Wherever The Mind May Roam

9 ~ Immortal Snail

Note: Axel is an OC, pls do not use him for anything. He is a character in my book waiting to be published.

Ten years ago, Axel sold his soul to the King of Hell, Crowley. Now, he drives down the highway blaring Creep by Radiohead and singing along to it, even though he can't hear himself.

He watches through the passenger side of the windshield for his upcoming exit. That's when he notices a snail on his windshield. He looks forward and steers with one hand, careful to go straight ahead as he reaches for the snail.

"Hey, little guy," he says, peeling it off the glass. It leaves a spot of slime where it was and Axel cringes. Holding it by the shell, he uses a finger to turn the radio down. "How'd you get in here?" He checks the road and straightens himself, then looks down at the snail. He inspects it, lifting it closer to his face. It has a little black spot shaped like a star on its underside.

Its mouth opens to a row of disgusting, sharp teeth and a hideous tongue that reaches for Axel's face. He screams and the car veers to the lane over. Behind him, an angry driver honks their horn. He checks behind him at the red vehicle flipping him off.

He holds the snail away from him. "What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck-" he lowers the window and tosses it out like it's a piece of trash. He takes a deep breath and ponders what kind of fucking snail does that.

There's an agonizing pinch on his arm and he turns it over with a yelp to see another snail. He curses to himself as blood starts to form a little dot on his shirt, but it grows quickly. He tears it off with his free hand and notices it has the same star-shaped spot on its stomach. He crushes it between his fingers and carefully opens the center console for a napkin. He wraps it up single-handedly and continues driving, flinching at the pain.

One little bite did a lot more than expected.

A car veers into his back and he stomps on the brake for a mere second, sending the napkin forward, to the edge of the seat. He stares down at it to make sure it doesn't get lost somewhere in his car when the folds of it begin moving and a snail crawls out.

Axel lets out a string of loud cursing as it slowly makes his way towards him. He looks for his exit, hoping to pull over and get rid of this fucking thing, but when he reads road after road, he realizes he's passed his stop.

The radio turns to static; then, through waves of nonsense, he hears talking. Someone is talking through the radio, and it doesn't sound like it's the broadcaster. They're talking... to him.

"Accept your fate," he hears. "Don't reject my snail. It's quite rude." Axel can nearly swear on his life it's the voice of that one man... the one he made a deal with ten years ago, the one that brought him to his wife.

Axel tries to pull over. He turns the signal on and glances over his shoulder, but as he's moving across the lane, pain rings through his arm and he cries out. He loses control of the wheel - of his arm itself. It goes numb and black spots form in Axel's vision. The road ahead of him twists and burns and he can barely control what he's doing enough to notice the snail pumping venom into his veins through its gnarly tongue.

He jerks forward as a car smashes into him, then another, and another. He's driven into the wall lining the highway and his head slams into the steering wheel, sending the wail of his horn reverberating through his ears.

His whole body falls numb, succumbing to the paralyzing venom from the snail, and his world fades to black.