08-12-2015, 09:39 AM
 Tyrna If we don't make it alive, well it's a hell of a good day to die
"No. No. Noooooo!" The steel girl jolted awake limbs thrashing and knocking painfully against stone. Another fucking dream. They were so real, the lines of reality blurred probably by her own small madness. The wolf laughed. Cackling in the recesses of her tortured psyche. Oh girl. As if I would ever listen to you. Ha, that should have given it away right there that this wasn't real. With a snarl, Tyrna straightened herself out and squeezed between the fallen boulders that served as an entrance to her little nook. She felt like she was in that hazy twilight zone that occurs around midnight, when the bumps in the dark are monsters and everything feels on the cusp of tumbling into madness. Her latest dream lingered on the fringes of her mind. The battle with the undead and the screams of her friend playing on a loop. Her wolf laughs and laughs. The sound of screams like music and the blood and pain a heady wine. This was what it wanted, the pain, the sorrow, the bloodshed. This was why it had followed her home. It reveled in the chaos. With a snort and a deep breath, Tyrna left the confines of her rocky hideaway and stepped out into the early morning sun into another nightmare. Everywhere, they were everywhere. The friends she had talked with as the herd bedded down for the night, lay motionless on the ground. Mares that had sought shelter among the boulders as she had, were splayed grotesquely outside the mouths of their caves, and everyone else was still and scattered. Comfortably resting on the ground. They were so still. So, so quiet. Tyrna could hear the breeze whistling through cracks and crevices, and no more. She walked over to the nearest body, legs trembling, eyes losing focus and not truly seeing what was in front of her. "This is another dream, another test", she thought to herself, "surely I will wake any minute and everyone will be right where they were last night." It didn't matter that most of them were as she left them last night, when she woke it would change. It would all change. Tyrna could feel her heart rate speed up, her adrenaline telling her to run but her mind stuck in the realm of disbelief. Reaching out one shaky hoof, She nudged the corpse before her. It looked so fresh, any minute surely it would wake up and all would be well. The flesh felt cold and heavy. The kind of heavy that hangs and clings to your skin, making you feel tired and worn. She nudged it again, eliciting movement only at the point of contact. All the while the wolf crooned in her ear. Dead, dead, dead. They're all dead. No more moving, no more fighting. Alone, alone, alone. It's you and me love, always be. Tyrna snarled and screamed, now kicking the limp body hard as she could, willing it to breath. Her strength proved too much for the corpse, and soon, too soon, she was merely smashing bits of bone and eat to a pulp beneath her hooves. Each stamp of her legs causing blood to spray and stain her legs. Only when she had pulverized the body was she convinced it wouldn't get up, so she moved to the next. Her mind blank and numb, retreated to that place of disbelief where everything would eventually get better. She continued for hours, smashing the corpses to dust in the attempt to wake them up. As the last stroke fell, ironically on Sunny, the girl made of steel fell heavily to her knees and wept. Over and over she heard the screams of her chestnut friend and the shatter of glass. She saw the hope extinguished in the eyes of her child that never was, and paper skin of her soul mate torn and bleeding. She cried and howled, and felt the wolf roiling under her skin ready to break free. She gave up. The gibbering madness that was always lurking in the dark, waiting for the moment to strike, was set loose. In the face of so much grief and loss she snapped. Legs like a newborns slowly heaved her upright and she walked away. The smell of death and blood, decay, rot, usher her forward into the mountain. When the herd woke up they would be so mad at her, she knew. It was only a matter of time they would be after her howling for blood for what she had done to them. Butch, Cassidy, Sundance, all of them would list after the chance to rip her throat and watch the life drain from her eyes. They would be angry, so angry. She left them behind, alone in the dark, scattered like crumbs. All this and more she thought to herself as she scrambled up the broken rock and shifting soil of her mountain. It was hers now. She had killed the others and claimed the territory for them. For her and the wolf. The wolf would never leave her, it was her only friend. It always was. The walk to the other side of the mountain was hard and food was growing scarcer and more repugnant. Oh how the mighty have fallen. As days grew longer, she grew thinner. Her once bright eyes dull and wild. Her moonlight mane tangled and ragged. Her gunmetal hide pocked and stretched tight against sharp ribs. But the wolf was there. Always there, urging her on and laughing at her anguish until the howl became a comfort, it's laughter soothing her. It whispered such wonderful ideas. When water grew scarce it suggested that she drink her own blood. For surely since it was a liquid it would slake her thirst. When the grass no longer sustained her, It reassured Tyrna that since it are flesh she could as well. Since she was the only flesh around it only made sense that she take a bite. Her legs no longer needed it and it would fill her right up. So she did. The wolf laughed and laughed, encouraging her that she was doing the right thing. This continued for a week, then she couldn't get up. Infection had started. Her legs torn and flayed, a motley collection of ragged wounds and half healed, pus filled scabs. At last they had simply list the strength to carry the weight of her thoughts. The wolf came to her then. Solid and smiling. After so long in the confines of her mind it was finally free. Her madness giving it form. The wolf was sleek and plump, feeding of her fears and sorrows. It's coat the color of the midnight sky, dark and glittering with stars. It was born of a god so why shouldn't it look the part? Oh Tyrna it crooned to her, so sweet and safe, it's voice gaining volume until it was all that was left. Just the voice and the stars. You have done so well, so well, carryingfeedingholding me high in your head. So tell me, pick a number. Pick a number before you feel the bite of my teeth. It smiled at her, so impossibly wide. Wide enough to swallow stars, swallow galaxies, and she grinned back. After all they had been through together she would be happy to lose herself in that smile. "Two I pick two." After all, it had only been those two, the wolf and steel girl, from the beginning. Silver dapple sabino|Mare|Andalusian Hybrid|Falls |