Waves In Time: A collection of science fiction short stories by Hal Tenny

Author:Hal Tenny [Tenny, Hal]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Published: 2012-01-21T04:30:00+00:00

The End

YOUR TURN

by

Hal Tenny

What a beautiful day. The autumn air was filled with the pleasant scent of unspoiled wilderness. Decaying leaves layered the woods, a thin dusting of frost still whitened the shaded patches of fine moss. As I walked through the woods my feet compressed the soft groundcover leaving a clear set of tracks indicating my unhurried, indecisive route by the irregular trail left behind. I wasn't going in circles exactly, but if you straightened my path, I might have been able to cover twice the distance.

Actually, I didn't have particular plan for my walk at all, and no precise destination for that matter. I merely sought to remove myself from civilization, if only for the day. I wanted to listen to the soothing, undisturbed sound of nature for a change. I longed to hear chirping birds, buzzing insects, and the wind whisking through an autumn-bare stand of trees.

I continued my steady -- if somewhat rambling walk -- and came upon something of interest, something you hope never to see in your lifetime. The state of this particular discovery may be quite prevalent in the woods, but the subject itself was rather unusual. It was a dead man. Dead things in the wild are not all that remarkable, or uncommon for that matter, but a dead man was definitely cause for more than a bit of concern.

Possessing a stout fortitude, and normally unaffected by anything less than the most gruesome visions of a disturbing nature, I readily crouched to inspect the unfortunate corpse I had stumbled upon. The man was laying on his stomach, face down and fully clothed. He looked perfectly normal from what I could see -- no obvious signs of trauma, physical injury or decay-- he could actually have been sleeping for all I knew. But alas, I was less than satisfied and much too curious to leave it at that.

The best course of action would have been to leave the body untouched and what was sure to be a crime scene unmolested by my arrival. I should have left and immediately notified the authorities. Even knowing this I felt compelled to investigate. Against my better judgment I continued with an examination of the corpse.

I carefully turned the body over and instantly realized the mistake I had made. The appalling vision assaulted my stomach with waves of nausea as I stumbled to the side and violently heaved the contents of my breakfast into the grass. I had forgotten how distasteful retching was and I resolved to do my best to avoid it at all costs in the future.

Looking back at the man as I wiped the distasteful leavings of my unfortunate accident away, I was utterly astonished by the sight that now confronted me. Staring in fascination at the body, I could have sworn his face was missing a moment ago, eaten away by a tangle of worms cavorting in his empty eye sockets. His gaping belly had been open and I could see clear through to the backbone.

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