Flesh & Bone

Ah, there -

Another one.

They cover the Earth like pesky weeds. When she kills one, another seems to sprout up just as quickly. She knows she needs to get to the roots, but they’re sneaky creatures. They seem to hide just as she senses them.

But where?

There’s a place, that much she knows. If they pop up somewhere else, they can kill them with ease, but there’s something about that area where they seem to just disappear. Is there something special about that place? Someone special?

She’ll find out soon enough. They can’t sense them the way a human smells or sees, but they can feel them. It makes their bodies vibrate, the very semblance of their being ignite with dread and anticipation.

“Maybe they die there,” her brother had once suggested a decade ago. “The humans get to them first.”

Of course that can’t be the case. They emerge like stars and they die like stars. It’s always a wonderful spectacle. Akin to humanlike ecstasy.

She rubs her temple even though she can’t have headaches. She does have her own pains, of course, their existence being a prime example, but it doesn’t hurt. Not in that sense.

“Another one.”

“Already gone,” she replies, sighing. “I can’t feel it anymore.”

Her other brother looks up, in the process of sharpening his weapon. “Shall we get going anyway?”

She closes her eyes. She loathes taking on a human form, but the work they do is vital. “Yes.”

How many has she killed? She can’t recall the number. It isn’t nearly enough, however.

She brandishes a scythe and they set off.