Soft Apocalypses Read Online Free PDF Page B

Gash?”
    “I did,” Lewis managed to get out, finally. He shot a quick glance toward Carl and Penny; the two were now wrapped tightly in one another’s arms, faces buried in each other’s shoulders as they shuddered and whimpered.
    Good, he thought. Stay that way. Don’t move, don’t speak, and keep your eyes closed.
    The creature moved farther into the light. “And what do you want of us, boy?”
    “ Boy …” said another creature somewhere behind Lewis, its voice a mockery, clogged with something thick roiling from a throat equal parts metal and muscle.
    The creature that had spoken first stopped moving, looked at Lewis, and then turned its jaundiced eyes toward Carl and Penny. “Oh,” it said. And smiled. Its mouth was filled with too many small yellow, jagged teeth, all of them shaped like tiny backward hooks. “The sweet, tender flesh of children .”
    “Children…”
    “Such a treat…”
    “Baby-meat…”
    Hook-Mouth held up one of its hands, silencing the others. “You summoned us, boy. What do you want?”
    Lewis looked once more at Penny and Carl. This had been a terrible, horrible mistake, he knew that now, but maybe he could still save them.
    “I called you,” he said to Hook-Mouth. “They had nothing to do with this.”
    “Answer me. What do you want of us?”
    “Help us get out of here.”
    Hook-Mouth burst out laughing. “Help you? Boy, you have no idea what you’ve done.” It began moving closer and closer to Lewis as it spoke. “We help no one but the Order of the Gash. We are not in the business of saving bodies or souls. We are more interested in feeding on them. Slowly, with a dark delight you cannot even begin to imagine.”
    “Then take me . Help them get out of here safe, and take me.”
    “You don’t understand, boy. There is no bargaining here, no deals to be made, no compromises to be reached. All of you are coming with us. And knowing as I do how much grief you will feel over the fates of your friends—because their fates will be your fault—will only make consuming you more enchanting, and the taste of your suffering even more delectable.”
    It was so close now that Lewis could feel its diseased breath on his face.
    “Ah,” said hook-Mouth. “Behold, my brethren—the tears of defeat.”
    “Defeat…”
    “Sweet…”
    “Baby meat…”
    Hook-Mouth lifted a hand, reaching for Lewis’ throat. “You and your friends are going to know such glorious agony, boy. The things we have in store for you are such excruciating pleasures that a useless pile of walking meat like you can never begin to—” As soon as Hook-Mouth’s hand gripped Lewis’ neck, the creature froze.
    Lewis felt as if the live end of a power cable had just been jammed into the top of his skull. Everything went white and became anguish—but why should this be any different than the life he and the others had been forced to live for…however long it had been?
    Hook-Mouth released Lewis and he slammed back into the wall, then sank to the floor. Carl and Penny gripped each other even more tightly as their shuddering and whimpering intensified.
    Hook-Mouth seemed to have lost its balance. It stepped back, its legs—or, rather, the things that had once been legs—shaking. When it pulled in its next breath, it was a ragged, stunned sound. It looked past Lewis to its companions in the shadows and began shouting in a language Lewis had never heard before, but he didn’t need to understand it to know the intention behind the words; the inflections were more than enough.
    Hook-Mouth was angry, yes, but more than that, it was shaken and confused. After screaming for a few seconds more, it closed its mouth and eyes, regaining its composure.
    Lewis struggled back to his feet, making a terrible decision. “Do whatever you need to do. Just … do it fast.”
    Hook-Mouth, still a bit dazed-looking, shook its head. “We’ve always known humans like you existed, but I never imagined that