Another Part of my Halloween special where every story published is moved up by a chapter. In this case, it's actually finished. Enjoy!

It's amazing how quickly things can go wrong. One moment you're doing fine, the next you've slipped and are staring death in the face. I didn't have to worry about the roots, it was practically intuition to avoid them. But the mud was a different story.

It was jarring to say the least. I was so close, but fate had different ideas. I slipped, my head whacked against a root I had just avoided. I saw blackness. I heard ringing.

I saw stars. I heard scuttling.

I saw teeth. I heard hissing.

I saw an eye. I heard the *ssssss* of acid burning the earth around me.

I felt fear like nothing I ever felt before.

I felt it's jaws close around my prone form. I was an easy meal.

I felt the earth leave me as it picked me up, teeth somehow not breaking the skin as I was lifted from the ground. The forest blurred as it, as we, moved.

The fear, the head injury, it was just too much. I briefly blacked out.

I came to with a kid in my face.

"Hey, are you okay?"

I was too woozy to even be startled by the boy. The jackhammer percussion section in my head was taking up far more attention anyways.

"Who… what-!"

Scratch that, my attention is fully on the situation at hand. You do not ignore the towering bug monsters for a headache, no matter how bad it is.

I screamed, and scrambled back or at least tried to. What came out was more of a whispering imitation of an actual scream, and I didn't really manage to get out of a prone position, my arms propping me up behind me.

"What's wrong?! How can I help? Are you hurt?"

I just collapsed onto my elbows and pointed at the creature behind him. He looked back, confused before a look of realization spread across his face.

"Ohh, Centipeetle's scaring you? Don't worry, she won't hurt you."

I just blinked at him.

"Really?"

The question came out in a nearly breathless sigh. I couldn't believe it.

He nodded vigorously, words coming out in a rush.

"Yeah, I mean, there was a little trouble at first when she first emerged, and the acid was sort of a problem, but now she's with her family so it's all good, right?"

The last part of the answer seemed more directed at the "centipeetle" than me, but I still took the reassurance for what it was worth. And for her part, the centipeetle nodded and… shrugged? Man, that's really weird with so many arms.

They looked like a demented mixture of a millipede, and a eastern lung dragon, with a bit of lovecraft sprinkled on top for good measure. Not to mention that plating… actually it's quite pretty come to think of it not attached to a creature I'm worried is going to eat me.

Sudden tiredness hit like a truck. I flopped completely on the ground, no longer having any energy or motivation to stay propped up. The floor was covered in a fine layer of white hairs, like my neighbor's apartment*.

I just lay there while the boy fussed over me. I was too out of it to listen. I wasn't going to die. I was safe. Eventually, though, one of his questions made it through my haze.

"Do you need any help back?"

I wasn't sure how he could possibly help, he was just a kid, but I nodded regardless. It was getting late and my legs were pretty much jelly. I probably wouldn't make it home without help, not before nightfall anyways. And there were rumors about tigers in these woods… though considering my current company I doubt any tigers would stick around.

"Okay then, *hup*!"

… okay then. The kid's strong enough to lift me by himself. I'm just too tired to care anymore.

"So which way is your house?"

I made a gesture and a groan that sounded faintly like "path".

Before he even took three steps I felt myself being lifted. Again.

By massive jaws. Again.

Whatever. I'm just done.

"Hey, hey! What're you doing?"

The boy wasn't though.

"Wait, what… ohh… no, no it's okay. I can walk. He's not that heavy."

I cracked an eye open at the feeling of the being tugged away from the boy, and glanced around. The boy was situated in Centipeetle's mane while I was placed in it's tail pincer.

His only response was squawking screech and the creature reaching it's head around to nuzzle him.

"I'm not going to be able to change your mind, am I? *Sigh* Fine… just, be careful. Okay? Don't let anyone see you. I don't think they're going to be so willing to listen, even if I'm here."

It gave it's best approximation of a purr, a sound I'm not even going to try and comprehend right now. We were off to the races.

And races it was, the familiar sights of the forest blurred around us. Trees and flowers were just stripes of brown and streaks of color. Blurs became blackness.

I took a short nap. I was just so tired. Plus, it was surprisingly comfortable in the grip of Centipeetle's pincer.

It carried me to the edge of the woods. Besides the prickly edges of the pincer, the ride was pretty smooth. All of those legs must make it easy to glide over those roots and uneven patches. I didn't wake up once.

I came to at the edge of the woods. The boy carrying me again and we were heading towards the police station at the edge of town. I guess I didn't ever tell him where I lived, so that would probably be a good place to ask.

I was a bit better now, so I excused myself. Before I left though, the boy formally introduced himself as Steven. He gave me his contact information, which I accepted in my groggy haze. He told me that if I ever needed to contact him about anything he saw today or if I wanted to meet with Centipeetle again that I shouldn't hesitate to give him a call. A glance at the treeline and a flash movement far too big to be a tiger. It was real; I'm not sure how I feel about this. I Needed to head home: there was a lot I needed to think about.

But there was one thing I did manage to figure out before I got to my door: what kind of sign to put up.

"Do not disturb"