02-11-2019, 01:03 AM
Nika woke with a dull ache in her side where the rebar had done its best to tear her in half. She was groggy and had no idea how long she’d slept or what time it was. There were no windows or clocks in the med room. Hungry. She was hungry. Bleary-eyed, Nika unfolded herself from the desk and stretched with a groan. Another hot shower would be awesome. First, food. Her stomach gurgled in agreement. She pushed through the door and into the dark hall beyond. No one else seemed to be up as all the lights were off. At least she wouldn’t have to answer stupid questions about who she was and what she really did for the Atharim. Leave it alone, people. Jeez.
There was a lingering odor of charred meat in the air indicating someone liked their burgers well done (freak) or wasn’t adept at cooking. It should be a high crime to char anything that wasn’t a vegetable or marshmallow. The light of the fridge was bright and like a teenager Nika took her time deciding on what to grab. This was exactly why her condo fridge had a clear door. Know thyself. The hockey puck burgers wrapped in cellophane on a plate were not even an option. Ugh. Chicken won out. Good ol’ standby. She opened the container and affected a sniff test despite the date on the lid before grabbing a plump breast. Nom. Cold chicken would work for something quick. Nika returned the container and closed the fridge door after yoinking a bottle of tomato juice. She leaned up against the counter in the dark and ate a few bites until deciding to sit down and attempt to relax. Maybe that would make her side feel better. Weird that it was hurting at all.
The smell hit her as the living room door clicked shut at her back. Blood. Unmistakably blood. Nika froze mid-swig but sensed nothing in the darkness. She swallowed. “Lights.” Nothing. Her wallet was in her pocket and she keyed the flashlight. The spot ringed on the wall where red slung about like a Jackson Pollock painting. What the fuck? She moved the phone around quickly until stopping on an inert form. Tenzen. Her face and throat were...gone. Skull empty. The light glared off the inside of a bright white bowl.
A noise whipped her around, gun suddenly in hand and at the ready. Cross was splayed out in the corner underneath one of those things. Nika fired Baby and blew it to kingdom come even as she moved to intercept. A dead stare met her efforts. The elder Athari was cold and stiff.
The two-way door flapped quietly behind her and again she whipped around, monochrome shape edging the border of the light in her hand. A dark shadow caught her flanked on the right. Nika adjusted and fired again right between the beast’s eyes. All teeth and claws, the thing kept coming. Baby clicked empty. Nika pivoted from the charge last-minute and gifted a solid crack of the weapon behind the thing’s ear hard enough to split any skull. The beast hit the wall and crumpled. Something hit her from behind, taking her to the floor. Nika fought it all elbows and snarls. She was an adept grappler but more and more weight had her pinned, knees between shoulder blades and her temple jammed into the hardwood. Even more beasts arrived, seizing her wrists and ankles. They pulled until she was spread out then coordinated expertly to turn her over and held firm. Her stomach was burning white-hot fire. Claws held her face still and her dark eyes glared vengeance. The giant saggy beast from the pipe seemed to melt from the shadows. Nika shivered and tried to pull free but there were too many hands holding her down.
‘Sister,’ it hissed. It made her skin crawl. The group around her echoed the greeting. The grand beast folded itself down over her like it had before in the drain. An impossibly sharp claw sliced her shirt away like it was paper and flicked wide the bisected cloth with a grand gesture. An unwelcome hand cold and clammy moved over her bare chest and trailed down to her abdomen where it lingered. The beast smiled in her face, long black fangs dripping with saliva.
The entrapping claws tilted her head. Nika could see her stomach now. Something bulged beneath her skin. Her dark eyes widened. Grandbeast hissed again and a razor sharp talon sliced a deep horizontal line from hip to hip. Nika gasped and shuddered, her forced breaths punctuated the silence like a billow. Her captors had gone silent, all eyes were on the gash, the welling blood. Nika was not a screamer by default. You either were or you weren’t. She’d screamed exactly once in her life, long ago. A hand rose from within her middle. Nika screamed then.
The thing that emerged was like all the other things around her, just smaller. Still the size was impossible to believe. But it happened. She watched, no choice really, as arm, elbow, shoulder and head birthed itself and stretched her skin sickly. Tearing muscle and rending her flesh, it slithered out. Pulling itself along it went for Tenzen’s corpse beyond sight. She could hear slurping and the hollow crunch of bones.
Shock. She was in shock. Surely. Because the pain was gone and she was hungry again. The hissing chant of ‘sister’ started back up. The crowd parted to reveal Rune torn and bloodied, held firmly by her own captors. Alive. She was alive! Both women shared the same thought as their eyes locked. Rune’s own gaze had a ripple of hope at Nika’s fierce look. Always fighting. Then Rune saw what was left and hope visibly faded.
The beasts dragged Rune over and folded her to her knees with cowardly blows. Victorious hisses punctuated the dark room. Rune’s right arm was peeled from where it had been pressed against her side. She cursed and threatened, squirmed and fought, trying to break free but there were too many hands. Too many. A black claw split the woman’s wrist expertly. Held it over Nika. The fuck?! Droplets spotted her face, she twitched away closing her eyes and compressing her lips. The hands overpowered her too still and cruel fingers pried her jaw open. Blood, Rune’s blood, dripped into her mouth. The hisses were happy, encouraging...accepting. Her eyes shot open in horror when she felt Rune’s wrist touch her lips. She tried to turn away. The Harpies were kneading the woman’s forearm calling more life forth. Their dark eyes locked. Nika choked, coughing up the mouthful of blood. The beasts only pressed harder; they pinched her nose shut. She couldn’t last. Weak. It was involuntary. Nika’s gaze pleaded for forgiveness. Rune’s face was unreadable. Betrayal? They could have been friends. Nika could have had a friend. The wrist was removed. She gasped and coughed for air. Rune was pulled from sight. Bastards!
Hot. Her tongue burned, throat seared. The heat magnified a thousandfold and spread downward throughout her body. Her nerves were on fire. She gasped and groaned, her vision blurred. Nika convulsed against the hands holding her, bucking and arching as her muscles all seemed to seize of their own volition. The sounds in her ears were foreign even amidst the surrounding hisses. Hours passed it seemed before the heat lessened, dissipated. It was replaced not by relief but by antithesis; cold. A frigid wave overcame her. Her skin lost its pallor, pebbling grey and dull. Her teeth chattered and ached. She burned anew, differently but the same.
Nika did not notice when the hands had released her. She was in a ball, shivering. She hurt. Everything hurt. Hunger. Such. Hunger. Hisses prodded at her consciousness. Feed. Feed, they said. She didn’t see, couldn’t see in the dark. So cold. It was there. Food. She fed unthinking, unfeeling. She found it in the dark. Crawled to it. How didn’t matter. No plate or utensils. It was warm. It warmed her. She buried her face in the bowl and drank. Soup? Had to be. The whispers said it was good, she was doing good.
Her senses returned after a time. She was stronger, grew stronger. Nika pulled her knees under herself. There was a noise at the door. The light clicked on. Rune was bound and gagged on the floor before her. Lifeless eyes stared back. Her throat torn out. Nika scrambled backward until her shoulders rammed into something.
“Abomination!”
A familiar voice snapped the spell holding her horrified gaze from the other girl’s corpse.
Nika turned her head slowly toward the sound. Her eyes widened in shock. “Mom?” Then she saw her own reflection in the cabinet door beyond. Blood covered her mouth, slicked her neck and grey chest. She was one of them; one of the beasts. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked back at her mother.
Her mother’s beautiful face twisted in disgust. “You are not my daughter.” The elder Raskov fired.
Nika woke with a start, nearly jerking herself off the desk and out of the chair. She was shivering and hot all at once. Sweat beaded on her nose. Her face was wet. Dark, haunted eyes stared past walls and reason. Her heart was pounding. One question echoed in her mind. What made harpies? Was that right? Was it an infection? Was it? Nika didn’t know. She didn’t actually possess a lot of monster lore...that wasn’t her area of expertise. Her career path had never been geared toward hunting monster monsters. So, where did they come from? That Beast had been all about sucking her dry, or had it? What if...what if it did something and...what if she was going to turn into one of those monsters. Like in the nightmare. Nika’s face turned ashen. Oh. Dear. God.
There was a lingering odor of charred meat in the air indicating someone liked their burgers well done (freak) or wasn’t adept at cooking. It should be a high crime to char anything that wasn’t a vegetable or marshmallow. The light of the fridge was bright and like a teenager Nika took her time deciding on what to grab. This was exactly why her condo fridge had a clear door. Know thyself. The hockey puck burgers wrapped in cellophane on a plate were not even an option. Ugh. Chicken won out. Good ol’ standby. She opened the container and affected a sniff test despite the date on the lid before grabbing a plump breast. Nom. Cold chicken would work for something quick. Nika returned the container and closed the fridge door after yoinking a bottle of tomato juice. She leaned up against the counter in the dark and ate a few bites until deciding to sit down and attempt to relax. Maybe that would make her side feel better. Weird that it was hurting at all.
The smell hit her as the living room door clicked shut at her back. Blood. Unmistakably blood. Nika froze mid-swig but sensed nothing in the darkness. She swallowed. “Lights.” Nothing. Her wallet was in her pocket and she keyed the flashlight. The spot ringed on the wall where red slung about like a Jackson Pollock painting. What the fuck? She moved the phone around quickly until stopping on an inert form. Tenzen. Her face and throat were...gone. Skull empty. The light glared off the inside of a bright white bowl.
A noise whipped her around, gun suddenly in hand and at the ready. Cross was splayed out in the corner underneath one of those things. Nika fired Baby and blew it to kingdom come even as she moved to intercept. A dead stare met her efforts. The elder Athari was cold and stiff.
The two-way door flapped quietly behind her and again she whipped around, monochrome shape edging the border of the light in her hand. A dark shadow caught her flanked on the right. Nika adjusted and fired again right between the beast’s eyes. All teeth and claws, the thing kept coming. Baby clicked empty. Nika pivoted from the charge last-minute and gifted a solid crack of the weapon behind the thing’s ear hard enough to split any skull. The beast hit the wall and crumpled. Something hit her from behind, taking her to the floor. Nika fought it all elbows and snarls. She was an adept grappler but more and more weight had her pinned, knees between shoulder blades and her temple jammed into the hardwood. Even more beasts arrived, seizing her wrists and ankles. They pulled until she was spread out then coordinated expertly to turn her over and held firm. Her stomach was burning white-hot fire. Claws held her face still and her dark eyes glared vengeance. The giant saggy beast from the pipe seemed to melt from the shadows. Nika shivered and tried to pull free but there were too many hands holding her down.
‘Sister,’ it hissed. It made her skin crawl. The group around her echoed the greeting. The grand beast folded itself down over her like it had before in the drain. An impossibly sharp claw sliced her shirt away like it was paper and flicked wide the bisected cloth with a grand gesture. An unwelcome hand cold and clammy moved over her bare chest and trailed down to her abdomen where it lingered. The beast smiled in her face, long black fangs dripping with saliva.
The entrapping claws tilted her head. Nika could see her stomach now. Something bulged beneath her skin. Her dark eyes widened. Grandbeast hissed again and a razor sharp talon sliced a deep horizontal line from hip to hip. Nika gasped and shuddered, her forced breaths punctuated the silence like a billow. Her captors had gone silent, all eyes were on the gash, the welling blood. Nika was not a screamer by default. You either were or you weren’t. She’d screamed exactly once in her life, long ago. A hand rose from within her middle. Nika screamed then.
The thing that emerged was like all the other things around her, just smaller. Still the size was impossible to believe. But it happened. She watched, no choice really, as arm, elbow, shoulder and head birthed itself and stretched her skin sickly. Tearing muscle and rending her flesh, it slithered out. Pulling itself along it went for Tenzen’s corpse beyond sight. She could hear slurping and the hollow crunch of bones.
Shock. She was in shock. Surely. Because the pain was gone and she was hungry again. The hissing chant of ‘sister’ started back up. The crowd parted to reveal Rune torn and bloodied, held firmly by her own captors. Alive. She was alive! Both women shared the same thought as their eyes locked. Rune’s own gaze had a ripple of hope at Nika’s fierce look. Always fighting. Then Rune saw what was left and hope visibly faded.
The beasts dragged Rune over and folded her to her knees with cowardly blows. Victorious hisses punctuated the dark room. Rune’s right arm was peeled from where it had been pressed against her side. She cursed and threatened, squirmed and fought, trying to break free but there were too many hands. Too many. A black claw split the woman’s wrist expertly. Held it over Nika. The fuck?! Droplets spotted her face, she twitched away closing her eyes and compressing her lips. The hands overpowered her too still and cruel fingers pried her jaw open. Blood, Rune’s blood, dripped into her mouth. The hisses were happy, encouraging...accepting. Her eyes shot open in horror when she felt Rune’s wrist touch her lips. She tried to turn away. The Harpies were kneading the woman’s forearm calling more life forth. Their dark eyes locked. Nika choked, coughing up the mouthful of blood. The beasts only pressed harder; they pinched her nose shut. She couldn’t last. Weak. It was involuntary. Nika’s gaze pleaded for forgiveness. Rune’s face was unreadable. Betrayal? They could have been friends. Nika could have had a friend. The wrist was removed. She gasped and coughed for air. Rune was pulled from sight. Bastards!
Hot. Her tongue burned, throat seared. The heat magnified a thousandfold and spread downward throughout her body. Her nerves were on fire. She gasped and groaned, her vision blurred. Nika convulsed against the hands holding her, bucking and arching as her muscles all seemed to seize of their own volition. The sounds in her ears were foreign even amidst the surrounding hisses. Hours passed it seemed before the heat lessened, dissipated. It was replaced not by relief but by antithesis; cold. A frigid wave overcame her. Her skin lost its pallor, pebbling grey and dull. Her teeth chattered and ached. She burned anew, differently but the same.
Nika did not notice when the hands had released her. She was in a ball, shivering. She hurt. Everything hurt. Hunger. Such. Hunger. Hisses prodded at her consciousness. Feed. Feed, they said. She didn’t see, couldn’t see in the dark. So cold. It was there. Food. She fed unthinking, unfeeling. She found it in the dark. Crawled to it. How didn’t matter. No plate or utensils. It was warm. It warmed her. She buried her face in the bowl and drank. Soup? Had to be. The whispers said it was good, she was doing good.
Her senses returned after a time. She was stronger, grew stronger. Nika pulled her knees under herself. There was a noise at the door. The light clicked on. Rune was bound and gagged on the floor before her. Lifeless eyes stared back. Her throat torn out. Nika scrambled backward until her shoulders rammed into something.
“Abomination!”
A familiar voice snapped the spell holding her horrified gaze from the other girl’s corpse.
Nika turned her head slowly toward the sound. Her eyes widened in shock. “Mom?” Then she saw her own reflection in the cabinet door beyond. Blood covered her mouth, slicked her neck and grey chest. She was one of them; one of the beasts. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked back at her mother.
Her mother’s beautiful face twisted in disgust. “You are not my daughter.” The elder Raskov fired.
Nika woke with a start, nearly jerking herself off the desk and out of the chair. She was shivering and hot all at once. Sweat beaded on her nose. Her face was wet. Dark, haunted eyes stared past walls and reason. Her heart was pounding. One question echoed in her mind. What made harpies? Was that right? Was it an infection? Was it? Nika didn’t know. She didn’t actually possess a lot of monster lore...that wasn’t her area of expertise. Her career path had never been geared toward hunting monster monsters. So, where did they come from? That Beast had been all about sucking her dry, or had it? What if...what if it did something and...what if she was going to turn into one of those monsters. Like in the nightmare. Nika’s face turned ashen. Oh. Dear. God.