Hungry

A Story by Jake Williams

A woman has a funny appetite that comes back to haunt her

Bang. The sound of my gun reverberated off the trees that surrounded us. Us, I say that but the fatal shot made us become me. I stood there in the noise and the chaos that was contained in my mind. Like a criminal in a prison. Or a lunatic in a mental asylum.

Scott Fischer's lifeless body fell to the floor, his white shirt stained as it disturbed the muddy forest canvas. I bent down and cradled his head in my hands, his short black hair tickling my fingers. I turned his head to its side and kissed him on the cheek, my lips lingering on his cooling body. As I pulled away I checked my seal. A bright red lip print on the cheek, signing off my work. I took out the axe from my bag and held it above my head. In one swift movement I brought it down. Cleanly cutting off his head. I stood up, turned, and walked away, dragging the lifeless body behind me; the silence of the night drowned out by the riot in my head.

*****

I sat in my car and used a tissue to wipe the last bit of blood from the corner of my mouth.

"Oh sh*t," I say to myself, dabbing at the red stain on my shirt. However, instead of fading, the blemish grew and spread. A hole formed in my shirt and a thick dark red liquid came shooting out of it. I placed my hand over the 'wound' in the hope it would cease the flow. I fumbled around, grabbing more tissues and piling them onto the fountain of blood that was erupting from my abdomen. The stream grew stronger and a few droplets found their way into my mouth and onto my tongue. Their sweet taste clouded my mind, distracting me temporarily from the hole in my body. My mind soon came back into the present as I stared down at the blood red tissues. I started to scream, with my lungs exerting their full force into my cry. The screaming caused pain that wasn’t there before; the bleeding became worse and my mind slowly drifted to and from reality. With the little energy I had left I reached for my phone and dialled 911.

*****

Time passed as I fell in and out of consciousness. It went from darkness to brief moments of sentience. The noise of the wind disturbing piles of dead leaves into a spiralling tornado, that scattered them across the stony car park, filled my mind during my fleeting moments of wakefulness, before I was plunged back into the abyss of my mind. There was something in the darkness. What was it? Something in the corner of my eye that was gone before I could turn to look.

*****

I sat up sharply, breathing heavily. The newborn sun blinding my eyes as it poked above the green forest canopy. The sound of shoes on gravel became louder, drowning out the wind rustling the trees.

“Ma’am are you ok?" A paramedic was knocking on my window, his blond hair contrasting with his tanned skin. I rolled down the window with one hand while shielding my eyes with the other.

"I'm bleeding,” I replied looking down at my lesion to indicate what I meant.

"You look fine Ma’am,” the confusion on his face made me check again. It was gone. How could it have disappeared like that?

“But…I…I…” It was gone. My shirt was back to its normal white with no sign of red. It definitely was wasn’t it? I looked for the bloody tissues that I had used to mop up the mess but I couldn’t find any. The car was immaculate.

"Ma'am, do you know it's an offence to call out an ambulance for no reason?"

"But I swear I was..." I definitely had been bleeding, hadn't I? I rubbed my eyes as my head began to ache. As I looked back I saw the paramedic lying on the ground, a pool of blood quickly forming around his abdomen, spoiling his uniform.

"Oh my god!" I heard another exclaim as he ran to his colleague’s aid. Soon enough he too was lying on the floor, quite dead. I moved my left arm to open the door but found my fingers wrapped around a cold metal object. A gun. I put it to one side and got out of the vehicle, shoving the door hard enough to move the paramedic's foot. I straightened my skirt, crouched down and dug in.

*****

Midnight; the quiet cooing of the owls disturbing the otherwise silent night. I sat slouched against a tree. My eyes falling shut and then darting back open again. Snap. I swivelled round and stared long and hard into the darkness. Nothing. I turned back, only to be greeted by a snarling skull. I screamed and tried to crawl away but its bony hand was clamped fast onto my leg. I turned back and got a good look at its face, or what was left of its face. Its eye sockets were empty and black. Strips of flesh were fastened onto parts of its head, like moss onto a rock. Some had begun to peel off and were dangling down, threatening to fall off. I squirmed and tried to break free of its grasp, but to no avail. A twig snapped behind me, I turned to look but the it grabbed my face and turned it back. I could hear bark being scraped but I couldn't turn to look. I kicked my legs but more hands grabbed those. How many were there? I studied the creatures as they surrounded me. I recognised them, but from where? They danced around me, mocking me. I didn’t scream. I couldn’t. The fear that overwhelmed me kept me quiet, the only sound escaping my lips was a small whimper. One came forwards out of the darkness. A leader?

"You ate us, you fed on our flesh. Now it's our turn to return the favour." Its voice was hoarse, each syllable dragged on for what seemed like ages. My eyes widened as it sunk its teeth into the flesh of my arm, slowly biting and then quickly tearing it away. I screamed. The wail echoing off the trees, returning back to me, reminding me of my hopelessness. Others began to join in, each getting their own mouthful.

"Help me! Somebody help me, please!" My screams grew louder and louder with every bite. I began to panic, my head arched to the sky as I shouted and screamed until my throat became sore and my lungs became empty. I drew another breath before trying again.

“Please God! Help me! I’m sorry! I’m so so sorry! I’ll stop, I promise!” It was too late to make amends, I knew that. Blood spilled all over me, my once white shirt was now a dark red. I screamed louder and louder until, finally, it bit into my throat, removing my larynx, cutting me off. I coughed and gagged as blood spilled down my chin and neck. I could do no more to save myself. I had to accept my fate.

*****

I stood up and swallowed my last mouthful. I pushed the lifeless body of the late paramedic out of the way and got back into my car and drove away.

*****

Day 27. I've been at the Ridgewood Psychiatric Institute for almost a month. I'm eating normal food and taking my medication as asked. My hallucinations are supposed to have gone, but, every night as I lay in my bed, the skeletons come and visit me. I hear their bones rapping on the door, I smell their rotting flesh, I see their shadows towering over me. Of course I scream for help, but it doesn't always come. But, I suppose that's what you get for being a meat eater.