Chapter Thirty-one: Repose
Pain. Undeniable, raw pain.
The intensity of the horrible sensation over the hissing, grayish creature had overpassed the sprouting of the tendrils in his back. And even greater than the shots fired from the boaters from the Village that dared to slay him... before being devoured. Moreau yearned for his sleepy-bye liquid, but even if there had been any left, it wouldn't be enough. A thousand doses would be required to alter his ginormous hated-self into sweet unconsciousness.
Besides, he needed to guide his best friend onto the next, fearful steps.
"Mo! Your eyes!" shouted Joy in full-on worry. "Der-Der bleeding so much! And ya sound like you're-!"
"I know Joy! But-But, please! Keep... going!"
Inside the huge, clamped mouth, the whitish mutated man continued gritting his teeth; small fists pounded the large gums while the rest of him warbled, resonating so loud, that the nearby lake surfaced and raced with ripples. Even his normally useless forefeet tried grappling the dirt, tail whipping the ground furiously. And yet, Moreau stayed in place to not throw down the one who was wielding the horrid thing that was giving his body the required misery.
The young woman's delicate eardrums were being pounded by her friend's cries of sheer agony. Nevertheless, she continued pushing the piercing metal further in. Passed the torn eyeballs and into the flesh. Then the muscles.
"Sorry! Sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry!"
Joy's watery sights were as red as the unscathed eyes around her. Heavily, Moreau breathed in and out with croaky gasps.
"Is... the knife... all the... way in?"
Grimacing sorrowfully, Joy squinted at the ruddy, upright utensil.
"It's halfway in, Mo!"
The mutant wanted to cry his large throat out. The carving knife was only partially in. And this was causing him this much suffering already? His groans hitched with a gasp as a cold realization struck him just as sharply.
It... It must know! Attacking my nerves to protect itself!
Now, Moreau had to be certain to not allow the extra, intended pain to overthrow his influence on the cadou.
"K-Keep... pushing... down."
"I know, Mo... but are ya sur-?"
"Please! Do it now!"
Nodding to herself, the woman mustered both the strength in her arms and her bearings. With deeper frown-lines and almost biting his pale tongue, Moreau resumed groaning, hissing, and thrashing his tail as he felt the elongated blade piercing his insides. It was like the knife had been kept in a lit stove! If Moreau was in his globular, humanoid body, his perspiration would've filled the Village Reservoir!
Minutes later, which felt like hours to the punctured mutant, Joy looked into the inhuman eyes.
"I... I just see da handle, Mo!"
"Re... Remember... straight down... toward you..."
"And as long as da whole knife," finished Joy with a sniffle, leaning over. "Stra-Straight down... toward me."
Moreau constrained himself once more, his dorsal fin fell flat while the lengthy steel sliced through his blinding vision and upper torso. The young woman gasped amid her shaky, strained respiration. This was incomparable to the aluminum foil box injuring her thumb.
"...Mo... Dare's... Dare's a lotta blood."
Moreau could certainly see and feel the seeping incision slowly covering both sides of his girth.
"I know, Joy. Please... k-keep cutting."
The bright crimson saturated the trims of the once ocean-blue sweater sleeves and the pressured, reddened fingers were hard for Joy to overlook. It was such a harsh visual reminder of her anxiety about knives. Still, she kept going until nearly eighteen inches of tissue and back muscle were slashed.
Joy discerned the open wound. "It's... It's now as big as da whole knife, Mo!"
The woman tensely waited for her panting friend to respond.
"G-Good. Next... Take... out the knife... quickly... and care...fully... lay it behind... you."
"Alright, Mo."
Holding her breath, Joy tugged the blade out with one stroke, causing Moreau to gasp and shudder, almost tipping her overboard.
"S-Sorry, Joy... I hurt... so much."
"I know, Mo. I'm hurting a'bunch, too."
The empathetic little voice almost made Moreau forget the stinging pain... Almost.
Cautiously, Joy put the big kitchen utensil down as instructed. She never wanted to handle it again. Ever!
"What's next, Mo?"
Moreau swallowed hard. The next sequence he knew for certain, was going to be unendurable.
"Next... Joy needs to... stretch the cut apart... as much as Joy can."
His friend whimpered reluctantly. "R-Really, Mo?"
"...Really, really."
With glistening sights, Joy smiled lightly at the rough, mild laugh.
"To remove the cadou," the mutated man carried on, "it needs to fit through and the cadou is big."
"How big is it?"
"Uhhh... ...long like Joy's arm but wide like two of Joy's arms."
The woman's curved mouth-line fell flat. The cadou being of that size had to be so painful for her friend. Now, she understood how pivotal it was to remove it!
"Alright, Mo!"
As soon as the mutant felt the hands grip the split flesh, all the smaller orbs on his head aimed at the dirt. And expectedly, the force made him want to scream, and the sound of being divided was analogous to a steamed crab being cracked in half. He was now aware of the full strength of his precious person's mighty little arms.
The tearing continued. With pained breaths, the creature clasped his mouth and misaligned teeth as the man clung to his bald head in the moist darkness.
Eventually, Joy loosened her hold and she and Moreau allowed a respite before moving forward. Huffing, the young woman held up her red-coated hands. With a shiver, she peered down.
"Is Mo..? O... Okay?"
"Yes... ...J-Joy," answered Moreau, stifling a cough. "Joy's... strong."
"Th-Thanks... Mo..."
After a quiet, tense minute, Joy compressed her lips while gawking at the massive, bloody crevice before her. Fortunately for Moreau, the wound was above the tendons and arched spine. Albeit barely.
"Alright... Mo... Ummm... Wh-What's next?"
"Next... put your arms in... as far, far... as you can... and feel for the... cadou."
The man heard a sudden suck of air.
"Don't, don't... worry, Joy. ... I'm controlling it... It won't... hurt you."
The woman's pink corneas stung from salty moisture and the scent of leaking copper.
"But... will my arms hurt Mo more?"
The mutated man strained a low croon. "Joy... could never hurt Mo."
Joy quickly glimpsed over her shoulder. "But dat biggie knife sure as heck did!"
"Hmm-hmm-oww... Yes, but, but... Joy's doing... very well. ...Please... find... it..."
Gazing into the begging sights, she gave them a firm nod.
"I will, Mo! I will!"
Exhaling through tiny nostrils, the woman rolled up her sleeves and easing her short upper torso, she slowly put her hands in the created cavity. Moreau was surprised that the intrusion didn't pain him as much as he'd prepared himself for. But Moreau still grumbled raucously. The unorthodox surgery was far from dreaming about strolling with his friend along the shoreline.
"What does da cadou look... or feel like?"
The inquiry broke Moreau from his thoughts and he droned in heavy contemplation.
"Uhhh... The cadou is shaped like... like a baby."
Confused, Joy tapered her eyes from that description. However, she pressed on; her hands motioning through unseen soft masses, pushing and shoving down inside the hurting yet compliant creature. Joy's embedded forearms swished to and fro. She had met her new little cousin during a visit and had to ready her arms to hold the sweet-smelling bundle properly. But presently... this was not the same experience, at all!
When the fretting woman's limbs were submerged nearly to her shoulders, she strained to wriggle her fingers, trying to find this strange organism. Joy frowned as she detected the hot and disturbing soft, unseen bodily insides being torn by her own hands. Her perceptual vision caught the long and thin tendrils swaying much, much faster.
"M-Mo... Da snakes're getting... getting angry again!"
"W-Wait, Joy!"
The hunkered-down woman halted. And after a minute, the wriggles of the sickly yellow, living vines lessened.
"It's-It's all right now," huffed her exhausted friend. "But please... find it!"
Joy's small chin quavered from hearing the desperateness in the slurry and very deep, throaty plea.
"Al-Alright, Mo!"
Sightlessly, she resumed rummaging through the leaking cavity with more effort. Though Moreau kept more control of the cadou, the hurting was becoming unimaginable again. He resumed groaning while restraining himself from the visceral need to deathroll.
"Oh... Damn you, Mother's gift... Damn you to... hell!"
In spite of the pain, he became silent. For he'd shocked himself by the vulgarity of one of Mother Miranda's precious creations.
"I'm... sorry for... cussing... Joy."
"It's alright, Mo! You're just-"
The woman paused when her fingers felt the sought-after shape. Her hands quickly grabbed hold.
"I got it, Mo!" She attempted to haul the cadou upward. "But... I think it's stuck!"
"You... can get it! ...Joy has... super... duper mighty arms!"
Encouraged by her friend and the desire to succeed, Joy recommenced pulling, emitting strained grunts. But her extrospection was diverted by her task; she did not see the stirring tendrils lash in her direction...
All at once.
"OWWW! MO!"
Moreau cut off his cries. His numerous eyes stared up, frantically scanning.
"Joy! Wh-What's, what's, what's going on up there?!"
The tendrils had his frightened friend pinned down like overly strapped seatbelts from the racecars on the television.
"Mo! I! I CAN'T move!" she yelled, jerking her head as she tried pulling away a wrapped ankle. "Da snakes won't-won't let me do anything!"
This proved to Moreau that the cadou was cognizant of the invasion disrupting its own invasion. And it was inhibiting their attack.
Heavily sore and bleeding out, Moreau's debility was hindering his suppression of it. He felt a shudder flood his core. Not from all the sheer discomfort, but from something far more startling. The wretched parasite wanted to subsume his precious person...
Melding beauty with the grotesque.
Oh, no... No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!
The amphibious mutant inhaled rapidly. Ignoring the dense wound and unsteadiness, the mutated man pressed his thin lids closed. His flustered psyche focused on the timid young being who had snuck into the disgusting fish-man's dwelling for shelter from the storm...
Then shook his hand and smiled with him...
Cooked and ate with him...
Shared nicknames and her birthday with him...
Read and played with him...
Became best friends with him...
Laughed with him...
Cleaned with him...
Washed him.
Hugged him...
Kissed him...
And maybe even...
"LET. HER. GOOOOOOOO!"
The verbalized roar reverberated through the trees and surrounded the snared woman, and she gawked with unblinking sights at the appendages undoing their binds, regaining her freedom.
Trembling, Joy pushed half of her red-soaked torso up and swallowed at the dangling, fleshly ropes.
"...M-Mo?"
"Sorry... I... can't... hold it... back for... much longer."
The creature's tone was tight as if he was struggling within his mind. God forbid if it ever got full control of him again.
"Please Joy... Pull... it... up... to you..."
Joy's lowered gaze flittered her eyes clear, and she curtly bobbed her head.
"I will, Mo!"
With a determined sharp respire, the woman carefully shoved her arms into the fresh orifice and located the cadou again. But this time, the limbless parasite was wriggling fiercely. Regardless, she kept both hands around it and began hauling.
The hidden thing was infrangible, but so was Joy. Her arms strained, her small brow dripped, but she kept pulling and pulling. Finally, the ruddy, pseudo-infant shape emerged from the amateur surgical site, right under the small, straight nose.
"I see da cadou, Mo!"
Joy pulled some more but stopped when she spied some sort of clinging roots underneath the invader.
"But it still won't let go'a ya!"
"I... don't... care," was the hoarse response.
Joy blinked at the multiple eyes around her.
"What?"
"Please... now... take the knife... and stab it!"
His friend gasped, sitting back up, releasing her hold of the eyeless nematode.
"But... But I can't do dat! What if da cadou really is a baby?! Or... Or I stab YOU by accident?!"
"Worth the risk!"
"No!" the young woman countered, shaking her head rapidly. "No, you're not!"
"J-JOY!" bawled Moreau, the pain was becoming greater than the bolts from his old electric bridges. "You must, you must! PLEASE... PLEASE! Mo hurts so, so much!"
With shaky sniffs, Joy briefly turned to retrieve the much-disliked carving knife. While trying to figure out where to strike, the flesh-colored form under her rotated in sync with the tips of the tendrils.
"Hurry, Joy!" Moreaupleaded tightly. "...The, the snakes... are trying to... wake up again!"
The woman stared broadly at the large, sharp, red-tainted steel.
"I never... killed anything before... And..." She frowned at the cadou as it writhed frantically. "And it looks scared!"
"MO'S SCARED!"
Joy flinched at the boomed statement. Putting her consternation aside, the massive unharmed eyes below watched her bring the knife ahead of the squirming organism. Moreau saw the tendrils begin to whip feebly but improve with each movement.
"Hurry, Joy!" he repeated. "Please... get it OUT!"
Lowering the knife, the woman fluttered her sights with a sudden notion.
"Yes... Joy will!"
The drained, bewildered mutant caught something landing beside his talons...
"Joy?! Why... Why'd you, you drop the knife?!"
"It's alright! Joy's getting it out!"
Pushing her stained sweater sleeves up again, she took hold of the protesting parasite and resumed pulling. Meanwhile, Moreau gurgled sorely, mentally battling the cadou to keep it from reacting. However, the operation attempt on his back was overwhelming. A single tendril managed a targeted swipe.
"OW!"
"Joy, please stop! I'll, I'll, I'll help you down!"
His friend bit her lower lip. The small of her back was throbbing.
"No! I crossed my heart!"
Joy squeaked after another strong lash. Moreau grumbled, continuing to fight his inner tangible demon. It gave another strike. Then another. Gasping, Joy stared down at the cadou. Tightening her body like one of those old coiling toys her mother had, she shut her eyes and retained a large, lungful breath.
"LET..! HIM..! GO!"
All the tendrils were drawn through the hide akin to deeply rooted weeds vanquished from a garden. The force of the yank caused the woman to lose her balance and tumble, thankfully caught in the massive, right palm.
The creature set her down as softly as his largeness permitted, then backed up to grant her some space. Joy's bottom had felt a short bump on the ground, but it was nothing like when the living whips had hit her. Both she and her best friend were panting from the horrific ordeal.
The mutated man peered out of the large, parted mouth that was his prison.
"Is... is... Joy... all right?"
Ignoring the sore pulses, Joy nodded then craned her head downwards. In her red and sticky arms was the cadou. Its once extended appendages were now quiescent and no more than a foot long each.
Growls rumbled around the man as he quickly extended himself more so.
"Joy! Drop it before it-!"
"Mo, it's... okay... we both are..."
The young woman sighed, calming her rising chest. The corner of her lips pulled lightly while her sights softened and refocused on the strange, wiggling thing. It was the size of a six-month-old infant.
"Shhh... It's alright," she hushed, cradling it higher and closer to her bosom. "It's not your fault... Ya didn't know what ya did ta Mo was bad... It's alright..."
Humming, Joy stroked her fingertips over the unnatural nematode and all Moreau could do was marvel curiously at what he was witnessing and listening to. The unknown song returned all of his undamaged, angry-red eyes to their dull blue shade.
"What... is... Joy humming?"
"Hush Wittle Baby," was the nostalgic reply. "Mama Bear used ta sing it ta me when I was really wittle... I forget da words, but I really like how da song goes."
Joy resumed the comforting melody. Following several more harmonious notes with slow caresses, the cadou slowed its jerky movements, nestling its supposed head in the soothing human's sweater.
Joy's skin tingled warmly momentarily, and she emitted an amused huff.
Wow, my back doesn't hurt anymore.
After the bewildering yet tranquil repose, the cuddled sentient form stilled, its pink-tinted skin transitioning into white. Red eyebrows rose with shock and puzzlement while staring at empty, open hands that were now coated in dust.
Joy jerked her head. "Mo? Wh-What happened?"
She looked on as Moreau breathed sluggishly.
"Cadou... had no... one to eat. No... more host."
"Oh..." The woman watched the rest of the colorless particles be lifted away by a soft breeze. "Ummm... why didn't da cadou want me as a... um... host?"
The pale being's head was hung. Joy craned her view.
"Mo? Are ya-?"
The mutated man locked eyes with hers and after a moment, his lips parted.
"Joy wasn't a host... because Joy gave it peace..." He produced a weak smile. "Joy is pure."
His friend beamed at the compliment. This was the second time he'd referred to her as 'pure'.
"Wittle Mo's talking now." Her smile arose hopefully. "Does dis me dat you're getting better?"
She waited for the answer. The man's heavy-lidded eyes gradually closed and reopened.
"Thank you... bestie..."
The inner corners of Joy's brows arched with concern.
"Um... Mo is most welcome?"
Perturbed, Joy's lips downturned. She shifted and stood on her damp knees. Her friend's amphibious skin was exuding so much of his life force. And the stare of the white pair of eyes was lethargic. Very lethargic.
"Mo..? Are ya alright?"
"Tired... need... a break..." Moreau's eyelids slid down. "Thank... you... my... precious person."
The heaves of Joy's chest quickened as the creature's breath slackened.
"Mo, you're scaring me..."
"Thhhank... youuuuu..."
After the vast sigh, the man's head dropped.
"M-Mo?" uttered the young woman.
Moreau's respiration had ceased, and his entire body began undulating.
"Mo?!"
Staggering to her sneakers, Joy jumped forth with an outstretched left arm. But the big beastly shape had become nothing but a great mound of enzyme.
All Joy could do was gape at the sudden tsunami of green mass dispel past her jeans' waistband, flooding the ground and around her shocked, wavering form.
"MOOOOOOOOOOOO!"