By the time Myrio heard the rapid stabbing taps of its many legs, it was too late. Escape was not an option. The thing had smelled him from nearly a mile away, fresh meat, exhausted and alone. Having found easy prey, the hunt began. It glided across the desert ground at a speed comparable to a galloping horse. Yet despite it’s furious pace, it was near undetectable from a distance. It’s dull maroon armour blended perfectly with the dirt of its home and it’s flat shape prevented any figure against the horizon that might give it away. One could only detect its kind if one knew what to look for. A glint of light, a dust cloud rising up where it shouldn’t be, these things might be the last warnings vigilant prey would get, and they were easily missed. The apex predators of the red dirt desert, perfectly designed hunting machines for their environment. Myrio never stood a chance.
The thing was only feet away from Myrio’s turned back when the boy suddenly finally sensed the presence of something alive. Before he could even turn his head it was upon him. Icy paralyzing fear seized his muscles for a moment, giving way to a fit of adrenaline driven convulsions. He kicked and punched at the heavy body overtaking him. It was long. So so long. It’s body just kept producing more and more coils to throw around the struggling human. It couldn’t have been any shorter than 14 feet, and twice as wide as it’s selected prey. It was heavy, it’s plated body pinning Myrio to the ground. The boy was so frail that coils were hardly necessary to keep him in place, but the creature did not relent as legs, torso, and even head were wrapped tightly in it’s embrace. Myrio’s fists bounced uselessly off the creature’s underside before his arms were pinned painfully into his sides. He could barely breath for the crushing restriction of his chest.
A hundred knife-like appendages accompanied this heavy body, jabbing their sharp tips into Myrios’s immobilized form. The struggle was exhausting and fierce, but lasted only mere seconds. Then all was still again. Prey bound up tight, making another successful hunt.
The creature calmed after successfully subduing its target, but Myrio did not. He was still locked in a blind panic, coherent though buried under fear and instinct. He continued to weakly grunt and push against the restraining coils, but it was so strong he might as well have been trying to bend steel. And as venom flowed into him from the thing’s pointed legs, even his weak movements ceased. He was simply too exhausted to do anything other than pant, his wide eyes staring like a caught rabbit.
He stared into the chitinous alien mouth of the thing and only once defeated realized what it was. The long body, the many stabbing legs, its long waving antennas, it was all characteristic of a creature even Myrio knew, but had never seen at this scale: A centipede.
He had been hunted and caught by a centipede. A giant fucking centipede. Longer than a car, thicker than a human body. Once his struggling had ceased completely, the head of the monster turned back towards him. It’s antennae tapped on Myrio’s face, exploring its fresh caught prey. Its mouth was a small opening surrounded by tiny intersecting knives, which made rapid clicking noise as the mouth-parts clashed with each other. The horrific thing took its time, adjusting it’s position to allow its antennae to brush over all parts of Myrio’s naked body. Paralyzed by venom and exhaustion, Myrio could do little but thrash his head and wail. He could not even think, his brain caught in fearful animalistic fervor. Instinct was all that was left as he awaited the grisly fate of being eaten alive by an overgrown arthropod. Such was his introduction to the new era. His fate in it would surely be like the demise of the old world: sudden, bloody, and brief.
Except... the centipede continued to investigate his body, antennae sweeping over every inch, curiously clicking at every new fleshy bit it discovered. It remained like this, playing with its food, long enough for the animal terror to seep back down in Myrio’s brain. His weak straining ceased completely and he lay still, wide terrified eyes fixed on the creature’s head. His mind racing to produce any way out of this.
The centipede was not familiar with prey like this, and its curiosity took priority over its hunger. It was a soft naked thing, like a baby. It would no doubt be a tasty morsel...but perhaps it could be more useful than just a small meal. What drew so much attention was the prey’s warmth. It’s body was warm like a sun-baked rock. It felt pleasant against its cold plated underbelly. A curious quality that in other seasons would have been nothing more than a simple observation before a meal. But at the current moment, it was a great fortune. The centipede clicked loudly, signaling its pleasure, and once again began to glide across the desert.
Myrio remained held in coils while the rest of its body ran, carrying him with it towards some unknown destination. There was nothing he could do but endure the discomfort of being carried so roughly. He prayed to no god in particular that this was all a bad dream and he would wake up soon. But the nightmare was real and he was captive to watch it play out.
Myrio’s body was rubbed raw and red from being jostled in a cage of knives for so long. The centipede ran for quite a while, he couldn’t keep track of the time, but it was clear that they had traveled a great distance. Every now and then Myrio caught glances of a mountain range on the horizon. It was the only landmark he could use to orient himself in this hellish flatland. They seemed to be traveling in the direction of the mountains but were still a long way off.
And then, all of a sudden, darkness. Myrio was plunged into darkness as his centipede captor dove down into a hole in the ground he had not seen coming. It was a total change in environment. In an instant, he was taken from the sun-scorched plain into a dark and cramped burrow. There was no light at all as they descended deeper into the hole. Myrio was left completely blind. He was bumped against the walls of the hole and could tell that they were only just wide enough for the centipede to slip through. The smell of earth clogged his lungs and he could not stave off the fear of being buried alive.
Finally, motion stopped. The centipede had brought him to the bottom of a deep hole in the desert, where the narrow entrance tunnel opened up into a slightly less cramped den. Immediately upon arrival, Myrio was released from the claws of the beast to be dropped in the dirt. His muscles were still stiff with venom, but he did his best to awkwardly scramble to his feet, taking a defensive posture. He was blind, weak, and exhausted. His body ached to lay down and sleep but his mind relied on his last reserves of adrenaline to cling to survival. Not that there was actually any way out of this. He could not even see the beast inches in front of him, let alone fight it or escape. His clenched fists lashed out as soon as he felt those antennae brush him. They landed squarely against hard armor plates and shockwaves of pain shook Myrio’s joints. It was like punching solid stone. He was bowled over in the next movement by the centipede’s bulk, it’s weight pushing him onto his back, cornering him against the back wall of the den.
Naked, bloodied, and barely conscious, Myrio lay prone. His exhausted arms and legs splayed out at his side, his chest vulnerable and exposed. The only protection left for his rapidly beating heart was a frail and tiny ribcage. He could only hope he would lose consciousness before the pain of being torn apart by vicious clicking jaws began.
But the centipede did not have hunger on its mind as it surrounded it’s helpless prey. Instead it was intent to go about satiating mother nature’s other great need: to breed.
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