The Hand That Feeds: A Horror Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

wide as he pulled her leg closer. John threw one arm around her waist and pulled her from the bed.
    H e held his wife in the air and looked back at Alex. The boy was pulled to the foot of the bed as he tried to hold on to Angela’s limb. He reached out for his mother as she dangled in front of him. The black pit of his mouth was open and the vile moan spewed out like a growl. His soulless eyes remained fixated on his mother, as he grabbed her shirt. John pulled her further away and as he did, he got a slap across the face for his trouble.
    “Put me down, ” Angela said, screaming at the top of her lungs. “Alex needs me.”
    She kicked and punched, hitting John several times on the face and the top of his head. John pulled at her until he was practically dragging her across the floor. By the time he reached the doorway, Alex had lunged forward and fallen off the bed. His face hit the wooden boards and his hands flailed about trying to push up.
    John let go of his wife with one hand in an attempt to grab the door. He found the knob and felt a painful scratch on his cheek. Angela dug her nails in his skin and pulled with all her strength. She got free, pushing herself back toward Alex on her hands and knees.
    She was only a few feet away before John got to her again. He gave up on the niceties and grabbed a handful of hair. Once he got her on her back, he pulled her away. Alex lunged out for her and grabbed one of her feet. She continued to scream at John even as the boy pulled up toward her and tried to bite her toes. John didn’t think; he reacted. He dropped Angela’s head on to the floor and stepped over her. He sent a solid kick to Alex’s face, the boy’s neck snapped back violently, and he lost his grip on his mother. John grabbed another handful of hair as Angela tried to get to her feet.
    She reached for everything within her arm’s length. Toys flung across the room and the bookcase toppled over , but John didn’t stop. He reached the doorway, grabbed Angela with both hands, and flung her down the hall. He grabbed the door and the last thing he saw before he slammed it shut, was his son picking himself up off the floor.
    #
    John kept Angela’s hands pinned to the floor. He’d pulled her out into the living room and got on top of her. She was rabid, screaming and thrashing with strength far beyond her thin frame. He struggled to keep her down.
    “There’s something wrong with him,” he said.
    Angela didn’t pay attention to what he was saying. She was hell bent on getting back to her boy. Her mind was broken; John could see it in her eyes. He wasn’t sure she would ever come back from this.
    “That’s not Alex in there,” he said.
    He wasn’t sure he knew what he was saying either. John had looked into Alex’s eyes and saw the hollow void within the sunken darkness. There was no life within him. He didn’t know what it was, but he was sure that it wasn’t his son.
    He stayed on top of her for nearly an hour. She kicked and screamed the entire time until her strength finally gave out. Soaked in sweat, she collapsed beneath him as if she’d been possessed, and the demon finally left her body. Spit lined her cheeks and chin as a strip of fresh blood ran from her cracked lips.
    “You have to listen to me,” John said. “That’s not our boy in there. Whatever that stuff was he got into, it did something to him.”
    Angela turned her head and looked up at him , but she didn’t say anything. She looked weak as if her will to live was gone. She struggled to say something, but froze with her eyes wide open. For a moment, John thought she went into shock, but then he heard it. There was a low whimper coming from the hall. It took a second for it to register, but then it hit him.
    “Rex?”
    The moment the name left his mouth, the whimpering stopped. There was a loud single yelp, followed by a terrible silence. John rolled off Angela and sat on the floor looking down the hall. The hallway was dark