#
And then it all came back. With no warning, the aches, the sounds, the smells, and the inexplicable terror came crashing back. She could see again. Her brother was beside her, watching her with a hopeful expression.
The energy that nearly killed her was still there, inside her. But now, it felt no different than her arm, or leg. It had become just another part of her.
Alex breathed a relieved sigh as she started to act normally again. “Come on,” he said. “We have to get out of here.”
Then she remembered her mother, and the screams, and the pain. But where had they gone? The house was still silent. Even the moaning and whimpering had stopped. The waves of energy still rolled through the house, but they didn’t hurt her anymore. They broke against her like water on a stone.
Alex must have understood what she was thinking, because he shook his head. “No. Stay beside me,” he said. “We have to leave.”
“Leave? We have to help Mom! Find a phone,” she said. “Call 911. We need that ambulance here, now!” She ran to her mother’s room without waiting for him to answer.
“Lanni, wait! Don’t go in there,” Alex said. “You can’t help her.”
“Alex! Mom is dying! Get the damned phone!”
“You don’t understand, Lanni. It’s her. This is all coming from Mom. I don’t know how or why, but she’s been doing it for weeks. It’s never been this bad, but I’ve felt it, and I know it’s her.”
“What are you talking about? Please don’t go crazy right now. I really need you.” She started crying. Why was everything going so wrong?
“I thought I was going crazy, too. I keep hearing voices in my head. They sound like you, and Mom, and Dad, and other people, too. It’s mostly just bits and pieces, but now I know they’re real. One of them makes me want to do things… terrible things, but I think I’m stronger. I get these urges, and….”
“GET THE PHONE!” she yelled. He was raving. It was ridiculous to blame their mother, or anyone. It had to be a freak power surge, or a solar flare, or something, but that didn’t matter, to her. Nothing mattered except getting to her mother. She pushed the door open, and her heart sank.
“Oh, no. Please, no!” she sobbed.
“Lisa Ann! It’s not safe, yet. Stay with me!”
Lisa Ann. She hated her name. He always called her that when he wanted to sound important, or if he was nervous about something. It was an odd thing to notice, given the scene she had just stepped into.
Blood covered everything. It dripped from the ceiling and down the walls, and soaked the bed. Her mother’s contorted, blood-splattered face gazed vaguely in Lanni’s direction, frozen into a rictus of horror. Her legs were both twisted to one side at an unnaturally sharp angle, and her belly looked like it had been scooped away with a giant grapefruit spoon, leaving only an empty red cavity.
Her father’s feet stuck out beyond the footboard on the other side of the bed, toes down.
“Dad?”
Silence.
Lanni took small steps around the foot of the bed, not wanting to see what awaited her.
“Daddy?”
One of his feet rocked gently from side to side. As his body came into full view, she knew that she was losing her mind, just like her brother. An impossible creature stood on her father’s back. It looked like a wrinkled, black football with four bowed bulldog legs and yellow clawed feet.
Glistening with blood and gore, it made wet, slurping sounds as it rocked back and forth, clinging to her father like a demonic tick.
I must have died. This is Hell.
Blood poured down her father’s side from beneath the little monster, and his body jerked as it tugged him from side to side. It pulled away from him, and sat back on two legs.
The center of its chest was split open from top to bottom, and filled with several concentric rows of pointy, shark-like teeth. Each row opened and closed in turns as they shredded an apple-sized chunk of her father’s flesh, working it deeper into its body. If it had a head or any sensory organs, they were very well camouflaged.
Ignoring her, it dropped back down on all four feet, and bit into her father’s back. It must have hit a big vein or artery, because blood sprayed from the new wound. He was still alive!
In a blind rage, she screamed and charged at it. She wanted to hurl it against the wall and stomp it to death. It didn’t even try to move as she reached for it. She was vaguely aware of her brother saying something from the hall. It sounded urgent, but his words didn’t register with her.
The strip of floor between the bed and wall was barely wide enough to accommodate her father, so she fell to her knees, straddling his legs, and tried to pries the thing off of him. It was hot and slippery, though, like it was covered in oil, and it slipped right through her hands.
A bluish substance dripped from her hands, leaving no residue behind. It flowed like liquid, but felt as dry as powder. She scarcely noticed these details before lunging forward to try again.
This time, as she reached for it, the monster quivered slightly, and another wave of energy slammed into her. It definitely came from the little toothy football beast. She felt most of the energy flow around her as it had done in the hall a few moments ago, but the tiny bit that managed to affect her felt like a bare knuckled punched from a professional boxer.
Completely dazed by the attack, she fell face-down onto her father’s back, while the impossible little beast easily hopped aside.
It sat up on two legs again, right in front of her face, giving her a very clear, up-close view. She noticed that two of its legs were longer and thinner, and the conical section of its body between the shorter limbs was covered in twisty raised ridges, very reminiscent of a human brain.
It moved towards her tentatively, taking small, searching steps with all four limbs, but it pulled back when a yellow claw grazed her chin. Aside from the momentary burning feeling, it didn’t hurt, though she knew it had given her a pretty good cut. She could feel what must have been blood flowing from the spot.
Her eyes drifted shut, but she fought to stay awake, and forced them back open. Instead of the little monster, she saw her old pet rabbit, Carver, sitting in its place.
I must be in shock. I’m hallucinating.
Her eyes closed again, and when she opened them, Carver was gone and the monster was back. The slightly raised ridge on its underside split open, and the shark-like maw chewed the air in anticipation. It smelled like burning plastic and rancid meat.
It jumped at her, and landed on her head, digging its thick claws through her scalp. More warm, sticky fluid flowed down over her face as it lowered its jaws to her head, just above her left ear. The last thing she noticed was the horrible crunching sound of its teeth digging into her skull. Unable to fight back, or even move, she hoped that Alex, at least, would escape from the surreal, chaotic nightmare that had descended upon their waking world.
…Continued in Children of the Plague
Thanks for reading Apocalypstick, and this sample of Children of the Plague, the novel based on Killing Tiffany Hudson, I hope you enjoyed them. If you did, tell a friend. Loan them your copy, or, better yet, gift them one.
If you have any questions or comments for me, I’d love to hear from you.
Visit the author’s website for more stuff and things: https://www.GregoryCarrico.com
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends