A Fury of Memory - Villain Novella II

Chapter 1

I feel Gabe's throat is tight and sore as he swallows, "Roger that, see you on the other side." 

With a shit smelling grin, Patrick drops into the yellowed grass moving towards a decomposing eighteen-wheeler in the middle of the field. 

Gabe starts to stagger off in the opposite direction, unbalanced as he braces on the trees every few paces. While his flimsy body was well hidden within the tree line, his heavy steps were loud enough to draw attention from anyone in the vicinity. As he walked the mist thickened into a light drizzle that helped flatten the stomping noise, but only slightly. 

On top of steep mud crested hill in the distance I could make out an ancient wooden outhouse that looked abandoned for years. Warped algae stained walls slanted left and right, barely attached to its support beams. Seeing the building as well Gabe starts to steady his gait and remembers to move low, finally acting like he had been trained on how to be stealthy. 

Moving out from the forest's safety, Gabe pulls his camo hoodie over his head to guard from the rain while quickly climbing the steep grade to the condemned shitbox.  As he reaches for the loose door he pulls very slowly, so-to-not accidentally squeak the crusted hinges. Inside was a cement slab covering the once existing literal shit hole.  On the ground was a spread of old faded magazines, some with no covers, others with pages torn out and scattered about. 

While looking down I see Gabe's hand grasp some of the worn brittle pages.   Water stains the paper turning typed letters into nothing more than smears. While thumbing through the pages of smut from the 1970's; that is,  judging from the excessively large amount of body and pubic hair, Gabe starts to chuckle at how this was considered sexy at the time.

A door slammed in the distance, the smut magazine falling from his hand as Gabe drops low and peeks through the loose cracks between the crippled slants.  From the house walked the shape of a young woman dressed in a tattered short beige dress. 

Instantly I feel Gabe hold his breath and saw what caught his eye, the top of her head was all white with large pointed ears, the face of a rabbit, a mask.  Covered in faded stains of blood and mud the fur looked authentic and morbid. 

Crossing the litter filled yard, White Rabbit starts to utter a deep-throat-ed grunt as she strolls to a half dozen tall wooden cages in rows. The animal snarl awakened a fury of movement from inside, the doors pulsating from the rhythmic strikes.  

The box cage openings faced each other, three on each side.  White Rabbit was holding a stack of aluminum baking tins and sets them geometrically in front of the pounding doors before reaching to open one. Sticking her head inside produces an eruption of wailing along with a herd of goats that aggressively start fighting for position around the food tray.

White Rabbit's muffled coos playfully, "Hello my furry babies, you must be so hungry."

A few of them were nibbling on the fabric of her dress as she moved to the other cages. With the shrooms hitting in high gear, the goats had taken on ghoulish shapes, their eyes glowing and leaving trails as they jumped around screaming for food. 

"What you doing out there, isn't starting to rain?" calls out a man's voice from the dark space through a screen door.

"I'm feeding the kids, what else I am going to do with these scraps, they stink up the house so I'm feeding them early." Rabbit responds.

"You complain about the fucking smell but don't mind how it tastes when you?"

"I have to eat it,  its the smell of the remains, smells like shit" she responds.

"Yea, alright. Hey, bring back two of the little ones for a serving later tonight. Maybe a gray and a white?"

White rabbit coos out again while she pets a small white one nibbling on the base of her fabric, "I know just the ones I think." 

The ground surrounding the trays were red, a sea of fresh bones sprawled about. The goats kicked and jumped off each other like a pack of ravenous dogs, their faces smeared in blood as they chewed.

"What the fuck, goats don't eat that shit, what the fuck is this" Gabe whispers. 

 One of the larger bucks raises its head while munching on a piece of flesh hanging from its mouth and swear I see a flash of pointed teeth going to work on the meat, not flat molars used for hay. 

An even smaller goat, this one gray, starts to nibble on Rabbits dress with its crimson stained muzzle, now soaked from the increasing rain that increased with the macabre of the scene. 

"Looks like we have another winner today" she says while dipping her hand into the tray of bloody entrails then picking the kid up in her arms, "But you look a but famished, are they not letting you eat?"

Pulling aside her shirt she reveals a large round breast, smears blood across the bare flesh around the nipple and presents it to the goat who takes to it immediately. Rabbit continues her deep-throat-ed groan while smearing the remaining blood on her hand over the the white face. Gabe quickly slips and falls over, knocking open the door with his head. A squeal sounds while he quickly stops his roll and falls low in the mud.

 I was too late as I catch sight of White Rabbit moving towards us, an outstretched hand with finger-pointing as a high shrill emits from the mask.  It didn't sound human, more like a feral animal.  The goats followed along with her, a cold fascination gleaming in their eyes as they forget the meal already before them.  They understood the command of the shrill and all had their eyes set on us while beginning to move in. 

It was too late to hide now. Wasting no more time, Gabe starts to slide down the ravine to immediately feel a sting cut the side of his head, the world now spinning around. In the twirl I see it, a rock unearthed in the mud. 

It finally stops but the blurred trees above were still arcing back and forth.  Gabe starts gasping through the water pouring from the creases in his face, the taste of wet earth and blood filling his mouth. Calm down Gabe, let your brain catch up then pull yourself up and let's get the fuck out of here I echo into Gabe's head, hoping my thoughts would awaken his own.  

Even though the hard rain I can still hear the echo of goat screams growing closer. The shape of dark 4 legged bodies gather on top of the hill around the outhouse following White Rabbit, her approach a slow and deliberate gait down the loose slope. Staring down at our lifeless body she continues her shrills and grunts, now resembling taunts if anything.

The shapes of leaping beasts circle Gabe from all directions, screaming their relentless cries. In this middle of their crazed jumping is her silhouette moving closer to our sprawled body. I can feel Gabe trying to lift himself up but the world is spinning, no longer in equilibrium from the blow.

  The goat screams blend into a rhythm that builds on the background, a distant chime as the last images of White Rabbit fading to nothing but light and color. It swells and envelops me as the distant sound of deep chimes resonates through me. I try to focus, on getting back to the canvas...

Thank you for reading Chapter 1 of Villain Part II: A Fury of Memory.

If you have not read Part I of Villain in the Canvas please see my page and start there.

More chapters coming soon. Please Vote and leave comments if you like.