DOOM DAYS ✓

Chapter 54: Insanity Inducement

Insanity Inducement: the ability to drive others insane.

tw: death, blood.

Tyler's on his knees at that point, writhing and shaking like he's having a seizure. His head whips left and right, patches of scales and fur appearing and disappearing from his skin. One leg looks like a dinosaur leg, which would be cool if it wasn't so fucking scary, the other the hind leg of some sort of big cat. The arm clutching his head is still normal, while the other is still tigery up to the shoulder.

His face is still bubbling and churning like a cauldron, trying to decide what form it wants to take. Even his eyes are indecisive, flashing between large pupils with a ring of orange to cat eyes so blue they look like marbles.

He mutters intelligibly under his breath, turning away, his skin turning a fluorescent shade of purple before he lifts his head up and screams. The sound resonates in Josh's head, making him stumble back in shock and pain. It doesn't sound human in the slightest, more like an eagle shriek played over a lion roar.

"Icarus. Do not approach him. He can't control himself when he's-"

Josh pulls out the ear piece, tossing it to the ground. "I'm sorry, but I can't leave him like this."

"Before you do-" A hand grabs his own, and he looks up to see Tiana at his side. She pulls his arm so they're separated at an arm's length. "I need to do something."

"Where's Alley Cat?"

She nods her head towards the theater, oddly calm. "This is a tipping point, Josh. Hayley's distracting Alley Cat, but that won't last too long. And Tyler's about to go boom."

"What do you need to do."

Tiana pulls her mask down and grins at him, canine teeth making her look more sinister than she intended. "I'm gonna try and Dormammu his ass."

They drop their arms, and Tiana pulls the red stone out of the air. She clasps her hands around it, closing her eyes in concentration. A thick cloud of black smoke starts to pour off of her like steam, pooling at her feet. the steams forms six solid discs, spinning at ankle level and rising until they're rotating around her.

Slowly, a translucent red dome surrounding the three heroes, taking up most of the road. Tiana grimaces, her face breaking into a sweat.

"Hurry," she grunts.

Josh breaks into a sprint. Tyler turns as he approaches, close-lining him with a large fuzzy arm. He hits the ground with a wheeze, feeling like a lot of his ribs are broken.

Okay, so he didn't have that much of a plan. But now he regrets just running in headfirst, because Tyler's towering over him, nearly foaming at the mouth with a rabid expression. The scorpion tail comes down with force, stabbing him right in the stomach, puncturing something painful.

The impact knocks whatever air remained in his lungs out of him. Blood fills his mouth. Just as quickly as he start to choke on his own blood. his body goes entirely numb, darkness taking over faster than he can mutter Tyler's name.

He opens his eyes, and he's standing beside Tiana again.

"Jesus Christ, that was fast," she says. "So don't do that."

"Right."

Tyler's facing away from him, trembling and making a weird clicking sound. Josh takes a few scared steps forward and then shouts, grabbing his attention. His eyes are both bulging and ratlike, yellow-brown scleras and diamond with shaped pupils. Skeletal spikes covered by scaled skin jut out of his back and through the tough fabric of his suit.

Seeing the ferocity in his eyes makes Josh hesitate, but only for a moment before Tyler launches forward. His large clawed arm nearly decapitates him, grazing the side of his neck as Josh drops on his back, falling through the ground and to the other side of the time-circle.

"Tyler, I know you're in there," he pleads, holding his arms up in desperation.

There's not enough time for him to move before Tyler spins around and hops on top of Josh, tearing out his throat.

Josh opens his eyes again, his neck sore this time around. "I hate this."

This happens again, and again, and again. Fourteen times, he tried and failed and died. Josh can barely stand by the time Tiana's looking worse than him.

Her hands are shaky, her breath ragged and broken. He assumes that it's taking as much energy as his move with the lioness did. "I- I can't hold this loop for much longer," she tells him. "You have one... one more try."

Josh turns to look at Tyler. "Okay. Let's do this a little differently, then."

He scoops up a handful of shattered glass off the ground. The monster in front of him- he refuses to believe that this is his boyfriend- gargles out something intelligible and pounces again.

Josh tosses the glass in his direction, throwing his hands up. As Tyler gets closer, the shards start to grow as large as poster boards, making him slow his pace to avoid them.

He feels at his ear, looking Akron's realizing that he threw away his earpiece like an idiot. It sits right behind a piece of the glass he sprouted. He waits for Tyler to be in mauling distance before ducking under his arms, skidding around a giant piece of glass and snatching up the earpiece.

"This is Icarus, Hayl, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, dumbass. What did I tell you?"

"I'm sorry, but I realized what was wrong."

"What, that you broke our promise?"

"No, we're in the wrong spots."

Josh teleports out of the bubble. Alley Cat is on the floor of the roof, bleeding, pulling himself back to his feet. Hayley's barely standing.

"Hi."

They both spin to face him. Josh grabs Hayley and phases them back into the time bubble.

"What're you doing?" She pushes him away. "You're going to get us all killed."

"He told me that he would hurt me if I got too close, and he did. And he might hurt you, too. But I know someone he would never hurt."

"How do you know that?"

"A hunch."

Tyler howls, the frequency so loud that Josh flinches, pressing his hands to his ears. Hayley doesn't move, staring ahead where Tyler is with horror. Even though she can't see the scene before her, he knows that she can tell what happened.

"This is how he got his name. She mumbles, taking a step away from him. "This is why he's Chimera."