Reflections in the Mist

Chapter 12: Bathykolpian Avatar - As sharp as a spear

Chapter 12:

Bathykolpian Avatar – As sharp as a spear

7th October 2008: IV (Part 2)

The man, who tapped the blob with his foot, tapped it again, this time the blob cracked, like a ceramic bowl. A large crack raced over the top followed by a hundred other cracks spreading out from it like a capillary bed.

It was like a signal to the other fallen blobs which all suddenly grew their own network of cracks, all of their outer casing fracturing like broken egg shells.

Ooooooooolup!

The blob closest to the man made a noise and it sounded like large bubble of air escaping from a vat of jelly. It made the man standing next to it jump and let out a little ‘eek’.

Ooooooooolup! Ooooooooolup! Ooooooooolup! Ooooooooolup!

The other four answered its call, that aquatic plopping sound coming from inside the grey cracked shells.

What happened next happened quickly, the shell on the first blob exploded, shards of wafer thin grey casing flew outward scratching the skin of the closest man who had just enough time to raise his hand to his face. A haze person behind me screamed in shock, from out of the space where the shell was, leaped forth a small grey thing!

Ooooooooolup!

It landed and stood no more than a foot high, its skin was a dark grey and with a glossy sheen. It had a body like a stretched, Pac-Man ghost; the thing had no arms or legs, only a group of five inch high nodules upon which it stood. At the top of its domed head, was a mass of black eyes, looking in all directions and twitching erratically as they took in the environment. With the exception of its legs and eyes, the sides of this creature were smooth all around; it had no mouth or any other facial features. Every so often, the body would stretch upwards, an extra half foot as if someone was pulling it and then sink back down, making that noise.

The man in front of the first thing looked mad. His eyes were bulging and face was red, streaks of blood ran down his forehead making him look terrifying, he shouted something in Japanese and drew his leg back ready to really kick it this time. The blob thing stretched up again as the man was about to kick the creature, it attacked first.

From out the trunk of its body, thin meter long spikes sprouted in all directions, hundreds of these massive needles penetrated the mist and also the poor guy in front of it. Tens of needles ripped through his legs and torso, ripping out of his back and spraying the crowd in a fine mist of his blood. It killed him outright and he hung there motionless like a giant pincushion, a puddle of blood rapidly spreading below him. The creature retracted the spikes and returned to its original size, the body of the man collapsed to the floor with a wet slap.  The rain had begun to fall harder, mixing with the puddle of blood and running away from the body.

Ooooooooolup!

The dead man’s friend, the one with the umbrella, screamed. The creature retreated quickly away from him behind the other four, its little legs moving fluidly and surprisingly quickly too. I looked at the umbrella guy, he took in a deep breath and I could almost see him breathing in the mist. As he did so his whole body appeared to grow. I rubbed my eyes. “Dude, do you see that umbrella man?” I asked Roo.

“Shit, he is buffer than before!” He was, his chest and arms had swelled, and he had grown a few inches taller as well. This can’t be happening, what sort of instant steroids is he taking? He took hold of the paper umbrella with both hands, but that itself had undergone a transformation too.  .It was slightly longer than it had been, and the red canopy had lost the paper and currently sported a red metallic look. The wooden bamboo pole was now also glistening steel.