CHAPTER 341
Reuben was filled with a sensation as though he'd just taken an unexpected step backwards off the top ledge of a sky scraper. His eyes filled with an uncharacteristic widening of surprise. Around his face the tiny broken chain links scattered into the air. The pocket watch left his hand and seemed to float above him. He grasped for it, but he was falling backwards.
Daniel's feet hit the ground, and his knees buckled. He collapsed forward on all fours and realized that he was free of Reuben's grasp. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Reuben's falling form behind him, and as he fell on his ass Daniel kicked a heel straight back. In a fluke, the tread of Daniel's boot connected with two things. Reuben's watch fell through the air, and as Daniel drove his heel back it came between Daniel's boot and Reuben's jaw. As Daniel followed through with the kick the pocket watch was crushed between Daniel's boot and Reuben's teeth. What remained of the watch's inner mechanism shattered along with Reuben's jaw, face, and teeth.
Still feeling the compsognathus swarm over his body, Daniel forced himself to crawl over to Reuben. He clawed his way up to Reuben's face, and with curled fingertips, dislodged the watch backing from his face. Using a slightly sharp edge of the bent metal casing he gouged a large hole in Reuben's abdomen. Daniel punched a tight fist deep into the pit of Reuben's bowels and yanked out a bundle of intestines. Then he stood, backed away, and started tearing all the compsognathus off his body. As he removed them he chucked them at the warm pile of guts heaping over Reuben's disemboweled belly. Most of them instantly became more invested in the fresh lifeless corpse. A few tried to run back at Daniel, but he kicked them away. With the final compsognathus he held its squirming body over his head and wrung its bladder until he was dripping in piss.
With a cold look he tossed the comp into the swarm and turned to recover his pistols.