Chapter 16 - Molt

Chapter 16

Molt

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“Where are you going?” Hannah asked. Her eyes followed the trail of blood. “You really think…?”

“I have to be sure,” I replied, craning my head back to her. “You don’t have to come.”

Hannah took a deep breath, her eyes wandering around the scene.

There was a surprising lack of bodies. I hoped that meant there were survivors. Well, I hoped there was at least one survivor.

Hannah stepped forward, nodding and raising her gun. “Let’s go.”

I reciprocated the gesture and turned my head back down to the smears of blood across the concrete.

The trail led off into the swamp on the opposite side of the road. From there it turned into a shallow trench of trampled vegetation. There were small circular holes in the mud beneath, created by hundreds of tiny feet. They were unmistakable, Arthopleura.

How close were we to the bulb then? The swarm of Meganeura wasn't the best indicator. Even with their glowing orbs of white eyes, the flying creatures could cover a lot of ground in a short time. Peeling them away from the bulb was one factor, but with enough commotion anything could be stirred. At least I figured that to be the case.

Regardless, this animal appeared to have lost its herbivorous traits. We were in the inner reaches of the bulb, whether I wanted to admit it or not. The passive creature was already a nightmare at the camp, and now it wouldn’t be as cowardly. Armored skin, quick movements, shocking reactivity—it made me shiver. I didn’t want to meet the corrupted animal.

At least we had these. I adjusted the launcher in my hands. “Keep your gun up,” I said to Hannah. “They're big.”

Around us was the lively chitter of the swamp, and in the distance I could make out a Meganura zipping about. It didn’t sound close enough to be an issue. Still, as we followed the path, my eyes skimmed the ponds beside us. There were small ripples in the bodies of water, but nothing inferred movement of a larger creature.

The trail continued deeper. Around the rims of the shallow trench were large fistfuls of substrate and plants torn from their roots. The signs of struggle indicated that whoever it was was still alive. It caused me to pick up my pace.

In the wind was a soft creaking. It wasn’t an animal sound. In fact, I was positive the sound didn’t come from any natural source. There was a humanness to it, however dead that humanness was. It was getting louder and louder, closer and closer as we moved.

Hannah was against my back, watching our rear. Her footsteps moved with mine. “Are we close?”

“I think so,” I replied, unsure of the full truthfulness of the answer. How far could this creature have gotten?

Around a tree, the trail met with a street. The worn gray asphalt tilted sideways into the mud where it had mostly been covered. It was down this street that I spotted the old wooden church. The trail went up to its short, broken, wooden staircase.

It was a small chapel with a spire above, holding a stained golden bell that ended in a chipped cross. The white paint on its exterior had been peeled off by the humidity to reveal its dark, rotting planks.

At its entrance a singular door swung open and closed as gusts of wind started and slowed. It creaked on its rusted hinges.

“It's in the church,” I said.

Hannah turned around and looked up at the building.

“You don’t have to go in with me,” I said.

“And let you get killed?”

I nodded. It was the answer I had expected. I just needed reassurance.

In what had been a dirt lot for the church, there were now only a couple of vehicles sitting in the dense fern underbrush. One was flipped over on its side; the glass on the windshield was shattered. The tips of the shards were stained red. Inside the car were bloodstains staining the seat cushions and the dashboard. They had been from people who chose not to evacuate, who had instead decided to spend their last moments wanting to pray to their God. It didn’t look like they had made it inside, at least not in the way they had wanted to.

The blood was smeared along the hood of the car where the body appeared to have been dragged out and towards the church. The old bloodstains crusted into the wood of the staircase had mingled with the fresh blood of the new victim.

My foot hit the first stair, letting out a long creak. The wood was flabby, bending under my weight.

“Watch your step,” I whispered to Hannah, stepping over an empty stair where the plank had been snapped.

Holding my hand out, I reached for the doorway. The wood was rough. Splinters stuck out of it, one poking my finger. I let out a sharp exhale and readjusted to open the door.

I took a cautious step, the floorboard under my foot groaning. I took a deep breath. Everything sounded loud, and it echoed about the church.

Walking down the aisle, Hannah and I approached our arthropod bride-to-be at the altar. I peered across at the empty pews. The only things seated were what appeared to be structures of thin, flaky material. Millipedes were known to molt, and this creature was no different, shedding each time it grew. Its molt was then discarded across the place it had chosen to inhabit. In this case it was the church. I tried to get an estimate on its size by examining the molts, but the only information I could gather was that it was large.

So far I couldn’t hear the riveting click of its plates. Ahead on the altar of the church, light poured down through an opening in the roof. Illuminated, it appeared something was lying against the back wall, below a large cross.

We stepped up onto the altar, a foul odor entering our nostrils. The dust of the carpet blew up, revealing its red color. I had to cover my mouth as I coughed.

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Click…Click…

Something was moving, but in the echo of the building I couldn’t pinpoint where. Where could such a large creature hide?

The light pouring from the rooftop flickered. My eyes shot up. Through a hole in the roof was a branch billowing in the wind, casting down a thin shadow.

We made our way around the offering table with held breath. Behind it was a stockpile of carcasses littering the back wall. The putrid smell of rotten flesh was almost visible in the air. It made my eyes water. In it were bodies, both human and animal, some more recent than others. The most recent sat at the top. Her jugular had been torn open by a sharp incision. The blood streamed down over her uniform. Its once orange color was now the same as her captain’s.

As gruesome as it was, I let out a sigh of relief. At least it wasn’t her.

“Let’s get out of here,” Hannah whispered. “I think it knows we’re here.”

Click…Click…Click…

Its plates slid against each other. It seemed to be coming from above. I could hear its little footsteps accompanied by those unnerving clicks.

Click…Click…Click…Click…

I looked down towards the doorway. The light that gleamed in didn’t reveal any presence.

Click…

The sound came from just behind us. For a moment I stood frozen, thinking we wouldn’t be able to catch it quickly enough. Then, I did turn. It was curled up against the cross. The plates of its exoskeleton covered the body of Jesus that hung on it. Its head was pointing down. Its small antennae sensing the body below it.

It snagged its incisors into the body. It whipped it about and threw it to the side. Blood sprayed from the new cut, some splattering over my face.

My breaths were heavy. I took two steps backwards, trying not to alert the creature. I raised my gun up and rubbed my finger against the trigger, then pressed.

It hit against the mid area of the creature. Its small plates stopped clicking, and its body froze up.

Hannah clicked the trigger on her gun, but the ammo didn’t release. It let out a soft hiss, and the hedron rolled out and onto the floor.

“Damnit,” Hannah growled. She snatched up the ammo and hurled it at the creature, but it had already been a second too long, and the millipede scattered away in short white bursts.

The glitch hedron hit the wall of the church, and the wood disintegrated into its vortex. The entire building wailed, as if it had just reached a breaking point in its structural integrity.

“Go!” I choked out. Hannah and I had started to sprint to the doorway. I could hear the back of the church give out with the sound of several wood beams and planks snapping at once. A shockwave of dust rolled over us.

Through the chaos, I could still hear the scuttling of the creature. It was much quicker than us. It was in the aisle to the right against the wall, too short to see over the pews. It wasn’t a race at all. We wouldn’t make it. The door ahead of us revealed the misty sunbeams, but it was soon blocked as the creature reared up in front of us, cutting off our exit. It towered over our height. Its entire underside was exposed. My eyes were up at its face, where I could see its bright white eyes dangling off the end of two short stalks. Its antennae twitched in the air, and its mandibles were snapping with hunger.

I aimed my gun again, but this time the creature made its move first. It knocked me in the chest, causing me to fall backwards. My gun scattered beside me. I could feel two sharp pains ignite where it had pierced its mandibles into my chest, breaking through the thin armor.

Hannah couldn’t get her ammo hatch to release the other hedron and decided to drop her gun. She grabbed the two daggers on either side of her belt and slashed at the creature.

The creature trampled backward. Hannah stuck one of the blades into a segment of its body.

The creature let out a squeal. Its several legs flung around in alarm. It swiveled its head down to try to attack Hannah, but she plunged another blade into the creature.

It squealed again. It oozed a bright substance from its wounds, collecting on the ground next to Hannah.

“Cade!” Hannah yelled.

I powered through my pain, grabbing my gun off the floor and snapping it up at the creature. I pressed down the trigger, and the freeze hedron crashed into its body.

Hannah pulled out her daggers as its body froze up. She resheathed them and picked up her gun.

We sprinted for the door again, lunging ourselves out and crashing into the mud outside.

The creature unfroze and let out another painful squeal.

I picked myself up and tried to make a break for it into the trees with Hannah, but I felt another sharp pain in my leg. I was bounced to the ground, and my body slid backwards through the mud. The millipede had grabbed onto my ankle and was trying to reel me back into the church.

Hannah caught my arm. Her muscles strained as she tried to pull me in.

My entire body felt like it was being stretched apart. I screamed.

Hannah reached for her dagger again, angling it to throw back at the creature. Upon release, I could hear it bounce off the creature's hard exoskeleton.

The millipede swung me free of both Hannah’s and its own grasp. I was sent hurling into shallow waters just to my right.

The millipede squealed again. I could hear the walls of the church snapping. It must’ve been caught by some falling debris. Then the entire front of the church collapsed, the spire fell to the ground, and the bell landed against the creature with a loud clang.

It was hard to stand. My ankle was bleeding profusely out into the water beside me, turning it a bright red, almost pink. There wasn’t any time for me to consider its unnatural coloring.

Hannah grabbed me and tried to heave me up.

I got to my feet, limping across the ground on my foot. I looked to the church to see if I could make out the body of the creature. All I saw were faint white streaks, fading in the air. “Shit,” I muttered.

The millipede appeared beside us, smacking its armored head into us. We were sent to the ground.

I groaned, trying to get back up, but I was held down by the weight of the creature on top of us.

Its small feet tickled my back.

Hannah was reaching for her last dagger. The creature had dug its mandibles into her side. She let out painful gasps.

My hand searched my belt for one of my own daggers. The body of the Arthropleura made it difficult for me to maneuver. Stretching, I could just reach the tip of the handle.

The creature was thrashing its head about, trying to rip out a piece of Hannah’s abdomen. She tried to push it off, forcing her hand against the soft underbelly of the creature.

Flicking at my dagger, I was eventually able to slide it forward, and it dropped into the mud to my side. Now I could reach my fingers around it and grab the blade.

I stabbed upwards several times until I heard the creature cry and release her. It reared up into the sky again. I jumped and swiped at its face. The knife got caught on its jaw.

The creature squirmed, trying to fling the object off.

I picked up Hannah, and we tried to run again. This time, despite our ailments, we were able to get out of range of the creature as it continued to try to throw off the knife I had plunged into its face.

Our feet clopped in the mud all the way towards the road. I held Hannah shoulder to shoulder, not daring to look back.

Eventually, the clinking sound of the millipede's desperate writhing silenced against the other sounds in the swamp.

We slowed down, trying to regain some energy. I reloaded my gun with a couple of ammo I had stored in my pack. Hannah examined her own gun, trying to find the issue that had caused it to jam up.

She shoved her hand down the chamber, and I heard something click. “I should’ve checked that.”

“We’re—alive,” I replied, in painful gasps.

“As I said earlier, car-sized centipedes, not for me,” she panted.

“Arthopleura,” I said. “I saw one at the camp too, the night before we found the body.”

“I could really go for an Allosaurus right now,” she scoffed. I saw her grip onto her side, where the creature had stuck in its mandibles.

“You good?” I asked.

“Never felt better,” she tried to smile. She had said that phrase a lot, or some variation of it, over the years. It was her weird way of expressing the high of surviving, despite everything else. Or in other words, she was coping.

“Verona’s still out there,” she said, bringing to light my own pain.

“I hope so,” I replied.

We approached the road where the swampy trees gave way.

The first thing I noticed was that no one had come back for us. The last truck or Red’s vehicle was nowhere to be seen.

The second only appeared in the far corner of my peripherals, but it was more than enough to get me to snap my head towards it.

Almond was walking backwards down the road, dragging a body. Past him were three short creatures with poking spines, running up at him on their stubby feet.