~~~
Kiki was flying.
Wind rushing around her, clouds sending out eight-colour rainbows, bright blue above her and the world laid out below. She spun, everything tilting and blurring around her until she righted herself again, and let out a shrill cry of joy. Her chest twinged a bit as she did so, but the pain quickly subsided.
Below, a lake- she dove, skimming the surface, before slowly rising back up again to clear the treetops. There, a familiar cliff, and…
Kiki stopped, turning and grasping the nearest tree branch. And she saw herself, falling from her father’s arms, an unforgettable memory from an alien perspective.
Fly.
Fly, Kiki.
The little girl was falling, so small against the cliff backdrop, hair streaming out above her and arms splayed to the side. Even though Kiki knew exactly how this would go, she was still leaned forwards in anticipation, grip tight.
Falling, falling, until she wasn’t.
Until she let go of the bindings that protected the young from themselves.
Until she slowed in the air, erratic and wobbly, but freed from gravity’s pull.
Until she flew.
~~~
Kiki woke up to a world bursting with colour.
Finally!
Finally, she was cured. Whatever that thing had done to her, it hadn’t been permanent, and she was free.
Even better, somehow her rib had fixed itself as a side effect. None of her other injuries were healed, unfortunately, but she was gonna take what she could get. That said, Gaunt might be waking up soon, so she should probably-
Wait.
Seriously?!
If she didn’t think it would wake Gaunt up, she would have screeched in frustration. This wasn’t any better. Frankly, it was worse, because how the hell was she supposed to explain this?
Damn it.
She turned, fumbling through her stuff until she found her phone, and clumsily tapped out a text.
Gtg emgcy bk soon sry
It was a shit explanation, but she didn’t know how much time she had, so it would have to do. Not like she could take the phone with her.
What else…
She moved over a bit, reaching into the pocket of her jeans, and got out some of her tools and wires. Quickly sorting through, she grabbed the best few, and then she fled.
Not far. Just so she was out of sight, but could still keep a decent eye on Gaunt. Poor Gaunt, she’d probably have so many questions, and Kiki couldn’t risk answering any of them. She’d probably be mad at Kiki too for running off without any warning, but again, nothing to be done about that.
She’d just have to stay out of sight until things went to normal. At least this way, she could go ahead and do some scouting, once she knew which way Gaunt was going. Maybe set up some guidelines to help point her there?
On second thought, it was pretty early. Maybe she could scout a bit and then come back before Gaunt was awake.
Yeah. Lake was west-south-west. She could probably get there and back pretty quick.
Sure enough, it only took about fifteen minutes for her to get there, sunlight glimmering off the surface, and the terrain looked pretty good. It was beautifully clear, and so still, so early in the day.
That being said, she was a little distracted by the massive fucking wall.
Rising a bit, she looked up. The top was pretty far up, but it had a top, she was pretty sure, and it wouldn’t take long for her to get back to Gaunt.
May as well see what’s up there.
Huffing a bit with exertion, she ascended, up, up to the top. This thing was ridiculous. What exactly were you trying to keep out, that you measured height in kilometers?
It took twenty minutes, and she was panting by the end, but she made it to the top. Holy shit, that was a lot. She needed to sit down somewhere, and…
And there was more wall. Not only was this monster of a barricade two kilometers tall, it was at least a kilometer thick, and totally, utterly smooth. Hesitantly, she got low enough to tap a foot against it. Cool, very smooth, she couldn’t really get any purchase.
It was hard to tell what it was made from. Dark, opaque, and the light coming off it was wrong somehow. No colour, no reflection, but it was reflecting something because she could see it, but it wasn’t, and there was no colour, not even black but it wasn’t transparent either.
All across the wall, there were no defining features. No cracks or crevices or dents. No holes or vents or doors. Just the wall.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
How Lyre planned to cross this thing, Kiki didn’t know.
Maybe she could see what was past it?
She darted forwards, close to the surface, wind whistling around her, and it was another couple minutes before she could see over the edge to the other side.
It was a wasteland.
To the west, smoke was rising up, the ground glowing- volcanic activity, or a wildfire, but enormous. The sort you heard about in the news, spreading devastation across an entire forest. To the east, there was the shine of metal. Just metal, like the ground had been coated in it, as far as the eye could see. How did that even happen?
Spike and Lyre couldn’t be anywhere near here. This wasn’t survivable. There was nothing for her, or anyone else, here.
She needed to get back to Gaunt.
On tired limbs, she traversed the width of the wall again, then descended, much quicker and easier than the climb. It was still pretty early, so hopefully Gaunt was still asleep.
Unfortunately, Gaunt was already awake. She was pacing around, in clear distress, carrying all their stuff. Probably looking for Kiki.
Dammit. Should have left a better text.
Okay, uh… how could she direct Gaunt without revealing herself?
Gaunt wasn’t really going in any specific direction, which made things… not so easy. Hard to predict which way she’d go next.
Maybe…
Kiki settled on a clearish patch, one far enough away that it would take Gaunt a couple minutes to get there. Grabbing some small stones, she arranged them into a crude arrow, pointing to the lake. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything shiny or colourful around her. She’d just have to hope Gaunt saw it.
She looked around.
Shit!
Kiki darted behind a piece of rubble, just in time, as Gaunt came into the clearing and looked down at the arrow. That was way too close. She’d checked how far away Gaunt was! How’d she gotten there so fast?
She didn’t dare to peek out from her hiding spot until she heard Gaunt’s footsteps receding, following the arrow she’d laid out. Double checking to make sure Gaunt was looking away, Kiki began to follow her, at a very safe distance.
Which was… boring. Very boring. Gaunt was so mind-numbingly slow. She could only tolerate it for a minute before she snapped.
She started moving back and forth, between Gaunt and the lake, noting any patches of bad terrain and adding more of her arrows to direct Gaunt around them. Along the way was a large hole in the ground, surrounded by building rubble. Hard to tell what it was initially. It was about five kilometers from the lake.
She would have directed Gaunt around it, just in case, but the terrain was awful everywhere else. This was the only clear spot to pass through.
It felt like a trap.
But there was no other way.
Kiki added some words into her directions, this time.
BIG HOLE
MAYBE DANGER
CAREFUL, GO FAST
It took her a while to spell out, but it wasn’t like she was doing anything else with her time.
She scouted out some adjacent areas. Added more notes, and secondary options in the form of arrows.
GROCERY, MAYBE FOOD
DETOUR: LONGER, LESS HILLY
And a couple of the notes…
I’M OKAY
SORRY I LEFT
WILL EXPLAIN WHEN CAN
WILL STILL HELP
She watched Gaunt’s reaction to these messages carefully.
Gaunt decided not to go to the grocery store, fair enough. She also decided not to take the detour, mumbling to herself and shaking her head.
When she got to the more… personal messages, she stood still for a long time. She rested her face on one hand, and Kiki thought a bit of the tension had dissipated from her shoulders, but it was hard to tell from this distance.
I’m sorry, Gaunt. I wish I could tell you more. She didn’t even want to say that she was nearby, because then Gaunt might look, and that… might not end well.
She felt like a piece of shit. Running off with zero notice, only communicating through rocks on the ground? What sort of person did that?
Focus on helping, what she could do. Bigger, thicker arrows. More notes.
Her warning about the hole was about 75 metres from the hole itself. Gaunt looked at the message, moved forwards, looked back again. Set her shoulders. Started walking, fast, head swivelling around enough that Kiki had to move a bit further away.
As she passed by the hole, a stream of clear fluid shot out at her. Gaunt flinched, tried to dodge, but it hit her lower body, glueing her to the ground.
The thing emerged, slowly, almost casually.
A long, matte grey creature, wormlike, with stubby soft legs and long antennae. Enormous. If this was what had been roaming the subway tunnels… hell, it was barely small enough to fit. Glue dripped from glands near its mouth.
Gaunt was squirming, and the glue was stretching, but not releasing her. Kiki had to do something, but what the hell could she do?
Damn it, of all days, why did this have to have happened today? She was useless like this!
And she was still stuck.
The worm reached out for her with its mandibles, and somehow, Gaunt managed to hit it hard enough to move its head away for a moment.
She had to distract it enough for Gaunt to get away.
Kiki hurried to the back part of the worm, where it was still emerging, dropped her wires, and began clawing and ripping at it. It didn’t do very much- she was barely able to break the skin, but she kept going, trying desperately to get deep enough for it to take notice. Still more than she had expected- she’d wondered if she could get through its hide at all.
It flinched a bit, but kept its focus on Gaunt. Shit. Shit shit shit. She looked up, and it was slowing a bit, but that wasn’t nearly enough.
She might have to escalate. Attack the front, the glue glands, but then she might get trapped as well. No, she’d definitely get trapped. That wasn’t an option, but maybe the antennae?
Its antennae reached out to touch Gaunt, and Gaunt lashed out, grabbing it in one hand. It reared back a bit, easily pulling it free. As Kiki was getting closer, she saw the glands on its head pulse, and made a snap decision.
Flying in, she dug her claws into one of the glands, or tried, at least. Unfortunately, the glue shot out just as she reached it, and she had to swerve rapidly, some of it sticking to her feet.
Dread sticking to her ribs, Kiki looked back, and…
HOW???
Gaunt had dodged the shot completely. Glue was splattered around her for at least a few metres, but somehow, none of it was actually on her. Somehow, the worm had missed from two feet away.
How… never mind, just hope it happens again. The glue around Gaunt’s legs was starting to crack, now, but she was still completely stuck.
The glue on Kiki’s feet was starting to tingle and burn, now. She needed to get this stuff off her, but first they had to get away.
She had to distract it long enough for Gaunt to get free.
Her feet were useless now, so she dropped onto its head by an antenna, biting and tearing at it. It was surprisingly soft, and she was able to take large, fleshy chunks out with each bite, the worm rearing and shaking.
Kiki looked over again, and Gaunt was free, the glue still standing in the shape it had molded around her.
She’d only practiced this a few times, but panic was a very good motivator for using old, rusty skills.
“RUN!”
Gaunt jumped practically a foot in the air, and started running, Kiki following from afar.
Thank god, the worm was slow enough that Gaunt could outpace it, just barely, and oh god her feet were really burning now. Kiki squeezed her eyes shut, decided to take a leap of faith, and shot ahead to the lake.
Once she got there, she plunged down into a shallow portion, water spraying up a bit around her. Swishing her feet in the water, the glue dissolved quickly, the cool water acting as a balm. Hopping out, Kiki glanced them over quickly- no real damage as far as she could tell- and flew back to check on Gaunt.
Gaunt had probably seen her.
That… wasn’t good, but it wasn’t as though she could have just left Gaunt to die. So, no regrets, just… a bit of dread over that conversation.
Gaunt was still running. The worm was still chasing. It was more an ambush predator than anything, but again, Gaunt was really slow even while running. Bit faster now though.
If nothing else, she could try and slow the worm down a bit.
Kiki grabbed a rock, the largest one she could reliably lift, and rose up while gripping it.
Please work…
It didn’t do any damage, but there was a clear impact and the worm did twitch a bit. Its antennae brushed over the area. It started moving again pretty soon, but Kiki had bought Gaunt a few metres at least.
She would have gotten another, but frankly, she was tired enough that she might not have been able to lift it up enough to drop on the thing. She was struggling just to stay on course.
After about another 500 metres, the worm gave up its pursuit, trundling back to its hole. Gaunt kept running for a little bit longer, but she soon slowed to a walk.
Damn. She somehow still had energy, after all that.
At this point, though, Kiki had to stop for a bit. She found a ruin that stretched reasonably high up, landed on the edge of one of the walls. Gaunt would be out of her sight until she caught up again, but she’d probably be okay. She’d survived this long, mostly alone, after all.
She let out a long, whistling breath, and settled down, closing her eyes.