Post by Defectron on May 3, 2009 22:47:35 GMT -5
This is a story that is sort of about the aliens from the beyond bathroom hunt. I changed a bunch of stuff around. I wanted to make this a relitively serious story so I got rid of the alien toilet for one thing which I thought would be a bit too difficult for people to take seriously. This will be one part of an anthology story focusing on the lost children. It will be called "Tales From That Place Over There". Although these are more or less the aliens I used from that hunt, this story isn't connected witht he gantz universe from my room in any way. I just thought the lost children were interesting characters and wanted to use them here.
Beyond the bed, beyond the Bath lies the thousand faces of madness
Thunder cracked as rain poured drenching the pure blackness of night that was only faintly illuminated by the glow of the neon lights coming from the desolate bar known as “The Dirty Mug”. It was one of the few places that were open along the barren country road in these parts at this time of night. Not many people were in the bar, there were five in all not including the bartender. It was a small bar only dimly lit, the air shrouded in cigarette smoke. Two women stood at a pool table occasionally attempting to hit the balls with the pool cues. Occasionally the clack of balls knocking against each other could be heard echoing through the room.
At the table on the other side of the room three men sat. One of them was a fat scruffy man smoking a cigar. He looked like he might be a truck driver. The next was a younger guy who looked to be in his mid twenties. He wore a backwards baseball cap and a shirt with a picture of a smiley face on it. The last man looked to be between the ages of the other two. He had brown hair and a long curving scar going across his fore head, crossing over his right eyebrow.
“Alright Steve, it’s your turn. Tell us of the most terrifying thing that’s ever happened to you.” The man who resembled a truck driver said. Apparently after having a few drinks, the three of them had begun to exchange stories. The first to go had been the truck driver who told the two of them of his experiences in Vietnam. Now it was the turn of the younger man with the backwards baseball cap to tell his story.
“Well, my story isn’t as interesting as yours was. But it was still pretty scary. I was about 6 or 7, and I was watching “Tales from the Hood” with a friend.”
“Tales from the what?” the man with the scar asked looking a little confused.
“Tales from the hood, it’s a movie like tales from the crypt except it’s gangsta…”
The middle-aged man just shook his head at this while the truck driver just looked confused. Apparently the generation gap was too big for him to get anything this guy had said.
“Anyway, we had just got done watching the part where that guy was killed by all of those small black figurines. We went outside but it was pitch dark and I couldn’t see. Then my friend suddenly took off down the road leaving me standing there away, which was pretty far away from my home. I starting freaking out because that fucking movie scared the holy shit outta me! And that was the scariest thing that ever happened to me.”
“And it’s also the dumbest thing I’ve listened to all night!” the man with the scar said looking irritated.
“Hey now, I might not have had hot needles stuck in sensitive places by the Viet Kong like Harvey over here, but that was damn scary! If you think it’s so stupid, why don’t we hear about the most terrifying thing that happened to you Leroy!”?
The man with the scar lit up a cigarette and took a puff blowing the smoke into the beam of dim light illuminating their table. “Ok, I guess there’s no harm in telling you guys. But I’ll tell you now, you’ll never believe me. But I’ve got some time to kill, so why not. I’ll tell you two about the most terrifying thing that ever happened to me.” The atmosphere seemed to have gotten a bit more tense as the two of them listened in. “Before I start, let me ask, are you guys familiar with the Galapagos Islands?”
“Yeah I did a report on Darwin in high school.” Steve said, Harvey also nodded.
“Yeah those islands, the fauna there was untouched by human hands up until not too long ago. The animals there had no idea that they should fear humans. Sometimes sailors would come and take those poor unsuspecting tortoises by the hundreds onto their ships and killed them for their meat. Those poor unsuspecting turtles, bet they never knew what fear was in their entire lives until they got gutted open by hungry sailors. But you see, the point is, this experience of mine….it gave me a bit of a clue as to what it must feel like to be one of those tortoises. It all started about a year ago, it was just another day of work at Bed, Bath & Beyond. You see I worked as the manager there. Over the past ten years I’d worked there, occasionally children would go missing. All of them had been seen around the store, or at least the strip mall where it was located before they vanished. No one would ever see them again. I may have just been paranoid, but that reason as well as the feeling that something unusual was watching me made me feel the need to carry my nine-millimeter to work with me everyday. I kept it hidden under my desk. But after hours I would always go polish it. Polishing my nine millimeter was the only thing that brought me piece of mind on that job….”
1 year ago on that faithful day
It had been an uneventful day and the store was closing down. As the last customers left Leroy sat down alone in his office polishing his nine-millimeter. It had been a long day. Much too long, one of the people working the cash registers hadn’t shown up to work, some little kid had tried to urinate in one of the toilets they had on sale. Overall he was just glad all of that was over.
Just as it seemed the day was ending however something strange happened. Disturbing the silence of the store was a crash of shattering porcelain that caused Leroy to nearly jump out of his seat. He slowly glanced at the door to his office, was someone out in the store. They had closed down just half an hour ago, no one should be here but him. Opening the door to his desk he took out a clip inserting it into his gun before making his way to the door. As he exited the room he slowly looked around, someone was here. He’d been waiting for a day like this.
He didn’t immediately see what caused the noise but then he heard it, a bizarre cry like nothing he’d ever heard. Swiftly turning, his gun trained in front of him he saw it. Standing atop the counter was the most bizarre creature he had ever seen. It resembled a bird in some ways but its body was covered in armored metallic scales. It was bent over the cash register, on the end of its long neck was a small head with two horns ending in a razor sharp beak. It almost resembled a small dragon. Leroy was so shocked he didn’t even bother to fire his handgun, all he could do was stand and stare at the creature.
KREAAAAAWWW!” it screeched as it kicked the cash register knocking it from the table. Moments later it landed on the floor, its talons clicking as it did so as it looked over at Leroy. It was then he finally snapped out of his stupor and aimed his gun at the animal firing with a loud bang. The bullet missed as the screeching beast took off running. It moved fast, faster then a mere human could possibly keep up with but he saw where it was going. As it leapt over toilets and beds it was heading for the back of the store. It would be cornered there. He had no time to think about what this creature was or why it was here of all places. All he knew was that this thing was going down, he was a great white hunter and it was now his prey. This store, Bed, Bath and Beyond would be his hunting ground.
It didn’t take long for it to reach the back of the store, before he could even get off another shot it smashed into the door leading to the employees only area. That door had been locked about twenty minutes ago, but from the look of it, the door had been smashed open prior to being kicked in by the creature just now. Had Leroy been paying attention, he may have thought this odd. Why had the employees only door been seemingly kicked open from the inside? Had the creature came from inside there, but if so how had it gotten there in the first place?
Leroy had not thought of any of these things until it was much too late. With his gun held out in front of him he followed it inside without a second thought. It took a moment for him to see where it had gone. The employee bathrooms door was off its hinges lying on the floor. Coming from the room, mist flowed like water in a gentle stream. Without hesitation, he walked forward to where the beast had presumably gone. However instead of the usual bathroom, something else was there to greet him. Stepping out from the darkness Leroy found himself in a strange place. He had just emerged from inside of what seemed to be a huge hollowed out tree in the middle of a forest. It was no ordinary forest either, in the night sky he could see two moons amid the sea of stars. . This was not a regular forest, though at first he hadn’t been paying attention, he only now just noticed that all the plants he saw here were unfamiliar. He had never seen any of them before, from the smallest flower to the tallest tree, they were all unknowns. Even the grass was strange, as it seemed to shine an odd purple color in the moonlight.
“GREAAAAAW!” He heard a roar, it sounded similar to the small dragons cry but this one sounded much much larger. He could hear the sound of cracking wood as something huge began to rear up from behind the trees, looking down at him, he could see the shadow of a second dragon, it looked just like the smaller one only this one was nearly sixty feet tall. Looking down at him its two fiery eyes glistened in the moonlight. Without any warning it came forward smashing through the trees, it was heading right for him.
Leroy wasn’t so much of a fool to think his gun would do any good against such a monster. It was time to run! Bolting from where he stood he ran as a huge armored tail, tipped with a curving blade slashed through the rainforest, cutting through trees as if they were made of cardboard. He’d almost been chopped in half too but the blade narrowly missed him. Not wasting any time he continued to run, never looking back as the huge beast attempted to follow him deeper into the forest.
Several hours later
For as far as the eye could see was a lush green forest covered in mist. Occasionally the cry of some strange alien beast could be heard coming from within the shrouded greenery. Leroy didn’t know how long he had been that he had stumbled into this strange impossible world but he had been running long enough for the sun to come up. The dragon no longer seemed to be following him but now he was completely lost. How could he find his way out of here? It felt like it must have been hours. Hours of running through this strange forest avoiding all the strange animals that lived there. As he knelt in the purple grass he slowly bent over a shallow stream washing his face. Several small animals in the water that seemed to resemble sea cucumbers swam away undulating like miniature sea serpents as their formerly pudgy bodies elongated like worms. It was then he noticed something odd in the stream, a metal rusted arm about the size and shape of a humans arm was sticking out from the mud.
“What in the world?” he tired grabbing it only to have one of the rusted metal fingers break off. Whatever it was attached to, it was lodged in there good and he wasn’t about to dig it out.
“BWOOOOOOOOOOM!”
It was then he heard it, blaring in the distance, the sound like someone blowing on a ram’s horn. In the distance he could see a flock of small creatures that resembled scaly reptilian birds flying away. Something was coming, it was heading right for him! His first thought was that maybe it was other people, maybe he could get some help. But no it would be a bad idea to jump to conclusions here. He was reminded slightly of the original planet of the apes. Of Taylor and his fellow astronauts who were captured soon after hearing a similar horn. They tried to run but they couldn’t there was no escape from those damn dirty apes! Would a similar fate befall him? Who was it that blew on that horn?
It was then he heard it, someone else was running through the forest, but it sounded slightly different then when he had done so. He could here clanking, like mechanical joints rubbing against each other as whatever it was made its way through the undergrowth.
Clinking and clanking like a pile of cacophonous junk was a metal man. Atop his head was what appeared to be a spout of some sort. His body was round, just like a giant can of chef Boyardi ravioli.
“Hold it right there you metal bastard!” Leroy said jumping in front of the terrified looking metal man pointing his gun at him. The man immediately stopped running as soon as he saw him.
“Wait! You don’t understand! Their coming! Their going to kill me!” it said in a crackling electronic voice. Every time it spoke lights behind its eyes seemed to light up. Was this thing some sort of robot? Yes it had to be, there was nothing else it could be.
“Hold it rust bucket! Who’s coming? What the hell is this place?” Leroy asked not taking his gun off the metal man.
“You…you don’t understand! For the love of god, let me go! They’re going to kill me! I don’t want to die…” Before the metal man could say anything more however something yanked his feet out form under him as he was hoisted into the air dangling. He seemed to be snared by something invisible. For a moment he seemed to dangle there screaming in his simulated electronic voice before he fell to the ground. As he did so two pieces of metal seemed to have been carved out from his ankles. Once more he tried to hobble away despite his injury but before he could even walk fives steps something shot out of the jungle piercing his left arm. It was a needle, a huge needle probably two feet long. It had pinned his arm to nearby tree holding him in place.
“Not so fast lunch boy!” the voice of a young girl said as five figures seemed to materialize around the strange metal man appearing as if out of thin air. All five of them appeared to be young children, each of them wore the skins of strange dead animals with red tribal paint covering their bodies.
“Nnnn…Nooo…not lunch….please….not lunch….no…” The metal man no longer sounded coherent, though the expressions on his face were unreadable given it was made of metal, there seemed to be a strong sense of desperation about him. Before he could make any noise however one of the kids walked over and smacked him with the back of a weapon that looked to be a tomahawk. “Aaaahhh!” it screamed slightly in its electronic voice.
“Shut it lunch boy unless you want me to hit you again!” the little boy said to the cowering metal man. The metal man could shake in what appeared to be fear and did not say anything else.
“Finally got him!” one of the other kids commented.
“I’m so hungry, lets take him back to the club house so we can have lunch!”
“Uhhhh….” Leroy began to ask as he looked at the five children in confusion. “Who are you? What is that?” The five children turned to look at him for the first time since they had arrived.
“You can come if you want. But this is our land, you need to live by our rules.” the girl said, it appeared she was their leader. “All the other adults who came here tried to make us live by their rules. But it’s not like that here. You can only come if you promise not to be mean to us.” She said.
“Fine! Fine! I won’t be mean, listen I just want to find out what’s going on here.” Leroy said as he watched the other four children tie up the trembling metal man who seemed to be resigned to his fate. “But what is that?”
“Lunch!” all five of them answered in unison as if this solved all of his questions. Without another word the largest among them, a pudgy little boy hoisted the bound metal man on his shoulder as the five of them set out through the jungle heading back where they came. It hadn’t occurred to him at first because of their bizarre entrance, but only now was he realizing that these children looked familiar. It didn’t take long for him to realize where he had seen them, those were the kids who had vanished over the years. He still had pictures of all five of them in his office left there by the local authorities. So they were here all this time? But how had five regular kids come to survive in a place like this? They also mentioned something about other adults who had come here before, where were they now?
After about a half an hour walk the seven of them arrived at “The club house” it was a small tree fort that looked like something that a kids dad would build for him or her in their back yard. Except instead of nails holding it together it was strung together with vines alone. It wasn’t just made of small branches either, there were some big logs supporting it. How had these kids moved all this? He got his answer when he noticed that there was no ladder. Without even pausing the five children leapt twenty feet into the air including the pudgy boy with the metal man strapped to his back. All five of them landed perfectly in their clubhouse as if they were cats or squirrels.
“Holy shit! How the hell did you guys do that?”
The five children laughed as they looked down at him “Adults sure can’t move very well can they?”
“Old men have creaky bones, he’s like my grandpa.” One of them commented.
Leroy sighed, “Are you guys going to let me up or not?” one of them tossed a vine down to him, which he used to climb up. Something wasn’t right here. How had those kids gotten so strong and agile? Was it just from living in this place? Or was there another reason?
He never got he chance to ask as the kids set the metal man down on a place mat. The girl pulled out what seemed to be a miniature hand scythe from behind her back. Immediately the metal man began to struggle again but to no avail as he was bound far too tight to move.
“No…no…please…have mercy…you…you’ve got to help me!” he said in his electronic voice glancing at Leroy. He turned back to the girl “Don’t…I don’t want to die….please…no Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh….” He began screaming in his bland crackly electronic voice as she began to cut into his metal belly with her hand scythe.
“Hey…” Leroy began to say something. He had no idea what this metal man was, but something here just didn’t seem right to him.
“Don’t worry, it’s not alive. It’s just a robot, a lunch robot. We don’t get lunch very often, so we need to eat when we can.” One of the children said as he seemed to be drooling in anticipation.
As the girl finished gutting him the other four children pried open the cavity she had made causing the metal man to scream once more. Inside his body was what appeared to be gobs and gobs of ravioli!
“Lunch!” the children all screamed as one as they began to shovel handfuls of it into their mouths.
“Ahhhhhhh…please…god no….ahhhh….no….don’t….ahhh…it hurts...don’t...eat it…ahhhhh” the robot seemed to be incredibly desperate despite its deadpan electronic voice. But after several minutes its struggles ceased and the lights in its eyes went out for good.
“Do you want any? Any ravioli mister?” the girl asked Leroy. As he looked down at it, he noticed the ravioli sauce looked red, a little too red, almost like the color of blood.
“No…uhh…I think I’ll pass.” Leroy said. Something about what had just happened made him feel extremely uncomfortable and even a little queasy. Why did he feel this way? It was nothing but a lifeless robot, it wasn’t as if these kids had just eaten the intestines from a real human being.
“You sure? God doesn’t send us lunch very often. You could starve to death.”
“God?” The was the only comment he could make. He no longer wondered what this place was or what that robot or those monsters were. Leroy just wanted to escape, he would escape and he would take these lost children with him. That girl had warned him not to interfere with them though. He had to figure out a way to break it to them without seeming like he was trying to tell them what to do. Kids were hardly ever rational, especially after being on heir own for so long he had no intention of trying to fight five children with such monstrous power.
About half an hour later
The kids had somehow cleaned out every last spec of ravioli that had been inside of the metal man in less then half an hour, they had even somehow cleaned every bit of sauce from inside its body.
“Uhhh…hey listen you guys. I’m not from this place, I only came here last night. I was wondering if you would happen to know the way?” The kids only could give him a group of blank confused stares.
“The way?” one of them asked.
“The other adults said something about that too. Where do you come from?” asked the girl , she now looked at him slightly suspicious. Leroy noticed this, had he said something wrong?
“Listen, this world isn’t where I belong, you guys aren’t from here either. I have pictures of you in my office! Everyone’s looking for you!” One of the boys quickly got up shoving a knife in Leroys face. Did they not remember the world they came from? Now that he thought of it, the first one to vanish had been ten years ago, none of these children looked older then seven. Maybe time moved differently here? Or was something else going on?
“You want to take us like the others did!” the boy said accusingly.
“Wait! Listen to me! You said you don’t get food very often here right? If you come back with me, I can get you anything you want if we can get out of here.”
“More lunch? A world full of lunch!” the fat boy said looking like it was Christmas.
“Yes, you won’t have to hunt for your food anymore. Don’t you think that would be nice?” These kids obviously were no longer normal, but he couldn’t forgive himself if he just left them here. There was also the problem of finding his way back. They probably didn’t know exactly but at the very least they could navigate the forests better then he could. Maybe they could help him find that tree he had used to come here.
“What are we waiting for? Lets go! I’m feeling hungrier already. A world full of lunch!” he said excitedly.
“I don’t trust him.” The girl said as she got up. “Adults always lie. He just wants to make us do what he wants. We shouldn’t believe him.”
“Listen you kids have to believe me! I just want to help you! Living out here hunting….whatever the hell that is! It’s no way to live! You should come back with me! I promise I just want to help you, I want to help you in any way I can!”
“Alright….but if you’re lying, we’ll give you to god. He likes adults, he might be grateful enough to give us more lunch if we do.” She said with a smile.
Leroy didn’t know what the hell she was talking about but it didn’t sound good. “God?”
“Yes, she gestured out to something in the distance, he could barely see shrouded in the mists. It was a step pyramid like those used by the Mayans or Incans. “That is the lair of god. You will meet him if you lie to us!” Leroy had a bad feeling about this. What exactly had happened to the other adults who had come here? Whatever the case was however, he would not give up that easily. “We will accept your offer. Come!” the girl said as she grabbed, her tiny hand felt like a vice clamping on his arm as she put him in a fireman’s carry hold before leaping from the tree house. The other kids followed, one of them still carrying the metal mans body, which was kicked aside, discarded like so much trash.
The first thing that they had to do was backtrack back to where he had first encountered them. Then maybe they could find where he had come from.
About half an hour later
The first part of the plan had gone like clock work, but now things were slightly more difficult. The girl had taken the lead, she appeared to be sniffing the ground. Occasionally she would point ahead to where she believed Leroy had come from. Was this really going to work? Leroy had no idea, though he had to admit, some of the scenery here looked familiar.
“This way.” She said as the lost girl lifted her face from the ground.
“KREAAAAAWWW!” a familiar cry could be heard echoing through the forest. Leroy did not want to be hearing that cry right now! The girl stood up, the other four kids all stood their ground. “It’s the pooka! It’s coming!” the little girl said as she took out her scythe.
“Wait! You kids aren’t planning on fighting that thing are you? That things a fucking monster!” Leroy protested.
“We won’t lose!” As expected the trees parted as the huge beast arrived snarling. As one the five leapt into the air, vanishing into the tree branches. It was something Leroy still didn’t understand, somehow these children seemed to be able to vanish into thin air much like the aliens in the predator movies. The huge beast snapped left and right at something that didn’t seem to be there. Occasionally several needles would fly through the air striking its massive body. One of the needles struck the back of its neck causing it to roar in pain. As it charged foreword it seemed to run into some unknown resistance. It was then Leroy saw what it was, something seemed to be cutting into its body. Almost like dozens of invisible wires slicing into its flesh. With a roar the beast continued to attempt to move forward however. On either side of its body two large trees were sliced apart. That must have been what the wires had been looped around. With a slash of its tail it smacked something. One of the kids appeared in mid air as he was thrown to the ground. One of his arms had been severed by the creatures tail, the stump was now gushing blue blood onto the ground.
Leroy immediately rushed over to him “Shit! Shit! Shit! Your arm….your blood is blue…” he said noticing for the first time as he tried to tie the kids arm wound.
“Of course it is…what color should it be?” he asked with a smile. “Don’t worry mister, something like this won’t be enough to stop me.” He said with a smile as he stood up. Walking over to where his severed arm was he picked it up off the ground reattaching it to his body.
Snapping at its invisible attackers desperately the huge beast fell to the ground. It’s tale lashed out uprooting another tree fell almost hitting Leroy. A random branch slashed across his face cutting his fore head in the process. Before it could get up, the girl appeared in mid air, as she did so she raised a hand, in her hand was what appeared to be a katana style sword made completely of bone. Had she been carrying that before? The beast had no time to react, as she landed she beheaded it with a single strike, the beasts purple blood rained down on her like a fountain dying her body purple. Amid it all Leroy could see her smile, between he lips he could clearly see dozens of glistening fangs.
“My god…these kids…they really aren’t human.” He probably should have picked up on this more a long time ago, but it only really sunk in right now. What the hell had he gotten involved in?
“Hey…something smells like lunch.” He could hear the boy whose arm had been detached earlier said. Leroy turned to see the kid staring at the back of his head. He was now looking directly at the wound on his face. The other children also noticed as they looked up at him.
“Hey…that red stuff on your face. Can I taste it?” he asked.
“No…I don’t think…” Leroy began to back away only to hear the girl coming up behind him.
“Turn around and let me see your face.” She commanded.
Leroy turned but he took out his gun in the process pointing it at her as he shook nervously. “What is that? Let me taste your face.” The girl apparently didn’t know what a hand gun was. She took another step, but that was all it took. Leroy nervously pulled the trigger. With a loud bang a single bullet exited the barrel. She never knew what hit her as it embedded itself in her fore head forming a single blue dot where it had entered her skull. Moments later she fell to the ground apparently dead. The other four kids immediately reacted with inhuman shrieks! The nearest boy opened his mouth as something bizarre shot out of it! Whatever it was, it appeared to be a gigantic black chitanous centipede! It snapped at Leroy with its gleaming pincers only barely missing his neck as he stumbled backwards.
Back in the present
“So let me get this straight….that kid had some kinda big bug in his mouth?” Harvey asked looking at Leroy like he was a madman.
“I think it might actually have been something like a parasite. You know there’s a kind of parasite that will replace a fishes tong. The Cymothoa exigua will replace the tong of its host and act as a new tong. This might be the same thing. Personally what I think is that thing might be why those kids were so abnormal I think it may have changed them somehow.”
One year ago in the mysterious forest
Leroy had fired several shots back at the children and began to run he never looked back. Maybe they were still shocked over their fallen comrade, but once they came after him it was all over. He had to get away from them! But how could he? They could smell as well as dogs! He heard something whistle through the air as a needle embedded itself in a nearby brick wall. Wait a why was there a brick wall here? It was then he noticed where he was, he was near the step pyramid.
That moment of distraction cost him over as a second needle speared his leg. Materializing behind him was another child. He clubbed the back of his head with the tomahawk and all he knew next was blackness.
The next thing he knew Leroy was strapped to a whethered stone table. “Lunch! I want lunch! Just a bite!” he could hear one of the boys say. He looked up through the skylight, it was as if he were on a sacrificial alter to some ancient god. Maybe that was where he was?
“No. You won’t eat him now.” He could hear the girls voice. Wait? Hadn’t he killed her?
“If we eat meat that hasn’t been sent by god, we won’t last. God must prepare it first!” He saw her now, the girl looked down at him, on her fore head was a small scar where the bullet had entered.
“Why…why are you doing this?” Leroy wheezed out.
“We can’t eat you quickly…you see…suffering makes the meat much more tender…now come and take him god! Take him and send us our next lunch!” the girl cried to the heavens! As she did so he spotted it, two huge balls of fire in the darkness, no these weren’t fireballs, they were two gigantic eyes attached to the body of a gigantic gleaming metallic black centipede! Two curving manidbles clicked beneath its fiery eyes dripping some strange substance on the floor as it made it way towards him. Its jaws began to open as it prepared rip him apart, this thing was going to devour him whole!
“Don’t worry, we’ll meet again Leroy. It won’t be over that easily. God always sends us lunch!” No! It couldn’t be! That robot….no he couldn’t end up like that! Leroy struggled desperately but he couldn’t free himself. He could feel the giant pinchers about to rend his flesh. But the next thing he knew he woke up sitting on the toilet in Bed, Bath and Beyond. Had it all been a dream? But no, he still wore his dirty clothes and he still had the scar on his fore head.
Back in the present
“And that was what happened to me.” Leroy said as he blew another puff of smoke.
“I am not going to sleep at all tonight!” Steve said looking terrified.
“That’s the biggest load of bull I ever heard!” Harvey said in disgust as he got up.
“Believe me or not, I don’t care. I’m just telling you what happened.” Leroy stated flatly. The old Vietnam vet wouldn’t have it though as he began to walk away. However he hadn’t taken two steps when he suddenly he stopped. His pants were suddenly stained crimson as a pained expression cross the ole mans face. He collapsed to his knees, a red line slowly appeared on his neck. With a thud his head toppled from his body. Leroy looked around terrified, they couldn’t be here?
“What’s going on?” The bartender, a chubby balding man said as he came out from behind the counter, but he didn’t get far. The sound of shattering bone could be heard as a tomahawk whizzed through the air embedding in the bald mans fore head. The two women on the other side of the room could be heard screaming but moments later their bodies fell to the floor. Both of their heads were missing.
A large dark stain formed on Steves pants as he looked around terror getting ready to run. “Wait! Don’t make any sudden movements kid!” Leroy shouted pulling out his gun, but it was too late!
Steve bolted screaming, but he didn’t get further then three steps before several needles pierced his legs dropping him to the floor. All he could do was lye there screaming in a puddle of his own blood. But this stopped as he made chocking noises, something had closed around his throat lifting the cowardly man into the air. A chubby boy Leroy knew all too well materialized, his small hand was clamped around Steve’s throat.
“This ones nice. I think god will like him a lot. He likes it when they scare easily.” He said as he slung the now unconscious Steve over his shoulder.
“You finally caught up with me…I thought I’d lost you back in Mexico!” Leroy said as a drop of sweat went down the side of his face. Aside from the unconscious Steve, he was now the only living human left in the bar with the lost boys and girls. These pint sized hunters had chased him across the USA , Mexico and Canada. They had even crossed the very dimensions separating this world from their own to find him.
“You can’t run forever. You said you would help us in any way you could. We want to hear it….hear it from your own lips.” The girl said as she materialized standing atop his table looking down at him distainfully.
“I’ll die before I become your lunch.” Leroy shouted as he trained his gun on her but before he could fire his hands were both sliced off at the wrists by the invisible wires causing him to scream in agony. One of the lost boys then materialized in front of him decking him with his tiny fist. He was hit with enough force to go flying across the room where he struck the wall.
“God chose you to be our next lunch back then. But now that we have such a big selection, we can see now there are much better lunches. Fear is the best sauce, suffering is the most delicious spice. You’re not worthy of being our lunch, you are not a coward, god doesn’t like to prepare the meat of brave men. You….you are only worthy of being a snack.” The girl said as she got down off from atop the table walking towards him. Two of the other children picked up his limp form slamming him down on the pool table.
“ But don’t think that makes you less important to us. You won’t die a quick death. It will be one befitting a full course meal. After all you have our gratitude, you lead us to an entire planet full of meat….more then we could ever eat!” The girl said with a smile as she bared her fangs. That night several agonizing screams could be heard coming from the “Dirty Mug” they lasted several minutes, but then they died away never to be heard again.
Beyond the bed, beyond the Bath lies the thousand faces of madness
Thunder cracked as rain poured drenching the pure blackness of night that was only faintly illuminated by the glow of the neon lights coming from the desolate bar known as “The Dirty Mug”. It was one of the few places that were open along the barren country road in these parts at this time of night. Not many people were in the bar, there were five in all not including the bartender. It was a small bar only dimly lit, the air shrouded in cigarette smoke. Two women stood at a pool table occasionally attempting to hit the balls with the pool cues. Occasionally the clack of balls knocking against each other could be heard echoing through the room.
At the table on the other side of the room three men sat. One of them was a fat scruffy man smoking a cigar. He looked like he might be a truck driver. The next was a younger guy who looked to be in his mid twenties. He wore a backwards baseball cap and a shirt with a picture of a smiley face on it. The last man looked to be between the ages of the other two. He had brown hair and a long curving scar going across his fore head, crossing over his right eyebrow.
“Alright Steve, it’s your turn. Tell us of the most terrifying thing that’s ever happened to you.” The man who resembled a truck driver said. Apparently after having a few drinks, the three of them had begun to exchange stories. The first to go had been the truck driver who told the two of them of his experiences in Vietnam. Now it was the turn of the younger man with the backwards baseball cap to tell his story.
“Well, my story isn’t as interesting as yours was. But it was still pretty scary. I was about 6 or 7, and I was watching “Tales from the Hood” with a friend.”
“Tales from the what?” the man with the scar asked looking a little confused.
“Tales from the hood, it’s a movie like tales from the crypt except it’s gangsta…”
The middle-aged man just shook his head at this while the truck driver just looked confused. Apparently the generation gap was too big for him to get anything this guy had said.
“Anyway, we had just got done watching the part where that guy was killed by all of those small black figurines. We went outside but it was pitch dark and I couldn’t see. Then my friend suddenly took off down the road leaving me standing there away, which was pretty far away from my home. I starting freaking out because that fucking movie scared the holy shit outta me! And that was the scariest thing that ever happened to me.”
“And it’s also the dumbest thing I’ve listened to all night!” the man with the scar said looking irritated.
“Hey now, I might not have had hot needles stuck in sensitive places by the Viet Kong like Harvey over here, but that was damn scary! If you think it’s so stupid, why don’t we hear about the most terrifying thing that happened to you Leroy!”?
The man with the scar lit up a cigarette and took a puff blowing the smoke into the beam of dim light illuminating their table. “Ok, I guess there’s no harm in telling you guys. But I’ll tell you now, you’ll never believe me. But I’ve got some time to kill, so why not. I’ll tell you two about the most terrifying thing that ever happened to me.” The atmosphere seemed to have gotten a bit more tense as the two of them listened in. “Before I start, let me ask, are you guys familiar with the Galapagos Islands?”
“Yeah I did a report on Darwin in high school.” Steve said, Harvey also nodded.
“Yeah those islands, the fauna there was untouched by human hands up until not too long ago. The animals there had no idea that they should fear humans. Sometimes sailors would come and take those poor unsuspecting tortoises by the hundreds onto their ships and killed them for their meat. Those poor unsuspecting turtles, bet they never knew what fear was in their entire lives until they got gutted open by hungry sailors. But you see, the point is, this experience of mine….it gave me a bit of a clue as to what it must feel like to be one of those tortoises. It all started about a year ago, it was just another day of work at Bed, Bath & Beyond. You see I worked as the manager there. Over the past ten years I’d worked there, occasionally children would go missing. All of them had been seen around the store, or at least the strip mall where it was located before they vanished. No one would ever see them again. I may have just been paranoid, but that reason as well as the feeling that something unusual was watching me made me feel the need to carry my nine-millimeter to work with me everyday. I kept it hidden under my desk. But after hours I would always go polish it. Polishing my nine millimeter was the only thing that brought me piece of mind on that job….”
1 year ago on that faithful day
It had been an uneventful day and the store was closing down. As the last customers left Leroy sat down alone in his office polishing his nine-millimeter. It had been a long day. Much too long, one of the people working the cash registers hadn’t shown up to work, some little kid had tried to urinate in one of the toilets they had on sale. Overall he was just glad all of that was over.
Just as it seemed the day was ending however something strange happened. Disturbing the silence of the store was a crash of shattering porcelain that caused Leroy to nearly jump out of his seat. He slowly glanced at the door to his office, was someone out in the store. They had closed down just half an hour ago, no one should be here but him. Opening the door to his desk he took out a clip inserting it into his gun before making his way to the door. As he exited the room he slowly looked around, someone was here. He’d been waiting for a day like this.
He didn’t immediately see what caused the noise but then he heard it, a bizarre cry like nothing he’d ever heard. Swiftly turning, his gun trained in front of him he saw it. Standing atop the counter was the most bizarre creature he had ever seen. It resembled a bird in some ways but its body was covered in armored metallic scales. It was bent over the cash register, on the end of its long neck was a small head with two horns ending in a razor sharp beak. It almost resembled a small dragon. Leroy was so shocked he didn’t even bother to fire his handgun, all he could do was stand and stare at the creature.
KREAAAAAWWW!” it screeched as it kicked the cash register knocking it from the table. Moments later it landed on the floor, its talons clicking as it did so as it looked over at Leroy. It was then he finally snapped out of his stupor and aimed his gun at the animal firing with a loud bang. The bullet missed as the screeching beast took off running. It moved fast, faster then a mere human could possibly keep up with but he saw where it was going. As it leapt over toilets and beds it was heading for the back of the store. It would be cornered there. He had no time to think about what this creature was or why it was here of all places. All he knew was that this thing was going down, he was a great white hunter and it was now his prey. This store, Bed, Bath and Beyond would be his hunting ground.
It didn’t take long for it to reach the back of the store, before he could even get off another shot it smashed into the door leading to the employees only area. That door had been locked about twenty minutes ago, but from the look of it, the door had been smashed open prior to being kicked in by the creature just now. Had Leroy been paying attention, he may have thought this odd. Why had the employees only door been seemingly kicked open from the inside? Had the creature came from inside there, but if so how had it gotten there in the first place?
Leroy had not thought of any of these things until it was much too late. With his gun held out in front of him he followed it inside without a second thought. It took a moment for him to see where it had gone. The employee bathrooms door was off its hinges lying on the floor. Coming from the room, mist flowed like water in a gentle stream. Without hesitation, he walked forward to where the beast had presumably gone. However instead of the usual bathroom, something else was there to greet him. Stepping out from the darkness Leroy found himself in a strange place. He had just emerged from inside of what seemed to be a huge hollowed out tree in the middle of a forest. It was no ordinary forest either, in the night sky he could see two moons amid the sea of stars. . This was not a regular forest, though at first he hadn’t been paying attention, he only now just noticed that all the plants he saw here were unfamiliar. He had never seen any of them before, from the smallest flower to the tallest tree, they were all unknowns. Even the grass was strange, as it seemed to shine an odd purple color in the moonlight.
“GREAAAAAW!” He heard a roar, it sounded similar to the small dragons cry but this one sounded much much larger. He could hear the sound of cracking wood as something huge began to rear up from behind the trees, looking down at him, he could see the shadow of a second dragon, it looked just like the smaller one only this one was nearly sixty feet tall. Looking down at him its two fiery eyes glistened in the moonlight. Without any warning it came forward smashing through the trees, it was heading right for him.
Leroy wasn’t so much of a fool to think his gun would do any good against such a monster. It was time to run! Bolting from where he stood he ran as a huge armored tail, tipped with a curving blade slashed through the rainforest, cutting through trees as if they were made of cardboard. He’d almost been chopped in half too but the blade narrowly missed him. Not wasting any time he continued to run, never looking back as the huge beast attempted to follow him deeper into the forest.
Several hours later
For as far as the eye could see was a lush green forest covered in mist. Occasionally the cry of some strange alien beast could be heard coming from within the shrouded greenery. Leroy didn’t know how long he had been that he had stumbled into this strange impossible world but he had been running long enough for the sun to come up. The dragon no longer seemed to be following him but now he was completely lost. How could he find his way out of here? It felt like it must have been hours. Hours of running through this strange forest avoiding all the strange animals that lived there. As he knelt in the purple grass he slowly bent over a shallow stream washing his face. Several small animals in the water that seemed to resemble sea cucumbers swam away undulating like miniature sea serpents as their formerly pudgy bodies elongated like worms. It was then he noticed something odd in the stream, a metal rusted arm about the size and shape of a humans arm was sticking out from the mud.
“What in the world?” he tired grabbing it only to have one of the rusted metal fingers break off. Whatever it was attached to, it was lodged in there good and he wasn’t about to dig it out.
“BWOOOOOOOOOOM!”
It was then he heard it, blaring in the distance, the sound like someone blowing on a ram’s horn. In the distance he could see a flock of small creatures that resembled scaly reptilian birds flying away. Something was coming, it was heading right for him! His first thought was that maybe it was other people, maybe he could get some help. But no it would be a bad idea to jump to conclusions here. He was reminded slightly of the original planet of the apes. Of Taylor and his fellow astronauts who were captured soon after hearing a similar horn. They tried to run but they couldn’t there was no escape from those damn dirty apes! Would a similar fate befall him? Who was it that blew on that horn?
It was then he heard it, someone else was running through the forest, but it sounded slightly different then when he had done so. He could here clanking, like mechanical joints rubbing against each other as whatever it was made its way through the undergrowth.
Clinking and clanking like a pile of cacophonous junk was a metal man. Atop his head was what appeared to be a spout of some sort. His body was round, just like a giant can of chef Boyardi ravioli.
“Hold it right there you metal bastard!” Leroy said jumping in front of the terrified looking metal man pointing his gun at him. The man immediately stopped running as soon as he saw him.
“Wait! You don’t understand! Their coming! Their going to kill me!” it said in a crackling electronic voice. Every time it spoke lights behind its eyes seemed to light up. Was this thing some sort of robot? Yes it had to be, there was nothing else it could be.
“Hold it rust bucket! Who’s coming? What the hell is this place?” Leroy asked not taking his gun off the metal man.
“You…you don’t understand! For the love of god, let me go! They’re going to kill me! I don’t want to die…” Before the metal man could say anything more however something yanked his feet out form under him as he was hoisted into the air dangling. He seemed to be snared by something invisible. For a moment he seemed to dangle there screaming in his simulated electronic voice before he fell to the ground. As he did so two pieces of metal seemed to have been carved out from his ankles. Once more he tried to hobble away despite his injury but before he could even walk fives steps something shot out of the jungle piercing his left arm. It was a needle, a huge needle probably two feet long. It had pinned his arm to nearby tree holding him in place.
“Not so fast lunch boy!” the voice of a young girl said as five figures seemed to materialize around the strange metal man appearing as if out of thin air. All five of them appeared to be young children, each of them wore the skins of strange dead animals with red tribal paint covering their bodies.
“Nnnn…Nooo…not lunch….please….not lunch….no…” The metal man no longer sounded coherent, though the expressions on his face were unreadable given it was made of metal, there seemed to be a strong sense of desperation about him. Before he could make any noise however one of the kids walked over and smacked him with the back of a weapon that looked to be a tomahawk. “Aaaahhh!” it screamed slightly in its electronic voice.
“Shut it lunch boy unless you want me to hit you again!” the little boy said to the cowering metal man. The metal man could shake in what appeared to be fear and did not say anything else.
“Finally got him!” one of the other kids commented.
“I’m so hungry, lets take him back to the club house so we can have lunch!”
“Uhhhh….” Leroy began to ask as he looked at the five children in confusion. “Who are you? What is that?” The five children turned to look at him for the first time since they had arrived.
“You can come if you want. But this is our land, you need to live by our rules.” the girl said, it appeared she was their leader. “All the other adults who came here tried to make us live by their rules. But it’s not like that here. You can only come if you promise not to be mean to us.” She said.
“Fine! Fine! I won’t be mean, listen I just want to find out what’s going on here.” Leroy said as he watched the other four children tie up the trembling metal man who seemed to be resigned to his fate. “But what is that?”
“Lunch!” all five of them answered in unison as if this solved all of his questions. Without another word the largest among them, a pudgy little boy hoisted the bound metal man on his shoulder as the five of them set out through the jungle heading back where they came. It hadn’t occurred to him at first because of their bizarre entrance, but only now was he realizing that these children looked familiar. It didn’t take long for him to realize where he had seen them, those were the kids who had vanished over the years. He still had pictures of all five of them in his office left there by the local authorities. So they were here all this time? But how had five regular kids come to survive in a place like this? They also mentioned something about other adults who had come here before, where were they now?
After about a half an hour walk the seven of them arrived at “The club house” it was a small tree fort that looked like something that a kids dad would build for him or her in their back yard. Except instead of nails holding it together it was strung together with vines alone. It wasn’t just made of small branches either, there were some big logs supporting it. How had these kids moved all this? He got his answer when he noticed that there was no ladder. Without even pausing the five children leapt twenty feet into the air including the pudgy boy with the metal man strapped to his back. All five of them landed perfectly in their clubhouse as if they were cats or squirrels.
“Holy shit! How the hell did you guys do that?”
The five children laughed as they looked down at him “Adults sure can’t move very well can they?”
“Old men have creaky bones, he’s like my grandpa.” One of them commented.
Leroy sighed, “Are you guys going to let me up or not?” one of them tossed a vine down to him, which he used to climb up. Something wasn’t right here. How had those kids gotten so strong and agile? Was it just from living in this place? Or was there another reason?
He never got he chance to ask as the kids set the metal man down on a place mat. The girl pulled out what seemed to be a miniature hand scythe from behind her back. Immediately the metal man began to struggle again but to no avail as he was bound far too tight to move.
“No…no…please…have mercy…you…you’ve got to help me!” he said in his electronic voice glancing at Leroy. He turned back to the girl “Don’t…I don’t want to die….please…no Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh….” He began screaming in his bland crackly electronic voice as she began to cut into his metal belly with her hand scythe.
“Hey…” Leroy began to say something. He had no idea what this metal man was, but something here just didn’t seem right to him.
“Don’t worry, it’s not alive. It’s just a robot, a lunch robot. We don’t get lunch very often, so we need to eat when we can.” One of the children said as he seemed to be drooling in anticipation.
As the girl finished gutting him the other four children pried open the cavity she had made causing the metal man to scream once more. Inside his body was what appeared to be gobs and gobs of ravioli!
“Lunch!” the children all screamed as one as they began to shovel handfuls of it into their mouths.
“Ahhhhhhh…please…god no….ahhhh….no….don’t….ahhh…it hurts...don’t...eat it…ahhhhh” the robot seemed to be incredibly desperate despite its deadpan electronic voice. But after several minutes its struggles ceased and the lights in its eyes went out for good.
“Do you want any? Any ravioli mister?” the girl asked Leroy. As he looked down at it, he noticed the ravioli sauce looked red, a little too red, almost like the color of blood.
“No…uhh…I think I’ll pass.” Leroy said. Something about what had just happened made him feel extremely uncomfortable and even a little queasy. Why did he feel this way? It was nothing but a lifeless robot, it wasn’t as if these kids had just eaten the intestines from a real human being.
“You sure? God doesn’t send us lunch very often. You could starve to death.”
“God?” The was the only comment he could make. He no longer wondered what this place was or what that robot or those monsters were. Leroy just wanted to escape, he would escape and he would take these lost children with him. That girl had warned him not to interfere with them though. He had to figure out a way to break it to them without seeming like he was trying to tell them what to do. Kids were hardly ever rational, especially after being on heir own for so long he had no intention of trying to fight five children with such monstrous power.
About half an hour later
The kids had somehow cleaned out every last spec of ravioli that had been inside of the metal man in less then half an hour, they had even somehow cleaned every bit of sauce from inside its body.
“Uhhh…hey listen you guys. I’m not from this place, I only came here last night. I was wondering if you would happen to know the way?” The kids only could give him a group of blank confused stares.
“The way?” one of them asked.
“The other adults said something about that too. Where do you come from?” asked the girl , she now looked at him slightly suspicious. Leroy noticed this, had he said something wrong?
“Listen, this world isn’t where I belong, you guys aren’t from here either. I have pictures of you in my office! Everyone’s looking for you!” One of the boys quickly got up shoving a knife in Leroys face. Did they not remember the world they came from? Now that he thought of it, the first one to vanish had been ten years ago, none of these children looked older then seven. Maybe time moved differently here? Or was something else going on?
“You want to take us like the others did!” the boy said accusingly.
“Wait! Listen to me! You said you don’t get food very often here right? If you come back with me, I can get you anything you want if we can get out of here.”
“More lunch? A world full of lunch!” the fat boy said looking like it was Christmas.
“Yes, you won’t have to hunt for your food anymore. Don’t you think that would be nice?” These kids obviously were no longer normal, but he couldn’t forgive himself if he just left them here. There was also the problem of finding his way back. They probably didn’t know exactly but at the very least they could navigate the forests better then he could. Maybe they could help him find that tree he had used to come here.
“What are we waiting for? Lets go! I’m feeling hungrier already. A world full of lunch!” he said excitedly.
“I don’t trust him.” The girl said as she got up. “Adults always lie. He just wants to make us do what he wants. We shouldn’t believe him.”
“Listen you kids have to believe me! I just want to help you! Living out here hunting….whatever the hell that is! It’s no way to live! You should come back with me! I promise I just want to help you, I want to help you in any way I can!”
“Alright….but if you’re lying, we’ll give you to god. He likes adults, he might be grateful enough to give us more lunch if we do.” She said with a smile.
Leroy didn’t know what the hell she was talking about but it didn’t sound good. “God?”
“Yes, she gestured out to something in the distance, he could barely see shrouded in the mists. It was a step pyramid like those used by the Mayans or Incans. “That is the lair of god. You will meet him if you lie to us!” Leroy had a bad feeling about this. What exactly had happened to the other adults who had come here? Whatever the case was however, he would not give up that easily. “We will accept your offer. Come!” the girl said as she grabbed, her tiny hand felt like a vice clamping on his arm as she put him in a fireman’s carry hold before leaping from the tree house. The other kids followed, one of them still carrying the metal mans body, which was kicked aside, discarded like so much trash.
The first thing that they had to do was backtrack back to where he had first encountered them. Then maybe they could find where he had come from.
About half an hour later
The first part of the plan had gone like clock work, but now things were slightly more difficult. The girl had taken the lead, she appeared to be sniffing the ground. Occasionally she would point ahead to where she believed Leroy had come from. Was this really going to work? Leroy had no idea, though he had to admit, some of the scenery here looked familiar.
“This way.” She said as the lost girl lifted her face from the ground.
“KREAAAAAWWW!” a familiar cry could be heard echoing through the forest. Leroy did not want to be hearing that cry right now! The girl stood up, the other four kids all stood their ground. “It’s the pooka! It’s coming!” the little girl said as she took out her scythe.
“Wait! You kids aren’t planning on fighting that thing are you? That things a fucking monster!” Leroy protested.
“We won’t lose!” As expected the trees parted as the huge beast arrived snarling. As one the five leapt into the air, vanishing into the tree branches. It was something Leroy still didn’t understand, somehow these children seemed to be able to vanish into thin air much like the aliens in the predator movies. The huge beast snapped left and right at something that didn’t seem to be there. Occasionally several needles would fly through the air striking its massive body. One of the needles struck the back of its neck causing it to roar in pain. As it charged foreword it seemed to run into some unknown resistance. It was then Leroy saw what it was, something seemed to be cutting into its body. Almost like dozens of invisible wires slicing into its flesh. With a roar the beast continued to attempt to move forward however. On either side of its body two large trees were sliced apart. That must have been what the wires had been looped around. With a slash of its tail it smacked something. One of the kids appeared in mid air as he was thrown to the ground. One of his arms had been severed by the creatures tail, the stump was now gushing blue blood onto the ground.
Leroy immediately rushed over to him “Shit! Shit! Shit! Your arm….your blood is blue…” he said noticing for the first time as he tried to tie the kids arm wound.
“Of course it is…what color should it be?” he asked with a smile. “Don’t worry mister, something like this won’t be enough to stop me.” He said with a smile as he stood up. Walking over to where his severed arm was he picked it up off the ground reattaching it to his body.
Snapping at its invisible attackers desperately the huge beast fell to the ground. It’s tale lashed out uprooting another tree fell almost hitting Leroy. A random branch slashed across his face cutting his fore head in the process. Before it could get up, the girl appeared in mid air, as she did so she raised a hand, in her hand was what appeared to be a katana style sword made completely of bone. Had she been carrying that before? The beast had no time to react, as she landed she beheaded it with a single strike, the beasts purple blood rained down on her like a fountain dying her body purple. Amid it all Leroy could see her smile, between he lips he could clearly see dozens of glistening fangs.
“My god…these kids…they really aren’t human.” He probably should have picked up on this more a long time ago, but it only really sunk in right now. What the hell had he gotten involved in?
“Hey…something smells like lunch.” He could hear the boy whose arm had been detached earlier said. Leroy turned to see the kid staring at the back of his head. He was now looking directly at the wound on his face. The other children also noticed as they looked up at him.
“Hey…that red stuff on your face. Can I taste it?” he asked.
“No…I don’t think…” Leroy began to back away only to hear the girl coming up behind him.
“Turn around and let me see your face.” She commanded.
Leroy turned but he took out his gun in the process pointing it at her as he shook nervously. “What is that? Let me taste your face.” The girl apparently didn’t know what a hand gun was. She took another step, but that was all it took. Leroy nervously pulled the trigger. With a loud bang a single bullet exited the barrel. She never knew what hit her as it embedded itself in her fore head forming a single blue dot where it had entered her skull. Moments later she fell to the ground apparently dead. The other four kids immediately reacted with inhuman shrieks! The nearest boy opened his mouth as something bizarre shot out of it! Whatever it was, it appeared to be a gigantic black chitanous centipede! It snapped at Leroy with its gleaming pincers only barely missing his neck as he stumbled backwards.
Back in the present
“So let me get this straight….that kid had some kinda big bug in his mouth?” Harvey asked looking at Leroy like he was a madman.
“I think it might actually have been something like a parasite. You know there’s a kind of parasite that will replace a fishes tong. The Cymothoa exigua will replace the tong of its host and act as a new tong. This might be the same thing. Personally what I think is that thing might be why those kids were so abnormal I think it may have changed them somehow.”
One year ago in the mysterious forest
Leroy had fired several shots back at the children and began to run he never looked back. Maybe they were still shocked over their fallen comrade, but once they came after him it was all over. He had to get away from them! But how could he? They could smell as well as dogs! He heard something whistle through the air as a needle embedded itself in a nearby brick wall. Wait a why was there a brick wall here? It was then he noticed where he was, he was near the step pyramid.
That moment of distraction cost him over as a second needle speared his leg. Materializing behind him was another child. He clubbed the back of his head with the tomahawk and all he knew next was blackness.
The next thing he knew Leroy was strapped to a whethered stone table. “Lunch! I want lunch! Just a bite!” he could hear one of the boys say. He looked up through the skylight, it was as if he were on a sacrificial alter to some ancient god. Maybe that was where he was?
“No. You won’t eat him now.” He could hear the girls voice. Wait? Hadn’t he killed her?
“If we eat meat that hasn’t been sent by god, we won’t last. God must prepare it first!” He saw her now, the girl looked down at him, on her fore head was a small scar where the bullet had entered.
“Why…why are you doing this?” Leroy wheezed out.
“We can’t eat you quickly…you see…suffering makes the meat much more tender…now come and take him god! Take him and send us our next lunch!” the girl cried to the heavens! As she did so he spotted it, two huge balls of fire in the darkness, no these weren’t fireballs, they were two gigantic eyes attached to the body of a gigantic gleaming metallic black centipede! Two curving manidbles clicked beneath its fiery eyes dripping some strange substance on the floor as it made it way towards him. Its jaws began to open as it prepared rip him apart, this thing was going to devour him whole!
“Don’t worry, we’ll meet again Leroy. It won’t be over that easily. God always sends us lunch!” No! It couldn’t be! That robot….no he couldn’t end up like that! Leroy struggled desperately but he couldn’t free himself. He could feel the giant pinchers about to rend his flesh. But the next thing he knew he woke up sitting on the toilet in Bed, Bath and Beyond. Had it all been a dream? But no, he still wore his dirty clothes and he still had the scar on his fore head.
Back in the present
“And that was what happened to me.” Leroy said as he blew another puff of smoke.
“I am not going to sleep at all tonight!” Steve said looking terrified.
“That’s the biggest load of bull I ever heard!” Harvey said in disgust as he got up.
“Believe me or not, I don’t care. I’m just telling you what happened.” Leroy stated flatly. The old Vietnam vet wouldn’t have it though as he began to walk away. However he hadn’t taken two steps when he suddenly he stopped. His pants were suddenly stained crimson as a pained expression cross the ole mans face. He collapsed to his knees, a red line slowly appeared on his neck. With a thud his head toppled from his body. Leroy looked around terrified, they couldn’t be here?
“What’s going on?” The bartender, a chubby balding man said as he came out from behind the counter, but he didn’t get far. The sound of shattering bone could be heard as a tomahawk whizzed through the air embedding in the bald mans fore head. The two women on the other side of the room could be heard screaming but moments later their bodies fell to the floor. Both of their heads were missing.
A large dark stain formed on Steves pants as he looked around terror getting ready to run. “Wait! Don’t make any sudden movements kid!” Leroy shouted pulling out his gun, but it was too late!
Steve bolted screaming, but he didn’t get further then three steps before several needles pierced his legs dropping him to the floor. All he could do was lye there screaming in a puddle of his own blood. But this stopped as he made chocking noises, something had closed around his throat lifting the cowardly man into the air. A chubby boy Leroy knew all too well materialized, his small hand was clamped around Steve’s throat.
“This ones nice. I think god will like him a lot. He likes it when they scare easily.” He said as he slung the now unconscious Steve over his shoulder.
“You finally caught up with me…I thought I’d lost you back in Mexico!” Leroy said as a drop of sweat went down the side of his face. Aside from the unconscious Steve, he was now the only living human left in the bar with the lost boys and girls. These pint sized hunters had chased him across the USA , Mexico and Canada. They had even crossed the very dimensions separating this world from their own to find him.
“You can’t run forever. You said you would help us in any way you could. We want to hear it….hear it from your own lips.” The girl said as she materialized standing atop his table looking down at him distainfully.
“I’ll die before I become your lunch.” Leroy shouted as he trained his gun on her but before he could fire his hands were both sliced off at the wrists by the invisible wires causing him to scream in agony. One of the lost boys then materialized in front of him decking him with his tiny fist. He was hit with enough force to go flying across the room where he struck the wall.
“God chose you to be our next lunch back then. But now that we have such a big selection, we can see now there are much better lunches. Fear is the best sauce, suffering is the most delicious spice. You’re not worthy of being our lunch, you are not a coward, god doesn’t like to prepare the meat of brave men. You….you are only worthy of being a snack.” The girl said as she got down off from atop the table walking towards him. Two of the other children picked up his limp form slamming him down on the pool table.
“ But don’t think that makes you less important to us. You won’t die a quick death. It will be one befitting a full course meal. After all you have our gratitude, you lead us to an entire planet full of meat….more then we could ever eat!” The girl said with a smile as she bared her fangs. That night several agonizing screams could be heard coming from the “Dirty Mug” they lasted several minutes, but then they died away never to be heard again.