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save for its mouth, which was overfilled with crooked,
flattened teeth and several flailing, quasi-translucent tongues.
I had no idea how, but the creature found me almost
immediately, wrapping its titan arms around me even as my
sister buried herself in its thick, stinking flesh. Before I could
brace myself, it hurled me through the saloon-style doors of
the kitchen. After nearly colliding with the ceiling, I crashed
down into the middle of the dining room filled with feasting
cannibals. For the briefest moment, all was silent. Hungry
eyes looked up from plates piled high with human meat. The
next moment was a frenzy of hissing monsters and talons.
Teeth made for man-eating entered my arms, legs, and back.
Fists smashed into my face and ribs. A new type of alien
behemoth leapt upon my back, its razor-sharp claws sinking
into my flesh as it attempted to wrap its jaws around the
back of my head. I rose to my feet, bearing the weight of the
toothy mob. Inopportunely, one of the cannibals produced
a large chair and smashed it into my chest, causing me to
topple to the ground. The mob was crushing me beneath its
collective fury. My bones would soon fail me, and my blood
would be nothing more than spoil and stink stained across so
many mouths.
I would not fall to these degenerates. They weren’t even
proper monsters, after all, but only puppets of meat and
bone stuffed with the souls of pigs. I had to get to my feet.
I had to kill them all. I managed to roll to my back, flinging
a number of the hungry patrons into the wall. The larger
beast descended upon me again. I locked my hands over the
creature’s monstrous fore-claws, stopping the serrated things
just short of my eyes. Dirty boots slammed into my temples,
and greasy hands wrapped around my arms, trying to derail
my strength and allow the beast to fall upon me completely. I
could feel the bones of the creature’s paws slowly beginning
to crack beneath my strength. The monstrosity tried to end
our contest by tearing the flesh from my face with its wide
maw.
120 | Mark Anzalone