, pet, or slave, to call the cubs born of two of them Lucky Elevens – and they tend to be classified as Free Domesticated, although many tend to stick around the family, even breeding with some of the livestock. However, some do not abide by this custom, and while it’s not uncommon to bring in a feral to use to “restart” the process, there is confirmed evidence of at least one 10thgen, whose 11thgen son, upon being declared livestock, planned to free their son, by any means necessary. Almost fifteen years later, not only did he free his son by pushing them over the fence, he went on a rampage, killing not only his Master, but over a dozen farmhands, before being captured and executed by being swallowed whole by a fertilizer producer. Evidence suggests that this son managed to flee into the wilds, where he was taken in by one feral herd, or another. I have listened to his descendants – even to this day, they hate that particular family for what they did, even killing members of that family. Part of me hopes that, if one of my descendants ever encounters a descendant of the Wrangler Family Farm herd, that had managed to escape the rustlers, they would not encounter the same level of hate that I’ve seen in the eyes of these particular ferals. It is one thing if they took teeth, as teeth grow back, but I hope that my family isn’t hated so much, that their heads become trophies.

Of course, most humans of long-term domestication lines do not get aggressive, barring certain extremely stressful situations. Many prove to be very good companions – my own children enjoy theirs, and I enjoy my pet-children. My sex slave certainly has his uses, when my husband is not around, and I’m certain that he enjoys his.

Over the last fifty or so years, there has been a movement to label this group of humans, Homo sapiens familiaris, the Domesticated Human. In addition the majority of these humans tend to be in the C-grade range or better – easily 40% being in the C-Grade range, 35% in the B-Grade range, 10% being in the A-Grade range, all of them being perfectly tasty to enjoy. That being said, about 14% tend to be in the D-Grade range, or lower, either being food for non-human pets or livestock, or being fertilizer right away. However, 1% is the famed Prime Grade, which many breeders and farmers hold on to, as they can increase the meat grade of the next generation by at least one letter grade, and the even more rare Supreme Grades increasing the letter grade by two – these tend to be the Herd Leaders on most farms, due to being kept on for so long. Among the ferals, the meat grade is more spread out, with grade ranges D, C, and B, each having 30%, with A grade range being about 10%, with Prime Grade being less than 1%. As I’ve been informed, “Better a D-Grade that knows what berries are poisonous than a Prime Grade that does not.” Of course, much like farm-raised humans, those that do naturally fall into the F-Grade classification range tend to be those that are sick and would die soon anyways. Of course, there are those that find themselves “Reclassified” as F-Grade, who get scheduled for Immediate Processing due to being Extremely Dangerous, for things like trying to kill their Masters – seems that even Ferals can agree with that there, as I have received more than a few such tied-up and highly dangerous ferals, who were placed on my porch, with a nice note detailing what they did, like attempting to murder a pregnant mare.

For the most part though, the main criteria for labeling for labeling this group as a separate subspecies, as proposed by one disgraced researcher, comes from the fact that many of these “Homo familiaris” tend to get sexually excited when being swallowed or drained. With the help of some friends and acquaintances, werewolf and vampire, as well as a number of humans, Domesticated Free, Slave, Pet, Livestock, and of course, Feral, I performed a series of tests. These tests included, but were not limited to, licking, mock sucking, non-fatal bleeding, and non-fatal swallowing with regurgitation, of the various humans, who were all volunteers. It was a Double-Blind test of sorts – vampires and werewolves, aside from myself, didn’t know where the humans were from, and aside from a handful, most humans didn’t know who was feral and who was not, as the non-ferals were marked in ways that were similar to markings from other herds by using washable vegetable dye, and all were told to not discuss their pasts to one another. Those whose lines had been domesticated for a long time did get sexually excited when being licked, sucked, drained, and swallowed. Those whose lines hadn’t been domesticated that long didn’t get excited as often. This even held true for the actual ferals – those whose ancestors had been heavily domesticated before escaping, or whatever, got sexually excited, while those whose ancestors had never been domesticated didn’t get excited as often. During this first test, part of a second test was being set up, wherein people that the test subjects cared about – mates, offspring, siblings, friends, and masters – were put through a series of exercises, the point being to exhaust them, to the point that they sounded like they were helpless, at which point, they spoke into a microphone saying this – “Help me.” Then each test subject was restrained into a chair, was informed that they were about to hear someone asking them for help, blindfolded, and then headphones were placed upon them – that was when they heard the voices of their loved ones asking for help. The reactions of many were immediate, struggling, frantically pulling and rubbing the restraints against the armrests, and so on, attempting to escape in order to help their loved ones. The reactions of some were very surprising – a 10thgen pet-child, with no history of aggression, upon hearing the voice of their master-sister call for help, broke through their restraints, breaking their collarbone, wrist, and their leg to do so, somehow stood, and demanded to know where their master-sister was. Luckily, we were able to calm them down, especially with the help of their master-sister. Likewise, I was glad that we had some veterinarians and feral healers (some ferals don’t trust veterinarians) to help out in cases of injuries. Even the ferals were shocked by what he’d done. As it is, I believe that some further testing and research needs to be done, to see just what it takes to bring out such aggression in some of the long-term domesticated lines. The reaction of this 10thgen pet reminded me of a story by my Scottish feral friend.

“My father was a pet – 10thgen. His master-parent ran a distillery, making cider, even teaching him the process, brewing some good stuff,” he said. “One day, there was a home-invasion, their master-parent being murdered. Managing to get away, he fell in with the Wallace herd. His knowledge of distilling cider became useful, and was what allowed him to join the herd, eventually becoming the mate of the herd leader’s daughter. Unlike most though, he didn’t engage in wrestling, or hunting, at least to the extent of the rest of the herd, as he wasn’t interested in such things. One day, the herd was attacked by a band of poachers, who were capturing members of the herd without any proper tags. My father looked at one of them, and recognized them as the one that had killed their master-parent. According to mother, father flew into a blind rage, grabbed a fallen hatchet, rushed up to them, and dismembered them. The ferocity of his attack shocked the poachers so much; it gave the herd the chance to fight back, and beat them off.” He then told one of the others to bring over something. It was the head of a werewolf, a female possibly, but between the smashed muzzle, broken jaw, shattered teeth, gouged out eyes, and ripped ears, identification would be very tricky to do. “Father only ever killed one werewolf or vampire in his whole life – that was her, she who killed his master-parent. These teeth I wear, they come from those I’ve beaten, most are still alive, save for those I had to kill to protect my herd. Father only ever had one tooth on his necklace – hers. In my opinion, he was more dangerous than I. I would hate to experience the sort of anger needed in order to do what he did to this particular enemy of his.” Personally, knowing what many do to their slaves, pets, livestock, to say nothing about Domesticated Free humans, along with the ferals, I’m sometimes surprised that some of the more abusive owners are still alive. That being said, I did convince him to give up the remains – seems that there was a bounty equivalent to several million United States dollars for her capture – the bounty was donated to the park, with the express purpose of helping the herd out.

Handling an Encounter with a Feral
If you’re an avid hiker, camper, or hunter, this could happen to you. You’re on a trail, or at a campsite, enjoying the day, or night, and a feral human makes an appearance. Armed with a spear, blades, and other things, they come up to you. The question is; what to do? First thing is, show no aggression towards them, for odds are, they are not the only human watching. The other one will, most likely, have a crossbow or something similar pointed at you from a nearby hiding spot. This has happened to me, plenty of times – the obvious one standing or sitting in front of me, then, out of the corner of my eye, I’ll catch another one, camouflaged and armed with said crossbow, pointed at me, and if I’m really lucky, I’ll spot the third, also camouflaged and armed with a crossbow, and of course, there’s the one in front of me already. Next thing, treat them with the same level of courtesy and respect as you’d give to a werewolf or vampire; even when I don’t display my tooth, or my Bone Carrier pendent, the feral I’m speaking to tends to react in a similar manner as I do, calm, friendly, even offering a portion of their food or drink, especially if I’ve done the same. After a while, the others might “show up” as if they’d just found something worth taking back to the rest of the herd – mess of fish, a few large containers of berries, a couple of rabbits, or other such things. They will then give their good-byes, and leave you be. Some hours later, you might have an encounter with another – this one, depending upon the size of the herd, might be the one in charge of the hunters, fighters, or the herd leader themselves. While they might have a few others nearby, they might also be alone. Many herd leaders carry what is a length of wood with a dense knob on the end, possibly once a sapling that had a root ball that is now this knob. When properly made, this can act as a walking aid, or a very effective defensive weapon, which can crush the skull of a bear. They call it a walking-club, but my uncle calls it a “World of Hurt”, and even with over 500 pounds of fat acting like a cushion, he was in more than a bit of pain after John repeatedly slammed one into him, after my uncle made the mistake of calling an F-Grade he’d come to eat a “sack of shit-to-be” within his hearing – caught my father by surprise, as John was largely confined to a wheelchair due to his injuries at the time – John wasn’t one to be messed with, even when injured. In any case, the walking-club is a symbol of a herd leader’s position – do not touch without their permission, and never try to take it, unless you’re willing to fight for your life. You give them respect, they’ll give you respect. You let them walk away, and they’ll do the same.

“I don’t mind being eaten, once I’m dead of course,” my feral Scottish friend said. “This is especially if you were to prepare me with some good cider-based Strong Juice. My problem is with those who only see humans as food, or food-to-be, especially those who take an excessive amount of pleasure out of doing do, to say nothing about the pleasure that they get during the eating. Gluttony is a sin after all, or so I’ve heard. Now, if some human attacked you, planning to kill you, it’s one thing to protect yourself, or if you encounter someone that’s dying, and asks for an end to their pain, I can understand – in those cases, you want to serve them up as some fancy dinner, go right ahead. I can even understand it if you go after hostile ones, especially them causing everyone trouble. My problem is when you hunt down someone, just to use them for some fancy dinner like Kreestice Day or whatever – use a pig for that, as the taste is the same from my own experience.” I asked him about Free Domestics, Slaves, Pets, and Livestock. “I pity them that don’t know what it’s like to enjoy freedom – it might be hard, and dangerous, but I’d rather wrestle bears for my supper, than to sleep on a soft bed, eating what my master gave me, knowing that, any day, could be the day he decides to turn me into supper. I do have sympathy for the nice masters – maybe they’ll learn to see humans as people. I don’t have much for those who abuse their humans though – I caught one werewolf whipping a human slave for spilling their tea – I gave that werewolf a beating they’ve yet to forget, especially since I carved their ear off, and told them that if they ever harmed another human, I’d come for the rest of their head. Even now, after ten years, I still have folks keeping an eye on him.” I would eventually get an invitation to this feral’s funeral, where, in accordance to his own request, he’d been done up like a cider-seasoned haggis – he was delicious, I will say that – an A+ Grade, easily.

In Conclusion
Feral humans are a special group, one that should be looked after and respected. In many ways, they are like us – name a parent that wouldn’t do whatever it took to save their child. Name someone who wouldn’t want justice if they were wronged. Name someone who wouldn’t want to enjoy their life to the fullest. I can’t think of any – parents look after children, people want justice, and people want to live life to the fullest.

I have heard the conspiracy theories about how humans are planning a rebellion, to try to overthrow the rule of vampires and werewolves. Not only is this unlikely – due to the lack of adequate weaponry among them – most would prefer to avoid war anyways, although, as stated, they will fight to protect themselves. As I look at my pet-children’s social media accounts, I have also checked out those of other humans – Domesticated Free, Slave, Pet, Livestock, and Feral – I see that most are like everyone else’s – talking about sports teams, music, things that they’ve learned. Sometimes I even see them play that “Match up with a Predator” game. I remember one conversation, where a werewolf was telling this feral mare that he couldn’t wait to have her inside him. Her response was to post a picture of an outfit made from the hide of a bear stating that she didn’t need another fur coat, yet. The werewolf didn’t respond to that – guess she was too much of a predator for him. Other conversations are more cordial, romantic even, and the meet-up stories tend to be rather interesting, although one story was rather tragic. For a number of years, a young male werewolf and a female feral had chatted back and forth, and they’d arranged the in-person meet up. However, the night before the meeting, there was a raid, and while her herd fended it off, she was among the slain. When he arrived, and found out what had happened, he was beside himself. Then her parents told him that her last words were that she wanted to be with him, if only in spirit. Thus, he was taken to one of the mare’s favorite locations, and was told that it would make for a good gravesite. A hole was dug. Her body, covered in the werewolf’s favorite condiments, was brought to the site. The parents told him to treasure the time that he had with their daughter, giving him a bottle of Strong Juice. They then walked away. After a little bit, he got hungry. “She might have had a meat grade of D-, but she was Prime Grade to me,” he stated. His stomach did what every stomach does, and eventually, it was time to fill in the grave. “There are folks that like to take pictures of the skulls. That’s not how I wanted her to be remembered. I wanted to remember her as the girl who liked talking about the fishing, hunting, foraging, as well as the music, so I listened to videos of her as I did my business. After I finished laying her to rest, I shoveled the dirt in, took a swallow of the Strong Juice, poured another onto her grave, and placed a marker. She was special to me. I later pulled out my own tooth, and put it on a string. I’ve also been looking up stuff on the Bone Carrier religion, for I don’t think that I can just eat a human anymore, might convert over to that.”

Maybe that is the question to ask; why would anyone want to eat a human, upon knowing what life is like for them? Well, I best hurry up – got me a Prime Grade Feral in the oven done up Dulce de Leche style, fully stuffed. He shouldn’t have gone after my feral godchildren.