#fun fact! an 'exuvia' is the shell left behind after a bug molts. jonah can only see the shell of what adam was. he cannot accept what adam

[foster-the-moths]

exuvia (septendecim au)

warnings: some descriptions of body horror (much tamer than emergence) and some implied suicidal ideation

jonah starts his journey back to the house. they find adam, but not in the way they expected.

2,411 words. sequel to verify

it turns out jonah did not need to walk for an entire mile, after all. after walking for about 5 minutes, he had noticed a car with one of its windows rolled down on the side of the road. it wouldn't have been his first choice, a forest green car with the license plate 'TCHGEEK' was pretty recognizable, and if a missing report went out then jonah was fucked. but he really didn't /have/ a choice, and besides, he could just ditch it after he and adam found another one to steal.

it was a tough squeeze, but they manage to fit their arm through the gap and unlock the car. nice. now he could just hot-wire it. hopefully. they fish a screwdriver out of their jacket pocket and crouch down to unscrew the panel under the steering column, setting the screws in the center console cup holders. the panel comes off easily, and reveals a few bundles of wires. he makes quick work finding the battery wires, and stripping them down to twist them together with a pair of pliers. he holds his breath as the radio crackles to life, but relaxes as it just plays some news station, and not the voice of an alternate. they move on to finding the starter wire, and it was taking him a bit longer than he would've liked to find it with how badly his vision was swimming, but he wasn't about to quit now. if he could get the car up and running he could get to adam faster and they could have a quick escape. they weren't sure if the alternates from the house would follow adam outside or not, but better safe than sorry.

they held their breath as they connected the starter wire and nearly hollered in joy when the engine started up. thank god the wires on this car were the same as the last one. he's not really sure what happens if the wrong wires are connected, and he really doesn't want to ever find out. he slams the car door shut and puts his hands on the wheel.

…and then realizes he is probably in no condition to be operating a vehicle. fuck. he could barely connect the wires together, how on earth is he going to drive? god, they were never going to make it back to that godawful house, adam was still good as dead. they were useless. they should just give up and-

wait. no.

he presses his hands against his eyes, using the pressure to ground himself. they couldn't spiral. not right now. it was just the MAD talking, they were fine. he's driven short distances while high before, he can make it three-quarters of a mile with a concussion. they would be fine. adam would be fine. they were not useless. adam was still alive, they were not going to fail him again by offing themselves before they could even get to the house. they grit their teeth, and eased a foot onto the gas pedal. he was going to make it to that house or die trying. he sets the radio on the center console, and starts to inch the car forwards.

---

jonah counts his blessings as he pulls the stolen car up to the worst house in the world. they might've swerved and slammed the brakes the whole way there, and run over the curb as they parked, but hey! he wasn't dead. he thunks his head against the steering wheel, relieved. they grab the handle of the car door, yanking it and pushing outwards to stumble out into the street.

they leave the car running and the door open as they scan the front of the house for adam, squinting into the dark. this part of the neighborhood has no streetlights, and he wouldn't be surprised if the whole block was abandoned. whatever the reason may be, the lack of illumination proves to make searching for adam very difficult, especially when jonah is nursing what is most likely a concussion. maybe they should have angled the car towards the house so that the headlights would hit the face of the house.

instead he calls out, "adam?"

a beat of silence, then-

"jonah?" a crackling voice replies.

jonah looks towards where the sound originated, and finds a huddled mass on the front lawn, obscured by the dark. he carefully approaches, and stops five feet from where the figure lays.

he clears his throat, and then speaks, "when- uh- when is your birthday, and what do we do to celebrate?"

a shift, and then a voice. "january 18th. we… we go to the grocery store, buy whatever's in the bakery's reduced price section. nothing above seven dollars. or we just steal something. last year it was half of an apple pie," adam rasps, his voice hissing with an undertone of static.

jonah sighs in relief, unhunching their shoulders and throwing their head back to the sky with a grin. the static is strange, but he brushes it off. everything has sounded like that since he woke up, it makes sense that adam's voice is affected as well. he's found adam, and now they get the hell out of here.

"oh thank god," jonah laughs. "come on, man, i hot-wired a car on the way here, we can-"

"i can't get up," adam interrupts.

"you- what?"

"i… i think my legs are broken… or something. i can't walk right. my arms are broken too. i had to crawl out," adam confesses, his voice sounding small. he always did hate asking for help, and it appears that remained true even now.

"ah." christ, what did those things do to him? jonah thought alternates relied on mental anguish for their attacks, not breaking bones. "that's… not great. i don't think i can carry you. i'm pretty sure i have a concussion, and- uh- yeah," explains, cutting himself off sheepishly. they weren't really sure how to get adam to the car, and they couldn't just sit out here waiting for one of those alternates to come out of the house and maul them. they swallow down a tinge of fear at the thought, they had already spent too much time here. he felt like there were eyes on them, were they being watched? maybe adam was bait, maybe-

"oh… i- i think that if you put my arm over your shoulder i could walk. to the car, at least," adam suggests,

jonah blinks, dispelling the thoughts stinging their brain like a cloud of hornets. "okay, yeah… yeah i think i can do that," they assure, bending down to try and figure out how to get adam to his feet.

"okay. my left arm is… less broken than the other one. here," adam states, offering a limb and, yeah, even in the dark jonah can tell it is very much broken. he grimaces, dropping into a crouch and carefully laying it across his shoulder.

"does that… hurt at all? i don't want to make it worse," jonah murmurs, glancing at the dark shape of adam's shoulder like his entire arm might fall off if they jostle it too much.

"…not really," adam admits. "it's uncomfortable, but it doesn't hurt."

jonah swallows, making a mental note to read up on shock in the first aid books at hq. "okay, that's… concerning, but we'll deal with that once we get out of here. are you ready?" they look to adam, unable to make out more than a vague shape and a small amount of light bouncing off of his eyes and hair.

"yeah."

jonah stands slowly, supporting adam's weight as he flails his legs, trying to catch his balance. jonah's head screams in protest, but they grit their teeth and push through it. they stand still for a moment, before jonah coaches him through walking in unison, adam lurching along like a newborn deer. it definitely seems… strange, to say the least, adam's weight shifting in ways completely different from expected, but they make it work. soon, they are in front of the car, and jonah hoists adam into the passenger seat, stepping back to give him space.

jonah looks up to adam, and the words on his tongue die as his blood runs cold.

in the bright glow of the car light, jonah can finally make out adam's face. two fissures tear down his face from his eyes, lined with two perfect rows of pearly teeth. where his mouth would be, should be, is a smooth stretch of skin. something that looks like blood runs down his face, crimson streaming down his face in dried-up rivulets . jonah rips his gaze from the gruesome sight, but his eyes catch on the rest of adam's body. their eyes flit frantically, taking in ribs poking out of his chest from where they seem fused to his hoodie, raw flesh visible towards the middle, a grisly wound that ripples with his breath.

this is not adam. the thing in front of him has tricked him. they were such a fool to believe they hadn't left adam for dead, and now they were going to pay for it. this poor imitation of his friend would deliver him to death's doorstep, and he deserved it. a small part of his brain whispers in adam's devastated voice, "my body is wrong, i am not the real me."

"jonah?" adam croaks, "are you okay?"

jonah's gaze snaps to his eyes, the pupils of which seem to be spiking outwards across the whites. "yeah! yeah-yeah i'm- i'm fine! just… spaced out for a second, ha," jonah sputtered, his words a bit too rushed as he tears his eyes from adam. he was hallucinating, that's all. adam was fine! he was alive, and human, and everything else he should be! hell, if jonah looks at him out of the corner of his eyes then he looks normal enough! he's fine, but if jonah tells him what he's seeing, then he'll freak out. he just has to keep this to himself.

he strengthens his resolve, and rushes to close the car door, but adam throws out a hand to stop him, looking down. jonah follows his gaze, and just about keels over when he spots a leg with far too many joints spilling out onto the asphalt. adam brings the 'knee' to his chest, and the rest of leg slithers inside the car, pooling into the floor of the passenger side. adam does not look at them as he shuts the car door, a dull clunk leaving jonah the only one outside the car.

alone. in the dark. possibly with alternates waiting to gut him like a fish.

he scrambles to clear the front of the car, passing the headlights and grabbing hold of the driver's side door in a frenzy. they yank the handle with desperation, expecting for a hand to materialize out of the dark at any moment. he throws himself into the car seat, slamming the door behind him, and immediately fumbling to lock the car with the buttons on the door handle. after a series of reassuring clicks, he grasps the wheel and exhales, not realizing he had been holding his breath.

they avoid looking directly at adam, afraid of what they'll see, but in their peripheral they can see him facing them, teeth still running down his face like tear tracks, that's not him, that's not him-).

"jonah," adam starts warily, "are you... are you sure you're okay?" jonah spares him a quick glance out of the corner of their eye, before focusing on the dashboard.

"yeah, man! i'm fine, i just... uh... well," jonah stammers, floundering to find an explanation for his behavior. "um... you know how i said earlier that i didn't think that intruder guy's face could show up on the gps? well, uh, funny story, um. he did. that- that's why i crashed the car. so um. i think i might have MAD?" they stretch their mouth into a grin, hoping adam bought what was admittedly the truth, just... omitting some details.

"what?" adam blurts, disbelief in his tone.

"yeah, i've been, uh. seeing stuff out of the corner of my eyes and... um. yeah," jonah swallows, "it's uh, a bit hard to think."

"okay... fuck, i mean- can… can you even drive right now? you said you also have a concussion," adam inquires, a touch of worry lacing his tone.

jonah freezes, and then sobs out a laugh "shit, man. probably not… i mean, i barely got here in one piece. i don't think i could make it back to hq… ha, we're fucked! god…" he thunks his head against the steering wheel, and is rewarded with a spike of pain through his skull. what on god's green earth were they going to do now? they were doomed. they were doomed, and adam was not adam, and they might as well just-

"i… think i might be able to drive. just… crawl into the backseat, you probably need the rest anyways. i can handle this," adam remarks, his confidence betrayed by the waver in his voice.

jonah turns to look at him, and beyond the horrible illusion of his monstrous face, he sees a spark in his eyes. the same spark adam's normal eyes have, that says he isn't going to give in easily. and, well, jonah likely can't drive, and he certainly can't win an argument with adam right now. so they relent.

"…okay, yeah. sure. but if you kill us in a car crash, i'm never letting you live it down," they tease half-heartedly, moving to climb over the center console. he plops himself into the backseat with a huff, and adam slowly clambers his way into the driver's seat. he sets one hand on the wheel, which jonah notes is jutting out of his side above his hip. he forcefully bars the image from his mind. its not real. they don't what to think about what it means if it is. they don't want to think about what adam said over the radio. he fastens his seatbelt, and closes his eyes as adam slowly steers the car back into the road, the car jostling a bit as it goes over the curb jonah had run over before.

he doesn't sleep, but he lets himself drift off in a haze, only somewhat aware of his surroundings as adam takes them to hq.

#tmc septendecim au #the mandela catalogue #adam murray #jonah marshall #fun fact! an 'exuvia' is the shell left behind after a bug molts. jonah can only see the shell of what adam was. he cannot accept what adam #has become. yet :). they won't be able to deny it for much longer though #foster's writing tag