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.
