The Diseased Heart

Chapter 37

The screech slowly halted, I lifted my head as it throbbed and my ears rang. I stared at Riley, or what used to be her. My father chuckled and walked to me, "you see now, Ollie? If you remain as a Crawler, she will be your ruler, whether you like it or not."

"No!! This isn't her, she would never-"

A Crawler leg shot across the room, latched onto the front of my shirt, and pulled me over, I yelped as I was brought inches from Riley. She snarled, red pupils narrowing.

"As I said before, she is fixed. She knows what she is, she knows what she can do. But seeing as you clearly cannot understand that simple fact, a demonstration is in order. Isn't it?"

She bared her teeth at me, dug her claws into my collarbone, and threw me back out the door of the room. I snarled as I rolled across the dusted floor, my limbs still lacking function.

I heard her voice, but in the Crawler's language, "I'll admit, you deserve at least a hope of escape. Torturing a traitorous ragdoll is just not the same as one who can attack and run."

Before I could question what that meant, my limbs regained all feeling that had been lost. I was confused, but I didn't waste any time wondering what had happened, I jolted up and ran into the barn and quickly climbed out the hole in the roof. She followed suit.

Hardly looking back, I darted across anothe rooftop, I heard the roof shatter and crunch as she rammed through the side of the gap, not wasting the mere seconds it would take to adjust her trajectory as she jumped.

The Lurkers all ran over. At first I thought maybe they were going to attack her, but it was soon clear they were fighting alongside her, as if she had controlled their very minds and told them to assist. One ran right to me, I didn't have a chance to change course.

Their jaws latched around my shoulder and pulled back, tearing flesh and bone away from my body, the pain was searing as my collarbone was crunched in half and torn away, tossed to the dusty ground.

While this particular Lurker was distracted with spitting out my flesh, I grabbed both sides of their head and spun it around, snapping their neck as they dropped dead on the ground below. Only temporarily.

Soon three more Lurkers latched onto me. I realized I was outnumbered and outmatched gravely, but what else could I do? I couldn't run, they were faster than I was, and I was not running from this fight. I did my best at snapping their necks where I could, but they overpowered me.

One tore my left arm out of its socket before fully ripping it from my body, I screamed and snarled in agony, slashing my claws at their throat, but just barely missing. My vision went a bit foggy and my head spun, was this what it felt like to bleed out?

Suddenly all the Lurkers disparsed, going back to attacking my pack and the army, who just moments ago were rounding up the humans at this place while the Lurkers were distracted. I tried to sit up but I was pushed back down, a Crawler leg standing on my chest, claws digging into my ribcage. I looked up at her, at those bright red pupils.

I hissed, it was all I could do.

She grinned, baring her shark-like teeth. Her clawed hands took me by the throat and held me up, I choked and grasped at her arms with my one remaining, blood stained hand, and my own Crawler legs. The glossy wings on her back buzzed, before she launched straight up off the ground, instead of plummeting, the wings slowed our fall to a stop, and we stayed hovered in the air, as I felt as if my neck would snap. The loud buzzing graded on my half conscious mind.

I coughed and choked, trying to force any air into my lungs, but none could find it through. Riley grabbed at my chin with one hand, and my throat with the other, somehow this hurt more than a few seconds ago. It took me only a second to realize, this was what the king had done to her. She was going to kill me. No, she wasn't going to kill me, my own father was.

A powerful surge of rage coursed through my very blood. He was doing this to everyone. I wouldn't let him do that. I couldn't let him do that.

I managed to cough out a few words. A few strained, voiceless, almost inaudible words, "You are just like the Crawler King..."

She jolted slightly, there was a flash in her eyes, something familiar. She let go of me, and I plummeted to the gravelly road below, without even having a chance to try and catch myself. I sat up, gasping for breath and choking, desperate for oxygen, though now several of my ribs were broken. My head spun with each hack, I lost more blood than a human could survive loosing.

In a daze, I looked up as she landed on the roof of the building, staring at her own clawed hands. She looked down at me, snarled and jumped down. I scrambled backwards, "Riley, listen, I know this isn't you here. My father...he turned you into...the Crawler Queen, in a way. You...You are not the King, don't turn yourself into him! He killed you, and Raven!!"

At the familiar name, she stopped, she paused, tail lashing. She violently shook her head with a snarl. It was now clear to me I could not talk her back, but her reaction proved she was not broken beyond repair. We would need to help her another way, a way that would need to take place after my father was dead. I needed to do something I did not want to do.

Using what little strength I had, I darted away from her, and down towards where the others were fighting. She followed swiftly, as did a string of Lurker roars. Here goes everything.

I tripped down and rolled across the dusty ground before looking back up. Riley was about to pounce on me, likely snap my spine, tear my limbs apart, break my head off, whatever she planned. It didn't matter though, as a Crawler from my pack ran in at the last second, latched his hands around the jutting horns, and twisted her head around backwards, causing her to fall, but hardly even go limp.

The Crawler jumped away, as did several others, two grabbing me and dragging my loose body behind them, I turned back to see the military using the repellent around Riley, she snarled and attempted to slash at them, but she could barely move in a straight line, before collapsing.

That repellent works as a tranquilizer in high amounts. Bet you guys didn't think we'd figure that out in time, didja?

I chuckled weakly. I vaguely felt myself being layed against a wall, and I looked at Felix, the peppy guy who was always eager to fight as a Crawler. He smiled at me, "You took a beating, didn't you? Don't worry, the arm will grow back."

He lightly punched the side of my shoulder, "You seem a bit...faded, you probably don't know what's happening right now, do you?"

I shook my head weakly, trying my best to focus on the man in front of me. He nodded, before taking out a pair of sunglasses and putting them on my face, "The sun is rising. And the Lurkers are retreating now that their leader is down! We can find the rest of these people, we can bring them down. I know you were good friends with Riley, but by the looks of things, I don't know if there's a way to fix...that.

"But hey, I guess humans never thought it would be possible to make a vaccine or cure for the Crawler Virus, but here we are! Seems anything is possible with Science and mutant spiders."

I chuckled lightly. Did this mean we won?

The Lurkers could be caught and cured, the people here would be arrested and imprisoned, all the others who turned to save humanity now would be cured and restored. Life would go back to normal...

But...at the same time, it wouldn't. My father was the ringleader. I did not feel sorrow for losing my father, I did not feel pain of knowing he betrayed me. I felt only rage that he lied to me for God knows how long, broke my friend by turning her into a monster, and by killing Raven, and attempted to kill me.

I was going to watch as he was locked away for the rest of eternity.

As I felt myself being carried away, and the warm sun began to rise above the horizon, my mind fogged more to where I was only vaguely aware of my own body, as I was carried by another Crawler on the way back home. Thankfully, I was not the only one being carried.