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                                 Trail of Blood

                                  by  Sunspot

                      >>> A CULT Publication......1988 <<<
                        -cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-
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        "Thomas!  Thomas!  Come downstairs!  Your father and I have something
to discuss with you!"

        Thomas sat on his bed cross-legged, staring at the glistening surface
of the scissors.  See how they shine and gleam in the light?  See how they
sparkle?  Thomas inserted one scissor into each of his nostrils.  Hehe!  They
tickle!  And the blade is so cold!  Well, nevermind about that.  Thomas pushed
the scissors up into his nose.  He felt something pop and felt the warm blood
start to drip, then gush, from his nose.  He pushed up some more, but the
septum dividing his nostrils got in the way.  Impatiently, he closed the
scissors, cutting it apart, then pushed up some more.  The scissors started to
slip because of the blood covering them, but he still pushed them up.  He felt
them stop against something hard.  Hmm... must be a bone.  He slammed the
scissors against it a few times, then pulled it out of his nose and smashed
them up with all his might.  He felt the bone crack and give way right before
he felt a sharp pain in his head, then a peculiar tingling feeling spreading
throughout his body.  He let go of the scissors and they dropped from his nose,
which was now nearly obliterated from his face.  There was a spreading red mark
where his nose used to be.  He felt no pain now, he felt very light, like a
feather.  He felt himself floating... he wasn't aware of the blood pouring from
his face, or of the small trickle of blood starting to come from his ears
either.  He just felt the immense ecstasy of floating on nothing, of peace and
warmth and light, all mixed into one.  He rolled around on the air he was
floating on and a sharp knock on his head brought him back to reality.  He
wasn't floating, he was on his bed, and he had just fallen off.  He staggered
to his feet, wondering what had happened.  His head hurt, but his nose was
killing him, so he walked to the mirror, and looked into it.  He stared at
himself, and screamed.

                                      ***

        Vanessa stared down the barrel of the gun.  She didn't think it looked
particularly dangerous, just kind of ominous.  She didn't even know what kind
of gun it was, she had just stolen it out of her father's desk when he was out.
She opened the chamber and noted with satisfaction that all six bullets were
there.  Six were plenty, six were more than enough.  She carefully closed the
chamber of the gun and put it to her left ankle and pulled the trigger.  The
bullet came out of the gun with infinite slowness, it seemed to Vanessa.  She
could just pull away, and it would all be ok.  But she couldn't pull away.  She
looked away from her ankle for a second, then looked back at it, and saw the
hole in the carpet.  At first she thought she had somehow missed, but then she
looked at her ankle, with the neat little hole popped right through it.  Right
through it.  The blood started to drip down to her sneakers.

        She pointed the gun at her right ankle and repeated the previous
procedure.  And she still felt no pain.  No pain at all.  She stood up, took a
step, and collapsed.  Her torn-up ankles couldn't support her.  No problem.
She sat up, and stuck the barrel of the gun into her left elbow.  She stared at
it for a moment before pulling the trigger.  It was loud.  For some reason, she
hadn't noticed the loudness with the ankles, but now she did.  And this time,
there was pain.  Oh, so much pain, hurts, hurts, hurts, so much pain, waves
of pain.  Her whole elbow was ripped apart and blood was spattered everywhere.
She stuck the barrel into her right elbow, and pulled the trigger without
hesitation.  This time there was no pain, and no noise either.  Unfortunately,
there was no color either, as everything had turned sort of a light-grayish
white shade.  Never mind.

        Vanessa looked down at herself and thought.  Then she knew.  She
inserted the barrel of the pistol into her navel and pulled the trigger.  Her
whole body jerked backwards and she was thrown back a few feet.  She looked
down and saw just a large hole in the middle of her stomach.  Vanessa felt
blood starting to drip down her legs and felt along her back.  There was a hole
there, too.  She turned around and saw that the bullet had gone right through
her into the dresser.

        She heard feet running up the stairs.  "Vanessa!  Vanessa!  What was
that noise!  Vanessa!  Are you all right?!"  Her mother had come home.  This
would speed things up a bit.  Her mother walked in the door and staggered back
a step.  She fell to the floor and stared at Vanessa, nearly hyperventilating.
"Oh my god, Vanessa!  Vanessa, my baby, what happened to you?"  Vanessa smiled
sweetly at her mother, inserted the barrel of the gun into her left ear, and
pulled the trigger.  She heard her mother screaming in the background, but
right before she heard the screams, she thought, "What about my right ear?"
And then there was the noise again, only much, much, much louder than before.
Too loud.  It felt like her head was exploding.  She was vaguely aware of a
throbbing pain in her head, but wasn't concerned about that right now.  She was
aware of a bright light, however, a very bright light.  And she looked towards
it, then tried to look away, for it was blinding her.  She couldn't move her
head.  Then she closed her eyes, and felt the light burning against her
eyelids, and then her eyelids were on fire, and burned away.  She screamed for
the first time since the whole thing had started.  Then her whole body was on
fire, and she heard her mother's screams grow dimmer and dimmer until they
ceased.

                                      ***

        Bradley ran down the hallway as fast as he could and leaped with all
his might through the thick stained glass window.  He heard it shatter, and
had a feeling like thorns scratching him all over his body.  Opening his eyes,
he saw the ground coming closer at an incredible rate.  He tried to maneuver
himself to land on his feet, but ended up landing headfirst.  He covered his
head with his arms, and literally heard each bone shatter into several pieces.
His arms were bloody with pieces of bone sticking through the skin in many
places.

        Then Bradley stood up.  He walked to the intersection and jumped in
front of an oncoming vehicle.  The screech of brakes was deafening as the
driver tried desperately to stop his car, but hit Bradley head-on anyways,
throwing him into the air.  The car spun out of control, smashing into a nearby
store and exploding, killing the driver and two others.

        Bradley started to stand up but noticed that he was missing a leg.  He
tried to crawl but his arms felt like rubber, and looked like rubber too, bent
and twisted like a pretzel.  Bradley looked up just in time to see the truck
surging forward.  One of the big wheels ran right over his head.  The skull
crunched like a potato chip under the huge wheel.  He felt his blood, under
immense pressure, force holes through his arteries and skin, to squirt in all
directions.  Then this tremendous pressure, it seemed, lifted from him, and
then there was nothing.

        ...and then there was nothing.

_______________________________________________________________________________
 Behavior Modification.....806/793-9462  The Dead Zone.............214/522-5321
 Demon Roach Underground...806/794-4362  Dragonfire Private........609/424-2606
 Question Authority........715/341-6516  TacoLand II...............517/337-7319
 Tequila Willy's...........209/526-3194  The Metal AE..............201/879-6668
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 (c)1988  cDc communications  by Sunspot                     5/20 - 10/24/88-81
 All Rights Worth Shit

