In The Flesh(Teeth)

3

"Cast your stones, cast your judgement, you don't make me who I am." - Sometimes You're The Hammer, Sometimes You're The Nail by A Day To Remember
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I'm definitely getting time in the pit for this.

The hole in the sac begins to stretch with uncanny speed, white fluids splashing rapidly through the hole.

I instinctually reach out and attempt to pull the flaps of the hole back together, as if I could tape chasms together.

"Hey!" I shout as warm goo envelops my hand.

I bolt away from the sac and into the open space of the row.

"Situation in Row E!" I yell frantically.

People begin to appear at the head of Row E and look at me expectantly.

"One of the sacs is ripping open!"

A man comes rushing to help, followed by another man and a woman. I sprint back to the sac and point helplessly at it.

The man's mouth pops open and the woman gasps. as we reach the sac, an extremely loud ripping sound emits from the thing and then the sac explodes.

The hole suddenly rips wide and the bottom of the sac pops. It releases a flood of liquid. It's followed by the naked body of a woman.

We stare at the woman, who lies in a pool of white, strange organic tubes trailing from her body. Her skin is extremely pale, and she is bald. Black veins spiderweb her arms.

The four of us are frozen before the body, unable to take a step forward. The other man steps cautiously forward, nervously pushing his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose.

He crouches before the woman and tentatively feels for a pulse.

He looks up at us after a moment.

"No pulse." He says flatly.

Just as he stands, the woman suddenly takes in a gasp of air. She bolts to a sitting position. Her eyelids fly open, revealing smooth black scleras with no visible iris or pupil.

Glasses man startles and leans forward to look more closely.

She feverishly begins to claw at the tubes in her arms. One is dislodged and falls, trailing a spray of blood.

The woman opens her mouths and screams incoherently. Her lips move rapidly like she is trying to form words.

Something strange happens while she voices her agony. Her teeth sharpen and elongate, her skin darkening to a pale ash color, and her black eyes take on an orange tint. This transformation is only momentary before black blood begins to ooze from the woman.

The woman besides me shouts and moves towards her, as if she can help her. The woman chokes on the blood and she claws her throat and splutters.

Her eyes bulge and black trails leak from the corner of her eyelids. The woman besides shouts, but I don't hear what she says. I can only focus on the sight of the woman, who has fallen silent.

Her eyes have cleared to reveal dark brown irises, and she lies in a pool of black blood and sac fluid.

I suck in a breath and look wildly around at the people surrounding me. I see Tommy across from me, staring at the dead woman with a glint of interest. A small seed of doubt unfurls in my stomach.

Rough hands grasp my forearms and shake me.

"What did you do?" a balding man with yellow teeth demands of me.

His calluses hands dig into my skin uncomfortably.

"They're gonna come and kill us, 'cause you killed one of them!" He screams in my face.

Anger rises within me and I swat his hands away.

"It's not my fucking fault!" I yell back at him.

The bald man glares back at me.

"There's a dead woman right there, and I'm thinking you cut the sack open yourself. Think you're funny, causing trouble for us?" He spits at me.

I take a step towards him.

"I didn't do it." I say declaratively.

The man swings and I barely register the hit. I hear of his fist smacking my jaw and the pounding of my heart. I lunge at him and we fall. He lands back first in the pool of blood and white goo. I check myself and roll off of him, taking large steps away from him. Tommy comes to my side and watches the bald man struggle to his feet disgustedly. He spits at me.

"You'll be in the pit soon enough."

Just as the words leave his mouth, loud sirens peal.

Tommy looks up at the ceiling and his lips twitch.

"Gonna be a shitstorm down here, Alex."

I curl my hands into tight fists.

Tommy tugs on my arm.

"Come on. You know the drill."

Reluctantly, I leave the body of the dead woman and follow Tommy as he leads the way out of the sac room.

My heart beats furiously and I have to keep wiping the cold sweat from my hands onto my jeans.

Tommy keeps a firm grip on me, as if he knows that I want to bolt and just throw myself into the river and drown. He half-drags me down the twists and turns of the dark tunnel. I develop a sudden fear of the dark and my stomach seems to float into my throat. I open my mouth but the cool darkness of the earth fills my throat and swallows my words.

We enter the main area and take a few steps down. A white chalk line is drawn down the center of the square, and this is where we line up. There is coughing and shuffling as we wait for the Breathers to make their entrance.

Clank.

I stiffen. Tommy makes a warning noise deep in his throat.

The clanking noise signals the pending arrival of the Breathers. I turn my attention to the ceiling of the room, knowing that they will soon drop and slither from there.

My mind keeps crawling back to the dead woman and the way Tommy seemed so satisfied after she died. Watching someone die before my eyes was terrible, but not as terrible as the sinking feeling that Tommy had something to do with the hole in the sac and her demise.

We wait for what seems like an eternity before they finally appear.

Harsh whispering slices through the silence. Loud rattling adds itself to the noise, and then the Breathers begin to drop from the ceiling, one by one.

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A/N

*covers manly tattoos*

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