There was a sound from the window like a small, stunted tap. Her eye twitched when she heard it, joined a moment later by her mouth as well. Her eyelids droned up and down lazily as she tried to find the energy just to move her head. When she finally lolled it into a flopish turn, her eyes sprang open with new energy. Her hands clamped down against the bed, crumpling the sheets as she pushed herself to the far edge of the mattress. Her hair fell over the side as her throat made a small, whimpering sound.
The Womb put one foot down onto the floor, the black ooze that covered it masking all its toes and making it look cloven. Its other leg remained on the sill, bent at the knee as the drapes fell lifelessly around its toned, dark frame. There had been a breeze a moment ago, she was sure of it, but the creature had taken it right from the air as easily as it took the breath from people’s lungs.
Its emotionless triangle eyes looked at her, the light of the white room turning them into scaly pools of red swamp water. It opened its mouth slowly, its lower lip quivering as it unveiled duel rows of jagged yellow teeth. One in the top right was starting to rot away, a large hole in it surrounded by dark green decay. Soon it would snap off and be replaced by another, but from the way its tongue lashed at her, she assumed she wouldn’t be around long enough to see that happen.
“No!” she screamed, finally falling off of the bed. Tubes tangled around her arm as she fell, yanking them from the IV drip that had been fed into her arm the night before. She kicked her feet and threw her hands about wildly, trying to get away from the tubes the same way a dog would try to kick free of a tangled leash. Her hair swiveled in front of her face, masking her fear and anger in a tangled mess of knots and curls until she didn’t even look human.
“Hey,” Xander soothed from deep inside the beast. His soft, caring words turned to a gravelly vomited urge when passed through the Womb’s lips, shredding any of their original intent along the way. It came closer to her, one hand outstretched and ready to pop its claws as it stepped down off the windowsill.
“Nono NO!” she howled, still pushing at the floor to back herself up even though she was up against the wall. The rational part of her mind had shut down, replaced with the pure animal instinct to run.
“It’s just me,” it pleaded, its eyes turning upwards into what passed for sadness on its face. Its teeth barred as its fingers curled up into a small fist, its knuckles protruding like little mountains across the bridge of it.
“No!” she cried again, her eyes burning with hate. When it got to close to her she lashed out, slamming her white-knuckled fists against its chest and raking her nails across its face as she screamed.
The Womb brought its hands up to try and grab her and stop her, grunting something incomprehensible as she started kicking it in the gut as well.
“Mmmmnnno!” she wailed as loud as she could, worming away from its grip and continuing to smack at it, digging her nails into its eyes.
Closing its mouth bitterly, it brought its hand up quickly and pressed it to her mouth. It brought its own face in until they were nose-to-nose. Her wide brown eyes stared into the red gelatinous pools of the Womb, watching as tiny chunks of black flesh floated around in them.
Her eyes still burned at him, fiery hate behind them that would have caught him on fire if they could have. Her voice was muffled, every syllable sounding like the letter ‘M’ in succession. She tried to bite the Womb’s hand once, her mouth filling with the moldy-ash taste that was its flesh.
Growling, the Womb closed its eyes. It stayed there for a long moment, without any movement between either of them. Suddenly, the darkness around him seemed to lose its ability to hold itself together and came crashing down onto the floor, revealing the bloodstained form of Xander Drew underneath.
“It’s just me,” he said, the sadness in his voice finally audible for what it was.
She squinted at him as he took his hand away. He could see sanity flooding back into her face along with recognition. “Xander?” she whispered, rising to her feet.
He nodded sheepishly as he backed away. There was a tiny slice in her cheek from where his claws must have poked out. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the redness there as much as he tried.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” she asked, more out of astonishment than spite as she moved back towards her bed.
“Checking up on some friends, I thought,” he said as the oil oozed its way off of his body. He got on his knees next to her bed and took her hand. She pulled away at first, to his obvious sadness, then let him take it. His touch was tender, nothing like it had been
