Читать книгу Terror in the Woods - J C Lephew - Страница 5

EARTHWORMS

They had traveled all over outer space for millennium, battling each other. Each trying to defeat, outwit, and eventually trying to outrun the other. It was inevitable that they would eventually crash land somewhere, which was what they did. They slammed into dirt of planet Earth approximately two feet apart from each other and were promptly buried where they landed from the running of wild animals, the weather, and eventually humans that would settle nearby. There they lay, dormant but waiting.

* * * * *

They were simply walking through the woods one day, talking, laughing, kicking whatever they came across—rocks, stones, branches, if they were big enough, and occasional litter. They were a small group of three sixteen-year-old boys and Abbie. Abbie was two years old, and she was a German shepherd collie mix. Abbie had long, soft, white fur with large tan-and-brown patches spread throughout. She was the medium height of a collie with a long, narrow snout of a collie, but she had the brown eyes of a German shepherd. Abbie had a sweet disposition and was loyal to the boys. She would walk with them without a leash and stay by their side and would usually try to lure them away from danger.

Abbie had been walking with the boys in the woods once when she suddenly ran in front of them and started barking and growling at the boys and wouldn’t let them past her. She turned and started barking at a spot under a bush that they were planning to walk through when a copperhead slithered out from underneath the bush. After that incident, they always took Abbie with them, and they would usually listen to her. The boys’ names were Tony, Grog, a nickname—his real name was Griffin, he preferred to be called Grog—and Mike.

Technically, Abbie was Grog’s dog. She lived with Grog, but they all considered Abbie to be their dog, and she considered them to be her owners, her humans. Grog lived in a log cabin on the outskirts of the woods that they were walking through. Grog’s Peruvian family was considered moderately wealthy, and Grog’s father had always wanted to live in a rustic log cabin right by the woods, so he had one specially built for them. It was a large, two-story cabin complete with an in-ground rectangle eight-foot deep pool surrounded by a small chain-link fence. The pool was closed down now considering it was early fall and beginning to get a tad chilly, especially at night. Grog was the tallest of the group at six feet one inch, and he was slender. He had straight, thick, black hair which he kept long but slicked straight back and round, black eyes fringed with thick, black eyelashes.

Grog had dark brown skin due to his Peruvian background. He had a round face and a rounded small nose set above full lips. Mike was the shortest of the group at five feet four inches, and he was also slender, almost scrawny. He had brown hair which he kept in a professional haircut, a long, thin face, and he wore thick glasses with designer frames over heavy lidded brown eyes. He had a rounded nose slightly larger than Grog’s and thin pink lips. Mike was also very pale skinned. Mike split his time between his divorced parents. Sometimes he lived in his father’s two-story, white house, and sometimes he lived in his mother’s luxurious apartment. Both of Mike’s parents worked hard at their well-paying jobs, and Mike wanted for nothing.

Tony was the medium height of his friends at five feet eight inches tall, and he had a stockier build to him due to lifting weights and doing the more physically demanding chores to help his mother. Tony had thick, copper red hair which he usually kept buzzed down to his scalp. Tony had an oval-shaped face and dark blue almond-shaped eyes fringed with thick, super long lashes. His nose was straight and masculine with a small splattering of freckles across his nose and lips that always seemed to curve up in a ready smile. Tony’s personal life was much more modest than his friends. Tony lived in small single-wide trailer with his mother and fourteen-year-old sister. His mother worked two minimum-wage jobs, was hardly ever home, and had a lot of trouble keeping all her bills paid on a monthly basis and being able to afford food for them to eat. Around Christmastime, Tony’s mother usually had to take out a loan to pay for their meager Christmas which consisted of two presents each for Tony and his sister, Charlotte, and that also counted as their school shopping.

Tony hadn’t seen his father since he was a young child. Tony couldn’t remember a lot about his father, and what he could remember, he tried not to think about. Tony’s father was an alcoholic who would come home drunk and fly into rages over nothing and physically take his brutal rage out on his wife and young children. Tony’s mother finally left and took her two children with her. Tony’s father tried to get them to come back home once. Tony remembered it very well. His father found out where they were and came to their new home drunk. He had gone after Tony’s mother, hitting her and threatening to kill her and the kids if she didn’t come back home.

Tony saw his mother snap and fight back for once. When his father grabbed her, she hit him in the chest and ran from him, throwing whatever she could pick up until she grabbed a butcher knife from the kitchen. Then Tony saw a look in her eyes that he had never seen before, and it terrified him. It was that look that chased his father out of the house as she ran after him holding the knife up. When Tony’s father ran out of their mobile home, Tony’s mother screamed that if she ever saw him again, she would kill him. She shouted it twice to make sure he had heard it. They had never seen him again. But Tony’s worst nightmares were his mother coming toward him and his sister with a butcher knife and that terrifying look in her eyes while they screamed and pleaded for their lives.

What Tony lacked in monetary value, he made up for in intelligence. Tony and his friends had taken IQ tests once, and Tony had scored the highest at 145. Yet despite all of the differences between the boys, they were best friends and almost inseparable outside of school.

They continued walking through the woods. They hadn’t realized that they had wandered fairly far into the woods when Abbie suddenly started whining, acting anxious, and wanting to turn around and go home.

“What? What is it?” Grog asked, annoyed. They walked further with Abbie becoming more and more anxious. She gave a small bark and stopped walking. The boys turned and looked at her.

Mike turned back around and kicked a small rock with his sneaker. It landed hard and a puff of dirt flew up. “What is that?” Mike asked, pointing at something in the ground.

The boys slowly wandered closer to investigate. It almost looked like it was just another rock, but on closer inspection, they saw it was a dark red crimson color, like the color of a pool of blood, and it was pockmarked. It was still mostly covered by the dirt. Abbie kept whining and wanting to go back, but she wouldn’t leave without her humans. It didn’t look like it was very big, and the dirt was kind of loose, so they dug around this object with their hands. It didn’t take too long to dig it completely out. They dug it out and looked at it. It was the size of a cantaloupe, completely round, but pockmarked and rough all over.

Tony’s eyes grew wide. “Do you guys know what this is?”

“What is it?” Mike asked.

“It’s a meteorite,” Tony said. “You know my grandfather told me once that if you ever even find a fragment of a meteorite to sell it to a museum and you’ll be a millionaire.”

“Really?” both Grog and Mike asked.

“Yeah,” Tony said.

“Let’s take it home,” Grog said.

“Look at Abbie,” Mike said.

They had been so focused and intent on what they found that they hadn’t noticed that Abbie was two feet away from them digging furiously into the ground. They wondered what she was digging at. They pulled her away from where she was digging, and they saw what seemed to be another meteorite buried in the ground, except this one was a bright and lighter shade of red.

“All right!” Tony shouted, holding his fists in the air with joy.

They frantically dug this meteorite out the ground with joy and decided to take them both home with them. Mike picked up the dark red one, and Tony picked up the light-red one and started walking back home. They were so busy talking about what they were each going to do with their individual share of the money that they didn’t notice Abbie slowing her pace, lowering her head, and quickly licking up a very small, bright red worm that had dropped out of the meteorite that Tony was holding. They also didn’t notice that a dark red worm that was the same shade as Mike’s dark red crimson spandex hoodie had crawled out of the meteorite that he was holding and burrowed into his hoodie for the moment.

They were all spending the night at Grog’s house. They had managed to sneak the meteorites past Grog’s family and get them upstairs to Grog’s room, hide them, and then act normal around Grog’s family. Now they were safely back in Grog’s bedroom, and it was very late at night, and they were laying down and still discussing what they were going to do with all their money while slowly falling asleep. They were all asleep when Mike began to stir. He shook his head and groaned.

“No,” he groaned out in his sleep. He started breathing heavy and shaking his head faster. “No,” he groaned out once more as if in pain. Then he took a deep breath and then he was still, breathing deeply and evenly.

Tony woke up first. Tony sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around. He saw Abbie sitting on the floor, staring at all of them. He patted his leg and held his hand out to her. She came to him but kept skirting away from Mike who was lying right next to Tony on the floor. Tony thought it was a little strange, but he didn’t put much thought into it as he had just woken up. Then Grog gave a little groan, stretched, and sat up. Then Mike woke up and sat straight up. Abbie gave a low growl deep in her throat. Mike seemed very alert, especially for someone who had just woken up as he looked around the room as if he were seeing it for the very first time.

Tony gave a little chuckle and handed Mike his glasses. “Here, man,” Tony said to Mike. “Put these on and stop joking around.”

Mike looked at the glasses as if he had never seen a pair before, but he took them and put them on and began quietly looking around again. Tony and Grog assumed that Mike was just joking around, and it was a joke that they quickly tired of. Tony’s cell phone began playing the tune that was his ringtone. He picked it up and looked at it.

“It’s my mom,” Tony told Grog and Mike before he answered it. “Hi, Mom,” Tony said into his phone.

Grog and Mike were silent as he answered his phone. There were times that Tony’s mother would call because she would have to work extra hours and would want him to be home with his sister, Charlotte.

Judging by the face that Tony was making, that was what was happening now. “Come on, Mom. Charlotte will be fine. I don’t need to stay with her. C—” Tony stopped short and was silent for a moment. “Hold on. Let me ask.” Tony put his phone down for a minute. “Hey, Grog. My mom has to work all day, and she won’t be home till late tonight. She doesn’t want Charlotte to be alone for that long, so she was wondering if she could bring Charlotte here and she hang out with us.”

Grog scowled.

“Man, if she doesn’t drop Charlotte here, then I have to go home.”

Grog rolled his eyes but relented. “Fine. Whatever.”

Mike remained silent, just observing everything, especially Abbie, and Abbie sat observing him. Tony put the phone back to his ear. “Yeah. Grog said that will be fine, Mom.” Tony was silent again. “Okay…okay…all right, fine. See you soon. Love you too.” Tony pushed the hang up button and looked at Grog. “My mom said thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Grog said, laying back down.

Tony stood and began changing his clothes. “My mom is already on her way over here with Charlotte,” Tony said, which was his way of telling them to get up and get ready. Grog scowled again and threw the blanket off himself.

“Man, what the fuck are we supposed to do with your sister all day?” Grog exploded.

Tony shrugged. “Whatever we were planning all doing all day anyway,” Tony said.

Mike grinned. “Sounds good to me,” Mike finally spoke.

Tony glanced at Mike; he started to look away, but something made him look back. There was something off about how Mike looked. He looked the same, but there was something off about the way he looked at everything, especially Abbie, and the way that Abbie looked at him. There was something sinister in Mike’s eyes and grin that just wasn’t there before.

Under normal circumstances, Tony would ignore and think nothing of it, but Charlotte was on her way over there. Charlotte did make Tony very angry sometimes, but she was still his little sister, and if Mike had any intentions of hurting, scaring, or doing something profoundly mean to her, then Tony would definitely punch him more than once.

“Hey, Mike,” Tony said.

Mike jerked his head toward Tony and stared at him unblinking with a strange robotic slight grin on his face. Tony became just a little concerned about this.

“If you do anything to hurt Charlotte or anything, I’m going to have to pound you,” Tony warned him.

Mike gave another sinister grin. “Oh, I would not do anything to hurt her or anybody else…Tony.” Mike began to move presumedly to get dressed and ready for the day when Abbie growled at him. Mike gave her a surprised and fearful look and sat back down.

“Hey!” Grog said, nudging Abbie. “What are you doing?”

Abbie kept looking at Mike and was lightly growling at him. Grog and Tony looked at each other, perplexed.

“Should I put her out of the room?” Grog asked.

“Yes!” Mike said, too enthusiastic.

Grog said,” Abbie, go outside.”

Abbie looked at Grog and then back at Mike but remained seated.

“Come on, Abbie. Go,” Tony said.

Abbie remained seated. Grog went to Abbie and began pulling her by her collar. “Come on, Abbie. Come on.”

Abbie was resisting moving away from her spot in front of Mike as much as she could. Tony went over to Abbie and grabbed some part of her collar and began pulling along with Grog. Abbie pulled against them, whimpering and making horrible gaging noises as she choked herself against her collar trying to remain at her spot. But Tony and Grog prevailed and managed to pull Abbie from the room.

“Bye, bye, Abbie,” Mike said, waving and grinning his sinister grin as they pulled Abbie out of the room completely and shut the door before she could run back into the room. Abbie immediately began barking and scratching at the door. Tony and Grog looked at each other then at Mike and shook their heads at each other.

Tony was on his way down the stairs when he heard a knock at the door. He quickly walked to the door, opened it, and there stood his little sister, Charlotte. Charlotte was two years younger than Tony, but she was as tall as he was with a slender build. She had thick, light-brown hair that went all the way down her back, and she had it tied back in a ponytail that sat on the top of her head. Charlotte had a heart-shaped face and with a pert, upturned little nose in the center of it, and her pink lips seemed to be in the shape of a wide heart. But Charlotte’s most prominent feature was her eyes. Charlotte had cat-shaped eyes that were the color of a sunny blue sky that were surrounded by thick, black, super long eyelashes like Elizabeth Taylor. Tony’s mother always called Charlotte “her young beauty” and was very protective over her, which was why she insisted on Tony being with her a lot.

Tony held the door open for her, and she sauntered in. Charlotte was not too much of a morning person, and she was not happy about having her Saturday morning slumber interrupted to go spend time with her brother and his friends.

“Charlotte, good morning to you too,” Tony said sarcastically.

Charlotte looked around. “Doesn’t Grog have parents?” she asked as Grog and Mike started coming down the steps themselves.

“My parents are considering going into business with some guy, so they went to observe his business and talk to the guy today, so they won’t be back until dinnertime at the earliest. And if they’re not back by dinnertime, I have more than enough money to order delivery,” Grog said.

They sat around and tried to think of something to entertain Charlotte and fill up their Saturday. Abbie was lying on the floor at the feet of Grog and Tony. “How about we take Charlotte upstairs and show her what we found yesterday?” Mike suggested.

“What?” said Charlotte.

“Yeah. What?” said Tony with a hard edge to his voice.

“Let’s show her. Let’s show her what we found yesterday,” Mike said. “Come on.” Mike stood up and began walking toward the stairs.

Grog shrugged and stood to follow. “Why not? She’s probably going to find out anyway,” he said.

Tony stood and waved his hand at Charlotte in a follow-me gesture. Charlotte stood and followed them up the stairs.

“Look,” Mike said, gesturing to the two meteorites that they had found.

Charlotte looked at them nonchalantly. “What are they?” she asked.

“They’re meteorites,” Grog told her with a tone of disbelief. “We’re going to sell them to a museum and become rich,” Grog continued.

Charlotte nodded and appeared to be mildly impressed. “Oh, that’s cool,” she said.

Mike picked up the dark red meteorite and held it out to her. “Hold it,” Mike said, his eyes gleaming. “It’s surprisingly light.”

Charlotte was reaching out to it when Abbie started barking viciously. They didn’t know that Abbie had also followed them up the stairs. They had all jumped. Mike gently put the meteorite down and then walked aggressively toward Abbie.

“Get out of here!” Mike said and stomped toward her.

Abbie barked at him with even more aggression. Grog stepped in between them, and the anger was obvious on his face. “You get out of here, man. You don’t talk to my dog like that! What is the problem with the both of you today?” Grog was yelling at them and pushing Mike and Abbie out of the room.

Tony was trying to push Mike and Grog apart and trying to speak to deescalate the situation between Mike, Grog, and Abbie. It was a noisy jumble of talking, yelling, and barking as they backed out of the room. Charlotte shook her head and wondered if they were always like that. Then Charlotte saw something out the corner of her eye. It was bright red and round. Charlotte realized that it was a second meteorite, and she was almost mesmerized by the bright light-red color of it.

She remembered Mike’s words that the meteorites were light, and she actually wanted to touch and pick up this meteorite. Charlotte picked it up, held it up, and looked at it all around. It was surprisingly light in weight but felt like it was solid. Then she heard Tony yell out, “Charlotte!” Charlotte put down the meteorite, and she saw a very tiny, wiggling, bright red worm. She opened her mouth in a silent scream of disgust and violently shook her hands trying to get the worm off without having to touch it. The worm was flung into her mouth and went to the back of her throat, and she instinctively swallowed it.

As soon as she swallowed it, she felt the change and welcomed it. She knew. She knew everything, including what she needed to do and how to go about it, but for now she needed to appear normal. She went downstairs. Tony had managed to get Mike and Grog to stop fighting, and even Abbie had calmed down.

“Man, where is Charlotte?” Grog asked.

They walked into the living room. Abbie was lying at the bottom of the stairs, and Charlotte was crouched down in front of her looking Abbie straight into her eyes, and Abbie was looking back at her.

“What are you doing?” Grog asked Charlotte.

Charlotte appeared startled as if she had been interrupted. “Oh, I was just making sure that she wasn’t going to attack me,” Charlotte said.

Grog and Tony shook their heads.

“I don’t know what is with her,” Grog said.

Charlotte looked at the clock. “It’s almost lunchtime. Why don’t you, guys, take her for a walk and I’ll make us some tuna fish sandwiches,” Charlotte offered.

Tony, Grog, and Mike all nodded and agreed that it sounded good. Just as they were turning to head out the front door with Abbie, Grog turned back to Charlotte. “How did you know that we had tuna fish?” Grog asked her.

“Oh…” Charlotte glanced at Abbie. “Doesn’t everybody have tuna fish?” Charlotte asked him and gave an exaggerated shrug.

Grog thought about it for a moment and then nodded, seeming to be satisfied with her answer. Then they walked out the door.

Charlotte immediately got started on making their sandwiches. When Charlotte laid out the bread, she looked up. She had a plan, and it was time to put her plan into action. Charlotte ran upstairs to Grog’s room. She went to the bright red meteorite and found three, very small, bright red worms. She gently picked them up, placed them in her hand, and ran back downstairs. She put a worm into each of the sandwiches that she would serve the boys. They would soon find out what she had done. They would want answers, and everything would be explained to them. Charlotte had just finished completing their sandwiches as they walked back into the house. Charlotte had put each of their sandwiches on Dixie disposable plates.

They were so hungry and eager to eat that they didn’t notice that Charlotte had not made a sandwich for herself, and she had begun to watch them. She watched as Tony took a bite, chewed, and swallowed. Then Grog took his bite, chewed, and swallowed. And she watched as Mike took a bite, Abbie was watching them too while she sat next to Charlotte’s feet. Nothing yet. Charlotte was not surprised. She had placed the worms near the middle of their sandwiches.

Tony was enjoying his sandwich when all of the sudden he tasted something a bit off in his sandwich, and he swallowed. Tony put his sandwich down and put both of his hands flat on the table; he saw it, and he felt it, the change came over him. Tony saw the many battles between them as they flew around outer space. He saw that they were constant battles between good and evil. He saw the crash landing to Earth and lying dormant in the ground for over 350 years until Tony and his friends dug them up. Tony’s vision had ended, and he knew it was the truth.

Tony, can you hear me? he heard Charlotte say to him. But she hadn’t spoken a word. He looked at her. We can hear each other’s thoughts. It’s a gift that the meteorite gave to us, Charlotte told him.

How do you know all of this? Tony asked her. Abbie told me. She told me a lot more too but… Charlotte trailed off as Grog suddenly put down his sandwich and placed both of his hands flat on the table.

Grog briefly looked like he was about to experience a panic attack. He started to breathe heavy and fast but then his breathing slowed, and he visibly relaxed. Tony knew that he felt it too.

Grog. Tony and Grog both heard a smooth adult female voice say. Tony knew that it was Abbie speaking to him.

Who is this? Grog asked.

Tony heard Charlotte laugh although all she did was smile slightly. So far, Mike seemed oblivious to what was going on around him.

We don’t have much time so listen closely, the voice said again, and Tony knew that it was Abbie. Yes, Tony. It’s Abbie. You can hear my thoughts, and I can hear yours. Grog shifted in his seat, trying not to panic.

Wha-wha-what the fuck is going on? What is happening? Tony heard Grog ask.

Shut up, Grog! We don’t have time for this! Abbie said, slightly panicked herself and looking at Mike. You both know the truth about those meteorites now. The dark red one is evil. The bright red one is not. Mike is under the influence of the Demon, that’s what I call it. It wants to use him to kill the world. You two, Charlotte, and I are now all under the influence of the Immortal.

The Immortal? Grog asked. Does that mean that we are—

Yes, Abbie interrupted. You are immortal for right now. You need to use it for Mike. The Demon plans to use Mike to kill or change every single person on this planet. It will completely destroy everyone and everything on this planet but not before using it to destroy every other planet, solar system, and galaxy that we know about. And after having spent all those millennia flying around, we are aware of many other planets besides Earth. There is life on those planets too. You must stop Mike somehow, and you must find some way to destroy the Demon. And you must destroy the Immortal too.

Destroy the Immortal? Tony asked. Why?

Destroying the Demon and the Immortal is the only way to go back to normal. You must—Abbie was interrupted by Mike suddenly loudly retching and gagging. He threw the sandwich.

“CHARLOTTE!” Mike screamed, enraged.

Tony looked at Mike and was terrified by his eyes. There was only one other time in his life that he saw eyes that had that look in them. The night his mother went after his father, the look that still gave him nightmares.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME, CHARLOTTE?” Mike screamed at her. As Mike rose and slowly started moving toward Charlotte, his eyes turned completely black. He took off his glasses and dropped them on the floor.

Charlotte gasped in fear and started stepping backward. Tony and Grog stood but were unsure of what to do.

Oh no, Abbie said. He is completely under the influence of the Demon. He is going to rip you all apart, destroy the Immortal, and then the world. Do something! Abbie said.

Then Mike propelled himself toward Charlotte as she turned to run. Abbie snapped, growled, and leaped at Mike to attack him and protect Charlotte. Mike cried out in pain as Abbie’s teeth sank into his forearm.

“You bitch!” he screamed out at her as he punched Abbie in her head, gripped her collar, and ripped her from his arm. Then Mike lifted Abbie up by her collar with one arm and threw her across the room into the wall. Abbie slammed into the sturdy, thick, wooden wall and yelped in pain as she felt her ribs shatter and her front legs break.

“Abbie!” Grog cried out. That cry sent Tony and Grog into action.

Mike turned his head to look at Grog as Grog flung himself at Mike. Grog grabbed Mike’s shirt by the collar and pushed him back as hard as he could. Mike only took three steps back. He stood still, just looking at Grog. Then Mike moved toward Grog with the speed of a bullet and punched him in the jaw. The strength of that punch would have spun a person’s head around on their neck, but having swallowed the Immortal worms, Grog was only knocked unconscious. Tony pulled Grog out of the way and stood four feet in front of Mike.

“I’m standing between you and Charlotte now, Mike,” Tony told him, hoping to reach the real Mike. “And I’m not moving. Come on, Mike. You and I have been friends a long time. We don’t want to do this.”

Mike began to laugh an evil loud laugh. “I’m not Mike, and you are not my friend. You are my enemy. You have always been my enemy. You could never see the beauty of my plan. Destroy everything and everybody that is against you, then you are king. You become king of all the galaxies,” Mike said. His wide, black eyes stared at Tony with a crazy, maniacal smile on his face. He was so overstimulated by his fantasy that he didn’t notice the drool leaking out of his mouth and down his chin.

“Those who seek world domination only ever destroy themselves in the process,” Tony told him.

“This isn’t world domination. This is total domination over places that your small mind could never imagine. And in this body, nothing is in my way.”

“I’m in your way,” Tony said, taking a step toward him, challenging him.

Mike snarled. “Challenge accepted.” He spat.

Mike charged at Tony with the speed of a bullet just like he had Grog, but Tony was ready for him. Tony sidestepped out of the way and punched Mike in the face with the force of a sledgehammer. Mike’s head twisted completely around until he was facing behind him. Tony had heard the crunch of all of Mike’s neck bones breaking. Mike tried to turn his head back around with his hands; he stumbled and then collapsed to the floor at Tony’s feet.

“Charlotte,” Tony called out.

He started to walk toward the kitchen to find Charlotte. Then he heard a horrible noise behind him. It was the sound of a long gag and strangled breathing behind him. No. It couldn’t be. Tony turned. It was. Mike was standing. Mike found his head with his hands and, with the sound of wet bones grinding against each other, turned his head around on his neck. His head flopped helplessly around like a newborn baby’s head. With immense effort, Mike lifted his head and looked at Tony with his black eyes.

“TONY!” Mike shouted. “NOW YOU HAVE REALLY PISSED ME OFF!”

Mike charged at Tony with the speed of light. Tony tried to sidestep him again but wasn’t quick enough this time. Mike grabbed Tony by his throat, spun around, and lifted Tony into the air. Tony struggled to breathe, and he could feel the blood vessels in his face and eyes slowly begin to pop from the sheer strength that Mike held him with. Tony struggled to not pass out. He had to protect Charlotte, but his hits at Mike’s arm were weak and useless.

“I’m going to make you watch as I tear apart every bitch in your life right in front of you. Your sister, your mother, that fucking dog!” Mike said. “Then I’m going to make you watch as I tear apart your world before I slowly rip you apart and send you into orbit for the rest of eternity, like I did before I came here. And the best part of all is you’ll still be alive.” Mike squeezed Tony’s throat harder, and just as Tony was about to pass out, he saw movement behind Mike.

“Let go of my brother!” Charlotte screamed as she swung Grog’s parents’ heavy titanium meat cleaver that she had found in the kitchen into Mike’s neck. Mike’s grip on Tony’s throat loosened, but he did not release Tony. Mike’s head still hung on by a flap of skin and was getting covered by the blood that was spurting up from his neck. Mike turned slightly toward Charlotte. Mike coughed, and blood poured from his mouth and into his nose. Mike coughed some more.

“Now…”—cough, cough—“I’m really…”—cough, gag, spit out blood—“pissed off,” Mike sputtered out with blood dripping from his mouth with every word.

Tony grabbed Mike’s head and held it up. “Charlotte! NOW!”

Charlotte swung the heavy meat cleaver again, and Mike’s head came off completely in Tony’s hand. The hand gripping Tony released, and Tony dropped to the floor along with Mike’s head. Tony sat up and looked at Mike’s head on the floor. There was something in wiggling in Mike’s blood that was dripping out from his severed head. It was so small, and it was the same color of the blood that Tony might have missed it if it wasn’t wiggling. Tony automatically knew that it was the Demon worm. Tony snarled and immediately pounded the worm with his fist and ground it into the floorboard with his knuckle.

Then Mike’s eyes opened. His eyes were back to normal, and Tony could see that it was the real Mike.

“Tony.” Mike coughed and spoke softly. “Tell Grog and Abbie I’m sorry. I love you, guys.”

Tony’s eyes were filled with tears. “We love you too, man,” Tony assured him.

Mike slightly smiled, and then the light went out in his eyes and he was gone. Tony reached up with his blood-covered hand and gently shut Mike’s eyes. Then Grog crawled over to Tony, holding his jaw. Tony looked up at him.

“You all right, man?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’m okay,” Grog said, almost sounding like he didn’t have a tongue. Grog let go of his jaw and wiggled it back and forth and opened and closed his mouth a few times. “It already feels like it’s getting better,” Grog said.

Then Abbie went to them, limping severely and whining with pain, but she went to her humans. You are getting better already. It’s another gift. You must destroy the Demon immediately, Abbie told them.

Tony looked at the fireplace. “Let’s light a fire and burn it,” he suggested.

Yes, Abbie agreed. Burn it long enough and hot enough should destroy it and all the worms inside of it. But whatever you do, don’t touch it with your bare hands or put it into your shirt. Do it immediately!

Grog stood to get his work gloves and the meteorite still upstairs in his bedroom. Tony and Charlotte went to the fireplace and began placing logs, newspaper, and spraying lighter fluid into it. Then Charlotte lit a match and threw it into the fireplace, which lit with a burst and immediately began to blaze. Grog appeared at the top of the stairs holding the dark red crimson meteorite, holding it out away from his body like it was a terrible smelly diaper.

He came running downstairs and threw it into the fireplace. He took off his gloves and threw them into the fire too. They all watched and could see the worms trying to crawl out from inside the meteorite and then pop and sizzle from the heat of the fire.

It’s working, Abbie proclaimed. It’s being destroyed. You have to destroy the Immortal too. It’s the only way to go back to normal, and you will have to go back eventually. But not yet. He broke my ribs and legs. I’m getting better, but I require some more time to heal and so do all of you.

They all agreed with her.

Charlotte turned and looked at Mike’s body. “How are we going to explain…this?”

Grog and Tony looked up at each other. Then from behind them, they heard an ear-piercing scream. And then a man’s deep voice boomed, “What the fuck happened in my house?”

Grog’s parents were standing just inside the front door, staring at Mike’s body in shock.

“Oh shit,” Grog, Tony, and Charlotte all said at the same time.

* * * * *