in the air. The blood-stained hanky fluttered into his lap. It looked to Tommy like a shrapnel wound from one of those fancy Hollywood war movies: a jagged and meaty gash dripping red. But there was something else there as well. Something that made Tommy’s mouth go dry. Stitched in a crescent pattern on the back of Buck’s hand and across his palm was a set of teeth marks. At least they looked like teeth marks, but not from any set of jaws Tommy had ever seen. Hundreds of tiny pinpricks set neatly in a curved line.
Tommy’s attention snapped back to the road and he realized with a jolt of panic he had wandered over into the oncoming lane. The tires squealed as he veered back. “Buck, your hand!”
Buck studied his hand, turning it over in his lap as though he were trying on a pair of expensive gloves. “It was right after I sliced her open that I heard this scream, high pitched like a woman’s scream, but from far away and when I looked up that thing was diving down at me, wings folded. Its eyes blazing. Two blood red chili peppers is what they looked like. There was something cold about them. Something prehistoric.” Buck drew a fresh hanky out of his back pocket and held it against the wound. “It was the blood, Tommy. I didn’t realize at the time, but it was the blood that it smelled.”
“Like a shark,” Tommy said, feeling suddenly not so sure about what he was getting himself into.
“Truth be told, I wanted to run. I won’t bullshit you, Tommy. We’ve known each other too long for that. I wanted to run so bad I could feel my legs twitching under me, but it felt like one of those dreams, where your legs are pumping like hell but you’re not going anywhere. I’m telling you this, Tommy, cause I trust you’ll never breath a goddamn word of it so long as you live. But facts are facts and the fact is, I nearly crapped in my pants. Happened so fast too, only real memory I have is putting my arm into the air, like for protection. And then it slammed into me, latching onto my arm, sending me ass backwards into the dirt.” Buck looked down at his hand.
“Those fingers it had were long and thin with pointed claws and its feet were just the same, like one of those orangutans. And all over its body were wispy grey feathers… and the smell. God awful. Like when they found Jed Peterson in his favorite recliner, dead nearly a month. Maggots crawling all over his face.”
Tommy could feel Buck’s eyes burrowing into him. “But it was the mouth that I remember most…”
Tommy made another right and in the distance he could see the very tip of the abandoned Keisel steel factory, looming above the tree tops. His eyes made a quick scan, but the sky above it was empty.
Buck followed Tommy’s eyes and then fell back to his throbbing hand. “That’s when it bit me. And I’ll guarantee, you’ve never felt pain like that in your life. Like a thousand tetanus shots all at once. Its jaw latched on as if I was holding a piece of steak out to a vulture.
“I screamed, Tommy. I’m not afraid to admit that. Maybe for the first time since I was a little pissant in diapers, I screamed and I wasn’t gonna stop until I felt the cold steel of that crowbar still in my other hand and I brought it down as hard as I could. I was aiming for the thing’s head you see, but you have to understand, it didn’t really have a head, not like you and I at least. Its head came out of its shoulders, almost like a moth. Hell, a lot like a moth. A giant moth with red eyes and two sets of hands.”
Part II
‘Introductions All Around’
T he Keisel Steel Works’ main building looked like a red barn on steroids. It rose into the sky nearly two hundred feet. Six smoke stacks jutted from the roof in a neat line. Around this main building were a collection of hodgepodge structures, some of them large enough to park a fleet of Buick Eldorados, others no bigger than an outhouse, and yet everything here bore the unmistakable aura of
Tommy’s attention snapped back to the road and he realized with a jolt of panic he had wandered over into the oncoming lane. The tires squealed as he veered back. “Buck, your hand!”
Buck studied his hand, turning it over in his lap as though he were trying on a pair of expensive gloves. “It was right after I sliced her open that I heard this scream, high pitched like a woman’s scream, but from far away and when I looked up that thing was diving down at me, wings folded. Its eyes blazing. Two blood red chili peppers is what they looked like. There was something cold about them. Something prehistoric.” Buck drew a fresh hanky out of his back pocket and held it against the wound. “It was the blood, Tommy. I didn’t realize at the time, but it was the blood that it smelled.”
“Like a shark,” Tommy said, feeling suddenly not so sure about what he was getting himself into.
“Truth be told, I wanted to run. I won’t bullshit you, Tommy. We’ve known each other too long for that. I wanted to run so bad I could feel my legs twitching under me, but it felt like one of those dreams, where your legs are pumping like hell but you’re not going anywhere. I’m telling you this, Tommy, cause I trust you’ll never breath a goddamn word of it so long as you live. But facts are facts and the fact is, I nearly crapped in my pants. Happened so fast too, only real memory I have is putting my arm into the air, like for protection. And then it slammed into me, latching onto my arm, sending me ass backwards into the dirt.” Buck looked down at his hand.
“Those fingers it had were long and thin with pointed claws and its feet were just the same, like one of those orangutans. And all over its body were wispy grey feathers… and the smell. God awful. Like when they found Jed Peterson in his favorite recliner, dead nearly a month. Maggots crawling all over his face.”
Tommy could feel Buck’s eyes burrowing into him. “But it was the mouth that I remember most…”
Tommy made another right and in the distance he could see the very tip of the abandoned Keisel steel factory, looming above the tree tops. His eyes made a quick scan, but the sky above it was empty.
Buck followed Tommy’s eyes and then fell back to his throbbing hand. “That’s when it bit me. And I’ll guarantee, you’ve never felt pain like that in your life. Like a thousand tetanus shots all at once. Its jaw latched on as if I was holding a piece of steak out to a vulture.
“I screamed, Tommy. I’m not afraid to admit that. Maybe for the first time since I was a little pissant in diapers, I screamed and I wasn’t gonna stop until I felt the cold steel of that crowbar still in my other hand and I brought it down as hard as I could. I was aiming for the thing’s head you see, but you have to understand, it didn’t really have a head, not like you and I at least. Its head came out of its shoulders, almost like a moth. Hell, a lot like a moth. A giant moth with red eyes and two sets of hands.”
Part II
‘Introductions All Around’
T he Keisel Steel Works’ main building looked like a red barn on steroids. It rose into the sky nearly two hundred feet. Six smoke stacks jutted from the roof in a neat line. Around this main building were a collection of hodgepodge structures, some of them large enough to park a fleet of Buick Eldorados, others no bigger than an outhouse, and yet everything here bore the unmistakable aura of
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