WnW 2.17

I couldn’t take my eyes off the sickle blade in Aaron’s hand. Fear pumped through my veins, making even thinking difficult. I was once again reminded that my previous bravery was fake, an illusion and a manipulation by Chase. This was reality. I was weak. My legs shook with that realization. You still have to try.

Aaron walked towards me and I backed up, sliding my feet across the loose straw.

He raised the sickle, pointing past me. “No way out that way, boy. It’s locked.”

I glanced down the row of pens behind me. The door was barely visible in the dark. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw movement and I ducked, the sickle slicing the air above my head.

Aaron advanced, swinging his weapon in controlled arcs. I retreated, quickly realizing that it didn’t matter if he didn’t hit me. As long as I kept backing up, I would run out of space eventually.

The shadows grew deeper as I was driven into a corner. My back hit the wall and my heart sank. Aaron’s eyes were cast in darkness as he reached out to seize me. Antlers erupted from my arms, cracking as they lengthened and split into forked points. Aaron pulled back avoiding the attack, a grim satisfaction on his face. 

“Not this time,” he said, bringing the sickle down, smashing the branches.

I turned, finding a slat of wood from the pen to place my foot on in the dark. Aaron lunged at me and I jumped, launching off the pen and twisting as his fingers reached for me. A moment of suspension, the blade flashing dangerously, like some deep sea fish. Then my shoulder crashed painfully into the stone floor and I rolled. 

The blade shrieked as it hit the floor next to my leg. He didn’t relent, the guillotine raising to fall again. I grew antlers, this time starting at my elbow, snaking up my arm to my hand. The branches weaved together, forming a lattice that I raised to meet the strike. The blade bit into the bones, the point halting inches from my eye. Aaron’s weight pressed down on me and I felt the antlers start to crack and give way. I used all my strength to throw the blade to the side. Then I grew blindly, antlers spewing out in the direction of Aaron’s legs. I heard the thunk as the antlers hit the pen beside him.

He barked out a laugh, but then paused as he tried to take a step forward and found that he couldn’t. The branches had pinned his jeans to the pen. I quickly jerked away, snapping off the branches and scrambling backwards.

The gun. It was still hanging on the wall. I got up and dashed for the weapon, hearing Aaron hacking away at the antlers behind me. My fingers closed around the wooden stock and I pulled it off the hooks, wheeling back around. Aaron raised his head, eyes reflecting the red light that filtered down through the gaps in the floorboards of the second floor.

“You’re slippery. I’ll give you that,” he said, pulling himself free, brittle pieces of bone clattering. He took a step towards me. “Go ahead. Fire.”

I fumbled around, trying to find the right position for my hands. Eventually, I wedged the stock into my shoulder, finger wrapping around the trigger. The barrel hovered at alignment with my eyes.

He took another step, emerging from the darkness. “Waiting for me to get closer? You’re a smart one, ain’t ya?” he said, slipping back into his old accent, as if to provoke me.

He swayed back and forth and I shakily kept the barrel trained on him. Closer and closer. He was only a few steps away from me. Mustering up my resolve, I pulled the trigger. Click.

Aaron’s hand settled on the barrel. “I don’t keep it loaded, boy,” he said.

I gasped as I felt cold metal cut into my side. Looking down, the sickle was stuck in me, blood already creating a red circle through my shirt. I fell and caught myself on a pen. It hurts.

Aaron hefted the gun, but instead of turning it around, he gripped the muzzle tightly and swung it at my head. Stars exploded in my vision and I fell over the top of the pen gate, landing in the hay inside. I felt the sickle pull free and let out an involuntary yelp from the pain.

I forced myself to open my eyes and through tears I saw the cow in this pen, its black glossy eyes staring back at me as it stood pressed up against the back of the enclosure. I heard Aaron hoist himself over the pen gate. 

Come on. Move.

I yelled, pushing myself to my feet and throwing myself at Aaron. He caught me by my shirt and my side exploded with fresh pain as he struck me in the stomach. Then I was thrown backwards. Antlers started to curl out of my skin, covering the parts that hurt the most. My back bumped up against the warm body of the cow and I could feel it shaking, just like me.

Aaron slowly bent and picked up the sickle, eyes locked with mine. 

Shouting something unintelligible, I lanced out with my antlers. One caught him in the chest, causing him to stagger back a half-step but no more. He broke it off, leaving the shard stuck inside him, and closed the gap between us.

I tried to form armour to protect myself, curved bones intertwining around my limbs and chest. A quick strike with the handle of the weapon caused my progress to halt, the antlers breaking apart. Two more blows. I twisted out of the way and the animal behind me paid the price. It gave out an agonized noise as the blade cut into it.

Even moving like that made my side feel like it was on fire. Aaron struck again and I felt it strike home, slashing a bloody rend in my arm. I tried to avoid the next attack, but my strength was spent. The blood loss had taken its toll and my muscles were sluggish. Two more cuts, across stomach and chest. Helplessly, I watched the crescent blade like the moon was falling. Inevitable destruction.

The blade bit deep into my shoulder, cutting into the cow at the same time. The bovine collapsed and I fell with it.

Aaron’s silhouette stood over me. His hands restlessly flexed into fists then relaxed, but he didn’t reach for the sickle.

“This familiar to you?” he asked.

The memory of Chase’s cheshire smile floated in the dark behind him.

“I saw what you did that night. Do it again. Prove to me you’ve got some fight left in you.”

My breaths came short and labored. It hurts so bad. I couldn’t think. It felt like the blaze had reached us, the tongues of fire licking at my body.

Aaron watched me silently, blood dripping from his own wound. “I can’t believe such a weak man was given my power,” he said quietly. “You don’t deserve it.”

I flinched as he reached past me and ripped the sickle free. The cow protested weakly as I felt its blood spill onto my shoulder and down my arm. It felt as hot as boiling water.

Aaron raised the sickle above his head. “I’m going to count down. After five seconds I’m going to bury this in your skull. You can heal or die. One…”

Think. Think! I couldn’t. My head was swimming, barely conscious. I had lost too much blood. All I could concentrate on was the fire that seemed to burn inside me, just below the skin.

“Two.”

What was this feeling? It was so alien, I almost didn’t recognize that the fire was somehow mine.

“Three.”

And I was holding it back. It was like releasing a muscle I had never moved before. Then the fire came out, burning fiercely at my shoulder.

“Four.”

My eyes slid over to see that the cow’s blood was draining into me. Like it was magnetic, it flowed against gravity, sliding up my arm and into my wound. My skin began to close. But it was too little, too-

“Five.”

The sickle flashed down. I shut my eyes. But the pain didn’t come.

Aaron gave a small grunt of pain, then said, “Jason, what are you doing?”

Jason was in the barn?

I opened my eyes, seeing Aaron brushing something off of himself. He made another small noise of pain. “Cobwebs…” he muttered under his breath.

He couldn’t win. A father like him. I couldn’t let Jason see such a man win. I focused entirely on the feeling. The fire ate away at the cow. In reality, its skin was melting into me. I met its huge eye again. The cow had gone still, dead from the wounds or from me, I couldn’t tell. I’m so sorry. I didn’t stop. With this strange feast, I felt my strength return. My wounds closed and the pain vanished like it had all been in my head.

I stood and kicked Aaron, sending him staggering back until he hit the gate.

“There we go!” he shouted, spit flying.

Grow. Antlers emerged, then quickly curved. Every time they came out, it was faster and easier to control. They wrapped around my limbs and chest, spiraling and locking tightly with neighbouring branches. I felt the bone emerge from my neck, moving up over my head. Branches weaved around my eyes, slightly narrowing my field of vision. Soon I was entirely encased in white armour.

Encased was fitting, as I couldn’t move, my joints locked just as tightly by bone as the rest of me. I strained my muscles against the bone. Come on. The sickle bit into the bone around my neck. Muscles bulging with effort, Aaron pulled it free and hacked at the same spot again. Crack. I felt the air on my exposed neck. I yelled and at the last moment, the antlers around my knees broke. I pitched forward, driving my helmet into Aaron’s chin. More cracking, as the impact freed my shoulders and arms. I swung them immediately, breaking what was locking my wrists in place against Aaron’s jaw. Another step and I had full range of motion as I tackled him against the pen gate.

I heard something metallic ping off a post and the gate swung open, causing me to crash down on top of Aaron. He tucked in his knees and kicked me off. I sailed and landed on my back. We picked ourselves up at the same time. Aaron’s eyes were shining with some strange fervor. 

“Yes! Give me more!” he shouted.

He reached over and seized a pitchfork from a nearby pen, flinging it at me. I stepped to the side, then charged him. The sickle went for my exposed neck. I blocked it with my arm and sank antler points into Aaron’s stomach. He spat blood at me. The warm drops made the fire inside me stir again. He struck back powerfully, the blade sinking past armor to cut me.

I grew short spikes across my arm and swung them. He stopped it, a spike sinking into his hand and then he sliced my leg. Blow after blow, we struggled. The armour was protecting me from the worst of it, but Aaron was landing more hit than I was. Soon all I could perceive was blood and strained breathing. It hurts. I pushed on, Aaron’s madness infecting me.

The blade scythed into my helmet, breaking it off and cutting my cheek. I tasted blood. Aaron’s eyes were bloodshot as he struck again. I couldn’t stop it. So I let it sink into my neck, the excruciating pain matched by this newfound sensation that burned at my fingers as I wrapped them around Aaron’s neck. Let’s see how you like it.

I pulled and flesh began to slide off of Aaron, exposing fat and muscle, as I stole from him. An incredulous noise slipped from Aaron’s clenched teeth as he realized what I was doing. He abandoned the sickle, hands wrapping around my forearms instead. He began to take from me. I watched in disbelief as my skin slipped off without pain, sinking into his fingertips.

What skin was stolen grew back just as quickly, forming an endless loop of shifting tissue and blood. But I was winning.

I gained ground, inch by inch, Aaron’s flesh started to replace more slowly. His eyes went wide as he came to a realization. I was better at this than him. 

At that moment, I heard a creak from the floor up above us. Someone was up there. I looked up and saw Jason’s eyes peering down at us from between steps in the ladder.

A pulse of anger flooded the barn. The red light flared. With a roar, Aaron threw me off of him. Muscles glistened on his exposed forearms. A vein pulsed in his neck.

“Jason!” he shouted, striding to the ladder and beginning to climb.

Shit. I gave chase, running to the ladder, just to see his boots disappear over the top.

“Always hiding. The both of you,” Aaron’s voice echoed down as I climbed. “Creeping around, finding every possible excuse to escape.”

I reached the top. Aaron had grabbed Jason, pulling him up until his feet barely touched the ground, his shirt bunched up in Aaron’s fist. “I can’t beat it out of you. That weakness. You let him convince you, eh? That you could run from me. Find a new family.”

Jason was frozen, staring up at his father’s chilling words.

“But you’ll never be free from me,” Aaron said. “You’ll never gain my strength.”

Jason’s eyes looked past him, to me. It wasn’t fear I saw there. Only anger. “You wanted me to show you my gift, didn’t you?” he asked. “It’s finally ready.”

I heard a quiet click as Jason’s mouth opened wide. A dark wave crawled out of his mouth, like living shadow. Spilling down Jason’s front, it pooled at Aaron’s feet. Aaron looked down as the blackness slowly crept up his body. He released Jason, cursing and swatting at the shadow. Tiny blobs flew free as he swatted at himself. The blackness writhed. I saw momentary flashes of Aaron’s skin through the shifting shadow, covered in red marks. Soon, he was covered head to toe in a mass of black.

Spiders, I realized, my skin crawling. Aaron was covered in thousands, maybe even millions of tiny spiders. Suddenly, he could take the pain no more and he shoved Jason away from himself, taking uneven steps towards a hatch. He pulled it open and tipped forward, crashing down into a pen.

I gazed at Jason in horror and admiration. He grinned.

“That was awesome,” I said.

He nodded. “Let’s finish the job.”

“H-hold on,” I said, raising my hands. “You need to go to your sister. Make sure she’s alright. Try to find Julie if you can. Then stay together.”

Jason frowned. “I can help!”

“No,” I said firmly. “Keep what’s left of your family together. That’s more important than this. Besides,” I said, thinking of what Nell was so afraid of. “Aaron isn’t the end of this.”

Jason reluctantly nodded and moved to the window. He looked back at me. “Will I see you again, after all this is done?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But don’t listen to what Aaron said. You are strong. You’ll be okay.”

That brought a smile to his face and he dexterously climbed out the window. Climbs like a spider too, I thought.

I desperately wanted to follow him out, but he was right about one thing. Aaron had to be dealt with.

I descended, looking through the steps to try and find Aaron in the pens. Grunts of pain and the bangs of him knocking into walls echoed through the barn. As I reached the bottom, he spilled out of one of the pens. His fingernails scratched against the stone as he sought relief from the spiders that bit him endlessly.

He managed to raise his head, eyes staring hollowly at me.

His voice grated on my ears. “C- bwe-”

“Cobwebs,” I finished the word. “Yeah, I get it.”

Pushing himself to his feet, he swayed on the spot. He had stripped off his clothes and now stood naked in front of me. He looked so old, the lines in his face were deep. His eyes traveled up, locking on one of the hanging lanterns that flickered above his head. In a blur of motion, he threw something. Glass bounced off his bare shoulders. Sparks rained down, catching on the loose straw at his feet. Small tendrils of smoke began to rise up. Then, as if catching on the dust in the air, the fires grew larger. I took a step back, the scent of smoke reaching my nose.

The fire latched on to the spiders and I watched them begin to fall off his legs.

Spinning around, I spotted the gun and grabbed it. Then I walked over to the padlock and began to hammer at it with the butt of the gun.

The crackling of the fire grew louder.

I could feel the heat on my back as I swung again and again.

Then the pain of real fire burned at my shoulder. I glanced over and saw Aaron’s hand, flames dancing across his blackened skin. His fingers tightened.

“Leave me the fuck alone!” I screamed.

I swung once more and the lock broke. Throwing myself against the door, I burst out of the barn. I rolled, extinguishing the flames that had caught on my clothing.

Smoke stung my eyes as I turned to see that the entire first floor of the barn had caught fire. The heat drove into me, forcing me to squint. The flames danced and I wasn’t sure if I could see Aaron or if it was just an illusion. But there was nowhere he could have gone.

This is what I wanted, wasn’t it?