After TPOT 9, the infection was never cured. Two brings the infection to the equation playground, letting all hell loose.
Warnings for this book! Violence, sickness, gore, gore art, disturbing imagery, death
Warnings for this chapter: potentially disturbing art/imagery
For the past month, I've been blindly thrashing around, trying to grasp even a shred of control over the situation. All my deals are null now; all of the objects I bound have been infected with this mystery disease. It wouldn't surprise me if it was caused by one of Two's common screwups, but it's ruined my original plan. There's no objects left here to negotiate with, so I need to face Two head-on. Maybe I can strike up a deal with them directly; since there's no more contestants to compete for it, maybe they'll be willing to give me their power without a fight. I know that Two can pass that power down easily; that was the whole point of their cutesy little bootleg gameshow! I let my attention slip away from Two for only a moment, and now I have no clue where they ran off to. I'm beginning to get impatient with them; I don't understand how they keep screwing up my plans. I've been so careful; I've put so much effort into my plans, and just as things seem to be going my way, Two finds a way to get involved in all the right, wrong things and messes everything up. It's a rigorous cycle, but I'm not going to give up easily. I'm either getting Three back or I'm avenging her. Either way, I need Two's power. I can't move my plan along until I'm stronger than our freakish little sum.
A loud, painful gag from behind broke One from her thoughts, causing her to freeze. One carefully set down the pen they were using, holding her breath to listen for movements. Slow, quiet footsteps and wheezy breathing trailed along on the other side of the splintered plywood sheet. One was hiding out in what remained of Gelatins Steakhouse, as her original hideout had been invaded with those disgusting infected objects and fungus. They weren't ready to seek shelter in the Equation Playground just yet; she still had to find Two and obtain their power, and no algebralien moping around that lousy town would be of any real use to her.
The footsteps came to an excruciatingly slow stop, right behind One. She couldn't hold her breath any longer and exhaled as quietly as she could. Their shaky breaths felt like the loudest thing in the world right now; that zombie could definitely hear her. It was only a matter of time until the dreaded creature figured out that she was on the other side of the flimsy wood, tearing it down and ripping into One's flesh like a rabid dog. The dread in their stomach grew heavier with every infinitely long second; the air was dead and silent, only filled with One's shaky breaths and the wheezy, labored breaths of whoev—whatever was lurking.
The painful demise never struck, so One peeked through the gaps in the rubble, checking if that wretched brute was even there anymore. She was met with a close-up view of Fanny's rotting, reanimated corpse. It just... stood there, swaying slightly as its dead eyes stared blankly towards Gelatin's failed dream. One froze, breath catching in her chest once again as she mentally cursed at what used to be Fanny for taking so long. Why did this revolting cadaver have to stand here of all places!? They were trying to organize their thoughts, and they couldn't write with death standing behind her!
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