The Thing that Ate Manhattan

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by h_coyle

by h_coyle

Large tentacles dragged the creature along on it's belly leaving a trail of slim in its wake. The mucus coated half the city block. Cars crushed under it's weight, people ran clutching their children and small toy dogs. The only saving grace was the slow pace at which it crawled forward.

Ian's experience matched the color of his face-green. He leaned forward projecting his lunch onto his newly issued uniform boots. Clutch clapped his back and let a weighted roar escape his lips. Ian assumed the large man to be laughing, although the sound was unsettling. When it rose out of the ocean they were the last stand. A blockade set up to stop the creature from reaching the heart of the city. Of all the weeks Ian had chosen to enlist, he had to choose this one. It was Thursday.

"With something that big, all you have to do is shoot and aim, you are bound to hit something." Clutch's advice did not leave him feeling any better. His friends had probably high tailed it out of town. He wanted to do the same but Clutch had promised to shoot him in the back if he turned coward.

Ian watched in terror as the creature slowly crushed a row of barricades a hundred feet before them. Some poor sucker had somehow got himself stuck and they could hear his screams. They were short lived as the sea creature crushed over him sucking the shrieks into oblivion.

Ian stared up at the eyeless creature, a purple blob of slim and an endless supply of legs. Their bullets ricocheted off its watery hide landing on the ground only to be swallowed up in the slow crawl.

"How are we going to stop that thing?" Ian could feel the sweat roll down the back of his spine.

"Who knows but we sure as hell are going to try!"

Ian pictured Clutch jumping on the back of a rocket yelling 'yeehaw' as it screamed into the belly of the beast.

"At least this is going to be one hell of a going away party!" And with that Clutch went charging over the barricade to his death.

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A/N: So I know I promised a teaser for my Gremlin Baby story, but I just couldn't make it work with su-SPEC-t contest specs, so I hope you enjoy this instead :)