EXECUTIONER'S VICTIM (from series "Don't read at night")

Executioner's Victim

Panting hard and gasping for breath, you ran down the corridor of medieval dungeons. You realized long ago that venturing into the old ruins of the castle alone was a DAMN bad idea, but then you knew you'd rather be here ALONE...

With a quick slide, you hid around the next corner, leaned against the wall, trying to calm your mind and catch some air. Not a moment passed when you heard noises coming from the chamber you were running from a moment ago. You had heard these sounds before, but you had no chance to see their source, so you leaned slightly around the corner.

A long steel blade with a double-sided saw covered with dried blood, dragged across the cobbled floor of the old executioner's tunnels, made a clang of metal, unpleasantly like fingernails scratching an old blackboard. Immediately next to the blade, he dragged an unnaturally long arm, ending with a completely crushed and bloodied hand with fingers bent in all possible directions. Their phalanges' bones had to be shattered to pieces, taking all control of their owner and turning them into stumps that stretched along the ground. The creature only moved thanks to its two haphazardly crooked legs, one of which rested on a painfully twisted ankle, and with each step, you could hear it rubbing limply on the stone floor.

Above the asymmetrical hips, you saw a naked, emaciated torso that belonged, at least once, to a man. It was covered with blood stains and numerous wounds, most of which were partially sutured in a rough and non-medical manner, bending the body into a macabre shape without even obstructing the thick red liquid leaking from the holes. A strangely crooked shaved head, resembling a human only in its shape, was attached to a long, thin neck... The face that once stood on it must have been so mutilated that there were only two empty holes in the place of the eyes and mouth, the result of askewed seams and allowing the monster to emit only incomprehensible deformed grunts and breaths.

The sounds themselves could cause pain and terror in a man, and you, staring at the creature's emaciated body, did not even notice that the corridor in which you hid was a dead end. It was not until this THING twisted its head slowly towards you and threw itself in an almost animal rampage, that you noticed that there was no other way out than a blunt blade piercing one of the monster's hands and your insides for a few seconds...