My children gorged themselves on cereal and toast I buttered into a pile for them.
They had done as they were told and worn clothing perfectly suited for escaping easily from.
Silas and Carter were seated at the bench, grabbing toast I passed them too.
They needed their energy for what was going to happen.
Carter was already complaining of pain, but nothing had come of it.
Silas didn't have anything yet. I kept checking them both, but the babies in his weren't nearly as active as Carter's.
I wasn't staying here another day. They were being born, whether they wanted it or not.
The sticks were still in place. Everyone was fed. Things were rolling smoothly.
Excitement coursed through me that I could barely contain.
It was actually going to happen!
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"You really are going to clean me out before you guys go, huh?" Carter commented when Avery loaded his plate again "I've never seen someone eat so much."
"You can get more" I defended when I dropped some for Carter "we can't."
"At least take some with you...."
"No" I bit back before my children could get their hopes up "we travel light."
They really did listen and only packed their most precious items.
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Astrid had Maisie's little acorn bag slung over her shoulder. Inside, she had stuffed a roll of musk lollies and flowers from home that had been hidden in one of the toys Carter had gathered.
Ethel had gathered her diary, but something had changed her mind on taking it. I caught her with a lighter outside when everyone gathered for breakfast, burning it into the fire pit.
She carried nothing, just like me. There was so much she could have chosen to substitute it with, but she left it all in the box wedged into the cupboard.
I left behind so much too. Too much I wanted to stow away and take with me.
Travel light. This was the sacrifice we had to make for a new start.
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"Kids, are you full?"
Astrid groaned and slumped forward, nodding.
I saw Avery still stuffing his face, as Ethel slowed down.
I shoveled my face now that I had a chance.
"How are you feeling?" I shot to the humans.
"It hurts" Carter clutched his middle "like, so much."
He looked close to tears when he groaned out and hunched over.
"Silas?"
"It's a bit scratchy, but nowhere near as bad as that."
His were never that painful. Something had to be going wrong.
"Kids, wait for me outside."
They slid from the seats and stopped to look up at me.
"Can I say goodbye to them?" Silas peered up too "I deserve that much."
I didn't want to let them anywhere near him, but I could see how badly my children wanted that chance.
They stayed rooted, waiting for me to give them the permission they yearned for.
"Make it quick" I sighed.
Instantly, all three were rushing to Silas. They hugged him and whimpered; Ethel letting her tears slide down her face when Silas' did.
"Oh, I'm going to miss you all so much" he sobbed and looked at each one with a forced smile "you've all grown so big."
They grinned back, trying to keep their spirits up.
"When you were all babies, you were so small" Silas hugged them all close "I remember having to stop you from eating your skin all the time" he chuckled to Ethel "and you from trying to see who could break their bones the quickest" he shook his head at Avery "and seeing all the things in the sun with you" he wiped Astrid's tears with his thumb.
"I'll miss you, Dad" Ethel hugged him.
"Do you have to go?" Astrid whimpered.
Silas' eyes met mine and he sighed.
"I can't come. It's for the best" he muttered.
"You aren't bad" Avery complained "you could come and do all the fun things we will."
Silas snorted as he tried to hold back tears, shaking his head.
"I'll be fine. We'll see each other again one day, maybe."
"Kids" I grumbled to them when he buried his head amongst them "it's time to go."
"I love you" Ethel whimpered.
"Baby" he stroked her face and wiped her tears "I love you too."
"I love you more!" Avery grinned and threw himself onto Silas who tried to laugh.
"My competitive little man" Silas ruffled his hair "I love you too."
"I love you" Astrid mumbled out and hugged Silas' neck that she rested her head into.
"Darling, I'll always love you" he whispered back and held her close.
Ethel and Avery returned to my side as Astrid was being released. I turned to Ethel and pressed the keys I had swiped into her palm.
"Out the front door" I muttered under my breath to her "lock it on the way out."
"But....?"
"I'll come out the back. I've got to sort this out first."
She looked down at the keys and wiped her eyes.
"Don't let them back inside" I warned her.
She sniffled and nodded, closing her fist around them.
"Out the front" I reminded her before kissing her forehead "I love you."
"Love you too, Dad."
"Avery, Astrid, follow your sister" I directed them "I'll be out soon."
They went obediently out the front. Carter and Silas watched them leave, only turning to me when they heard the front door lock.
"Did she....?"
"Only to keep them all in" I approached Carter to lift his shirt and inspect the bulging mass beneath it "its time."
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I could see how desperately they wanted to be free. They were digging down rather than eating through the skin I placed my hand over. Blood had pooled underneath to turn his skin a dark purple.
They were going to drown if I didn't cut them out.
"Oh, shit!" Carter tensed when I traced a nail along the top where I would make the cut "shit! shit! shit!"
"Ready?" I grinned at the squirming babies fighting to be free.
"NO" he groaned out and grabbed for my arms to dig his nails in.
I stabbed into him, quickly tearing the skin open and peeling it back to make the gouge wider.
Instantly, a sea of thundering legs came spilling out of him and down over his body.
Carter panicked, screaming and kicking to try and escape.
"Relax" I pressed down on his shoulders to keep him planted in his seat "they aren't after you."
My babies spilled over the floor and scurried in the search of protection and food.
Blood poured down Carter's middle when the remaining few fished themselves from it to tumble to the ground.
I saw he had quite a pile of dead bodies within him, all compacted into the back of where the sac was chewed through.
"Hold it" I ordered him as I directed his hands over the slice to pinch it closed "don't move."
He whimpered, kicking out his legs when some of my babies tried climbing back up the stool back toward him.
"Silas" I grew serious at him "you know the drill. Lean forward."
"They usually come out by themselves" he blurted when I forced him "you still have all day."
We were ready now. I wasn't waiting any longer.
Slicing Silas' stitched skin open, the same pouring wave came tumbling from him and down over his body. I saw blood in here too that had drowned a lot less than the first.
I felt him seize up under my hands that folded the skin in the same way as Carter's.
He didn't scream or kick or even move. He just closed his eyes and remained frozen as it happened. He was barely breathing.
He was terrified. There was no joy in welcoming these babies into the world.
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I swelled with pride at the buzzing floor saturated in my family. They clicked and crooned in their hunt for their first real meal as they swarmed everything in sight.
Digging out the last few stragglers, I pulled Silas back so I could easily access his middle to dig in eagerly.
There was no warning or caution with him. I needed these babies out so I could get them to safety.
"You didn't go hunting" Silas spoke when I watched my family pour out of him "usually you do so you are prepared for this. You aren't the type of person to forget something so important like that."
"Hunting?!" Carter cried out and shuddered "you've got to be kidding me! How are you so calm about this all?!"
Silas ignored him, fixing his glare on me.
"You wouldn't ruin it all already" he snapped to me.
"No, I wouldn't" I replied with a smug smile when the last few trickled from Silas who gripped the gaping skin "you are right about that."
I circled to Carter. Every step was dodged by my babies who scattered out of the way.
Threading webs, I started to tie him to his chair.
Silas saw what was happening and tried to slide off his before I hissed at him.
Hundreds of fangs reared at his feet that quickly retracted.
I smothered Carter's mouth so I could drag his chair over to the open space and face it to the locked door.
"You mother fucker!" Silas snapped "you won't get away with this!"
Silas' mouth was the first thing I covered when I approached him. Working on his body, I easily tied it to the chair, just like Carter's.
I dragged him over and placed him beside Carter.
His eyes bulged. Silas' glared.
"I've already hunted for my dear children" I told them both "I didn't forget at all."
Carter screamed, rocking his chair to try and free himself.
I planted both hands on his shoulders to keep him steady.
"If you fall, that's it" I chuckled to him, grabbing the edge of his chair to lean him back "is that what you want?"
He looked down at the swarming spiders and frantically shook his head.
"I knew you still had some sense in you" I tapped his face before placing him upright again.
I stood before them both, savouring the sight of my babies around me.
"I told you both what I would do to you" I stated "if you went back to him" I snapped my eyes on Silas "if you couldn't keep your hands to yourself" I glared to Carter.
They tried to speak around their gags to defend themselves.
Their muffled voices were sweet to my ears.
"I told you that I would slit your throat and tear your heart out with my hands" I smiled to Carter as I eyed his heaving chest.
"I told you that I would snap your spine when I didn't need you anymore" I hissed to Silas "I also told you I'd feed you to my children. Thought I was joking?"
They snapped, desperate for food that I was withholding.
I wasn't going to deny them any further.
Storming to Carter, i split the skin from my hands to expose the massive claw there that I promptly slashed across his soft throat.
His head snapped back and I saw his breath gargle through the blood bubbling out.
His body hung against the chair, threatening to slide off at any moment.
With Silas screaming under his gag, I plunged the claw into Carter's chest so I could dig my hand inside and seize his hammering heart to tear it free.
I squeezed the organ squirting blood down my clothes, throwing it to the ground to be ravaged by tearing mandibles.
The scent of it was beautiful. It was so fresh and rich that it called to me to finish the feast myself.
"Silas" I shushed his hysterical body trying to rock his way from me "this was bound to happen."
I kicked out my foot to smash against his shin. At the third forceful kick, his leg snapped and bowed backwards.
Silas screamed, his eyes rolling as he tried to keep conscience through the spilling blood and agony.
I tore him from my webs to hold him above my head. He swatted at my hands weakly, screaming even before I snapped his body over my knee and tossed him aside.
Silas clawed at the ground, trying to drag himself away with both his dead leg and fake one.
He wouldn't be able to escape. I made sure the sticks would stop any door or window being opened in time.
"Silas, my darling" I dropped down to him to lift his face up toward me "I can't have you seeing them again. They need to stay safe, and this is how I do it."
Silas heaved his head from me and started slapping his hands down to try and crush as many of my children as he could.
"Babies, it's time to eat" I called my family to the meal I had provided "leave only bones."
Silas screamed again and writhed when they swarmed over him. I saw spiders spill into his broken bones and down his throat he clawed at desperately.
Carter slipped from the chair under the weight piling onto and through him. Fighting mouths devoured the heart and sawed their way through the hole I had carved into him.
I soaked in the sight of my family feeding and thriving on the fresh meat they fought over.
I'd need to get them more, but, for now, this would be a satisfying start.
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I walked to the back door and casually tossed aside the stick I didn't need. Throwing them open, I saw threads of my babies abandon their fight for food to spill towards the trees.
I tore from my skin they feasted on, growling for them to nestle in my fur.
I felt little legs tickle my skin when they climbed their way up to huddle down into the warmth. Babies piled into my fur and gripped along my back, all the way up along the top of my head.
Choked with life, I clicked for my family to follow before I started around the house where my other children waited for me.
They had already torn out of their Skins and were ready for their new home.
Avery held his bear tight in his mandibles while Maisie's bag hung from Astrid's leg looped through it.
I tore open the car door to gently tug out my remaining chances to plaster them beneath me. My legs protected them as I lined them under my ribs and down to my abdomen.
I had done it. Everything was working perfectly. This was actually happening!
"Come on" I clicked for my family to follow "let's find our new home."
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Blackness swarmed the ground in a writhing river behind me. Specks of colour peppered through it, always moving and changing to remain pooled around me.
My three children looked like giants amongst them. I saw my babies climb onto their bodies to dig down and snuggle into the fur.
I still needed to feed them. Hundreds of mouths and barely any of them had pinched a slither of flesh for themselves.
We needed to avoid town and wild animals. I had so much more to worry about now that it clung to me so desperately.
The way across the river would be out of the question. I'd drown my babies if I tried anything that mad.
We'd have to follow the treeline as far as we could go, then pull further away from town from there.
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Sliding through, I kept us barely concealed by the trees I followed nervously.
I was too scared to think of anything else other than attacking whatever came across us. The first sight of an animal or human, I'd end it to give us clear passage.
I was too tense to think of another route.
After I got us around the river, we could trek deeper into the trees and be free to race across the open countryside.
"Stay close" I warned my children already huddled behind me.
I could feel their nervousness too. Now that we were out on our own, everything was a lot more life-threatening.
It was still light. I'd have to find us somewhere before the night settled in and animals prowled for easy meals.
"Did you think of somewhere to stay?" I asked Astrid who looked up instantly.
"Somewhere with a big barn" she spoke up "we'll all fit and be warm in there."
"There'll be food too" Ethel added hopefully.
They needed to eat. I fed their Skins so eagerly, but had let their natural selves go hungry.
"A barn" I pondered, trying to think where i'd find one of those "I'll see what we come across."
She smiled and went back to scanning the area around her as she kept close.
I'd be glad if we found anywhere safe to sleep tonight.
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Huddling with dirt pressed to my back, I watched the darkness for anything even brave enough to approach my makeshift nest.
A carved cave in the ground was a far cry from the cozy barn Astrid wanted so badly.
She cried about it too, like I wasn't already searching for somewhere to give us a better chance than some hole I frantically scraped out and pressed everyone into as darkness set in.
Webs were the only thing that would keep us from an attack. There was no walls of a warm house, or humans to use as shields between us.
It was just me wedging myself into the entrance to act as a shield between me and my wave of babies huddled together.
Maybe a chance at a new life was a bit more ambitious than I thought?
"We'll find that barn tomorrow" I whispered up to the moon I peered at "please."
There was no use praying to something higher when I had never done it before.
But, I really needed a miracle for the life I wanted us to have.
Maybe it would come for us in the morning?
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The first rays of light bought nothing but heartache.
I had been expecting to lose lives within the first few hours, but not nearly that many.
Curled legs folded inwards on the pile of bodies I had guarded all night without sleep.
Others were clearly struggling, gnawing on the dead to try and get some sort of nutrition into their stomachs.
Starvation wasn't taking them this quickly. It was the fact I had no choice but to rely on humans to help me.
I could be carrying five dead bundles beneath me for nothing.
Maybe I'd be left with none of them by tonight?
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"We need food" I grumbled as I cleared the survivors from the cave I collapsed to bury the bodies "stay close."
I wasn't going to eat my babies. I may have had no choice as a child, but I wasn't going to lead my children down the same miserable path.
"Shouldn't we free them?" Avery frowned at the dirt. He clung to his bear with his front arms instead of his mandibles now.
"They didn't live long enough to pass a soul on" I sighed to the nest I turned from "we should go before it attracts animals."
They huddled obediently, but I could see the hope fading in their eyes.
They needed to eat. They weren't going to survive on encouragement alone.
"We'll find that barn" I piped up with a smile "and it'll be so full, you won't be able to move."
"Oh, I wish!" Astrid drooled "I want to know what a horse tastes like."
"Or a duck!" Ethel gasped out with a laugh "I heard it's really nice!"
"Avery?" I bumped him.
"I want to go a few rounds with something really tough" he grinned "and show off how I won by eating all of it!"
"I'm sure there will be time for that" I giggled at his determination.
"The only thing tough will be the owners broom on your back when they see you scurrying across their floor" Ethel teased, making both her and Astrid laugh.
"At least I won't be bug sprayed!" he bit back and left my side to chase Ethel around me and our little river of survivors.
I could hear him mimicking the spray when he chased her and lunged for her legs. Ethel laughed, shooting past me to dodge Avery who hit the dirt.
"Come on. Up you get" I plucked his face off the ground as I passed him "don't run off."
We were approaching another cluster of trees. I couldn't keep them safe if they played games so wildly without care.
We'll find a barn, then all our problems will be gone.
I couldn't make a home of it, but I could give us the recovery we needed.
Ethel grinned at her win and marched past Avery smugly. He came up behind me, sulking.
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I kept marching on, cautiously picking my way between the trees.
The sounds and scents hit me instantly. I could hear birds flitting overhead while smaller game scurried off for burrows.
I smelled decaying leaf litter surrounding the trunks that were growing mushrooms from the stench.
It wasn't this bad closer to home or Carter's. Smells there were familiar and not so worrying.
This decay had me wary. Usually with this stench came death.
Sure enough, I found it in an exposed ribcage crawling with insects at the base of a tree. It had been here so long that the guts had melted into the ground and the fur had grown mushrooms.
"Leave it" I hissed to my babies eagerly swarming it "there will be fresh meat further."
Who knew what diseases had made its eyes melt from its skull like that?
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I carried on, spotting more smaller skeletons dotting the ground. I slowed up when the ground became littered with bones and dried blood.
A nest. I couldn't risk that.
"Kids, come" I whispered as I shuffled to the side and pulled my family to walk parallel to the boneyard "we'll go around."
"You can take it" Astrid looked back "and we'll have food."
"Without knowing what sort of carnivore it is, I can't" I responded and nudged my older children before me to keep them better shielded at the back "I'm not going to find out. There will be more food on the other side."
They groaned and I felt my heart sink at taking the easy way out.
It was safer, but it was tearing food from their mouths we so desperately needed.
Maybe I should have just risked it to save the pain?
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When I couldn't see the bones anymore, I crossed back through the trees to continue onwards in the same direction as before.
I had to be so much more careful. It made me the most nervous I had ever been. I could barely breathe through this forest I now knew was occupied.
Every sound had me on edge. Even the ones of the little feet following behind me.
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I still didn't feel safe when we left the trees behind for more open fields.
Bodies littered the ground the further we ventured. They dropped from my back when they curled and clawed in their last moments to remain buried in me.
I took the thinning wave beneath barbed-wire fences that snagged fur; past aggressive dogs I reared up at, under bridges of rushing cars, and over shallow creeks blocking the path.
With rocks piled across the creeks, it made it easier for my babies to scurry across. For the smaller ones, several trips were made to ferry them across something others tried to foolishly brave, only to drown in.
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Dragging myself on no sleep, I kept up my straight path.
Ethel, Astrid, and Avery followed in tears at how hungry they were. I could hear their sniffles when we kept fighting against time.
The afternoon sun was bright and boiling on my back. Soon, it would be night, and we still hadn't found shelter.
I wasn't resorting to the dirt again.
I saw a house bobbing up in the distance and thought it was part of a sick hallucination until my children gasped at it too.
It laid atop a sloping hill that had its own dirt road carved into it. I saw a fenced yard with dogs running around, chasing a ball a young child threw.
There had to be about four there. Not enough for a feast, but enough to keep my oldest from tears again.
My eyes searched for a barn that was absent. I did find a tin shed up the back that had its doors thrown open to reveal a woman working on the cars within.
"There's food ahead" I offered.
"I'll eat anything" Ethel whined "I don't even care anymore."
"I'm starving" Astrid sobbed.
Avery didn't complain, but I heard his stomach growl in response. His body cringed under the rumbling pain.
They were in agreeance for killing a few humans and their pets. There would be no guilt about it.
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The blood of their humans and their pets barely put a mark in my families ravenous hunger.
The babies were already tearing apart the dogs before my oldest ones could touch them. The same with the humans. They barely tore off a few strips for themselves.
They cleaned out their fridge and cupboards, still with tears down their faces from the lack of food presented.
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We continued onwards as the afternoon sun grew colder. I had no choice but to keep walking to try and find something more sustainable for everyone.
I hadn't touched any food we had come across. All of it passed my hands to be given to my children who needed it more.
No sleep and no food really was squeezing my guts and frying my brain. I couldn't walk straight or even form a thought other than what edible morsel would cross our path.
Still, I dragged myself onwards with my thinning family, hoping for some sort of miracle.
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We huddled together under a bridge I weaved with webs on both sides to block us in. A trickle of water running down the sloped concrete ground became a source for my babies gathered around it to drink their fill. My children, however, couldn't scoop up the dismal amount. It wasn't enough to fill their growling stomachs as they cuddled into me miserably.
I was down to less than half than what I had started with. With my river of children dropping dead by the hour, I wouldn't have more than a hundred, maybe two, in the morning out of the three chances hatched.
The weight was lighter on my back. It reminded me how much I was failing my family struggling to keep up the more time passed without proper food and water.
My eyes drooped, hanging open for a few seconds to try and focus on the quiet landscape.
I could feel my arms grazing the ground as exhaustion rolled over me.
I couldn't stay awake for them. I needed to rest.
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We left as soon as I pulled myself up from the wet ground and dragged the dead into a bundle i pressed to the side of the bridge.
It wasn't a proper burial to hide the bodies, but everything around here was covered in concrete.
I'd have to leave them to whatever nature intended.
The rest clambered onto my back quietly. With only a few straggling behind, it started to sink in that I might have waited all this time for nothing.
By the way my babies dropped, I'd be lucky to have anything left by the time we found home, wherever that might be.
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"Are we close yet?" Ethel stretched when I led the way under the bridge and scanned for spreading lands "my legs hurt."
She tore at the skin forming over her body to eat it. Astrid and Avery did the same while they walked.
"When we are safe, we will be home" I told her as my buzzing back devoured my own forming skin for me.
"But where is that?" she sighed.
Who knew? From the towns popped up around every area we ventured to, there might not be a landscape already touched by a human.
"Somewhere" I shrugged and tried to remain optimistic "somewhere close, hopefully."
"Hopefully" Astrid muttered to the agreeance of all of them.
They were clearly struggling. They dragged behind like my dying babies, heads drooped and legs barely scraping them forwards.
I lowered myself down for them.
"Climb on. Have a rest."
They were so excited, but exhaustion had weakened them all too much.
I scooped each child up to drop them onto my back that moved to make way for each one that instantly clung into my fur.
"Better?" I smiled.
"Much" I heard Astrid yawn back.
"Thanks, Dad" Avery squeezed me.
"I could do this forever" Ethel sighed gratefully.
I grinned, continuing onwards with them latched on, feeling pride swirl through me once more.
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Things were getting serious as I thundered onwards for the perfect home.
When I thought I had found it amongst the trees, some human was already fouling up the place with their home a few hundred meters away.
Rolling grass offered no protection, and the only house I came across with a barn also had dogs that lunged and killed my babies trying to hide behind my smashing legs.
There was no time to eat there. Humans had guns that they lodged bullets into me with. My arms shielded my face and took the blows before I was able to scurry away with most of my family intact.
Bullets had snapped into my abdomen, narrowly missing Astrid's legs.
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Dribbling a path of blood, I kept running, even when the barn was long gone and the yelling humans couldn't chase me anymore.
Food had been right there and I had failed again. In my panic to keep everyone safe, I hadn't even tried to fight back and claim the barn holding the mountain of bellowing food within it.
I had already lost too much to the dogs alone. My little river was just down to one who limped along pitifully. I let it clamber on and take its place around one of the many bullet holes that had killed more of my babies.
There had to be less than a hundred now. I could feel gaps where claws weren't digging into me, and I hated it.
So many dead because of my stupid hope in that barn.
And after all that, we were still starving.
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Bodies littered the ground when I kept dragging along.
If it wasn't starvation taking them, it was the wounds from the barn or just bad genes.
My legs were barely inching us forward when they trembled and collapsed out the side of the next human home I had found.
The massive yard had chickens swarming along it. I had been trying to get to the noisy animals when my body had refused to continue.
They had swarms of chicks of their own; easy pickings for my hungry horde.
"Go, eat" I stretched an arm out to flop it on the fence, buckling a portion of it.
My babies hobbled for the beasts while my children scurried with barely more strength than them.
I laid there, smiling when I saw the first of the chicks be torn to the ground and decimated.
I could smell the hot blood in the air that was tangled with a sweetness I couldn't place my finger on. Despite the stench of shit and dirty feathers, there was a smell that lingered above the others. It reminded me of living in the poppy field and basking in the sunshine as a child. It tugged at my gut the same way the female had when I had first fought for her to be mine.
The one who gave all my children life. I had made that beautiful thing happen.
Astrid snapped into a mother hen, grabbing its wing and yanking it to the ground as it tried to escape while screaming out.
She sank her mandibles into its side and raked her claws along the body to try to remove the feathers.
Instead of eating it, she dragged it over to me.
"Dad, look" she nudged the spasming bird to my head "food."
"Eat up, my darling" I smiled "you need it more."
She scowled at me and came over to force my mouth open with her pushing body so she could struggle with the chicken to place it there.
I was so tired. I couldn't even lift my head or any of my limbs glued to the dirt. They were all filled with lead now that I had successfully found food for my family.
I didn't need to help them get what they were already gorging on.
I had done my job. I could sleep with the sweet smell caressing me into fonder memories.
"Dad" Astrid whimpered when my eyes fluttered shut "eat, please."
I just needed sleep. I was so exhausted from days of eating nothing but my own skin and walking endlessly like a drone.
The weight that had been so light on my back eventually grew heavier and heavier until I could barely walk anymore.
I lost all my strength trying to give my family everything. Now, they finally had it.
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I heard a back door slam and someone swear at the chaos of the chickens still panicking as they were killed.
I felt Astrid huddle against my head and wedge herself under my outstretched arm.
"Dad" she whimpered "there's humans."
I couldn't do anything. My face still had the smile plastered to it from the scent bubbling in my lungs and my eyes weighed down from exhaustion. I couldn't move or see my children as they continued to slaughter their way through the yard.
Feet crushed towards me slowly. Astrid nudged my arm desperately, hissing and backing up to my face when they weren't deterred.
"Daddy!" she sobbed, yelping when her body was pulled away "let go of me!"
She spat and hissed more before the human cried out in pain.
"The fucker bit me!"
A girl. Had to be slightly older than Ethel.
"What will we do with this?" an older woman tutted to my left "it's probably come like the rest of them, poor thing" the woman sighed and rested a hand at my exposed underside where the eggs would be bundled "you have to wonder what makes a mother do this."
I'd laugh if I could. Her lingering hand was making me too nervous to think of her amusing mistake.
Still, I couldn't swat her away or defend them. My body was done.
"Tell the boys that the mother is still alive. Don't kill the babies, otherwise it'll come for us. Just chase them off."
"Mum!" the girl scoffed "they killed our chickens!"
"And chickens can be replaced" she snapped back firmly "but a creature like this is not something you want to mess with, not like last time. We'll get it up and out of here. It's probably passing through to get to the other one, like the rest of them."
The girl scoffed again and grumbled.
"Jessa" the mother warned "it's not going to kill you to be kind."
Another groan and stomping feet marching away.
The hand came over to peel back my eyelids and peer inwards.
I saw a fuzzy image of orange and white before everything was dark again.
"Come on, Mama" the woman nudged my head "let's get you up again."
Her touch was so soft and gentle. Her voice was like my mother's when I used to huddle at her chest and peer up at her in wonder.
I could see her smiling down at me with those poppies woven into her fur. I had tangled all sorts of weeds and flowers in there to contribute to her smile warming me.
This woman smelled like fresh oranges and the scent drowning the air. It soaked into her skin and made my worries melt away.
I should have been terrified, fighting even, to save my family from hers, but there was nothing but peaceful gratitude for the darkness I was in.
Just a little bit longer in her gentle hands, then everything would be just the way it was.
I just needed sleep.
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