Page 10 of A Very Monstrous Desire

They approached the shop slowly, and the door was indeed closed. Julia held the tool that Joel had used to brute-force it open last time. Theo stayed close to her as she pushed the tool in. Behind him the winter wind rustled the bare branches of the trees. Dried, crackling leaves skittered past on the road.

It occurred to Theo as Julia gently eased the door open that he hadn’t heard any sounds of life on the approach, and probably not on the approach earlier in the day now he thought about it. Winter it might be, but there were still birds around, still insects—where were they? And did the owners take all their pets with them? Were there no stray cats? Or was the lack of life a sign of something else?

“Gently,” he whispered as Julia pushed the door open.

The inside of the village shop was dark now, and it was difficult to see anything. Without even checking in with each other, both Theo and Julia turned the torches on their guns to a dim light. The shop was a mess. It was a combination of the shots that had been fired, the cabinets they had knocked into, some of which had spilled goods onto the floor, and the shimmering bodily fluids that were now splattered all over the place. Only…

“Where are the bodies?” Theo whispered.

They’d killed quite a few of the munchers. Theo thought he had gotten at least one, maybe even two. Julia had definitely shot a couple, and Joel a few more. It wasn’t like they simply slipped back into their own dimension when killed. They stayed exactly where they were, and the disposal of munching monsters was an industry in and of itself now.

Their bodies should be filling the aisles.

Only, there were no bodies.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Julia whispered.

“You need to tell Joel,” Theo said. “Right now.”

Julia nodded and eased past him back out of the door. Theo tightened his grip on his gun. He suddenly felt like he did just before he started a race. Right there at the starting line, hands and feet tingling, heart steady but ready to pick up the pace, muscles twitched and prepared to respond to the adrenaline now flooding him. He didn’t move though, he stood right there in the doorway, heart thumping, and looked around the space. The floor of the aisle in front of him was splattered with purple blood and in the very middle of it was an open pack of raisins. The aisle to the right had a pile of what could well be muncher brains. Washing up liquid was mixed in with them and was now shimmering slightly.

Nothing moved.

No shadows crossed Theo’s vision.

He knew he was alone.

A small stream of light came from the back of the store where the back door was wide open and swinging ever so slightly in the breeze. Another stream of light by the post office counter where the monsters had chewed through the wall to the outside. Dimitri and Gill would be out there, possibly wondering the exact same thing he was wondering.

Who had moved the bodies?

And what had they done with them?

A slight tingle of panic filled Theo as he found himself considering if something had eaten the monsters that had tried to eat them. An uber monster if you will, but he couldn’t think of a single monster big enough to eat dozens of munchers.

Maybe it’s one you’ve never seen before…

He swallowed against the sudden lump in his throat, resolving not to think such dire thoughts, just as a scream rang out.

Theo didn’t hesitate.

He ran straight through the store to the back door, which was the source of the scream—almost slipping on the combination of shimmering blood and raisins as he did so. He got there just in time to see Dimitri and Gill fighting off two munching monsters. The monsters were on top of them, they’d caught them unawares, before they’d had time to lift their guns. Theo looked up as he realised that, knowing that they must have come from the thatched roof, dropping down on his teammates. But there weren’t any others there now, so he rushed over to help, shouting for backup from Julia and Joel as he did so.

Dimitri was trying to push one off his arm where it had latched on with its razor sharp teeth and was gnawing away at the bone, teeth chattering at speed as they ran up and down the flesh. Dimitri screamed again as the munching monster cracked that bone. Theo’s heart rate was significantly above sixty beats per minute as he lifted the gun, shoved it against the munching monster’s head and fired. Its brains splattered out in a shower of purple goo, covering Dimitri and the surrounding area.

Theo didn’t stop to see if the other man was okay, though he dearly wanted to, he turned and ran straight over to Gill instead. She was wrestling with her monster, grappling around on the ground with it, doing her best to avoid its teeth, but her luck had run out, for just as Theo reached her, it latched onto the side of her head and bit down. Hard.

She shrieked.

Theo kicked it with as much force as he possibly could, which was a lot, as he had runner’s legs after all. The munching monster let go, but it took one of Gill’s ears with it.

Theo’s stomach rolled as he fired the gun again. He didn’t hit this one quite in the brain, instead the bullet entered through its face, and that felt like justice! Theo shot it again for good measure, and it fell back onto the ground, trapping a sobbing Gill. He kicked it again, freeing her, and then quickly pulled Gill’s ear from its gaping mouth. Lacking any other option, Theo tucked the ear into the pocket on Gill’s utility vest and then pulled her into his arms. She said something, Theo had no idea what, it was garbled, but he quickly reassured her.

“It’s okay, we got them all, your head is fine, just an ear, get that patched up in no time.”

Behind him Dimitri roared in pain. He’d lost quite a bit of the flesh on his arm and at least one bone was broken.

“Come on, mate,” Theo said, rousing his Greek comrade. “You need to get up. A speedy retreat once more. Let’s go.”

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