Banished To Earth Book Two, Ravaged Earth (36)

   Chapter 65

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    After retrieving Davin’s duster and pistol from his bedroom, he shifted right back to the barrier. They were facing it when he stepped through. Their backs of course were turned to him.

   “Whoa! You have a tail?”

   Pry looked back at him, then down, somehow managing a cute smile through her snout. She looked more like a cartoon version of an anthropomorphic white fox than a grizzled werewolf. “Yes, you have not noticed? And look, it is just like my hair was. It has a mind of its own.” It wiggled, backing up her statement.

   Silhouette smirked at him. “Stop checking out her butt, Tucker.”

   “This is not a joke!” His voice was a bit higher than he had intended.

   “I am starting to enjoy my new form. I am sorry if it. If I, disgust you.”

   “Pry, I’m not disgusted, just trying to keep up and.” He blushed. “Before I saw you as a child. Well, child-like… anyway, but now, not so much, in fact not much at all.”

    “You were checking out her tail!” Silhouette gushed and giggled.

    “Silhouette you are not helping,” Pry said. Her impatience with her was plain to see even through her new animal features. “My change reminds me of my time on Phastanar. I did miss being Crychee. This is close. This is good. Be happy for me.”

   “You sure you don’t just like being naked?”

  They both gave Silhouette dirty looks.  

  “I know what you’re doing,” said Tucker.

   “Yeah, Tuck. When we step through no more easy days.”

   “At least you won’t be bored.” He replied. “That’s assuming you live long enough to be anything but dead.”

   “Dead is not so bad.” Pry said but didn’t.

   “Davin?” Tucker asked narrowing his eyes at Pry.

   “Yeah, I can finally speak. Pry just needed to get used to being, well what she is. She relaxed and I came through.”

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  “Davin.” Pry exclaimed. “I could sense you, but I was starting to fear you were locked inside helpless. Trapped.”

  “No sweetie just waiting for an opening. Now let’s make another. I am ready.”

    “Pry is not.” Said Tucker, handing her the duster, its pistol tucked neatly inside.

 She put it on. It immediately lengthened and conformed to her new body, even making a slit in the back for her white bushy tail.

  “Well, that makes it official.” Said Silhouette, “you really are dead Davin. But that’s good, right? At least now we can hear you.”

  “We survived my cockamamie idea.” Pry glanced over at Tucker. But he knew it was Davin looking at him.  “Time to go.” 

    “Wait,” said Tucker, “we can’t call you Pry, and we can't call you Davin, Davin. Pretty sure they can hear at least as good as they can see.”

   “Of course,” Pry said. “Call me,” she hesitated.

   “Cindy.” Tucker said. “You are Cindy. And we had better try to keep Davin a secret. Can’t say his name. And Davin…”

    “ I know,” Davin said through Pry. “Don’t interact with her in any way. Pry looked over at the barrier.

  “Sorry, Davin, can’t be helped.”

  Pry nodded her head slowly and they joined hands. They could well be torn apart, from each other or maybe even limb from limb.

   They sucked in a deep breath and locked stepped through the barrier.

    There was no pain, only a feathery electric tickle that teased their cheeks and hands. Their nostrils flinched at the odd blend of sweet grass, honeysuckle and the acrid scent of distant burning trash. Cold wind whipped their exposed skin, as wisps of charcoal smudges raced south beneath the pale blue sky.

    They unclasped their hands, looked at each other, taking inventory just before they took another step in perfect unison. The world shuddered and shifted. The soft mossy overgrowth jerked back beneath their feet as though it was a loose carpet, then jerked back into place like a rubber band.

     Their footing robbed, they stumbled forward and fell against each other like bowling pins struggling to recover from a strike. It took a moment, but they, and the world finally agreed to co-exist or at least tolerate each other for the time being…

   Tucker was the first to look back. Just as he feared. There was no house, no farm, no yard, barn, no Trudy Beth or Nikkie, only a mossy vine carpeted hellscape of destruction for as far as they could see.

   A smattering of charred black dead trees punctured the thick overgrowth of weeds, grass and small trees. There were no pathways, only mossy vine-covered humps and hills of half exposed root nests, felled trees, holes, chunks of asphalt and windswept tattered bits of human debris. Dozens of vehicles of every size lay crushed and carelessly tossed aside like empty candy wrappers only added to the hellscape’s bleakness and drove home the Urgis’s total disregard for Earth’s technological accomplishments.

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    Thankfully there were no bodies, human or animal not even blood. They would call that a good thing and try not to wonder why.

  It was obvious any people that might have been here were long dead or long gone.

   Tucker’s head turned turret-like on his neck. He nodded and grunted. “Don’t sense or see any threat. Everything looks kind of okay. I think it’s good.” He gave Pry a subtle nod.

   She nodded back, drew in a deep breath, threw her head and arms back, maybe a little too dramatically, and exhaled long and loudly.

   Her new body began to quake as a low rumble slowly worked its way up from the pit of her being. Davin was not having an easy time freeing himself from the stubborn warrel’s grip. Could clawing his way out of her slowly, horribly turn her inside out? Unspeakable images flashed like rapid-fire lightning bolts through his mind. The warrel’s way of keeping him? Davin did not know.

    Will pitted against will, Pry’s new flesh rippled and warped like a hall of mirrors reflection, but this was no reflection on warped glass. This was Pry. Dying? They feared so.

     Silhouette threw up. Tucker looked away. Neither had expected this horror show and were not prepared for what was yet to come.

   Black snakelike tendrils pried her jaws apart. “Don’t!” Tucker yelled a second before he flung himself at Pry.

    One of the tendrils whipped out and lashed through the air and would have taken Tucker’s head off, had he not ducked a split second sooner. Silhouette ran to him and snatched him away.

   “We can’t help them. It’s too late!” She screamed.

  Helplessly huddled on the thick moss, they forced themselves to watch, looking for a way to end this, knowing there was none.

   Pry was on her toes, claws practically floating. The black tendrils had her, held her and would not let her fall. She was its conduit. It’s way out. It wanted a straight path and would settle for nothing less.

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   “Tha, That’s not good,” Sil sputtered.

   Tucker heard her but could not respond.

   Suddenly Pry’s snout opened wide, much too wide. They heard bones cracking. Breaking? They could only hope not.

    A rope of thick black something erupted from her snout and shot toward the sky like a geyser. Stunned and paralyzed they watched it gush and sink into the distant blue. Like one of those endless handkerchiefs pulled from a magician’s sleeve, it kept spewing out of her. Their eyes grew dry watching. Pry’s ordeal simply would not end, until it did.

   Suddenly, shockingly, she drooped to the ground as the last bit of black filth slithered from her body, tearing open the sky as it apparently, hopefully escaped the planet. The sky closed and healed.

   They rushed to her, fully expecting to find her limp and dead. She was neither. But she was different, yet again…