OBT Forum

And here is Part Two, one more to go...

Johnny shouted again. Adam was slumped in his chair, his body jerking and spasming. Occasionally a cry would escape his tightly closed lips, in tune with a more violent movement. One of the women screamed as Adam’s bowels voided in a noisy splutter, the stench quickly reaching Johnny.

“What have you done!” he demanded of the woman, who watched him avidly.

“Me? Why nothing, you span the Dark Wheel. You were warned.”

He reached for her, but snatched his hand back as sharp nails scored his skin. Her bodice was no longer concealing that which it held beneath, flesh tearing its way to freedom. Johnny saw her face change, her mouth widening and filling with sharp teeth. Lambent yellow eyes glared balefully from a face whose skin cracked and suppurated as he watched.

“What the hell are you?”

“An impartial, and very hungry judge,” she sneered, “who will make sure this act is played to its full end.”

A clawed arm lashed out, smashing Johnny in the chest and away from the wheel.

“We wait,” hissed the monstrosity.

*

Clarice was frightened. What had started as innocent fun had now become nightmare. She liked Johnny, but not enough to stay, and so she ran. The flap of the tent twitched as she reached it and a fist slammed into her face, knocking her back into the darkened tent. Blood pouring from her nose, she saw the hawker enter, his hat discarded and any semblance of humanity stripped away.

“And where,” he sneered, “do you think you are going?”

One muscular arm encircled her waist and she was forced bodily back to her chair.

“Oh do stay,” hissed the thing on the stage, “the fun is only just beginning...”

*

...it had disappeared. The fin was no longer visible as it cut through the water. Something bumped against his leg and Adam thrashed violently away. A dark shadow passed below him and the water became stained. Pain wracked his body and he was jerked down, bobbing back up like some fishing float as he was released. It was close now, a hideous head broached the surface and one dead eye gazed at him. As it twisted away, he saw the remains of his left leg hanging from its serrated maw.

This is nothing more than a dream! Screw it! He stopped fighting and let himself sink. Down he went, the water clearing to give him an unimpeded view of the beast as it flashed towards him, its mouth open in expectation...

*

The Wheel spun ever more quickly, light shying from its edges. Darkness crawled along its circumference, nipping and teasing at an ever weakening luminescence. Now it grew, thin tendrils snaking out, before being caught by the whirling structure. Persistent, the darkness won, spiralling away from the wheel, touching gently against the hideous and slavering creature by its side. Now snake-like it made its sinuous way to the remaining humans, latching greedily onto them and sucking them into its deadly embrace.

*

...no! Adam would have none of it. He refused to acknowledge the sawing of his flesh, the pain of separation from his soul, all of it. Anger became his life blood, and he fought. The water was a dark cloud, from whose obscurity darted his demonic attacker. The hand which punched out was crushed and shredded between razor-sharp teeth. Remnants of legs which thrashed in an attempt to obey him were struck again and again. He should be weakening, but pure rage boiled through him. Bubbles formed as heat drove its way past resisting liquid and he roared his challenge as the monster thrust towards him...

*

“We have a live one here,” said the hawker, his fingers trailing down Adam’s sweat-streaked face, “the poor boy just doesn’t know when he’s beaten.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” commented his female counterpart, as she kicked Johnny’s motionless body to one side, “it seems he wants to live...but they all give in eventually.”

Her laughter rattled in her throat. Unaccustomed to such levity her body rebelled, her action ending in a cough and hacking phlegm.

“There is...shit!”

The Hawker stared down at the fingers which dug into his thigh and the sightless eyes, now open, in Adam’s face. He bent the first finger back as he tried to release the boy’s grip, yet Adam’s other hand now locked onto the demon’s flesh, and slowly the human began to stand.