What am I supposed to do? 

 

I sat on the ground, pit in my stomach, while Lapsha brushed against me in an attempt to garner my attention. As Lapsha was my pet, it was deemed my responsibility to watch over him. Giant serpent form aside, Lapsha's attachment to me allowed some form of lowered guard.

 

“That's the presence you felt, isn't it?”

 

Avery grimaced, looking at Lapsha as if he were little more than a mark to kill. 

 

Are they going to have me do it? Or are they going to have us wait?

 

“Avery, look at her…”

 

Jude brought attention to me.

 

They must be furious to some degree; this could have been worse.

 

I looked down at Lapsha, almost staring through the amorphous creature.

 

You were going to eat Myles… We'd have to put you down… It's the safest course, right?

 

I thought, reaching out and pressing my hands into Lapsha's form. The slime gave way with little resistance, Lapsha lowering his head, chirring softly as I took his core in hand.

 

You'd let me do this so easily? Why?

 

 The rest of the group, including Avery, were standing on the far side of the clearing. Avery, Jude, and Kostyantyn discussed the events and what was to be done with the slime. Marcus, Lykos, and Phillipe, however, were focused on comforting Myles as they administered what healing magic they could.

 

“Avery! Come here and take a look!”

 

Marcus yelled to Avery over his shoulder, the arachne jolting as she came at his behest.

 

“What's up?”

 

Their conversations became muffled as I mentally prepared myself for the inevitable. I'd been hunting for three or so years now, the thought of what came next coming naturally. It was a far cry from Earth. From the ever-present reality that anyone could become the enemy overnight. Hunting each other. 

 

You're a slime, though…

 

I gently rubbed the core, squishing slightly as I shifted it in my hands. Lapsha was content with himself, and the noise he made when relaxed consistently emitted. 

 

---

 

 

 

“Aidan.”

 

Words echoed in the air with nothing to cushion themselves upon save a few haphazard piles of garbage and debris, eventually colliding against inhuman growls and grunts. Lake City, Utah, Big Mountain Pass, first traversed by the Donner party in 1864. A pathway to join America’s coasts is now being cleared a second time, thanks to changing geography and fauna. 

 

“Aiden, it-”

 

I could hear the words, but I couldn't bring myself to move. It felt like I’d been paralyzed, a half-formed monstrosity weakly reaching to me a few feet away. 

 

“Aiden… ”

 

Someone grabbed my shoulder, the carabiner I’d used to tie my sling to my plate carrier clicking against a wedding band the person wore. 

 

“Hm?”

 

I asked, looking over my shoulder to see Walker, another war veteran. He’d joined the caravan with us,  just as we received our rotation orders. We were to stay stateside and await separation, but in the meantime were authorized to seek self-employment alongside our current pay to hunt remnants of the rifts. 

 

“I can’t… please.”

 

He looked at me with a forlorn expression, his gruff appearance emphasized by sleepless eyes and ragged hair revealing itself beneath the rim of his helmet. He grimaced, looking back to the monster below us. Half mutated, it still bore part of the equipment it wore before coming to this sorry conclusion. The helmet bearing NVGs and comms equipment was tossed aside, shattered by stray gunfire. It still wore its plate carrier, though shattered as well. Torn cloth and blood seeped along the wooden floor surrounding it. Fur, as well as bone, protruded haphazardly, and I half debated whether it even belonged to the person it grew from. The only grounding factor was the half-malformed face of a woman staring back at me, its opposite side resembling more of a skinned bear than anything. We’d shot out its legs and one of its arms at first, but neither Walker nor I could reason why.

 

“Go…”

 

I mumbled to him, half drunk in my confusion. It felt like my movements were not my own. The only other thing I could hear from the man was his tattered, uneven sobs as he stumbled to the door and the rough clatter of his rifle dropping to the ground. 

 

This is how it ends for all of us, isn't it? 

 

That was the thought passing through my head at that moment, staring down the horrid parody of poor Walker’s wife.

This is what it comes to… 

 

I leveled my rifle, aiming for the still-human temple. It was less likely to ricochet or graze the beast's brain. 

 

---

 

 

“Avery.”

 

Jude nudged Avery as the arachne pondered, 

 

“Have you looked at her?”

 

Jude nodded in Kiyomi's direction before each of their eyes fell on the demon. The girl appeared to be coddling the viscous ooze, massaging and petting it as she herself stared into it. Or, more appropriately, through it.

 

“So there it is…?”

 

Avery asked quietly, prompting an expression of confusion from Jude.

 

“She was prone to night terrors. She still has them, however they're not so common. Used to freeze up sometimes, like she just wasn’t even on the same plane. Seem’s it’s still a thing...”

 

Avery murmured. The two observed Kiyomi for one minute, then two, then five. Her gaze never diverted, while her expression seemed more and more tired. It wasn't until after the two observed Myles's condition that they felt the need to intervene. At some point, the slime began trembling, and through its red mass, Kiyomi was nearly clenching the creature's core, grimacing all the while. 

 

Is she thinking of killing it?!

 

Avery thought, imagining the scene for a moment. 

---

“Ki- mi-”

 

That doesn't make it easier, though… I can't.

 

“Helloooo?”

 

I felt my grimace solidify as I silently waited for the inevitable.

 

“Kiyomi!”

 

One of Avery’s furred legs kicked me back to the present, shifting my position. Lapsha drew himself back, his core slipping from my grasp.

 

Lapsha… I'm sorry…

 

Avery looked down at me with her thumbs hooked through her leather belts. She looked down with furrowed brows, sighing outwardly.

 

“You sure as shit are Hatsumi's girl… Let the bottom feeder be, come look at this.”

 

Avery nodded, signaling for me to get up.

 

“Come look at this.”

 

I looked to Lapsha one last time before standing, following Avery as she led me back to Myles.

 

Gods, is he dying? But they've been healing him nonstop- I-

 

“Hey, kid.”

 

A voice called out, weak but unmistakable. It was Myles. His eyes were open, if barely, and his wounds and torn throat sealing back up as he spoke. Traces of slime were still on his wounds, closing them independently of any other magic. Scars were forming, but the slime was clearly not harming him. It was slowly dissipating, absorbing into Myles's neck as he healed.

 

“That was creepy as fuck-”

 

Myles coughed small clumps of half-coagulated blood, clearing from his airway.

 

“-but. Would've been raptor feed otherwise.”

 

Myles looked to Lapsha, his yes getting to the lowest point he could until he strained to move his head. The muscles were still sore from being torn. He winced, then dropped his head back onto the bag they'd used to prop him up.

 

“Little shit snatched me up just in time.”

 

---

“So… I don't have to put him down?”

 

I asked. The sudden sense of relief and ease in tension was almost intoxicating. I became light-headed for just a moment as my pulse calmed.

 

Fuck! To whatever God it may concern, thank you!

 

Avery nodded, almost seeming disappointed. 

 

“As much as I dislike slimes, oozes, or anything of the type?”

 

Avery looked over to Myles, being cared for as he lay in the shade of the Brontosaurus-laden carts.

 

“He's clearly not hostile, as disgusting… or horrifying he may be.”

 

Avery breathed calmly, her nostrils flaring and her mandibles clicking intermittently as she focused. 

 

“Do you feel it? We thought it was simple surrounding it at first, but if you reach out, open you mind to the thought of a fluid form…”

 

I joined Avery, simulating the same sensory feedback using predatory instinct.

 

It flowed beneath us, its image flowing thinly as if it were simply the contents of the water reservoir, only no reservoir should have been at that level. A massive being, watery and dense, flowed through the ground beneath us as a liquid spread of tree roots. It was centered near us, just a few feet beneath the surface. The thing it centered on was Lapsha, its heart. More accurately, it was Lapsha itself. Obscuring most of its form knowingly to maintain the meager form of a dog-like creature, looking at us just the same, expecting a ball or something of the like. It was like a flowing arrangement of tree roots, flowing out from beneath us, fluid and ever-shifting. The structure was simply vast, reaching maybe a couple of dozen feet down with a thick, taproot-like formation, branching little tendrils seeking far and wide in every direction. All of it led back to that loyal slime, jiggling and chirping just feet away, not unlike a puppy wagging its tail. 

 

“You said it was a simple red slime… It couldn't even take form at first. You said that, didn’t you?”

 

Avery asked, brows furrowed. She clicked her tongue,  looking to the ground in the opposite direction of Lapsha. 

 

“Lorn checked it too… there's no way we could have anticipated this, right?”

She spoke to herself, expecting no response. She clicked her mandibles together, stuck deeper in thought than I’d give her credit for achieving. 

 

“To our advantage, too.”

 

She whispered, just barely audible. 

 

“What are we doing with Lapsha?”

 

I asked, drawing from her thoughts what to expect for the slime. 

 

“He’ll live, though I doubt just anyone will want him in town.”

 

“I don't know if I could have made myself follow through, but if he had killed Myles… I could never bring him to town anyway. He might be safe to have around people, but I’d be worried about the livestock….”

 

Lapsha trotted towards us… Slunk maybe? Rolled? Oozed?  The water-like rush of mana and ichor underneath us overwhelmed my senses to the point I’d dropped predatory instinct. Shaking my head, I reached out to Lapsha, planting my hand atop his head and rubbing it gently. 

 

“It had the chance, and yeah, like I said....”

 

Avery’s tone firmed, her eyes locking onto me with a stern countenance. My own posture was unwavering, uncomfortable in nature as I failed to find a position to my liking. Settling one arm behind me, and the other resting over my knee, I slowly looked up to Avery. Moments like these she held a presence not unlike Lorn, her tone a sign of changed temperament as one of my teachers. 

 

“What, then… ma’am?”

 

Avery looked to Lapsha, then back to me. 

 

“I’ll talk it over with Lorn… though… you should bring it up at home, too. No doubt it’ll do us good to know that Hatsumi and Callum know exactly what you raised.”

 

Avery grunted, rising to her full height, and prompted me to rise alongside her.

 

“In the meantime, we’re on schedule. And we’ve got you rock sitting in the lead wagon. Though, I’m sorry. We lost one of the horses to the raptors, your work will be that much harder.”

 

I nodded, taking solace in what confirmation I was granted for Lapsha’s safety.