Chapter 26

Twenty-Six

The munchers on this side of the rip let them through with nothing more than a slight increase in their vibrations. They also followed them through, perhaps assuming that they were all supposed to be doing just that and maybe they were.

Theo wasn't sure what he had expected once they were back in his dimension. He had only his brief view of the infestation back in the army barracks as his reference point, and he remembered that there were hundreds of the munching monsters moving around the beach, eating anything there was to eat. Theo had assumed that was all they were doing there, just consuming, but he knew now that they were also protecting their queen as she ate through to another dimension, a new world, not one of nightmares and rages, not one of Baku's people or Theo's even, but a different world entirely.

And his government knew that.

And they'd told Theo and his squad fuck all about it.

Theo wondered how much more the governments of Europe knew about what was happening across the dimensions and had he just a little time to consider it he would have probably come to the conclusion that it was a great deal more than they were telling their people, but Theo didn't have time, because the moment they jumped through the rip and landed on the other side, they were surrounded.

There were thousands and thousands of them.

Tens of thousands.

And it wasn't that Theo could see them, though even in the early evening gloom he could given there was a full moon, but he could feel them. They moved back and forth across the beach, racing across the sand, clickering and vibrating. Space was tight, but they didn't bump into each other. They seemed to know where one of their kin was and moved around them. Theo could hear waves crashing in the distance, interrupted by the sound of the nightmares moving in and out of the sea, eating anything in sight, and those sea-faring nightmares also moved as one. They all did. Like a many-limbed creature. They were in sync. And they were closer to Theo than he had expected.

He took a step back, stumbling slightly as he did so. Adrenaline shot through him, and it was a fresh dose on top of what had hit him when he'd taken the serum and even before that when captured by the rage. It made him feel dizzy and not in a vibrating-as-almost-a-monster kind of way.

Theo was surrounded by things that wanted to eat him.

He'd known he would be, but reality was hitting him hard now.

He drew in a harsh, panicked breath which didn't quite feel like it had given him any oxygen. The rip was just behind him and for a brief moment Theo was tempted to walk back through…

Baku steadied him.

His monster was right there, as if he had known that Theo would need him to be, and he pulled Theo against him, ensuring that their skin touched one another, and that Theo's panic was calmed from whatever mysterious bond it was that Baku had given them.

"It is okay," he said.

It was not. It absolutely was not. The nightmares surrounded them, buzzing back and forth. One of them brushed in front of Theo, its glistening, purple skin moving against him in that horribly synchronised way. Theo's body responded before he could think to do otherwise and moved back. The munching monster clattered its teeth almost in greeting. Its four eyes swivelled and converged on Theo just like the one in the shop had, but only for a moment and then it turned, and it vibrated off in another direction entirely.

"They recognise you as their own," Baku added.

Theo looked down through the evening gloom at his purple arms. They were covered in goose bumps. He drew in several deep breaths in an effort to find his courage. It was buried pretty damn deep, but he got to it in the end.

He had no choice.

There was no turning back from this.

"It tastes of salt," Baku said, and Theo could only nod as he came back to himself.

He turned on the spot to take in the entire view. To the right and behind him was the nightmare-covered beach, and it felt like the entire thing was clicking and vibrating. To the left was the sea, also covered in nightmares. Directly in front of him was more of the beach, but this ended in the fields that existed also in Baku's world, the same ones they'd spent hours walking over. There were bright lights there and several helicopters flying around.

"That's the MDF," he said.

"They are doing well to keep up with them."

It was then that Theo realised he could hear gunshots. They had been partially disguised by the noises of the munchers.

"I wonder if my squad is down there?" Theo whispered.

"I hope so," Baku said. "I did not intend for them to be harmed in the shop."

"I know."

"I wanted only you."

"I know."

More gunshots, something that sounded like a small explosion, and then bullets again. "I never understood why they couldn't just shoot and shoot and shoot and deal with it that way," Theo said. "If they surrounded the infestation, I mean, and just fired constantly. I get it now though. There are just too many."

He turned again and followed Baku to where his monster was now walking, weaving in and out of the nightmares. It was away from the MDF and towards another bright, multi-coloured light in the distance.

They passed dozens upon dozens of the nightmares as they walked. Some brushed into Theo, others into Baku, but they all seemed to accept their presence. The serum was disguising them well…but they were on borrowed time...

"Look," Baku said, and he gestured to a clearing in front of them where there were dozens of huge, globule-like balls.

Theo knew what they were. He'd seen pictures of them in the very classroom where Becky had updated them on their mission. He'd never seen so many before though and as he watched the things inside them rolled and moved. A dozen or so munchers were tending them, moving around them, covering them in some sort of gelatinous liquid which stuck to the sand and pooled in clumps on the beach. Theo knew what they were doing, the understanding was given to him through the vibrations, and he shuddered slightly as he watched the hatching.

He skirted around the clearing, Baku by his side, as a handful of the eggs opened. Fresh munching monsters started to appear. They weren't full sized, but they were not far off. The moment they vacated the egg sac one of the adult munchers dropped a new egg in it and it closed back up. They covered it in more of the liquid.

Theo understood then why the MDF would never be able to keep with the nightmares, and Baku confirmed it when he said, "I have never known a creature who can breed as fast as they do. The queen will produce hundreds of eggs in every laying, and she can lay every day."

"She must need a huge amount of food to fuel that," Theo whispered.

"No," Baku said as he moved past a muncher. "The fluid is what grows them, and any nightmare can produce it."

The fluid was not pleasant. It reminded Theo of rotting eggs. He tried to breathe only through his nose as they skirted the clearing. Before long they were past it and they were getting closer to the multi-coloured lights now. They gave Theo a bad feeling, an unnatural feeling, and honestly it combined with the over-caffeinated feeling from the serum to make him dizzy all over again. He had to be really careful as he moved in between the munchers, and he had to dig deep to find the courage again.

It seemed to want to slip away.

Theo could not let it.

"There," Baku whispered as they moved between a large outcropping of rock. It adjusted their view ever so slightly, so the multi-coloured lights were clearer now. Theo leaned in against one of the rocks and let out a shuddery breath. "There she is," Baku added.

And though Theo couldn't see her then he suddenly realised that he could feel her.

It was the queen.