Mega Worm Apocalypse

TWENTY FIVE

They stood, like sentinels, waiting on the helicopter pad in the field behind the manor - Eidon, Celia, Nat Wick and her cowboy, the shark boy and Kayla, the Saber toothed cat….and Franklin.

The boy trapped inside his mind - the boy that used to be Franklin - writhed and squirmed, desperate to reach the others. But there was no reaching them, Franklin knew. They were locked in the halls of the Whole.

The helicopter was supposed to arrive any minute, and bring them to wherever the queens had decided the start of their war would take place. A human city. A large one. One that Franklin couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of. Human labels for things were about to become obsolete anyway.

The gathered group of the queen’s most prized human bodies stared, dead-eyed, out at nothing. Teens that had been so alive, so vibrant and burning with their own passions and fears, now calm and tranquil in the fold of the Whole.

Or so it seemed. 

Franklin watched them, eyes narrowed. He knew the worms inside. As he knew all his brothers and sisters in the Whole. The chosen favourites of the Queens. The favourites of his Queen.

Everything he’d done for her. Everything he’d worked and sacrificed for. 

And still, she saw him as nothing more than a cog in the wheel.

He frowned. But what did it matter anymore? Loathsome, she’d called him. And the sound of her laugh echoed through his mind. She would forget him. If he fell in the battle for the world she envisioned, the Third would not mourn his loss. She would barely pause to breathe. He would die and leave nothing behind in this world, and no love to care that he was gone. 

And the Third would keep her prizes close.

Eidon, Celia, Nat Wick, Andres, Justin Heard and Kayla. They stood there,  blank faced and waiting. How Franklin hated them.

The boy held prisoner inside his mind surged against his bounds, the ache of it forcing Franklin to wince. He exerted his mental force, squashing the boy down and pushing him back, but it hurt. The boy was getting stronger. More familiar with the power of the mind. Impressive, but ultimately useless. It would all be over for both of them before he commanded the mental force he would need to break free of the Whole. 

There was movement to his right, as one of the teens shifted on their feet. Kayla Girard. She stared straight ahead, as unfocused and unseeing as the others. But where the others were statue-still, Kayla had moved. Just a weight adjustment. Barely a movement at all. But still….

There was a snarl from the Saber, and Franklin glanced over to see the great cat watching him with that infuriatingly suspicious glare. Would he never be rid of the infernal beast?

Franklin glanced away quickly, scanning the skies for the helicopter. The sooner they came the sooner he could escape the saber’s scrutiny. He heard the cat’s purr, felt the quaking of the earth as the creature moved toward him.

The Saber sat at his side, the creature’s sulfur stink burning Franklin’s nostrils.

You need to get it together, old friend, the Saber said inside his mind. I can feel your rage, simmering just beneath your  razor thin calm - it radiates off you like a stench. 

Franklin’s nose wrinkled. The Saber was one to talk of stench. But he didn’t feel up to their usual banter. I live to serve my queens, was all he said.

See that you remember it, my friend, warned the Saber, because if I can feel the hollowness of that statement, it means our majesties will too….if they ever bother to look at you again. And I don’t need to tell you that many worms have died for much less. 

Death. It came for him. For them all. He could feel it on the air. And he knew the Third did too. And she did not care. If my queens wish it so, then it shall be so. 

The Saber snarled, Lies do not become you. 

What would you have me do, old friend? Franklin was tired of the great cat’s prodding and poking. Of its incessant warnings and constant observation. Their mission was complete. Why did the creature insist on bothering him further? I am fulfilling my duty. I am where I am told to be. What more do you want?

I want you to control your emotions, growled the Saber. You stray too far from the Whole. You are becoming too like them.

Like who? 

The humans. Too sure of what makes you special rather than accepting the most simple truth there is - you are just a small part of the Whole.

Franklin rolled his eyes. I don’t need you to quote the Great Purpose to me, cat.

Someone must. Before you forget yourself completely. Love, obsessions…it is not a thing of our kind. That is the violent and messy stuff of them.

Violent. Yes, Franklin thought, that was the word. His insides churned like the boiling sea, frothing and raging with his own all-consuming heartbreak. The Saber was right. Such feeling - this was not the stuff of the Whole. 

Nor was it the stuff of humans.

It was what made him special. Whether the Third wanted to acknowledge him or not.

The Saber chuffed beside him. Perhaps you are already too far gone.

You neglect your duties to scold me, cat, snapped Franklin. Shouldn’t you be preparing to join the rest of the felines on foot?

The Saber snarled. So be it.

The Saber stalked off, away from the helipad, leaving Franklin alone with the stoic, zombified teens. 

A sharp breath called his attention, and he looked to Kayla. Her eyes were dead, just as the others - unfocused and unseeing. But still, she was squinting, a furrow between her brow.

He felt the boy that used to be Franklin stir inside his mind.

Franklin stormed across the helipad to the girl and grabbed her chin in his hands. He stared into her unfocused eyes. There was nothing there - no sign of a conscious mind whatsoever. The worm that had taken over Kayla was gone.

And Franklin knew.

Kayla Girard was free of her mental prison.

Kayla Girard was loose inside the Whole.

Franklin grinned.

He would find her in the Whole.

And take back what had been taken from him.

Thanks for reading! Another chapter coming at you next Saturday. In the meantime, come find me on Instagram for behind the scenes fun and get a sneak peak at what's after Mega Worm!