Free Burn by Drew Huff

Author:Drew Huff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Matter Magazine
Published: 2024-02-04T23:16:06+00:00

Thirty

I got about fifty feet away before I threw up.

I ran. I coughed. I hacked and hacked, then somewhere along the line, it turned into dry heaving. Dry heaving became hurling.

Blueing’s spasming throat. The crimson gush of gore. The muscles tearing off in strings like raw steak. Lorraine chewing. Chewing the fat. Wasn’t that what they called talking? Oh God. Oh Christ. A shaking, deep in my chest. It spread to my limbs. Overhead, the sky loomed pitch-black. No moon, no stars, just summer humidity smothering down. Dry grass crunched. Electric lights glowed faintly, far away. Too far away to reach via foot.

The truck engine revved.

I heaved again.

Her eyes, stabbing into mine as she ripped his throat out and ate him. Black beyond shark-like. Black like an empty universe. They weren’t angry.

They were ravenous.

For what, I didn’t know. I didn’t want to know.

I wiped my mouth with my arm and kept running. Couldn’t see a thing. I kept running. My legs screamed. I tripped, fell over, panted. Got up. Kept running.

Mallory can’t run.

I stopped, breathing hard. No matter what else I was—bona fide freakshow, monster—I couldn’t leave her like this. I hadn’t left her when I’d thought she’d fricasseed Blueing.

But Jesus, what was I supposed to do? What could I even do?

I fumbled in my pocket. No burner phone. It was probably sitting right by Blueing’s still-warm body. Great. How was I going to reach Lamiel? Roy Pike? Anyone?

Engine noise. Crunching grass. Up ahead, red taillights burned like twin coals.

The truck stopped.

I froze, heart racing. Was she about to get out? Shoot me?

Lorraine wanted to murder Mallory. She had control of Mallory’s body. Unless I wanted to hurt Mallory, it was Hands off. I imagined Mallory, spasming like Blueing, corpse-still except for her eyes, those could look around…if she lived. If I timed it right. Too many ifs.

The truck slowly turned around.

Headlights.

She’s going to run me down.

Pulse. Pulse. Pulse. Teeth popped. The Hands itched.

Under my shirt lurked a spread of veins. I felt them. They’d gone past my arms and shoulders, coiling around the submerged outline of my ribs. Like blood poisoning. Yeah, it might kill me. But what would happen if it didn’t?

A hundred feet away, Lorraine Worner stared at me through the truck’s windshield. She reached up. Overhead light flicked on. Blisters marred her—Mallory’s—neck.

I stared back. Neither of us moved.

More teeth burst out of the roof of my mouth. How many rows were we at now? Four? Six?

Demon. Monster. I shivered.

She waved at me.

The engine snarled to life. Tires spun. Diesel fumes clogged the air, engine spitting louder and louder. Revving up.

Like a bull about to charge. Time to be the matador. When the truck came, I’d jump off to the side and dodge. But stumbling in the dark wouldn’t last long. She only needed to get lucky once, and I’d either die or metamorphose into something that’d make the eels living in the Mariana Trench envious.

I unwrapped the Hands. Smoke from burning rubber darkened the stars above.

What the hell happened with Blueing, champ? You thought Blueing was an it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.