Mega Worm Apocalypse

TWENTY TWO

Kayla and Andres made their way through the rolling country hills, following in Nat and Justin's footsteps heading closer to the mansion. Closer to whatever was keeping them from returning.

Justin. Whatever had happened to him - whatever was keeping him from coming back to her - it was her fault. The certainty of it weighed on her like the ocean's depths, crushing and all consuming, surrounding every inch and threatening to make her implode.

Whatever happened next...

Whatever happened to him...

It was because of her.

Kayla could hear them - the Whole. They were practically screaming, they were so excited about something. She could feel them vibrating with anticipation.

Kayla glanced back for Andres - his pace had slowed long ago, and the way he dragged his feet, his body hunched and swaying, Kayla had to wonder how much longer he could go on like this. They'd dressed the wound as best they could, but as time went by Kayla was more and more sure that the puncture wound Gaisgeil had inflicted on the cowboy's arm was more than just a puncture wound.

A black colour had infected his veins, spidering out from the gash down his arm and towards his neck.

"Maybe I should just go on ahead," she said. "You take a break."

"I don't need a break," he grumbled through gritted teeth.

"I don't think it's too much further," she said. "I could just -"

And then her mind exploded with pain - noise and force that knocked her to the ground.

The Whole was screaming - shrieking and cheering and frenzied for blood. Who's blood?

Kayla felt them before she saw them, before she knew for sure, felt them cowering in the dark of the whole.

"Nat," she whimpered, and Andres knelt beside her, helping her out of the dirt.

And Justin.

They were there in the dark, each of them separate and alone.

"The Whole has them," she groaned.

"What?"

The Whole had taken them.

The Whole was jubilant.

Because that meant the Whole was winning.

The Whole had Justin. He was there, alone in the dark - his consciousness ricocheting off the walls the Whole had created for his mind, desperate for escape. But he couldn't escape. Kayla knew what it was like in the dark created by the Whole.

Through the murk, Kayla's consciousness moved, finding Nat's presence - still and quiet in the dark. Nat had seen this dark before. She was calm. She was focused. She was searching for Gaisgeil.

But Nat's movement through the corridors of her mind, through the tunnels of the Whole - it was stilted, unsure, like a baby learning to walk. It had been too long since she'd moved through the dark. It would take her forever to find Gaisgeil.

As soon as she'd thought it, Kayla's mind flashed to the unicorn, the creature barreling through the dark, wild and terrified. Gaisgeil was searching for Nat.

They'd find each other. They had to.

But Kayla was aware of a growing, surging presence in the dark. Something big, and gaining strength. She moved toward the sound -

Toward the thunder of hoofbeats on dry earth - an army of unicorns thinking as one...

Toward the rumble of stalking sabers, moving like whispers through the forest...