I forgot about the following scene when I posted this story, so it's no longer T rated lol. Out of the pool, kiddies.
A mile and a half away as the crow flies, Lori and Bobby sat at a crackling campfire roasting marshmallows. A two man tent sat off to one side, and Bobby's motorcycle, a Harley that he bought from a neighbor back in Great Lakes City for 6,000 dollars was parked beside a tree. A full moon hung in the clear sky and the music the crickets made lulled Lori's senses. An owl hooted in the distance, and a cool wind stirred the leaves. The forest pressed close on all sides and Lori had the sensation of being cocooned. It was a comfortable and cozy feeling, one that made her feel all warm and tingly inside. At least...more warm and tingly than she already felt from having her boo-boo bear close by.
Or maybe that was just the post-coital afterglow. She and Bobby had been together for roughly an hour and had already had sex three times. Have you ever done it in a sleeping bag? It's hot. There's not much room to move so when your partner reaches his peak, all you can really do is hold on and take it. She could do that because she was on the pill, a lot of other girls couldn't. Oh well, their loss.
In between bouts of sex, they roasted hotdogs and gorged themselves on chips. It wasn't exactly the most queenly meal, but Lori was used to poor people food. And not just that, poor people food cooked poorly. She loved her father but while he thought he was some 5-star chef with incredible talent, he was a hack in the kitchen. His casseroles were always cold in the middle and the hotdog chunks in his beans and franks were somehow always overdone to the point of tasting like rubber.
Bobby reached into the cooler behind him, sifted through the ice, and grabbed a beer. He popped it open and took a long drink. "Give me some," Lori said and took it from him. She lifted it up to her lips and drank, the cold, foamy liquid splashing down the back of her throat. She lifted the can higher and chugged it, throat bobbing. Bobby watched her, then, when he realized she was going to drink all of it, he got another for himself.
She crushed the empty can, belched, and tossed it over her shoulder. She cuddled up next to Bobby and he put his arm around her. "You better slow down," he said, "you're gonna get trashed."
"You don't like me when I'm trashed?" she asked playfully.
Bobby grinned. When she got trashed, she got even more sexual than usual. Some people pass out when the room starts spinning, or come down once they begin puking, for Lori, the experience ended after a good dicking. If she didn't conk out after sex, she had no idea what she would do. Put a lampshade on her head and do the watusi? Stumblie around and fall into things? "I love you when you're wasted," he said, "but I don't have very much beer."
"Oh, poor baby," Lori said. She got to her feet, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to a standing position. "Let's go skinny dipping."
"In there?" Bobby asked and shot a worried look at the pond. The light of the moon skimmed its inky black surface and bullfrogs croaked from the tall grassy along its muddy banks.
"Yes, in there," Lori said. "Where else would we skinny dip?"
"Somewhere that's not as gross?" Bobby offered.
She rolled her eyes. "It's literally fine, Bobby. But if you want to stay here…" she turned in a swish of blonde hair, crossed her arms over her chest in an X, and pulled her shirt over her head, baring her flexing shoulder blades. She cast a sexy look over her shoulder, jammed her thumbs into the waistband of her shorts, and brushed them down her long, shapely thighs. She wiggled her hips invitingly side to side and tugged the shorts teasingly down her tight but rounded ass. Bobby swallowed thickly and polished off his beer. His penis, already raw and used, poked against the inseam of his jeans and his heartbeat picked up. Lori kicked the shorts away and strutted to the water's edge, entirely naked now. "Last one in is a rotten egg," she said.
Bobby hurriedly pulled off his clothes and followed, stumbling over his pants and nearly falling. Lori threw her head back and laughed, then jumped when he put his hands on her hips and poked her butt crack with his erection. She pulled away, cried, "You can't get me," then splashed into the water. Bobby ran after, gasping at how cold the water was.
"Holy shit," he said, "it's freezing."
Lori turned around, breasts swaying, bent at the waist, and splashed him. "Oh, don't be a baby."
Bobby splashed her back and she laughed. She went deeper into the water and let herself fall back. The water reached her neck and she let out a shocked cry.
"Don't be a baby," Bobby mocked. He waded in until the water was just below his balls, too a deep breath, and sat back. The water wrapped itself around him like a moldy hand and he shivered. He took a series of deep breaths and remained where he was for almost a full minute, giving his body time to adjust to the radical change in temperature. Lori swam over and he grabbed her,pulling her body flush to his. She let out a delighted squeal and thrashed in his arms, ostensibly trying to escape but intentionally grinding herself against him instead.
"We're supposed to be swimming," she said.
Bobby clutched her butt in his hands and brushed his lips against hers. "We are swimming."
She smiled at him, then pushed him away and swam off. Bobby gave chase and they wound up in the middle of the pond, where the water was deepest. From the shore, it looked like it couldn't be more than a few feet deep, but Bobby could feel nothing beneath him, as though the pond hid a gaping chasm. Lori was a couple feet ahead, treading water and facing him. Her face had gotten wet and her eyes sparkled in the moonlight, taking Bobby's breath away. He loved that she was always DTF but that wasn't why he stayed with her. He loved all of her and he couldn't see himself with anyone else.
"About time you -" her words cut off and she jerked downward as though something had grabbed her and was trying to pull her under. A look of pure terror flashed across her face and it happened again. "BOBBY!" she screamed. "SOMETHING'S GOT ME!"
Without warning, she disappeared and Bobby could only gape, frozen in shock. It felt like he was there, jaw slack, for jours, but it couldn't have been more than seconds. He came alive and dived under. The water was murky and stung his eyes; visibility was low, but he could see Lori feet away, thrashing. He grabbed her hands and pulled. Whatever it was that had her pulled back, and for a minute, they were locked in an epic battle with Lori as their prize. Something happened and the thing let go, releadsing Lori. Bobby dragged her to the surface and she sucked gulps of air, coughing water from her lungs. She started to say something, but screamed again. At almost the same time, something slick and rubbery brushed Bobby's feet, and his heart exploded out of his mouth. A second later, a massive thing broke the surface and loomed over them. Moonlight skimmed its glistening form and it took Bobby a second to realize what it was.
A tentacle.
Another one popped out on their other side. Lori and Bobby screamed and started swimming back to shore as fast as they could, flailing in their panic and fighting to get ahead of the other. Bobby looked back just as a massive black shape emerged from the depths, rising higher and higher against the stars. He could not make out any telltale features but it was curved and rounded like a giant head.
He and Lori got to the shore and scrambled out of the water. Lori was sobbing and shaking all over and Bobby's mind was threatening to shatter under the unutterable monstrosity they had just witnessed. "Come on!" he yelled. Lori was moving too slowly, the thing was coming for them, they had to be quick. He pulled on his jeans and Lori slipped on her shorts and tank top, fumbling in her fear. Bobby went for the motorcycle but impossibly, a lattice work of vines had snared it, wrapping themselves around it like long, dead fingers. Bobby blinked in surprise and took a step forward. The vines ripped the bike back as if pulled by unseen hands, and another vine lashed across Bobby's face like a whip, tearing the skin and drawing blood. He cried out and danced back. "What the fuck?"
"BOBBY!"
Bobby turned to see long tentacles slithering out of the water and questing along the bank. He gaped in horror, then grabbed Lori's hand and dragged her away. Terror and hysteria threatened to overwhelm him and he looked back several times to make sure nothing was following them. Lori's fearful sobs trailed behind her and she stumbled often. "COME ON!" Bobby yelled.
The woods closed in around them and branches tore at their arms and faces. One wound around Bobby's ankle, and he screamed in terror. He pulled away and then it went for Lori, barely missing her. "What's happening?" she sobbed. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?"
He didn't know, Jesus Christ, he didn't know.
He also didn't know where they were going. He had studied a map of the area but he didn't know where they were right now.
A few seconds later, they dashed into a grassy clearing. Lori tripped over something and sprawled face first on the ground and the force of her going down nearly wrenched Bobby's arm out of his socket. He helped her to her feet and she hissed in pain. "My ankle," she said.
Damn it, they couldn't afford this right now. "Can you walk on it?" he asked.
She shook her head.
Shit.
He helped her over to a stone jutting from the ground and sat her down. He rushed over to the path they had just come down and squinted to see if anything was moving in the darkness. It didn't look like it.
Maybe they were safe.
Letting out a relieved breath, he walked back to where Lori sat. There were other stones scattered around the clearing, all roughly shaped like blocks. Bobby's brow furrowed and he went over to one.
It was a gravestone.
Cold dread ballooned in Bobby's stomach and the back of his neck tingled as if in expectation of a blow. He knelt next to Lori and leaned to the side to see around her. The path stood empty but an eerie silence had descended over the world. The crickets, the bullfrogs, even the wind - all had fallen quiet, leaving the world completely devoid of sound. It reminded him of closed theatrical sets he had been on where the backdrops were lifelike and realistic but you felt like you were inside. He listened for the faintest stirring of the wind, but heard nothing. Lori rubbed her ankle and hissed through her teeth, bringing him back to reality. He examined her foot, and Lori flinched at his gentle touch. The skin was red and swollen, and there was a tiny bulge on one side that may have been a broken bone pressing against her flesh like it was trying to escape. It could have been nothing, he didn't know.
What should he do? His mom was a nurse and had taught him first aid for a variety of occasions, but his panicked man kept drawing a blank. Lori shifted onto the grass and stretched out, trying to fold her legs but hissing in pain. "It hurts so bad," she moaned.
"I'll have to carry you," he said. "I don't think we're being followed."
Lori opened her mouth, but her head wrenched violently back and she screamed bloody murder. Bobby's heart jolted and he jumped reflexively to his feet. "What?" he jerked. "What is it?"
"IT HAS ME!" she screeched.
For a second, he didn't see what "it" was, but then he did, and his blood turned to ice water. A blushing, rotting hand poked from the ground and tugged at Lori's hair. Blood crashed against Bobby's temples and he felt his mind beginning to rebel at the awful sight before it. He caught a flash of movement from the corner of his eye and turned just as a figure sat up from the ground, clumps of dirt and grass falling off of it. The thing was human, or had been. Its skin was brown and decaying, its eye sockets squirming with worms and maggots. Its lips hung in tatters around its crooked, yellow teeth and bugs scuttled in and out of its exposed ribcage. It turned its head and even though it had no eyes, Bobby could feel its gaze locking onto him. Elsewhere, a bony arm burst through the soil and turned left and right, tasting the night air. A woman in a long white dress pulled herself up on a gravestone and seemed to bask in the moonlight. She had a full head of chestnut colored hair but her face was all skull. Her mouth opened in a silent scream when she saw Bobby, and she stumbled toward him, arms out.
Lori screamed again and Bobby spun around. The hand had been joined by a head. It snapped at the side of Lori's neck, trying to bite her, and Lori shrieked in madness and hysteria. Unthinkingly, Bobby reared back his leg and kicked the thing as hard as he could. His foot smashed through its face and lodged in its brain. Its grip on Lori loosened and she was able to pull away, staggering to her feet. She let loose an ear piercing scream and Bobby ripped his foot out of the thing's brain cavity. A half dozen other ghouls were coming at them from every side, the first two joined by a glorified skeleton dripping toxic black tar. It had eyes, Bobby saw; they were blue and moist with infernal intelligence. Bobby turned in a slow circle looking for an escape route, but the living dead were closing around them like a noose.
Sobbing, Lori clung to Bobby. The Tarman lunged at them, and Bobby punched him in the face, driving him back. One of them threw its arms around him from behind, and Bobby howled. He thrashed, but even though it was dead, its hold was strong. Tarman and the ghoul who had grabbed Lori's hair, its face a gaping, seeping mess, grabbed Lori and wrestled her to the ground. She screamed and kicked, her head whipping back and forth. The zombie holding Bobby forced him to the grass and others joined it. Instead of eating his flesh, they pulled his pants down, and then his underwear. The cool night air against his bare ass made his skin tighten. Tarman stripped Lori's tank top off and the other removed her shorts. She was naked now and screaming madly. She tried to crawl frantically away, but Caved-Face grabbed her hips and pulled her to him.
Bobby felt cold, skeletal hands on his flesh. They pried his butt cheeks apart and a moment later, something hard and icy slammed into him. Agony swelled in his head and his eyes bulged from their sockets. His entire lower half caught fire and he felt like he was going to be split in half.
Caved-Face held Lori's hips and thrusted back and forth, his dead dick sliding in and out of her. Tarman knelt in front of her, held her face in his hands, and forced what was left of his cock into her mouth. Tears streamed down her dirt streaked face and she let out a series of muffled cries. The monster behind Bobby pumped deep into him and Bobby, too, began to cry.
When Caved-Face was finished, Tarman took his place, his hips flying back and forth. Lori buried her face in the grass and wept in a mixture of pain and humiliation. Bobby could do nothing but watch helplessly as the ghouls took turns raping his girlfriend.
And him.
The excruciating pain in Bobby's ass had given way to terrible, tingling numbness. He felt warm, sticky liquid gushing down the backs of his thighs and couldn't, wouldn't, guess what it was. The other zombies gathered around him and he looked up to find them masturbating themselves. He opened his mouth to scream just as they came in unison. Instead of spun, they shot cemetery juices chunky with maggots and rotted insides. The vial liquid splashed Bobby's face and got in his mouth. Maggots squirmed on his tongue and he tried to spit them out, but wound up swallowing them instead.
Tarman threw Lori to the ground, rolled her onto her back, and pinned her wrists about her head. She turned her head and sobbed, offering no resistance as he entered her again. The sharp, tearing pain in Bobby's back side relented, and he, too, was thrown to the ground. He rolled onto his back two of the zombies came over carrying a tombstone between them. His eyes bugged out of his head and his heart pounded right out of his chest. He tried to move but two other zombies stepped on his wrists and held him in place. The two carrying the stone came over and stopped, holding it right above his head. "Wait! Stop! No!"
They left it go.
Bobby barely had time to utter a yelp before the rock came down on his skull, shattering it. Blood and brain matter spurted across the grass and bits of broken bone flew up in a V shape like shrapnel from a grenade, some of them embedding themselves in the zombies's faces.
They moved onto Lori, and took turns raping her for what seemed like hours. Her mind snapped, and looking up at the moon, she wailed.
Lincoln and Luan laid Lucy out on the couch and everyone crowded around her, all talking at once. Mom elbowed her way between Leni and Luna, pressed her hand to her mouth in horror, and dropped to one knee. "What happened?" she asked over her shoulder. There was a slight edge of panic in her voice that made it tremble.
"I-I don't know," Luan said. "She was reading this strange book a-and then she fell over."
She omitted the part where...well, literally everything happened. Why, Lincoln couldn't say, If he had five or ten minutes to think about it, hell, even one, he may have figured that even in her panic, she may have thought that no one would believe her. Lincoln had no such reservations. When someone's laid out unconscious with foam crusted on their mouth because they just got done having a seizure, you shouldn't really hold anything back. He spilled out the story about the buzzing and the blue light, and everyone looked at him like he was crazy. They looked at Luan for confirmation, and she nodded.
"That's insane," Lynn scoffed.
"There has to be a rational explanation," Lisa opined. She squeezed past Lola and Lana and gave Lucy a quick examination.
"Is she alright?" Mom asked worriedly.
Before Lisa could reply, Lucy's back arched off the couch and a terrifying gurgle burst from her throat in a spray of greenish white foam. Everyone fell back a step except for Mom, who launched into hysteria. "LYNN! CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Lucy started to shake and jerk and Mom held her down, crying now. Dad fumbled out his phone, frantically dialed, and muttered a cursre.
"No service."
"SOMEONE CALL!" Mom wailed.
Everyone checked their phone. Lincoln had exactly zero bars. He stared at the screen, brain mired in mud. He had never been in shock before, but he was numb, cold, and could barely think, so if this wasn't it, he didn't want to find out what shock really was.
A thunderclap of clarity broke over him and he came out of his fugue. You don't need service to call 911.
He swiped his thumb across the screen but before he could dial, an unseen force wrenched the phone from his hand. Everyone else's phones flew out of their hands and hovered in the air. Lincoln's jaw dropped and someone screamed in fear. The phones spun in a wide circle, slowly at first, then gaining speed. Lincoln could feel the wind displaced by their passage against his face and hear the whistle they made as they gained momentum. "What's going on?" Dad asked, stunned.
As if on cue, the hhones stopped...then one launched itself at Dad and hit him in the face. His head whipped to one side and as one, the rest of the phones pelted him like a blast of buckshot. Lola screamed, Leni cringed and covered her eyes, and Lana dove under the coffee table to hide. Lily started to sob and Luna picked her up and did her best to shelter her. Dad fell to the ground and curled up in a ball, making as small a target of himself as possible, and Mom threw herself across Lucy in an attempt to keep her from further harm. The little goth bucked and jerked, head lashing violently from side to side. One of the phones flew at Lincoln, and he ducked just in the nick of time. It hit the wall behind him and exploded into a million pieces. The other phones followed, hitting one at a time, until they were all reduced to a pile of shattered glass and plastic.
Every window in the cabin slammed open with an apocalyptic clatter, and the doors opened and closed by themselves, the crack of them breaking their frames like gunfire in the night. An icy wind swept through the cabin and battered the Louds. Screaming, crying, and praying to God, they huddled together and waited for the madness to end. After what seemed like an eternity, the wind died down and the doors and windows fell closed. Mom raised her head and looked around with wide, fearful eyes, and everyone began to stir like bears waking in the morning. "Is everyone okay?" Dad asked.
"Luna?" Mom asked. "Is Lily alright?"
"She's fine, Mom," Luna said.
"What about everyone else?" Mom asked.
The only visible injury was a cut to Dad's forehead that had already gummed up and stopped bleeding. Lucy had gone limp and everyone crowded around her again. Mom patted her cheek, muttering things like "Please wake up, baby." Everyone leaned in close and after a moment, Lucy began to stir. Mom let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God, are you okay?"
Lucy turned to lifted her head. Her eyes were hidden behind her bangs like always and her face was the same shade of pale that it had been since Lincoln could remember, but there was something different about her, something that he noticed instantly but couldn't put his finger on.
"How do you feel?" Mom asked and lovingly brushed Lucy's hair.
"I feel fine," Lucy said, She lifted her head and her bangs parted to reveal her eyes.
They were yellow.
"Just hungry."
With that, she grabbed Mom's face in her hands and pulled her neck to her mouth. Her teeth tore into Mom's throat and deep red blood gushed out. Mom screamed and flapped her arms like a giant, flightless bird. The scene was so sudden and shocking that no one could comprehend it at first. When what they were seeing finally sank in, they all erupted in horrified screams. In seconds, Luna and Lynn were pulling Mom away from Lucy's clutches and Lucty was standing on the couch, knees bent and back haunched. She held her hands up in front of her, fingers hooked into talons, and jerked her head left and right, looking for her next victim. Blood coated her mouth and soaked the front of her dress. Her teeth were sharp and crooked, like fans, and when Leni fell back a step, Lucy darted out her forked tongue with a warning hiss.
In a flash of black and white, Lucy flew at Leni. Her nails raked Leni's forearm and Leni let out a throat-ripping scream. Lynn lunged at Lucy, but Lucy caught the jock by the front of her shirt and lifted her off the floor. "Let's play football, you little pig." She threw Lynn across the room as though she were nothing more than a balled up piece of paper. Lynn hit the wall hard and sank to the floor.
Lola screamed and Lana shook. Lily, sitting alone on the floor, threw her head back and wailed. Lucy went for her, and Lincoln acted on pure reflex. He grabbed Lucy by the back of her shirt and flung her aside. She skidded to a stop at the edge of the open trap door and spun around, her hands going up again. "Come here, you little faggot, I got something for you." She took a step forward, and Luan got in between them. She kicked Lucy in the stomach and Lucy doubled over with a breathless oof. Luan brought her knee up and hit Lucy in the chin. Lucy stumbled back and fell through the trap door, an otherworldly cry of frustration trailing behind her.
Total chaos reigned in the cabin. Dad and Luna hovered over Mom, who lay unconscious on the floor, blood oozing from her ruined jugular, Lily screamed, Lola and Lana cried, Lisa rocked back and forth with a crazed look in her eye, Leni nursed the wound in her arm, and Lynn struggled woozily to her feet but fell back down again. Lincoln started to disconnect, shock again, but snapped back when Luan screamed at him for help. She slammed the hatch and stood on it. Lincoln looked around for something to cover it with, but there was nothing. He ran into the kitchen and dug through the cabinets before finding a bunch of chains under the sink. He brought them back in and he and Luan stretched them out over the hatch in an X, bolting them to conveniently placed hooks in the floor.
No sooner were they finished than Lucy banged against the hatch from below. It lifted, but only enough for her face to appear; she was trapped and couldn't get out. Her shining animal eyes filled the gap and they sent shivers down Lincoln's spine.. "Let me out, Lincoln," Lucy rasped, "I won't eat your stomach lining, I swear."
The sound of his father sobbing drew Lincoln's attention and he remembered Mom. Heart in throat, he rushed to her side. Dad bowed his head and wept, and Luna's eyes shimmered with tears. Mom's chest wasn't moving, and her face was white, so white that Lincoln's brain couldn't compute it. No...it couldn't be…
Before Lincoln could even begin to process the fact that his mother was dead, a loud banging came at the front door, startling him. Everyone looked in that direction. The banging came again and Lincoln realized something.
Lori was gone.
That must be her.
Breaking from the pack, he ran to the door and unlatched it. "No!" Luan cried.
Lincoln pulled the door open…
...and lived to regret it.
A ghoul with thick chestnut hair and a skeletal face filled the frame. It wore a dirty and tattered dress and smelled of the grave. Lincoln looked up into its decomposed face and every nerve sensor in his body overloaded with fright. The thing looked down at him, seemed to smile, and reached out one hand. Lincoln fell back and everyone started to scream again. Dad grabbed a metal poker from beside the fireplace, ran over, and brought the weapon up at an angle. It smashed into the zombie's chin and punched through the underside of its jaw. Dad wrenched it out, and it ripped the ghoul's face out. A wad of bugs dropped to the carpet and Dad pushed the thing out the door, slamming and locking it.
Lisa rocked harder, her entire worldview crashing down around her, and Lola cried even harder. Dad leaned against the door and let out a sigh of relief that turned into a gasp when the zombie began to pound again. "Guys," Leni said, a hint of worry in her voice. "Guys, something's wrong with me."
"I CAN SMELL YOUR PANCREAS, LUNA!" Lucy screamed. "YUM YUM!"
Luna hugged herself.
"Guys?" Leni asked.
The window next to the door exploded and a rock landed on the carpet, rolling end over end before coming to a stop. The ghoul reached it, and Dad beat its hand with the poker, lobbing three of its fingers off. "We gotta board up these windows!" he yelled.
Lincoln remembered seeing a hammer in the kitchen. He went in and rummaged around the drawer until he found it, along with a box of nails. Luna, Luan, and Lynn busied themselves breaking down a bookshelf and the coffee table for wood. Lincoln ran the hammer and nails over, and he and Luan held a sheet of wood in place over the window as Dad pounded nails into it. Lincoln raced off to get another piece of wood but stopped when he came to Leni. She was sitting in the middle of the floor with her legs crossed and looking down at her arm. As Lincoln watched, it began to bubble and blister as though it were being eaten by acid from the inside out. The wound where Lucy had scratched her oozed green slime and her eyes clouded. She looked up at Lincoln, fear on her face. "What's happening to me?"
"Guys," Lincoln said.
Getting to her feet, Leni swayed back and forth. Her head began to bulge in places as though there were something inside of her trying to get out. Blood gushed from her nose and dripped onto the front of her dress. A lump appeared in her forehead, and then one eye swelled in its socket like a balloon. Blood leaked from around her eyes, out of her ears; when she opened her mouth, blood cascaded down her chin. A heartbreaking look of fear and pain flashed across her face and she pressed her hands to the sides of her head. "GUYS!" Lincoln cried.
Dad looked over his shoulder and went pale. He dropped the hammer and ran over. "What's happening?" he asked.
"I-I don't know," Lincoln said.
Face pressed to the gap, Lucy issued demonic laughter.
Leni's skull bulged and began to crack. She screamed in pain and Dad tried to grab her, but she pulled away and stumbled around the room like a frightened chicken, a trail of blood drops marking her path. She bent at the waist and cradled her head in her hand; blood oozed through her fingers. She whipped her head back and they fell away, and Lincoln's stomach turned. Bits of bone poked through her skin and one eye was bigger and squishier than the other. As he watched, it popped and splattered fluid across Dad's sweater. She gushed blood from her mouth, and a second later, her bottom jaw fell to the flood with a thump, leaving her face a red, ruined mess. Tiny black things began to swarm out of the hole where her mouth had been and Lincoln realized at once what they were.
Spiders.
He watched in shock, deaf and blind to everything else. Were the others screaming? Were they crying and holding each other? He didn't know. He hardly even knew his own name.
Finally, Leni's face split down the middle like a grotesque banana peel. Her brain seemed to leap from her head and plopped to the floor. Dad's eyes rolled back into his head and he dropped. Lola's eyes were wide with terror, and Lisa was praying - actually praying. On the ground, Leni's brain impossibly moved. Lincoln fixed his eyes on it, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then, whitish veins shot out of it and crept across the floor. The brain lifted itself up on them and scuttled off like a spider. Someone bumped into him, and his concentration broke. Luan ran after the brain fire poker in hand. She chased the creature into the kitchen, where it ducked and dodged, scurrying behind the trash can. She kicked the can aside and the thing gave a high pitched squeak. She hit it, but the poker missed and dug into the floor. Demon Lucy laughed and clapped her hands like a child.
The brain scuttled toward Lincoln, and he jumped out of the way. Lana turned and screamed just as it launched itself at her face. It grabbed on and held fast, its veiny legs wrapping around her. She jumped to her feet and tried to rip it off, her fingers tearing into its slick, spongy body. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"
Lincoln ran over and started pulling at the legs. Luna helped, and together they managed to pry it off. It fell to the floor and started to crawl away, but Luan brought the fire poker down and hit it dead center. Blood and yellow pus squirted across the floor and it gave one last squeak before giving up the ghost and falling still. Luan panted for air and Luna stared disbelievingly down at the mess. Luan tossed the fire poker aside and went to see about Lana, who was sitting on the couch crying, Lola doing her best to comfort her. Luan dropped to one knee and touched Lana's chin. "Let me see your face."
Shaking her head, perhaps in hopes of dispelling everything that had just happened and finding it was only a bad dream, Luna looked at Lincoln, then to the three bodies on the floor. Leni and Mom were both dead and Dad was passed out. "Get some blankets," Luna said, "so we can cover them up."
Nodding, Lincoln rushed off and returned a few minutes later with an armful of white sheets. He spread one over Leni and Luna did the same to Mom. Done, Luna sat on the floor next to Lisa and drew her knees to her chest. "Now what?" she asked the genius.
"Now you die," Lucy said from her pit.
Lisa, face pale and drawn, brushed her sweaty bangs aside. "I don't know the answer to that. I-I don't even know what is going on."
"Isn't it clear?" Luan asked. "It's demons."
Lisa hugged herself. "I was going to suggest psychosis and possible fleshing eating bacteria to explain the...thing...that tried to come in, but then Leni...how does science explain that?" Tears flooded her eyes and her lips began to quiver. Lincoln couldn't tell if she was crying for the horror that had befallen her family, or for the scientific worldview that she had watched shatter in front of her. Either way, she hung her head and began to sob. Luna gazed off into the distance, the kind of thousand yard stare you see from shellshocked soldiers on the battlefield, and Luan closely studied Lana's face. A rash had developed across her cheeks and her face was flushed. Blood dripped down her cheeks in solitary beads and her teeth chattered as if with cold. Lola sobbed and hugged her twin fiercely. "Please don't die," she begged, "please don't die."
Lily crawled over to Luna and Luna picked her up. Lincoln knelt next to his father and shook him. Dad came away with a start and looked around. "Is everyone okay?" he asked.
Just feet away, Mom and Leni lay dead.
"We're fine, Dad," Lincoln said.
Dad's eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out again.
"We need weapons," Lincoln said. "There's gonna be more weird stuff, I just know it."
"There's a shotgun and a chainsaw in the cellar," Luan said.
"But how will we get past Lucy?" Lincoln asked. He nodded to the trap door for emphasis. Lucy's shining demon eyes were fixed on Leni. Blood had soaked through the sheet and Lucy licked her chops like a hungry dog.
Luan bit her bottom lip in thought. "Maybe we can throw something in her eyes and rush past her."
"That won't work," Lincoln said. "If she touches you, you're dead."
As if on cue, more banging came at the door. The sheet of wood over the window shook as something outside tried to get in.
"We have to take the risk," Luan said. She went over to Lisa and knelt. "What can we use to blind someone?"
Lisa blinked and seemed to come out of a trance. "Oh...uh, hot sauce. That's all we have on hand."
Rushing into the kitchen, Lincoln grabbed a bottle of Frank's Red Hot and came back. Lynn plucked it out of his hand. "I'll go,"she said.
"Are you sure?" Lincoln asked.
"You have to be careful," Luan said.
Donning a big grin, Lynn jabbed her thumb against her own chest. "Careful is my middle name. You two just worry about undoing those chains."
Lincoln and Luan undid the chains while Luna stood by with the fire poker, ready to whack Lucy in the face if she tried anything. Lucy pressed her face to the gap and panted like an animal. "Born in lust, turn to dust," the demon said, "born in sin COME ON IN."
Behind them, Lana lay on the couch, delirious and burning with fever.
"COME ON IN!" Lucy sang. "COME ON IN! COME ON IN!"
Lynn nervously licked her lips.
As soon as the chain was off, Lucy shoved the trap door up and tried to worm her way out. Closing her eyes and baring her teeth in an expression that said this hurts me more than it hurts you, Luna swung the poker. It caught Lucy in the temple and her head slammed against the floor. Lynn quickly unscrewed the cap from the hot sauce bottle and when Lucy whipped her head back around, Lynn threw it in her face. Red liquid hit Lucy's eyes and she instantly began to scream and thrash, falling away from the entrance. Lynn jumped down, feet away from Lucy, and started toward the gun and saw, but Lucy shook her bangs out of her face and grinned. "Just kidding."
She jumped on Lynn and Lynn screamed. Without a second thought for her own safety, Luna jumped down and went after Lucy. Lynn spun in a wild circle as Lucy clung to her back, clawing at her face and eyes. Luna brought the fire poker around in a crushing arc and hit Lucy in the back with a hollow thump. "Get the stuff!" Luna screamed/
Lincoln and Luan both jumped into the hatch and raced to where the weapons hung. Lincoln grabbed the shotgun and looked frantically around for a box of shells, finding one in the corner. Luan took the chainsaw and a machete. Luna battered Lucy with a series of blows, and finally, Lucy fell off. A second later, however, she twisted her arms and legs around, bones breaking, and crab-walked at Luan. "I'm coming for you!" she screamed.
In the middle of the floor, Lynn bent at the waist and panted, her back rising and falling. Fumbling two shells into the breech of the gun, Lincoln snapped it closed and aimed it at Lucy. Could he do this? Could he really shoot his sister?
Just as she reached Luan, who was trying to get the chainsaw started, Lincoln jerked the trigger. Fire leapt from the barrel and buckshot pelted Lucy, tearing into her flesh and knocking her down. Just then, Lynn screamed and whipped around. Her eyes, too, were yellow now, and her teeth sharp. She lunged at Luan and Luan brought the chainsaw up to defend herself. Lynn's teeth tore into Luan's hand, and Lincoln screamed. He raised the gun and fired. Lynn''s face disappeared in a red volcano and she dropped to the side. Luna helped Luan out of the cellar and Lincoln covered them with the gun. Both Lynn and Lucy lay on the floor, panting for air. When Lynn sat up and turned what was left of her head to him, he scurried out of the hole and helped Luna put the chains back on.
Luan stared at her hand. It was beginning to bubble and blister. She pulled the machete out and handed it to Lincoln. "You gotta cut it off."
Lincoln blinked. "I can't -"
"You have to or I'll die," Luan shouted.
Lincoln looked at the machete and took a deep breath. She was right. If he didn't act now, Luan would die and it would be all his fault. "Okay," he said.
In the kitchen, Luan laid her arm out on the counter, palm up. As soon as she turned her head and closed her eyes, Lincoln raised the machete. There wasn't a moment to lose.
He flashed the machete down and it cleaved Luan's hand off clean at the wrist. Blood spurted and Luan screamed at the top of her lungs. Lisa, having come back to herself, directed Lincoln and Luna to bring her over to the fireplace, where a fire roared. "We have to cauterize the wound," Lisa said. "Stick your hand, rather, your stump, into the flames."
Sweating and pallid, weak with pain, Luan thrust her stump into the flames.
Flesh sizzled and flames crackled in delight. Luan screamed and tried to pull back, but Lincoln and Luna held her arm in place until Lisa nodded. Luan fell back onto the floor and looked at her stump. It was ragged and fire-charred, but no longer bleeding.
More banging filled the house. It sounded like there were dozens of zombies out there, maybe hundreds. While Lisa tended to Luan, Lincoln grabbed the shotgun and went to the door, not knowing what to do. He waited there, trying to come up with a plan, and was still there, undecided, when Dad came over. "We gotta get them away from the door," Dad said. He took the gun from Lincoln and nodded to the hammer, which lay where it had dropped earlier. "Get the nails out and I'll shoot."