Chapter Two: Nausea and The Demented Lizards.

"Ohhh.."
Artificer groaned, wiping her mouth. Her chest fur was stained with specks of vomit and sweat was soaking her skin and making her head spin. Ringing filled her ears.

"Good blue fruits, what's going…on?"
"Hurk!"
Artificer emptied herself again in a small dip. The stink of the garbage wastes where the shelter was located and the smell of dead things and vomit made Artificer wheeze for air and gag again.

"I think I…I'm gonna lie down.."
Her voice was hoarse with vomiting where the hot, putrid substance had scraped her vocal cords.

Collapsing against her spear which teetered and fell under her weight, the poor slugcat whimpered as she lay against the slimy floor of the garbage wastes, the coldness soothing her now-calm belly.

"Pink God…save me.."

She rubbed her head and sat up. Whatever had happened, she had to get moving.

Tumbling on unsteady feet, she managed to make it a few meters away from her shelter.

Her spear bounced against her back and her head throbbed.

Soon, she found a pop-corn flower. Gulping in an intake of air, she hoped that when she swallowed the stone, it wouldn't come out coated in..puke.

Ughh.

Praying for the best, Artificer shoved the stone into her mouth and grunted as the rock sparked and fizzled against her teeth and singed her tongue. Although she was used to making bombs, she often chickened out and spit them out before they could become fully workable bombs.

This time, the rock fizzled and sparked against the flesh on her mouth. The pain was unbearable and she clenched her teeth.

Cough!

Artificer spat out the bomb. Shivering with pain, she licked her mouth, feeling multiple burns that would soon become ulcers. Pain resonated in her mouth and she groaned.

She tossed a bomb at the popcorn flower and watched it explode into soft clouds of foodstuffs.

After chewing some and scraping against the ulcers, she proceeded to swallow mouthfuls of water.

"If only I didn't make this stupid bomb..all this pain would be nonexistent."

She was so focused on the big red X marking on the rock, carved and etched deeply (could it be her teeth when she clenched it?) that she didn't notice the slow, slinking shape of a green lizard creeping towards her, then snapping its teeth and shooting itself across the garbage wastes, its head changing from black to green.

SNAP!

"ARGH!"
Teeth clamped around Artificer's leg and she screamed in pain. The world turned red as warm..water, smelling of metal and pain, spilled down her leg like rivulets of water.

She twisted and grabbed her spear, the knots of fur where she slid her spear in tearing out. Growling and baring her teeth, The Green Lizard snarled as it thrashed its head.

Seeing her opening, Artificer drove her spear in between the soft spot between the lizard's neck bone and its shoulder bone.

The lizard screeched, saliva spilling from its jaws as it roared and thrashed.

The lizard clamped deeper, and Artificer felt her heartbeat beat faster. She felt..more ferocious than ever, as if her damned future had led her to this point. She forced another stone into her mouth, apoplectic with rage, and yeeted it straight at the lizard.

KADABOOM!

The lizard screeched as the explosive penetrated its eye and sent green blood and its beady black eye to spill out.

Blood.

Artificer felt it on her mouth as it stained her teeth.

As the lizard tried to flee, leaving a trail of blood behind, Artificer felt as though she were more than her coat, her tail, her legs.

She felt useful. Something she hadn't felt in a long time.