This is a continuation of the first branch, "AFTER THE FLESH - LIMBS - T&A - 001," from the main story "AFTER THE FLESH - PITH." I have deliberately inserted some characters into the story that you may recognize from SG, and I am doing it as an expression of love and fun. So... sorry if a character based on you gets it's brain eaten. Remember, it's love. ;)
-
(previously)
-
Russell has managed to stand up and is staring at the back of Eve’s figure. He looks angry, and he reaches down to grab the shovel again. He doesn’t heed Alice’s warning until it is too late. Father Steed grabs a hold of Russell and pulls him down. You can hear the dead priest rasp, “Peace of the Lord,” just before he bites into the back of Russell’s thigh. Russell screams at the extreme pain of his thigh being eaten, blood and flesh and muscle and bit of clothing disappearing into Father Steed's devouring mouth.
Another motion catches your eye as you see Trevor stand back up, his throat torn out and blood down his shirt. He looks at you and starts walking towards you, mouthing silent words. “And that Fucker has the keys to the car,” you think to yourself as terror takes hold.
-
(and now...)
-
-
After the Flesh - Limbs - T&A - 002
-
Trevor swiftly starts running towards you and stumbles a bit as he collides with the chairs and slips in the wet grass. You are in shock at the speed and ferocity that he has targeted you with, and all you can do is quickly step back and scream in fear. And just like in a bad horror movie, you trip and land on your ass, barely into the treeline. “Oh God,” you think to yourself, “I’m the big-boobed blonde that dies first!”
-
Trevor keeps crawling and sliding and grabs your ankle, pulling you towards his mouth, his tongue darting out sickly. You can’t find purchase on the wet ground, and dead Trevor is much stronger and faster than living Trevor ever was. “At least his sniffing has stopped,” you think sardonically as you try to kick at his face to no avail.
-
You look to the side to see a man and boy, hiding behind a large tombstone. The child looks fascinated, and the man looks serious and focused. You meet the man’s eyes, and you scream in terror, “Help me!” His eyes meet yours emotionlessly, and he slowly closes them and looks away, turning the boy’s face away, too. He is clearly abandoning you to Trevor’s assault.
-
Just as Trevor’s mouth is about to reach your foot (you get an imagined vision of him biting your toes right off, shoe and all, blood spraying and his teeth crunching them up before he swallows them), a folded funeral chair clangs off Trevor’s face, and sends him sliding a bit to the side. The chair comes down, knife like, into his arm and he releases his grip from you.
-
You look up to see Alice there, angrily banging into Trevor with the chair, as you finally come to your feet again. The rain and tension on her body would be sexy if not for the situation. Trevor seems to be unharmed by the chair and starts to stand again. You stammer, “Alice, let’s run!” and grab the back of her clothes. She reluctantly gives in to you and starts to step backwards, brandishing the chair like a shield, knowing that if he comes at you both again, one of you will die.
-
Trevor’s eyes lock on the both of you, when suddenly he stops, as if hearing a voice in his head. His back arches, his arms at his side, his hands in the shape of claws. His head looks up into the sky and he lets out a feral, silent scream, a little blood squirts out of his throat. Then he turns, forgetting you and Alice, and runs over and down the hill towards the parking lot. Towards where you saw Eve last go.
-
Relieved, you both stop and lean on each other. Almost without thinking, Alice’s hand rests on your breast, as her face tucks into your neck. You are both breathing heavy when you suddenly realize the intimacy and shared fear you both are experiencing together. Everything falls still for a moment, and she looks up into your eyes, her face so very close.
-
You forget the rain, the fear, the monster you just faced, for just a moment.
-
But before anything else can happen, you both startle to see Father Steed, crawling quickly across the ground, dragging his broken and bloody body behind him with his feet pointing upwards, over the body of Russell. You start to lose sight of him under the chairs and, without words, you both turn and try to run through the trees, towards the cars. The limbs, roots and wetness make it hard to go very quickly. Whenever you glance back, you can’t see his pursuit under the branches and brush, but you can hear his rasping voice saying, “Peace of the Lord,” and somehow this crawling monstrosity is getting closer. This broken dead priest moving on only two arms and dragging his broken bottom half is invisible to you, and intent on eating either one of you.
-
You hear a car race away, and you catch glimpses of Eve standing on the hill. Instinctually, you veer further away from her and just when you don’t think you can run any more, you clear the trees into the parking lot. You and Alice pick up the pace a bit more and gain distance. You both lean on each other in the middle of the lot, staring back at the trees. Alice has managed to retain the folded chair, and she holds up her other hand, and there are car keys there. “We need to run that fucking thing over,” she states flatly.
-
You can’t help but laugh, and ask “Ok, where’s your car?” As you ask, Father Steed breaks through the trees and stops to look at you both. Dead eyes, and his body almost spider-like, he crawls slowly under a lifted pickup truck, disappearing into the dark.
-
“Yeah,” Alice says looking at the truck the Crawler just positioned itself under. “It’s that one.”
-
What is your next step?
