The Eden Projects (Book I)

Chapter 29. Changeling.

Who are we to say when the devil sleeps. When God awakes, and the deeds begin. Surely we have no words. No language, to conjure them. Who are we to say what is taken, what is given... for if the devil can wake, then surely, the other weeps.

The law of the maggot knows no mercy...

"The mother forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree." Job 24:20

- Kasper -

What's happening to me...

Kasper was being pulled along in a mad dash. His body moving for him. Then, in the splinter of a second, he was back. His lungs burned, the frigid air clawed inside of them like sick dogs deserted in a raging tempest. Jarring thumps caught up his footfalls and his ears rang with each pound of his own heart.

He was alive.

He was nothing more.

At least that he could remember.

The empty street stretched out ahead of him in a blur of downpour and unintelligible shapes. Monsters nipped at his back, prodding him like hot pokers to push on. He couldn't stop. They would have him. I can't- I need to hide- His wheezing tapered into a drawn rasp the further he ran. Air... Turning down the final block, he had reached it. His guiding light. The Tower. Tearing into its shadow he threw himself through the glass door. The chittering of shards on cold ceramic bit into his one bare foot.

Clambering to his feet he jumped over the remains of the welcome desk and slid beneath it. His back hit the filing cabinet at one end with a thump, the drawers left open clapped shut when he settled down. Then he waited. Holding his breath. Doing anything and everything to slow his riotous heart.

...Kasper...

Reaching blindly over the desks edge he ran his hands along the counter, trying to feel for anything to use in defense. Nothing. There's nothing. It was empty. He peeked over the peppered granite countertop.

I can take them.

There were three that he could see. Two larger, and one smaller that sat screeching wildly at the entrance. Soon there would be others. The clicking and chittering they made echoed around him like laughing bats.

...Kasper...

Now.

In a whirl he threw himself out around the side of his hiding spot and all that he was caught fire. Every joint burned for action and his vision darkened. Something folded over him, he felt its anger. Its rage. At once, they ran to him. Tongues unfurling without hesitation. He caught the first, throwing a clawed fist back into its face, following it down until his knuckles broke through its skull and smacked into the ground. Flickers... The second caught his back, sinking its teeth into his shoulder. "GET OFF!" He leaned, and the thing came flying over him. Its belly caught sharply on something above him and dumped its innards down Kasper's face and chest. It pulled his head to the floor and sent them both hurling forward. The creature was snagged to him. It let out a shriek as he tried to pull away.

They were locked together.

Unable to pull free he set to slicing. Tearing at its stomach with everything he had. Another of them ran up, dragging his legs out from under him. "GAH!" Its long tongue scraping away strips of his flesh. Flaying him with each pass. "ARGK- COME ON!!!" Finally hitting bones on the first he snapped the ribs and untangled himself. Reaching for the next he rolled over to his side and broke its grip. It pivoted and leapt to him, pulling his fist into its mouth. The serrated jaws slammed into his forearm with each tug it gave. Is it trying to swallow me whole?!? He grabbed the side of its jaw with his free hand and pulled down hard. A garbled mess of growls and screeching came from it. Seeing his opening he bit into its neck, filling his mouth with its blood and flesh. The tangy sweetness kept him going, and going and going until it had stopped moving and he had changed grips, using his swallowed hand as a hook to reel the thing in.