“There’s one here?” We were standing side-by-side, hands holding our bikes, staring at an abandoned trailer park. Apart from the weeds shooting up, the foliage overtaking the civilised element, the squirrels running all over the place, and the rusted and dilapidated trailer-homes with holes in them, it looked fairly well-kept.

“Soon. Don’t know where, though,” I said with a nod. After that sight, the repugnant presence of a hive, no matter how indistinct or far away, was unmistakable. I was just grateful that it was so far into the future that I didn’t see anything but a haze, this time.

“Which one?” She began to walk towards the gathering of trailer homes.

“I’m unsure. It feels in that general area. We just have to wait until it emerges.” I pointed towards a more concentrated cluster.

It wasn’t long to walk over there and, when we did, she laid her bike against the empty husk of a trailer and sat down on a bit of scrap metal--it looked like it might’ve been a microwave in times long past.

As for me, the atmosphere of the whole place was creepy and the mere knowledge alone that a hive would emerge in the near-future set my hairs on end and my mind unable to relax. I remained standing, my hands firmly clutching the handlebars like I was ready to escape at any moment.

“How long will it take?” She asked casually, like we were waiting in line for something more mundane.

“Upwards of twenty minutes.”

“You can’t be any more specific?” I shook my head. In fact, the ‘twenty minutes’ estimate was more specific than what my system told me--I just interpolated from what I had gathered to be the maximum time frame I can see things.

“Well, while we have time, take a seat--tell me a bit about yourself, Charlotte,” She gestured to a tyre in front of her. I stared at it for a few seconds before ultimately deciding there wouldn’t be any harm or danger if I was alert and so sat down. I didn’t say anything, however.

“Why are you so compliant with helping me? Like, seriously, I don’t really have much to offer you--I’m not complaining, of course.” She began.

“I have my own reasons. To put it simply...” How much should I tell her? “I need some money.”

“But there are far less dangerous ways to get money; just get a job, for instance.” She leaned forwards, her hands propping up her head, her eyes showing clear interest in my reasons.

“They don’t offer enough money.” I was risking it by even saying that much.

“Surely that’s not true? Well, I can’t say I’ve ever held a job myself so I’m not that familiar with it.”

“You need more qualifications than I have to get a decent job-”

“What’s your age, then?” I was swiftly interrupted.

“Eighteen since January,” It was personal, yes, but easily obtainable information.

“Ah; I thought you were older...”

“Older?” She piqued my interest with that statement--I always thought I looked younger than I was.

“Yeah. Not much, though; like nineteen or twenty. I guess it’s the quietness.”

“How old are you, Luna?”

“Eighteen or twenty; it’s a bit complicated,” She answered quickly, like she had thought about what to say to answer that exact question.

“What? You forgot your birthday or something?”

“Eh; it’s a bit different than that.” Evasive. I choose not to delve any deeper into the topic and, with that, silence descended upon us.

[t%+ 16 minutes]

“You only checked just now?” She asked me when I told her how long was left to wait. After my confirmation, she carried on: “How long does it take to become a specific number of minutes?”

“Somewhere between twenty and thirty.”

“It’s useful information.” That was the end of that particular direction of conversation.

“What’s your Specialisation?” I asked after the silence became too much.

“My Specialisation?” Luna replied with a laugh. “It’s not proper courtesy to ask such a question, especially not to such a fair maiden.”

“Sorry,”

“Ah, no, it’s fine. I might as well tell you, anyway. You’ll find out naturally when a hive emerged.” She leaned forwards and gestured for me to get closer. “It’s called Heart of Hearts.” Hearts?

“I don’t actually know what it does; all I do know is that it has something to do with the heart of a hive. So, when a hive appears, it’ll be a surprise for both of us.” With that, she leaned backwards, a smile on her face, exuding excitement.

“What about if the hive will be too strong?” I asked, since we were on the topic already and it was a persistent question in my mind for the last ten minutes.

“Well, for one, that’s unlikely--small hives tend to be weak--and, two, they don’t emerge instantaneously; if you kill the heart right at the moment it emerges, the rest of the hive doesn’t form,” Luna answered, brimming with confidence.

“How do you know that?” My tone was incredulous.

“It’s a secret.” Her tone was light and cheery, like she was deliberately playing with me.

“Full of mysteries...”

“Ha; you’re one to talk.” She has a point, I guess.

Time passed either in silence or inane small talk before, eventually, a sudden, billowing rush of wind ran past us. All around, the rattling of plastic and metal, a cacophonous din of noise, roared to life, carried and amplified by the wind.

The air itself heated up and without time to react, my body was already sweating and the tyre grew uncomfortable hot, scorching to the touch.

Right from our left, a stubby, short caravan with its roof broken in and windows all smashed to pieces, a wall suddenly blew out as a red, organic mass of a flesh-like substance ripped through the whole structure.

With surprisingly fast reactions, Luna leapt to her feet, drew a knife that was tucked within somewhere, and ran to the hive barely a few metres away.

By the time I had gathered my wits and joined her, my heart a piston in an internal combustion engine, she was already latched onto a large, fleshy vestige of some sort.

It was disgusting, with an unnatural and unappealing mish-mash of red and green tones like a mutated and living Christmas tree. She, however, seemed unperturbed by the revolting lump of flesh she was gripping onto, her face contorted in determination as she powerfully sliced away at where the relatively large organic limbs joined with the main body of flesh. The whole process reminded me of amputation.

For an instant, I thought about helping her, finding some sharp slab of metal and cutting into, but once I saw how instead of blood as one would expect, from came from the wound she had made into the heart was an explosion of gooey, bubbling flesh I had never seen before.

In a mere moment, the volume of the limb increased tenfold and what was one began several. They flailed around widely in the air, trying to latch onto some solid surface after being cut off from the caravan.

Luna repeated the process for the rest of the limbs, being whipped and lashed out by the undulating and panicking, limbs. Bit by bit, her rough, brown skin was scarred and marked with bright red cuts oozing viscous blood.

But, eventually, she finally managed to pry the heart free from the caravan and once the last vestige of connection to the structure was forcefully torn away, the immeasurable number of limbs dropped to the ground, lifeless and limp.

She hopped down from the corpse of the caravan and made her way over to me, her face serious and herself inaudible.

I dared not to utter a word as her entire demeanour had changed from the casual, playful girl she was only moments ago.

I watched as she laid the heart down a large sheet of metal--it probably used to be a wall of some kind--and, with one hand resting on the ‘heart’, she pressed down into it.

At first, it merely squished as one would expect from an organ but next, it, horrifyingly, began to envelop her hand. With a sickening squelching sound, it gradually tore itself open, creating a hole for her hand to sink deeper into it.

I had to tear my gaze away, the sight too perverse and revolting for my brain to handle.

Every now and then, I did throw a glance back to the heart, just to see what was happening.

At first, it was the same; she was now elbow-deep into it and it was squirming around erratically. I couldn’t see her face from there but tension pervaded her whole body and only her arm was moving, though even that wasn’t much.

The next time I looked, I struggled to remain standing. The previously dead and flaccid limps looked like they were imbued with life, coalescing into long strands like a rope. They formed four main bodies attached to the central lump, forming a disgusting, biological, pentagonal star.

However, that wasn’t its final form; they continued to squirm and move and morph before the whole mass itself began to resemble a very vaguely human form. Four of the limbs began to look like they might be articulated rather than a floppy string while the fifth and final one bulged with a rounded look. In a way, the whole process so far was like making a meat patty.

From there, it only grew more refined. The tentacle-like mass of wriggling limbs which formed the whole thing remained but slits appeared from the tentacles. It was like they were being turned inside out as a paper-white sheet of some kind funnelled outwards, wrapping itself around the coiled mess of limbs and eventually covering the whole thing.

The shape then began to change. Before, it was no more than two circles with four sticks but it began to elongate, narrow, lengthen, and bluge in all sorts of places. The limbs gradually changed to look more and more like arms and legs while the main body curved in such a way to be identifiably feminine--a thing only helped by the two distinct bulges that formed on the torso.

Finally, the previously spherical coalition of flesh grew to be an undeniably human face, with a refined and elegant nose, luscious white lips, and pure-white hair.

With the whole body covered in what could only be described as ‘skin’, the omnipresent movement of flesh underneath was hidden and the repugnant sight changed to one of serenity; it looked like a delicate and impossibly flawless woman was merely sleeping.

I was wordless. My eyes were wide and beginning to hurt, the moisture having dried up. My thoughts were all over the place--worry, fear, but, primarily, amazement.

The girl stood up and withdrew her hand from the body. Only, when she did that, could I see she withdrew it from where the heart in a human would be. For a split-second when the two of them detached, I could clearly see the deep red flesh that contrasted the ivory skin before the whole rapidly closed itself, appearing flawless on the surface.

Amazement wasn’t the only pervasive thought and emotion in my head at that moment. No; it was also embarrassment. Right in front of me was a completely naked woman and it wasn’t long before my face began to flush.

“That was unexpected.” Luna’s voice was like an oasis in the desert and I eagerly turned to face her. I opened my mouth, trying to say something, but nothing came out.

“You wouldn’t happen to have some spare clothes on hand, would you.”

“Spar-” I began, my mouth dry. “Spare clothes?”

“I understand if you don’t; that just means we have to buy them.”

“Buy them?” The most of what my brain could do was simply repeating what she said; novel thought was too taxing.

“Shit, I’ve got no money,” She made an exaggerated fashion of patting her pockets. “Do you have any money?”

“Money? I’m a student; I’ve got enough for bus fare but that’s it.” It was a familiar topic--I could talk about this almost instinctually.

“Well, a coat it is.” She took off her coat and wrapped the woman on the ground in it. She didn’t clothe the woman, merely wrapped her.

Only now could I observe Luna’s body; underneath her coat, she wore a tank-top which only served to show off her well-toned arms and overall fit physique. I felt tiny in comparison.

“Could you help me pull her up?” Her voice startled me out of my staring and I quickly obliged, my face red, not that seemed to notice nor mind.

“What do we do now?”

“Take her back to my place,” She answered. Going to a stranger’s home? Lucas wouldn’t be happy.

“Do I have to go?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I began to feel awkward treating someone of the same age as me like they were a parent.

“You don’t have to help but she’s a big woman,” She hefted the body up further as emphasis, “So I’d appreciate if you didn’t ditch me.”

I didn’t answer--instead, I helped to hold the woman to show my answer.

“What do we do about the bikes?” I asked as we began to walk towards the street, cars driving by sporadically in the distance.

“Leave ‘em,”

Compared to the walk to the auspicious place, this walk was a hell of a lot more tiring; it took double the time to get to the same street and I was exhausted already. I was barely even helping at this point.

“Won’t this be suspicious?” I asked between mouthfuls of air.

“She’s drunk, wearing a dress, and lost her shoes. Nothing suspicious about that at all.”

“But it’s the day?”

“So? Some people have nothing else to do. I imagine you can relate.”

The actual journey itself was surprisingly uneventful. Sure, there were many stares--because two young women and another unconscious one isn’t an everyday sight--and some people hollered at us--an immensely uncomfortable thing--but no one actually talked to us or interfered at all.

Fortunately, Luna’s place wasn’t that far away and we managed to reach it within the hour. What ‘it’ was, however, was both a lot less grandiose and a lot more than I was expecting. In size, it was a lot larger than most houses people have but in terms of quality, there was a lot to be desired.

Luna lived in a run-down warehouse.