Bad Meat

Ricky Lake was a man without much in the way of aspirations. A forty year old man who still lived at home with his mother, he worked full time at a factory downtown and played videogames when he wasn’t asleep.

Though his younger sister constantly berated him for being a freeloader, every week, Ricky paid what he thought he owed his mother. An amount that changed on a weekly basis, which Ricky insisted was calculated using very difficult algorithms he’d worked out.

His mother wasn’t yet retired, continuing to work part time with the small cleaning business she owned. Ricky and his mother didn’t live the luxurious life, but it was enough to get by. It of course helped that through an unfortunate accident with Ricky’s father, the house was paid off, and Ricky’s sister gave a little money each month. She said it was for their mother, but Ricky knew the amount.

“Honey, you won’t believe the amount of meat I got doing the groceries tonight. It was an absolute steal. I’m telling ya, with all this cost-of-living stuff going on, we need to get every bargain we can get.”

“Yeah mum, cool, thanks. Oh, come on, that was my kill!”

“Just make sure you help me eat it all, otherwise it’ll all go to waste. There’s no room in the freezer for any of it, so it won’t last super long.” Ricky’s mother waddled out of the room as she shook her head at her son yelling at his friends.

Over the next few days, Ricky gorged himself on meat and cheese sandwiches as often as he could. The meat had a unique flavour to it, and he couldn’t get enough of the stuff.

It was a Saturday night, which meant family dinner. Ricky loved it when his niece and nephew came over. They loved playing video games with him. But his sister would always cut it short, saying it was too much screen time, or that the game was too violent.

“Make sure you take some of that meat home with you, Ricky and I won’t be able to get through it all on our own.”

“Mum, I can’t believe you bought this brand of meat,” she slammed the fridge door close again.

“What’s wrong with it? It was incredibly cheap.”

“That’s because its that new lab grown filth all made in the test tubes and stuff. Not even from animals.”

“Well then, no animals were harmed right?” Ricky chortled as he grabbed junk food to share with his niece and nephew.

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“Of course you don’t have a problem with it, you’re a slob anyways."

“Up yours!” Ricky stuck his middle finger high in the air and walked back into his room.

“I wish you two would just get along,” cried Ricky’s mother.

“Seriously though mum. This stuff is dangerous. Its all over the news right now, the chemicals and stuff they put in it. Not good. There are thousands of cases of people going to the hospital."

“Okay, well, I could afford it. I couldn’t pass it up.”

“Maybe you could afford more if Ricky actually paid you properly!” The volume in her voice escalated as she spoke.

“I’ll have you know; I give mum money every week.” Ricky had stormed back out of his room and the two siblings glared each other down.

“Not even a consistent amount. Kids, we’re going.”

“Oh, please don’t, not like this. Every week, dinner ends in a fight” Ricky’s mother started to cry. His sister grabbed the kids by their wrists and led them out of the house.

Ricky looked at his mother’s sad face and felt his heart hit rock bottom. He loved his mother more than anything in the world.

“I’m sorry ma.”

“Every week Ricky, every week.” She shook her head, and he watched her shoulders start to shudder as she walked toward her room.

That night, Ricky devoured the rest of the meat in the fridge. He wanted to stop eating, his stomach churned, and his body ached, but he couldn’t.

He awoke the next morning in a lather of sweat and his sheets were soaked. A pungent, wet stench filled his room and stung the back of his throat. He tried to move but everything felt weak. Like jelly. He went back to sleep.

He needed to eat.

Ricky awoke once again after a few days. The acrid, rotten smell from before had been replaced with a sweet kind of smell that Ricky couldn’t quite place, but it felt refreshing.

He needed meat.

Using all his strength, Ricky managed to pull himself up from his bed. His body was still thick with sweat. Each step was a painful effort. He made it to the fridge and stopped as he looked at his bulbous, pink and purple arm.

“That doesn’t look right. Mum! I think I’m coming down with something.” Ricky poured himself a glass of cold water. To his disappointment, the fridge was empty. “Mum, the fridge is empty. Mum?”

Ricky opened the chest freezer and ripped into the raw, frozen chicken that he found, but it didn’t satisfy him like that precious, sweet meat his mother had bought.

“Mum. Mum, where are you?” Ricky pulled his body through the house and brought himself into his mother’s room.

His mother’s room was full of the same sickly, sweet smell that had taken over his room. The room was moist and dark. He looked at his mother and felt sick.

A lump of wet, bubbly flesh lay on her drenched bed. A pool of fat had dried on the floor underneath her bed. Ricky leaned down to his mother and was relieved to see her still breathing.

“Mum, I think we’re both sick.”

“Ricky! Mum?” Ricky listened as his sister barged into the house, her panicked tone strangled her words. “What is that smell?” She retched.

“We’re in here. Mum’s sick.”

He craved that meat.

“This place reeks. Ricky, you’re a disgusting grub.” Ricky heard her steps stumble closer to the room.

That sweet meat.

“I’m sorry, we’re both sick. Mum really doesn’t look well.”

“Neither of you haver answered your ph-” he watched as his sister rounded into the room. She stopped dead in her tracks.

“She looks sick.”

The meat called to him.

Ricky rushed his sister as she screamed. He saw a reflection in his mother’s ensuite mirror.

A gigantic, greasy, meaty monster devoured his sister.