Expelled.
That was the only word Jace could think of as he heaved the large, blackish-brown mass out of his stomach and onto the ground. It smelled like toxic waste and looked even worse. And just seconds before, that thing had been inside of him. He suppressed a shudder.
The blob of goo, for that was what it was, lay there on the ground, pulsing gently. Jace didn’t even want to think about what that meant. It was horrible enough thinking about the fact that it had just been inside his stomach. He wondered if there was more in there, more that he hadn’t been able to expel. The thought horrified him, but he didn’t know what to do about it. He was certain no doctor would believe him, and he was reluctant to pick up the blob and take with him as proof. He just didn’t want to touch the thing, again.
The blob pulsed again, a stronger beat than before. Jace took a step back from it, and it lurched the equivalent of a step back toward him. Jace moved even further away, and the blob moved toward him again. Jace wondered if he could outrun it, beat the thing to his car and just drive away. Would it continue to seek him out, no matter how far away he got? Or would the blob give up and die? Or simply exist here, where he’d vomited the thing up?
He decided to risk it. Jace turned in the direction he left his car and ran as fast as he could toward it. It was at least a quarter mile to the lot, but he thought he could easily outpace the blob.
Something tackled him from behind, wrapped around his legs and knocked him sprawling on the ground. He looked, and sure enough, it was the blob. It was stretched like taffy around his ankles, holding them tight.
And it was creeping up his legs.
Jace panicked. He reached down and tried to pry the blob off his captured legs. But all it did was stretch more. And it kept crawling up his legs. Now his feet, ankles, and knees were encompassed. Movement was becoming more difficult because even as the blob was engulfing him, it was also sticking to the ground, holding him in place.
Jace fought. He wriggled. He beat on the blob, tore at it with his fingernails. He even tried to inhibit its growth using the lighter in his pocket it to burn it. Nothing helped. By now, he was covered all the way to his hips, and he was no closer to getting out.
He screamed then, calling for help, hoping against hope that there was someone else close enough to hear him who could help get him out of this predicament because it was becoming obvious he wasn’t going to get out of it in his own. But the lot had been empty when he drove in, and he could just see the lot from the ground where he was now. It was still empty. Still, he screamed and shouted because what else could he do? He screamed until the blob once more covered his mouth, preventing any further sound.
Then the blob covered his head, and Jace could no longer be seen. He was just a vaguely human form covered in disgusting, foul-smelling goo.
In time, the blob broke Jace’s body down until he was no more. Then it shriveled up to the size of a cantaloupe and climbed up into a nearby tree, out of sight. It was ready for its next victim, and it was still hungry.
