good look around to make sure there ain’t nothing sneaking up on
you…then you run like hell. And whatever the hell you do, don’t you dare
scream.
Unfortunately,
things never had a chance to work out that way.
The dead woman
tore a chunk off the arm with her teeth and raised her blood drenched skull to
full view while she chewed the meat. The waitress stopped breathing as the
thing stared in her general direction while it lifted a hand to push more meat
into its lipless maw. Its jaw worked in a ghastly rhythm as the blackened
muscles still attaching it to the skull flexed in oily contractions.
For one brief
second Stacey thought the thing may have failed to see her, then it stopped
chewing as its shriveled eyes locked with hers.
The two
women…one dead and drenched in blood, and the other wide eyed in shock…stared
at each other across the small distance of gore spattered concrete. Stacey
swallowed as the grinning horror lowered the severed arm and tilted its head as
if puzzled by her sudden appearance. It made no noise as it regarded her, other
than a faint gristle-popping creak as its head now leaned the other way like it
was trying to figure out what to do about this new development.
The crows
rustled in the metal rafters above, eager to see the outcome of this meeting.
Stacey fought
the urge to whimper and held her breath…waiting for the one small move that
would dictate her next action. She tensed, eyes still locked with the monster
in the pale dress.
Time seemed to slow
to a stop.
Then the thing
lifted the arm back to its face and tore away another chunk of meat.
It didn’t walk
off, or even turn away. It just appeared content to watch her while it fed on
the arm of one of her coworkers. Stacey struggled not to gag, and kept her gaze
focused on the feeding corpse.
Now what?
She hadn’t had
time to adapt to this new reality…as if it were even possible…and didn’t know
what to do.
The young
waitress wanted nothing more than to turn and put as much distance between her
and this horror show as possible. She wanted Benny…and Marisa…and yes, Deke
too. The realization that all this gore had once been Arnold, Leon, and Tomas
was just beginning to sink in and she knew if she didn’t do something quick she
would break down right here…and that would be fatal.
But she was just
as afraid any sudden moves on her part would cause the rotten abomination in
front of her to attack. For the moment it remained satisfied with its current
meal, but the fact it continued to watch her had unsettling implications. She
felt like a fly that had caught the attention of a spider, but hadn’t jerked
the web hard enough to provoke it.
She didn’t dare
move, and she damn sure couldn’t stay here.
She was trapped.
And of course,
that’s when all hell broke loose.
Behind
her—actually, outside and somewhere to her right—a raucous storm of caws and
flapping wings erupted.
Her nerves tight
as a high tension wire, Stacey jerked her head out the door and whirled to her
right before thinking…and she knew as she did it things were about to start
happening very fast.
To her right,
the puddle of crows in front of the locker room door had launched into a cloud
of whirling night shadows as a hideous pale form lumbered into their midst. It
plodded and mewled, and it took a brief instant for the young woman to realize
what she saw.
It was a huge,
naked man…with three different horrors like the one she had just faced clinging
to him…and they were tearing him to pieces as they rode upon him. Deep bloody
gashes flapped open and closed along his back and sides as he waded out the
door and into the rain. Blood poured down him in streaming rivers, and great
gobbets of meat hung from places where they had been half gouged out of his
flesh. He sobbed and flailed at the things hanging on him, and even during the
split second she watched several more of the dead things clambered out the door
in pursuit.
In the
you…then you run like hell. And whatever the hell you do, don’t you dare
scream.
Unfortunately,
things never had a chance to work out that way.
The dead woman
tore a chunk off the arm with her teeth and raised her blood drenched skull to
full view while she chewed the meat. The waitress stopped breathing as the
thing stared in her general direction while it lifted a hand to push more meat
into its lipless maw. Its jaw worked in a ghastly rhythm as the blackened
muscles still attaching it to the skull flexed in oily contractions.
For one brief
second Stacey thought the thing may have failed to see her, then it stopped
chewing as its shriveled eyes locked with hers.
The two
women…one dead and drenched in blood, and the other wide eyed in shock…stared
at each other across the small distance of gore spattered concrete. Stacey
swallowed as the grinning horror lowered the severed arm and tilted its head as
if puzzled by her sudden appearance. It made no noise as it regarded her, other
than a faint gristle-popping creak as its head now leaned the other way like it
was trying to figure out what to do about this new development.
The crows
rustled in the metal rafters above, eager to see the outcome of this meeting.
Stacey fought
the urge to whimper and held her breath…waiting for the one small move that
would dictate her next action. She tensed, eyes still locked with the monster
in the pale dress.
Time seemed to slow
to a stop.
Then the thing
lifted the arm back to its face and tore away another chunk of meat.
It didn’t walk
off, or even turn away. It just appeared content to watch her while it fed on
the arm of one of her coworkers. Stacey struggled not to gag, and kept her gaze
focused on the feeding corpse.
Now what?
She hadn’t had
time to adapt to this new reality…as if it were even possible…and didn’t know
what to do.
The young
waitress wanted nothing more than to turn and put as much distance between her
and this horror show as possible. She wanted Benny…and Marisa…and yes, Deke
too. The realization that all this gore had once been Arnold, Leon, and Tomas
was just beginning to sink in and she knew if she didn’t do something quick she
would break down right here…and that would be fatal.
But she was just
as afraid any sudden moves on her part would cause the rotten abomination in
front of her to attack. For the moment it remained satisfied with its current
meal, but the fact it continued to watch her had unsettling implications. She
felt like a fly that had caught the attention of a spider, but hadn’t jerked
the web hard enough to provoke it.
She didn’t dare
move, and she damn sure couldn’t stay here.
She was trapped.
And of course,
that’s when all hell broke loose.
Behind
her—actually, outside and somewhere to her right—a raucous storm of caws and
flapping wings erupted.
Her nerves tight
as a high tension wire, Stacey jerked her head out the door and whirled to her
right before thinking…and she knew as she did it things were about to start
happening very fast.
To her right,
the puddle of crows in front of the locker room door had launched into a cloud
of whirling night shadows as a hideous pale form lumbered into their midst. It
plodded and mewled, and it took a brief instant for the young woman to realize
what she saw.
It was a huge,
naked man…with three different horrors like the one she had just faced clinging
to him…and they were tearing him to pieces as they rode upon him. Deep bloody
gashes flapped open and closed along his back and sides as he waded out the
door and into the rain. Blood poured down him in streaming rivers, and great
gobbets of meat hung from places where they had been half gouged out of his
flesh. He sobbed and flailed at the things hanging on him, and even during the
split second she watched several more of the dead things clambered out the door
in pursuit.
In the
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