A Most Ingenious Trap

132.

Clarissa just didn't understand how the two idiots couldn't understand how they had been repeating each other over and over again for two whole days, their bodies already showing the time their minds did not recognize. She worried she too was losing her mind, and her assumption that they couldn't see it was also just a replay of the events. But she'd been able to do things, effect things, she had marked on a sign the days they'd been there just to tell herself time was advancing.

"You can't save them." The voice caused Clarissa to jump. She had been so lost in her own fears and thoughts she didn't even notice the ragged looking woman in front of her. Her clothes were torn, her skin showed signs of self harm, the eyes a crazy gleam.

"Who are you?"

"You're all dead, it wants you here, it trapped all of us for you and now its got you!" She pulled a knife and sliced her throat in front of Clarissa. Clarissa didn't even react, the woman killed herself in a horror of blood and all Clarissa could do was shrug and think "God today sucks" she'd become so desensitized to the work as an exterminator watching someone kill themselves was just another day. It did alert Clarissa there was definitely something causing this, and potentially other crazy people in the town of bend she might have to deal with. She made a journey back to the van where Trezlan and Gilbert were playing out their road show, made sure to give them both water again as she'd been doing the last few days, and loaded up on weapons and ointments to take down whatever was in town.

Trezlan had claimed he'd used a lot of rituals in town and Clarissa could see the results of them. Just weird blood writing scrolled on to everything. She assumed that was Trezlan and not the creature. She had hoped Trezlan failed because he couldn't see the creature, and less the creature was too powerful. Clarissa had made it back to the center of town when she saw them. They looked almost to be human at first, just shambling towards her. It wasn't until she could make out the insect like creatures attached to their heads she witnessed the full horror approaching her.

There were five of them at first, and then more as Clarissa stood there in horror. The woman killing herself wasn't an issue. Some kind of parasite moving people against their will? This was true terror. She put some arrows in the nearest ones and they went down without too much trouble. The remaining alive released a high pitch scream that hurt her ears at a distance. With the screaming the shambling corpses picked up their pace at approaching her. Clarissa made for the nearest building she could find, which had the door mercifully open. She got inside and slammed it shut locking the door behind her. The parasites slammed on the door over and over trying to get in, but it was a hard metal security door she felt safe at least.

Clarissa had shut herself into a two story building, she cursed herself for not fully exploring the town prior. Hoping at the time to fix Gilbert and Trezlan she didn't bother to find out anything about Bend much to her detriment. She now had the parasites and whatever was controlling them to contend with. As she hesitantly walked up the stairs, she could smell something in the building that had her neck hairs stand up. When she got to the top of the stairs the smell was almost overwhelming and she could see why.

At the top were more parasites latched on to people, draining them. They were connected to the former walls of the building like some grotesque alien like nightmare. Clarissa almost screamed, but was afraid that would alert the creatures. In the center of the loft like second floor was what Clarissa assumed was the "mother" of the creatures, a bloated bile spewing creature that was giving birth and decorating at the same time.

"Welcome child." The voice was in her head, the creature looked at her it's several hundred eyes. "Welcome to the family."