Godead

XXXVIII

"Abby!" Claude said, rushing to her side.

"Claude!" Abby shrieked, writhing in pain on the couch.

"Abby! What's wrong?!" Claude asked.

"It... It hurts!" Abby said.

"What hurts?!" Zoe asked.

"My body!" Abby replied. "It feels like a thousand knives are stabbing at me from the inside...!"

"Abby! You're gonna be alright! Hang on!" Claude said, clutching her hand.

"Claude... I've been a bad girl. I know I've been bad...," Abby said. "I... I'm sorry about Lucy! About everybody! I—!"

As Abby spoke, her head suddenly shot back. She gave a piercing scream as her chest rose high in the air. As the girl loudly shrieked, a high pitched hiss filled the room, a pair of sharp claws suddenly bursting from her chest. They clawed their way sideways, splitting Abby's body in two. Suddenly, a bloody creature sprung from her remains. It leapt across the room, hissing as it swiftly flew everywhere. It fluttered around, Claude and Zoe watching as it knocked things off the walls.

As the creature came to a stop, it crouched in the middle of the living room, blood dripping down its pale white body. It slowly stood up, turning to face Claude and Zoe. The creature resembled a bloody, naked Abby; eyes nothing but two pools of darkness as two sharp wings protruded from her back. She stoically stared Claude and Zoe down, raising a hand before looking down at it.

"I feel so much better, now," the creature said, voice eery and echoing. Slowly, she looked over at Claude. "Am I... cured, now?" Claude and Zoe stood motionless, eyeing the remains on the couch before turning back.

"...Abby?!" Claude asked in disbelief.

"Claude," Abby replied. "I feel incredible. I can't believe I was so scared before."

Suddenly, the wings on her back twitched, shattering a large mirror on the wall into a thousand pieces. Claude and Zoe winced, returning their gaze to the girl in front of them.

"Abby... what's happened to you?" Zoe asked. Abby turned to her.

"...Who are you?" she asked. As Claude and Zoe looked to her in confusion, Abby violently cringed. "Aaaaaiiiiieeeee!" The girl screamed, suddenly holding her head.

"Abby!" Claude said. As he rushed to her side, Abby quickly swiped her hand, knocking the boy across the room and into the wall.

"Claude!" Zoe exclaimed, rushing over to him.

As Zoe tended to Claude, Abby gave a shrill shriek, taking flight before crashing through the glass patio door. It shattered in all directions, Claude and Zoe watching as Abby flew off, vanishing from sight moments later.

"Abby—!" Claude exclaimed. As he tried to stand, he winced as pain shot down his back.

"Claude! Take it easy!" Zoe replied worriedly.

As Claude warily returned to his feet, moans echoed from afar. As the two looked around, they spotted several zombies approaching from the backyard.

"...Damn. All that noise must have lured them here," Claude said. He then looked back to the couch. "But... what the hell happened to Abby just now? It's like she shedded her skin or something."

"I don't know, but there's no time to worry about that! They're coming!" Zoe replied, watching as the zombies crept near.

Claude took out his gun, aiming at the approaching group of creatures. As one of them crawled through the broken glass patio door, Claude fired, felling the creature in a single shot. As two more drew near, he carefully took aim before shooting them down. As the dust settled, he went out to the backyard with Zoe.

"Abby...," Claude said, worriedly looking around at the yard.

"That was so strange... it's like what happened with that zombie the other day. Except instead of a millipede shooting out, it was some weird clone of Abby," Zoe said.

"Yeah. Only she had wings, and her eyes were totally black," Claude replied.

"Should we go look for her?" Zoe asked.

As a symphony of quiet zombie moans carried off from a distance, Claude shook his head.

"...No. I hate to say it, but it's way too dangerous to do that. Abby seemed hostile after what happened. Far more so than usual. And besides, there's zombies everywhere and we're losing daylight. We should return to the house and batten down the hatches. With Abby gone and our ammunition dwindling, we're more vulnerable than ever. We have to be extremely careful from now on," Claude concluded.

As the two returned to the house, Blair continued her conversation with Dr. Flood on the Connecticut roadside. As Flood continued his explanation of the Paleface Virus, Blair looked to him in shock.

"...What do you mean, transformation?" she asked. Flood wryly pushed up his small rectangular glasses.

"Well, Miss...?"

"Nightingale. Blair Nightingale."

"Well, Miss Nightingale. Going on the research I've conducted so far, I believe the Paleface Virus has a fatal flaw. Apart from turning adults into mindless drones, it also turns other creatures into dangerous beings. Insects in particular."

"...Insects?"

"Indeed. Insects, as we know them, are small and benign. This was not the way nature intended them to evolve, however. They were actually meant to be large, savage creatures. The Paleface Virus returns organisms to the state evolution meant to have them in. Thus, it makes certain insects massive and deadly creatures," Flood explained. Blair paused.

"...I see. That kind of makes sense, then. We ran into several giant bugs back in Florida. One of them burst out of a little girl's body," she said.

"My! How marvelous!" Flood said with glee. Blair eyed him in shock.

"What?" she asked.

"...Ahem. Forgive me. I feel for the departed child, but such activity fits with my current studies," Flood said. "You see, it is my belief that certain insects are using human hosts as incubators. They burrow into the body, and grow and develop inside the host. Eventually, they get so large that they can no longer be contained and they burst out."

"...Seriously?"

"Yes," Flood replied. "It is yet unknown why only certain insects react this way to the virus, though I suspect it has to do with the way only humans with the rare AB negative blood type seem to resist the virus. I myself am AB negative, as were all my colleagues who managed to avoid the affliction."

"AB negative... I think that's my blood type, as well," Blair said. "So by transformation, you essentially mean when a giant bug burst from a person's body?"

"Precisely," Flood said with a coy smile. Blair warily eyed the scientist from a distance. Though she was unaware of the atrocities the man had committed, something about his demeanor rubbed her the wrong way.

"...You mentioned colleagues. Are any of them still alive?" Blair asked.

"Sadly, no," Flood replied. "Two of them evaded the virus, but soon fled the laboratory in hopes of finding a safer location. I'm sure they're deceased by now."

As Flood pushed up his glasses with one finger, Blair looked to him in silence.

"...Take me to this lab. I'd like to see it for myself," the policewoman said.

"But of course," Flood replied eerily. "...Follow me."

As the scientist got into his car, Blair got into hers, following Flood back up the street toward the research facility.