Pulse of the Maggots

[Dawnika Snow]

This post got brutal. If you're squeemish, take caution in reading this part. Also, lots of profanity.

I colored the dialogue to differentiate Dawn from Erika based on the color of their eyes.

The swarm engulfed the darkness behind the two hunters. Rogue had gotten ahead of Dawn by a few feet and the swarm had caught up to her. Noticing this, she kicked her speed into high gear.

The cave split to a ‘T’ section where she could turn right or left. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness enough to see a few feet past the flashlight she carried.

“Rogue! Go right! Right!” She yelled out to her animal companion who didn't wait to question her commands. The both of them, along with the horde of insects, turned the corner and bolt even more quickly. They weren't going to give up on their prey any time soon.

A few dozen more meters of darkness and rocky, moss covered walls and they found themselves at dead end. An open room in the cave with a deep floor. It was a lethal drop and while Dawn could fly, Rogue was not so fortunate in that aspect.

“Hold on baby!” The vigilante grasped her dog by the chest and locked her hands together to hold her tightly. With a sound of cracking bones, the black wings Dawn possessed exploded from her back. The swarm caught up with them but just as the assassin had taken flight, the power of the wind her wings caught sent the maggots flying back. This gave them precious time to get the fuck out and she didn't waste a second of that time. Flying in what she assumed would be the way out with Rogue clasped to her chest, Dawn struggled to keep them both up. Luckily, they seemed to have lost the swarm of insects. The raven-haired commando sighed heavily in relief, only to be greeted by yet another obstacle: Giant fucking spiders. Everywhere. Fucking just, everywhere.

“You're fucking kidding me...You're fucking kidding me!!” Quickly, she searched for an exit. Any direction that seemed safe. Spiders terrified her but this wasn't her life she was protecting, it was Rogue’s. She flew threw a web, a disgusting web, and propelled herself forward as fast as possible. The spiders lurked on the walls, ceiling and floor. She had gotten close enough to the bottom of the cavern to see the spider infested ground. Lovely.

All hope was fading from Dawn until she saw it: A light in the darkness, a torch maybe? Who lit it-? You know what fuck it, not going to question it. She dived for the torches light with Rogue still in her arms. Just a few more meters, perhaps scarcely shy of a dozen, and she would have made it but the spiders didn't want to lose their fresh lunch. They shot webs at her, entangling her entire torso with her arms and wings locked inside. Rogue rolled to the ground along with her. She barked viciously as the spiders drew near.

“Rogue! Run! Get out of here! They’ll kill you!” Of all the commands this dog would normally follow, leaving her master behind was the single one she could not respect. Despite her odds, the siberian husky charged valiantly into battle with four spiders twentyfold her size. Tearing at their skimpy legs, or at least skimpy compared to the rest of their bodies, and chew at their flesh viciously.

While all this was happening, Dawn reached for knife strapped to her leather boot, having trouble grasping it. A few moments of struggling and the knife slid from it's small leather sheath. As she had just gotten it, a spider loomed over her, ready to swallow her whole. It’s head burrowed down towards the girl and met Rogue’s claws. The dog shredded the demon-spider’s eyes to scrap. The spider made the most demonic insect noise she had ever heard. She didn't waste the time Rogue gave her, though. The knife met the thick web that bound her and cut her free. She tore off the webbing and yelled to Rogue.

“Rogue! Retreat! Fall back! Zeta-!” Just as she began her Latin command, the spider smashed the frail dog into a wall with its head. She flopped to the ground with limp muscles, unmoving. “ROGUE! NO!”

Seeing their lunch finally holding still, the spiders swarmed Rogue’s still body. The master watched as her best friend - her only friend - was devoured by enormous arachnids. She subconsciously began to hyperventilate, rage boiling over her sanity. Anger swallowed her whole. Her hair turned blonde and eyes glowed red like fire on a lake of oil.

“I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL ALL OF YOU.” Erika bellowed so loudly the cavern seemed to shake. That caught the attention of her enemies. They all swarmed her but the first spider to get within her personal range felt the power behind her fist. It’s head exploded into blood, shattered bone and ligament. The ichor washed onto Erika like a tidal wave. Her ability to care at this point was extremely low.

The idiot creatures still came after her, even after watching one of their own have it’s head shattered like a glass window.

“You want some too?!” She enraged voice echoed off the walls. The spider ignored her words, granted it couldn't understand her anyways, and lunged down to bite her. It fangs loomed down on her menacingly but she wasn't scared anymore. All she knew right now was rage. Her hands clasped the bony teeth as they descended upon her. With a forceful yank, she splintered the bones from the spider’s mouth holding on to one of them and throwing the other to the ground. She flew up to the head of the arachnid and spiked the fang into it’s face, following up with a punch, sending the fang completely through it's body. Blood poured from its wounds and it fell over squealing in pain. The other two spider’s had seen this wasn't going well for them, deciding to retreat upon the second’s death.

“Where do you think you're going?! You wanted to eat me didn't you pussies?!?! You scared?!” She yelled out chasing them down, the adrenaline pumping through her blood made her move more quickly. It allowed her to get close to one more. She grabbed it by the leg, swinging its entire body around her flattening it into the wall. The last one attempted to climb away up the wall. Erika’s wing carried her from the ground to the arachnid, her fist meeting its flesh and sending it back to the floor. It somehow lived through the hit but dead or alive, Erika didn't care, she dropped onto its back forcing it down on its belly. She began to pound it's ugly ass everything into a pancake of ichor and spider webbing.

THWAM. SQUISH. SPLAT.

“It was a bad idea to eat my dog, wasn't it?!” She said to the carcass she brutalized angrily. “You regret taking the one thing I loved in my life away from me, don't you?! DON’T YOU?! DIE! DIEDIEDIE!!!”

It took nearly an entire minute of blows to a beaten bloody spider carcass before Erika was satisfied enough with her revenge. She finally stepped out of the remain of the arachnid, completely unidentifiable at the point, and spat on its corpse.

Once she had regained her sense, she walked over to Rogue’s body, or what was left of it.

“You...You were so young…” She whispered to herself, crying on her knees next to her best friend’s carcass. “I'll get you out of here and bury you properly...rest in peace, Rogue Snow…” The blonde picked up the mangled body of her dog and headed down the cave where the torch hung, tears welling in her eyes.