Summary: This'll be fun, Tao said. It'll be something you've never done before, Tao said. Chin-mae agrees that breaking into an aquarium on a night out is something he's never done before.

He wouldn't consider stealing an octopus as fun though. Or what happens afterwards because of it.

Contains M-21/Tao.

Shorter chapter thanks to me needing to re-outline the scene, haha... Good stopping point though.


Washed Up

By Dark Ice Dragon


"What the fuck is that!" Tao screeched.

"You think I know?" Chin-mae snapped, putting in as much speed as he dared with the slick roads.

Shit. He could try to swerve around and go back the way they came, but there was too much of a risk he'd end up spinning out and they'd end up crashed against the barrier.

Which meant they had to drive past that wall of water before it reached the road and took up everything.

"Shit shit shit-!" he muttered under his breath as they neared it, the wave looking larger with each passing second. It seemed like it was gaining speed to meet them and he heard Tao yelp.

"Chin-mae, what're you doing?"

"We can't turn around!" he said, feeling the impact of the water hitting the ground in his fucking bones, the wave looking like it was figuring out how the fuck to move above water and shit, was it actually intelligent?

"And heading towards it is better?"

"Better than wasting time trying to turn!" They didn't have time. Not at the pace that thing was moving. And that was fast. It wasn't trying to move upright anymore, instead moving like a snake, sidewinding as it moved closer.

His blood was roaring in his ears, his heart feeling like it wanted to rip itself out his body and he was lucky one wrong move hadn't sent them careening into the barrier already.

Chin-mae's throat closed up as he gripped the steering wheel as tight as he could, the looming shape of the water drawing close, and shit, he wasn't sure if they were going to make it.

If they didn't, at least the car was going fast enough that it should go straight through. If the engine was still working after that was something else altogether.

He could hear Tao yelling something, but he was too focused on getting them the fuck out of there to pay attention.

He was barely breathing as the thing neared, his gut knotted up so hard it was painful.

They were close enough now to see it literally was just a featureless wall of water with no distinguishing marks. Just a giant wall that was trying to kill them for no reason. Not that it mattered what it looked like.

The way it moved made it that little bit slower and Chin-mae was flooded with a brief burst of relief when they shot past it.

It missed them by a few seconds, Chin-mae not feeling the back tires grip the road as it roared past behind them flooding the road more, the car's momentum the only thing keeping them going forward.

He flinched at the screech of tearing metal as the barrier next to them twisted, the groan and the sudden darkness behind them as the road lights were ripped out of the ground.

It definitely had a solid form, and it was definitely dangerous.

Tao's panicked yell told him all he needed to know about if the water was still chasing them and he glanced at the rearview mirror to see it twisting around to face them as it slithered out of the darkness.

They were fucked. It didn't matter they were gaining some distance from it now. They were still fucked.

That thing was going to grow bigger and bigger because of the storm either from the rain or just from the water that had collected on the roads. It wasn't going to stop and it wasn't as if they could pray to Takeo's dad to stop storming the entire country when he couldn't even hear them.

Their fuel in the tank was finite and there was no fucking way they would be able to outrun that on foot. They were only just managing in the car!

Chin-mae gritted his teeth at a thud that shook the entire car as another road light was smashed into and sent crashing to the ground.

It wasn't even trying to get to them anymore, just causing as much damage as it could and fucking bastard, it was trying to scare them. And it was working, Chin-mae's nerves pulled taut, unsure what it was going to do next.

But the fucking thing was, it could catch up with them whenever it wanted. Because it was still fucking advancing on them and Chin-mae kept to the middle of the road as both barriers were ripped up with enough force to almost hit them. Which had to be the point.

They just... There was no fucking plan, no fucking way for them to escape from this. They would keep going along the motorway until they they were caught or crashed, and if they did somehow make it into the city, all that meant was everyone else around them got dragged into it and killed!

[Right!]

Chin-mae swerved that way without thinking and saw a lightpole zoom past where they'd just been, crashing so hard into the ground it stayed at the same angle it went in.

And aside from everything else that put them at a disadvantage, the fucking thing could use weapons.

"Tell me when they're coming!" Chin-mae said, and shit, while they were on a straight road, he didn't want to risk being distracted by what was behind them in case he needed to react to something in front of them.

"It's coming up!" came Tao's panicked cry, and Chin-mae swallowed, seeing the thing start following them again, two lamps held out like jousting lances.

Chin-mae couldn't tell if the thing was doing something as it moved so he could feel it through the car or if he was the one shaking.

"Just tell me," he said, seeing the other two nod, his jaw hurting from how hard he was clenching it.

[Left!]

"Right!" Tao yelled a second after him, his voice shrill.

Fucking-! Both at once? Chin-mae chanced it and went left. As soon as the pole smashed through the ground, making the car jump as the road raised up at the impact, Chin-mae swerved right and flinched as the second pole thudded into the ground.

Chin-mae put on as much speed as he dared.

"The good thing is," Tao said, peering over the back of the seat, "I think it's stopped picking up projectiles."

"But it's still coming after us," he muttered under his breath.

"Yeah..."

Of course it was. The skin at the back of his neck prickled. "What's it doing now?" he demanded.

"Huh?"

[It...seems to have slowed down close to where the lamps hit,] Takeo said.

Picking them up again or something else? There were still lots of lights around that it could use, so why stop there?

"Think it ran out of juice?" Tao whispered, still peering at it.

"We're not waiting around to find out," Chin-mae said, intending to put as much distance as he could between them and it. "And how can it? It's surrounded by water."

"Maybe it's special water, like this is a special storm!" Tao protested. "They can't mix or something. Takeo?"

[Eh?]

"What do you think?"

Takeo didn't answer for a few seconds, still gazing out the back. [I think-]

Chin-mae sucked in a breath, feeling the rumble beneath the tires again.

[I think that's what it's doing!] Panic filled his voice and Tao scrambled away from the back.

"What?" Chin-mae demanded.

"It's tearing up the road!"

Tearing up the - fuck! Chin-mae's stomach lurched as the back end of the car tilted up with the road and he needed to get them out of there now.

He swerved to the side before the road was torn up, clenching his teeth as he braced when the car hit the ground. But it was better than being launched into the sky like a fucking toy and-

"Chin-mae! Faster!"

He did as Tao told him to, seeing the road lurch towards them, far far too close in his headlights as the thing yanked the road towards them.

They weren't as lucky this time, the road clipping the back of the car and sending them spinning. Chin-mae's head smacked off the window and the world brightened at the corners for a second.

[Chin-mae!]

He grimaced, wanting to clutch his throbbing head, but there was no time and his hands were locked around the steering wheel and would have to be pried off first.

Which way were they-

"Fucking-" he wheezed, putting the car in reverse. They were facing the fucking thing, seeing it advance on them like they were a mouse watching a snake heading straight for them.

"Don't like this fucking view," he said past gritted teeth and braked as he span the steering wheel.

Once they were facing the right way, Chin-mae accelerated again, the car shuddering as the water crashed 'head first' into the spot where they'd just been.

"Too close too close too close!"

"I know!" They weren't going to-

Takeo yelped and Chin-mae hissed, seeing electricity dance over the dashboard.

All the lights winked out and the engine cut out.

The car died.

The car fucking died.