The Queen's scream ripped through the nest. A sound like a thousand dying voices layered into one shriek. Rattling the webbed walls so hard that half-formed Eaters inside their sacs kicked and twitched in panic. The entire root system pulsed like an enraged heart.
"WHAT ARE YOU?! YOU ARE NOT ONE OF US!"
Fleshy strings shot from the walls, wet tendrils snapping toward Johnquis and Dancer like living spears. The floor heaved under their soles as roots bulged and split, trying to pin them down.
Johnquis swung his chain, slicing one, two but the webbing kept coming.
"Shit! Dancer, MOVE—"
But she wasn't moving back. She was done backing down. A low, guttural hiss bled out from her throat, her pupils pinpricks of burning gold. One second she was wrapped in sticky strings, the next—
SNAP!
