PAW Patrol: Incubus

Chapter 11- Infestation

Forward they marched, feverish in their travel under the red sky. The fog eventually dissipated; Chase expected to finally see the roof of the cavern and get some idea of the real size of the landscape. As the fog vanished, the shepherd was left blindsided as he was met with fiery, blood-red sky. It glowed almost a perfect crimson, like the sun itself burned with a ceaseless, madness-inducing rage. He half expected to see a blood moon somewhere up there, complimenting the deranged world with its mocking presence.

"We're underground." Everest breathed, staring up into the bloodied atmosphere. "We're... underground, right?"

Chase opened his mouth to say something, but words couldn't form. Their destination, the giant mountains of bone and gore, were already close, but a nearby hill had captured their interest. Taking a quick turn in their travels, curiosity gripped them both to see the top. The ground began to elevate, bending upwards into a lumpy hill riddled with boils and rashes. The fog had moved, descending down from the sky to touch the fleshy ground, christening the land with its gentle clouds. They surrounded the two like layered breaths, puffing up from the maws within the biome. The world seemed to shift as they traveled, like a cooing lover swaying on the mattress, her breathing and faint movements twisting the Omnihive to life.

The husky gagged as she trekked up the hill, flinching every time her paws pushed against the stringy floor. She trudged along with heaving breaths, the heat doing a number on her red-stained coat. "I'll never be clean again. Well... heh, at least we won't go hungry." She joked. "Plenty of meat around."

"You're insane if you think I'm biting into any of this." Chase let a chuckle slip but was still held down by the uncertainty in his mind. A small flicker of static whistled in his mind, weak enough that he was able to ignore it. Even though it didn't leave any pain, Chase swore for a moment it sounded different. Despite its faint screeching, the static had almost bent itself into syllables, coming a hair's close to forming words. He pushed away the thoughts, but one question lingered: Did the static just try speaking to him?

"We're dogs, Chase. We eat gross stuff all the time." Laughed his companion.

"I think this is... a little over the line."

They came to a rest atop the hill, stopping with widened astonishment at the view before them. The elevated land raised them just high enough to gaze out at the Omnihive's body.

Everything felt like a dream, a mythical, unsettling dream neither of them could wake from. They sat in silence, both staring out into the horizon as their expressions went blank. The canvas of the realm before them stretched far out, spreading putrid life into dense forests of dogtrees and red rivers that sliced through the land's skin, resembling veins within the flesh from afar. The Omnihive seemed endless, a somber world of soulless design, yet it sang a demoralizing harmony that all the wind and trees joined in with. Chase felt his heart drop, but that rush of fear never came, instead fading into bland dejection. He could feel his motivation slipping away, his body slowing and his mind losing its grip on reality. A feeling of complete hopelessness befell him, the dog staring out as if he were mourning the death of a family.

Everest was mirroring his expression to near perfection, her body deflated under the filth slathered in her fur. Heartbreak wept from her face, the piercing heat becoming a second thought with the little flickers of hope dying away. She dejectedly sat down on the wet surface, on the verge of tears yet her face remained dry. Neither Chase nor Everest moved for a long time, their hearts and minds isolated, both enraptured by the view as if they were watching a red sunset. None of them had been feeling such powerful drives of emotion until now, as if the realm itself had forced it out of them.