The creatures stood between Tom and his kids, the monsters’ multiple mouths salivating. He didn’t know what to do, but he wanted their attention away from his children; he let out a loud shout, his voice booming through the living room. He lunged toward the nearest tan creature, wrapping his large arms around it from behind. Muscles straining, Tom began pulling it toward the window and away from the girls as it screeched and writhed.
Seconds after he made contact with the creature, his own pain-filled screams filled the room. The foul mouths had clamped down upon his forearms and hands, and were gnawing in a frenzy.
“Tom!” Kate shouted, and she rushed the rest of the way downstairs to help.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Tom cursed through gritted teeth. He fought to maintain his grip on the creature, while also pulling his arm out of its mouth. He twisted his arm free, but the creature's teeth remained stubbornly clamped onto his thumb. With a grisly tug and a loud squelch, Tom released the rest of his hand, leaving a large chunk of flesh and sinew within one of the creature's many mouths.
“Jesus, Tom,” Kate gasped, horror etched across her face. “Your hand!”
He stared, dumbfounded, at the exposed bone of his thumb, his mind struggling to process the gruesome sight.
The tan abomination wasted no time in capitalizing on his momentary lapse. It spun around, exerting a powerful shove that sent Tom hurtling backward, crashing into the living room closet behind him and shattering its door. A deluge of closet crap cascaded upon him as he lay, gasping and struggling to move.
Kate growled and rush forward. She delivered a forceful shove of her own to the Headless Pygmy, sending it sprawling backward to collide with the wall. It squealed and shrieked as she advanced on it.
The other Headless creature, the pale one, emitted its own squeal and made a move toward the children. Kate quickly shifted her position, placing herself between the creature and the kids.
“Tom! Tom!” Kate yelled.
Blood from his mangled thumb pooled on the floor. Oddly, the pain seemed distant. Two softball bats had tumbled to the ground beside him. He looked from the bats to the Headless creature advancing toward his family. Gritting his teeth, he rose from the wreckage of the closet. He gripped the bats as best he could in each hand, though his hold was loose on the left side, the bat already slick with blood from his missing thumb.
[Automatic Assimilation Protocol Activated during Levels 1 and 2. Carbon Fiber identified as valuable material. No immediate function. Storing in internal reserves. Resource Repository 1 of 3 spaces occupied.]
[Automatic Assimilation Protocol Activated during Levels 1 and 2. Commencing Carbon Fiber absorption.]
[Automatic Absorption Protocol Activated during Levels 1 and 2. Rubber identified as valuable material. Rubber applied to Ability: Bone Modification. Modification applied 1 of 1.]
[Automatic Absorption Protocol Activated during Levels 1 and 2. Commencing Rubber absorption.]
Tom blinked rapidly, until the strange floating messages that had popped up in his vision disappeared.
What the fuck!
“Tom, be careful! Oh God, Tom, your hand!”
“Kate, watch it!” He pointed at the pale one, which was edging toward Kate and the kids.
Tom focused on the tan creature and raised both bats high above his head. He brought them crashing down upon its torso. Its repulsive mouths all emitted a squealing, almost pig-like, noise as it dropped to one knee.
“Oh shit! Tom, look out!” Kate's voice rang out. He had only a fleeting sense of triumph before the pale creature turned away from Kate and dashed toward him, extending its weird child-sized hands in a desperate attempt to seize the bats. Tom pulled back a few steps as the creature swiped the air where he had been. He pieced together a crucial detail about the creatures.
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“Kate! I think they’re blind!”
Kate nodded and silently inched closer behind the pale one, her eyes wide and darting between the Headless creatures and her children.
Tom hoisted the bats above his head once more, his muscles tensing as he brought them down upon the pale one this time. The room reverberated with the bone-crushing cracks of each impact, the creature's grotesque mouths letting out a chorus of tortured squeals.
“Get it!” Kate screamed.
Tom's heart thundered in his chest as he kept swinging. The creature staggered from the relentless assault and Tom seized the opportunity. With a powerful kick, he propelled the abomination toward the fireplace. The sickening sound of shattering glass tore through the air. The inhuman shrieks of the pale Headless creature rang in Tom's ears as it thrashed wildly, jagged shards piercing its skin, slipping and flailing in the pooling blood beneath it.
Tom's eyes widened as the twisted mouths of the tan Pygmy found purchase on his flesh, sinking their gnashing teeth into his back, its sharp claws grasping him and slicing into his arms. A scream tore from his throat; he had never felt such raw pain.
“Dad!” Chloe cried out from under the table.
Tom spun around in a desperate flurry, his muscles screaming as they strained to break free from the abomination clinging to his back.
Kate grabbed at the creature's arms and tried to pull it off him.
Tom roared. He slammed back into the wall over and over, a sickening crunch echoing through the room. The creature's grip faltered; its biting mouths released their vice-like hold. Gasping for breath, Tom pivoted and tossed the creature off his back. He stood, trembling, sweat pouring down his brow, mingling with the blood that stained his skin.
“Oh God, Dad, your back!” Loo cried out.
Tom's eyes darted between Kate, the girls huddled under the table, and the pale wounded creature by the fireplace. Then he glanced over his shoulder at his own torn back. He couldn’t see clearly, but there were several gaping wounds, each a bloody hole, like someone had taken an ice cream scoop to his back.
The creature in the fireplace was struggling to its feet. Its pale form was mutilated by deep cuts, and one arm was grotesquely twisted.
“Kate! Catch!” Tom yelled, tossing one of the bats toward her.
Her eyes widened as she caught it. She hesitated. Then she glanced at her kids. A look of fury formed on her face. She charged toward the injured creature.
Kate rained blow after blow upon the Headless monster, the dried blood from her head wound smeared across her face like war paint, her battle cry consisting of garbled versions of ‘fuck you’, ‘not my kids’, and ‘worst mistake of your fucking life’. The creature’s wretched form writhed and shrieked upon the dining room rug.
Tom watched, open-mouthed, as his wife laid waste to the thing that had invaded their home.
He turned back to the remaining tan one. He raised the bat once more, and struck the abomination with all his might, feeling its twisted body give under the force of his blow. He swung at the creature repeatedly, each blow fueled by a primal need to put this thing down.
“Damn it, just die already!” Tom snarled between gritted teeth, sweat trickling down his brow. Blood splattered across his face, but he didn't care; all that mattered was keeping his wife and kids safe.
Glancing toward Kate, he saw her continued relentless assault on the other creature. Her screams echoed through the room, and every bone-crushing strike she delivered sent a wave of relief washing over him. She was unharmed, covered in monster gore, and smacking the shit out of that thing.
The larger Marauder was attempting to force its way through the window.
Holy shit, I forgot about that one.
It appeared trapped, its monstrous frame squished against the edges of the narrow opening. It squealed and roared in frustration.
Tom's vision began to blur. He struggled to maintain his focus, dizziness threatening to overpower him. Gritting his teeth, he swung the bat with all the strength he could muster into the tan Pygmy before him, even as his knees trembled beneath him. As he poised himself for another swing, the world around him spun, and the once-steady ground beneath his feet turned treacherous. He glanced downward, his eyes drawn to the blood-soaked floor. The realization dawned upon him.
That’s MY blood.
He hadn’t realized how heavily he had been bleeding. A coppery scent permeated the air. One knee buckled beneath him and he felt himself crumble. He fought with every ounce of his being to remain conscious and upright.
The room echoed with the cries of his children, their young voices filled with fear.
The Headless creature in front of him leaned against the wall, slowly trying to regain its feet. Its gross body convulsed violently. Its agonized many-mouthed squeals turning into a gurgling death rattle.
The larger creature had freed itself from the window, and was howling and stomping through the snow in the front yard.
“No! Tom!” Kate screamed as she rushed to his side. She sat on the floor beside him, her hands cradling his head in her lap, her touch both gentle and urgent.
He couldn’t remember sliding to the floor.
“Tom! What do I do . . . girls, get over here! Who has their phone? Call 911!” Kate's voice quivered.
“We don't have our phones, Mom,” Loo said.
Kate squeezed him tighter as her eyes darted around the blood-soaked room.
Tom's vision was fading and his thoughts were muddled. He wanted to reassure them that he would be all right, but the darkness clawed at him, trying to pull him under.
“What the hell is happening?” Kate said. “Oh my God, Tom, please be okay.”
“Mom!” said Loo.
“Is this even real? I feel like I lost my fucking mind!”
“Mom! Look at Dad’s hand!”
Tom was drifting in darkness, but he heard Loo’s voice.
“It's healing.”
He could feel a sparking sensation in his thumb. His cloudy vision wandered to his mangled hand. He watched in awe as the torn flesh grew to cover the exposed bone, slowly knitting itself back together.
Kate’s mouth dropped open.
“Wh-what is happening?” Chloe stammered, her voice barely above a whisper.
There was a loud roar outside.
“I don't know, but we can't stay here,” Kate said.
She gripped Tom’s shoulders, and Tom felt his bloody body being dragged slowly away from the fallen creatures, toward the perceived safety of the stairs.
Through the broken window, Tom saw the colossal Headless Marauder charge the house. Shrieking in fury, it slammed against the front door over and over again.
The door didn’t hold for long. It burst open with a violent crash.
The kids screamed as the monstrous entity stepped into the house.