This post was inspired by today's 5-minute writing prompt in the Freewriters Community - 24 January 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2626: peel the skin off
Enjoy !
Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio
Franzel clamped a calloused hand over Helen's mouth, stifling her scream.
They had been down in this cave complex for hours, trying to find their way back onto the surface of the alien words they were supposed to be scouting out. Was it safe for colonisation ? The monster slowly headed their way on a dozen legs said an emphatic "No !"
All they could do was hide in the crevice, pulling themselves as far back as possible, and hope the giant monstrosity didn't see them.
It stopped. Right next to the cleft they were in. Franzel could feel Helen shaking with fear. The creature was a horror of spikes, legs and barbs; just a head with spiky limbs.
Crouching down, the spider-like thing seemed to be ignoring them. It appeared to be focusing it's attention on a single boulder on the cavern floor, larger than the others, smooth and rounded.
Slowly, a pair of mandibles extended from it's huge crack of a mouth. The two tips pushed into the boulder as if the rock wasn't there. Only a little way; an inch or two at most. Then they pulled in opposite directions. Mandibles, teeth, mouth parts the universe over shouldn't move that way. It looked utterly alien and unnatural.
But wait. It was doing something to the boulder. It seemed to be trying to peel the skin off. Ever so slowly, ever so gently.
Finally it succeeded. Franzel and Helen saw what came out. Dozens, hundreds even. Young, tiny versions of the huge monster. The boulder wasn't a rock, it was a communal egg of some kind. And now they were stuck in a cave with a multitude of hungry new-born creatures.
All they could do was hope not to be noticed, and somehow get back to the surface to report that there was absolutely NO WAY this planet should ever be colonised.
