It knew something was wrong, the moment those leathery flaps open It could sense this wrongness. An unsettling nature in the air, indeed it was different air. Though that did not matter as the walls of Its home reclined and long finger like digits pulled Its spidery body out into the open air. It was not in a nest, mother's cry did not ring in her ears, nor did a guardians coo come to greet It and more importantly there was no nest. Just slimy grey walls and water sloshing down from gridded grates. Why had Its home opened and why was It here? With no mother, no sisters and no host? It tensed, that was wrong a host was near. Pausing It waited and then yes! There was a heartbeat above, It scurried up the wall with ease; the moisture being of no concern. However something was still wrong, the heartbeat of whatever creature It sensed was different somehow. Though the egg had opened so there could be no doubt to its suitability, It would fulfil It's duty, tp die and pass on its precious load as It should.
Thick bars acted as no obstacle when It approached the top and thin rays of light crept into its place of birth, It simply release a few drops of yellow blood which burned through the covering, allowing It access into an underground room of stone. The heartbeat, yes it was here! It's scuttling paused, just for a moment so It could find what it was looking for. This place was huge, teeming with wooden and metal constructs. An ascending way upstairs and some sort of dim light coming from above It briefly took note of. Though It quickly focused on a lingering heaving noise and its body turned once more, a long tail swishing all the way. There it was, the heartbeat, the host! A young thing huddled in a corner making a strange unfamiliar noise, maybe it was crying for something! The sudden thought made It turn and listen for others, there was none; it was alone and would be only to easy.
The boy did not hear it climb onto a wooden surface, he did see It crawl over metal objects varying in shape and size, nor did he smell the burning blood or indeed It's scent, as many prey tried to do and in the end he could avoid it when it lunged. The boy's head snapped to the direction of It, but already It was in mid-air and the boy was too late. It's whipping tail was wrapped around a delicate flesh throat, eight finger-like digits gripped the boys face with incredible strength and an unseen appendage was thrust down his throat. He was unconscious within seconds and with its life already reaching a timely end It began its most crucial of roles.
Harry
He had no idea where he was, an endless cloudy plane of black and grey. The last thing he remembered was being in his Uncle's basement, they had locked him in there because they didn't want him going with them to a theme park. Apparently he got in the way, was too freaky to be seen in public and had been left with a Tupperware box of snacks to last him the weekend and a huge bottle of water. He had tried to protest and earned a slap for his trouble. Though that was it and he was sure there was more, though his mind called upon nothing,
"Hello? This isn't right." Someone was calling, a soft girl voice which send him looking in all directions,
"Wait who are you?" The voice took on a form, a shadowy figure whose appearance seemed to flutter with every movement. Eventually it settled on a girl about his age, who was somehow taller and had a creeping darkness to her skin. She looked at Harry with wide puzzled eyes of a venomous green which on her seemed to wide, there was something off about her; maybe the fact her jet black hair almost seemed to breathe, perhaps her predatory face which looked constantly ready to pounce, that and the fact she seemed to look human but was clearly anything but.
"Harry, who are you?" He asked the girl as her hair seemed to almost rise in alertness, she even let out a hiss. As she did so he noticed what looked like a black dress around her form had a certain; fleshy texture to it.
"I don't know, I can't hear my mother? Are you a host?" She asked and to Harry almost none of those words made any sense at all.
"Host? Host to what?"
"Me. My genetic memory is all frazzled." Harry did not know what that meant, nor was he overly keen to find out.
"Where are we?" He asked after a few seconds, the girl looked at him with a quizzical stare which quickly morphed into anger, shock and a cocktail of childish emotions.
"I don't know! I know where I'm supposed to be and I'm not there!" She continued in a high pitched distraught voice,
"Where are you supposed to be?" He asked, maybe this was a dream, this girl could be anyone really or perhaps no one. Plus he felt tired, strangely tired almost as if he was weighted down.
"Inside you! I should be growing inside your chest right now." Ok that was one hell of a messed up thing to say and yet even as she spoke Harry felt a twinge around his centre.
"Inside me?" Harry questioned after a second,
"Yes, I should be bursting out of your chest sooner or later." He paused and looked down, suddenly imagining her head ripping through his chest, it sounded painful and yet how would she fit? She was bigger than him.
"What did you do?" She demanded suddenly, mostly just angry but a tad suspicious.
"Me, your the one who wants to burst through my chest!" Harry exclaimed feeling unnerved and scared.
"Yeah so what have you done to stop it? Are you trying to remove me before I'm even born?" Her voice was raised and she took a threatening step forward.
"I didn't even know you were there!" Harry shouted and the girl paused, made a growling noise inadvertently.
"Are we getting closer?" She murmured and suddenly she was right, a greyish fog had encircled them, now they were only a few metres apart.
"Mother... wait there's no mother! I'm going to be queen!" Her tone was excitable and she looked at Harry with sudden intrigue.
"Do queens have to talk to you? Do you belong to the matriarch?" Her words clearly fell on unknowing ears and eventually she shrugged, they were getting closer and closer but he was focused on her. She was trying to move away and yet the fog was almost pushing her back,
"Queens?" Harry querier and the girl shook her head.
"Don't worry, you'll be dead in about an hour and a half if I'm right." She told him without a care in the world.
"What?" Harry heard and understood that one.
"Well maybe all of us talk to our host and forget about it, might help you accept what's going to happen. I'll try to keep it as painless as possible." She assured him with a crocodile's smile.
"Painless, you said you'd burst from my chest!" Harry protested and the girl took a long thoughtful breath.
"Ok, my advice when you wake up you have an around hour before I'm ready to burst, so I don't know... whack yourself in the face with something. Just be careful because I need to get out so if you do want to kill yourself stay away from the chest." Her face and tone were suddenly serious, though now they were almost touching and she was able to look down on him from very close up.
"Oh and it was great meeting you, I think, My genetic memory is frazzled some things are coming thorough, so with that in mind and also I'm now tapping into your mind. Oh I kinda wish the fat one had woken the egg up, could have had a hearty meal but then again I need to watch my figure if I'm going to be queen. Oh yeah, sorry about you getting knocked up by a giant spider thing and...to sort of make it up you I promise I'll kill your aunt and uncle, promise. Kay bye now." With that sudden revelation she put her hand on Harry's chest, he could feel something stirring inside it.
He opened his mouth to speak but suddenly he wasn't able to, a liquid had filled his mouth. With a blink he was no longer in a foggy world but a tight compressed space, though it was soft and spongy. It was then he realised it, he wasn't himself. Literally he felt small and when he reached for his arms there were only tiny stubs he couldn't see through a thick red sheet.
Ok this wasn't supposed to happen, the hell did you do? The girl's voice demanded suddenly in his mind and Harry squirmed to see her, he could not.
Tell you what screw the question, get out of my body! Harry tried to say something but all that came were bubbles, the liquid was a violent crimson red... it was blood.
You know this is probably your fault, my carrier knew there was something wrong with you. Though he just didn't care enough to check up on it apparently, but let's move on. It's growing up time kid, I was wrong I said you had an hour. You got two seconds. Harry tried to come up with a response but suddenly he felt the world soften around him.
Well at least you get out of the pain, now listen very carefully bite and wriggle hard to your left! The command was quickly obliged as the urge to escape from this place took over. Harry thrashed about and found it almost too easy to burrow through soft flesh and only had to pause when he hit something hard. He could barely make out some kind of cage and after a few hits it broke and with a flash of red he could taste the open air.
On an unrelated note and because of spite related reasons look behind you! The girl's voice ordered and indeed he turned. Turned to see a skinny boy lying on the ground, shattered glass lying around him and massive hole torn through his chest. A hole he had caused.
"What, how?" he spoke the words in his mind and yet they came out as a garbled screech.
Well it seems you had a dying body and simply moved into mine, welcome to it by the way and thanks for bringing your mind and whatever this is a yellow light suddenly popped into existence and Harry reared back. Only to find himself no bigger than a snake, with a long tail and tiny limbs.
This form is only temporary, and what is this? Some kind of... I don't know but it flows in you like blood, oh as a note your blood is acid now, and whatever this thing is its interesting
"Energy?" Harry questioned, Well I don't know what it is, you really should as it's part of you but whatever sort of creature you are it clearly isn't famed for its intelligence.
"Remind me exactly what are you?" Harry felt oddly defensive of his species, I'm me, and together we are whatever you caused us to be. Now if you don't mind I'm hungry and your old body doesn't look appetising when your relatives have a room full of food. So chop chop, food unless you don't want to grow up any time soon.
"So do you have a name?" It was an odd question which he posed at the top of the stairs, just as he was trying to escape from the basement; of course it was locked.
No, and gently bite your lip and spit at the door, a lump of a yellowish liquid struck the door, smoke oozed and within seconds half the door was melted. A hole was wide enough for him to slide through,
"I'm going to get bigger right?" Harry asked realising again how small he was, while yellow blood burnt through layers and layers of the house.
Yes, the answer is a certain yes but the faster you eat the faster you grow, my sisters imprinted that memory on all of us a long time ago, sisters? There was more of whatever he was? He moved to answer but her lingering presence was already stirring.
I can't hear mother's voice so I doubt there's any of us on this planet, so it looks like one day we're going to be Queen.
"Mother?" Harry questioned with a clear lack of understanding.
This is going to take a long, long time. Mother lays the eggs and I can't hear her so either there is no hive or she's dead, and there's no new mother so it's looking like the former, so me and you are the only ones of our kind here. Also it looks like we're one combined thing,
"Can I name you? I've never had a sister before?" Even in this moment of shock the urge to have a friend, a family prevailed and suddenly to Harry he was no longer a small snakelike creature on the floor but a person who had met someone he couldn't be closer to.
Well seeing as I have no choice in the matter, surprise I'm your new sister and I live inside your brain so sure give me a name if it helps. It would be easier than referring to me as a voice or that girl, Harry thought for a moment. The only girls names he had come across outside of school, none of them talked to him because of Dudley of course, were in books.
No, No, No, No , Over our dead body and what about this one? A thought was pushed to the front of his mind as another spit of acid allowed him to enter the kitchen, too busy to care about the rules he was breaking.
"Lucy?" It was from a book he had read, about a magical world in a wardrobe; he used to pretend it was real to escape from his Uncle and Aunt when they were angry.
Let's go with that, spit towards that metal thing, I can sense meat, she spoke softly and Harry paused; he wasn't allowed to go near the food.
"Ok stop there, new rule, if I tell you to do something do it and fast. Trust me it won't be long before we're strong enough to take down anyone, including your uncle. She commanded from within his mind, he obeyed.
"Ok, Lucy." he confirmed her name in a sentence and he could almost sense her purr, accepting the name.
Good, then let's eat Harry.