Anthology of Ichor III: Gears of Damnation (28 page)

The pudgy young man jumped up and down with high pitched laughter while he watched the scene of panic around him and he stomped atop the floor in a squeaking rhythm.

Violet pushed Hal away from her and she rushed to Erwin.

Erwin stopped laughing when he saw Violet.

Erwin raised his hand and grabbed the severed head and snatched it from its perch in mid-air. He grabbed at the silver chain at his throat and took a step away from her.

Violet stopped in front of Erwin. She looked at the young man with narrowed eyes.

"Erwin stop this right now," Violet said. "Someone could get hurt."

"Who cares if they get hurt?" Erwin protested.

Violet raised her right hand and she thrust her limb in Erwin's direction.

"Hand it over," Violet said.

“
I already told you. I’m not giving your promise ring back. Its mine and you’re mine too. It doesn’t matter that it was kindergarten it still counts. You can’t deny you gave it to me because your DNA is all over it,” Erwin said.

“
Gimme the head,” Violet said.

Erwin removed his hand from the chain. He stopped and looked at Violet with an expression of fury.

“
That’s what you want? The answer is no,” Erwin said.

Violet raised her right hand and she extended her index and middle finger outwards. She lunged forward quickly and thrust her digits into Erwin’s wide eyes.

“
Agh!” Erwin screamed.

Erwin dropped the head from his grasp and he let out a blubbering cough while staggering backwards.

Violet fell into a crouch and she caught the falling sphere in her grasp.

“
I can’t see!” Erwin squealed.

Erwin tripped over his feet during his clumsy movements backwards. His portly body descended rapidly and the top portion of his skull struck the edge of the table behind him with a resounding crack.

Erwin landed on the floor atop his spine with a sickly thud.

The steel table behind him shook violently for a few moments just before the brittle legs of aged object collapsed.

The metal tableau fell to the floor with an audible crash.

“
My work! No!” Erwin screeched.

Violet leaped to her feet. She turned away from Erwin and rushed to the center of the auditorium. She looked around the space.

Most of the students were running in the direction of the yellow doors. Several were kneeling on the floor of the auditorium wailing with despair. A few were pressed against the green emergency doors.

“
Hey guys look! It's just a prop!” Violet yelled. "It was just special effects!"

Violet raised the head in her hands. She looked at the thing’s rotted skin before raking her fingernails across the thing’s cheeks.

Thick chunks of discolored flesh fell away from the slimy head and the ooze-covered skin landed on the floor in wet strips.

“
Its pig skin! And cow eyes!” Violet shouted.

Violet thrust her index finger into the thing’s left eye socket.

The watery blue organ rolled around in the circular socket near her finger with a wet popping noise.

“
I’ll get it out! And you’ll see!” Violet shouted.

Violet wriggled her finger rapidly within the circular cavity of the eye socket. She released a grunt of frustration when the eye remained inside of the skull.

“
Stop it!” A low voice cried.

A pair of pale hands snatched the head from Violet’s grasp.

Violet looked up and she saw Hal kneeling in front of her.

Hal held the severed head in his hands. He stared at Violet with an expression of pain across his handsome features.

“
Stop it Violet! It's just too much,” Hal said.

“
Give that back! They have to see that it's not real.” Violet said.

“
No,” Hal said.

“
Hal, give it to me!” Violet yelled.

Violet reached for the severed head.

Hal moved back a few paces and he held the bony sphere away from her grasp.

“
I said no!” Hal shouted.

“
Why won’t you give it to me?” Violet asked.

“
Because it's over," Hal responded flatly.

"Not yet it's not," Erwin said.

Violet looked at the space behind Hal.

Erwin stood behind the blonde young man.

Erwin smiled at Violet before he raised the large glass skull in his fat hands. He released a banshee-like wail before slamming the weighted object across the top of Hal’s head.

The glass object shattered with a resonant crash. An infinite number of large glass shards cascaded across Hal’s bloody scalp and fell onto his shoulders with loud tinkling sounds.

Hal’s features contorted into an expression of surprise and pain before he closed his eyes and collapsed onto the floor in an unconscious heap.

“
Hal!” Violet cried.

Erwin fell to his knees. He shoved Hal’s motionless form aside before crawled forward with impressive speed. He stopped in front of Violet and grabbed her shoulders roughly. He pulled her close to him and mashed his lips against hers in a sloppy kiss. He pulled away from Violet abruptly and shoved her away from him with a huff.

“
Not as good as I remembered,” Erwin commented.

Violet fell to the floor on her side. She sat up and crawled away from Erwin with a choking gag. She wiped her lips with the back of her hands before turning her head and spitting onto the floor.

Erwin snatched the severed head from Hal’s limp grasp. He rose to his feet and took a few steps back. HE turned around slowly and gazed across the auditorium with a fiendish laugh.

Principal Lubbitz rose unsteadily from the floor. He staggered to his feet and stared at the trashed auditorium.

“
Hey Lubbitz rescind this!” Erwin shouted.

Principal Lubbitz turned in Erwin's direction. He focused his wavering sight on the young man's face and twisted his face into a sneer.

"Erwin you are expelled!" Principal Lubbitz shouted.

"Screw you!" Erwin shrieked.

Erwin raised the severed head in his grasp and he threw it at Principal Lubbitz.

The head flew across the auditorium with impressive speed. The floating sphere slammed against the front portion of Principal Lubbitz' head with a loud cracking sound.

The severed head exploded in a large cloud of red dust, brittle bone, wriggling worms, flying maggots and black brains.

Principal Lubbitz form was enclosed within the gruesome scarlet cloud. The aging man stumbled backwards a few paces before collapsing to the floor atop his spine.

"Principal Lubbitz!" Violet cried.

"Cry not for him," Erwin said.

Violet turned to Erwin and she looked at him with anger.

"Erwin you creep!" Violet screamed.

Erwin laughed.

Violet leaped to her feet and she rushed to Erwin with a fearsome roar. She closed her left hand into a tight fist and slammed her limb against Erwin's right jaw.

The sound of a loud crack echoed from Erwin's skull and the young man stumbled backwards with a blood-tinged grin and a light laugh.

"Violetta, you do like me!" Erwin shrieked with laughter.

"You're insane!" Violet screamed shaking her aching right hand.

Principal Lubbitz voice echoed from the far side of the auditorium.

"Help me. Someone help me. Can't breathe…" Principal Lubbitz cried.

Violet turned away from Erwin and she gazed in Principal Lubbitz direction.

The middle aged man lay on the floor atop his spine.

The large cloud of red dust hovered around the top portion of his form.

The scarlet cloud suddenly vanished.

Principal Lubbitz released a loud cough and he sat up on the floor. He turned his body slowly in Violet's direction.

Violet looked at the middle aged man's face and she screamed.

The slime covered severed head rested atop the middle aged man's neck.

Dozens of maggots and black beetles crawled across the top portion of the near fleshless skull.

The insects fell from the skull and the creatures landed on the floor with loud clacking noises.

The fleshless skull's left eye was a pale shade of yellow. Its right eye was blue dangled from its worm-filled socket.

The slimy orb fell from its perch inside the skull and it landed on the floor with a loud plopping sound.

The sound of a low voice echoed behind Violet.

"Please help me. Can't breathe…"

Violet turned around slowly and she looked at the space behind her.

Erwin stood behind her. He stared at her with a maniacal grin. He clutched a wooden box in his left hand.

Erwin reached into the box and he pulled out a large circular object.

Principal Lubbitz' severed head was clutched in Erwin's grasp.

Principal Lubbitz released a low sob. Red-tinged tears poured from his eyes and dripped onto the floor. His pale lips trembled violently.

"Please help me…"

Erwin raised his free hand.

A pair of silver glasses was clutched in his grasp.

Erwin giggled wildly while he placed the glasses atop Principal Lubbitz face.

"Now can you see?" Erwin asked.

"Please…" Principal Lubbitz begged.

Erwin tossed back his head and laughed heartily.

Violet clutched at her chest with a gasp before she collapsed to the floor in a dead faint.

KREET

by

A. J. French

I had never tried Kreet—but then again, I was an upstanding landowner. I lived in my safe little cottage away from Black City and didn’t trouble myself with hunger, addiction, or poverty. City problems were City problems. I was content working on the farm and collecting my father’s monthly inheritance check from the bank.

Sure, I saw the spires in the distance and the clouds of rising smoke. And the smell—yes, that occasionally wafted over to settle in my valley. But my land was lush and serene. The trees linked branches overhead to form shady arches that criss-crossed my property. A path wound through the forest between the moss-covered rocks to a brook where Arayana and I used to have lunch.

Then she fell ill. After retiring to her bedroom, she started to
grow
, and her skin turned bright green, and warts sprouted up on her body.

I fetched the doctor.

“
She’s been bitten by a poisonous Yobo Toad,” he said after his examination. “I’ve seen it a hundred times. They come up from the City horribly mutated and stinking of chemicals. I’m sorry, Mr. Wolery, but your wife will be dead in a week.”

“
I don’t believe you!” I exclaimed, bursting into tears and kneeling at her bedside. I took her grotesque hand, cradling it in my own, and pressed her knuckles against my cheek. She said nothing, merely gazed down with her great bulging eyes. The doctor, sensing finality to things, departed and left us alone.

The smell became so bad that I was forced to haul her bed into the yard. She continued to grow. Her last days were spent gazing at the moon, as though some secret nirvana awaited her there.

Meanwhile, I could no longer stand her grotesqueness, and observed from the window, whimpering like a child. But she never shed a tear, never betrayed a hint of emotion.

On the seventh day, she exploded like a sack of grain.

I paced around the vile heap, cursing the City for doing this to my wife. Then I released the pigs, as I could not deal with the tremendous mess. Yet I thought it cruel, especially as I watched Arayana’s remains disappearing down their gullets. Finally, I doused the whole of it in kerosene and struck a match. That night a pillar of smoke rose from my estate.

A few days later, I was siting on my porch in the afternoon sun, whittling, feeling absolutely gloomy, when I saw a figure advancing up the road. Normally, the appearance of a stranger on my land would send me into hysterics; but after the nightmare with Arayana, things such as “personal property” no longer matter to me.