The cry erupts into a full-blown screech; the Captain's ears scream in pain.

  AAAAAAAAAA

  Rayne casually puts her bloody hands on her ears and walks to the next spot. Her white hair absorbs some of the blood. The Captain turns his lighter off, puts it in his jacket's front pocket and covers his ears. The pain is unbearable. He cannot see Rayne's face, she is holding her ears firmly, walking and calmnly observing the scales.

  AAAAAAA........heeeeeeeee

  The cry is stopped by what sounds like an inhalation. A childish inhalation. The Captain loosens his hands, uncovering his ears.

  Silence.

  AAAAAAAAAAA

  The screech restarts. The Captain covers his ears again, this time harder. He can see Rayne's face now. He cannot hear her but her lips read "Its close".

  AAAAAAA....heeeeee...heee...heeee

  The painful screech is replaced by inhalation sounds.

  "What is this noise?"

  "Any flexible tube can make noises like this," Rayne slowly uncovers her ears. Her hair is painted with two red stains around each ear. She casually points to a scale "this one!". The Captain watches her for a moment. He grabs his pocket knife, walks to the scale and removes it with one hand. The other hand removes his pocket lighter and sparkles it on. The purple flame lights up a large portion of the worm. The crying scream is replaced by unbearable moaning. The sound waves traveling in the enormous tube make small visible jitters. The Captain removes a giant scale from the worm's skin, Blood oozes from the exposed flesh.

  AAAHhheeeee......AAAAHhheeeee....AAAAHHHheee...

  Moaning continues.

  "It is desperate and it is being creative," Rayne calmly adds as she slowly inserts her arms into the flesh, increasing the oozing flow.

  The dancing purple light in the captain's hand lights up her face. Her eyes reflect the purple. She looks calm. The Captain is unsure if one of her eyes reflect the purple slightly more intensely than the other eye.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The worm starts screaming again.

  The Captain covers Rayne's ears with his elbows and covers his own ears with his fists, turning the lighter off in his fist. The hot metal burns the inside of his fingers.

  It takes him a few seconds to realize what he has done. The loud screaming does not let him think straight. "Why did I just do that?"

  The screaming gradually loses intensity. He uncovers his left ear. Not painful. "Should I let go?"

  It took him a few seconds to realize that the woman is trying to turn her neck to look at him. He immediately lets go and takes a step back. Rayne arches her spine and twists her back to look at him without turning her neck. Their eyes catch for a few seconds. The Captain is uncomfortably conscious about his breathing. Rayne slowly straightens her back and twists her neck. She smiles. "It is in this segment."

  It took him a few seconds to realize what she meant "Oh! You found the central nervous system?"

  Rayne nods and turns to the front, "I am mapping the exact location right now."

  "Go ahead, take your time, I got your back. I do this all the time." He does not know why his mouth won't stop the words from coming out.

  The moaning gets louder "Maybe she did not hear me."

  Rayne slowly removes her arms from the flesh. She takes measured steps down the hill. Blood dripping from both of her hands. Her hair... . The Captain is certain her hair used to be white. She faces the worm and takes a few steps back.

  "That one" ??

  Rayne points to a scale very high. Blood is dripping from her fingers; the white flashlight on her chest brightly lights up the segment she is pointing at.

  The height of the scale is out of rich for the Captain, but that has never stopped him before. He unzips a small tool bag on his belt, finds and grabs a climbing nail. He removes his favorite hammer from the other side. BANG. The hammers pushes the nail into the tough rock-like scale in front of his face. He hangs the hammer to his belt and grabs his pocket knife. Takes a few steps back, measures the situation up and down, takes a deep breath, and runs. He jumps and uses the nail as a step to reach the upper border of the scale with his knife, he hooks his knife into the border of the scale and hangs from the handle. The knife, trapped, holds his weight for a few seconds. Slowly, the scale peels off. The Captain pushes his other hand's finger into the edge of the scale and presses both feet against the worm, peeling the scale off while falling back on the snow. The snow makes a comfortable cushion for his fall.

  The moaning changes, now it sounds like a human crying.

  The Captain looks behind him. Rayne is washing her arms in the snow. "How long has she been doing that?" Her arms are almost completely clean.

  She stands up. Fists her left hand and pushes her left thumb to her forehead. Closes her eyes, and whispers something under her lips.

  Rayne opens her eyes, faces the worm, reaches for the pocket in the curve of her lower back and removes a handgun.

  The crying changes, it sounds more like a human child.

  Rayne holds the handgun with both hands, wrapping her fingers around the grip and the trigger. Closing one eye she aims at the freshly exposed flesh.

  The sound of the crying changes. The Captain is certain... it is the cry of a newly born baby. He is certain.

  WAIT!

  BANG!

  The Captain does not know if the words came out of his mouth or not. The loud bang of the gun resonates in the mountains. Followed by a dead silence.