You'll Never Be Alone [mpreg|sequel]

xiii

The screams are immediate and that's all he can hear before there's nothing.  No sound, no pain.  People have scattered, the crowds non-existent. It's just him and his rapid breathing and racing heart drumming in his chest.  He looks through eyes that aren't his own, body shivering as he realizes Riot has engulfed them.  Riot is protecting them.

An enraged roar grumbles from Riot's chest at the threat that quickly dies in their throat.  Dan doesn't know what's going on.  The pounding of his heart still too loud in his ears.  But he can see and suddenly he is released from the safety of Riot's armor.

The symbiote manifests beside Dan, a thrum of... of something runs through him.

In the midst of the crowd dispersing they can finally see their assailant.

Half of the man's face is disfigured, scarred nearly beyond recognition.

But he knows who it is.  The complexion familiar and eyes full of anger and hate too discernible.

Carlton Drake. (Drake).

The bullet that had been intended to pierce Dan, but was instead absorbed by Riot, is slowly pushed out of the slime until it ricochets against the payment with intense force.  Perhaps a warning?  Regardless it lands in front of Drake's feet and it buries into the pavement surrounded by a crater.

The tension continues to grow and Dan can finally see that the man is struggling.  He's struggling to hold the gun, to keep himself upright from the damage of the fire and explosion.  Still, there is defiance in his eyes even as his labored breathing becomes more and more audible.

"Traitor," the man hisses.

"Survivor," Riot corrects, "You above anyone else should know that what I did was necessary for my own survival.  You were not of import."

"I am your host!"

"Were," is the calm contradiction.

The man's face scrunches up even further as he heats up with anger, red travelling down to his neck.

"You left me to die!"

"Natural selection."

"Right, that explains you fucking Dr. Lewis," and the way he says it is so condescending.

It makes Dan tense up, arms covering his belly protectively.  He shouldn't have known.  How could he have known?  He's not too big that people will visibly notice.  He also changed his wardrobe to that of Eddy's.  His body mostly hidden by a red sweater loose around the midsection.

"Surprised?" The man sneers tauntingly, "Of course, how would you have known that I resided in the same hospital you were in?"

It's rhetorical, but the information makes his tummy churn.

He's the one.

He authorized the surgery to kill his baby.

It's him-

That information triggers Riot, he feeds off of Dan's memory and fear.

"You!" It's garbled in a growl full of rage.

"You left me! For a pathetic excuse of a human who is utterly unlovable if Anne has anything to say about it.  She sure knows how to pick them, doesn't she?"

Dan bristles at that.  Anne was the single best thing that has occurred to him other than meeting Eddy and Abel and carrying his own child.  Fuck him!

"Fuck you!" Dan shouts, momentarily surprised by his own outcry.

"You'd like that, don't you? Spreading your legs for a monster wasn't enough?"

Riot prepares to attack when Drake pulls something out.

A small device, black and hefty in the palm of his hand, "I wouldn't if I were you."

Dan is paralyzed when he realizes what it could be.

"Make a single move against me and I will make sure you and your spawn die where you stand."

Dan's throat feels dry at the threat, he knows that with a press of a button the radiofrequency emitted might be enough worse than that of an MRI machine.

"Good. Now do as I say and I'll let your little pet live.  What do you say Riot? We'll let the good doctor carry your spawn and snatch it up once it's born.  You and I can raise it, make it into the killing machine we both know you are.  A prodigy in the making, a mini mad scientist."

Disgust twists Dan's stomach.

But Riot... Riot listens.

Slowly the symbiote tears itself away from Dan.

"No," Dan breathes, voice high in panic, "if you leave we die."

"We can keep him in the lab," Drake offers then, "keep him alive just long enough to cut your spawn out."

"Riot!"

But Riot is already slithering around Drake's arm.

"Or... we can forget them, I can shoot him right now and get rid of them both.  And you and I can start our own army."

Before Riot can answer, Drake decides for them as he pulls the trigger.

This time Riot is too far to react, to shield Dan and their child from harm.

This time it's too late as Dan crumbles to the floor, red spilling and staining the pavement.

He made his choice. Dan is unnecessary when Drake is their perfect host.