Page 26 of A Very Monstrous Desire

And they would be alone together again in a shelter.

Alone.

Suddenly, Theo wasn’t sure what he was more nervous about. That or his imminent battle with the munching monsters!

Chapter

Thirteen

What Theo should have been nervous about of course was the fact that the other-Earth dimension wasn’t just responsible for the monster walking next to him, but also the spitting monsters, the screeching monsters, the munching monsters also known as the nightmares, and whatever the damn rages were. About a half hour before they made it to their shelter, which was after several hours of walking, Theo got to meet another type of monster. He quickly, and quite fervently, found himself wishing that he’d been spared such an experience because this one did not look human at all.

They were walking close to the cliff face again having closed the loop that had allowed them to avoid most of the forest, and there was little to nothing around but rocks and brush underfoot. Some of those rocks were quite sizeable though and they disguised the entrances to quite a few hidden caves. Unbeknownst to Theo, there was an undulating cave directly parallel to where he was walking, and it was the nest of a monster with several hungry spawn. The monster did not like an unknown creature walking close by. Unsurprisingly, it attacked.

Theo was thinking about how hungry he was and how glad he would be to eat something and rest his legs. Baku had allowed them to stop at midday and eat from the supplies he had in his backpack but other than that he had insisted on a brutal walking pace even for someone of Theo’s fitness. They crossed field after field, went around streams and small rivers. They passed by quite a few ruins of old settlements. And if not for the odd creatures that popped up here and there or the odd plant which was clearly not of actual Earth, Theo would have imagined himself out on a regular hike. Well, no, he rarely hiked, but certainly it was how he would envisage a hike to be.

They had also spent the better part of the day talking. Sharing information on their worlds, their universes, the things they had in common, the things they did not, and truthfully Theo could not remember talking to anyone quite so thoroughly for a very long time. He wondered if his intel on the other universe was now more extensive than anyone else on Earth. Theo was sure that other members of the army, actual soldiers, had likely reconned Baku’s world months if not years ago, but they wouldn’t have gotten their info firsthand from a member of the local populace. They wouldn’t know that the blue flowers were responsible for the blue maggots. Or that every so often the sky in this universe turned navy blue, right in time with the breeding cycle of those flowers which were invasive and had spread across almost the entire globe.

It was an...experience.

There was no other word for it.

Every so often Theo looked across at Baku who did not look tired at all but was striding forwards, muscles flexing as he shot brooding sort of glances to the forest that was fast approaching. Theo thought he could see dim, silvery lights in that forest.

He turned slightly, walking along there next to the cliffs, pondering what dinner might involve and what he and Baku might talk about for the rest of the evening. The geological history of his world? Their level of physics knowledge? Whether Baku’s people played board games and if so what type? Theo was busy compiling a mental list when the next thing he knew a monster exploded out of nowhere to the left of him in a flurry of spindly legs, of which there were many, and then something like arms too which finished in several metallic pincers. One of those pincers clamped around Theo’s left arm, and he let out a scream as it did so because it sliced right through his skin and into the muscle beneath!

Theo automatically twisted against the attack in an effort to get away, which gave him a good look at the thing’s face. It was like a very oversized insect, but worse. Its head was a triangle of scales and it had pincers either side of that head. They flicked out along with quite a bit of spittle, and Theo only just avoided them.

“Baku!”

He didn’t quite know why he called for the monster before he pulled his knife from his thigh and started to stab at the pincer monster, but Theo did. Baku was already vaulting the distance between them with an agility that Theo would not have expected from someone the monster’s size. He landed on top of the pincer monster’s body and kicked it away. Its pincer was wrenched from Theo’s arm, ripping the muscle.

“Fuck!”

Baku moved so that he stood between Theo and the monster, but pincer face didn’t attack again. Theo lifted his knife, ready to respond, but the monster simply let out a high-pitched screech before scuttling back off to its cave.

“Are we going after it?” Theo spluttered, though he had little desire to do that even with Baku by his side. Who knew what else was in those caves!

“No,” Baku growled. “It was simply protecting its nest.”

“It wasn’t going to eat me?”

“Yes, but it would not have done so immediately and would instead have taken you back to the cave to feed its young.”

Theo turned at that and took a good look at his monster. Baku was surveying the scene around them, fists clenching and unclenching. He looked at the route the pincher monster had taken and then across to the forest. He looked if not angry then almost…brooding.

“You should have stayed next to me,” he said before grasping Theo’s arm and pulling him close.

“Umm…okay…”

“You will be fine,” he added. “And I would have killed the garwei had it injured you, but this should not have happened. Stay next to me,” he said again.

Theo shook his head and moved his gaze to his arm where there was a clear slice across the lower part of the forearm. It was not as big as Theo had expected it to be and was bleeding sluggishly now.

“Its attempts to eat you are complicated by the fact that its venom?—”

“Venom?”

“—has a healing element which will ensure that your wounds close over quickly.”

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