Excerpt
Jolie reached the hill and looked down. The top portion of Stephen’s body was sticking out of a large hole all the way up to his armpits. He might have been swallowed completely if his arms hadn't caught the ground. He was screaming in excruciating pain.
“Did you break your legs or something?” Jolie yelled at him, trying to lean over the pipeline to grab a hold of his friend.
Stephen shook his head no, but continued screaming relentlessly. Blood began to trickle down the side of his mouth, and Jolie had seen enough Hollywood movies to know that wasn't a good sign. It usually meant you were bleeding on the inside. He managed to finally get a hold of his friend's arms and pulled with all his strength, using the pipeline as leverage. It felt as if he was stuck on something, but he continued to pull. Feeling like Stephen was beginning to break free from what was holding him, Jolie pulled harder, inching him up and toward him. Suddenly he heard the pipeline begin to crack more from the weight of the two men.
Jolie gave another yank, harder than the last, and felt Stephen coming up and out of the hole, just as the pipe split in two. “Shit thunder,” Jolie swore, pulling as hard as he could and grabbing a tree to keep the two men from falling down the hill along with the pipe. Blood covered them both, but he realized it was coming from Stephen. “What the hell did you do?” He looked down as Stephen came entirely out of the hole and noticed that one of his legs was gone from the knee down and on the other leg, a foot was missing. Blood was everywhere. Pieces of his body had holes in it as if something had been trying to eat him alive. As Jolie pulled his friend to him, he saw that his stomach had been torn open and his intestines were hanging out. When he saw his eyes, Jolie realized why Stephen had suddenly stopped screaming. His eyes stared forward, unseeing. “My God. My God.” Jolie cried, cradling Stephen to him.
Jolie felt as if he was going into shock as he thought a voice from somewhere below yelled out, “Let me see you get your friend out of this mess.”
“I got him out.” He yelled at no one. “I got him out.” Looking up from his dead friend, he noticed movement. Suddenly several huge wolf rats appeared close by, coming up over the hill where the pipe use to be. They moved closer and closer, until he reached out and began trying to kick them away with his boots. As they moved even closer, four more of the large rats came up over the hill, behind them more rats appeared, like an army preparing for attack. They hissed defiantly.
Jolie shoved his friend aside, there was nothing he could do for him now, forcing himself to his feet. Suddenly the rats attacked, running toward him, with their sharp teeth gnarled and snapping at him.
Forcing himself over the pipe that remained, he ran toward the Jeep, but they were all over him, dangling from him - back, legs, chest - tearing through his clothes, and tearing away his flesh. He was able to knock some of the gigantic rodents from him, but they continued coming, attacking. Yards from the vehicle and safety, with only one of them on his back now, it bit deep into his neck and tore into him, severing his jugular. Blood gushed forward in an uneven spray.
Jolie reached for the door knob of his vehicle, but fell forward to the ground, missing the handle by inches. Furry rodents descended upon him like salesmen in a car lot. Seconds later his full body was covered with rats, eating, ripping his skin away from him. The pain was unbearable. He tried screaming, but couldn't. They pressed against his body and face so tightly he couldn't make a sound, except muffled groans that escaped from his throat. He knew he was a dead man, so he willingly relinquished his life to his tormentors. The last thought that passed through his mind in this life was, 'shit thunder, we really fucked up this time.'
|