Wings Of Fire: Closing Eyes (Prequel To The Last Day Series)

Crab - 35

Crab watched the life gurgle from Exo's body blankly.

    Her talons twitched, where the breath of evil had control, and her face was fixated into a snarl. She couldn't really move though, Exo had used all her energy to fight back against the parasite.

   So Crab stood there, watching her die.

    There was nothing that could be done. She was too far gone- with infection and death, and it would be too risky for Crab to try.

   He walked into the trees behind him and found a small clearing with several tiger lilies drooping around. Tears in his eyes, he dug Exo's grave.

    When he came back, dirty and sore, she was dead. Her mouth was slightly agape and her talons were finally still. She was free.

   Crab dragged her to the hole that he had thrown a bunch of moss in and lay her down. He put her into a comfortable position and smoothed out the angry wrinkles on her face. He closed her jaw.

     He sat there for a long time, looking down on her limp body. His claws were stained with her blood. She looked so pretty in the sunlight. 

    The trees whooshed above his head. Crab looked up, and watched as seagulls squawked overhead as if they didn't know how screwed the world is.

     Crab took one last look at Exo as he threw one of the lilies on her back. It rested there.

    It was shallow grave, and her wings just barely poked out of the dirt as he covered her back up. 

    And then he sat there for a very long time.

    It was about noon when the ground shook Crab awake. He sat up startled, forgetting for a moment that any of this happened. An earthworm had been crawling across his horns and it dangled in front of his eyes. With a sigh, he plucked it off and set it on the upturned dirt of Exo's grave.

    Wait, didn't the ground just shake?

    He pressed a talon into the ground as the ground shook again.

   Whoa, he thought, taking one last look at the grave before making his way back to the beach. What is that?

    What is causing it?

    Splinter said that he would fix this...

     Oh no.

    As Crab stepped out of the trees, to his surprise, an entire breath of evil vine uncoiled itself from a tree and slithered down the beach at lightning speed. Crab jumped, watching the coiling length slip into the water, towards the direction of the Floating City.

    In fact, a lot of vines were heading right there.

   Even though it was about half a day's flight away, Crab could see the thick tangles of vines diving and zipping along.

    He felt something tap his foot. When Crab looked down, a little tendril was trying to burrow through his foot. When he picked it up, he saw little roots reaching in and out to make the plant crawl.

    Weird, Crab thought, tossing it into the water and watching as it wiggled away. What's going on?

    The Peace Tower, which still looked like a big deadly talon, was holding the massive bundle of breath of evil, and Crab could see infected dragons flying to it.

    What about Exo?

    He peeked through the trees towards her grave as a sickening long tendril squirmed out of the soil, and zipped to the beach as well. Crab wanted to throw up. That was inside her?

    When he turned back around, it was like the difference of night and day.

     Literally. The sky was black with infected dragons and vines, all of them colliding into the palm of the giant talon.

    This went on for about an hour. Crab lay on the beach, watching the plant matter condense into a massive, almost rotating ball.

    He was nearly about to fall asleep when a loud crash and cracking sound startled him. He sat upright, and watched as the massive wad of plant and dragon crashed down into the giant Peace Tower Talon, and it cracked down one side.

    It bashed the palm again and again, until the massive of it caught on fire and smashed the entire structure into the ground. The ground shook hard.

    Crab couldn't breathe.

    He watched the massive dust cloud bear down on him, miles away.

    He finally felt at peace.

    Yes, his friends were all gone and probably dead. His mother was definitely dead. 

     But he didn't have to be sad in these last moments he had, right?

     He looked up at the sun, which would burn on long after he was dead.

     Or would it, if it was in his own universe?

    Did everything end if he did?

     Crab shook his head and laid on the beach, watching the dusty shockwave warp the sea and clouds.

    He'll be okay, wherever he was.

    Soon, he'll be with his friends.

    Things change, and there was no stopping it.

     It's okay.

     He'll be okay.

     The shockwave was only a few seconds away now. The sapphire blue waves crashed in the water, bearing down on him.

    Crab closed his eyes, and let the end begin.