The most human sound Emma ever heard one of the fiends make was the horrible cry Prina let out of her lungs as the metal rod wall into her mother's chest. For a few brief microseconds, Emma mistook it for a shriek of anguish, a terrible wail of grief at the loss of the woman who birthed her. She was wrong.
Prina had a hold of her am in an instant, and Emma reeled on her, ready to defend herself however she could, but Prima had no such violent intentions. The fiendish woman pulled her down the hall at breakneck speed, fleeing from some danger Emma hadn't seen.
And then the exterior door slammed shut in front of them, and everything grew instantly worse.
Prina's father, the man her mother had referred to as Anthony back when she'd still been alive and furious and ranting about nothing Emma could have hoped to understand, stood in front of the thick metal slab, and Emma watched as he rolled the heavy lock into place. Prina, her hand still clutching Emma's upper arm, was visibly trembling. "Daddy, please." Emma had no idea what age was being for, but that she was terrified her. What could scare a monster?
"She killed Abigail," the fiend said calmly, clearly sharing in none of his daughter's fears. "You know what happens now."
Emma felt her eyes go wide, and while she wished someone would tell her what happened now, part of her was acutely aware that she didn't want to know.
"Then let me go," Prina begged, her nails curling into Emma's skin. "You don't need both of us."
The man have his daughter a sad smile, as if he wished he could have given her what she wanted. Emma fought a rising tide of panic behind her. "You know it's better for the hive if we have you both."
"Daddy," Prina asked again, her voice cracking, "please let me go."
Emma stared at the back of the blonde woman's head, horrified to hear the monster's fear. She was begging like a child, apparently so afraid of whatever she expected to happen after her mother's death that she was willing to beg her father for freedom, willing to seize her intended victim by the arm and try to lead her to safety--though Emma was also acutely aware that the woman was decidedly not asking her father to let her go, too, not now that it seemed the both of them were trapped in this god-forsaken maze of nightmares.
For a single, terrible moment, Emma wondered whether there was any point in trying it herself, in falling to her knees and begging for her freedom with all the earnest desperation of the fiend that had killed Ethan less than an hour right before her eyes.
And then the shrieking started, and Emma couldn't think about that anymore.
It was the high-pitched, ever-rising shriek of pure nightmare that Ethan had described to her two days ago, but it was so much worse than what he'd said. When he'd heard the noise, it had been Prina outside his door, signaling the beginning of her twisted game of hide and seek, but now Emma could hear so many more voices than that; there had to be dozens of them, perhaps a hundred or more voices joining together to form one terrible, incoherent tide of primal, alien noise, and this time, Prina looked every bit as terrified as Emma felt. She whirled on her heels, turning her back on her father to stare into the darkness behind Emma, where Emma was much too frightened to look herself.
"Wha--?" she started, and then the word was gone, crushed from her lungs as Prina's body slammed into hers.
The other woman hadn't moved, not of her own accord; it was Anthony, her father, who had launched himself at the both of them, lunging forward like a wildcat and knocking both of them off their feet with the full impact of his body. Emma let out a single, harsh cry of pain as her back hit the concrete floor, and then she was being crushed, Prina's body pinned on top of hers while Anthony held them both down with the same inhuman strength his daughter had been terrorizing them with for days.
Queens [1/?]
Prina had a hold of her am in an instant, and Emma reeled on her, ready to defend herself however she could, but Prima had no such violent intentions. The fiendish woman pulled her down the hall at breakneck speed, fleeing from some danger Emma hadn't seen.
And then the exterior door slammed shut in front of them, and everything grew instantly worse.
Prina's father, the man her mother had referred to as Anthony back when she'd still been alive and furious and ranting about nothing Emma could have hoped to understand, stood in front of the thick metal slab, and Emma watched as he rolled the heavy lock into place. Prina, her hand still clutching Emma's upper arm, was visibly trembling. "Daddy, please." Emma had no idea what age was being for, but that she was terrified her. What could scare a monster?
"She killed Abigail," the fiend said calmly, clearly sharing in none of his daughter's fears. "You know what happens now."
Emma felt her eyes go wide, and while she wished someone would tell her what happened now, part of her was acutely aware that she didn't want to know.
"Then let me go," Prina begged, her nails curling into Emma's skin. "You don't need both of us."
The man have his daughter a sad smile, as if he wished he could have given her what she wanted. Emma fought a rising tide of panic behind her. "You know it's better for the hive if we have you both."
"Daddy," Prina asked again, her voice cracking, "please let me go."
Emma stared at the back of the blonde woman's head, horrified to hear the monster's fear. She was begging like a child, apparently so afraid of whatever she expected to happen after her mother's death that she was willing to beg her father for freedom, willing to seize her intended victim by the arm and try to lead her to safety--though Emma was also acutely aware that the woman was decidedly not asking her father to let her go, too, not now that it seemed the both of them were trapped in this god-forsaken maze of nightmares.
For a single, terrible moment, Emma wondered whether there was any point in trying it herself, in falling to her knees and begging for her freedom with all the earnest desperation of the fiend that had killed Ethan less than an hour right before her eyes.
And then the shrieking started, and Emma couldn't think about that anymore.
It was the high-pitched, ever-rising shriek of pure nightmare that Ethan had described to her two days ago, but it was so much worse than what he'd said. When he'd heard the noise, it had been Prina outside his door, signaling the beginning of her twisted game of hide and seek, but now Emma could hear so many more voices than that; there had to be dozens of them, perhaps a hundred or more voices joining together to form one terrible, incoherent tide of primal, alien noise, and this time, Prina looked every bit as terrified as Emma felt. She whirled on her heels, turning her back on her father to stare into the darkness behind Emma, where Emma was much too frightened to look herself.
"Wha--?" she started, and then the word was gone, crushed from her lungs as Prina's body slammed into hers.
The other woman hadn't moved, not of her own accord; it was Anthony, her father, who had launched himself at the both of them, lunging forward like a wildcat and knocking both of them off their feet with the full impact of his body. Emma let out a single, harsh cry of pain as her back hit the concrete floor, and then she was being crushed, Prina's body pinned on top of hers while Anthony held them both down with the same inhuman strength his daughter had been terrorizing them with for days.