SmackDown: MadMike's Revenge!

Round 3, Dudecore: Chasing the Ivory Beast - @sigrist

Chasing the Ivory Beast

by sigrist

What sorts of things could cause a person to wake up in a strange place? I guess maybe I drank too much, or maybe I was kidnapped by aliens. No, I was on earth, in a hospital that I recognized. Except something was wrong, the windows were broken and the walls were stained with mold and moisture. "Hello?" I called out but there was no response. "Is anybody there? A doctor? A nurse, maybe?"

Nothing.

I removed the needle from my arm on my own, it seemed like the bag it was attached to had gone dry long ago anyway. I swung my legs out over the edge of my bed and tried to stand up but my muscles were weak. My arms moved quickly to shield my face as the floor came rushing towards me but still my chin hit the linoleum. My teeth clacked together painfully and I ran my tongue along them to take count. No real damage done, just a little sore. I climbed more carefully to my feet and took a couple shaky steps. There was a chair in the corner with a puke green plastic cover and I let myself flop into it.

"Is there anyone out there who can help me?" I could hear someone in the hallway, I was sure of it. "Come on, I can hear you! Just gimme a hand."

I stood up and reached for the IV pole to steady myself. Whoever was in the hall had come closer to my door and I said, "What happened here? Why does everything look old and broken?" The door started to creak open and I saw something strange reach into the room. It was like a long black spike with strange little hairs. I felt instant dread as I realized what it was. A leg, just one of six legs. The creature stepped in further and the door swung all the way open to reveal a twisted beast. It was like an insect, except it was nearly as tall as me and bursting out of its malformed thorax was the twisted half body of a human. It was as if the person had intended to take a nap on the giant bug and its exoskeleton was like wet cement, slowly eating the person up before it dried half way through the job.

No, that wasn't it. It was more like the human had formed inside the giant bug and now it was being pushed out like pus from a pimple. Yeah, that's about how gross the thing looked and as I stood there pissing myself it screeched at me through its human mouth and its giant bug mouth at the same time. I tried to move but the thing was quick. It scurried towards me on six skittering legs and all I could do was tilt the IV pole down at the monstrosity. It plunged into the soft spot right at the base of the human body and punctured deep into the ugly thing's body. Bright yellow guts squished out of it as my surprisingly effective weapon cracked through the bottom of the bug beast's exoskeleton, releasing a wickedly rotten stench. It wiggled and writhed, still trying to get closer to me. Its oversized mandibles nearly crunched onto my leg and I leapt back up onto the bed. The thing fell down, legs tick, ticking against the floor as the last of its life twitched out away.

"What," I said between heavy breaths, "the shit was that!" I screamed the choice words and the rest came out in a frightened shudder. It took every ounce of strength I had not to vomit as I scrambled over to the other side of the bed, reflexively trying to put as much distance between myself and the mutant bug-man. I kept a wide berth as I walked around the edge of the room and made my way out the door. Even though the thing was dead I still felt like it would come after me again so I closed the door behind me.

"Nice bum."

I suddenly realized that not only was my hospital gown incredibly revealing, I wasn't alone. I spun around to see a man with messy white-blonde hair staring back at me. He was dirty and he was wearing odd pieces of armour that looked homemade. "I, uh, who are you?"