Go For Stories

As he stared, the heap trembled. Legs and heads rolled from the top of the pile and bodies shuddered. Nigel jumped back, half expecting the pieces to reassemble and come at him in some new, patchwork horror. A white arm, missing half the fingers on its hand, stretched out from beneath the viscera. Fresh purple blood oozed from the stumps as they wiggled in his direction.

The pile shifted further, dislodging the bulk of bodies that buried the stirring albinoid. As the last head rolled, it was evident that the creature was not well. A sharp tear ran across it face, bisecting the left eye, which hung flaccid and pale from the bleeding socket. Its left arms were entirely missing, one of its right arms hung limp and uselss and its guts slithered from a gaping wound in its belly. It looked at Nigel with a blend of confusion and the albinoid’s trademark rage™, reaching for him with its ruined right hand.

Nigel stood transfixed, unsure of what was expected of him. Should he save the poor thing, or kill it? Maybe it deserved to be left to suffer, but he knew in his heart that he couldn’t do that.

“Ugh,” Bec said, taking Nigel’s focus from the albinoid before him. “What is it doing?”

“I think it’s pleading.” Milly’s voice was both repulsed and sad.

“What even happened here?” asked Bec.

“I asked the same thing. I think they all killed each other. We’re looking at the victor.”

“I don’t think Victor looks very happy with his triumph.”

“what do we do with it?” asked Milly.

Nigel crossed to the utensils board of the kitchen. A long magnet hung above the bench, holding various egg flips, whisks, and spoons. The knife end of the magnet was bare, apart from one small knife hanging by its tip. Probably used for cutting vegetables, it was about to have its scope rudely broadened. Nigel grabbed it and turned back to the ladies.

“Really?” Bec put her hands on her hips. “Didn’t you maybe want something slightly less unwieldly. You might slip and hurt a mosquito with that.”

“You’re more than welcome to dig through there.” He pointed the knife at the jumble of body parts. “I imagine that’s where they’ll be. Taken for protection.”

Bec looked back at the cool room, then stepped back, allowing Nigel through.

“Lord Butcher.”

“Come on, Reynolds. Let it go. I’m not exactly enjoying this.” He walked back to the cool room door and leaned over the pile of bodies. “Can someone get its arm please?”

Milly gulped and reached over the gore, grasping onto the arm with more than a little trepidation. Victor twitched at her touch but didn’t fight her off. Whether it was through weakness or that the thing was intelligent enough to know what was happening, Nigel couldn’t tell. He didn’t care to think of it as an intelligent being right now as he leaned closer still and pressed the knife to the creature’s forehead.

The albinoid started at the pressure and snarled, yanking its arm back and throwing its head from side to side. Milly fell forward onto the pile of bodies and let out a shocked scream. The albinoid stretched its neck out, craning its head forward for a bite. Nigel grabbed Milly’s shirt with his free hand and helped Bec pull her back out of the cool room. The albinoid struggled to free itself of the mass of its fellows but had neither the strength nor the limbs to do it.

“Sorry, guys,” said Milly through heavy breaths. “I wasn’t ready for that.”

“It’s okay,” said Nigel. “You ready to try again?”

“I guess, yeah.”

She nodded and grabbed onto the flailing arm, pinning it down to the pile this time. She kept a keen eye on its exposed teeth and the other limp, broken arm. Nigel pressed the knife to its head, bracing it with both hands. Victor thrashed its head again, scoring a deep, purple line across its ribbed forehead. Its remaining eye rolled around before locking onto Nigel. It stared directly into his eyes as Nigel pressed down harder with the blade. The creature screamed and fought as the skin and bone depressed, making a well in the skull for the blood to pool. Milly held firm to its arm, sweat sheening on her face. The flexible bones puckered around the knife as Nigel pushed it further and further down before its skull finally let go with a ‘pop’. The knife crunched into the brain and the albinoid’s body relaxed in death.

Dead, but not at peace, Nigel mused. How could it be? It had just gone back to the world from whence it came. Nigel had seen firsthand how peaceful that place could be. He wasn’t sure how to feel about what they had just done. It had felt like murder, pinning it down and shoving a knife in its brain, but it had been an act of mercy. He stood back, leaving the knife embedded in the albinoid. While it could be useful, he had no desire to retrieve it.

“Let’s get out of here.” He walked out of the kitchen and back into the café area.

“Wait.” Milly limped after him. “Are we not going to talk about what happened in here?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” He didn’t want to think about anything right now. He just wanted to get out of this place and never come back. “These people hid in a cool room. Locked themselves in nice and tight and it still wasn’t enough. I don’t know if someone was hurt before they went in, or if one of the albinoids got in after, but they were all turned soon enough. Being trapped in there together, they went nuts and tore each other apart. End of story.”

“But what about the men? The two that led us here?”

“What about them?”

“Well …” she shuffled her feet, unsure of what she was getting at. “What were they doing?”

He sighed. Milly wasn’t asking any questions he didn’t also want the answer to. “I don’t know. I think they were falling through the cracks between worlds. But they couldn’t do anything here, because they were already dead. I guess, I assume, that was one of them that we just killed. If I was stuck like that, I’d want someone to find me too.”

“So it was calling to us?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

Bec stepped up. “While we’re on the subject of answers.” her hands were back on her hips. “Were you ever going to tell us about that witch in the stairwell?”

“What?”

“Don’t act all cagey now. You can’t tell me you didn’t know what, or who, that was. While she was flinging shit all over the place, you just wanted to ignore it and move on. What was she, Mr Astley? What aren’t you telling us? Not to mention your little freak out about how the world is in danger. Now, I know we’re all in the same sinking ship here, but you seem to know more than any of us right now. So, tell us. What’s really going on?”

“You want to know everything?” he snapped, turning to face her dead on. “You really want to know?”

She didn’t say anything, just raised her hands in a questioning gesture. Milly folded her arms in front of her chest and watched with interest.

“Fine,” he said before taking a deep, settling breath. They deserved to know the truth and he was done hiding his past from himself. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”