Boxed In
2-2

Madison woke with a start, the burning of her ribs making her gasp, which only brought more pain. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself not to move, to remain as still as possible until the fire in her chest eased and she could breathe again.

As the pain lessened, she did her best to take gentle, shallow breaths lest she aggravate her ribs. She had no way of knowing if they were broken or just cracked, but she was in no hurry to make things worse.

There was a coolness on her chest and stomach that told her someone had removed her shirt. Careful prodding with her fingers revealed something soft and silky wrapped around her torso like a bandage.

Slowly opening her eyes, she looked up at the night sky through hole in the ceiling far above her. Either the floor had given way beneath her as she'd fallen, or someone had carefully removed it, resulting in what she guessed was a six-story drop onto… actually, what had she landed on?

Moving sent a wave of pain and nausea through her, but she carefully reached out with a hand to feel what was beneath her. It was soft and smooth to the touch, almost like silk but different somehow.

Hissing in pain, Madison lifted her head, staring into the gloom, thankful that her transformation had included the ability to see in the dark. A fluffy-looking material covered most of the walls, stretching down across the floor. Thin tendrils of it wafted in the faint breeze, and Madison's insides turned to ice as realisation slowly dawned.

Spiderwebs. She was surrounded by spiderwebs! How had she managed to fall all this way without touching —

"Oh god…" Her voice was barely above a whisper. She had to get out here! Hissing in pain, she tried to pull herself up, every movement filling her chest with fire.

"If you keep that up," a voice said from the dark, "you're going to hurt yourself."

A shape rose up through a hole in the floor, six long legs unfolding as it stretched. "And we wouldn't want that," it purred, and Madison's heart was in her mouth as the creature walked forward, stepping into the faint light from above.

It was a young woman with a pair of slightly curved horns on her head, almost in the shape of a tiara. Her long, white-blonde hair had been pulled over her shoulders, covering the swell of her breasts. It was a sight that, any other time, Madison would have found breathtaking, but it was spoiled by the rest of the woman's appearance.

Her forearms were covered in large fur-armoured gauntlets, tipped with three clawed fingers, not too different from Taylor. A second set of human arms had grown out of her sides, just below the first, and were wrapped around her toned midsection.

Just below her waist was the body of a large spider, covered in fur the same colour as her hair, with pink and black lines forming patterns across it. Each of her six spider legs ended in a vicious-looking, claw-like tip.

A small, currently ignored, part of Madison's brain noticed that the remains of a white dress had been wrapped around the woman's waist in an attempt to preserve some of her modesty.

"Oh would you relax," the woman snapped, rolling her eyes. "I'm not going to eat you."

She walked past Madison, the movements of her legs equal parts hypnotic and terrifying. Madison pulled away, pushing herself further into the web in an effort to keep some distance between them. She hissed at the pain this caused, but she couldn't stop herself, the action was instinctive.

The woman gave her a sideways glance, but didn't say anything. Instead she pulled apart a sack made of web, spilling bottles of water and cans of food across the floor with a clatter. Cursing quietly, she gathered them up with her human hands and carried them over to Madison.

"It's been awhile since I did first aid," she said, bending down. There was something off about her tone, a watery edge that Madison had heard before long ago. That of someone on the edge of tears trying to act normal. "But I don't think you should try to eat anything solid with bruised ribs."

Looking at the woman's blue eyes, Madison felt some of her fear ease, at least enough to reach out and accept one of the tins.

"Y-yum," she said, trying to smile while keeping tone light and her breathing shallow. "Cold soup. My favorite. I'm Madison, by the way."

The woman gave her a weak smile. "I know. I'd sell my soul for a working microwave. I'm…" the woman hesitated, looking down at herself as her legs twitched and she sighed.

"I'm Victoria Dallon."

##

I hissed as a nurse did her best to clean and suture my wing. Unfortunately, normal painkillers didn't really work on me, or any of the altered women for that matter. That meant I had to get the torn membrane of my wing stitched up without painkillers.

Not that it mattered; I needed to get my wing fixed and back outside as soon as possible. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was that monster carrying Madison off.

"Are you sure about this?" a voice asked, and I rolled my eyes in impatience.

"Yes, I'm sure! If we can reach one of the gates, Dragon will have supplies waiting for us."

The room we were in was pretty crowded, as, along with Aisha, we had been joined by a Dr Sloan, an older man with white hair and mustache who was currently in charge of the hospital, and PRT Officer Neils.

"Can't Panacea do this?" Aisha said quietly to the nurse, watching the process with interest.

"Panacea… isn't available at the moment," the nurse said carefully. "Due to the number of sick or injured, she has to focus her efforts on more serious cases."

Neils scoffed, but said nothing. Instead he focused on a small map he'd brought with him, tracing a route with his finger.

"We've not heard from any of the gates in months," he said with a frown, "we just assumed that the outside world had given up on us... and now you're saying that it's only been a week since contact was lost?"

"I know it sounds crazy." I tried not to fidget in my seat. I didn't have time to argue like this. "But it's true."

He gave me a long look, then shrugged. "Doesn't really matter either way. The gates are gone, so we're on our own. Monster attacks from the east are getting more frequent, and I need everyone I can get on the walls. I'm not sending anyone west on some fool's errand to find help that's probably not there. "

I took a shuddering breath. I couldn't really blame him for his reluctance; I didn't really have much proof beyond that passcode and the remains of my clothes. "So you won't help?"

"In a word? No."

"What about the passcode? Dragon said you had to help!"

"Dragon's code proves you can be trusted, but I am not required to do anything." He waved a hand. "Even if it did, look around. We're a long way from the PRT, kid."

"What about New Wave? I heard they were here." Panacea certainly was, if nothing else.

Neils scoffed again. "What about them? They're nothing to do with me, just a bunch of freeloaders."

"Bill, that's not fair," Dr Sloan said, his mustache bristling as he glared at the man. "After everything that's hap—"

"Save it," Neils snapped at him, then he turned to me. "Look, if you want to go haring off to the gates, I won't stop you, but I've got too many people relying on me to risk their lives for a bunch of 'maybes'. If, however, you want to actually help, we could always use you on the wall. Otherwise, try to stay out of the way!"

Rolling up his map, Neils rose and walked for the door, only just pausing when I called out.

"Wait! The monsters that attacked us, they took one of my friends. Do you know where they would have gone?"

He looked at me, his stern expression softening as he shook his head. "...I'm sorry. Those things nest somewhere to the east, but that's all we know. I think you need to accept that your friend is already dead."

With that, he left.

"What a prick," Aisha muttered once the door was shut, making the nurse choke back a laugh, pulling on my stitches. I hissed at the pain it caused, but I couldn't really disagree with her.

"I apologise for Officer Neils," Dr Sloan said, smoothing back his hair. "When all this started, his squad was stationed here to help. Now there's only three of them left, and he's got a lot of lives depending on him."

"Three?" Aisha, tilted her head. "But what about all those guys outside?

"They're a volunteer force," Sloan sighed. "Three PRT officers, half a dozen ex-police and twenty volunteers."

"What happened to New Wave?" I asked. "Are they really here?"

"Well… yes, but I don't think they are in any state to help. There was a monster attack just over a week ago, and in all the confusion, one of those skinless monsters with the tongues snuck up on them..."

Aisha had gone very, very still, and I quickly gave her arm a comforting squeeze.

"Who did it… bite?"

"Glory Girl," Sloan said quietly. "Panacea tried to help her, but whatever this virus is, it's immune to her power. The last we saw of Glory Girl, she was flying off into the city. I assume she wanted to avoid attacking anyone. The rest of New Wave went out searching for her, they came back for food or sleep, then left again without talking to anyone..."

I thought back to the monster that I'd tried to kill, with long blonde hair, filthy and unkempt, framing a ruined face. No wonder Panacea had tried to stop me.

Done with the stitches, the nurse held my wing still and wrapped a binding around it, keeping my wing pinned closed.

"I'm sorry," she said as she worked. "I know it's uncomfortable, but it's nearly impossible to keep wings still and the stitches will tear easily. I know you girls heal faster, so you should be able to remove the binding in a day or so."

Her comment surprised me enough that I turned and looked at her, really looked. There were no visible marks of transformation on her, no extra limbs, scales, fur or anything and her build could only be described as 'normal'.

There was, however, a band around her arm, made from an orange fabric.

Catching my staring, the nurse smiled. "Never seen one before? I'm not surprised, most don't bother wearing them anymore. It means I'm infected, but I haven't… changed."

Dr Sloan shook his head with a chuckle. "Not much point in it these days. We're all infected and even Panacea can't heal it. I'm sorry about your friend. Please, let me know if there is anything I can —"

"I'll need water, some food and maybe a first aid kit." If Madison was still alive, she'd probably need more than that, but I didn't want to ask for more than they could spare. "A new shirt would be nice as well; mine's ruined."

Sloan stared at me, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Very well, give me five minutes to see what I can put together."

"Doctor?" the nurse said in confusion.

"Neils might not want to help, but I do. He doesn't like to talk about it, but we can't hold out here forever. Not like this. We need the people outside the city if we are going to survive."

Giving me a nod, he quickly left the room, the nurse following closely.

I gave Aisha a calculating look. "I don't suppose you're willing to wait here for me to come back?"

Pulling me into a hug, she pressed her chest against my face with a laugh. "Nope! You're not going anywhere without me."

##

The gate closed behind us with a clang. It had taken Dr Sloan less than five minutes to return with what I'd asked. He had even managed to get a shirt with holes hastily cut into the back so I could wear it.

"You sure you want to come?"

"Do you even know where we're going?"

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath in, straining my senses for the faint smells of mint and fire that had always surrounded Madison, but it was lost amongst the smells of the ruined city. Grunting, I started jogging in the direction the monsters had gone instead. Hopefully we would find something, anything, that would give us a clue.

It was strange, running with one of my wings bound up, I felt off balance and had to fight the impulse to shake the limb.

Next to me, Aisha moved like a ghost, her soft footfalls drowned out by the sound of my claws on the tarmac of the now useless roads.

If she had questions or doubts, she kept them to herself. I don't know if it was simple trust in me or if she genuinely wanted to save Madison. Either way, I wasn't going to ask.

Madison was only in this city because of me. She came here because I wanted to find my dad, and now she might be dead because of it. I wasn't sure I could live with that, not without at least trying to save her.

'Besides,' a quiet little thought hissed in the back of my mind. 'Madison was mine and I wasn't going to let anything take her away.'

##

We ran for what felt like hours without slowing. Occasionally, I saw a dark shape move through the mist above us and heard the occasional cry of those bird monsters. We had to be getting close.

"Taylor, wait!" Aisha hissed, and I looked over my shoulder, my pace dropping until we came to a stop. "Something's not right," Aisha puffed, breathing harder than me, a slight sheen of sweat on her skin.

"Are you okay?"

"I told you, my power lets me know things," she said, leaning forward and rubbing a stitch in her side with her good arm. "It's pretty vague. But right now it's telling me something is wrong. Do you even know where we are?"

Having already received an abject lesson in the dangers of ignoring my friends, I looked around us, really looked.

Night was falling, and while the city was currently quiet, the really nasty monsters would soon come out. The ruined and empty buildings looked the same as they did all over the city, only the grime and rot seemed older, more pronounced, and the fog had grown thicker.

Shutting my eyes, I took another deep breath in an effort to pick up Madison's scent, but all I could smell was the salt of the ocean and the sound of waves.

Waves? Opening my eyes with a curse, I peered into the gloom. We were only a few blocks from the hospital; we shouldn't be able to hear the ocean. But then, distance didn't seem to mean much in this city.

"We really should stop for the night…" I said quietly. I wanted to find Madison. It was my fault she was here; she was my responsibility, and I couldn't just leave her. Just considering it made me feel sick to my stomach.

But we were lost, possibly on the far side of the city, close to the bay where the worst of the monsters lived, and it was getting dark.

"I think… we need to stop for the night… Maybe find somewhere to hide." Looking again in the direction we had been heading, I could almost imagine eyes staring back at us and that giant shape in the water, beckoning us forwards.

"Yeah…"

I shivered and prayed it was just my imagination. There was a building nearby that looked mostly intact, with undamaged walls and still-boarded-up windows. We would probably be safe there. Safe, warm, inviting.

The hair on my neck rose, even as Aisha turned to follow my gaze. "We're not staying there," I muttered, noticing how her ears tilted forward and her fur bristled.

"Fuck no," she hissed.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Grabbing her shirt, I tugged her back in the direction we came. If we really were close enough to the bay to hear the waves, then must have come too far east anyway.

Reluctantly, she started to move, but that feeling of being watched remained. I could feel my skin starting to crawl as I gradually sped up, the feeling only getting worse. I half imagined some shapeless thing breathing down my neck, its long clawed hands reaching out of the dark to grab me, pulling us both back into the fog.

Then I heard it, a faint scraping of something of claws on stone.

"Run!" Without thinking, I wrapped my arm around Aisha and pulled her off her feet, slinging her over my shoulder as I sprinted forward.

"Taylor, wha—" Her complaints died in her throat as she looked at whatever was following us and screamed. "Run faster!"

More sounds came, dozens of sharp feet scratching on the ground as they chased, clicking and chattering like a swarm of insects, carrying with them a stench of rot that was almost overpowering.

"Turn right!" Aisha screamed, and without thinking, I did as she said, my clawed feet carving furrows into the pavement as I struggled not to fall and ducked through the low hanging remains of a door.

"Up, up! They can't climb!"

There was barely enough light for me to see that the only way forward was a flight of stairs, and I sprinted up them two at a time. Behind me I could hear the monsters struggling to follow us. I carried on upwards until we emerged through a door out on the roof. Dropping Aisha, I spun around and slammed the door shut, throwing my weight behind it in an effort to keep it closed as something heavy crashed into it.

Whatever had been chasing us tried again, rattling the door with every impact, but I dug my clawed feet into the ground. The door shook, shook twice more, before whatever had been chasing us finally gave up, the sound of its chittering claws fading as it moved away.

For the longest time, I didn't move away from the door until I was sure this wasn't a trick. Not until the screaming of my lungs made me realise I'd been holding my breath and I slumped breathlessly against the door.

"What the fuck were those things?" I said, but when Aisha didn't reply, I spun around to find her staring off in the distance and my heart froze.

Somehow, we were even close to the bay. The water was barely a stone's throw away and there, in the middle of the bay, was the creature that had started all of this.

It looked like a woman, naked and kneeling in the ocean. 70 feet tall, the undamaged parts of her skin were pure white and perfectly smooth, like polished stone and contrasting the long dark hair that ran down her back.

Wounds dotted her body, deep gouges and burn marks that didn't bleed, revealing only more white stone. An entire arm had been severed and was now lying in the bay, the water around it foaming as the waves washed over the limb.

This was the first time I'd seen it since it appeared, exploding out of a warehouse, its size steadily increasing as it thrashed about, its screams still echoing in my mind. At the time, I'd been too busy running for my life to really look at it.

"Taylor…" Aisha's hissed, grabbing my shoulder so hard her nails were cutting into my skin.

I didn't reply. Everything was being drowned out by the sound of my own pulse in my ears as that face looked blankly at the city. Her eyes were solid white, as colourless as the rest of her, with no visible pupils, but I knew that face. The shape of the jaw, the eyes. They were burned into my memory.

"... Mom?"

AN: Chapter written under commission NaGeL.

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Beta by: Phoenix0995