Do you know how you know something stinks? When the smell of decaying human remains and vomit get passed even the burning hell of a face full of pepper mace. Y’all I thought Marv’s Kimchi Cheese Fries smelled bad, but the odor in that room was WAY worse.

Like the pepper mace, the smell of rot lingered in the sinuses and covered everything in the room. Our clothing would need to be burned after that, and I was having serious thoughts about how bleach would affect my skin, and maybe my sinuses.

“What was it, Mog?” I asked and after a second realized I was standing on my toes as I tried to get a better look without getting any closer.

“It’s bodies. Bodies and some kind of giant Mag…mag…Maggot,” Mog retched again, and I lifted my right elbow to my nose to hold off the stench.

“Well, we have to get the honey and venom, that’s the whole reason we came,” I coughed, still affected by the Pepper mace, then gaged as I breathed in the putrid smell.

Mogwai continued to face the wall, bent over and retching so deeply that my guts hurt for her. After that kind of hurling, her abdominals would be sore for a week, I had no doubt, but I was also sure that meant it would be me getting the slime.

“I need something to put it in,” I managed to say, and Mogwai lifted her Thermos and waved me over to get it.

The Thermos could have been a prank if given to any adult besides Mogwai. White and pink, and covered in cartoon cats, it looked like something you would see in a child’s lunchbox. For some reason, that fit Mogwai perfectly.

Holstering, The Judge I carried the thermos in my left hand and prepared myself for the sight as best I could, “Oh, this is going to suck.”

“Try not to look, try not to think about it,” Mog said between breaths, and tentative I inched my way over to the wrapped form. The green draping cloths were arranged in a near circle around the edges of the mass. Weirdly it reminded me of a flower, a tulip actually, with the peddles rolled back.

Another wave of nausea washed over me. Again, I felt myself going up on my toes to get a better look, but even as I walked forward, I felt repulsed. The scene wasn’t just gross, and smell it was wrong.

Wrong in the way that seeing a child’s toys in the house of a convicted pedophile, or even pineapple on pizza wrong. It was twisted, and that’s how I felt as I drew near, my eyes falling on the massive pale thorax and thin insectile legs of the Migo Demon Wasp.

Instantly I knew why Mogwai had retreated. Unearthly large, it was easily the size of a large professional wrestler. Instead of hard muscle and a magnificent stage presence, it was pasty, like curdled cream, and delicate in a way that reminded me of the skin on soft French cheese.

All around the Migo was a thick brownish slim residue that climb up the red, meaty walls of the flower in which it rested. “Oh my god,” I gasped as what I saw finally resolved into the reality of what was there.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Bodies, at least eight bodies had been split from neck to pelvis and spread wide open, forming the cup of the human flesh flower I was seeing. Unable to stop myself I pulled down the drape, then stood back in horror at the sight before me. Even the legs had been cut lengthwise, the bones removed, then allowed to lie over the top and hand loosely over the sides.

My head buzzed, and my heart thudded in my ears. I’d never had a panic attack before in my life, but if it felt like this, I would never talk trash about delicate people again. This was near madness!

Careening away, I stumbled until I found the wall and slide down in a heap next to Mogwai. “I can’t do it, I just can’t do…that.” I stammered.

“Mogwai turned her swollen red face toward me and took a deep breath, which once more brought on a wave of ripping, tearing coughs. She wasn’t going to be any help, and after all, we’d come here to help protect me, though now I was wondering if it had been a fool’s errand.

“We need to hurry,” Mog gasped, “I can’t breathe,” she added, and I knew she wasn’t joking around for once.

Nodding, pushed myself up again, wincing at the pain every movement was causing me and steadied myself. If I could just dip the thermos into the disgusting ooze, I was fairly certain I would have the Flesh Honey I needed, but how in the hell was I going to get the venom?

“I’ll have to figure that out, but one thing at a time,” I groaned and took measured steps back to the human flesh flower. I could do it. I decided I just needed to move fast.

Once up to the side I carefully removed the lid, unscrewed the stopper, and looked at the motionless demon bug inside. So far it hadn’t moved, or done much of anything, “it’s asleep,” I decided, and slowly dipped the thermos into the dark ooze.

The ooze moved slowly, its thick viscous fluid rolling into the container rather than pouring in like fluid. As the brackish-looking substance collected, I took another moment to examine the Migo and was stumped at what I was seeing. The Migo was stinger-less.

Its pulsing mass didn’t seem to have any venom sacks in the rear that I could see, in fact, it looked almost harmless, like a queen bee producing eggs. “Maybe its mandibles?”

I thought, and as I screwed the top back down on the thermos, I moved around the creature to see its face. Once more I was stunned by what I saw, and revolution washed through me like Noah’s flood.

“It’s a woman’s face…” the thought hit me hard for some reason, but there it was in front of me. The face of a woman, a mother in her early years with full cheeks, a high forehead, and stunningly large eyes that were closed in slumber.

Her mouth was where the clear difference was, the mandibles were spread revealing her horrific maw. I could tell that if they had been closed, she would have looked like anyone, and that was the last straw.

“No!” exclaimed and stumbled back, but not before I could see those eyes open to reveal another horror. Each eye was segmented, bug-like, and looking right at me.

Mog appeared at my side, her small form ducking under my arm and helping along, “This is no good, we need to get out of here, we’ll go mad.”

Nodding firmly once, surrendered to failure. I need to save my sanity. I need to get out of there.

“This way,” Mog choked out and pulled me toward a door I hadn’t seen, perhaps because the green ‘Exit’ sign was torn from the wall hanging loosely by its frayed wires.

“Okay, sure,” I said as we stumbled toward our escape.

“Did you hear that?” Mog said and slowly I turned my head to look behind us, “Oh god, please tell me it isn’t following us?

“No, it’s outside,” she said, and we both looked at the door as the exit sign slowly started to sway.

“OH no, what now?” I stated in a perfectly calm voice that didn’t sound at all like whining, but the low growling sound was something even I couldn’t miss with my hearing all messed up.

“The Beast!” I hissed, and that’s when the wall exploded in front of us.