==Hi, everyone! I'm back with a new chapter. We are just getting an update on the Serpentine's progress this time, but we will be back to Zane and Macca right after. I think I'll be able to post two more times before I go back to school next week, but I hope this chapter is a good one! :) ==

Kaskade & Project 46 - "Last Chance"

Please, don't break me. Please don't let me fall. Please, don't break me, and leave me nothing at all.

Haunted: Collapse into Caliginosity

Chapter 64:

Don't Break Me

A hard day of traveling has left every serpentine in the Hypnobrai and Fangpyre tribes worn down. We were hungry, we were weak, and the younglings begged to be carried by their parents. Cleo would walk for hours until she became too weary, so I would take the responsibility of holding her to prevent any potential danger to our unborn youngling's health. Even with the two Generals persisting in the journey without showing any signs of fatigue, we persevered throughout the severe frigid weather. The snow underneath our feet gradually became shallower as the blocked moon rolled across the starry sky. It was impossible for humans to see in this unholy obscurity, but our expansive crimson lens helped us adjust to the conditions with heat signatures. It slightly illuminated the area around us, which was exactly how we survived in the Tomb for decades.

When we left the mountainous terrain, the blizzard also passed. Snow continued to crunch under our feet for miles. Eventually, a new kind of landscape greeted our scales. Instead of the ground being blanketed by a layer of snow, the ground seemed to be sprouting an endless patch of a mysterious green plant. Many Hypnobrai were unsure about the unfamiliar feeling underneath their feet. Cleo and I stopped to investigate it for ourselves. "It'sss ssso sssoft," I stated, plucking a piece and rubbing it between my fingertips.'

"What isss it?" she asked, her hands resting on top of her swollen abdomen.

"I don't know. I've never encountered a plant before. My mother and father usssed to tell me ssstoriesss their mothersss and fathersss had told them about what plantsss were and what their purpossse wasss, but thisss isss the firssst time I've actually touched one."

"It'sss grassss," an injured fangpyre warrior explained as he stalked past us. "You have never ssseen it before?"

"Not while we've been locked away in a cave full of iccce," I hissed.

He adjusted the herb wrapping on his arm as he created distance between us. Cleo held my arm. "Will Ssskalesss let usss ressst?" she solemnly wondered. "We've been on our feet sinccce yesssterday. We're all in pain."

"I can asssk," I promised, pressing my fanged snout to the top of her head. "Do you need prey?"

"I don't have an appetite."

My rough palms brushed her shoulders. She hadn't eaten since I left the Tomb to join my comrades in battle. "Are you feeling okay?" I asked her.

She sighed. "I ssstill haven't felt the youngling move."

It took me a moment to find a response. When I did, however, I cradled her and her abdomen. "I'm sssure everything isss fine. The birth will be coming sssoon, after all. Let me catch you a couple miccce-"

"Gorgan, you aren't lissstening to me," she complained, pushing me away. "You know exactly what will happen becaussse of thisss."

"But, Cleo, you ssshouldn't be thinking sssuch thoughtsss. We need to move on for the sssake of our youngling."

A pang of sadness fell upon her glare. "You're ssselfisssh," she spat, walking in the opposite direction.

Her choice of words was like a dagger to the heart. They were both condescending and untrue. "Ssselfisssh? I've carried you to thisss placcce! If I wasss ssselfisssh, I would've made you walk!"

She reverted around and angrily hissed at me. Velsuki came to her side, hearing our argument from nearby. The warning in the old snake's crimson eyes was enough to make me part ways for the time being. We were tired and have been with each other for a long time now. A few minutes alone wasn't a terrible idea.

Skales and Fangtom were discussing plans when I approached them. "I do not mean to interrupt, General Ssskalesss, but my mate wasss wondering if we were resssting for a little while."

"Ssstill concccerned about your family, are you, Gorgan?" he annoyingly responded.

"Ssshe wasss jussst wondering. The whole tribe isss growing weary. We need to think about the wellbeing of the eldersss and younglingsss."

"Only the ssstrongessst will sssurvive, Gorgan. If we don't continue our journey now, it will only take usss longer to get to the Fangpyre Tomb."

"You sssay I mussst put the tribe before my family, yet you refussse to do what bessst for the tribe?"

He swung his golden staff toward me, taking my feet out from under me. Serpentine stopped what they were doing and watched. "Getting to the Fangpyre Tomb isss what'sss bessst for the tribe!" he retorted, pointing the tip at my face. "Do not quessstion my authority, you fool!"

I scrambled away from the hostility. That would be the last time I spoke to my General for a long time.

Since we were staying for less than an hour, I took the opportunity to hunt. This new biome was rich with prey I had never seen before. Fangpyre investigated burrows in the ground in search of creatures they called groundhogs. If one was unearthed, cheering commenced, almost as if it was a game.

I took the time to search under rocks for smaller prey, but all I could find were insects. "You Hypnobrai eat bugsss?" a dynamic voice questioned me.

I let the rock cover the circular spot of dirt it had made, gazing up at the red serpentine. It caught me off guard to see a muscular female fangpyre, but her piercing white eyes were full of curiosity. The black and white scales running down her torso consisted of shapes resembling thorns. A necklace of jagged fangs hung around her neck. The shape of her head had a white tail-like structure dangling over her shoulder, but it only added to the beauty she possessed.

"No," I replied. "I'm sssearching for miccce."

"You won't find thossse under rocksss. Miccce burrow in sssmall ssspacccesss, like thessse." She got to her knees and stuck her fingers inside an invisible hole that I failed to notice in the grass. "If you feel a fibrousss material sssomewhere, you have found a moussse nessst," she continued, twisting her fist deeper inside. "Ah-ha!" she breathed, pulling out a mouse by the tail. The poor gray creature wriggled to be free, but the fangpyre let it dangle from her fingers until she gave its neck a nip that was just strong enough to kill it.

I picked it up when she tossed it to me. "Thank you."

She nodded once and then walked away to a small group of Fangpyre. I watched as she took the hand of an enormous male, her mate, and didn't look back.

The biggest challenge of catching mice was finding the holes in the grass. The grass was the perfect protection from predators like us. Being undetectable meant not being bothered.

But I still managed to kill a handful successfully. They dangled from my hand by the tails in an assortment of brown, gray, and black. It was merely a snack compared to the prolific amount of prey the Fangpyre were hunting, but it was the best I could do in an environment I'd never been in before. I hoped it was enough to appease my mate. We had a long journey ahead of us. I didn't want to spend it on bad terms, not when we had a youngling about to come into the world.

Velsuki was comforting her daughter when I approached. Her clouded eye didn't acknowledge me. "I brought prey," I announced, kneeling down next to Cleo.

"I sssaid I had no appetite," she snapped.

I looked at Velsuki, seeking assistance. She patted the top of Cleo's abdomen. "Think of your youngling. It needsss nutrientsss."

Something she said struck a nerve. "But it won't move," Cleo moaned. "It'sss dead."

Velsuki sighed. "You don't know that."

"Yesss, I do!" she wailed. "Why won't anyone lisssten to me?"

I gently touched her back. Consoling her was going to be a strenuous task. The best I could do was calm her down and get her to the Tomb before she gave birth. Time was of the essence, and it was my responsibility as a mate and father to get her there safely. But knowing she thought our youngling was dead was a burden I had to bear.

So apparently RandomDragon decided to make the full commitment! XD She reviewed, followed, and favorited, and I'm so happy! Thank you Supercatural Ninja and SpitfirewaterNinja for reviewing!