Chapter 9

Two Humps, Two Halves

After stashing Susie, pins and all, into the endless abyss of their luggage, Rotten Sam

and Sandy quickly crept to the door of the shed, casting long, fiendish glances about outside as

soon as the door was opened. The coast was clear, so they carefully stepped out. "Susie's

screams might have scared everyone further away. What are we going to do?" Sandy tried to

keep from sounding disappointed. "We're going to turn this whole place upside down until we

find every last one of those dumbasses. After that, we're going to make something very

special." Sam chuckled back in response.

Sandy looked at him quizzically, asking, "What are we going to make?". "A quilt, Sandy.

A quilt." Sam responded roughly, "Once it's finished, comes the best part of all!". Sandy was

about to ask another question when she caught sight of the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees,

delusions in his eyes, running at top speed across their path. Sam nearly fell backwards with

enthusiasm for the chase before the two of them let out heart-stopping screams of twisted joy

and gave chase. The Camel heard this, and it nearly made his old knees give out on him right

away.

He clenched his teeth into his bit and willed himself to go faster, until he could find

some place safe to hide until this whole ordeal blew over. He regretted that he did not feel

brave enough to help his friends should they fall victim to the bloodshed, but someone had to

survive. "Oh, dear! Oh, dear! They're getting closer!" he yelled out, running to the front yard in

the hopes of causing them to be seen by the Gruelles. Unfortunately, the Gruelles had already

left the house with the coffin, off to the church and the funeral home to schedule a burial. No

one was home to see the awful sight and put a stop to it.

On realizing this, the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees dropped himself fast to the

ground. The shock and anxiety on not having any escape had brought about his old delusions

of going home with the non-existent toy camels and soon, he was just dragging himself along

slowly, belting out "I'm a-comin'! I'm a-comin' home! Wait fer me!". The sight of this was far

too much for Sam and Sandy. For a moment, they lost themselves in a fit of giggles, having a

blast watching their poor old friend suffer. "Oh my, what a sight!" laughed Sam very loudly.

Sandy fell on her back, pointing, giggling and speaking rather incoherently.

Sandy's laughing quickly reached a crescendo with a shrill, high pitched, brief, nearly

demonic laugh. This shattered the Camel's visions and he immediately picked himself back up,

lurching himself forward into a run. "Hey! Come back here!" Sam was laughing hysterically as

he made after the Camel and caught him by the foot before he could escape again. Dragging

the Camel, Sam accidentally snagged a piece of the Camel's blue cloth on a huge, very sharp

thorn in a nearby bush. Sandy squeaked with joy and rolling onto her side facing Sam and the

Camel, laughed, saying, "Look! He's gotten caught on a thorn! Keep pulling! Pull! Pull!" before

picking herself up and rushing to help Sam tug.

The Camel cried out aloud in pain and terror. He could feel his being ripped apart slowly

and excruciatingly, right down between his two humps. Unlike others, he remained awake the

entire time. Biting down on his bit and issuing forth miserable tears in rivers down his cheeks,

he turned his head as far as he could back and saw the terrifying sight of loads of cotton and

blood seemingly spewing out in globs through his side, where the thorn was keeping it's hold.

Sam huffed and pulled with all of his might while Sandy did the same, both of them just having

a ball every once in a while looking to see how much had poured out of the Camel's open gash.

Finally, the Camel heard the familiar voice of his previous owner and his heart leaped.

Suddenly, all pain left him alone and he found himself back in her loving arms, only too happy

to be reunited with her. Sam dropped the Camel, and shooed off Sandy's hands, saying,

"Sandy, I don't think our dear friend wants to play, anymore. Stop.". Sandy happily obeyed,

knowing that now, they could finally stop to partake of the sweets that had come from the

Camel. "Well, that's too bad… He's missing out!" she said with a frightening twinkle in her eyes

as the two of them turned to the pile of blood and cotton that now laid there before them.

Sam licked his lips, while Sandy chuckled. For a moment, they just stood there, admiring

their work. After a moment's silence of admiration of the hideous sight, they gleefully leapt

into the mess like it was a pile of autumn leaves, raked together just for their pleasure. They

squealed and giggled, swimming about in it and throwing some of it into each other's mouths

every now and then. When the both of them had had their fill, they sat up, nodded to one

another, and began to pick up the mess to take it back to the shed. New blood stains marking

their countenance, beaming unprepossessingly, they took their prize, singing and skipping

away.