Larvae (flash fiction)
Image source: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab from Beltsville, Maryland, USA
A sliver of sunlight pierced the stagnant air of the subbasement, illuminating claw marks in the mossy walls. Under the stream of light I observed bloodstains at the base of my torn nailbed. I winced. The iron-rich smell would attract the creature.
Its piteous mewling arose from the depths. I nervously kicked soil into the tunnel at my feet. I had to escape before it returned. Clutching the soil, my fingers dug deep within. Quickly, I ascended. I was six feet up when I felt a tug at my feet. Looking down in horror, I witnessed the creature’s bloated, white body creeping up my pants leg.
“Get off me, foul thing!” I screamed, kicking the hideous larvae. It was three feet long. Its maw oozed putrescent yellow fluids reeking of fetid lard. That evil oral emanation hit toe of my sneaker, melting canvas and eating away at flesh. I screamed in pain, kicking loose the shoe, sending the maggot dropping below with it.
The small crevice at the top of the well was just feet away. Heart racing, I redoubled my efforts to scale the wall. A nail broke with a gut-wrenching crack. I felt blood rush out from under the cloth, hot and sticky. I began to calculate how much pressure it would take to knock the wooden cap off the well.
A new sound emerged. Loud buzzing that grew rapidly closer. I felt wiry hairs touch the back of my neck. Against my will, I turned to look. A monstrous fly stared at me with its compound eye. Its voice, high-pitched and querulous, vibrated against my maddened eardrum.
“I bet you didn’t know we evolved,” it arrogantly hissed before its mandibles slid into the unyielding flesh of my eyelid, tearing asunder the fragile orb underneath.
(originally part of the #NGHW Next Great Horror Writer contest at HorrorAddicts)
Sumiko Saulson 