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HUSK Chapter 27:

The club was pitch black inside.

Eric stared down the hallway before him, waiting for his eyes to adjust.

While he would not say he was scared of the dark, the lack of electricity really was a hinderance.

The atmosphere of the club was heavy and stale. As Eric walked, he also felt a strange emptiness about the place.

It was uncomfortable. And it did not help that the hall felt like it was closing in on him. The darkness wrapping around him like a python as he cautiously turned the corner ahead.

At first, he really believed himself to be alone. Only to realize that he never was.

Far from it.

Before a high set of double doors, a bald-headed man was standing in the shadows. His red eyes pinpricks in the gloom.

He had heard Eric coming. And now that he was finally in view, the man could not help but run his nails roughly over his bare head.

"Hello." He said with a slight smile, waving. "Hell of a racket outside just now. Was that you?"

Eric remained silent. The Knight at his back, blocking much of the hall behind them.

The bald man looked the pair up and down, his grin growing wider. His eyes burning.

"Name's Lewis. You?" He held out his hand, hoping for an introduction.

Eric gave none.

"That one looks cool." He pointed at the Knight, "Making a guy jealous over here. Wish I had something big like that... but we get what we get, huh?"

Dropping his arms to his sides, Lewis's voice became distorted.

"Is it any strong, though?" Under the man's suit, his body was beginning to change.

His hands became larger, fingers and knuckles peaking with metal-like spikes. As the sleeves of his jacket were pushed back by the sudden growth, his forearms took on a blueish hue.

They bulged with grossly-defined muscle. As did the rest of his upper body. Lewis aggressively removed his suit jacket and shirt, revealing his changed physique. Along nearly every muscle group, gleaming spikes protruded.

He was not the tallest man, so his newly formed musculature made him look somewhat silly. Yet the power he possessed was apparent.

His mere presence stifling the oxygen in the hall.

Blue muscles bulging, spiked flesh threatening, veins throbbing in his forehead, Lewis's smile was so wide that the skin around his mouth was tearing.

Eric was unsettled by the display, but he could not run now. He had to face this man.

Somewhere beyond those doors, he'd find Ruby.

All he needed to do was-

"COME ON!" Lewis suddenly yelled, rushing forward. Excited to fight.

Merging with the Knight, Eric charged.

It was hard to swing his partner's claymore in such a cramped space. So their first attack was a powerful thrust. The Knight twisting its entire body into the strike.

Lewis had seen it coming right away. Instead of dodging, he met the blow half-way. Slamming his fist into the point of the sword.

It was like the Knight had struck a steel wall. The man's hands were too hard to penetrate. Even more bizarrely, as both their attacks connected, Lewis's entire arm started to vibrate.

In the next moment, a strange force surged through the blade. Blasting the weapon out of the Knight's hand.

Eric's own arm was thrown back so violently that he thought it would be ripped from its socket.

Giving the pair no time to recover, Lewis stepped in.

He threw a heavy punch into the Knight's stomach. Which made the entity bend over, lowering its head.

Pulling his arm to the side and pivoting on his front foot, the man threw a brutal hook at the Knight's face.

The strange force followed the hit, causing the entity's helmet to buckle.

The bars on one side of its faceguard were blown apart.

Eric's brain was swimming. It was a miracle that the two had not been knocked out.

"Let's go! Come on now!" Lewis howled as he pushed the Knight against a wall.

"SHOW ME SOMETHING!"

The teen and his companion were hammered by a flurry of punches. Each one hitting harder than anything Eric had felt before.

Within the Knight, the boy's body was thrashed about. Blood spewing from his mouth uncontrollably as the beating continued.

Finding a momentary pause in the assault, the Knight brought its hands together and swung them downwards. Aiming to slam the man in the back of his skull.

And yet the attack was caught easily, as if Lewis had expected them do that.

Smirking, his large hands squeezed the Knight's wrists. "Gonna have to do better than-"

Suddenly, a cleated kick struck the man's chest. Pushing him back.

"There it is! That's more like it!" He said happily, relishing in the pain and quickly recovering.

Lewis spat a speck of blood to the ground as the Knight readied a punch.

With ease, he caught it.

However, before he could swipe it aside and counter, something dug into his palm.

A mouth had appeared along the Knight's fist. Its sharp teeth biting into the man's hardened hand. While not breaking skin, the pressure was still painful.

Lewis even winced.

Though he made no move to remove himself from the teeth. He remained in the pain, oddly intrigued.

"This is your ability? Freaky!"

The bald man smiled again. "Though if I were you... I would let go."

Lewis's entire body began to vibrate with force.

Eric tried to get the Knight to retreat, making it release its toothed hold. Yet it was too slow to get away as a massive wave of energy consumed it.

The explosion of force sent the entity flying down the hall.

...

As the dust settled, Lewis started to laugh. Leaning back inside the crater his power had created.

Though his joy was short-lived.

"Looks like you've got nothing to show me, either..." He said, dejected.

He slammed his heavy fists together, blue muscles flexing as he shouted out in frustration.

"God. I'm so bored!"

The blast had separated Eric from the Knight.

The teen was sprawled out. He had not been breathing for several seconds.

As air rushed back into his lungs, the boy was now painfully aware of his surroundings. The Knight's claymore lay further down the hall, their only real weapon out of reach.

Wheezing and coughing up blood, Eric turned over. He pushed aside the torn fabric of his shirt and grimaced as he touched his skin.

"Just... How many bones did he break...?" Was his first thought.

...

"How did Ruby's kids... Not say anything about this shirt?" Was his second.

This thought was so unexpected that it made the teen laugh dryly despite the circumstances, even though it hurt to do so.

It was true. They really had not seemed that interested in questioning his appearance. Despite the fact that the fight with Romano had reduced the garment to a tattered rag.

He was reminded of the morning he was woken up by Coach Houser. Or the night he had returned home, his mother and sister finding him carrying an unconscious Aleta in his arms.

Those times too, they had paid little attention to the state he had been in.

He thought of the red sky. Of the fact that his family now thought that his father was still around.

...

Something was wrong with reality.

Eric had little time left to ponder things, as Lewis now realized that the teen was still very much alive.

The man was surprised, even impressed.

"C-Crap." Eric thought aloud, trying with great difficulty to get up. "Have to-"

"So that wasn't enough, huh? Good." The bald man grinned.

The Knight reached for its user, pulling the teen towards itself. The two merged once more as Lewis got closer.

Eric's entire being was screaming at him to flee, to escape, to run away and to forget about Ruby.

Somewhere in the background, the teen swore he could heard the voices shouting at him again.

Only for them to then be drowned out by a familiar sensation.

A tantalizing anger. The same he had felt towards Mr. Romano earlier

The Knight reacted to it, its body springing to life. All along its arms, rows of mouths appeared.

Ready to bite anything that dared come near.

Within the entity, Eric roared with rage. His red pupils thin and sharp once more, sclera blotted with black.

The two lunged to meet their attacker.

Lewis was quicker, his hands vibrated. Poised to strike.

His fists came like bullets, yet the Knight managed to slip through them. The force rippled past, tearing teeth from the mouths on its arms.

Eric was on the inside.

Pulling back and putting all of their combined power into one punch, it connected with the man's face.

Lewis's head was blown back. Wide-eyed in surprise, he reeled as the Knight pressed the attack.

Only for the entity to quickly retreat as a wild uppercut was thrown from an awkward angle. The strange force leapt from the blow, punching a hole in the ceiling.

Eric had gotten lucky.

"That's more like it!" The bald man exclaimed, bleeding profusely from his mouth.

Lewis threw his arms up and goaded the Knight. "Come on, hit me again!"

Confused, the teen hesitated.

"DO IT!"

A tooth-lined gauntlet struck the man in his jaw. A horrible crunch echoed through the hall.

Doubled over, his pained groan was soon replaced by an unsettling chuckle.

"Hell yeah... That's it. THAT'S what I've been missing..." Lewis stood up, rubbing his bald head.

Sighing contently, he felt his jaw. There was a look in his eye that said that he wished it was broken.

...

This man. He scared Eric.

"Right. Do it like that again. Though this time, I ain't making it easy-" Lewis pulled his arms in, tightening his guard as he rushed forward.

The anger bubbled within the teen again. He struck at the man with a wild abandon.

Who in return, hunkered down. The Knight's blows glancing off his thick muscles, most bouncing off the thick spikes that lined his upper body.

Eric tried harder.

Punches turning into haymakers. Rows of dangerous-looking teeth shattering against the man's impenetrable defense.

Seeing his chance, Lewis opened up and caught the Knight mid-punch. Their fists colliding.

No force was needed. The impact was damaging enough.

Ignoring it, the teen pressed on. Only to be caught in the same way again and again.

"You don't really know how to fight, do you?" Lewis said sadly, though clearly still more than happy to keep inflicting pain.

Eric was not thinking straight.

His mind clouded by the anger. Even as his bones began to break with each collision, he kept swinging.

"Shit! Even I heard that one!" The man whistled as the Knight's arm gave a particularly loud crack.

The teen's attacks slowed, the damage piling up.

Moments later, they stopped entirely.

Lewis took a step back, admiring his handiwork.

The Knight stared down at him, its arms mangled and broken.

"Good try, kid. But I think you've had enough." Rolling his shoulders, Lewis seemed ready to put an end to their brawl.

"It was good try. Fun, too." He seemed genuinely sad. "Time I laid you out."

Eric should have blacked out from his injuries. Something was keeping him upright.

He was not himself.

Lewis's entire right side started to vibrate. One more force-enhanced punch, and it would all be over.

Rather than make it quick however, the man chose to be theatrical about it. Exaggerated were his movements, slowed for dramatic effect.

The Knight charged him.

His form was textbook. The punch would connect regardless, and the entity would be splattered around the hall.

A fine red paste.

...

At least it would have, had the Knight remained in his line of sight.

Instead, it vanished. Beneath its cleated boots, the entity sunk into a hole that had appeared.

Using the sudden drop in its height, Eric reversed the downward pull of the opening and attacked.

Wasting not a single second it was given, the Knight was thrown from the hole at high-speed. Numerous mouths opened along its broken right arm, lengthening the appendage.

Like a spiked whip, the entity lashed Lewis across the neck. Tearing open his throat.

The man stumbled, the massive force he had generated left his punch. Rocketing down the hallway before him, missing its intended target.

Seizing their chance, Eric and the Knight forced the bald man to the floor. Mouths closing and its right arm reforming, it joined the other in holding their opponent down.

Fleshy threads burst from Lewis's blue muscles, flowing directly into the entity.

...

Unlike the others the teen had used his true ability on, the man actively resisted his absorption.

It was taking all of Eric's strength just to keep him in place. Even though he was recovering, his opponent was still much stronger than he was.

Not even a slit throat was stopping Lewis.

He defiantly raised his head, neck coated in blood as he looked the Knight right in its face, grinning.

Clearly glad that their fight had come to this.

Lewis started to shake beneath the entity's grip. He was vibrating his whole body again. Another blast of that strange force was coming.

He held the Knight's arms. Squeezing them, threatening to break them again.

Eric could not escape.

No longer able to speak, Lewis smiled as he spat up blood. Gurgling and displaying his stained teeth.

It was not working.

Eric would be blown to pieces. His absorption was not going to save him.

...

Like a dam wall bursting, the voices returned.

Assaulting the teen's ears, their screams came in a delirious blur of terror.

Once again he was not sure what they were saying, but he understood their feelings.

"I'm going to die." Eric thought.

The Knight grip slackened as it looked to the ceiling hopelessly. Lewis, now rippling with energy, pulled the entity closer.

He had failed. He was not going to rescue Ruby.

Those kids were going to lose their mother. Jaromir had dragged himself all the way here, for nothing.

Aleta had gotten hurt... for nothing.

Inside his companion, Eric cried in frustration. Screaming at the imminent approach of his death.

The Knight reflected this, struggling to get out of the bald man's hold.

Lewis was ecstatic at such a display. Wrapping his legs around the Knight like a vice.

...

With the teen's mind falling into a delirium of terrified noise, a single voice slithered its way through.

Cutting through the clamor like a knife.

It was nothing more than a whisper... but it was so very clear.

"Take."

Eric's eyes were black once more. His body moved on its own. Appearing out of the Knight, Lewis had little time to react as the teen took hold of his head.

The tables had turned in an instant. He was pinned to the ground so forcefully that his neck almost broke.

His own hold on the teen and his companion loosened. The bald man sputtered in disbelief as the skin of his face turned to threads.

Like bloody maggots, they crawled into Eric's hands.

It was stronger, this absorption.

Much stronger.

Any vibration in Lewis ceased, the energy dying away. He struggled in vain, life beginning to leave his eyes.

The last thing he saw was Eric. Who stared him down with an inhuman gaze, watching as he faded away.

Lewis's body became a mess of string. A pile of fleshy thread that easily flowed into Eric's hands.

The teen watched the process without emotion.

In seconds, there was nothing left of the man he had fought. Like he had never existed to begin with.

...

Eric was alone.

Slowly, he stood. His senses returned. As his eyes turned back to normal, the reality of what he had just done dawned on him.

It was not at all like when he would absorb a monster. Nor was it like when he had absorbed someone recently turned into one, like Aleta's bullies.

No... It was different.

Eric had just absorbed an actual person. And it was not his first time, either. He must have done the same to that man in Ruby's apartment.

They had not just vanished.

He had killed them. He was a murderer.

Never had he thought much of anything about killing monsters to save people, but this... it felt wrong.

Eric had not even tried to stop himself. It was like someone else had been in control.

Was it the voices?

Eric stared at his hands. The world around him suddenly feeling more alien than ever before.

...

Then, the strangest thing happened.

Before the teen could react any further, a strange fit overcame him. Like he had been struck by a sudden illness.

He lost his balance, falling into the nearest wall.

Eric started to strangle himself. An abnormal pain surging through him at the same time.

Like something was trying to rip him apart internally.

Nearby, the Knight showed no similar symptoms. It watched its partner, motionless.

In that moment, for the first time since they had met each other, Eric seemed to realize just how large and menacing the Knight really was.

With the bars of its helmet's faceplate damaged, the blackness behind it was truly visible.

The teen saw himself reflected in its single red eye.

It was startling. Eric's own eyes were burning crimson. His pupils seemed to be splitting, two becoming four.

The fit returned, and the teen kept choking himself. With effort, he could let go of his neck. Only for his hands to resume their strangling.

Eric's body turned on its own, facing the wall.

He panicked, trying to regain some semblance of control of his body. Managing to take a step back, only to then throw himself against the surface.

It was like someone was fighting for control. Eric's head slammed off the wall. Repeatedly.

This unnerving back and forth continued, with the boy unable to stop himself.

...

Before the teen could spill any more blood or brain matter, the strange fit subsided on its own.

Eric regained use of his faculties, immediately collapsing. His face drenched in red.

He curled up against the wall, neck bruised from the strangulation. With immense effort, he slowly breathed.

Raising his shaking hands to his face, he tried to wipe away the mess. His vision eventually clearing.

A drip of blood brought his attention to the state of his clothes.

His shirt had long since been ruined, and now his jeans had joined the party. The denim was badly torn, showing the skin of his legs beneath.

By some miracle, his shoes had survived. Though they were now noticeable scuffed.

"M-Mom... ain't gonna wanna to see all this." The teen joked, trying to cheer himself up.

It was not working. Eric forced himself to stand.

Out of the corner of his eye, the Knight had moved away. Having gone to retrieve its sword.

Wondering where his baseball bat had gone, the teen found it had also rolled down the hall.

He had not even realized that he had dropped it.

Keeping an arm on the wall for support, Eric tried to walk. He made his way over to it slowly.

Holding it firmly, he gave it a swing.

The fit had left the teen disoriented, battered and bleeding. Though the absorption had still healed him of his fatigue.

He dragged the bat along as he finally removed himself from the wall. Stumbling into the crater the bald man had left in the floor, a cold shiver ran though him.

What he had done, it now tormented him. He felt a strange pull to stand in the center of the destruction.

There was no going back.

Eric thought of Aleta, that day in the Rundown Road... When she had grappled with the reality that she had shot a person dead.

At the time, he told her not to blame herself for what she had to do to survive.

But now... He realized that he had been wrong. His words had been ignorant, spoken by a boy who understood nothing.

Not knowing what it meant to take a life.

...

Standing inside the crater, descending further into misery, Eric was shaken by a voice that came from beyond the doors in front of him.

While muffled, it had definitely belonged to a woman.

Remembering why he had even entered this club to begin with, Eric forced himself forward.

He left the hallway behind. What he had done would have to wait.

...

Knight at his back, the teen pushed through the double doors.

End of Chapter 27.