The floating woman hovered high over the suspension bridge. If it weren't for her glowing eyes, which shone like a lighthouse over the ocean of fog, Will wouldn't have noticed her. She stared down at their little car as if she were daring them to cross.

Will eased his foot off the brake, and the car lurched forward. The tires skipped over the transition from asphalt to hard concrete, and they began to crawl up the bridge's slight incline.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked.

Will kept his eyes on the floating woman, who hadn't moved, but it was clear she was watching them. Waiting. "Do you know another way to the university? Because we either cross this bridge, or we turn around and follow the road all the way back to Eldridge Creek."

Alex had no answer to that. Instead, she leaned on the dashboard to get a better angle on the flying woman.

Blue eyes pierced through the fog, and Will shivered under their gaze. Blue eyes. Yellow eyes. What was the difference? This woman clearly had a parasite in her. The flying was evidence enough of that. So she must be working with Owen, right?

Will sped up as they neared the center of the bridge. The woman still hadn't moved, even as the car passed directly beneath her. Alex craned her head all the way up, trying to keep an eye on her.

"Is she following us?" Will asked.

"I don't know. Give me a second."

The engine purred as Will pressed on the gas. The speedometer crept up the dial. Forty miles an hour. Fifty. And then they were on the other side. A slight bump jostled Will as the car climbed back onto cracked asphalt. He glanced in the rearview mirror, but nothing was back there.

"Is she following?" Will asked again.

"Um… yes!" Alex grabbed Will's arm. "Go faster!"

Go faster? Will inched the pedal down, even as the car swerved around a wide curve, the acceleration pushing him against the side door. After exiting the turn, he brought the car up to seventy miles an hour. He didn't see the point in pushing the needle up any further. It wasn't like they'd be able to lose their pursuer. Not here, in the middle of nowhere, and with their hunter having a birds-eye view.

His stomach rumbled.

That was the other reason Will didn't push the gas any further. He hadn't been lying to Alex. Using these tendrils to power the engine took a lot of energy, and he was starving.

It sucked having to hold back. With the engine rumbling in his heart, the gears shifting in his chest, and the hydraulics pulsing through his veins, nothing felt better. Not to mention the Holy Signal, which blared from the speakers. If it weren't for the hunger and the fear, the feeling would be glorious.

That damn hunger. It was like a poison boiling in his gut. A stark contrast to the sweet honey that dripped down his ears. The two extremes mixed together into a maelstrom of torture and bliss.

Alex opened the window, and she stuck her head out to keep an eye on the floating woman. She twisted her neck back, the wind snapping at her hair as telephone poles whipped past.

"She's still on us," Alex said. She had to shout over the wind, and the sound blended with the constant static. "What are we going to do?"

There was nothing to do. Not right now. Though Will remembered passing through a small town on the way here. It should be coming up soon, and it was probably their best chance to lose their pursuer. Will eased up on the gas, trying to save his energy.

The road narrowed. They'd been driving through open fields, but now the woods were pressing in, and the telephone poles were getting closer to the street. Will had never been claustrophobic, but Alex's head sticking from the window was starting to make him nervous. He grasped the wheel with his knees so he could reach over and pull her back inside. A heartbeat later, a telephone pole raced by, dangerously close.

"Sorry," Will said. "Didn't want you to lose your head."

"But now I can't see her!"

"What good does seeing her do us? We know she's following us. She's been following us for over a mile now, so we know she's not going to stop any time soon. There's no use worrying about it."

Will kept his eye on the speedometer and tried to steady his heartbeat. All he had to do was keep driving until he found the town. Easy as that. There was nothing else he could do. The rationalization was supposed to make him feel better, but it didn't stop the tightness from creeping over his chest.

His stomach rumbled. God, was he hungry. The parasite scratched at his guts, its energy draining into the tendrils that fed the car's engine. If they didn't reach the town soon, Will wasn't going to make it. Maybe they should have gotten gas while they'd had the chance. Running the car off his own energy was a lot harder than running the chainsaw.

The woods faded away to low hills, then open fields, and then finally, a building peeked over the edge of the horizon. Will fought his instinct to press on the gas. He needed to save what little energy remained. And though the approaching town was a blessing, it still wouldn't be easy to lose their tail.

Will looked out the rear window, hoping to see a sign of their hunter. She wasn't there, which meant she must be higher up, maybe directly above them.

The Signal crackled from the speakers. Will let the static drown out everything else. The sound seemed to appease the parasite in his stomach, numb its hunger, if only a little. It would have to be enough.

The car rumbled past the first few buildings, short brick structures that lined the main road. There was no traffic, but the street was narrow, with cars parked along the sides of shops and restaurants. The buildings got taller further into the town, and closer together too. Will eyed one of the buildings. Light green paint coated its walls in thick sheets, and a wide awning stretched over the sidewalk. It wasn't the tallest building, but its lights were out, casting a shadow over the alley beside it.

Will cut the headlights, then pressed the gas. The car lurched forward, the acceleration pressing him against the seat. The wheels dug into the asphalt, and Will felt every bump, every grain of sand. His tendrils grew deeper into the car's system, and the engine roared in response.

"Hold on," Will said.

They neared the alley, and Will cut hard to the right. At the same time, he pulled the handbrake. Not with his hand, which was stuck to the ignition, but with the tendrils themselves. The car drifted across the asphalt. Will held his breath as the car slotted into the alley.

The back wheels lost traction, and the trunk fishtailed into the side of the building, knocking loose a spray of bricks. Will shuddered at the impact, and he let go of the brakes, then slammed the accelerator to the floor.

The car shot down the alley, crashing straight through a chain link fence, and slid into a side street. Will turned, straightened the car out, then kept going, eyes peeled for a place to hide.

"She's still on us," Alex said.

Of course, she was. Will barreled down the street and turned right at the intersection. A bad choice. The town quickly tapered off, the buildings spreading out more and more. He drove past a gas station, another restaurant, a water tower. There was nowhere else to go. Nowhere to hide.

Shit! Will checked the speedometer. Eighty miles an hour. He could keep that up, for now, but not much longer. The parasite was truly clawing at him now, eating him from the inside. The Signal could no longer appease it. And that static had turned from a heavenly rain into a shower of hot needles.

Will cranked the volume up. It didn't help.

They passed the town's last building and exited onto a stretch of dusty fields. The car skipped over the top of a hill. Will could see the river from here, a black snake that crawled toward the dark horizon. The road led down to the river, toward a series of industrial buildings. A cluster of rusty pipes and storage tanks and the hollowed-out shells of abandoned factories.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

This would be their last chance to lose their tail. Will wasn't even sure he'd make it to the first building before his heart gave out.

A blue streak shot past the windshield. The flying woman hovered in front of them, and she stared at Will even as she flew backward at eighty miles an hour. She was no longer content to follow quietly, now she was taunting them.

Will didn't back down. He pressed the gas further. Sweat ran down him in sheets, and the parasite scrabbled at his insides. His muscles burned, and his lungs strained for air as if he were the one running down this road instead of the car.

"Alex," Will said through gritted teeth. "Shoot her."

The gun shifted in Alex's hand. She'd been holding it for a few minutes now, but her fingers still shivered at its touch. Alex raised the pistol, lowered it again, then took a deep breath and tried to aim at the flying woman.

"The windshield—" Alex said.

"Just shoot her!"

The gun fired. The loud pop burst against Will's ears, disrupting the constant static. A crack spiderwebbed over the windshield, radiating from the small exit hole. Alex fired again. And again, more cracks branching out until they covered the whole windshield.

Lucky for him, the glass didn't break. Laminated glass was almost impossible to shatter, a miracle of modern technology. Even so, the gunshots sent tiny glass shards flying through the cabin. Will hunched down and weathered the hail of jagged dust, the shards stinging his skin and getting stuck in his hair.

The woman still flew ahead of them, and she smiled as the bullets whizzed past her, lost to the mist. Alex continued firing until the pistol's slide locked back. None of the bullets seemed to hit their adversary. Whether Alex had missed, or the woman was bulletproof, Will couldn't be sure.

It didn't matter. Will couldn't focus on anything anymore. Anything other than the constant hunger, which was eating him alive. The parasite's fury burned through his chest, and Will was sure the damn slug would hollow him out. Eat everything until he was an empty shell.

It wasn't fair. Eldridge Creek had already taken his arm. Now this parasite was going to swallow him whole, take everything that remained, and all to power this stupid car.

The industrial buildings loomed closer. This was Will's last chance to lose that flying bitch. He swerved the car to the side, past an abandoned factory. The turn sent the flying woman out of his sight. Will kept his speed up, dodging around a rusting storage tank.

There! A large warehouse with open bay doors.

Will spun the car around, wheels spraying up dust as they slid off the concrete and onto packed dirt. The car lurched, the gears shifting under the tendril's influence. They shot forward, into the warehouse. The place was empty and abandoned, not a great place to hide.

That was okay. The warehouse was a decoy.

Will drifted across the warehouse floor, then gunned it straight for the wall. The car crashed through, bricks raining down. Rubble slammed into the windshield, caving it in, but it still didn't shatter. The car lurched to a quick stop, and Will's nose slammed into the steering wheel. Alex hissed in pain.

He looked over but only had time for a glance. They needed to keep going, burst out of the warehouse, and….

The car wouldn't move. Beyond the brick wall wasn't the exterior, as Will had expected. It was another room, this one much smaller. Will pushed the accelerator to the floor, but the car was lodged in the bricks. Completely stuck.

Shit!

The Signal throbbed against Will's ears. The sound was so loud, and the parasite clawed at his guts to the rhythm of the static. Even after letting go of the gas, the hunger didn't go away. It tore at him, building and building until Will was sure there was a hole straight through his chest.

The car speakers blew out.

The loud pop announced the end of the Signal's cursed song. But it was too late. The parasite was ready to evolve. Will could feel it. The hunger, it wasn't just for the energy needed to power his tendrils. It was so this parasite could grow stronger.

Will shoved open the car door and stumbled out. Alex was saying something, but he couldn't hear her. Instead, he fell to his knees and retched, a string of thick saliva spilling from his mouth. He coughed up a glob of mucus, and he was so hungry that even the snot tasted good as it dripped down his tongue.

The hunger, the pain, the sheer exhaustion, all of it soared to a crescendo.

[Integration threshold exceeded. State your desire.]

Will only had one thing on his mind. One thing above all else. He needed something to eat.

[Wish Granted.]

The parasite ceased scratching at his gut, though the hunger remained. Will rocked forward, his palms against the ground. Something was happening to him. His stomach twisted, and bile bubbled up his throat. Where was his food? The parasite had claimed to grant his wish, so where was it?

Will coughed, and a bloody tooth clattered to the concrete. What the hell? One by one, more teeth slipped free of his gums. Will brought a hand to his mouth, catching the teeth as they fell out.

No, no, no, no, no. This was not what he'd asked for. He couldn't lose his teeth too. First his arm, now his teeth. Would this parasite keep carving away at him until there was nothing left?

The last of his teeth fell away, and Will spat them across the warehouse floor, along with a pile of drool. He put a finger in his mouth and felt along his gum line, noting the holes where his teeth had once taken root. The feeling was uncanny in itself, but there was something beneath the surface. A row of sharp objects along his jaw, hidden beneath the surface.

Pain erupted along his gums. Will cried out as new teeth sliced their way free. He accidentally bit his finger in the process, and the new tooth cut a deep groove through his flesh. He pulled his hand away, cursing. But already, the transformation was complete.

Will tentatively ran a finger along his new teeth. They were longer and sharper than his old ones, and they felt metallic. Like they were made of steel. As he brushed his fingers along, the teeth moved in a strange pattern. They shifted upward as if they could retract into his jaw. Or, more like each tooth was on the end of a piston.

It was weird, but he couldn't give it much thought. Something else was on his mind, and it was far more pressing. The hunger. He needed to feast.

A piece of rubble dug into his leg, the remnants of a brick with some mortar icing along the top. Will snatched it and brought it to his mouth. For some odd reason, he felt a strong urge to bite into the brick, as if it were a piece of hard candy.

Fuck it. Will didn't care if it was food or not. If he didn't eat something right now, he was going to die.

Will bit into the brick. His teeth clamped down, digging for purchase against the hardened clay. His heart purred, and a surge of energy streamed through his veins and into his teeth. They started to extend in and out, jackhammering the brick until it shattered into dust.

He chewed the mixture of sand and pebbles, and it was the best thing he'd ever eaten. The perfect mix of sweet and salty, with a hint of warm metal. Perhaps that was the blood that pooled in his mouth, from where the jagged brick fragments had scratched his cheeks.

That didn't matter. Will needed more. He grabbed another piece of rubble off the ground and bit it in half. Then another, and as he chewed, he collected a pile under his arms. His teeth rumbled as they hammered through rock and clay and sand.

More than the taste, these bricks seemed to abate the hunger. He felt more energy dance along his tendrils, and the terrible knot in his stomach disappeared.

Eventually, Will slowed down and looked at the aftermath of his feast. His hands were covered in dust and scratches, and rubble covered the floor. Blood dripped down his chin. He swallowed the last bite and shivered.

God, what had he become?

"You still in there?" a woman said. "Or have you turned into a rabid dog?"

Will spun around to find the flying woman. She hovered beside the car, and she had her arm wrapped around Alex's neck, holding her trapped in a headlock. Alex met Will's gaze, her eyes wide and welling with tears. How long had that woman been there? And Will hadn't even noticed, blinded by his awful hunger.

He grit his teeth, sharp steel interlocking into a jagged zipper. "Let her go."

The woman shrugged. "Okay." She released her headlock, a smile on her face. "Grace is going to have fun with you."

The woman tapped Alex's forehead, hard. Alex stood still for a moment, then her eyes rolled back and she slumped to the floor. Dead? Unconscious?

A deep rumble bubbled up Will's throat, and his teeth started scissoring in and out. That bitch. First, she'd chased him down for miles, then she'd taken out his girlfriend with a single finger. Will was done running, and he wouldn't go down so easily.

Back at the holding cell, Alex had told Will how to open Inkling and distribute his points. He brought up the stat sheet once again.

Inkling Version 1.0

Name: William Garret

Stage: 2

First Shadow [+50% Efficiency]

Strength: 18

Reflex: 17

Vigor: 15

Clarity: 14

Integration: 42%

Free Points: 4 [+4 Each Stage]

Wishes:

Nerves of Steel [+4 Each | +25% Integration]

Guts of Steel [+3 Each | +15% Integration]

As he'd expected, Will's level-up had given him four more free points. He put two in Strength and the other two in Reflex, the attributes most useful for combat.

As soon as he closed Inkling, the flying woman was already gunning for him. She speared through the air, finger outstretched and aimed for Will's forehead. It was a bold approach, and Will was going to punish her for it.

He reared back and snapped at her hand. His teeth cracked together so hard that his bones shuddered and sparks sprayed from his mouth. Even so, the woman had dodged away, spinning through the air in a blur. God, was she fast.

Will turned after her, jaw open and teeth chittering. His tendrils wriggled through the air, crackling with energy. His chainsaw would be handy about now, but it was back in the car and there wasn't time to grab it.

The flying woman spun around him in a wide circle, trying to keep behind Will's back. He tracked her movement, waited for the perfect moment, then lunged forward, teeth splitting the air with a resounding crack.

He missed again.

The woman was gone. Will spun around, trying to find her.

A finger flew out of nowhere and rang his forehead like a bell.

Will stumbled to the side. His blood ran cold, his heart slowing to a steady pulse. That bitch. It wasn't fair. He looked around, blinking as his vision turned black.

"Goodnight," the woman said.

Will fell flat on his face.