Available Darkness Season 2

then break open as drops of dark blood started to fall, first in a trickle and then in a gush, pouring from the widening wound as the terrible something under his skin began to burrow out.
    Duncan choked on his scream as the creature surfaced; an inch in width, a bulbous, dark, segmented body, with hundreds of tiny legs skittering from the open wound of Jacob’s hand, and snaking its entire length — nearly a foot long — in a slither around Jacob’s left hand like a pet millipede from a world of monsters.
    “Open wide,” Jacob said, his right hand prying Duncan’s mouth open further.
    The old man struggled, but the pain in his back made movement impossible. He tried closing his mouth, moving his head, everything and anything, but Jacob’s grip was too strong. All Duncan could do was watch in wide-eyed horror as Jacob moved his left hand, and the terrible creature in it, towards his mouth.
    “No!” Duncan screamed in a muffled, gagging cry as Jacob forced his jaw even wider, and pressed his tongue into the bottom of his mouth to prevent it from moving as he brought the parasite closer. The insect-like creature unspooled from Jacob’s hand, descending slowly like a rope with its thousands of moving legs, wiggling and eager to burrow.
    Oh God, help me!
    Jacob’s parasite dropped into his mouth.
    Duncan lay helpless as the monster burrowed into his throat, then down on its way to God knows where.
    Duncan cried for Jacob to let go of his mouth, but Jacob just kept smiling like a maniac, holding him in place.
    “Relax, Mr. Alderman. I gave you a choice, and you chose wrong. Fortunately for you, I care too much to let that happen. So, I’m deciding for you. Only now, Mr. Alderman, are you are one of us. One of the winners.”

    * * * *

CHAPTER 2 — John

    Hope’s voice faded to a barely-there wisp a second after John heard it, and was just fleeting enough to make him wonder if it was only cruelty of loneliness and memory blending to taunt him with a lie from his mind’s eye.
    He was again alone, lost in the darkness.
    Where am I? How long have I been out?
    Only after his eyes adjusted to the gloom did John realize he wasn’t in complete darkness. Above him, thin slits of moonlight illuminated the brick circular wall spiraling upward. Beside him lay a pair of charred bodies and the scattered remnants of who-knew-how-many skeletons. He was, he realized, at the bottom of an old well transformed into something else — a tomb for his kind. Once the sun devoured the moon, John would be charred, just like his wellmates.
    He scanned the darkness, searching for any weaknesses, or something he could use to climb out from the well. It took him less than five minutes of squinting and running his hands along the wall before John found the outline of a door, like a grin in the brick.
    He pressed his fingers against the cold metal of the door, feeling for anything — a slot, a door knob, anything to help him pull or push it open. Finding nothing, John used his shoulder instead, ramming at the door which should have sent it bursting open, but it didn’t budge.
    He banged on the door with the full brunt of his folded knuckles, alternating between fist and shoulders. Though both pounded hard enough to knock the door from its hinges, John couldn’t manage to rattle the door in its frame.
    Something was wrong. John was weakened, with everything in him ebbing.
    He tried to focus enough to send a blast of energy at the door, but nothing would come from his hands.
    What did Shadow do to me? Have I been out so long that I need to feed?
    He didn’t feel the hunger, but John had grown so used to going longer in between feedings that he wasn’t even sure he would recognize it if his energy dropped too far. The few times he’d been depleted on the job, he had enemies to feed from. Now, there was no one nearby.
    “Hello?” he shouted, hoping someone was on the other side of the door. He banged hard on the metal, shouting louder and getting nothing back. “Why are you doing this?”
    No response.
    John wondered if his captors, assuming Shadow wasn’t working alone, were on the other side of the door, or if they’d simply left him alone to burn come sunrise. He closed his eyes trying to gain a clearer sense of his surroundings, to see if he could sense anyone nearby. As he tuned into the world, he could feel life teeming around him in the dirt: insects, rodents and birds above, and even a fox somewhere nearby.
    No people,