It was an uncomfortable trip back to the Base, knowing that it was now supposed to be my home.
I didn't have family who lived near us, and the only time I had seen them was when we gathered for a funeral.
Then, we all went our separate ways and lived through reactions and comments on a screen.
I didn't even know them.
God damn it, I didn't even know who I was supposed to be anymore.
"It's tough..."
"Don't" I muttered out "I don't need you to try and make this OK."
I just needed to try and figure it out. What the fuck was I supposed to do now? Live in that Base like the rest of them? Become a damn monster who went out to drag more unfortunate souls back there?
I had to start over with my life in a garbage bag, and the last home-cooked meal I'd have from my own mum.
She actually put effort into this one too. It wasn't just pea and ham soup made from cheap butcher's hock bones.
I wonder what made her change it up?
"You should stay at mine tonight."
"I don't think so" I snorted back without even looking at Solanine "I'm going to set up my TV in my room and stay the fuck away from you."
Silence.
"You are coming with me on my Mission then."
"I think the fuck not" I spat back at the window so I didn't need to look at him "just quit whatever you think you have here and go chase some other clueless idiot. I'm not going to be crawling to you now or ever."
"Well, you kind of need me for the Mission. You can't back out of it, unless you want to stay with me? Two is better than one in a place like the Base."
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The fucker was trying to manipulate me. I'd rather face the damn Blood Demons again than actually think about getting cosy in his room.
Did he think he could just use and abuse me like that and I'd obey like a damn dog?
Prick.
"What's the Mission?"
There was a little sigh.
Good.
I was going to crush any deluded hope he had prancing in that disgusting mind if his.
"Our doctor is running very low on supplies. We need to grab some for him. The ones he needs are some hard to get plants. They are very important and can only be found in a valley where spores are. You won't need a gas mask."
"It can't just be painkillers, can it?"
Solanine laughed and caught my eye for a moment.
"You know shit is never that easy."
I felt myself smiling but withdrew it to look back out the window. I didn't want him to think we were getting close or anything.
I hated him. He just had some good points.
"There will be three others besides me" he continued "only one other will be wearing a gas mask. I've specifically hunted down Souls immune to poisons."
That had to be him too, didn't it? He didn't mention him needing one either.
Great. Another thing I had to watch out for with him.
"Just exactly how many tricks do you have?" I turned around to scowl at him.
"Tricks?"
"Special things" I pointed "you have that drainy thing; that's one."
He laughed again.
"Oh! You mean abilities!'" he chuckled "the 'drainy thing' is one of them, yes. Then an immunity to poison, which is from the virus I wa..."
"Virus?"
"Uh, yeah" Solanine replied casually "I was given it with a bunch of other people when I was at the Old Base. It was supposed to strengthen our numbers. Believe it or not, we had below fifty people once. It was... rough."
They actually did that to their own people? What kind of sick person was this leader?
"It's not going to kill you, if that's what you are worried about."
"Why would I be worried about that?" I frowned back at him, feeling the panic rising "that only makes me more worried that you've said that."
Was it something that could be passed like a sexual disease? Had he given it to me in the times we had been stuck together? That was a long time to be connected to someone with a damn virus.
"You should have told me sooner."
"And you should drop it" he rolled his eyes "you aren't dead. Look, it's only spread through skin contact wh...."
"WHICH MEANS I JUST GAVE IT TO MY DAMN MOTHER!" I moaned back in disbelief.
"...and if you'd let me finish, I was about to say that you didn't. It's black, you'd see it if it had. You only touched her shirt; quit being so whiny."
"I can't believe you gave me some disease."
I heard the anger in his sigh and saw it in the wheel he gripped tighter.
"If anything, I gave you something useful. It'll protect you. The reason why they purposefully infected us was because once you have it, it'll literally save your skin. It works in a way that it'll shield the host so it doesn't die too. It's handy, but a pain in the arse when you need to watch out who you could give it to."
Like me.
"I can't believe this."
"If anything, I made you more valuable to Eagle. You can't be a nobody in that place."
"Not now that I'm supposed to live there as a loyal Soul Stealer, you mean."
Solanine eyed me and shook his head.
"You know what I mean" he mumbled.
Speaking of Soul Stealers, I hadn't even checked my Band since getting it. Wasn't I supposed to have a name on it now that I had completed my first Mission already? The whole reason I had been trying to get one was to slip away and come back home.
But that was all over now. The name on this Band was supposed to be who I was now.
"What's a... Xylosma?" I squinted at the name there "sounds poisonous."
"That's promising" Solanine nodded, smiling "you want a bad one. Mine is a type of poison, maybe yours will be too?"
And be like him? Now I was wishing it wasn't a type of poison. Anything that didn't link us in the slightest.
Solanine instantly grew nervous when the cops went blaring past us. He pulled down the sun visor and kept his head down to avoid making eye contact with any of the occupants speeding past us.
Why did that make me nervous too? I was avoiding thier eyes, just like he was. Seeing him fear them only made me follow suit.
I was a follower. Even at work I bent under any hint of hostility. I was just there to pack shit in bags and get back home.
But I had never hated anyone as much as i hated the man beside me.
He was the one who tested those boundaries I set for myself to give the best 'customer service'.
That was a thing of the past now.
I wonder what work was thinking109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7dluwosP2
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about where I had gone to? I could hear the rumours in the lunchroom already.
"Did you want to drive?" Solanine offered "no-one is going to recognise you if we have more cops go by. I'm sure you know the way back; you were keeping a close eye on things here. I can tell you where to go if you need it."
"Yeah. I'll drive."
"Good" Solanine smiled "because I wasn't giving you a choice."
He pulled us over so we could exit and swap seats. Solanine took my mums cooking and started picking at it with a happy groan.
"It's been forever since I've had something like this. Alexi used to make food this good. He had a thing for making something out of nothing."
"Do I even want to know who that is?" I glanced over to him "another poor soul you tormented?"
"He actually respected me" Solanine boasted "treated me with some decency. I was his grand show, and he was my handler. Only one I ever had."
Handler?
"Hang on, you were some show pet?" I snorted "I have to see that."
"I'm not human" he reminded me "so, obviously, I was going to be something that brought in the money. I was bred for that purpose, and I did a good job. Alexi was the one who I copied the skin of when I grew my own."
"That's disgusting" I shuddered at the thought of him carefully harvesting his own human form I was talking to now.
"Its natural" he replied "lots of creatures up here hide in skins they've grown. Others actually take bodies. It's a fucked up world out there."
He laughed and shovelled more food into his mouth with a gleeful grin.
"Alexi would be so old now" he mused "I wonder if I showed up in as his old skin what he would do. Probably laugh."
He really idolised this Alexi guy. The way he smiled at his name and memories showed me there was a softer side to the monster I knew.
If only he had shown it to me. He was only stalked me because I was something trying to stay away from him.
He liked hunting helpless things.
I felt sorry for Alexi, and I didn't even know him.
"I was the best thing that ever happened to that guy."
I had to snort at that.
Like fuck he was that special to anybody. People only remembered him for all the pain he inflicted.
Solanine narrowed his eyes at me and turned to keep an eye on the road.
So, the topics of children and this Alexi guy touched nerves with him. If have to remember that for when he wanted to attack me next. Maybe I could slip away while he was brooding over the past.
"Keep laughing, Bag Bitch" Solanine grumbled back "at least I had more than some crappy job in a shithole town."
"Oh ho, is that how you want to play it?" I raised an eyebrow at him "resorting to childish games when you are angry?"
He didn't reply and kept scowling at me.
"Well, I have control of the car now, so if you want to be a little bitch I can pull us over and make you walk back."
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There was no way I was going to follow through with it. Solonine would have my damn head if I tried to do anything that gave me any sort of leverage over him, even something as dumb as a joke.
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Did it come with living at the Base for as long as he had? He wasn't fresh to be up in the top ranks like he was. People feared him, and that's the way he liked it.
Maybe.... is that what I had to do to earn some respect in there?
I could start over. I already had a weird new name and a Soul whose presence intimidated others. Through association, I could be someone other than Register One Birdie.
It was still playing on my mind when we stopped for the night and spent it sleeping in our front seats since the back was taken by my trash bag and tiny TV. 109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxQ9PCva1x
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What was left of dinner was divided to serve as some sort of food for the night and early the next morning along with Solanine's smoke when he leant against the car to drag in what he could before we headed off again.
We only stopped again when we reached the gravel road and trees surrounding the Base as a new night was setting upon us. 109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIY4fcDE6f
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Solanine carried my bag of belongings over his shoulder like some discount Santa, and I followed along with my comically tiny TV cradled in my arms.
The levels were bare again except for the few bodies i saw shuffling along. Solanine kept his eyes up as he hauled my stuff onwards.
Must be night again. There certainty was a lack in life when it hit. It felt weird too; different somehow, despite not being able to see for sure if there were stars in the sky or not.
Solanine didn't take the turn towards my room, and kept heading towards his before i snapped into his ankle with my foot.
"We aren't going to yours" i growled at him "I've already told you this."
"You are going to mine" he bared his teeth back at me "while I go hunting. I'm not going to be seen hanging outside your door like a dependant dog. I'm higher than you, so you follow what i say. I need you rested for tomorrow's Mission. You can sleep on the floor."
"O-on the floor?" I breathed back in disbelief "and you expect me to be good for tomorrow after that? I'll go to my room."
"Suit yourself" he huffed with a hoist of the bag and kept trudging along to his room "when you decide to fuck me, you can sleep in the bed."
I was left holding my TV while Solanine ventured further away with my belongings. He was climbing the stairs up to his room on the other side of the level when i decided to follow along bitterly.
I only needed my things. Then I'd head back to mine.
"Oh, so you do listen" he chuckled when he saw me approaching him "you haven't gone completely useless yet."
He didn't wait and headed inside. I saw him dissapearing upstairs when I hesitated at the door, before the sound of the rustling garbage bag and clattering of my figures made me storm inside.
"You have so much shit!" Solanine laughed when i barged into the room and saw him pulling up one of my shirts "when did you buy this? 2003?"
I snatched it from him, only for him to pull up more from the pile he had dumped on the ground.
"Do all men wear such.... trash?" he wrinkled his nose up at another shirt he held against his own "i have more style than you, and I don't even need the damn things!"
"You probably stole all yours!" i tore the shirt from him to try and bundle them all up in my arms "i don't exactly have all the money to go and buy new things!"
"Didn't" he corrected me.
I watched him place down my console on his table then come back to judge his way through my clothes and figurines he tossed to me.
"Want anything while i'm out? An arm? I can... save you the head?"
I wrinkled my nose up at his offer and kept collecting my things to dump on his table.
He saw my disgust and dropped the offer immediately. He looked disappointed that i had rejected him, walking over to the wall where the stairs laid.
"Blankets are in my cupboard" he grumbled "and you can use your trash pile as a pillow. I'll be back later, and i expect you to be asleep. I don't want you bitching about how tired you are on the Mission."
"Yes, Sir" I rolled my eyes back at him.
Solanine only scowled back and slipped away. I listened to his footsteps thunder to the door that closed behind him.
There was silence after that.
Good.
I could get my shit together and get out of here before he even thought of coming back.
I went to the bedroom to search through the cupboard on the other side. There was a bunch of extra blankets folded in their own section within. Above that was extra towels and bags stacked on the shelf above that.
There were so many here. Maybe he used them to store his shit for when he had to go out kidnapping new Souls for the Base? I didn't see any other reason Solanine needed several gym bags.
He wouldn't miss one anyway. It would be his repayment to me for ruining my garbage bag.
I dumped everything into that gym bag before nestling my console on top. The TV went back under my arm as i lugged it all downstairs and out into the Base.
The place made me nervous at how quiet it all was. It felt like i was being watched from the shadows all around me when i quickened my pace back to my room. My neck prickled, and my heart raced just at the sense that something was stalking me.
I could hear anything, but i wasn't about to start trusting my ears now. I usually didn't pick up on anything until it was close enough to startle me. And if i did hear it, i had terrible judgement from the direction it came without seeing whatever was causing it.
Being partially deaf wasn't going to help in a place like this. I was going to have to find some way to adapt, and fast.
I was running for my door when the pressing force of something looming behind me rippled panic through me. I was so blind with fear that i didn't even see the body i crashed into that was exiting my room.
Cold wetness drenched my front and made me yelp. Its claws gripped me, holding tight around my shoulders and drenching me further as i cried out and struggled with my eyes squeezed shut.
There was a hissing noise that forced them open, freezing me in place.
It was Poison.
His head dipped over mine, checking the darkness either side of him before looking down on me. He gripped his drenched jacket in one hand which is what was what was dripping down my right side.
Instantly, the guilt of neglecting my one task i had been given flooded upwards.
"I was wondering when i was going to get my things back" he scolded me, ignoring my fear "you cant let it soak for that long! I'm going to have to rewash the whole thing now!"
"Look, i'm very sorry" i blurted, feeling the presence grip tighter in my gut "but can we talk about this inside?"
He wasn't impressed with me trying to brush aside his concerns. I saw his hood flare slightly, and felt his claws squeeze just that bit tighter until they released me.
"I trusted you with something very important to me and you let it get ruined" Poison glared when i huddled behind my door. He held up the dripping jacket that i could see was stained with rings of copper from where the blood had pierced into it.
I had left it sitting in the sink for almost a week. The results really showed how neglectful i had been.
"I'll do it properly this time" i held my hand out to take it, but was only met with a hiss and step back from Poison. His hood was fully flared now to show the brilliant red scales contrasting the black ones inside.
"I don't give second chances."
"Poison...."
The last thing i needed now was a giant man-snake against me. But he had made up his mind and turned a cold shoulder to head back to his own room.
"Fuck."
Suddenly, the weight of everything felt like it was dragging me down. With someone like Poison against me, i knew i had to watch my back.
Sleeping at Solanine's didn't sound like such a bad idea anymore. At least i'd be where no other Soul would dare enter. They knew how important he was and didn't want to feel his anger.
Maybe i'd have to take advantage of his interest in me to stay out of the grip of the other Souls here. Having Solanine turn against me would be a disaster. He could drain the breath from me in an instant and had infected me with whatever disease he had. His stubbornness was the only reason he wasn't already looking elsewhere for someone else to torment and torture.
I can't believe i actually had to lean into my fake friendship just to avoid him. What a fucking joke.
At least i could relax with him gone. I could actually have a proper shower in peace and set up my console. Outside the room would be good, against the wall opposite the kitchen. I would have to grab a bean bag to enjoy myself properly; maybe a little table later on in the future.
It was weird having my own place, and one as big as this one. It was still setting in that i could decorate it however i wanted.
It wasn't going to be with noodle cups this time.
I spent the night setting up my console and playing the only game that worked without internet on it until i fell asleep on the floor with an empty tin of baked beans beside me and my hearing aid perched on the console.
I sure felt my bad idea once my body felt like it had been beaten by the floor itself. It was so stiff and sore that i had pain shooting up through my rib cage when i dragged myself upwards. My spine had become a wooden board that was hammered to the other plank that was now my right arm i had used to support my head. Even breathing hurt. It was like trying to breathe through a metal cage constricting my aching chest.
There was loud slurping from the table i peered up at.
Solanine sat there, sipping from a mug as he leant back with his shoes planted on my table.
"So, did you forget you had a Mission today or....?"
"I get it" i groaned "I'll get showered."
"I should make you wear what you have on" he slurped again "but i don't want to be smelling bean sauce on you for the whole trip there."
He thought he had the upper hand here. I just ignored him and dragged out some clothes to head to the bathroom.
He followed and sat on the toilet.
"I didn't bring you back the head" he spoke when i turned the taps on "or anything, for that matter."
"Good?" i frowned back in confusion "is that supposed to make me feel bad?"
He was silent.
Ok, so it was supposed to.
It had to be a species thing. Bringing back the head had to mean something if he was still harping on about it.
"You'll have to make do without the hearing-aid today too" he continued "and you'll need a hooded jacket with long sleeves that cover your arms. Long pants too with long socks and shoes; the lot. The spores might not hurt you, but they can still affect you if they stick to your skin."
I peeked out the shower door at him.
"I'm not going to be hauling you around because you can't follow instructions" he said with a wave of his hand "this is very important for me and i wont have you ruining it or making me look bad."
I returned to my shower as he left to swap my casual clothing for more protective ones.
I was going to boil in these, i could tell. Packed in a full car wasn't going to help either. we were all going to be suffering together.
There was no delaying the inevitable. Solanine was waiting impatiently for me already and was hurrying me through everything so he could march me downstairs to where three others were gathered.
They all looked bored before I turned up. Two younger teens; a young man and woman were muttering amongst themselves until they saw Solanine and stopped. Another woman kept her relaxed stance that leant on the railing.
"Jerking him off up there?" she jeered to Solanine who snorted at her rudeness and led the way "what took you?"
"Just making sure he hasn't killed himself yet" he replied with a playful shove of her shoulder.
"Keep up" she snapped her fingers to the younger ones trailing behind with me "and don't touch him" she pointed to me.
Immediently, they placed distance between me.
"So, is he the new plaything?" the woman glanced back at me with a laughing smile "you can do better."
"I know" Solanine replied simply "but he makes things interesting."
She looked at me again and I glared back at her obvious judgment.
"If you keep it up, I'll have to do something about it" Solanine grumbled to the woman who found his threat amusing.
"Now, now, I'm only looking" she snorted "don't get your dick in a twist."
Solanine smiled at her and continued onwards, with thier teasing banter being thrown back and forth.
It wasn't until we reached the cars that everyone stopped thier discussions and helped uncover a dark blue one.
I was allocated the front passengers side while the woman had to be squashed in the back with the other two. She wasn't pleased with the decision, given her higher rank over them.
"I want all of you to stay on task" Solanine demanded as he pulled the car out of the trees, blasting the air conditioner for us all "we can't afford a fuck-up in a place like this. The spores will kill you like that" he snapped his fingers "if you slack off for even a moment. We get in, pick the damn shrooms, and get out."
"And this mask is safe?" the young man flipped it in his hands "it looks like it's been used way too many times."
"It's fine" the woman rolled her eyes back "it hasn't been used in forever."
I heard the whimper of the young man in reply and instantly felt sorry for him.
None of us were going to be in danger like he was. From what I knew, he was the only one not immune to poisons out of us.
"How long will this take?" I fretted now.
"Three hours there. Then however long it takes to harvest the shrooms" Solanine flashed me a small smile "shouldn't be too much. Than we can go back and play games together."
I felt the second-hand embarrassment peeling from the others behind us at Solanine's open affection towards me. I burned and wished I could sink into the chair to avoid his gaze and hand opened up to be there in hope of accepting mine.
"Get a room."
Solanine's hand snapped shut and returned to the wheel.
Maybe I should have taken it. I didn't need him to have another reason to turn against me. Things were already cold enough between us to be sliding into enemy territory.
I wish it was that easy.
Solanine was still silently stewing over his issues when we parked up and got out on the edge of a cliff that dipped downwards into a valley of twisting mushrooms and spiked flowers. The spores from them all glittered in the air and stuck to the lenses of the nervous teen's mask. 109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvVR02WEiO
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We all were passed bags and gloves from Solanine who fished them from the back of the car.
"Ah, breathe deep!" the woman chortled as she came over to slap Solanine on the back "just like old times!"
He grinned at her but it slipped instantly when she led the others down the steep slope.
Solanine grabbed my arm when I went to follow them, dragging me back.
He looked nervous; embarrassed even. It surprised me that he was acting this way. With everyone out of sight, he was letting down his rough exterior.
"Is there anything between us?" he peered up at me "I feel like whatever I say, you have a comeback for. You push me away every chance I get with you. I want us to be like how we were in that car, Baby Bird."
"I should get down to picking the shrooms" I muttered back and went to leave until his hand grabbed mine and yanked me back again.
"I'm not letting you weasel out of this" Solanine glared at me "I need a honest answer."
Honest. If he wanted it so badly, I'd give it to him.
"What, so you can track some other fool?" I bit back now that the rage within me had been called on "of course there is nothing between us! There will never be, but I don't need you as an enemy, OK? I'm trying my best to figure this all out, but you keep trying to chase me and fuck me every chance you get! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of you!"
Damn that felt good. I felt all the pent up anger boil over and bubble it's way through Solanine who actually looked hurt at my venomous words.
"I thought you were just playing hard to get."
I had to scoff at how fucking stupid that sounded coming from him.
"What part of 'help me, keep him away from me!' screams hard to get to you?!" I snapped "I don't want you against me but I don't want you as whatever you think this is."
His eyes focused on my gesturing between us and he sighed. I saw his teeth grit together and his hands ball up.
"Just... go do your damn job" he muttered and pointed down the hill.
"So, you'll stop chasing me now?"
His smile was cold and sinister. There was no peace between us. He just wanted clarity so he knew how hard he'd have to push until I caved in.
He was still hunting me like the damn animal he was.
"I hate you" I growled then turned to the ledge.
"Foreplay already?" he teased and walked over to put a shoe on my back "do a good job for me, OK?"
I was pushed down the edge and went sliding into the valley. Mushrooms and flowers were torn up on the way, coating my clothes when I dragged myself from the mess beside the others picking away.
"None of those are going to be any good now" the younger woman commented.
"No shit" I snapped back, swiping them from me to throw them down.
That mother fucker.
Solanine stayed at the top of the valley, just watching. He waved to me when I threw flowers in his direction.
There as no point trying to hurt him from down here. I had to get to picking so I could kick his arse when we finished here.
The twisted mushrooms had massive caps on them that were so delicate to the touch. I pulled them from the Base of the stem and made my own little gathering that I took to the bag bundled open in the middle of our harvesting circle.
We all picked in silence, placing each collection into the growing pile that was contributing to the caps snapping off under its own weight.
"I think this should be plenty" the older woman commented when more caps buckled under the mound "we might be able to salvage a few from this."
She handed the bag to the younger man who cradled it close. His gas mask was fogging with each noisy breath he took.
"Looks like it's all clear..." the older woman started when we gathered at the bottom of the valley "...just be careful on the way back up, OK?"
"Okay."
The younger woman went first. The younger man came up behind her with the bag, and I followed behind him. The older woman guarded the rear and slapped the back of my legs to try and make me move quicker up the slippery slope.
She looked nervously around when I glared back at her. Her eyes narrowed at me when they met and she pushed me again in response.
"Look at you go!" Solanine whooped happily as he watched us struggle back up towards him, smoking a cigarette "did you get lots of them?"
The younger man held up the bag which made Solanine pump a fist into the air and take a drag.
"Yes!" he cheered "Scalpel is g..."
Solanine's body went flying over us and crashed down the valley with the one of a spiked beast tangled around it.
The beast was built like a hulking bear but covered in quivering spikes along its back that an echidna would have. It's small, beady black eyes were swiped with a white slash of colour in its otherwise dark black and blue quills. 109Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwM4sLuqTzp
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Mushrooms and flowers tangled in them to give it bursts of colour along its body that rained with spores in each movement.
There was a thick metal wire dug into its stumpy throat. It had been there so long that it had cut a path through the skin that had grown around it.
They snapped and snarled as they tore at each other. Solanine refused to shed his skin that was being raked at by the beast mauling him amongst the spores lighting up and crackling from the ignition of the cigarette that had been flung through them.
Instantly, we all bolted up the side to try and reach the car.
I saw Solanine go hurling into the ground several meters from us before he was dragged down by his legs, smashing the face of the beast while it threw the spikes on its back towards him.
The young woman reached the top first and turned to lower her hand to the young man lifting the bag up to her.
She almost had it before she was flung through the air and smashed her head on the ground that another spiked beast the same species as the first gripped in its claws. The only difference between the two was that this new one didn't have the wire cutting through its throat.
I heard the muffled screams of the young man who gripped the bag tightly and threw himself up over the edge to bolt for the car. I rushed up after him, feeling the older woman shove me desperately upwards so we could haul ourselves inside the open door and slam it shut behind us.
"We can't just leave her out there!" I blurted to the older woman diving into the driver's seat.
"That girl is done for!" she snapped back, gripping the wheel tightly "we can't do anything for her!"
"Then why aren't we going?!" the young man burst into tears while yanking at the straps at the back of his mask to free himself "we need to get out of here!"
"Those two creatures are Skervins" she pointed a finger to the edge of the valley "and I can't leave Solo to them; Blood Eagle will have my damn head. We have to wait for Ashes to lead them away first and get Solo into the car before we leave."
The young man drew his legs up to his chest, whimpering. He rubbed his eyes to try and stop the tears flowing.
I felt the panic rattling me and threaten to make me crack as well.
"W-we should do something to h-help her at l-least" he mumbled "we can't...."
"I know you don't believe that" the woman spoke back firmly before looking to me "do you want to be a hero and run out there for someone you don't know?"
I shook my head quickly and wiped my eyes.
Like hell I was putting myself in the way of creatures like that. For all I knew, Ashes was already dead.
I didn't want to witness that. I had never seen a dead person before in real life. Movies already made them look morbid enough.
The woman leant over to open the back door for the young man who panicked and pulled it closed again.
"If you want to save her, that's your chance" the woman said "but I won't have us all die because of one person who was dumb enough not to watch her back. We need to prioritize who is more important."
The young man's eyes darted between the woman's and mine before dropping down in shame.
We were all going to be safe.
I saw Solanine's monster tearing into the back of one of the Skervin that climbed up from the valley and spun wildly to try and throw him off. It threw its quills as it did, piercing the body of the car and even sending one through the windscreen where it landed in the back seat beside the terrified young man.
"Hold on!" the woman shouted out to us as she twisted the engine to life and immediently threw the gears into reverse so she had the space to spin us around to face our exit.
The woman laid her hand on the horn that only sent more quills spearing through the back window and into the seats around us.
The teen shielded his head and ducked down. I cowered at the foot of my seat to avoid the next set of quills being thrown into the car and the woman who screamed out in pain.
WHAT WAS SHE WAITING FOR?! FUCK HIM!
"GO!" I screamed to her desperately "GET US OUT OF HERE!"
She waited, bleeding from the three quills that had found the length of her arm. It was only when the teen shrieked from a body being thrown into the back window that buckled inwards that she smashed her foot onto the accelerator and sped us out of there.
I heard the scrabbling of something sharp on the metal boot before the back window was belted in and the glass shattered over the seats.
Solanine's monster dragged itself inside and collapsed on the seat that instantly soaked with its blood. I could hear his sawing breaths and groaning whimpers as it tried to remove some of the hundreds of quills skewering it with no luck.
"Wait until we get you back" the woman groaned back to him "if you pull them now, you'll only bleed more. Scalpel can take care of you."
Solanine couldn't even lift his head. His arms clutched at different sections of his body that dribbled blood from the quills or oozed yellow pockets of fat under the split skin on his back. He growled at the option he had, but didn't have the energy to fight it.
I stayed in the safety at the foot of my chair, watching Solanine's eyes never leave me in his mauled state. They begged for comfort that I wouldn't give him; my own worries too focused on the hot piss snaking down my leg and into the floor under me.
ns 15.158.61.12da2
