Nasty Little F___ers-Kindle Read Online Free PDF Page B

pulled up the leg of his pants. There, about five inches above his ankle, one of the grubs was going to town on his leg. It really stung, too. The little bastard got him good.
    “Oh, no you don’t,” he said as he reached down and pinched the critter between his thumb and forefinger. “You’re not making a meal out of me.” He tried to pull it off gently, but it had a strong hold on his skin, so he took a deep breath, steeled himself, and gave the thing a quick jerk. A bright flash of pain followed, then the grub came free with a slight pop and a barely audible rip. It managed to take a small piece of his leg with it, a chunk of flesh about a quarter of an inch around.
    After checking to make sure there were no more grubs near enough to get to him, Colby held the squirming thing up to his face and examined it. It was just an ordinary looking grub, albeit a big one, about the size of a mealworm, and pale yellow in color with bright red spots on its head and ass. While he watched, its mouth opened wide and the piece of Colby’s leg disappeared in its gullet. His eyes gaped when the grub opened its mouth. The thing had teeth! Nasty little sharp ones. No wonder it was able to pull that chunk of his leg away with it. Colby grimaced at the sight of a piece of his body being swallowed. Stupid little bastard , he thought, not very good at knowing who it can and can’t fuck with, that’s for sure.
    “I hope you enjoyed that, you little shit,” he said. “It was your last meal.” Then he squeezed the thing until it gave a slight pop and burst open like a tiny water balloon. The piece of his leg, along with a sticky mess of guts, fell from the grub’s ruined body and slid down his thumb.
    “Damn it, Sarge,” Harper said. “I wanted to examine that.”
    “Here,” Colby replied, and flicked the remains at him. Harper ducked and swore, then gestured toward Bock.
    “Hey,” he said, “Grab a sample jar out of my bag, would you?”
    “You brought sample jars along to find Jared?” Bock asked.
    “I bring sample jars everywhere. Just in case.”
    Bock shook his head, but ducked back inside the tent. He came back to the flap a minute later and tossed a small glass vessel, about the size of a Gerber Baby Food jar, at Harper. Harper caught it, unscrewed the lid, and leaned over Jared’s body.
    Colby noted the sweat pouring off Harper’s face and knew the man must be thinking about the piece of flesh the grub took from Colby’s leg. He hid his grin as Harper gingerly reached down toward the writhing mass of grubs, his hand inching closer and closer to the nasty little things.
    “Boo!” Bock yelled just as Harper’s hand got close.
    Harper screamed, jumped, and fell backward into the grass. The glass jar flew out of his hand and landed in the brush somewhere off to the right.
    Harper shot to his feet, his face red as a tomato. “You bastard! What did you do that for?” He sputtered and shook his fist at Bock.
    “That’s Jared lying there, Harper,” Bock said. “You get that? Jared. Not some fucking experiment.”
    Harper at least had the decency to look chagrined. He dropped his eyes to his feet and shuffled out of the clearing, mumbling something about having to use the facilities. Colby watched him go, then turned to Bock. “What do you care about Jared? I thought everything was an experiment to you science types.”
    Bock winked. “I just don’t like that guy,” he said, nodding his head in the direction Harper had gone. “He’s too fucking pompous.”
    Colby didn’t have a ready argument for that because he’d been thinking pretty much the same thing. Harper rubbed almost everyone the wrong way. Mostly it was the way he looked at people. He stared at them most of the time like they were one of his specimens, something to be examined. No, Colby didn’t like him much, either.
    “Well,” Colby said, “It’s about two-thirty in the morning. Think you can get back to sleep?”
    Bock shook his head.