MonstrousMay 26. The Monster's Horn

Several people crouched around the hole in the earth, turning their heads this way and that. "Well it's certainly unusual," Nancy said. A skull gazed up at them from the pit that had been carefully cut away. The dig was meant to find artifacts of early civilizations out in the plains. Nancy wasn't sure if this was going to help or hurt their findings. Perhaps it was a ceremonial burial of some kind. 

The skull was bound in rope. Clearly from a large mammal. Its single horn would suggest a rhino. Wooly rhinos had populated this area for a time. But to Nancy's eye, at first blush it looked as though it came from a horse. Some initial excavation around the skull hadn't turned up any more of its body.

"What do we do?" Fred asked. The other archaeologists mumbled to one another. "I say we finish extracting it. If we find evidence it's of a holy significance, we'll put it back."

Nancy barely heard what Fred had said. She wasn't sure what it could be. Maybe she needed some water. Or maybe the light hitting the horn just so was making it mesmerizing. "I say we leave it," she said. "It was clearly put here on purpose."

"Why do you say that?" Fred asked. 

"How often to animals wrap their heads in rope and decapitate themselves?" Nancy asked. The others chuckled. But generally speaking, they agreed with Fred. "Fine, I'm outnumbered," Nancy said and stood. She walked back to her tent to get water and have a lie down.

Nancy must have dozed off. It was still bright outside. Her head felt heavy, full of dreams she couldn't remember. She started to write in her journal when she noticed the quiet. The landscape was fairly empty, but there was the usual gust of wind, birdsong, bugs. Now there was nothing. Nancy climbed out of her tent to see her fellow researchers crowded around Fred, who held the skull in front of him. 

"What's going on?" Nancy asked. Someone shushed her. She came to join the circle and saw Fred's hands were bleeding. He was breathing shakily, his eyes fixed on the skull. Now she noticed that some of the rope had frayed and fell loose. "We need to patch you up," Nancy said. Fred didn't budge. "Drop it," Nancy said.

"I can't," Fred whispered. More rope snapped and fell away as he spoke. He grunted in pain as the rope began writhing, wrapping tightly around his hands. Blood now flowed freely from his hands. 

Nancy broke through and grabbed hold of the skull. Fred screamed as she tried to tear it from his hands. The rope hadn't wound around them. It was in them, under his skin. This close, she saw it wasn't rope at all. Fred's blood no longer fell to the ground. Instead, it coursed its way up through the rope. Fred grew pale as he ground his teeth together. 

"Help him!" Nancy yelled. The others only stood and watched. She ran to a nearby toolkit and grabbed a knife. When she turned back, Fred was gone. The skull loomed above his now dessicated corpse. The blood wound its way around the skull, the rope growing thick and braiding itself into muscle and veins. 

The other scientists walked forward, their arms outstretched. Nancy tried to pull the nearest one away, but she elbowed Nancy in the face, sending her sprawling onto the ground. There were more ropes now, more tendrils diving into her colleagues. They coughed and gagged as the rope traveled into their mouths and down their throat. Nancy tried to catch her breath, blood pouring from her nose. Some of the rope crawled along the ground, slithering towards her.

Nancy ran. She didn't grab anything. She ran out into the tall grass and kept running. In the silence all she could hear was her own breath, the thumping of her heart. 

She froze as an animal scream split the air. A crazed noise of something out for blood. And then came the thundering of hooves.