I'm rotting inside
My flesh turns to dust
It can hear the soft patter of her heart, unfazed by the rotting stench that fills her nostrils. Her breath doesn't catch and her eyes don't widen in disbelief or wonder. Standing in front of her it's as though Infection is entirely normal, but it can feel her pressing gaze. She's observing it like hundreds have before her. For decades it had been a spectacle, a strange relic of Beqanna, that should have certainly been left in the dirt.
Months have melted into years. It almost forgets the changing of seasons until a dry, hot breeze threads through fragments of its ribcage and tattered flesh. This is the world again. It once held this forsaken shit pile in the palm of its hands once, but that was long ago. Now, it holds nothing. No power. No glory. Only memories of what it once was. This, however, is more than this girl can say. The expression on her face is a blank slate, an unwritten story. It regards her quietly as she offers a welcome to the Valley. The clicking of its teeth in thought fill the silence briefly until it idly crunches down on a squirming white maggot.
"Am I alive?" It doesn't know whether it's thinking aloud or responding to her question. Being alive is having the necessity to eat, procreate, and and continue a life cycle. Certainly it doesn't need to eat, but it wants to. Procreation is an added bonus but a rare thing to come by when its body is so torn and ragged. Life cycle? It never truly ends. "So I am," the grating of its voice claws her ears. There is nothing alluring or smooth in its neglected, raspy voice.
Unable to hold back, the deathcrawler inches toward her. Its mouth finds the arch of her neck quickly like a moth to a flame. It doesn't notice the trail of drool lying in its wake while it trails down her withers. When was the last time it touched a female? She is young - too young - but still its body shudders to life. "Who are you?" The question is spoken with lips of poison. It truly cares not who she is or what her name is; no one really matters.
Then its hunger can be satisfied.
infection