Patrick D'Orazio - Into the Dark

Teddy was staring at him, stunned, as Ray did several more fist pumps. He missed the movement near his friend’s feet.

Ray’s cries of joy turned to howls of agony as he felt teeth sinking into his ankle.

Jeff and George were making swift work of the general store when they heard the shots.

A quick inspection had found few useful items remaining on the shelves. The place had been ransacked and abandoned long ago. George had set to work collecting anything that looked edible, but the pickings were slim. Jeff searched the store for bodies, living or dead, and found neither. There were no blood trails or splatters marking any sort of battle. Just dust bunnies and a few useless items like surge protectors and garden hoses to pick through.

When they heard the loud reports from outside, they both froze in place. The walls muffled the noise enough that Jeff did not immediately realize what it was. He wondered why in the hell a car was backfiring and moved to the front door. He blinked in the harsh sunlight as his eyes adjusted. When he was able to see, the first thing he noticed was that Ray and Teddy were not standing by the door. A sickening dread filled him.

George navigated across the debris-strewn floor when he saw Jeff pushing open the door, also noticing that the two teenagers were missing.

“Where the hell are the boys?”

Jeff didn’t bother answering as he rushed out to the parking lot. He heard a bloodcurdling scream and several more shots. Another scream intermingled with the first, this one higher in pitch and filled with shock, not pain. Jeff swore he could hear shouting, but the gunshots devoured everything else. He had no idea where it was coming from. George was right behind him, and they ignored the flattened corpse of the jumper as they tried to track the sounds. After a few seconds of listening, Jeff ran to the side of the building.

As he did, Jeff caught a glimpse of Marcus stepping out of the Hole in the Wall across the street, a small crate under one arm, the pump-action shotgun in the other. Frank’s buddy didn’t appear to be in any sort of rush to find out what had happened. Instead, he stood watching as Jeff ran furiously toward the sound of screaming.

Jeff felt the shakes coming on as he rounded the corner.

What he saw at first confused him. There was an inert corpse next to the dumpster, but that was not what drew his eye. It appeared as if Teddy and Ray were wrestling with one another. Teddy was yanking on Ray’s leg like he was possessed as the other boy beat on Teddy in response. Jeff stutter-stepped, trying to get his bearings. As he moved closer, he realized what was actually happening.

“Oh my God,” George said as he caught up to Jeff.

One of the infected had attached itself to Ray’s ankle. He and Teddy were doing their best to force it to let go by yanking at it and beating on its head, but it was ignoring their efforts. Jeff rushed up and pushed Teddy out of the way, dropping his baseball bat as he knelt next to Ray.

George dropped his bag and grabbed Teddy before the boy could react. He wrapped the teen in a bear hug and lifted him off the ground as Teddy struggled. George was shocked at the kid’s strength; he was wiry and compact, a bundle of muscle with the vigor and energy of youth behind it. But as determined as Teddy was to break free, George was twice his size, and his arms were like bands of iron.

Jeff swallowed hard as nausea nearly overpowered him. Ray was still alert and pounding on the creature with the butt of his empty handgun. Despite the urgency of the situation, Jeff took a steadying breath and tried to figure out what to do.

The ghoul on Ray was probably as decrepit a specimen as Jeff had ever seen. Its tangled greasy hair was pressed to its scalp, and the age spots beneath were pronounced. Major patches of graying skin were missing from the skull, and it had no nose or eyes. Instead, there were gaping holes where its facial features had once been. The ears had been torn off, and some sort of black oil oozed from the ragged holes on the sides of the creature’s skull. Its lone arm was latched firmly onto Ray’s leg. The skeletal hand had only a spider web of skin remaining, but there were strips of flesh still dangling from the arm, displaying sinewy muscle underneath. Both legs were gone, along with a significant portion of the lower torso. The spinal column, with various threads of meat still attached, dangled below a violent tear at the base of its ribcage. It was hard to tell, but the throat and chest, which were facing the ground, also looked decimated. What remained of the pathetic creature was latched firmly to Ray’s ankle, smacking its lips as its teeth dug deeper into his flesh. The boy screamed, and Jeff flinched.

After a moment, Ray whimpered and Jeff noticed the pool of blood forming beneath the boy’s foot. “P-p-p-please get it off of me. P-p-pl… ” the teenager begged as he stared at Jeff, his glasses dangling at the tip of his nose. He bashed at the creature again, but its hard skull absorbed the weak blow, and Ray moaned as the ghoul gnawed on his ankle.

Jeff clenched his jaw as he realized what he had to do. Moving his hand toward the gruesome creature’s head, he gritted his teeth and slid his fingers into its empty eye sockets. Swallowing hard, he gave a vicious tug. Ray let out another high-pitched scream as his leg was lifted off the ground but the ghoul did not detach. Its hand let go of the boy’s leg and swung around erratically, trying to discover who had a hold of it.

Jeff slammed his foot down on the arm and smashed it to the ground. Grinding his heel back and forth, he felt the remaining flesh loosen and separate from the bone on the monster’s arm.

Fighting a wave of nausea, he pressed his free hand down on Ray’s leg for leverage and pulled with all his might on the skull one more time.

The boy’s screams grew louder, but could not blot out the sound of flesh and muscle tearing away from the bone. A spray of blood hit the side of the building in a wide arc, and Ray rolled over on his belly, finally free of the horrible teeth. He crawled into a fetal position and wrapped his hands around his bloody wound. A good hunk of meat and tendon had been pulled free and remained between the ghoul’s gnashing teeth. Jeff dropped the wretched creature and stood, slamming his heel repeatedly into the back of its skull. The monster’s face was driven into the asphalt, and its hand twitched furiously as it went through its death spasms.

There was no time to get sick as Jeff moved back toward Ray. Teddy, who had wriggled free of George’s limp grasp, was already next to his friend. The blond man was stunned, unable to comprehend what had just occurred. Jeff pulled off his t-shirt and used his teeth to tear strips from the bottom of it.

Teddy screamed at Ray, trying to lift him to a sitting position as he babbled unintelligible questions at his friend. When Jeff moved in this time, he did not push Teddy away, allowing the boy to remain close as he focused on Ray’s shredded ankle. As he drew near, the boy screamed in panic, his eyes wide and terrified. Ray tried to push himself backwards, and as he did, more blood gushed onto the pavement. Jeff knew he needed to stop the bleeding quickly or Ray would go into shock.

“It’s going to be okay, Ray. It’ll be all right. I’m going to bandage you. Take it easy.” Jeff showed him the strips of cotton fabric in his hands.

Ray’s screams stopped as he desperately tried to cover the wound with his hands, which were slippery with blood. He cupped his ankle, but the red liquid continued to pour through his fingers. The boy flinched, but let Jeff get close enough to wrap the wound with the first strip of cloth. When Ray did not protest further, Jeff put another strip on top of the first.