Shota furrowed his brow. “What am I missing?”
Husher smiled thinly. “Me.”
Epilogue
Location unknown
Brood-occupied space
The sky above him looked wrong. It looked like it was pulsing, like a living organism. Like the world itself was alive.
He realized he was lying on his back, staring upward. With effort, he managed to turn his head to the side.
Where was he? Wherever it was, it had an atmosphere, or at least, he wasn’t having any trouble breathing. And there was gravity.
He felt strength coursing through his body. He felt like a compressed spring, ready to surge forth. It felt…incredible.
Might as well put that to use.
He stood up...and up...and up.
He was, he realized, emerging from a chrysalis. He was being…born.
Reborn.
He stared down at himself. His legs were unnaturally long, and thick. There were claws that extended from his ankles into the ground, granting him extra balance. His knees were knobby, and seemed to bend in exactly the wrong direction, like someone had taken them off and put them on backwards.
He also had an extra set of limbs. He wanted to call them arms, but he could clearly see that they weren’t arms. They were more clawed appendages, just like his legs. Like a spider’s, but ten thousand times thicker. There were other, shorter appendages that sprouted from his midsection, and they ended in multiple claws, which looked good for grasping. And rending.
He experienced a flash of recognition. For a moment, he could see images in his head of multi-limbed creatures leaning over him, inspecting him. Then slowly taking him apart, like a real-life horror vid.
They’d had limbs just like the ones he had now, hadn’t they? But they’d also had strange faces that were all fangs and teeth. He reached up with one of his new appendages to feel his face.
It was foreign. It felt like his chin was jutting out all wrong. His skin felt like sandpaper. He felt his mouth, and it was nothing but razor-sharp teeth. He tried to slide his tongue over his teeth, but it flicked out and back, refusing to follow his commands.
Still, he had enough evidence. He didn’t need more.
He was one of those things, now. He wasn’t Husher any longer. Whatever they’d done to him when they’d taken him apart, they had made him just like them when they put him back together.
But he could still sense his old self somewhere, hidden deep inside this new insectile body. He flexed his middle appendages and again took stock of the immense strength he had access to, now. Whatever they’d done, he felt better than he’d ever felt in his life.
He felt alive. He felt…hungry.
But it wasn’t a hunger for food. Instead, he had an insatiable appetite for revenge.
Revenge on the one who’d put him here.
Revenge on the one who didn’t deserve to share a name with him.
And as the lust for revenge radiated through his very being, it was as if there were a million billion minds answering back, eager to feel the same way. Desperate to do his bidding.
It was intoxicating. A positive feedback loop of hatred.
There was something else…something besides his immense power. There was new knowledge, too.
He stepped away from the remains of the chrysalis that had held him. Vegetation surrounded him. This was a lush world, or at least it had been. Now it looked sickly and infected. Stringy mold covered everything from the shrubs and trees to the dirt underfoot.
His new knowledge was this:
The Brood was a single organism. This universe was, too. It was all connected. It was all a part of him, and he a part of it. All of it, a single organism.
That organism had a name, and he knew what it was. Just as surely as he knew he’d never call himself Husher again. This new name was his name. For he was everything, and everything was him.
His new name…
…was Woe.
“I will bring death to those from the Milky Way,” he said, and he felt the million billion minds all respond instantly in agreement, their blood lust pungent on his newly-alien lips. “To those who destroyed my universe, I shall destroy theirs. An eye for an eye. A universe for a universe.”
Woe to those who would interfere with him.
Woe to those who struggled feebly against the Brood.
Woe to the one he would have his revenge on.
Woe to humanity.
Woe to Husher.
To be continued…
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Acknowledgments
On behalf of Joshua and Scott, thank you to Scott’s Alpha Team, who have been reading this book since its earliest stage and who’ve provided substantial feedback along the way, which helped us develop the story with our readers’ desires foremost in mind. They are Rex Bain, Sheila Beitler, Bruce Brandt, Colin Oliver, Jeff Rudolph, and Ben Varela.
Thank you to Scott’s proofreading team, who helped eliminate scores of spelling and grammar issues. We take full responsibility for any mistakes that remain :) The proofreaders are Rex Bain, Sheila Beitler, Bruce Brandt, and Jeff Rudolph.
Scott would like to send a special thank you to his Patreon supporters at the Space Fleet Admiral level. Your support helps him to package his books as professionally as possible while staying true to what readers like best about them. The Space Fleet Admiral patrons are Eldon Adams, Brian Loeung, David Middleton, Lawrence Tate, and Michael Van De Hey. Thank you so much.
Thank you also to Patreon supporters Rex Bain, Richard Gunn, Alex Hamilton, Christian Kallias, John A Koenig III, Luke Lofgren, Daniel Mabry, Jason Pennock, Wynand Pretorius, Bill Scarborough, John Tava, Ben Varela, and Jerry Winiarski.
Thank you to Tom Edwards for creating such stunning cover art, as always.
Thank you to Steve Beaulieu for helping us make the book look as professional and attractive as possible with his top-shelf formatting and typography skills.
And thank you to Scarlett R. Algee for editing our work.
Scott would like to thank his family - Mom, Dad, and Danielle - your support means everything.
Thank you to the people who read our stories, write reviews, and help spread the word. We couldn’t do this without you.
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