Whumperless Whump - 9
Dropping Like Flies: Multiple whumpees / Caretaking while sick or injured / "I'll get some rest soon, I promise."
@whumperless-whump-event
Oh look it's that parasitic worm story I mentioned a few days ago. :]
Content Warning
Parasites, Parasitic Infection, Animal Attack, Body Horror
Lil Notes
Not canon compliant/Parasites AU
The feral dog stumbled, its loose skin dragged against the ground, chunks of fur simply falling out. It wasn't alive, hadn't been for days now. But the parasite piloting it was, in fact, it refused to die. It hauled the corpse along, tendrils feeling the air for signs of other nervous systems.
It found some.
x~x
Siades swept the grounds with his eyes after the cadets, went to bed. Ever since the most recent expedition, he's been rather on edge. A pervasive feeling of wrongness seeping into his very being. He didn't take a torch, instead he used his own natural night vision, and the light of the moon.
Sometimes he found cadets goofing around after curfew, and he'd yell at them to go to their dorms. He never said it, but he was glad those were the only disturbances he found. Though, the night was usually without issues. He hoped they were learning, that they could understand what they were facing before they faced it.
But it never seemed to matter.
Siades froze when a foul stench hit his nose. He looked out into the wilderness beyond the barbed wire gate. An animal must've died somewhere. He hummed to himself, thinking. He might have to keep an eye out for wolves, make sure they don't attack his class. Still, maybe this could provide a good learning opportunity. Learn the smell of death, before it's one of their comrades.
However, by the next morning's light, Siades had noticed the smell was gone. He assumed that someone had dumped the carcass. Which was fine, he wasn't exactly a fan of dead animal smell. But, when he walked the grounds that night, checking along the perimeter. He found clumps of fur and rotting flesh clinging to the barbed wire where something had gotten in.
x~x
Mina was talking a walk at night. Siades had warned them multiples times not to leave their dorms after curfew, but she couldn't sleep. A sort of nervous excitement was bubbling up within her. She'd be graduating soon, and she was so proud of herself for going through with everything!
She paused suddenly, smelling something rather disgusting. She looked around, but didn't see anything. She was about to call out, when she spotted eyes staring at her from the darkness. But something about them didn't look right… No something was wrong, she needed to-
There was a pain in her neck, and everything fell apart.
x~x
Annie had found Mina the next morning, she was lying on the ground, but didn't have any visible wounds.
"Mina?" She asked, feeling confused. Why was she just lying on the ground like that? She knelt down and rolled her over, flinching from what she saw. Mina's eyes were wide open and glassy, foam oozed from her mouth. She made a painful sounding wheeze, twitching. The only indication she was still alive.
Annie jumped to her feet and ran to get help.
x~x
Hanna fidgeted, sitting on the training grounds next to Franz. She'd heard of what happened to Mina. Poor girl was found on the ground, apparently she'd suffered some sort of seizure, and now she was deathly ill. Siades wouldn't say what was going on, just that they all needed to keep an eye out.
"An eye out for what? What happened to Mina?" She put her head in her hands.
Franz wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close to him. "It's okay, Hanna, I won't let anything happen to you."
She leaned against him, feeling much safer in his arms.
The two stayed out longer than they wanted, the other cadets had already gone to the mess hall. However, Hanna wasn't too concerned, she had Franz. He would protect her. He always did. They were rather far, though.
She paused, looking around. "Do you smell that?" Something foul hit her nose, it smelled sickly sweet, but also utterly disgusting. She wasn't sure how to describe it.
"Smell wha-" Franz suddenly pulled her behind him. She peeked out, seeing something standing in the dark. Uncanny eyes gazing back at them. She froze. He gripped the wooden training sword hard, and ran at the thing, swinging. However, it moved blindingly fast.
Then, Franz was on the ground, convulsing and foaming at the mouth.
"Franz!" Hanna screamed, ignoring the danger, she ran to his side. She tried to restrain him, to shake him, to turn him over. Nothing helped. She didn't know what to do, she didn't-
x~x
Three people. Three people attacked by something.
Ymir was concerned. She could smell something rotten wandering around the grounds. It had gotten in and was picking them off one by one. She did her best to keep Krista close by. However, she couldn't keep Krista in her sight forever. She wasn't doing so well during exercises, so Siades sent her on a run during the rain. He didn't send her alone, but he did send Nack and Milieus to accompany her.
She imagined that they would've complained under any other circumstance.
x~x
"Come, on! Hurry!" Nack shouted from ahead of Krista. "The sooner you're done, the sooner we can go back inside!"
"I-I'm trying!" She panted, her pack pressing painfully on her back. She yelped as she tumbled to the ground.
Nack sighed, and walked over, helping her up. He adjusted the pack and suddenly her back hurt a lot less. "This'll distribute the weight more evenly, and make it easier to carry."
"Oh? Thanks!" Krista said. "Wait- where's Milieus?" The two turned, seeing him stumble forwards, head lolling from side to side, before unceremoniously falling to the ground. But… there was nothing behind him?
Krista jumped back, hearing Nack shout. Suddenly, he was nowhere to be seen. She ran, but something caught her leg-
x~x
A combination of fear, and rage filled Thomas as he stalked the training grounds. Something was hunting down his classmates, and he wasn't going to stand for it. He held out a torch, carefully searching around.
"Come, on!" A distorted voice called out.
He jolted, looking around frantically.
"Hurry! Hurry!" It sounded like someone had somehow copied the sound of someone speaking, and was just repeating it. But they had gotten something wrong, and it sounded off. Then, he saw it. It's body crunched and snapped, bones visible, and ensnared in some sort of blue worm. The head split open, the worm shooting out.
It hit him in the chest. He breathed hard, feeling it eat through his skin and sternum, and wrapping itself around his organs. It prodded and squeezed his insides, like it was testing something. He wheezed, falling to the ground. It pushed its whole, fractal-like body into him, writhing and twisting itself to fit his shape. Faint blue pulsed, where it bulged out under his skin.
His eyes rolled up into his head, and the world froze.
x~x
Cadet Wagner was found lying on the ground near the mostly decayed corpse of a wolf. He is currently under quarantine, along with the other cadets of the 104th class who suddenly fell ill. The cause seems to be an as of yet, undiscovered species of parasitic worm.
