Live or Die
While the queen cheered, Shyva fluttered her lids a little, watching the queen and her followers rejoiced over her feigned death. Shyva had never seen anything like it. Their tentacles were agitated, whining so loud that Shyva wished she could close her ears.
Shyva was waiting for the right moment, which had to be soon. She watched as their tentacles flared, moving like they had minds of their own. The followers raised their bodies in a way their anal segment, which was the last segment, was the only one on the ground. They shook side to side, cheering their queen for the short-lived victory.
The queen's rhythmic movement from side to side almost made Shyva laugh. It would have cost her her life. The queen hovered over Shyva's body to be assured she was dead. Shyva held her breath and looked lifeless; the queen was satisfied and continued with its dance.
Shyva had managed to hold her breath for moments when her enemy scrutinised her. The tail of the queen with a tapered end slithered at a position close to Shyva's lying body. It was the best shot she had.
She counted with her eyes closed, uno…With all the cacophony, she had to be quiet. The tail was in front of her still body, almost between her legs, and if she raised it, she would be noticed. Tuen… she counted, fuaz... She rose on the third count, but the queen detected her movement and wrapped around Shyva tighter than before.
Tikada Shyva cursed.
Her neck was left, which gave her an advantage at the queen's side, but Shyva found herself vulnerable. Blowing out air from her lips, she was expectant of what was to come next.
Bowing her head, Shyva dug her teeth into the queen's body, past the thin scales, into the body liquid. Shyva held a chunk of flesh in her mouth and spat out.
This caused the leader of all worms to drop Shyva like she was burned. Its followers were shocked as they stayed still; the whining noise had stopped, and all that followed was silence.
Shyva's face turned pale, and her lips turned from rosy to grey. Her eyelids fluttered, and her pupils dilated. Her body was slacking; her legs were paralysed, and her hands were next.
Shyva was busy getting a vial of antidote from her holster she stabbed into her neck. Her breathing, which quickened a few moments ago, became normal. She wasn't aware of the state of her enemy until she heard a hurtful cry reverberate through the cave. A few rocks tumbled down from the top.
The queen had distanced herself away from Shyva and swayed violently from left to right, hitting rocks and damaging its scale. Streams of green fluid flowed from the opened tear on the queen's skin, forming a pool. Then came the swelling of the queen from its large form to three times the form before exploding to bits.
Pieces, spills, and parts splattered around the cave. Purple, brown, black, and grey were splattered over the followers, some on Shyva and the remaining formed myriads of colours on the ground.
Shyva pulled out her tongue in disgust, and the other worms moved backward, afraid of what they witnessed, fearful of what the queen had turned into, and afraid of Shyva ruining their only source of reproduction, the soldier of their army and the protector of their colony.
"That's my girl." Nyla applauded to herself; the workers around her only pretended to concentrate.
They watched through the chip they implanted into Shyva's suit, which was unknown to her and only activated again after the kill. It had taken time, but they were right on time to watch her in the cave—her skills, her survival, and her intelligence.
"Replay that!" Nyla instructed.
There, she sipped a garnet liquid from her glass, holding her chin with a finger, narrowing her gaze intently, focused on the screen.
Shyva was seated on the ground, trying to regain her strength. Her legs began to kick as she moved them little by little, but her face was still ashen.
"She needs to get out of there," Nyla instructed.
"…. You instructed this mission to be alpha with no means of communication or protection. We can't…"
"Silence." Nyla growled, "I know what I ordered. Must you answer everything not directed to you?"
The image on their screen became static,
"What's going on?" Nyla queried.
"We're working on it."
"….. there's a call from you in your office." a male soldier announced to Nyla, barging into the room.
"Leave at once." She screamed.
"Fix it." Her voice was calm and threatening.
Her workers tried all they could, but they were losing Shyva.
Dammit, you can't lose her, not now. I can't lose her.
"Overseer, we're trying to fix it all."
The workers scampered around, chattering and communicating about satisfying their leader.
The colourful motion image of Shyva changed to black and white. Black and white lines moved horizontally on the screen, producing wheezing noises. The interference was getting out of hand. It was the only way they could see Shyva and send help before the events before their eyes.
The aim of the monitoring was to monitor her skills, limits, and the possibility of her survival, but they weren't giving up on her.
Eventually, the screen was blank, and Shyva was not on it. Nyla returned with her jaw dropped and eyelids fluttering with shock. Shyva was gone before their eyes.
"Inform them they must leave now to save Shyva; she must return home before dawn."
Nyla walked out of the office.
Shyva noticed the garment of silence cloak the cave. She was ignored for a moment but was then brought back to the swooshing, swishing noises.
Gently turning her head, she had never anticipated what was to come. The worms were gaining on her when she couldn't even stand on her feet. The worms that moved slower in the beginning moved faster.
Shyva was scared. Their movement drummed over the ground. Shyva forced her legs but cried in pain. They wouldn't budge, and she was close to being some creatures' meal. When she thought they backed down earlier due to the pieces of their queen scattered everywhere, she hadn't missed the fear in their eyes.
What had changed?
Shyva crawled to her firearm, lying not far away. One almost got the chance to have its first bite when Shyva shot it with the laser beam.
Her eyelids were closing, and she was forcing herself to stay awake while they were gaining on her.
To think I'll die an unworthy death, for I've disappointed my overseer, my sisters, and my tutors. All my life and just my first mission, I have failed, and here I'll be a feast to these creatures. I will miss my sisters and Nyla, for in my battles, she showed me the way, the light to living a better life.
I had begun to find myself. I would miss him, for I had begun to feel him sometimes around me and in my head at the institution, and when I did turn around, he wouldn't be there. Since our last encounter at the Dome, he hurt my feelings, thinking he could get away with mocking and fighting me.
I don't know; around him, I feel weak, and I think he knows, and he uses it against me. Would I call him a friend, for what do I know to be with another person other than myself or my sisters?
The thoughts of Vakiyv made her chuckle. At her shortest period of living, she was reminiscing about the little she could recollect from living her life. She passed out.
In a trance, she saw a bright light drawing her closer. She floated closer to the white light, reaching for it. But as she moved closer, it seemed farther away from her reach. Away, away, she floated from the light until there was total darkness. Her body had weakened, and she was almost gone with the light into the void.
Strong arms lifted her from the back. Shyva had never felt hands so strong. They were firm under her. She couldn't see but only felt with her senses. He smelled like a 'mium', a beautiful flower whose scent was precious and its presence scarce in the Dome. Master Chi only grew a pot of it in his greenhouse. Strands of hair teased her face. She could feel breaths on her face and the tingle of feeling watched.
She could hear several explosions, but she couldn't get her body to see what was happening around her. There were hurtful whines and sizzles. And she felt herself floating away.
She heard a most masculine voice, cadence smooth.
"You're not dim-witted after all." the subtle chuckle rang in her ear. He sounded familiar with the mockery. His accent was of an ancient world. He sounded careless, even reckless. A few tiny rocks sprayed on her face and her clothing. She could hear the fall and crashing of rocks followed by shrieking and piercing noises.
"We are almost there," the voice affirmed, his face over hers; she felt shadowed by his gaze. "I'm proud of you." She wasn't sure if it was the voice of the person carrying her or the voice in her head.
A smiled a little, unaware of it all. She knew it was a dream as she held on to it before realizing she might die soon.
"Shyva, Shyva." She was called, "Wake up, you're not dead yet."
Shyva mouthed incoherently, drool sliding the sides of her lips.
"Wake up." The voice banged in her head.
Fluttering her lashes lazily, when she stared, she bit her tongue. She was at the passage of the cave she entered earlier. It was sealed behind them by large fallen rocks.
"Where am I?" she mouthed, still weak from the poisoning.