The Zombie Clam lined up its Nervejack spike tail with the gaps in Cleo’s vertebrae.. And with a sickening crack, it plunged deep into her neck, squirreling its way into her spinal cord., spreading out fine roots and subsuming her nervous system for itself.

Cleo screamed into the body of the beast, and fumbled hopelessly trying in vain to get it out of her before her body refused to obey her commands.

But very soon, Cleo’s body would no longer be under her own control. This was a battle she had already lost.