Angry Gary and Angry Larry the Leopard Slugs
Pain
The large opening enveloped him as he entered and as his eyes adjusted he began to see a whole world was already hidden in the pile. Every insect imaginable was moving around the hollow parts of the pile after only a few days of it lying in place. His eyes scanned around him taking in the scene as it was rather chaotic with so much movement. He slowly worked his way in and then towards the crumpled looking wall to his right and paused to again look around at the wild display of life around him.
The cockroaches were scurrying around on the ceiling pf the opening as the spiders did their best to avoid them. The pill bugs in a mass to one side, then small beetles digging in a pile of fluff, and a little farther a pair of mice gnawed at the corner of a box. He noticed the piles of various debris had a layer of dust covering it which kept getting stirred around by the insects and other life creating a haze that filled the open areas.
Gary became curious as to where a stream of ants was coming from, they were exiting a tunnel but after a little closer inspection found it to be far too small for him to fit in. He roamed along the wall and poked into the various nooks and crannies in search of food or a tunnel leading somewhere. In the depths of the pile he felt a feeling of adventure, like Indiana Slugs and his exploits, he was exploring but he became clearly aware that he did not have the whip like him.
The wall began to curve back in towards the open area and then he rounded a sharp corner and found himself looking into a large dark tunnel that stretched of into blackness. He felt the very slight shift of air movement in the tunnel as he slugged away from the wall towards the middle of the opening. As he neared the center he could feel the pile shaking slightly below him and it became heavier quickly. The thundering stomps and now scrapes and scratches surprised him and he stopped still in his track.
Out of the darkness from down the tunnel emerged long whiskers and a pointed snout followed by a large hairy body. Hi mind screamed at him to move but he could not move, his body frozen in fear.
“What the hell is that? It’s looks like giant mouse!” his mind was yelling as he tried to make his foot move. The rat quickly emerged into view and suddenly was looming over the top of Gary whose only thought became, “move!”
The rat sat twitching its whiskers and sniffing at Gary who sat rock still. Its front feet in the air grasping at each other as it sat on its hind legs, tail twisted around its feet. It preened its tail a couple times then suddenly dropped onto all four feet and in an instant jumped atop Gary and sunk its teeth into his mantle behind his tentacles which immediately retracted. He felt the crush of the teeth and did the only thing he could which was to tense his body as tight as he could into the smallest ball he could and explode slime out of every pore possible.
The rat’s teeth sunk into his mantle and as he tensed he could feel its mouth spreading from the pressure. He continued to tense but then suddenly felt the rat shift its weight and clawed feet were scratching at him trying to hold him in place. His slime kept him slippery enough the rat couldn’t get a solid grip but it also meant the rat was scraping and scratching at his mantle and body and he could feel the wounds opening all over him. After what felt like forever to him the rat let its mouth loose but the feet still clawed at him. The slime that he was producing had covered the area around him and the rat fumbled with him as it was trying to hold him still.
Gary felt his wounded body suddenly propelled as the rat kicked at him as it tried to stand in the slime. His body still tensed flew forward and he felt himself begin to roll along the surface of what he could only assume was the floor of the opening. He felt himself thump against the side of something large and his body stopped cold. He sat feeling the pain wash over him against the large cold object that loomed over him, silent and unmoving.
He felt himself falling into shock and the whoosh of unconsciousness hit him heavy and fast.
He came to feeling his body throbbing in pain and as he tried to move felt the pain rush through. The wounds from the rat were oozing and he was uncontrollably oozing slime everywhere around him. He lolled back to unconsciousness again as the pain continued unabated.
Some time later he came to to feel his body in motion and as he poked his tentacles out he saw the antenna of ants. As he looked around him he could see the wave of ants holding his body aloft as they carried him across the debris strewn floor of the room. He could see the trail leading off to the other room and soon was out again, enveloped in the blackness.
A sudden throb of pain and he came to once more, feeling more aware of his surroundings immediately. He was sitting still in one place which was good and the room looked like it was the kitchen. His body throbbed in pain with the still open wounds and as he tried to untense his body he felt the wounds shift and he cringed in pain. His tentacles eventually made their way up and his eyes opened fully to reveal he was laying next to a pile of stale bread that had been strewn in the raid.
“Maybe I can get to it,” he thought as the pain continued with each attempted movement. Slowly he would try to extend his foot to attempt movement but each time brought searing pain. He could feel from his position he was lying in that he might be able to shift his weight enough to roll towards the pile without causing himself too much pain. He sat and analyzed it a bit before beginning to internally shift himself, testing to ensure it wasn’t too much pain with each step.
The weigh began to shift and his body expanded slowly to except the shifting internals, slowly morphing his body as it shifted and rolled towards the pile of bread. The pain rippled as his body changed form and he felt the throbs ebb and flow through him. As his morphing continued slowly there was suddenly a feeling of legs all across his wounds. He recoiled and tensed at the touches which caused him more pain. His one tentacle rose to see what was causing the pain and he saw a pile of cockroaches massing over the bread pile, their legs skittering against him and scratching at his wounds.
Gary felt himself succumbing to the pain once more and as he watched the cockroaches devour the bread his tentacle fell limp on his body.
Larry awoke in his nook to the constant blinking of notifications on the pda flashing off the walls. The droplets of water scattered around the nook sat refracting the light of the flashes in a dazzle of colors. He felt the pangs of hunger set in quickly and after looking around him for food decided to go looking outside.
He exited his nook into the night air and could see well around him in the street light. He watched the moths and bugs flying with abandon around the light, zipping around it in what looked like a free for all race. The moths couldn’t get close enough to the light and were walking all over it causing shadows to play around the yard. Larry had the sudden desire for the myco on the log where they found the snake. He figured that there was not much chance the snake would be there again, right? He tried to convince himself not to worry as he began to slug towards the log.
Rounding a bunch of grass the end of the log popped into view. The white tendrils still coating it now glowed in the night light. He paused and checked the area around him for signs of snake, the last thing he wanted was another snake encounter. The next one might not go as well.
Comfortable that there was nothing around him Larry went to the end of the log and began devouring mouth fulls of myco. As he ate he heard the crunching of feet in the grass and soon a small mouse popped out from between the log and the grass, where they had been prior. It hopped around the log and when it noticed him it suddenly jumped back, its whiskers just touching his sides.
Larry wasn’t very startled by it, more the sudden movement it made. He watched it scamper off into the grasses behind him then turned and continued to focus on eating until he felt himself becoming full. He took a last bite of the myco and turned away from the log for the first time since he had started eating. His sight wandered the yard around him and his gaze fell on the house. Slowly the awareness entered his mind that Gary had mentioned he was going to go explore and the curiosity began to grow in him. “What was he so intent on going in there for?” he thought as he looked at the patio.
As he watched the patio and thought he noticed movement by the door and soon a line of mice emerged into the light. The parents were leading them out into the night, but that meant there must be a way out of the house or a way in. His curiosity was building as he kept rolling around the question of what Gary was after in his mind. Finally he decided, he’d go see what was so important inside.
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