Rest Stop Chapter 5
You know the drill, characters belong to me and blah blah . . . enjoy the story.
"He's been gone an awful long time," a worried Joey said as he stared at the door, hoping to see Xavier come through smiling and having a good time as they are swiftly taken from this place. The dream never came true. Mark held him tightly and purred softly into his ear as he comforted him in his cradling arms. No more blood flowed from his cheek, only a slight trickle of the red fluid slid from the closing wound.
"He'll be okay," Mark said as he licked Joey's pinkening cheek clean of the pinkness. A soft purr rolled from his throat as he felt Mark's warm paw glide through his flowing red river of hair in gentle strokes. Joey licked him back and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. 'Such warm, supple lips,' thought Mark as his lips locked with Joey's in a tender embrace. Warm purrs exchanged between them in the soft kiss as they held close to one another . . . a loud thud then silence. The two broke the kiss suddenly, their fur prickling as they listened for more sounds from next door.
The two encompassed each other tightly as thoughts of the downfall of their tall friend rushed through their heads at a dangerous pace. They feared the worst as they sat there, listening attentively. The ladies' room door closed softly and they tightened their embrace as they heard the men's room door creak open. They clutched each other hard, trembling as their eyes clamped shut, praying that their demise would be short and painless. Hoping the beast had some sort of mercy, even the slightest.
"Mark, Joey," said a comforting and familiar voice, "are you two okay?" Joey cracked open one eye to see who it was and beheld a wonderful yet grotesque sight; Xavier covered in black fluids. The two broke from their embrace to hug the blood stained victor, purring softly, happy to see him safe and sound. Xavier gladly returned the hug with a tight embrace of his own.
"We thought you were gone," said Joey with a few tears in his eyes as he nuzzled into his flying fox friend's chest, wiping his tears away on the black shirt.
"Yeah, we thought you kicked the bucket," nuzzled Mark gleefully, "good thing you survived, or we'd never get outta here." The two cats nuzzled and hugged their tall friend as he held them back tightly . . . then Xavier remembered.
"Got 'em," he said triumphantly as he dangled the keys in front of the feline lovers. He murred softly, grinning as the two smaller boys became overcome with joy, licking Xavier's unstained cheeks. "Now," he said after all the praising licks and hugs, "let's get out of here." The other boys purred and nodded as they followed the triumphant Xavier towards the exit door . . . the door creaked open and the three of them stood frozen in place, awe-struck.
Black bile oozed from its muzzle in small rivulets as it staggered on all fours in through the door, growling and hissing in pain as it left its infectious trail behind it. It was badly damaged and in a serious amount of pain as it leaned onto its hind legs in a sitting position, growling and wincing as it struggled to breathe under its collapsed heaving ribcage.
"Fuck!" Mark exclaimed as the life drained from his face, "it's still alive!" Joey held onto Mark tightly as he trembled and whimpered softly, terrified. Xavier, a sneer tearing across his face as anger shot through him, held the crowbar tightly like a baseball bat. The two felines hid behind Xavier and held each other tightly, trembling as they waited for the thing to attack.
"Well," Xavier said as he growled angrily at the thing, "it won't be for much longer." He was ready for the rat fetus.
The thing glared, if it really could, at Xavier as its growl grew hungrier for fresh meat. The smell of corpses and sewage filled Xavier's senses again as he stared deeply into the lifeless, animal eyes of the beast. The creature's muzzle wrinkled as if it felt the heated stare it was receiving from the enraged flying fox. Its claws dug into the tile as bile still ran from its wounded forearm, making a small infected pool just beneath its left paw. Its viciousness was dulled down, slower. What it lacked in viciousness, however, its hunger surely made up for it.
"Come on!" Xavier called at the thing as he slammed the crooked head of the crowbar onto the tile, cracking it on contact, trying to elicit the beast. He banged the iron weapon a few more times, trying to get a rise out of it. Its ears snapped back after each hard rap of the crowbar until it could no longer take the banging much more. It hunkered down, ready to pounce him. "That's it," Xavier said in a heated tone, "that's a good pus spewing mongrel bastard." The beast lunged forward with a roar and Xavier gave a hard swing. The clawed head dug into the bile filled wound on its left arm. The wretched flesh peeled from its arm and spewed bile onto the mirrors beside them as the beast screamed in pain. It landed on its three legs in the far corner of the room as it limped slightly. It poured its infected blood from the skinless left arm as it recoiled for another close encounter with Xavier as he held up a homerun hit, the flesh still hanging from the clawed head of the weapon.
The beast roared again as it leapt into the air at Xavier. Xavier swung hard. The clawed end caught the beast's chin flesh and dug into the bone. There was a loud snap with flesh tearing apart and like a cork the Rat Fetus' head popped off and went sailing into a bathroom stall, slamming the door open and landing with a sickening splash into the bowl. Bile flew up to the ceiling and splashed the walls in a brilliant black flood as the body crashed to the floor, splashing more of its bile onto the tiles. Silence.
Xavier panted heavily as his crowbar dripped bile onto the already bile stained floor. Mark and Joey huffed deeply as they stared at the carnage their tall bat friend caused. Xavier dangled the crowbar from his limp paw as it hung beside him, still panting heavily.
"I said 'Stay down,'" he huffed out as he looked over the body and the stall where the head flew into.
"Persistent bastard, wasn't he?" Mark asked chuckling uneasily. Xavier couldn't help but laugh as well. Triumphant laughter rolled from Xavier's throat as he joined Mark in a good one. Joey saw the iron weapon dangling from Xavier's paw. Without even thinking, he ran over and snatched it out of Xavier's paws as he ran for the stall where the head rested in the bowl.
With the straightened end, he thrusted it into the bowl and stabbed at the lifeless rat head multiple times. Various cracks, snaps and splashes echoed throughout the restroom with each coming blow, busting into the surprisingly brittle skull. He screamed at the head as it slowly became mush with bile spewing onto him as the crowbar came down every time.
"Goddamn you, fucking bastard!" Joey screamed as his crowbar came down and sank deeply into the brain pudding. "You attack me and almost hurt Xavier, you piece of shit," he hollered at the pudding in the bowl. The other two grabbed hold of him and started to pull him away from the stall gently. The crowbar fell from his paws as he collapsed into Mark's soothing arms, bawling as he held him tightly. Mark proceeded to comfort him as Xavier came up to the bile covered bowl. Bone fragments, flesh and brain matter swirled around down below the lip like a sick pudding. Cringing at the sight, he pressed down onto the lever of the toilet. A loud whoosh and the vile pudding swirled around the bowl and down the drain. After the remains swept down the U-bend of the toilet, a solitary filmy eyeball floated to the surface and stared lifelessly up at Xavier. He flushed again and nothing was left in the bowl except grey water.
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Mark buckled in Joey and himself as he cradled him gently, cooing and purring softly to calm him down with each gentle loving stroke. Xavier buckled in as well and turned the keys in the ignition. The radio kicked in and the song "Forty Six & 2" rolled from the speakers as he put the Rustbox Eighty Eight into reverse and backed out of the parking space. Joey leaned into Mark and nuzzled him warmly as he thought of the horrible rat creature, the Rat Fetus as Xavier put the car into drive.
"Let's get outta here," Mark said relieved. Xavier nodded in absolute agreement and pressed his foot onto the gas pedal. The car drove onto the dirt road and then onto the main road, leaving the decrepit rest stop in a cloud of dust.
Rocks and dust kicked against the blue hide of the old Rustbox as it roared along the road, air pouring through the open window as it blew the pine scented air freshener around. A full moon slowly rose into the dark sky as the car drove swiftly along.
"We almost there?" Joey asked monotonously, almost robot-like.
"We'll be there soon," Xavier said as he stared forward into the darkness as he drove onward.
"Yeah," Mark said as he cuddled his blood stained lover, stroking him gently and purring to comfort him.
Maynard cranked out his ending lines of "Forty Six & 2." "See my shadow changing, stretching up and over me. Soften this old armor. Hoping I can clear the way by stepping through my shadow, coming out the other side. Step into the shadow. Forty six and two are just ahead of me," he sang as the ending cords played and finished the song off. The car drove swiftly on towards Florida where Ozzfest was taking place.
'What and interesting way to start spring break,' Xavier thought as he looked onward down the dark road.
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The body lay lifeless on the floor, stained in bile. The walls, ceiling and floors were covered in the black viscous infection. But the stall where the head landed was stained the worst. Bile blanketed the walls and floor of the stall from when Joey bashed the head of the Rat Fetus in. And above the flushed toilet a low hiss rolled from the vent grate and metallic clacks echoed off the tiles as the sound disappeared into the endless maze of ventilation that were the veins of the old rest stop building.
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