Wither Wings [DISCONTINUED]

The Arathgor Effect

Bonjour! This chapter is dedicated to my new friend, icallringbearer! She thinks I’m the shiz, so she must be the shiz by association, of course. Enjoy the chapter, as well as the cast picture of the girl I picked as Max. Saoirse is incredible at acting and is pretty in an unusual way, a perfect Max fit!

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Last time on Wither Wings.

The words echoed in Max’s ears as she hit the punching bag again and again, trying to stop the memories from surfacing, each punch shattering the old words, the old feelings.

 -

Steve cleared his throat and took a bite of toast before speaking. “I have a surprise for you, Max.” He said with a small smile, catching her attention long enough.

“What?” she asked eagerly.

“Have you ever been on a patrol before?” He asked with a quirky smile.

-

From the depths of the newly discovered tunnel a roar sounded and something began to slither towards them.

Steve took one look and Max and yelled, “Run!”

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It was enormous, it just had to be. The slithering had come to almost a full roar as Steve braced Max against the wall with one of his arms, both of them unable to move partially due to fear freezing them in place and curiosity urging them to get a better look even though their instincts told them to run and never come back. But then, the monster finally showed.

It shot out with the speed of at least three well-fed horses, sliding to a stop in front of the duo with excess flesh blubbering out of the folds of its sickly pale peach skin. The length of it was seemingly endless, the tail still in the large metal vent, but the height of it was staggering. The top barely squiggled by in the subway tunnels, concrete scraping along its skin and making it bleed a strange black colour.

It seemed to be almost sniffing, which was reasonable, considering the fact that it didn’t have any eyes. But then it zeroed in on the two heroes and opened its mouth, which was a horror in its own right. Rows among rows of sharp, spike-like teeth clacked against each other as the gaping maw extended itself as much as it could before letting out a roar of near battle cry proportions, the air from the depths of the worm ruffling Max’s hair.

“Run!” Steve broke from the trance and grabbed Max’s hand, pulling her down the subway tunnel they just came through and taking refuge momentarily in a side alcove. The worm went into a frenzy trying to detect their scent and rocketed after them but they were faster, taking an alternate route from one of the main tunnel branches out into a smaller tunnel that the worm couldn’t fit through. Steve slumped against the curved wall of the tunnel and pressed the button on the side of his comms unit.

“Mayday, mayday,” he spoke steadily and then took in two heaving breaths. “There is an unidentifiable threat in the eastern branch of the subway tunnels. Backup requested.” He was greeted by silence and took advantage of the moment to tend to Max, who was curled up in a ball and staring at the wall opposite, her hands making the frantic motions they did when she first set foot in the helicarier.

“Max,” Steve knelt down, put one hand on her shoulder, and attempted to make eye contact. “Max!” He said more urgently, shaking her shoulder and managing to catch her eyes for a few seconds before losing them to another round of insanity. Meanwhile, the worm had found them and used its body to knock up against the mouth of the tunnel they were hiding in, chunks of concrete rolling towards Steve’s feet. “Jesus, Max, get your shit together!” That one sure woke her up, but not in time, because the worm was on the chase again.