Nick Cutter - The Troop

“What a fucking shock!” Kent snarled. “The Bobbsey Twins agree!”

The wind hit a momentary lull. In that dead calm, the boys heard Tim’s voice calling them from the closet.

“I am sick .”

Kent pointed at the door. An expression of smug elation was plastered on the strained canvas of his face. “You see? You see now ?”

Max knelt at the closet and tore the strip of duct tape off. Who the hell had put it there? He started yanking the tea towels stoppered under the door—then stopped abruptly. What if something squiggled out from under the door? The Scoutmaster’s fingers, even, gone thin and witchy like long pointed wires?

“There’s a big storm coming,” he said to the door, to the Scoutmaster. “It’s already here.”

“I can hear it.” Tim’s voice was weird. “What you should do is get some candles and blankets and head down to the cellar.”

“What about you?”

“I think… I’ll stay right here, Max.”

The hopelessness in his voice sent a volley of cold nails into Max’s chest.

“Why?”

“You know why, Max. Are any of the other boys looking bad?”

“Yeah, I think Kent is.”

“I’m not sick !” Kent screeched pitifully.

“You shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you,” Ephraim said with calm contempt.

The wind dropped to a brief lull. Tim’s voice could be heard clearly.

“You have to be careful,” he said, sounding immensely tired. “Whatever this is, it’s catching. I don’t know how. But it can be passed around… round and round… I’m so hungry, Max.”

Thunder crashed overhead like massive two-by-fours being thwack ed together. The hair at the nape of the boys’ necks stood at attention. A string of blood trailed under the closet door. The ventricles of Max’s heart ran with ice at the sight.

“You’re bleeding,” he whispered.

“Am I?” Tim did not sound surprised or alarmed. “I don’t know where it could be coming from. I don’t feel it at all. Now go on, Max. Get down to the cellar. Go, hurry.”

EVIDENCE LOG, CASE 518C

PIECE A-17 (Personal Effects)

Lab journal of Dr. Clive Edgerton [Original audio recording, pre-transcription]

Recovered from SITE A (220 Makepeace Road, Summerside, Prince Edward Island) by Officer Brian Skelly, badge #908

Test subject 13. Alpha series.

CHIMPANZEE (Marshall BioServices; breeding batch RD-489)

Age: 3 Years, 7 months. Female.

Subject’s pre-test weight: 105lbs

/Date: 09.22/

OBSERVING RESEARCHER: DR. CLIVE EDGERTON

09:00 I introduced the modified hydatid [Genetic Recombination Y8.9-0] via injection. Subject is alert and energetic. Enjoying the use of its large enclosure with swing bar, reflective steel mirror, and splash pool. Subject is evidencing no overt signs of distress or pain.

10:00 Subject state is unchanged.

11:00 Subject state is unchanged.

12:00 Subject state is unchanged.

01:00 Subject state is unchanged.

01:54 Subject displaying signs of agitation. Pacing its enclosure. It issues a series of vocalizations… shrill doglike yips.

02:13 Pacing continues. Vocalizations climb to a high and possibly pain-stricken pitch before softening. Subject is scratching its posterior aggressively. Blood observed in small quantities.

03:09 Subject has consumed all foodstuffs placed in its enclosure. Approximately 5lbs peeled and diced fruit, 1lb dried mealworms, 5lbs root vegetables. Equivalent to 10% of subject’s total body mass consumed in less than forty minutes [02:29-03:07]. Subject failed to masticate food fully. Subject choked on fibrous tubers. Subject regurgitated said tubers. Shortly thereafter subject consumed them again.

04:00 Subject continues to scratch its posterior aggressively. More blood. Half a pint lost? Possible risk of anal fissure.

05:00 Scratching has largely stopped. Prominent indentations under the ribs indicate rapid weight loss, although at perhaps a slightly slower rate than that registered in both rodent and feline test subjects. Weight loss still far too rapid to have any practical applications.

05:23 Visible folds of skin now gird the subject’s pelvic brim. Eyes sunken into skull. Tissue degradation evident. Subject’s demeanor placid and seemingly unconcerned. Hydatid has narcotizing effect? [post-edit note: see H. diminuta transfection case study]

05:45 A large hydatid has extruded from the subject’s anus. Approx seven inches long. Significant tissue damage, swelling, and redness evidenced at extrusion site. Possible anal prolapse. Subject appears to be in no evident physical pain. Hydatid now approx one foot long as of recording… two… now two and a half feet.

05:50 Subject paces enclosure. Movements sluggish and hesitant. The extruded worm—now five feet long—is trailing from subject’s anus. Hydatid is thicker toward midbody: diameter of a medium-gauge electrical cord.

05:52 Hydatid has fully extruded from subject. Approx ten feet in length. It lies in a cochlear coil on the bare cement. Subject seemingly unaware it has passed the worm. Eyes vacant and glazed. Bumping into walls. Visibly disoriented.

06:12 A bloody froth emits from subject’s mouth. Thick, creamy lather resembling milk foam. Subject evacuated froth with surprising force—hard enough that a copious quantity of blood simultaneously ejected from subject’s nose. [post-test update: investigation of froth showed it to be teeming with dwarf hydatids] Subject is seemingly unaware of trauma.

06:30 Definite prolapse of anus. Severely hemorrhaged fistlike section of lower colon plainly visible. Dark purple in color. Subject exhibiting no evident signs of distress.

07:00 Subject lies down heavily on nest of hay and sleeps.

08:00 Subject continues to sleep. Rapid aspiration of lungs.

09:00 Subject continues to sleep. [post-test update: upon consulting microphone rigged to pick up ambient sound inside the enclosure, a definite squirming sound could be heard between 09:13 and 09:16. Hypothesis: sounds emanating from within subject?]

10:10 Subject wakes suddenly. Eyes quite wide. The visible white portions are networked with burst blood vessels. Subject is in deeply agitated state. Clawing at face and body. Subject is gibbering uncontrollably.

10:12 Subject calm again. Hangs listlessly from play-swing.

10:14 Subject sits in play pool. Splashes water upon self apathetically. Water tinted red with blood from bodily wounds. Subject appears to be developing skin-surface lesions. Swellings noted on chest and arms and legs.

10:16 Subject pulling off hanks of fur. Subject staring at said hanks in a stunned and remote manner.

10:17 Subject is ingesting own fur. Subject is tearing off fur from arms and stomach and neck. Subject is ingesting more fur. There is blood… quite a lot of blood.

10:42 Subject steps out of pool. Moving with great difficulty. Ribs very prominent now. Outline of subject’s skull visible beneath thin skin. Much fur has been forcefully removed from body and face.

10:43 Subject staring into steel mirror. Subject appears to be examining itself. Subject is pawing the mirror gently.

10:45 Subject attacks mirror. Pounding it with great force. Subject leaves bloody prints on the steel. The subject is screeching and screeching and smashing fists into the mirror as if wishing to shatter it, shatter the reflection.

10:46 Subject moves away from mirror. Subject lies on concrete of enclosure. Subject emits low groaning sounds. Also hissing sounds.

11:00 [Dr. Edgerton exits observation booth. Dr. Nathan Erikson undertakes observational role]

11:15 Subject… suh-suh-subject is… Jesus. Jesus Christ… subject… subject is… subject is not a subject anymore. I mean, holy God, is she? How could she be? Subject is more bone than anything. Subject… Jesus, you poor thing. You poor fucking thing, you… I just… Clive, you bastard… this is… oh, Jesus. She’s trying to move. Subject—she is—she is trying to crawl over to something. I don’t know what… what the hell is that? Subject is—oh, Christ. Oh this can’t… subject clearly has a prolapsed anus. This is where the worm—I can now identify the coiled shape on the floor as a worm—where the worm must have exited her body. The subject is making her way toward the worm. The worm is long and white and greasy. The subject’s body and face are covered in lesions. They look like very large and terrible bee stings. Some are the size of golf balls. The subject’s mouth is opening and closing on nothing. Nothing . She’s bitten through her tongue. The subject is hissing —I do not believe she is making this noise herself. I believe the worms are making this noise somehow. The subject has made her way to the evacuated worm. The subject is toying with the worm… flicking at it with a finger… the subject… oh dear God, dear God don’t do that … oh… oh… the subject is—the subject is eating the worm. The subject is shoving the worm into her mouth. Force-feeding herself the worm. She’s eaten the worm. She’s eaten it all. It’s gone. The subject is mewling. Drowning-kitten sounds. She is mewling and lying still. Her lesions are pulsating… I think I can see… fuck no… Jesus. Jesus Christ— CLIVE!