Thirteen (Mono×OC)

Her Hunger

I woke up the next morning to my ankle stinging. I winced, my back hitting Mono's stomach, waking him up on accident. I sat up and rubbed my chained ankle. It had been hurting a lot more recently. "Mhmm... Are you okay, Thir?" He asked sleepily. "My ankle just hurts a bit. I'm fine." I mumbled, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

"Hah. Where's Six?" Mono asked, sitting up. I glanced to where she was sleeping last night, and saw the spot was empty, the blankets mussed. "Six?" I called into the shrubs on the riverbank.

I heard the sou d of ripping, crunching, and chewing vaguely. I stepped off the raft, much to Mono and the Nomes protest, and followed the noise. I stalked the bushes, each to fire my bow and arrows. When I got to a bush, the eerie noise made me pause. I pushed the twigs aside and saw Six eating a deer.

Blood was on her hands, her face, and ran down her poncho like raindrops. "Six." I said in a serious tone. "Hun, I love ya, but please stop eating raw meat. It'll never be good for you." I said, and she turned, glaring at me with bloody fangs and red eyes. "Calm down, sweetie. I know you're hungrEEEE!" My words dissolved into panicked yelling when Six jumped from the deer carcass to biting my arm.

"Son of a motherfucker! Mono, HELP! Jake! June!" I yelled, trying to push her off. Mono burst through the bushes with his axe, then saw my now bleeding arm. He and the Nomes tried to pry her off me. Six snapped out of whatever hunger trance she was in and with a horrified expression, she let go.

My arm was bleeding and stinging, with a gushing bite mark. Six looked at her hands then to my arm. Horrified. "I'm sorry..." She whispered. "It's fine, Six. Calm down. We can go back to the raft. I just need a bandage and some dissenfectant, and you need to get cleaned off." I said, and we did go back, even though Six kept her distance.

When we got to the raft Six started digging into her bag. I heard a rustle of paper as Mono bandaged my arms.

The sun had long since set when she said another word. I woke from a strange dream of a castle made of metal and alloys when footsteps woke me up. The boat tipped and bounced as someone hopped off. I sat up and Six was gone again. I followed her footsteps down the muddy river bank until I saw her yellow raincoat.

"Six!" I called, and she turned around. She had a little bag on, and seemed sad. "Where're ya going, Six?" I asked the girl, upset. She looked away before taking a paper from her bag.

"The Maw? Six, that place is crawling with monsters, and only surfaces once a year. That means you'd be stuck there, underwater, for at least three hundred and sixty five days." I said, and she sighed, turning the poster over and writing on it. I know, but something in my gut is telling me to go. She wrote. "Then let us go with you!" I cried. She shook her head. No. You and Mono need to keep looking for a safe place for us.

"Six, think about this carefully. What's the point of us still finding a safe place, if you can't find us, and that safe space, afterwards?" I asked, holding her shoulders. I will find it. But you have to find it first. She rationalized. "But- You're a kid Six. Your a twelve year old!" I cried. Let me do this. We've already dealt with the Thin Man. What can be worse than him? She asked me. "Six. The Lady drains life force. She's a fucking witch! I am not letting you spend a year in her domain." I argued. I won't! The Maw has to come of for air and supplies some time. I can get on then, figure things out, and then leave on whatever barge brings the food. She wrote. I bit my lip and groaned. "Fine. But if you get hurt, I am marching to the Maw, stealing a boat, and getting you out, ready or not." I said.

We hugged and she walked away. I watched her vanish until she rounded a river bend. I walked morosely back to the raft, and sat on the edge, my legs in the water, until the sun rose and Mono and the Nomes woke up and saw me crying into the river.