The Mantis Continuum - Book Four - 26. Chapter 26 - Dozi, Ilya, Tchama, & Unadi

“What the fuck happened to him?” Dozi squawked.

Ilya whispered in disbelief, “Unadi killed some old man.”

“What?!” Tchama gasped.

“I found him smashing the man’s head against the pavement.” Ilya looked horrified. “He was already dead by the time I got there, and Unadi was eating chunks…” she swallowed hard and breathed, “of the man’s brains.”

“What the fuck?” Dozi breathed, staring down at Unadi.

Ilya was looking at the smears of blood on her hands, and she wiped them hard on her trousers. “I knocked him out and dragged him here.”

“Where’s the body?”

Ilya pointed down an alleyway. “Around those buildings, maybe two blocks. I don’t get it,” she added, “back in the forest, Olona was asleep in the tent right outside of Unadi’s house; if he was some sort of deranged murderer, why didn’t he do anything to her?” Another sob had her stuttering, and tears streamed down her cheeks. “Not that… that I would ever… ever want that!” and she wailed, “Why did this happen?!”

Dozi sighed and turned to Ilya and Tchama. “What should we do with him now?”

“I’ll carry him,” Tchama offered.

“But where should we bring him?”

On the pavement at their feet, Unadi groaned. He pushed himself up to his knees and brought one hand to his head. His other hand was a fist. Without acknowledging the three women, he looked down and slowly uncurled his fingers. Along with a little mucusy grey-pink brain matter, something sparkled in his palm.

“What is that?” Tchama asked.

Dozi and Ilya immediately recognized that what Unadi held was the very same thing they had given Tchama to save her life after the battle of Gate Town.

Unadi was holding a photonova gland. He shoved it into his mouth.

“No!” Ilya yelled, but he swallowed hard, and it was gone.

“Oh, fuck…” Dozi mumbled.

Unadi sucked in a harsh breath, and he screamed, as pain like nothing he had ever felt struck his body. It was like lightning inside of him. He curled up on the pavement, and he groaned, as his limbs seized and his jaw clenched. Unadi’s cries of anguish morphed into a gurgling series of grunts, and he took a wheezing breath.

“What the fuck is wrong with him?” Dozi asked again.

“Yeah, why isn’t it stopping?” Tchama added.

Ilya spoke under her breath. “It only lasted a moment with you.”

Unadi coughed up dark red foam, and he began to claw at his own abdomen. His eyes became cloudy and unfocused, and blood poured from his mouth. The three women stepped back as Unadi rolled onto his back. He pulled up his shirt and began digging his fingers into his skin.

Things were already bad for him, and they were about to get worse.

To the three women’s further shock, Unadi’s fingers did manage to pierce through his flesh, and he began to pull gruesome chunks off his torso.

Tchama let out a noise of alarm.

Ilya screamed.

Dozi vomited.

Unadi’s insides were liquefying; his flesh was deteriorating, and he thrust his hands into the mess that used to be his stomach. The blood from his mouth coated much of his face, but his eyes were visible; the three women wished they were not. His eyeballs began to soften like gelatin gummies left out in the sun. As he writhed on the pavement, the gooey orbs of his eyes began to dribble out and run down his face.

Unadi pulled his hands in opposite directions, opening his entire middle and spreading his dissolving body onto the narrow street, but his life was yet to be spent. He continued to dig through his spilled innards, until even the flesh of his fingers had deteriorated away. His bones were becoming soft and spongy, yet he still clawed at his own remains.

The only sounds Unadi could make were bubbly hisses, and his dreadful noises added to the horrible display. Even as his muscles turned to muck, his arms continued to feebly poke at the gloppy tangle of what were once his organs.

“Is he still alive?” Dozi asked.

Pieces kept twitching long after most of Unadi had dissolved to nothing more than a stewy pile.

“What the fuck!” Ilya whispered.

Dozi looked at her and agreed, “You said it.”

“Now what?” Tchama asked.

“We fucking leave it,” Dozi answered.

Ilya looked uncertain. “But that’s a person,” she said.

“Not anymore,” Dozi replied.

“It’s still moving and making noise,” Tchama added. “Is it… still alive?”

“I’m done with this, and I’m going home,” Dozi declared. “Are you two coming?” Without awaiting their reply, she turned and left Unadi’s melted remains on the street✪