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Untitled Part 6

She tried not to watch.

She really did.

She closed her tear filled eyes at the explosive sound of the gun and gave way to a silent scream of grief.

But the sounds were awful.

So she opened her eyes.

She really wished she hadn't.

The doctor had taken a few steps back to watch the horrific scene, a look of unadulterated ecstasy on his stark features as he grinned from ear to ear. The gun hung loosely in his hand, all but forgotten. It had served its purpose.

Her gaze was trapped, riveted to the seething mass on the floor where D had been. Animal screams and groans of pain were ripped out of the pile every few seconds, but her own voice was trapped, and she feared if she opened her mouth she would vomit.

The thing on the ground was horribly deformed and in extreme pain, with parts of its legs and arms swelling with muscle to burst the skin like a splitting seam and reform. Long white sticks would appear with a snapping sound, pushing out of its skin like saplings-bones, she realized- with jagged ends that would be enveloped by muscle only to emerge again with another scream. Blood dripped onto the floor with each new wound, and the cries became more animal. Its skin writhed like a thousand maggots were nesting under it, sloughing off in some parts to reveal serrated scales pushing through the glistening fibers beneath, ripping at the exposed muscles as they emerged with an awful tearing sound, and its legs and arms were unnatural, extending and snapping into changing shapes that were unable to support its weight, leaving it to crash to the floor in its puddle of blood each time it tried to stand. Long, dark spines erupted on its back, rattling like hard wood with every movement and occasionally dripping a purplish liquid that sizzled when it touched the floor, or the beasts open flesh. Twin tails of thick muscle formed at its rear, long spears of bone leading the way to be covered with open muscle and skin, not always in that order. She wanted to look away, but her eyes refused, riveted to the fear-inducing scene before her. A sound of splintering wood, like a fallen tree drew her attention to its head, where twisted white horns forced their way out of the skull, chips of bone falling off as they formed, like deformed elephant tusks below its ears. Oh god, how painful it must have been to make ears- ripping eardrums and delicate tissue over and over, the only outward sign the dripping blood from every orifice. Its face was wrong, extending forward like a string was attached the nose while the skin moved with every bone break and reformation sometimes leaving dark holes where blood would gush out until skin covered it again. Some of them didn't, lining the approximate nose area, now closer to a snout, like a snakes nostrils. There were two larger ones that appeared to have small white beads moving in them- acid rose in the back of her throat when the larger of the two rolled in her direction. It was an eye. She threw up on the floor, barely tasting it over the acrid taste of fear. It was howling, a long profound noise full of pain that would crack off in places like there were no vocal chords to support it. And it kept going. The sickening crunches, the copper stench of blood, the cries of pain. She couldn't tell if it was she or the thing on the ground making the noise anymore. She wanted to end it, to grab that gun and put the thing out of its misery and to make the noises and the sights and the screams stop please stop stop stop it. A high keening noise drew her dull attention to the doctor. He was laughing, screeching in pure joy, his arms thrown open to the thing before him. "This is what I've wanted!" he screamed, breaking off into delighted peals of childish laughter. She could sense her body trying to throw her into unconsciousness, oh how she desired it, but it didn't succeed, leaving her to the hellish nightmare before her. Even the soldiers behind her shifted with unease, some turning their heads with sickened looks.

And then the sounds stopped.

She stared at the ground with a half lidded gaze, failing to realize the absence of sound for a few beats, then raising her head in a numb daze to see what had caused it. The doctor was quiet, staring at the mass on the ground before him with a look of affection. He sighed happily, and she wanted to cry. The bullet must have carried something with it, some being that had been shot into D's heart and had devoured his flesh to take his place. Dr. E walked forward, his arms open wide like a worshipper receiving a blessing and said, "Come. Let the girl see what you really are. You should not need to hide yourself for a mere spit like her."