All His Angels Are Starving

Agony exploded through Jenny. She felt like she'd been punched in the gut, then kicked several times before one of the large angels stomped on her. Her wound was fizzing. Like soda, but it wasn't a carbonated drink, it was her insides bubbling and hissing.

She coughed up blood; she'd screamed so violently that she was sure her lungs ruptured or worse. The popping sounds in her chest were not promising, and a steady pressure spread throughout her chest. It felt like she was drowning. She'd failed the swimming classes her mom had forced her to take one summer as a kid - one session of screaming and panic and choking on chlorine-rich water, and the instructor threw her out - but she'd never forgotten the feeling of water pressing all around her, threatening to steal away her ability to breathe.

"Fuck," she spat. Blood shot out of her mouth as she wheezed. Her breathing sounded and felt worse than before, and she clutched her wound. It was still fizzing. Something bubbled and burst against her fingers. Her blood felt sticky and thick, like boiling honey.

There was shouting, but her ears were clogged with blood or pressure, she couldn't tell. Their words sounded muffled and distant. Her vision had filled with dark spots. A sense of doom loomed over her thoughts even as the pain from the healing spray faded to a dull throbbing.

I can't heal myself. I can’t fucking heal myself... What the fuck?

That had been her plan. Get someone, possibly Susan, to create a healing potion for her. She'd heal all her wounds and disable the skill and be as good as new. Then she could reap the rewards of all the kills she'd gotten so far. She thought she outsmarted the Guidance System.

But... she laughed. A pitiful laugh of self-hatred. A cackle of misery and woe and holy shit, fuck everything.

It's my fault, isn't it? I'd been too brash. Too stupid. Then again... If it hadn't been for that cocoon causing that explosion, she wouldn't be this badly injured.

Someone helped her up while the others continued arguing, their voices layered with fear and disgust. Jenny looked up to see Mackenzie grabbing her shield arm. Jenny grabbed her hatchet and let the girl help her stand.

The others gawked at her. Dule seemed worried and afraid, but the other two, their lips twisted with disgust. Eyes bulging with horror. She even detected distaste. Like she'd stepped out of her skin and emerged a slimy mass of muscle and bone. It didn't help that the babies gathered around her, concern and curiosity on their chubby faces. They nuzzled her legs, and she was too tired to kick them away.

She knew the others didn't like the babies. She didn't like them much either, but right that moment, she felt closer to them than she did the humans. They understood her. They couldn't talk, but their blood-covered faces and wide hopeful eyes tugged on her heart. She wished she could be as innocent and clueless as they were. Blissfully unaware of everything but their immediate desire to feed, and whatever they felt for her. Was that love? Was that need? Was she like a mother to them? Should she care about them?

All she knew was that she didn't want to be here, being scrutinized like this. She didn't want to be on display. She just wanted to hide away forever. She could almost feel their thoughts. Monster. Nightmare. What the fuck is wrong with her? Ugly. Fucked up.

Yeah, yeah. Tell me something I don't know.

She wished Susan were here. She wished it so hard that her heart seemed to clench like a tight fist, and she almost choked on the wishful thinking as another pop went off in her chest and she coughed.

Dule was carrying Oliver in his arms. The stumps of Oliver's legs swung as Dule turned. He was saying something, but all Jenny heard was a ceaseless ringing, like something was screaming inside her head and refused to stop.

Judging by the other's reactions, they didn't trust her one bit. They didn't want her around; they didn't want to turn their backs on her. Like she might attack them. She couldn't really blame them. How frightening did she look? Her body was coming apart. She couldn't heal...

But hadn't she always felt like this? Even before this nightmare started. That nobody really wanted her around. That she was misshapen somehow, that her presence was unwelcome. Conversations would fizzle out whenever she showed up, in person or online. Groups gave her anxiety, and she'd sit among classmates feeling like a ghost or an ornament or a shadow. Jokes would die down. She'd say something and nobody would react. She hated the way people would turn quiet around her, even though they'd been laughing and cheerful moments before.

People just tolerated her presence until she left, didn't they? And as soon as she was gone, they'd return to the wonderful lives she'd interrupted.

All Severed Soul had done was bring her truth to the outside. She truly was Tarnished, wasn't she? What if this was her true form? A toothless rotting creature covered in blood and falling to pieces. She belonged in a coffin buried six feet in the ground away from the living...

Once the screaming in her head died down, she pressed her hatchet against her leg and nodded at Mackenzie. "I can walk."

The girl was vibrant. Alive and fierce in a way Jenny couldn't be. She didn't want Mackenzie's friends to mistrust her for helping Jenny.

But Mackenzie shook her head. She opened her mouth as if to say something. Sounds came out that Jenny couldn't understand, but she got the sense that Mackenzie wasn't going to leave her behind. Was this because Jenny was Oliver’s brother? Or because the girl actually cared?

"Alright," said Dule, his voice laced with urgency as he motioned with his head. "We'll figure this shit out later. Let's get to the library like she said."

"But what the fuck is in the library? What if it's another nest ?" said Tara, fury distorting her face. Her helmet was similar to Mackenzie's, a knight's helmet. Except she didn't have the visor. It looked like it was ripped off, and her brown skin was cut in several places. She was missing the tip of her nose.

Mackenzie's fingers flashed, even as she held Jenny up, and Jenny could feel the girl shaking with anger. Why was she so determined to help?

But before anyone could respond, a tremor went through the entire lab room, making everyone stumble for balance. A bright blue light blossomed, bathing everything in its unsettling glow before fading, and Jenny's heart raced, remembering how she'd been lying on the table and the same light shone on everything.

The babies cried out. Some of them started wailing, and the others picked up on that. One of them grabbed Jenny's leg and refused to let go.

Another tremor jolted the floor. The rubble that had been crushing Oliver shook loose, and Dule and Tara shouted and rushed away as it collapsed. Large chunks rained down like meteors, clattering and crashing, kicking up clouds of dust. The upside-down table, with Oliver's feet still beneath it, slid, and whatever blood was left in the severed feet gushed out disgustingly as they flattened completely. Tara screamed at the sight.

Then someone shouted, "Run!" and Jenny couldn't be sure if it was her or not. Mackenzie held Jenny's shield arm firmly around her shoulders; she was trying to pull Jenny forward.

But what use was it?

"I'm just going to slow you down," wheezed Jenny as another large chunk of the ceiling collapsed behind them, where they'd just been a few moments ago. It burst into countless pieces and exposed metal pipes clanged hard. One of the babies got hit, but it didn’t seem to mind at all. It shook the impact off, then hurried after the others.

But trying to talk to her was no use. Mackenzie couldn't see Jenny's lips, so she let the girl help. Dule jumped nimbly over the rubble. He carried Oliver with ease. Tara and Alex followed closely, dodging things falling from the ceiling and trying not to step on anyone. The babies chased after Jenny, all of them crying and screaming.

Blue light surged every few moments, and fresh tremors rumbled. The light seemed to shine longer now before fading away. Mackenzie was gasping and swearing as she pulled Jenny along.

The hole in the ceiling seemed to grow. The edges crumbled and rained down. Jenny heard hissing above and kept bracing herself for a fight, but they'd nearly made it to the other end of the lab room. That was where the pulsing light shone brightest, flooding her vision with bright blue, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut until it faded. That was when she spotted the cocoon.

It lay on its side underneath a fallen closet. The wooden doors of the closet were cracked but hugged the cocoon, securing it in place on the floor. Another upside-down desk, heavy and with the sink spurting dirty water rested on top of the closet at an angel.

She couldn't see where the cocoon was torn, but the webbed blue outer layer of the sac wriggled. It distorted and moved, like a bug crawling underneath the skin, or like a baby trying to claw its way out of its mother's belly.

Blue light flashed again, more vividly than any of the pulses before. The entire building seemed to shake, as though the cocoon were a blackhole and everything would be ripped and torn to bits, collapsing onto this central point. Dule was already at the door, struggling to hold Oliver up in all the ruckus, shouting for someone to open it.

But it seemed that only Jenny had heard him. The others stopped to stare at the cocoon, mystified by the light even as debris rained and crashed around them. They almost seemed hypnotized. Even Jenny felt a curious inexplicable tug, like they were about to witness something miraculous. Something otherworldly. As though the sky had split open and a heavenly being was descending.

But this was no heavenly being. There was no sky. They were stuck in a crumbling physics lab covered in blood and dirt and surrounded by the dead.

The babies bumped into Jenny's and Mackenzie's legs, coming to a stop. She looked down to see their frightened expressions. A few of them sucked on their thumbs and stared at the cocoon with such palpable dread that a shudder ran up Jenny’s spine.

Wasn't that thing their mother?

But the babies scrambled to hide behind Jenny's legs. She got the sense that something truly terrible was coming. Something terrible was about to be born, and Jenny desperately wished she could ask Eve about this.

That Desecrated Angel... it was coming. There was no way they'd defeat that thing now. They had to run. They had to get away, regroup, recover, and then...

Another thought struck Jenny as though she’d used the healing spray again. Another horrible disgusting thought. The Desecrated Angel had eyes. Piercing blue eyes that looked so human. That had looked right through her and chosen her blood for a meal. It was just like the babies struggling around her legs. Would light have any effect on these angels?

And if the light didn't work, they wouldn’t be able to stop the Desecrated Angel, and they'd be leading it right to the others in the library. Right to Susan.

There would be no safe haven. Someone had to stay behind and lead it away. That was the best they could do for now. Distract it until the rest of them could make a plan. Someone had to remain, and Jenny knew without a single doubt in her heart, that that someone would have to be her.

Another pulse of light, brighter than the ones before, burst out of the cocoon in shimmering bubbles, like rolling storm clouds gathering. Energy radiated violently, like shockwaves she'd seen in footage of bomb testings. The floor shook beneath their feet. Debris was blown back, clearing a circular area around the squashed cocoon. The desk above it creaked and fell to the floor with a heavy crash.

Jenny's eyes widened. The floor would break beneath them, just like it had done on the second floor. The cocoon's energy was too much. Maybe that was their way out.

The dumb angel would drop into the basement, and they could retreat to the library. But at this rate, they'd plunge right down with it into hell.

It pulsed again. A furious wind slapped Jenny and Mackenzie. Jenny struck a table with her hatchet, keeping them from being blown all the way back to the other side of the room. The babies were knocked about, this way and that, and Jenny lost track of them as loose rubble billowed around everything, as though they were in a tornado.

When it stopped, she heard a slam. Dule had kicked the door off its hinges and stumbled into the hallway, shouting over his shoulder. Jenny was glad that he was prioritizing Oliver's safety. The other two had been blown onto their backs, and they scrambled to their feet, the hypnotic spell broken. They screamed at Mackenzie to leave Jenny and run.

Mackenzie forced herself up, trying to drag Jenny. But Jenny wouldn't budge. She had to make sure the stupid cocoon sank. Or she had to be there when the angel emerged. To do what, she wasn’t sure.

The girl screamed in Jenny's ear.

"It's alright," Jenny whispered back. She saw the light flaring up again, and she gathered what strength she could and shoved Mackenzie with all her might.

The girl's eyes went wide. Blue enveloped everything. An ugly crack ran through the floor. And when the next pulse hit, the force pushed Mackenzie away, right through the doorway.

Jenny was flung against the wall, crumpling the exposed bricks with her shield. She cried out as the wind tore at her armor. It was growing fiercer and fiercer, blight light expanding and contracting as it swallowed everything. A table slid toward her, then twisted over another, like a car flipping over, and crashed into the doorway, completely sealing off the exit.

Her scales melted away. She felt her skin burning as she took the full brunt of ejected energy, the cocoon was no longer covered by anything. The closet had eroded away, exposing the dark gash like a lightning bolt through its center from where it had been torn.

Jenny pictured victims of atomic bombs. What radiation had done to their skin and hair, making their blood vessels erupt and boil, the painful miserable way they'd died. At least this didn't hurt, she thought. It wasn't like the healing spray.

The biting winds died, and the floor cratered around the cocoon. Dust and debris erupted, and she thought she saw a glistening clawed hand emerge, reaching. She thought she saw the silhouette of something immense and fearsome with wings, with burning blue eyes that glowed in the dust-ridden gloom, rising. Trying to rise. But another pulse of energy blasted her right through the wall into the hallway, as the room buckled.

The last thing she saw was the floor of the physics lab giving away. The glowing blue creature plunged into the darkness as the rest of the ceiling caved in, and the contents of the physics lab, the heavy desks and the bodies, and many of the babies, were sucked into the sinkhole that had formed.