Faye did not enjoy school.

That wasn’t to say that she hated her classes. On the contrary, she eagerly went to each of her classes. History was an intriguing subject, especially when the subject of the day was pre-splice culture. Mathematics and chemistry were simple enough for her, concrete rules made understanding those subjects easy. But her favorite class by far had to be biology. She wasn’t as interested in genetics as her parents, but she did find biological quirks to be interesting.

No, the reason that she didn’t enjoy school was because there was always someone [i]staring[/i]. Any time she entered a room, all eyes were on her. Wherever she went, there was someone staring at her. In class, in the hallways, in the cafeteria… Faye just counted herself lucky that she was exempt from gym activities. Although the reason why was embarrassing. They had fixed the holes in the floor, though.

But today was either fortunate or unfortunate, depending upon one’s point of view. The party over the weekend had been a normal occurrence – according to Valerie – but someone had decided to use it to get petty revenge. According to Valerie – who had heard it from someone else – someone had gone to the party in order to plant a stink bomb in Devon King’s backpack. Not just any stink bomb, but a time-delayed super bomb that had gone off during the first class period and flooded the school with an intolerable smell. Most people couldn’t guess where someone would get a stink bomb that powerful, but Faye could hazard a guess.

So for today, the Anchorsway high school was closed for cleaning. Devon had been taken into quarantine, it was that bad.

Valerie had texted earlier and invited her on a trip to Locksmouth for the day. She was going to visit her mother while the school was being decontaminated. Faye had immediately agreed, and then spent the following hour second-guessing herself.

Faye found it uncomfortable to talk to Valerie after they had woken up on Sunday morning. Valerie had passed it off as nothing significant, but Faye couldn’t help but feel like something was different.

After spending an hour anguishing over whether or not she had made a good decision, Faye finally stopped and took a breather. They were coming back later today, before sunset. But Valerie had asked her to bring a swimsuit. While Faye wasn’t sure exactly why, she had packed one anyways. She was sure that Valerie had something planned.

Only once she had packed everything she was going to bring – which was significantly more than just her swimsuit – did Faye realize that she had yet to tell her mother that she was going anywhere.

Faye quickly made her way to the laboratory. It had been used as such for as long as she could remember, even if the room had originally been a garage. The door had been locked for most of Faye’s childhood, but now that she was older there was no such precaution in place. Still, Faye hesitated a moment before gently opening the door.

“Mom?” Faye called out, slowly stepping into the laboratory.

The inside of the laboratory was sterile and ‘organized’, which was to say that the mess was mostly confined to a table in the center of the room. Every wall of the room had a connected counter, and upon these counters were the various forms of equipment that her parents used. She didn’t know what everything did, and she had no intentions of ever being learninh, but she did know what some of the more notable pieces of equipment were. Like the incubation tube, or the prototype gene splicer. Or the camera in the middle of the ceiling that watched everything that happened in the laboratory.

It was weird, to stand in the same room she had been conceived, grown, and then ‘born’ in.

Standing over a microscope was her mother. Naya looked like she had skipped out on sleep the previous night, which wasn’t abnormal. As Faye entered the room, she looked up. “Hmm? Good morning sweetie. You ready for school?”

“Mom, they sent everyone home because of a stink bomb,” Faye replied, walking over.

“They did?” Naya frowned. “Oh. Well, I guess it’s no skin off our backs. Do you have any plans for today?”

“Actually, Valerie wanted to go to Locksmouth today.” Faye paused for a moment, wringing her hands. “Is it okay if I go with her?”

“I see no reason why not.” Naya smiled. “You can visit your mother at the Fabricatory while you’re there. She should be back in a couple days anyways, but I’m sure Delia would love to see you early.”

“I’ll make sure to see her while we’re there.” Faye leaned over, giving her mother a hug. “I’ll see you tonight, Mom.”

“I’ll see you tonight, sweetie.” Naya returned the hug. “Stay safe, okay?”

“I will.” Faye enjoyed the contact for just a few moments longer before disengaging. Smiling, she turned and made her way out of the laboratory.

“Faye, dear,” Naya called out as she left.

“Yes?” Faye paused, turning around.

“Have fun, won’t you?”

 -
- -
 -

Valerie did not enjoy waiting in line.

Unfortunately, the line for the intercity subtran was longer than normal at this time of day. Most of the people waiting in line to go to Locksmouth were businessmen and women who were travelling for their daily commute. But the congestion was caused by high schoolers who were going on a short vacation. It wasn’t even a lot of high schoolers, just enough to increase the bustle to aggravating levels.

Valerie sighed as she glanced down at the tickets in her hands again. Faye was late. Or maybe she wasn’t showing up at all.

Stupid. Stupid! How could she have been so stupid! She rushed it. She had ruined everything. She should have just gone home, not let herself fall asleep [i]on top of[/i] Faye. At the very least she should have made sure to fall asleep on the floor. Now Faye probably thought she was trying to take advantage of her, and it was all ruined and she would hate her-

Close eyes, breathe in, breathe out. Calm down, Val. Don’t jump to conclusions. Think about it logically. Did Faye freak out a bit and act awkwardly when she found you in her bed? Yes. Did she hate you for it? Not necessarily, or at least obviously. Would she have texted back and forth earlier today if she hated you? No, not really. Was Faye the sort of person to hold a grudge?

Valerie had to actually think about the last one for a few moments. She had never seen Faye get angry. Actually angry. Frustrated at video games, yes, but not to the point of genuine anger. Somehow, the concepts of rage and Faye North weren’t compatible.

…Right?

Valerie took another steadying breath and looked around. Faye still wasn’t here, and the subtran was going to be arriving in the station soon. Maybe she really wouldn’t show…

There! Relief washed over her as she spotted Faye’s distinctive outline making its way through the station. Valerie lifted up to catch Faye’s eye, and only lowered herself back to normal height when the hybrid looked directly at her and nodded.

“Faye! I was worried you wouldn’t make it!” Valerie greeted, a smile breaking out on her face.

“I, um…” Faye scratched the back of her head sheepishly. “I lost track of time. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Valerie immediately reassured, “The train hasn’t left yet, so we’ve still got time.”

“That’s good…” Faye let out a sigh of relief.

“Now boarding: Locksmouth subtran”

“That’s us.” Valerie picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. “You brought your swimsuit?”

“Yes. Why?” Faye glanced down and sidelong at her.

“I was thinking…” Valerie pursed her lips, pausing for a moment. “Nobody in Locksmouth knows who we are. Nobody like Carlisle to ruin everything. So I was thinking…” Valerie hesitated again. “Maybe we could go to the water park while we were there?”

Valerie waited for Faye to protest, but instead the hybrid was silent for a while before shrugging. “W-well… I don’t see why not…”

“Really?” Valerie blinked in surprise. “I promise that I won’t let it turn out like the party did.”

“Thank you Val.” Faye smiled.

As the bustle dwindled bit by bit, Valerie and Faye passed off their tickets and entered the subtran. The inside was thankfully spacious enough for Faye to comfortably stand, even if she had needed to turn sideways to slip through the door. While the train was more crowded than normal, it had been designed for a population far greater than the one that existed.

It was a problem that would eventually grow phenomenally out of hand. The underpopulation issue was only going to get worse as time went on. Birth rates were only getting lower and lower. The problem was so bad that many people were searching for solutions. Like the Life Party, trying to force every couple to have at least one child. Or Faye’s parents, who were trying to solve the problem from a different angle.

Now that Valerie thought about it, wasn’t one of Faye’s mothers in Locksmouth? The Locksmouth Fabricatory had access to some supplies that they couldn’t get in Anchorsway. Supplies that were needed to make certain kinds of complicated machinery. Valerie would have to ask Faye herself later…

Faye and Valerie found several adjacent seats that were empty, and Valerie quickly claimed one for herself as Faye sat down in the three directly to the left to it. Everything was busy for a little while as people found places to sit, but over the course of a couple minutes the noise quieted down and the motion came to a stop.

Valerie looked around the train curiously, wondering if she could spot anyone she knew. Quite a distance to one end was a zebra-striped cuttlefish, who may very well have been Carlisle. There was also a beluga whale girl who she recognized as Tammi Hauser, standing next to a vaguely familiar bass girl. But directly across from her and Faye was a leatherback turtle. He was particularly small and wiry, especially given his species. He had a lap tray covered in little cogs and wires, with tools slotted into the surface of the tray. He hadn’t looked up from his tinkering as Valerie and Faye had sat down. For some reason, she recognized him, but had no idea who he was. He looked like he was around her age, maybe younger, so she [i]should[/i] recognize him from school.

So Valerie, curious, leaned forwards. “Do I know you?”

The turtle didn’t look up, just continued tinkering with cogs. “Evidently not. Of course, that’s not too much of a surprise, given what company you keep.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Valerie recoiled in surprise.

“Let’s see.” The turtle finally looked up from the mess on his lap tray, his eyes tired. He looked like he hadn’t gotten a good night of sleep in his life, and with how abnormally skinny he was it seemed like his meals had suffered similarly. “Brown scales, cobra lineage, but the most defining feature is easily the tail. Everyone knows who you are, Valerie. Psychology student, genetic abnormality, and rampant party girl. You wouldn’t believe how many people tell fake stories about their exploits with you.”

Valerie could only stare at him in shock for a few moments. “Well you seem to have caught me off guard. You know a lot about me, but I know next to nothing about you.”

“Yes, that was the intention.” The turtle glanced to his right, a strange expression appearing on his face. He shifted just a bit away, then cursed under his breath as the motion nearly knocked several components off of his tray.

Faye spoke at this point, “H-hello Niall.”

The turtle – Niall – swallowed nervously. “Hmm.”

The hybrid let out a shuddering breath. After a moment she spoke again, “Why’d you stink bomb Devon?”

Valerie’s jaw dropped. “That was him?!”

Niall gritted his teeth. “I wanted some petty revenge on a petty asshole. It wasn’t [i]intended[/i] to hit the school. A simple ‘tamper-proof’ stink bomb with no timer. If I’d stuck it on anyone else, they’d have probably tripped it when they packed their backpack for school. Instead, the idiot didn’t even notice until he had to grab a book for first period. I was lucky to get out of the room before he tripped it.”

“How do you [i]make[/i] a stink bomb like that?” Valerie asked.

“It’s not that difficult.” Niall shrugged. “I’ve been taking things apart and putting them back together in ways they were never designed for since elementary school.”

“Like neurods…” Faye mumbled, looking away.

Niall blanched at that, averting his gaze. “You’d be surprised how many people try to get me to sell them weaponized toys. The answer is a universal no.”

“So…” Valerie furrowed her brow. “What are you doing heading to Locksmouth?”

“Visiting family.” Niall answered curtly, returning his attention to the lap tray. “Now if you’re done interrogating me, I’m trying to work on a project.”

 -
- -
 -

Emerging from the train into the Locksmouth station was like emerging from underwater. It wasn’t that she couldn’t breathe while on the train, but it was refreshing to leave the confined atmosphere.

She hadn’t expected to run into Niall on the train. That had been a terrifying moment when she had recognized the turtle. Faye had hoped that she would never see Niall again, but circumstance clearly had other plans. Why couldn’t the past just stay in the past?

Valerie didn’t seem to think the same way. As the two of them stepped out of the station, the cobra looked up at Faye. “So, how do you know Niall?”

“Um. I-it’s a l-long story…” Faye mumbled nervously, “And I d-don’t really want t-to talk about it…”

“Well, if you say so.” Valerie shrugged. “I’m going to head to my mother’s home in the residential district. Do you want to join me?”

“I-I was planning to go see my Mom at the Fabricatory,” Faye answered.

“Alright then.” Valerie nodded. “Meet at the Splash Zone at noon?”

“Sounds good.” Faye smiled. “I’ll see you then.”

“See you then.”

And with that, the two parted ways.

Faye preferred the open air of Locksmouth over the watery atmosphere of Anchorsway. Being able to look up and see that something was above her head was worrying. That was part of why she never lifted her gaze higher than straight forwards. Granted, it was also because there was rarely anything important above her eye level; but the point was that she hated enclosed spaces. Being able to breathe underwater didn’t help the constant stress that the dome may collapse. The weight of the water would be more than enough to squash anyone flat.

But in the open air, she didn’t have to worry about it. True, Locksmouth had a dome of its own, but it didn’t hold out anything but natural weather. Being outside while in Locksmouth was almost the same as being outside of a dome entirely. Or so she’d heard. Faye had never been outside of a dome in her life, save for brief trips between domes.

Needless to say, she despised confined spaces. Getting stuck too many times had left a lasting dislike of any area with a roof that her head could touch. Or where she could touch opposite walls at the same time. And especially anywhere that wasn’t wide enough for her to walk through. That incident with the dive tube was an experience she never wanted repeated.

Valerie kept insisting that she seek therapy for her claustrophobia, but Faye didn’t want to bother. It wouldn’t help the fact that she’d just keep getting stuck.

As she made her way to the Fabricatory, Faye could feel eyes on her. Swallowing nervously, she just picked up the pace. That seemed to only draw [i]more[/i] attention. It was only when she realized that walking so quickly caused her, er, self to jiggle that she slowed back down to a normal walking speed once more.

Still, she reached her destination quickly. Being two feet taller than anyone else had some advantages. Not that it was worth it.

Faye walked in the front door of the Fabricatory and looked around nervously. The lobby was empty save for the feline receptionist – it was a work day, after all. Faye slowly walked up to the receptionist counter and cleared her throat. “Um. I-I’m here to see Doctor Zarla?”

“Do you have an appointment?” The receptionist asked in monotone, not even looking up from her computer.

“Um. I t-texted on the train over. She’s my mother,” Faye mumbled, “Sh-she should be working w-with, um.” Faye glanced down at her PET for a moment. “Doctor Eccard?”

“Hmm, well…” The receptionist tapped a few buttons on her keyboard. “Doctor Eccard’s personal workshop is on the third floor, office 319. You just need to follow the signs. Can I have your naaa…”

As the feline looked up, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Faye swallowed nervously. “Faye North.”

“Erm. Right. Okay.” The receptionist blinked a couple of times. “Well. Uh. Don’t let me hold you here.”

Faye nodded, turning and walking away. She could feel the wide eyes of the receptionist on her as she made her way to the stairwell. Why did everyone stare? Couldn’t they tell that she didn’t like it?

Based on how Valerie seemed to relish the attention, probably not.

Faye climbed the stairs steadily. She’d heard that the grav-lifts were almost flawless, but it really wasn’t worth the tight space needed for the stable lift. Besides, she was strong enough to go for literal hours. She’d been put to the test one time during P.E., back before she had been banned. The only reason she’d stopped lifting the barbell was because she got bored.

At the third floor, Faye stepped out of the stairwell into the hall. A holographic sign on the wall opposite stated that offices 300-319 were to the right, while 320-399 was left. Faye immediately turned right, walking past office after office as she strode down the hall. In no time she reached office 319 and slowly pushed the door open.

She was greeted by a mess of paper, machinery, and tools. For a few brief moments Faye wondered what kind of natural disaster had occurred in the office to make it this cluttered. But her curiosity was suddenly interrupted when a woman’s voice echoed from an adjoining room, “Hello? I heard the door open…”

A tall (by normal standards) and slender bat slipped out of an empty doorway, an eyebrow raised. Her fur was naturally dark brown, but every inch of exposed fur had a complex pattern of soft yellow dye dancing across the surface. She was wearing a lab coat, although it was largely for novelty purposes as Faye knew. As she entered the room, a wide smile broke out on Constance Zarla-North’s face. The bat walked forwards, approaching at an angle as she wrapped her arms around Faye’s midriff. “Faye! How’re you doing, sweetie?”

“Hi Mom.” Faye smiled, hugging back. Despite the fact that her parents were happily married, they used different last names to avoid the confusion of both being ‘Doctor North’. “I’m doing good. What about you?”

“Well…” Connie moved back a step so that she could look up to see her daughter’s face. “We got the prototype gene isolator done yesterday. Since then, I’ve been comparing notes with Doctor Eccard. He’s… enthusiastic to meet you.”

“Constance? Is that the guest that the receptionist was messaging me about?” A nasally voice echoed from the adjoining room. It was immediately followed by a pair of oversized ears connected to a dark furred head, and then a pair of eyes that took up most of their owner’s face. Said eyes widened further as they locked onto Faye, and the rest of the diminutive lemur stepped into the main room of the office. “Ah, this must be the prototype!”

“Franklin. This is my daughter, Faye.” Constance rolled her eyes and turned around to look at the lemur. “Faye, meet Franklin Eccard. The man whose notes have been surprisingly useful in locating errors in the gene isolator.”

“Please Constance, I told you that you can call me Frank.” The lemur waved her off, still staring at Faye. “Absolutely fascinating. Do you mind answering some questions about its creation?”

“I don’t mind, no.” Connie crossed her arms. “Provided that your questions aren’t too invasive.”

“Perfect!” The lemur turned towards the mess on one of the counters and dug around for a moment, grabbing a notepad and a pen. “Now then, let’s begin with the obvious: why make it so tall?”

“Me and Naya wanted her to be able to protect herself. We wound up going overboard.”

“Alright. Next question: about the color, why yellow?”

“A stupid decision that I forgot to fix. I thought it’d make her stand out. It didn’t occur to me until later that everything else would do that job just as well.” Constance let out an annoyed huff. “Are you going to ask scientific questions, or not?”

“In a moment.” Eccard looked down at his notepad. “Why is it a hermaphrodite? That doesn’t seem like something that would help.”

Connie sighed, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. “I wanted a son. Naya wanted a daughter. She decided to compromise and said that we could have both. Me, being dead tired at the time, thought that she meant at the same time. It was only later - far beyond the point of no return - that I realized that she meant two children.”

“Hmm…” Eccard walked closer. “And is it fully oper-“

Faye didn’t mean to do it. It was honestly just a reflex. One second everything was fine, then Doctor Eccard had reached out, and now he was lying on the ground gasping for air. Faye immediately began babbling apologies, only to be cut off when her mother reached up and placed a finger over her lips.

Constance Zarla walked over to the downed Doctor Eccard and reached down, pulling the lemur back to his feet. “Doctor, are you okay?”

“Fine, fine. Just… had the wind knocked out of me.” The lemur’s large eyes blinked a couple of times as his breathing returned to normal.

“Good.”

[i]Thwack![/i]

When the dazed doctor recovered enough from the slap to finally see straight again, Constance grabbed him by the front of the shirt. Her voice was low, serious, and deadly calm, “You will not touch my daughter again. You will not speak of her as though she is a [i]thing[/i]. And you will count yourself lucky I don’t report you for your behavior. Am I understood?”

The lemur swallowed nervously. “Perfectly.”

“Wonderful.” With that, Constance let go of Eccard’s shirt. The bat turned to look at Faye. “Faye, I’m going to pack up and head home in a few hours. Did you have any other plans for today?”

“U-u-um. I-I-I w-was going t-to go t-to the S-Splash Z-zone with V-Valerie…” Faye stuttered, still shaking like a leaf. Her brain had yet to fully process exactly what had happened.

“Well, I hope you two have fun. I’ll see you tonight.” Constance flashed a quick smile at Faye, then walked back into the adjoining room. One hand shot out as she passed the still stunned Doctor Eccard, dragging the Lemur by the back of the shirt.

This left Faye standing alone in a room full of scattered papers and tools. She glanced down at the notepad that had dropped from Doctor Eccard’s fingers when she… flinched. The words written were… nonsense. A collection of seemingly random letters, arranged in grouping like words. But trying to read it aloud would only result in nonsense.

Faye wasn’t stupid. She could tell when someone was using a cipher. People didn’t just scribble random letters grouped in clusters that resembled sentence structure, and they especially didn’t add punctuation if they never intended to decipher it.

So why was Doctor Eccard ciphering his notes? She had seen the blank page before he started asking questions. What kind of notes was he taking that required ciphering?

She wouldn’t be able to find out. She didn’t know the cipher, she couldn’t take the page, and she had no way to discretely copy the jumble of letters.

So Faye turned around and left. It was getting close to noon now, and she had told Valerie that she would meet her at the Splash Zone. What Doctor Eccard did with his notes was none of her business anyways. It was just… strange.

Faye could feel the receptionist’s eyes on her again as she left the Fabricatory. The door slid open, and Faye nearly bowled over a bass girl in her distraction. Then the door shut behind her, and Faye was outside.

After taking a deep breath to steady herself, Faye started off towards the Splash Zone.

~(_)~

A lot of people always talked about how the Locksmouth water park didn’t compare with the vast underwater amusement parks of Anchorsway. From an objective standpoint, it was easy to see why: the tourism to Anchorsway was a major point of attention, and the effort that went into making it better was phenomenal. Add in the fact that Anchorsawy was on the edge of forcefield tech, and you had spectacular attractions that defied gravity, conventional physics, and the body’s perception of space. That wasn’t to say that the Splash Zone had none of these things, but the scale was notably different.

All that said, Faye preferred the relatively smaller attraction in Locksmouth. It didn’t have nearly as much activity as the constantly active Anchorsway amusement park. And today, especially, there was nothing much happening. It was, after all, only noon on a school day. Most folks were either in school or at work, leaving only a few people wandering around in swimsuits.

Faye arrived just after twelve o’clock, looking around for Valerie. It shouldn’t be too difficult to locate her. There couldn’t be many snake-tailed people around-

No, wait, there she was. Wearing far, far less than last time that Faye had seen her, the cobra was slithering towards the Splash zone. There was a backpack slung over her shoulder, but that wasn’t what drew the eye. For a top, she had diamond-shaped affair that served primarily to hold her breasts in place, while down below was a curved piece designed to add just a little bit of extra covering. In between those two garments was, quite frankly, nothing. Just smooth brown scales.

Faye blinked, averting her gaze for a moment before returning it to Val’s face. The cobra was smiling widely as she approached. When she got a bit closer, Valerie waved. “Hey Faye!”

“H-hi.” Faye gave a half-hearted wave.

“How’d your visit to the Fabricatory go?” Valerie asked as she slithered closer.

“Well…” Faye swallowed, scratching the back of her head. “It c-could have gone better.”

“Really?” Valerie’s eyes widened. “What happened?”

“I-“ Faye swallowed again, looking down and continuing in a whisper. “I don’t really want to talk about it.” She lifted her gaze. “How did your visit go?”

“It was good to see Mom again. She’s thinking about getting back into dating again, which is good for her,” Valerie said, a smile tugging at her lips for a moment, “And she made us some sandwiches for later.”

“What kind?” Faye asked, only to pause and continue quieter, “A-and how many?”

“Ham and cheddar, and four,” Valerie answered, “One for me, three for you.” The cobra paused for a moment. “Oh, and she gave me a paper bag and said to wait until after we ate to open it.”

“Dessert?”

“Probably.” Valerie took the paper bag out of her backpack, glancing at it. “Can’t tell, though.”

“I can smell vanilla,” Faye said, closing her eyes for a moment, “Although the chlorine from the water park isn’t making it easy to make out…” When Faye opened her eyes, she caught Valerie’s wide eyed gaze. “Wh-what?”

“That’s amazing.” Valerie blinked, lowering the paper bag to her side. “You’re amazing. Have I ever told you that?”

“I-I… well…” Faye blushed furiously. “I-I’m not really….”

“I’m serious.” Valerie tucked the paper bag back into her backpack, then lowered the backpack to the ground. The cobra slithered closer, looking Faye in the eyes. “You are amazing.”

“V-Val, I-It’s just…” Faye spoke in a small voice, looking away, “I’m just weird…”

“No, you’re amazing. You’ve always been amazing.” Valerie reached out, gently but firmly pulling Faye’s head to look her in the eyes. “I’ve always thought you were amazing. Ever since I moved to Anchorsway.”

Faye didn’t even get a chance to stammer a reply before Valerie continued. “And you’ve always been so down on yourself! Everything about you is amazing!” Valerie took a deep breath, letting go and backing away a short distance. “Faye I, um, I wanted to ask you a question…”

Faye swallowed nervously. “U-uhm.”

“Will you-,”

A thunderous boom drowned out the rest of Valerie’s sentence, accompanied by a tremor that rocked the ground beneath Faye’s feet. Both Faye and Valerie turned to look towards the source of the noise.

A massive creature towered in the distance, making its way across the city with destructive intent. Every footfall caused destruction, its heavy feet tearing buildings apart with mindless ease.

Tingling erupted over Faye’s face, and her eyes widened. Something was very wrong. The tingling sensation only ever happened underwater or when there was a massive electrical discharge nearby. Her electroreceptors were weak compared to an actual shark, but they were still strong enough to let her know where there was something wrong. She instinctively whirled around, tapping Valerie on the shoulder. “V-V-V-Val…”

Valerie turned, and the scales on her face paled. “What the fuck...”

Hovering in the air was a horizontal vortex, swirling around a central point that peered into another world. A barren wasteland was revealed, covered in metallic walls and barriers. Dried up trees dotted the visible space. As the window to the other world grew larger a purple claw dropped through, followed shortly by the creature attached to it. The thing was hideous, the ugly color of a bruise. Six arms extended radially from a central body, and those arms lifted the thing off the ground as it seemed to find its bearings. The top of its body split into a triangular mouth, and it skittered towards Faye and Valerie with a screech.

It got within ten feet of the pair before Valerie finally snapped out of her daze. The cobra’s hood extended as she lunged forwards, fist slamming down onto the thing’s body. The force of the blow was enough to stun the creature, and Valerie followed up by grabbing a leg and hurling the freakish monster into a building. It hit and fell to the ground limply.

“Whatever the fuck that thing is, it’s probably not a problem anymore.” Valerie took a deep breath, glancing back at Faye. “Let’s get out of here.”

“P-portal.” Faye stuttered, pointing at the swirling vortex in the air.

Like a dam breaking, more purple monsters began to pour from the portal. In moments there were too many to count, and the first to fall through were beginning to charge the pair. Valerie cursed under her breath. “Oral code 770577 - Strong-Arm.”

As the tide of skittering monsters neared, Valerie went to work. Faye had only seen Valerie do this once before, back before Devon finally got his act together at the end of middle school. She had picked up the brawny crustacean with one hand, and that same strength was clearly going to work here. Each swing of her prosthetics sent at least one of the monsters flying, and Valerie’s lashing tail was strong enough to buy her time from the horde.

Even still, it wouldn’t take long for the monsters to overwhelm Valerie. Faye had to do something. Taking a deep breath, she ran forwards, flailing wildly. Somehow, it worked. Each impact caused an unpleasant squelching sound, and she saw their limbs bend unnaturally when she hit them. The tide turned quickly, as the ugly purple things would try to grab her legs and climb up only to be swatted into the swarm. Each creature taken down caused collateral damage to the rest, and it felt like only moments later that the remaining creatures were either scuttling away or limping into the shadows.

Faye panted heavily, turning to look at Valerie. The cobra looked surprised. “Wow. I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I-I, um…” Faye swallowed nervously. “I d-didn’t either...”

“[i]Now[/i] let’s get out of here.” Valerie slithered back to her dropped backpack and picked it up. She turned around again, and the backpack slipped from her fingers. “Faye, behind you!”

She realized her mistake too late; she had turned her back on the source of the crawling monsters. She turned quickly, various parts of her body carrying the momentum just a bit further. That proved to be a major issue as something bigger than she was lunged for her. Claws pierced her shoulders as armored limbs locked around her torso. Two more claws pulled her legs out from under her, and her back hit the ground heavily.

The thing holding her down was similar in shape to the purple creatures, but covered in black chitin and with an extra set of arms. The bottom of its primary body opened, chitin sliding away to reveal two more limbs that ended in sickles of yellowed bone. The sinewy limbs extended outwards, the tips tapping on Faye’s collarbone.

That stimulus was enough for Faye to react. Her arms were forced out away from her by the claws piercing her shoulders, and the claws on her legs were keeping her pinned. She struggled against the creature, only to gasp in pain as the claws dug deeper. Valerie screamed something, and lunged forwards to pound her fists against the massive spiderlike monster. Chitin cracked, but the creature didn’t as much as flinch.

The sickles lifted, then twisted inwards to the creature’s fleshy underbelly. Flesh parted beneath the blades as the monster gutted itself. The blades dug deeper, and crimson fluid dripped down onto Faye’s belly. Thick globs of red poured from the wound, and the monster began to shudder and seize violently. Its claws ripped out of Faye’s shoulders, bringing chunks of skin with them. Faye screamed in pain, her mind clouding. The monster slid sideways, landing next to Faye as it bled out. Yellow fluid leaked from cracks in its chitin, and more notably from the gouges on its underbelly.

Faye blinked slowly, sitting up. Valerie was saying something, mechanical hands hovering just above Faye’s shoulders. Blood was flowing from the injuries, running down her back and her front. There was no blood on her belly. That was… wrong. There should have been blood there. She had seen it drop from the monster.

The monster which was bleeding yellow.

Faye swallowed, trying to stay awake. Her head hurt. Her shoulders were burning with pain. Right now, all she wanted was…

[i]Sleep.[/i]