A scream. A terrible whine. A pitiful whimper.

How wonderful. How delightful. Because Urska's prediction had been correct.

Zero-Zero inflated their hot mess of a body in a swell of frustration. Urska could see the derision their ghastly form earned from the human. He could not subdue the delightful screams that filled the messy kitchen.

"Non, non!" Urska declared with a savage smile as Zero-Zero raised her putrid tentacles full of swollen nubs into the air.

Urska hefted the human into her arms and dangled him in the air. Zero-Zero's tentacles stiffened, and Urska had to laugh, laugh, laaaaugh.

Because she was right, and that meant the plan could march forward!

"We don't neeed violence, sister," Urska said. The s-word made her chortle. There was nothing womanly about the blob of rancid flesh that choked the air with its decay. But she had used the word with the human, and it had stuck.

[ LeeEet tHe hUuuumAn g̷̨̕o̵̭̔ǒ̷̘o̴̖͛O̶̻͝O̵̊͜o̵͇̍ò̵̰! ]

The room shook with the force of sister's bubbly moan.

"Or what? Or what? Huh? Huuuuh?" Urska dug her claws into the softness of the human's belly, and it was soooooo wet inside!

She tickled his innards and scraped her claws against his small bones. How pleasant it would have been to pull one of them out and chew on it like some well-trained dog. His dog because all she wanted was this Petre's love and affection. A pat on the head. A scratch under the chin.

Debris filled the tepid air as sister threw a little tantrum. Her tentacles smashed the walls down and made holes in the floor. A blind rage blazed in her diseased eyeholes, and it made Urska sick.

Because this human. Because this sack of meat. Because her Prince Charming had such an effect on them, and she did not understand why. She had tried to interrogate Professor Cesaire about the strangeness, but he had been about as helpful as a bullet to the head. If the Small Professor knew anything, his lips were sealed.

[ pLEeeASSee! ṣ̶̑t̵͇͊O̵̲̊ỏ̷͖ȍ̵͇Ȍ̴̼P̷̫͐! ]

Sister's tentacles lost some of their vigor and drooped to the shattered floor around them. Urska did not lower her guard, however. The rolls of fat and decay that hid in the corner was but a pimple or bloated wart. The rest of Zero-Zero's massive body lurked elsewhere.

"I already toooold you," Urska said, her smile reset and brilliant. "We don't neeeeed violence, sister. We both... love this human."

The word earned an immediate heat to her face and loins.

"Gosh, I am going to make myself blush!" Urska said, and she subdued her rising excitement by continuing to tickle her Prince Charming. Her claws were covered in the red syrup of his blood. "We both need this human, but he... he is so frail. Look."

The human had screamed, but he must have fallen asleep. He dangled limp and harmless amidst her warm embrace.

"This won't grow back," Urska said. She pointed to the stump of his left leg. "This one won't either."

Her claws snipped through his right leg as a paper would scissor. The dead weight thumped ingloriously onto the floor, and her Prince Charming was well and truly crippled. The blood that dribbled onto the floor filled her with an odd quiet.

Zero-Zero roared. Her tentacles came to life, and Urska wrapped her hands around the human's soft throat.

The room seemed to quiet. The mad beat of her own chest slowed.

"He'll have to crawl around for the rest of his life," Urska announced to the silent room. "And if I squeeeezed... Dead. Gone."

[ ...nOoo... ]

[ ...pLeaAse... ]

The human was dangerous. He had thoroughly brainwashed Zero-Zero. He was adored by the little runt. Urska was not sure where the incubator had ended up. But it did not matter. It was all the same. The strangeness affected all of them, and the human was to blame.

Urska opened her mouth wide and deposited the blood-drenched human into her belly. Where he could recover. Where he would not die. Where he could live forever and ever. Because she needed more time to decide how dangerous this warmth in her chest was.

"I should have done this sooooo long ago," Urska said as she rubbed her engorged belly. "From the start. My Prince Charming doesn't need legs. He only needs to go where I take him."

The room was very still as Urska's thoughts considered the plan, doubted the plan, prayed for the plan.

"Do you know whY I ǎ̵̻a̴̬͒Ả̶̗m̴ h̴̺͘E̶̲̐e̶̜͗E̷̢͗R̴̢̓e̸?" Urska asked as the heat once more filled her face and loins. She was so close. They were so close.

Her sister did not answer at first. Urska tilted her head and left her mouth open in impatience.

[ ToOo desStrOoy m̵̢̃E̶̢͘ė̵̱ĕ̴̤... ]

"Non, non!" Urska declared, and she took a step forward. Zero-Zero's tentacles stiffined.

"I am here because the humans upstairs are teeeeeerrified of this one," Urska said, and she slapped her inflated belly. "They want to d̷̛ͅe̸̘̍ş̷̔S̴̼̉ť̶̯r̴͕͠O̷͙̊o̵̮̽Y̵̪͐ my t̸͕̾r̸̓ͅE̷͒ͅA̵̺͆s̵̡͌ú̷͓ů̵̧U̵͚̓r̴͎̀é̶̘... They want to... waAnNnt to taaAkE him f̵͔͝ȓ̷̠O̶̦͂o̸̟͘o̶̙̐M̵̦͑ me..."

Urska shook her head savagely, and some of the red hate bled from her flushed face.

"This... place is the safest place for him," she finished, deflated.

The words had an immediate effect on Zero-Zero. Her tentacles started to shake with barely restrained excitement. The pus from her rotten eye sockets started to dribble like the saliva of an excited pup.

[ ThEen leAave him hEere! I will ẃ̴͕à̷̡A̸̦̿t̷̖̒c̶̗̋H̴̢͌ ̴͔͐ö̵̹́O̸̺͒o̵̻͝v̵͖̄ẹ̴̄Ĕ̴̫ẻ̶̤r̴͍̀ him! ]

Urska's face pulled back in a sneer. She could scarcely believe that this rotten sack of meat was of her kin.

"Are you stuuupid?" she asked, and sister's excitement died like a flame blown out. "This human is miiine, and I'd sooner ṃ̶̓ė̷͔Ȇ̵̦ë̶̜ẻ̸̝Ĺ̷̢t̵͕̿ away his flesh and shit ô̸͉O̴̡̿Ụ̴͝u̷̹̓t̵̎ his b̸͎̈O̵̼̊Ǫ̷̈o̶̪͆n̸̜͆ẽ̴̲s̴̏ than hand him over to you!"

The flame of her frustration puttered out, and Urska rubbed her inflated belly. Her Prince Charming slept within. He did not so much as stir.

"But I can't do that," she said with a rasp of breath. "I am... scared. I don't want to lose him, but I can't protect him on my own. I need... help."

And out of the corner of her eyes, the incubator revealed itself in a writhing shadow of black. They must have followed the smell of him here.

"I do not want to share, but I will share... if the two of you follow my orders."

Neither Zero-Zero nor the incubator offered answer. But they listened. She knew they were slave to the same spell that made her want to nestle her face in the human's chest. She knew they both were obsessed.

"You may be a little older than me," Urska said, turning towards where Zero-Zero filled the room with rot. "But I know the humans very well. They would sooner see... half the world destroyed in a nuclear holocaust then let us play with this human undisturbed."

She knew this for a fact. The incident in Solca all but confirmed the suicidal bitterness of the White Rat and their humans. They had feared the incubator enough to drop a nuclear bomb on a city. They had not known about the extent of the human's strangeness. They still did not have a full grasp, but it was only a matter of time, and then nothing would stop them from their destruction.

Urska was snapped free from her stupor as Zero-Zero filled the room with a low moan.

[ w̷̼̔H̴̬̃ã̸ͅA̴͚͝a̶̲̾T̴̀ C̵͉̊ä̷̦Å̷̰n̵̢̍ weEe doOoOO? ]

[ iT daAarRk fooOor s̴̯̿Ǒ̶̦o̵̬̒Ò̸ l̸̮̇O̶̟͆ő̴̭O̴̱͋N̵̻̎ĝ̶̙... ]

[ DoOn'T t̴͕͒á̷̦A̵̦̎k̵̺͠e a̶̖͌W̷͇̎ǎ̵̟A̵͎͆y̶ tHhiS lighHt! ]

"How are you so stuuuupid?" Urska asked with a sneer. "I just said all you two need to do is listen to me." She shot a glance over to where the incubator had lurked, but the black blob had disappeared. They were still nearby, however. "With the three of us, things will be fiiiiine."

[ WhaAat do wEee d̸͙̉ọ̷̊O̶̩͑o̸̰͒...? ]

Urska's face alighted with a brilliant smile.

"It's... simple," she said as she started to rub her belly. "All we need to do is... erase... all the other humans."