Jellyfish - Chapter 9 Instinc

“I think this thing ate me.”

Rei kicked the head of the monster in front of her, and a sharp crunch sounded out from her toes. She drew her leg back and looked down to see fractured bone and pieces of glass in her foot. Instead of pulling them out, the girl wiggled her toes and watched what appeared to be a funny dance to her.

“Please! Stop! That’s-”

Moss had to take a second to puke into the quiver she had just picked up. The bile that pooled in the bottom burst into flames as it made contact with the tip of the last arrow remaining. Letting this happen proved a fatal mistake as Moss learned the hard way. She quickly bent over and collapsed once more on the sand, puke spilling out from her throat like water coming out a hose. The back of her throat felt as though something was pressing against it.

“STOP!”

The Nomad took the arrow from the quiver, shook off the burnt vomit, and smacked Rei over the head with it. The short contact with the firestone quickly set her white hair on fire and burned through to the skull. If there had been more force, the next thing to melt would have been the Immortal’s brain.

“Can you not? I’m trying to have a flashback,” complained Rei. “and you’re not helping.”

“I know this thing ate you! Can we please leave?! The Cockatrice couldn’t have gotten too far.” Moss whined.

“No seriously. This thing ate me before it just ate me, like, before it swallowed me after killing all these dudes. I feel like I’ve met it before…”

“I don’t care about your stupid thoughts. I’m sure this creature has eaten you once before. LET’S GO.”

The Nomad was dragging arm as she tried to find the Cockatrice from earlier. She averted her gaze from the foot full of glass, of which she could hear more cracks and crunching noises. The stench of burning flesh began to stick to Moss like glue.

“It was… I think maybe a century ago?” mumbled Rei.

“What?” said Moss.

…

About 100 years ago, give or take seven years, Rei had her head stuck in the gullet of a specific Dire.

…

“That’s it. That’s all I can remember.” the Immortal finished.

Moss sighed, turned around and took the arrow out of Rei’s headsurprisingly it hadn’t explodedand she bore witness to the unusual. She had never had seen anything like this before, nothing in the world described the sight that disturbed her.

Rei’s head was backhair toowith no missing spots and no visible injuries. She knew the girl was immortal but, this was unexpected. Every dead body that came out from the Dire Rex, along with the Glass Viper, had always been in some form of decay. She’d never seen the Immortal heal whatsoever. Without leaving a body behind at that.

“What?” asked Rei.

The Immortal stared into Moss’s eyes, curious as to why the girl was so surprised. It took a good minute, but she figured out the cause of this distress.

“Oh?” came Rei’s voice.

She lifted up her injured foot, which prompted Moss to close her eyes. Rei frowned and tapped the Nomad on the snout as she continued to hop around on one leg.

Hesitantly, Moss opened her eyes.

The glass was gone, and the bone that had been sticking out had sunk back in. There wasn’t a single scar, or a mark, or even a bloodstain to tell the story. She felt something itch in the back of her head.

Moss stopped, let go of Rei’s arm, and then she just stood there. Her limbs felt numb, but the itch in her head kept growing stronger.

“How?” was all Moss could muster to say.

“Yeah, and that monster from before does this too.”

“Aren’t we in danger then?” asked Moss.

“Nah. It’s dead, dead. He sure did live a long time though. At least he probably had friends…”

The Nomad looked away from the new monster before her. Visible confusion had gone rampant in her expression. The itch in her head was stronger now, almost a voice of its own, begging Moss to do something about it.

She took her hand, felt sharp claws protrude from the fingers, and gouged a good chunk of flesh out from Rei.

The itch screamed in joy within the young girl’s mind.

She ran, away from Rei, while trying to dribble the meat and blood into her mouth. The act disgusted her; she’d never felt this sick before in her life. A thought repeated itself in the Nomad’s mind.

But before she completed the act, Rei came over with half her torso missing and tackled Moss into the ground. As she scrambled to grab the knocked away flesh, Rei planted a single foot on the Nomad’s back. The glob of meat sunk into the sand and Moss watched the Outsider pick it up in a second and swallow it the next.

“Mm… Sorry girlie. Can’t have you do that yet.” the Immortal said to her.

Moss tried to pick up whatever blood was left off the sand, but Rei continued to slap the Nomad’s hands and keep them away. Eventually, a wind blew through, and the bloodied sands had gotten away from her.

“Why did you stop me!? What are you afraid of!?”

It seemed this Moss was different. The indifference that lined her voice was now hysteria. The change in her character was too unnatural.

Rei raised her hand and slapped the Nomad across the cheeks before she took the firestone arrow and ran it across Moss’s back. An excruciating pain ran through her body, and there was nothing but the thought of that in her mind.

Pain. Fire. Agony.

“Better?” asked Rei.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BETTER? YOU BURNT ME?!” shouted Moss.

“Eh. It sounds like that cleared your head. Sorry about that.”

The girl felt the weight on her back go away and she was free. Still, in terrible pain, she allowed Rei to lift her up by the stomach. The Immortal tossed Moss over her shoulder and struggled a bit with the weight, yet she managed to keep Moss on her.

Funny enough, Moss didn’t even feel like eating Rei anymore. The itch was gone, whatever it was.

“What was that? Something was controlling me.” realized Moss.

“Of course stupid. That’d be what happens when normal people stick around me too long.”

This answer confused Moss even more. Why would she want to devour the Outsider by merely standing next to her?

“I call it the Instinct. It sounds fucking stupid, but for some reason, everyone wants a literal piece of me.”

She patted Moss’s head and awkwardly rubbed the burn marks on the Nomad’s back. A cold sensation came over the girl, calming her and getting rid of the pain.

“It starts out small. So small you can’t notice it. Some people might like me more, or they act a bit weirder than normal. But the longer they stick around me, the stronger that survival instinct becomes.”

The Outsider took her teeth and tore off a small chunk of her hand. The wound regrew instantly, but Rei still had some pure skin in the palm of her right hand.

“Their bodies start wanting my body.”

She held the flesh closer now, right up in front of Moss’s face. The itch came back for a small moment, and Moss watched Rei’s skin crawl and reach out for her like it was alive.

The Immortal threw it back into her mouth and chewed before anything else happened.

“You figured it out too, didn’t you? Right when you got hungry, you felt it in your head.”

Moss felt herself grow sick again. Not the same sensation as when she was about to eat something that shouldn’t be eaten. It had a different name, and a bad feeling accompanied it as well.

Rei smiled and walked in the direction of the lights ahead of her. The village was so far away from them.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure everyone gets a taste when they’re ready.”