instantly--salty, metallic, blood y .
Just as I 'm slithering toward the ragged, meaty shore, everything suddenly drops. The bag gives way, and our little world of sweet ferment falls straight down like a rock.
Everything goes at once--meat, bones, blood, and maggots. We hit a hard surface below with a jarring impact and a splat.
I black out for an instant . Then, the shrill wailing of my hundreds of brothers and sisters wake s me from the darkness.
I'm no longer inside the carcass. The fall shook me off, throwing me onto a cold, gray plain .
Looking up, I get my first glimpse of the Beast that has torn my world apart. The nightmare that rise s over me into astronomical heights.
Though it's the same variety of creature we were just eating in the bag , it looks far more horrifying in a not-dead state, towering over us. I recognize the same body parts I've been devouring on the corpse , only now, on the Beast, they're animated and intimidating. Capable of great destruction.
His t wo mammoth leg s stretch upward, t hen merge into a broad t runk . Further up, enormous arms frame a vast barrel chest ; the chest bu rsts out from under a ribbed white shirt that leaves his arms and giant shoulders mostly bare . In the middle of those shoulders, rising up on a veiny stump of a neck, is his huge head. Glittering bloodshot eyes bulge from a mane of bushy red hair, sticking out in all directions from the top of his head to the blunt stub of his chin.
The Beast looks right at me, and I freeze. His face crinkles, lips curling up to reveal gleaming yellow teeth.
Then, he snarls out more incomprehensible sounds. "Damn maggots! Can't even leave a body alone in a basement for a few days, can you?"
I gaze up at this shaggy, towering Beast , this rack of living meat, and I wonder what he'll do next. Is there a chance he might just gather us up with the pile of rotting flesh and put us in another bag to resume our pleasant feeding?
Not a chance. "Cheap-ass garbage bags! " Howling, he chucks the remains of the shredded bag to the gray plain with the rest of the mess.
Many of my brothers and sisters head for the fallen bag. Instinctively seeking shelter, dozens of them zip across the gray plain toward the mound of black plastic.
"Get away!" The great Beast belts out more gibberish as he hauls back a booted foot and gives the bag a k ick. The bag sticks to his booted toe, and he shakes it loose, sending it fluttering away.
Which is when my brothers and sisters make a fatal mistake. With the bag gone, dozens of them race toward the nearest cover.
But the nearest cover is under the Beast 's giant boots.
The great Beast sees the waves of tiny white creatures converging on his feet and lets loose a roar. "Freakin' maggots! " My brothers and sisters zoom toward him, undeterred. " I never knew you could move so damn fast! "
Then, it begins. A nightmarish scene I know I'll never forget. The Beast raises one mammoth leg in the air, lifting one boot away from the maggot throng. And then...
An d then, he brings it down again.
The screams of my brothers and sisters pierce the air as the boot crushes them. A s it lands hard atop their soft white bodies and pivots back and forth, grinding them into mush.
I stare in horror, unable to look away. I want to scream , but the cry catches in my throat.
And the worst is yet to come.
Driven by instinct, my surviving brothers and sisters swoop toward the Beast 's other boot. T hey're too close; they lack perspective. T hey imagine the other boot is somehow different from the first.
But it isn't.
The Beast roars. " Die , you sons a' bitches!"
And then he lifts the second monstrous leg . The second boot slides up in the air. Then plunges.
And the screaming begins anew. Still more of my beloved family are mashed into paste upon the rough, gray plain.
And still more of us chase after the shelter they sense beneath his other boot.
I steel myself against the slaughter to come...but then the great
Just as I 'm slithering toward the ragged, meaty shore, everything suddenly drops. The bag gives way, and our little world of sweet ferment falls straight down like a rock.
Everything goes at once--meat, bones, blood, and maggots. We hit a hard surface below with a jarring impact and a splat.
I black out for an instant . Then, the shrill wailing of my hundreds of brothers and sisters wake s me from the darkness.
I'm no longer inside the carcass. The fall shook me off, throwing me onto a cold, gray plain .
Looking up, I get my first glimpse of the Beast that has torn my world apart. The nightmare that rise s over me into astronomical heights.
Though it's the same variety of creature we were just eating in the bag , it looks far more horrifying in a not-dead state, towering over us. I recognize the same body parts I've been devouring on the corpse , only now, on the Beast, they're animated and intimidating. Capable of great destruction.
His t wo mammoth leg s stretch upward, t hen merge into a broad t runk . Further up, enormous arms frame a vast barrel chest ; the chest bu rsts out from under a ribbed white shirt that leaves his arms and giant shoulders mostly bare . In the middle of those shoulders, rising up on a veiny stump of a neck, is his huge head. Glittering bloodshot eyes bulge from a mane of bushy red hair, sticking out in all directions from the top of his head to the blunt stub of his chin.
The Beast looks right at me, and I freeze. His face crinkles, lips curling up to reveal gleaming yellow teeth.
Then, he snarls out more incomprehensible sounds. "Damn maggots! Can't even leave a body alone in a basement for a few days, can you?"
I gaze up at this shaggy, towering Beast , this rack of living meat, and I wonder what he'll do next. Is there a chance he might just gather us up with the pile of rotting flesh and put us in another bag to resume our pleasant feeding?
Not a chance. "Cheap-ass garbage bags! " Howling, he chucks the remains of the shredded bag to the gray plain with the rest of the mess.
Many of my brothers and sisters head for the fallen bag. Instinctively seeking shelter, dozens of them zip across the gray plain toward the mound of black plastic.
"Get away!" The great Beast belts out more gibberish as he hauls back a booted foot and gives the bag a k ick. The bag sticks to his booted toe, and he shakes it loose, sending it fluttering away.
Which is when my brothers and sisters make a fatal mistake. With the bag gone, dozens of them race toward the nearest cover.
But the nearest cover is under the Beast 's giant boots.
The great Beast sees the waves of tiny white creatures converging on his feet and lets loose a roar. "Freakin' maggots! " My brothers and sisters zoom toward him, undeterred. " I never knew you could move so damn fast! "
Then, it begins. A nightmarish scene I know I'll never forget. The Beast raises one mammoth leg in the air, lifting one boot away from the maggot throng. And then...
An d then, he brings it down again.
The screams of my brothers and sisters pierce the air as the boot crushes them. A s it lands hard atop their soft white bodies and pivots back and forth, grinding them into mush.
I stare in horror, unable to look away. I want to scream , but the cry catches in my throat.
And the worst is yet to come.
Driven by instinct, my surviving brothers and sisters swoop toward the Beast 's other boot. T hey're too close; they lack perspective. T hey imagine the other boot is somehow different from the first.
But it isn't.
The Beast roars. " Die , you sons a' bitches!"
And then he lifts the second monstrous leg . The second boot slides up in the air. Then plunges.
And the screaming begins anew. Still more of my beloved family are mashed into paste upon the rough, gray plain.
And still more of us chase after the shelter they sense beneath his other boot.
I steel myself against the slaughter to come...but then the great
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