In the days and weeks following Famine’s attack, Noah’s life seemed to follow a trajectory inversely proportional to that of his step brother. The stars just seemed to align for Caleb, gifting him with good fortune, while, on the other hand, Noah just kept getting the short end of the stick rammed down his asshole by the world.

Case in point? One day while Noah had been carrying some huge water cans back home, he ran into one of the few of Famine’s creatures that still remained in the city.

The stealthy, monstrous bug had been waiting in ambush, hidden inside one of the street’s gutters. When it heard Noah’s footsteps above it, the thing darted out, fast as the devil, and sneaked up behind him.

Noah didn’t react in time, didn’t even hear it coming. The thing stung him on the lower leg, right through his trousers.

Noah screamed and tried to hit the bug with one of the water cans, but the horrid cockroach-thing extended its wings and released some gas that propelled it rapidly backwards, managing to dodge the blow.

This was the horror of Famine’s superpower: the Eater spawned a diverse set of organisms and over time as the weaker or less adapted ones were killed, only the strong ones were left. It was almost impossible to get rid of all of them since most of them had a way of reproducing and keeping their numbers up. They ended up becoming part of the ecosystem, a new form of pest. When and if Famine came back to attack a second time, the surviving organisms would use something similar to horizontal gene transfer to pass their genetic material to most of the other organisms, making them all stronger and better adapted.

The thing came at him again, using its wings and gas to fly right at his face.

Noah tried to hit the thing with the water can with a swipe, swinging it.

But it was a feint. This new bug strain was tricky and deft. With a twitch of its wings and shot of gas, it changed its direction midair, simply and efficiently landing on his other leg.

The alien-like insect stung him again, injecting more of its deadly payload.

But the bug got greedy. It stayed a second longer than it should have and this allowed Noah to grab one of its legs before it could fly away. The thing stung him again in retaliation, on his wrist. Noah then threw it against the concrete floor with all of his strength, putting every muscle fiber on the job.

The creature impacted against the floor with a hard sound similar to that of a brick hitting pavement.

Noah immediately pressed his advantage and began desperately stomping it over and over, senseless with rage, cursing it with every foul insult he had ever learned.

After he killed the wretched creature, Noah’s panic intensified. His arm and both legs spasmed and burned. At each of the three injury sites, it felt like things were moving, burrowing deeper into his flesh. He immediately headed to the nearest emergency room.

He ran as fast as he could. If he didn’t get there fast, he would become an infected and that was game over. He cried and prayed and begged whatever would listen: Noah did not want to die.

In the end, he made it in time. The doctors and assistants rushed to give him an intensive surgery that lasted for hours. Noah was under anesthesia during the whole thing, so he did not feel much. The horror came when he woke up and realized he had three stumps and one good arm.

It was surreal and for several minutes he was in denial, then he screamed in horror for a long time. He had to be sedated to calm him down.

His father had been notified about the situation. He was Noah’s emergency contact. But much to Noah’s surprise, his stepfamily also came to the hospital. The sad thing was he would have been happier if they hadn’t. They just made his terrible mood even worse.

The hospital wouldn’t give him robotic prosthetics no matter how much he begged (all they gave him was an astronomical bill and decades worth of debt). Noah had been unlucky today, but every day there were countless cases like his. The world was a deadly and violent place. Life was cheap as dirt—cheaper. Eaters, villains, mad cultists, damned mutants, and rogue AI preyed on humanity all across the globe. All this meant that much like organs, prosthetics had a long waiting list and Noah would have to wait months or years to get robotic limbs.

Now, almost limbless, he had to be wheeled back to his home, his father pushing his wheelchair from behind.

During the whole way back, Shanice looked at him with barely hidden righteous smugness, as if The True God had meted out the appropriate punishment for Noah’s devilness. Caleb couldn’t stop talking and bragging about his new hero job and the girlfriend he had gotten, his autism preventing him from reading the social situation, preventing him from understanding a basic concept like not talking about yourself when someone is having a bad time.

Noah was silent, his head hanging limp, brown hair falling down into his eyes. All he felt was despair, burning jealousy, and toxic hatred. He did his best to siffle his negative emotions, but he might as well have tried to stop the flow of a river with his hand.

---

There was no use denying it: he was an invalid, a cripple. This was his reality now. Even the most trivial of things, such as changing his clothes or writing, were a difficult struggle these days. Noah used to have decent luck with the ladies, but now whenever the female demographic caught sight of him, they winced or looked away in disgust.

He had to be helped for a lot of things, such as getting into the shower or atop the toilet, and, since Shanice and his father were busy working, the job fell down to Caleb. The person he had come to hate the most in the world, that he looked down on more than any other, would pity him and help him, touching him with his fat, sweaty hands and Noah had to treat him well to patch things up after the rifle incident and…and it was pure torture. More humiliating and more horrible than anyone could ever possibly imagine. It took all of his will not to end it all, to live to see another day…but he didn’t know how much longer he could go on.

Noah was startled out of his thoughts by the doorbell ringing.

Out of reflex, he tried to stand up before he remembered he had no legs.

Caleb waddled over to answer it. He did so with a little less difficulty than in the past. The company had put the fatass on a moderate exercise and diet regime. They apparently needed him chubby enough for diversity, but able to move effectively.

When Caleb opened the door, a girl wrapped him in a hug, showering him with kisses.

Even after a week, Noah could not begin to understand how his brother had managed to attract such a cutie. She was one of their neighbors, Triffany, an attractive blonde that was deeply religious. Noah had tried to ask her out once, back when he had all four limbs, but she had politely rejected him.

It was simply impossible to understand. Just what did she see in Caleb? Why had she chosen him over Noah? Had the fatass revealed his hero identity to her? The mystery wouldn’t stop tormenting him, like an intrusive thought that wouldn’t go away.

Caleb seemed to talk about the most idiotic and cringe things imaginable. He talked her ear out about obscure shows that had a pedophile as a main character (loli harem’s as Caleb called them) or that were clearly sexist and she just smiled and listened. He would get angry and throw tantrums whenever she disagreed with something and continue arguing until she accepted Caleb was right. He made pretty much every dating mistake in existence—and yet she stayed with him.

Noah had tried to break them apart out of spite. He tried once when his step brother had forgotten to brush his teeth and kissed Trifanny with his mouth smelling all rotten. Trifanny had shouted and bid Caleb to go away, furiously washing her mouth, sobbing, and retching. Noah talked to her, capitalizing on her negative emotions, but his attempt was unsuccessful.

Still, some time later, another, better opportunity had presented itself. Her and his step brother had been fucking. That was all they seemed to do these days. Fucking, and fucking, and more fucking, and he could hear them through the thin walls and over the damn headphones, and If he still had his legs he would leave the house. But, alas, that was no longer possible.

All of a sudden the moaning and creaking bed noises stopped. His brother had gotten an urgent call from his job and left in a hurry, cutting their lovemaking short.

At first Noah didn’t give this much thought, but after some minutes, he began to hear pitiful, anguished sobbing. This was the chance he had been waiting for. After all, when the cat’s away, the disabled, one-limbed mouse comes out to play.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Noah used his hand to make the wheelchairs' wheels spin. It was a difficult process, since he couldn’t spin them both at the same time and had to do it individually a little on each side, lest he go sideways.

He opened his room’s door and kept spinning the wheels. Spinning spinning spinning, endless spinning, until finally he reached his brother’s room.

There, Trifanny lied on the bed, crying and praying, mumbling something to god. She was wearing a skimpy, frilly cosplay her brother must have forced on her. Most of her body was wet and drenched, and when Noah got closer, he caught a whiff of what smelled like urine. The bed was covered in banana peels and other food waste. Wet with piss and mixed among the food were childish action figures and toys, such as Choo Choo Tommy or Hero The Hedgehog, Noah even saw John Deku somewhere there. All over Trifanny’s body, he could see traces of brown, as if someone had meticulously and painstakingly spread shit all over her skin, leaving no inch unspared, and then an attempt had been made to wipe it away. Her mouth was covered with pubic hairs and dried smegma.

Noah was speechless for a moment. He had suspected that his step brother would do something weird during sex, something like the cosplay. But this… this was pure insanity. Vile.

Trifanny noticed him come in and wiped her tears fast and nervously, wanting to hide her sadness. “N-noah!” she said, her voice shaky, her smile even more so, “You shouldn’t have come here! P-please go away. I, um, I don’t want anyone to see me like this. I… need some time to myself, please.”

Noah ignored her plea and began interrogating her. “Why do you let him do this to you?” he said, disgusted. “This is fucking sick and you know it. This- Your relationship isn’t toxic, you two passed toxic a long time ago. This is...this is just…sick or- or I don’t even know.”

“You wouldn’t understand!” she glared, determined. “My love for Them means I have to do this! I have to! It is the way! The price! If I don’t-” as if she had revealed too much of a well kept secret, she suddenly cut herself off and began praying, ignoring Noah, “Oh, True God who art in heaven…”

“There’s nothing to understand! You don’t have to do this! You clearly don’t like the way he treats you!”

“...hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come…’

“Triffany!” Noah yelled, trying to get back her attention. “You don’t have to subject yourself to this! You deserve better!”

She began praying louder, yelling over his words. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven! Give us…”

He tried to convince the crazy girl some more but all she did was pray or tell him to go away like a broken record.

Noah left, but he couldn’t let things go like this. He had to help this poor deranged woman or at least ruin Caleb’s life, preferably both. He called Bright Knight to meet up and tell her all about Caleb’s sickening deeds.

Noah had tried to schedule a meeting with her a few times, but she was always busy and after three tries Noah had sort of given up, thinking that she wanted to be left alone and he needed to take the hint and they had kind of fallen out of touch.

With his luck as of late, Noah half expected Bright Knight to not pick up or to be busy, considering Caleb had been called in. But she had taken a day off and answered on the third ring. After Noah had explained the situation, she agreed to come immediately.

---

The superheroine arrived in minutes, having used her power to cut her way across the city. She came in as a ray of light that crossed through the peephole of the main door.

She was surprised when she saw Noah in his diminished state and asked what happened to him.

He told her the full story and she looked at him with pity, but being pitied by your crush is one of the worst things that can happen to a man.

“Listen, Noah,” she began, picking her words carefully as if he would break if she said the wrong thing, “If you ever need someone to talk or help, please let me know. I’m not sure if I will be able to do so, because, you know, things have a way of getting busy in my job. But, I will try to help you if I can and to the best of my ability though. I really wish I could do more.”

“Do you really mean that?” said Noah. People said words like that but never meant them, like how they had never met for lunch. “Or are you just saying that to make me feel good?”

She placed a hand on his shoulder and looked him intensely in the eyes. “I never lie. I mean everything I say. Unlike some of these other so-called heroes, I am not there just for the money but also to actually make a difference and help people, people like you.”

“Okay, then,” he said, embarrassed, “I’m sorry, but, yes. Yes, I could use someone to talk to. The last weeks have been…a living nightmare.” Noah started to tear up but he didn’t want to let the girl he liked see him cry, so he did his best to not let them fall despite his vision blurring.

“Prime. Then we’ll go have us a talk,” she said, giving him a clap on the shoulder and smiling. She then began walking towards Trifanny who was still inside the room, “but first, let me take care of this.”

Bright Knight spent a long time questioning Trifanny. Noah could hear them talking inside, but was unable to determine what they were saying.

When the heroine finally exited the room, she looked just as disgusted as Noah had been.

“So,” Noah said, hopeful at the possibility of ruining Caleb’s hero career, “Clearly as you can see there is some domestic abuse going on here. You have to do something about this. Caleb can not go unpunished for his sick actions.”

Bright Knight shook her head in negation. “She said it was all consensual. No matter how much I prodded and asked, she kept saying that she wanted it and that she allowed him to do it.” She gave a long suffering, tired sigh. “In cases like these we can’t do much unless she changes her mind and realizes she is being abused. There’s a fine line between kink and abuse, legally speaking, and it gets blurred a lot.”

Just like that, Noah’s hopes were crushed once more. Why couldn’t anything go the way he wanted it to?

Misunderstanding his visible despair at not being able to ruin the life of his step brother, the superheroine tried to cheer him up, “How about we go on a walk and get this out of your system?”

Noah nodded listlessly.

And so on they went, Bright Knight pushing his wheelchair. They walked around the neighborhood, talking.

They ended up going to the park where Noah had gotten into a fight.

It looked beautiful during the early evening, almost hauntingly so. The park was a strange oasis of beauty in an ocean of decay and ugliness. Many couples often walked in the park at this time and they saw a few as they walked around.

After a while, they reached a bridge—because not even the park could go untainted in Jackson and a road cut through the middle of it. The bridge connected both halves.

Noah asked her to help him sit on the railing.

Bright Knight was hesitant but relented after Noah begged her.

There was an awkward silence were they both looked at each other, Noah sitting on the railing, and her standing in front of him. They were both close to each other and he could feel her hot breath on his face, the faint heat of her body.

Noah knew he should wait until he had his prosthetics and wasn’t an ugly cripple, but he had a bad case of Damsel In Distress syndrome, and the words just tumbled out of his mouth, beyond his control.

“I love you,” he said, shocked that he had said it. But once the words came out it was like a dam had broken and the rest followed after. “You are the best person I know. The greatest. Fun, daring, and funny. I love your freckles, your smile. Everything about you. I-”

Bright Knight put a hand up to stop him, her cheeks flushed, embarrassed. “I, uh, thank you, but, um, I have a boyfriend. Don’t get me wrong, you are a great guy and…” She was going to say something more but she got a call on her VRisor. The longer the call went on, the paler her face got. Something bad had happened.

When the call finished, she said, “Look, I’m truly sorry but I can’t stay any longer.” she was avoiding eye contact with him now. “The Genocide 6 are in the city and they need all hands on deck. I have to go. Do you have a way to get back home?”

Noah nodded, disappointed and sad, and feeling like all hope had been robbed, “Yeah, I’ll call my dad,” He said, pointing at his head where his VRisor was supposed to be, invisible. “I’ll give him a call to pick me up or something. And don’t worry about this. Thank you for helping me, for everything.”

Bright Knight nodded, “Thanks again,” she said, putting her hands in a praying gesture and smiling, “We’ll continue this conversation later. I want us to stay friends, okay?--for real. Stay strong Noah!” With that she disappeared in a flash of light.

Now all alone and with a broken heart, Noah stared at the sky. It was a dark black, but not because of the evening. No, the barrier covered every inch of the sky and it wasn’t a regular black. It was an all consuming black hole, astarless, dark abyss that seemed to absorb all light. Whenever someone stared at it for a few seconds, their eyes would begin to hurt. Any longer than that and they would go blind. Longer and they’d begin having seizures and die.

The only things that broke the oppressive, tyrannical darkness of the barrier were the clouds and the Moonrift below it. The rift was a jagged portal that hovered below the barrier, connecting earth to a distant moon from a distant solar system. The thing was hypnotic, possessing a haunting beauty. It was the shape of a cancerous star, full of jagged edges like hundreds of broken glass shards. Its borders shifted, crackling with white static energy. In its center laid an alien sky, chock-full of stars and wonder. Noah stared at it for countless minutes until he made the decision.

He was going to kill himself tonight, but he wanted to enjoy his last moments a little longer.

---

Noah had been staring at the sky for so many hours that it had turned completely dark outside.

He tried to find a reason to go on, to keep living, but even if he got prosthetics, he’d be neck deep in debt for most of his life. He wouldn’t be able to go to college. He would spend his whole miserable life working like a dog just to feel human again. He’d have to take medication with serious side effects for his prosthetic, robotic implants. Moreover, most of the girls he had loved, like Bright Knight, had been way out of his league and had rejected his advances. And, he had tried to force himself to love his painfully average girlfriends, but it was impossible. He’d never be in a relationship with someone he actually liked. He’d never find true love. It was just not worth it to keep going. Bad things would keep happening to him anyways with his rotten luck. He-

“Come on, just let Hot Wheels jump! If he wants to die so much, then fucking let him! We don’t need him!” He was interrupted by a female voice.

Noah turned to look at where the voice had come from to see two young women entering the bridge, coming towards him.

One of them, the one that had spoken, was pulling the arm of the other one, trying to drag her in the opposite direction she was going.

“He is exactly what we are looking for,” said the one getting pulled, “Your jealousy is getting on my nerves, and you know what happens to people that get on my nerves.”

Now that the two were closer he could see their details. The “jealous” one had white hair and gray eyes. She looked like a supermodel and was extremely attractive, but this was mitigated by her glaring at Noah with such extreme hatred and malice that all thoughts about wanting to fuck her were thrown to the back of the line.

The other one had raven black hair and cold blue eyes, colder than glacial ice, but burning with dark determination. She was covered in scars: one in her neck, as if someone had tried to cut her head. A bullet or some projectile seemed to have gone through one cheek, into her mouth, and out the other. She had jagged lines criss-crossing her hands as if they had blocked many a knife and claw. Worst of all, he could see from what was not covered by her shirt that her breasts seemed to have been ripped clean off or burned at some point. Despite her scars, she was still attractive, but it was a sharp beauty unlike the jealous one’s seductive one.

The black haired one stopped in front of him despite her girlfriend’s protests.

Noah was about to ask what she wanted, when the woman spoke. “You don’t have to jump. I can give you back your life.” That was all she said, but her eyes burned him with their intensity, gleaming with insanity. They willed him to take her offer.

Everything about these two screamed danger. Noah would have been scared had he not been about to end his life. “What do you mean?” asked Noah, a little shard of hope returning to him but still weary.

“I mean that I know you, Noah, better than anyone, better than yourself.” she paused for a moment and then continued. “You think that you lost the game, that it’s all over. But I can give you a second wind, get you back on the board. I can give you your limbs back, either as prosthetics or help you find someone who will regrow them. Money. Prestige. Caleb’s life. I can give you all and more.”

Noah scoffed. All of this sounded like politician-speak, empty promises. “And what, you will give me all of this for free? Out of the goodness of your heart? You sound like a devil offering me a deal that will fuck me over.”

“Oh, I am nothing like the devil, believe me,” she said, smiling for the first time, a dark smile that glittered with evil. “I am worse. If he were real, he would piss his pants if he met me. He’d take one good look at my thoughts and run with his tail tucked between his legs. But, most importantly, my end goal is not to fuck you over.

Her eyes turned colder, more insane. “No. I already have a list of people that need a good, long, and bloody fuck. I have such things planned for them-” Her smile widened, a terrible rictus grin. “-such things you couldn't begin to imagine. That’s all that matters to me now, the only thing that is real. And, so long as you help me, I will give you exactly what you want.”