Chapter 11

Kuro—

We lingered by the window, letting the last of the sunlight wash over us before stepping into the dark hallway.

"Ready?" I asked.

The white-haired girl nodded, still clutching the small knife in her hand.

The light died the moment we entered. Darkness swallowed us whole—thick and absolute. I moved slowly, testing each step on the cold stone. As far as I could tell, the hallway stretched straight ahead with no turns or doors in sight.

"Are you alright back there?" I asked, turning my head.

I could barely make her out. Her white hair stood out like a ghost against the black, and her pale blue eyes caught what little light remained.

"I think so," she said quietly. "It's so dark in here."

She kept one hand against the wall, guiding herself forward.

"You're doing great," I said. "Let's keep going."

"Where are you? I can't see you."

I realized then how useless my black fur was in this darkness. "I'm right in front of you," I said, tapping my foot against the stone.

"Don't leave me."

"That never crossed my mind."

We continued down the hallway, my paws pressing against the cold stone with each step. Then I saw it—a faint light at the far end.

"There," I called out. "Something's ahead."

But something felt wrong. The light was a dull orange, weak but steady. As we drew closer, it took shape, outlining something solid.

"Another door?" I muttered.

When we were only a few steps away, the light began to pulse. A candle, maybe, flickering somewhere beyond.

"I don't see a lock," the girl said.

I turned toward the door. A thin line of orange light leaked through the narrow crack along its edge.

"I hear something," the girl said, pressing her ear against the wood.

She was right. There was a sound coming from the other side. Wet. Slow.

Like meat being mixed.

I didn't like it.

As much as I wanted to turn away and leave the door unopened, I knew I couldn't.

"Alright, let's—"

Before I could finish, the girl pushed the door open.

Light spilled into the hallway.

"The door wasn't locked," she said.

Something twitched in my head. I wanted to scold her, but there wasn't time for that now.

I'd deal with it later.

The door swung wide, and a smell hit me—copper and rot, thick enough to taste.

What I saw inside made me wish I'd left it closed.

At first, I thought it was a corpse. A body left to rot in the darkness, illuminated by only a candle or two. Her hands were tied up in chains above her head.

A woman, I thought at first.

She was blindfolded as well.

But that wasn't the disturbing part.

Two creatures clung to her—bloated, pulsating masses that barely resembled anything living. Their bodies were translucent enough to see dark fluids churning inside, and their skin rippled with constant movement, as if a thousand tiny things crawled just beneath the surface. They looked like oversized slugs, but wrong—covered in a slick membrane that oozed a yellowish mucus, dripping steadily onto the stone floor with wet plops.

One had wrapped itself around her upper body, its flesh melting into hers where they touched, the boundaries between creature and victim blurring. A fleshy tube—thick as my arm and segmented like an insect's body—extended from a puckered opening in its mass. The tube forced its way down her throat, pulsing rhythmically.

Through the semi-transparent tube, I could see it. A thick yellow fluid, chunky and viscous, pumped down into her with each contraction. Her throat bulged grotesquely with every pulse, her body trying to reject it. The yellow substance spilled from the corners of her mouth, running down her chin in thick rivulets. Her jaw worked weakly, as if trying to vomit, but the tube kept her throat sealed. More of the fluid bubbled out around where the tube entered her mouth, mixing with saliva and something darker.

The stone floor beneath her was a mess. Puddles of blood, urine, and that same yellow filth spread across the ground. The second creature—the one latched onto her lower half—dragged its bulk across the floor slowly, methodically. Its underside pressed flat against the stone, and I realized with horror what it was doing.

It was feeding. Cleaning up the fluids like some grotesque janitor, absorbing everything into its translucent body.

But then she moved.

Just barely—a twitch of her head, a shallow rise and fall of her chest. Breathing.

She was chained to the wall, iron shackles around her wrists and ankles, the metal rusted with age and something else—something organic that had crusted around the edges. Her clothes were rags, barely holding together, stained with fluids I didn't want to identify. Her skin was pale, almost translucent, stretched tight over bones that jutted at wrong angles.

But her face.

Her face was young.

I couldn't move.

My paws were frozen to the stone floor, my body locked in place by what I was seeing. Every instinct screamed at me to run, to get the girl and leave this nightmare behind.

But I couldn't look away.

The woman's head tilted slightly, as if she'd sensed us. The blindfold across her eyes was soaked through with something dark, but beneath it, I saw her mouth move. Not to speak—the tube made that impossible—but a sound escaped anyway. A muffled whimper that turned my blood cold.

She knew we were here.

"Kuro..." the white-haired girl whispered behind me. Her voice was barely audible, trembling. "What... what are those things?"

I didn't have an answer.

The slug creature feeding from the floor paused. Its entire body went still, and then slowly—too slowly—it began to turn toward us. It had no eyes that I could see, no face at all, just that glistening, rippling mass. But I felt it looking at us anyway.

"Back up," I said quietly. "Slowly."

But the girl didn't listen.

Instead, she pushed past me, rushing toward the chained woman. Her small hands reached for the fleshy tube protruding from the woman's mouth.

"No—wait!" I shouted.

She grabbed the tube with both hands and pulled. Hard.

The slug's body rippled, and the tube stretched but didn't break. The girl planted her feet and yanked again, her face twisted with effort. The woman's head jerked forward, a muffled choking sound coming from her throat.

"It won't—" the girl grunted, pulling harder. "It won't come off!"

My eyes darted around the room. Then I saw it—a candle on the floor near the second slug, the one that had been cleaning up the filth.

I lunged for it.

Grabbing the candle in my mouth, I pressed the flame against the creature's body.

The effect was instant. The slug's skin caught fire, flames spreading across its translucent flesh like it was made of kindling. It let out a wet, gurgling shriek and began thrashing wildly.

The thing writhed and rolled, slamming against the walls, the floor, convulsing in every direction. Burning chunks of its body splattered across the stone as it crashed around the room in blind panic.

"There's another candle behind you!" I shouted at the girl. "Grab it!"

She turned, spotting the flickering candle on the ledge. She reached for it carefully, her fingers almost touching the holder—

The moment her hand made contact, the slug wrapped around the woman went berserk.

Its entire body pulsed violently, and the tube pumped faster, harder. The woman's throat bulged grotesquely as more yellow fluid was forced down. The girl recoiled, yanking her hand back as the creature writhed.

Then the woman began to convulse.

Her body jerked against the chains, her back arching unnaturally. The yellow fluid erupted from her mouth around the tube, spilling down her chin. Then it came from her nose—thick streams of it pouring out as her body tried desperately to expel what was being forced into her.

She was drowning in it.

"No!" the white-haired girl cried.

The woman's convulsions grew worse, her whole body seizing. There was no time to be careful. No time to hesitate.

The girl grabbed the candle and thrust it against the slug's body without mercy.

Flames exploded across its flesh. The creature shrieked—a sound so wet and horrible it barely seemed real—and its body contracted violently. The tube ripped free from the woman's mouth as the slug tried to escape its own burning skin, peeling away from her and dropping to the floor in a burning heap.

The room was filled with smoke and the stench of burning meat.

The slug shriveled as the flames consumed it, its body curling in on itself like a dying insect. The stench was overwhelming,

burnt meat mixed 

The white-haired girl didn't hesitate.

She dropped the candle and grabbed the tube with both hands, yanking it out of the woman's mouth in one swift motion. It came free with a wet, sucking sound.

The woman's body convulsed immediately.

She vomited. A thick yellow fluid erupted from her mouth, splashing onto the stone floor in heavy waves. Her whole body shook with the force of it, chains rattling against the wall.

Violent, retching coughs that tore through her throat. She gasped between each one, desperately trying to pull air into her lungs, but more fluid kept coming up. Her chest heaved, wheezing with every shallow breath she managed to take.

The white-haired girl stepped back, her hands trembling as she dropped the tube. It fell to the ground with a wet slap.