Fallen behind? Catch up here.
DOOM MAGNETIC!!! - CHAPTER EIGHT:
SHOWING TEETH
William Pauley III
The swarm paints the night sky almost completely within seconds. Packs of them are running in streams across the sky, crosshatching, intersecting, until every inch is concealed by them.
They charge toward the earth.
Maundin and Lady Starman stand and watch as the herd comes galloping through the atmosphere, full speed in their direction. Not really knowing what to do, Maundin takes ahold of the purple television in both hands and bends his body down over top of it. It’s all he can think to do to protect it.
The herd storms through. The faces of the riders leap from their heads and circle the two strangers, as if they were birds of prey in flight. Then, all at once, the faces twirl and retract back to their bodies like an elastic band. Phantom horses rear back and neigh with such ferocity it sends a chill down Maundin’s spine. The ghostly swarm surrounds them, every specter trying to get a better look at the object Maundin has cradled in his arms.
The riders take turns digging into Maundin’s hands, trying to pry away his grip from the object. Maundin kicks at them, but his feet fail to make contact, instead, his feet kick through them. As far as he can tell, there’s no real way to fight a ghost.
Phantoms jab their fingernails into Maundin’s flesh, tearing, slicing through skin, exposing his juicy innards. In an effort to protect him, Lady Starman hurls herself over his body, holding onto the collar of his jacket for stabilization. The riders immediately rip her away and toss her halfway across the dry bed of land.
Maundin rages. The rushing blood swells his veins, engorges his muscles, causing his entire body to tense up. He shouts at the stampeding specters in anger, however, truth be told, he’s more frustrated with himself than anything else, for not knowing how to protect Lady Starman, or even the purple television.
As he shouts, everything seems to move in slow motion. Each of the phantom’s faces blur and swirl into one another, until finally all that’s left is a single slack-jawed face. A familiar face. The two of them lock eyes, immediately recognizing one another.
Then it disappears. The final phantom dissolves right before his eyes.
Qoser! Could it really be him?, Maundin wonders. But he’s dead! I saw his cue-ball eye fall into the sludge back at the arena. That means he’s dead, right?
But there’s no mistaking it. Maundin knows the face he saw belongs to Qoser, and if Qoser is indeed alive, he knows it would only be a matter of time before his physical body would come to retrieve the purple television. Fuck if there ain’t gonna be a fight when that happens.
“I got bad news for ya, hun,” he says to Lady. “This here is the work of Master Qoser, the man with the cue-ball eye. Heard of him?”
Lady nods her head. “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of him alright. He used to be one of us, one of the chosen ones.”
“One of us? That guy?”
“Not only was he once one of us, but initially he was the intended successor to Z Starman.”
“Huh, well isn’t that somethin’,” Maundin says, laughing. “This story just keeps gettin’ weirder and weirder. So, what the hell happened, anyway?”
Lady looks down at the ground, as if she shouldn’t say. “He showed his teeth.”
Maundin runs his hands over his face in disbelief. He’s taken in a lot of information over the last few days, and not a single goddamn thing has made a lick of sense. It’s about damn time some of the pieces started fitting together.
“But those powers,” she says, with worry in her voice. “The ones we were just witness to, those aren’t the powers of a Starman, even of one gone horribly wrong. I’ve never seen anything like that before. Not even close.”
Maundin looks up at the sky, as if waiting for the herd to make its return. “So, what does that mean exactly?”
Lady shakes her head. “I…I don’t know. I suppose he could’ve exposed himself to the purple television more than once, but I don’t think that’s possible. It’s hard enough just to survive it once.”
She stares off into the distance, lost deep in thought. “Something’s wrong here.”
“Well, if I know this guy as well as I think I know him,” Maundin says. “Then we don’t have too much time before he comes lookin’ for this purple television his ownself. We need to find a safe place for it, and fast.”
Just as he says this last word, thunder cracks and lightning splits the sky in half. It’s so bright that the two of them are immediately blinded by it.
And just like that, paths cross again.
Paid subscribers! The next chapter of this story will be posted on June 27th! Stay tuned for Season of the Bitch.
Showing Teeth
© William Pauley III, 2011
All rights reserved.
Share this post