Freddy's demise, they all fell as one and
began lapping up the gore.
"Where they
come from?" said Olik in a whisper, still trying to pull the door shut.
"Dunno,
man," answered Xavier, panting. "I went through and looked back
and saw 'em, like, in the back of the car. Just there. Freaked the
shit outta me."
"And you not
come back for us?" said Olik.
"Tried.
Couldn't. It was a like a force field was in the way. All I could
get through was my arm."
Olik grunted as
though to say, "Interesting," but didn't spend any of his breath on
speech. Just bent his back to pulling the door. Jim thought about
trying to help, but couldn't see a place to squeeze in between the three people
already pulling at the car door. And part of him was too stupefied at
what he was watching to move. It was sickening. Fascinating.
And on a basic, primal level, somehow familiar.
How can it be familiar?
You've never seen this before. Never seen anything like this before.
But he couldn't
deny it. Like he was looking at a nightmare he had once had, a
half-remembered dream made suddenly flesh, Jim felt as though he had seen this
before. Or at least something like it.
Beyond the
still-open door, Jim saw two of the girls pick up opposite ends of one of the
shreds of Freddy's trench coat. They looked like they were maybe fourteen
years old. No older than sixteen. Young bodies, barely beginning to
change to womanhood. But their skin didn't contain the translucent beauty
of youth. It was gray and corrupt, flaking and disease-ridden. It
looked like the skin of corpses long-dead and even longer-forgotten. Open
sores festered on their cheeks, and Jim thought he could see things crawling in
the sores – maggots, or some other carrion-feeding insects.
The two girls
gripped the ends of the shred of Freddy's coat and began chewing it. Not
chewing on it, not like a dog with a rubber toy, but actually eating
it. Like a grotesque mockery of the famous spaghetti scene from Lady
and the Tramp , the two girls started chewing their way towards one another.
They reached the
center of the bloody rag/rope. When they came within an inch or two of
one another they seemed to recognize each other's existence for the first
time. Teeth still clamped around the gory cloth, they snarled.
Their eyes bulged, their jaws clenched.
Then they jumped at
one another. The girl on the left – a girl who might once have been a beautiful
young blonde girl but who was now a gaunt figure with mangy hair and thick
clusters of sores around her lips – immediately got the upper hand. She
coughed out the bit of Freddy's coat she hadn't consumed, and as soon as she
touched the other girl – a skeletal brunette with eyes sunken so deep in their
sockets they had almost disappeared – she clamped onto the other girl's face
with her teeth and began chewing.
The brunette
shrieked, but it was a wet, weak scream. And it terminated as, with a
triumphant shout, the blonde literally tore the brunette's face free from her
skull.
Jim gasped.
"Animals,"
whispered Olik. The huge man looked like he had just witnessed the
Apocalypse. "What could turn them into animals like this?"
The blonde girl who
had won the fight returned to slurping up the scattered patches of blood and
cloth that were all that remained of Freddy. Jim expected the other girl
to fall. The front of her head was literally nothing but a skull and
teeth, red and raw above a ragged blouse that was now stained by blood and bits
of skin. But she didn't fall, barely even seemed to notice her
wound. The brunette girl just crawled to a different spot in the
car. A blood-stained tongue snaked out from between her denuded teeth and
jaws, and she joined the rest of her sisters and brothers in licking the floor
clean.
Xavier didn't stop
trying to pull the dividing door shut, but he coughed suddenly. He
sounded like he was trying not to vomit.
The small horde of
ghoulish
began lapping up the gore.
"Where they
come from?" said Olik in a whisper, still trying to pull the door shut.
"Dunno,
man," answered Xavier, panting. "I went through and looked back
and saw 'em, like, in the back of the car. Just there. Freaked the
shit outta me."
"And you not
come back for us?" said Olik.
"Tried.
Couldn't. It was a like a force field was in the way. All I could
get through was my arm."
Olik grunted as
though to say, "Interesting," but didn't spend any of his breath on
speech. Just bent his back to pulling the door. Jim thought about
trying to help, but couldn't see a place to squeeze in between the three people
already pulling at the car door. And part of him was too stupefied at
what he was watching to move. It was sickening. Fascinating.
And on a basic, primal level, somehow familiar.
How can it be familiar?
You've never seen this before. Never seen anything like this before.
But he couldn't
deny it. Like he was looking at a nightmare he had once had, a
half-remembered dream made suddenly flesh, Jim felt as though he had seen this
before. Or at least something like it.
Beyond the
still-open door, Jim saw two of the girls pick up opposite ends of one of the
shreds of Freddy's trench coat. They looked like they were maybe fourteen
years old. No older than sixteen. Young bodies, barely beginning to
change to womanhood. But their skin didn't contain the translucent beauty
of youth. It was gray and corrupt, flaking and disease-ridden. It
looked like the skin of corpses long-dead and even longer-forgotten. Open
sores festered on their cheeks, and Jim thought he could see things crawling in
the sores – maggots, or some other carrion-feeding insects.
The two girls
gripped the ends of the shred of Freddy's coat and began chewing it. Not
chewing on it, not like a dog with a rubber toy, but actually eating
it. Like a grotesque mockery of the famous spaghetti scene from Lady
and the Tramp , the two girls started chewing their way towards one another.
They reached the
center of the bloody rag/rope. When they came within an inch or two of
one another they seemed to recognize each other's existence for the first
time. Teeth still clamped around the gory cloth, they snarled.
Their eyes bulged, their jaws clenched.
Then they jumped at
one another. The girl on the left – a girl who might once have been a beautiful
young blonde girl but who was now a gaunt figure with mangy hair and thick
clusters of sores around her lips – immediately got the upper hand. She
coughed out the bit of Freddy's coat she hadn't consumed, and as soon as she
touched the other girl – a skeletal brunette with eyes sunken so deep in their
sockets they had almost disappeared – she clamped onto the other girl's face
with her teeth and began chewing.
The brunette
shrieked, but it was a wet, weak scream. And it terminated as, with a
triumphant shout, the blonde literally tore the brunette's face free from her
skull.
Jim gasped.
"Animals,"
whispered Olik. The huge man looked like he had just witnessed the
Apocalypse. "What could turn them into animals like this?"
The blonde girl who
had won the fight returned to slurping up the scattered patches of blood and
cloth that were all that remained of Freddy. Jim expected the other girl
to fall. The front of her head was literally nothing but a skull and
teeth, red and raw above a ragged blouse that was now stained by blood and bits
of skin. But she didn't fall, barely even seemed to notice her
wound. The brunette girl just crawled to a different spot in the
car. A blood-stained tongue snaked out from between her denuded teeth and
jaws, and she joined the rest of her sisters and brothers in licking the floor
clean.
Xavier didn't stop
trying to pull the dividing door shut, but he coughed suddenly. He
sounded like he was trying not to vomit.
The small horde of
ghoulish
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