At The Hands Of Madness

by Kevin Holton

  “Get it off of me! Please get it off! It hurts!”

  “Tatsuo, please hold on!” Goro pulled the metal hook off his rod and rushed towards his beleaguered friend. “I do not have a knife on hand, but I am going to puncture its neck with my fishing hook! Do not worry, I will get that thing off of you!”

  Goro grabbed the anterior portion of the worm situated directly under its jaws to hold it in place, despite how much this forced him to resist the urge to dry heave. He then attempted to rip open the mystery worm’s mottled red flesh with the sharp end of the metal fishing hook.

  “Damn it, Tatsuo, stop your squirming and hold still! I cannot cut into it when you are thrashing like that!”

  Tatsuo was now beyond panic-stricken, however. “Get it off me! Please get it off!”

  Goro was determined not to give up on the man who was practically his only friend. He thus continued his attempt to cut into the worm despite fighting a compulsion to faint. The joint horror of seeing Tatsuo’s blood pouring out of his skewered wrist, and his being forced to make physical contact with the most horrible-looking animal he had ever seen, was almost more than the young man could bear.

  After much effort, Goro finally managed to sink the hook deep into the annelid’s hide on the spot he estimated to be the equivalent of its throat; he then did his best to tear it open. The creature’s skin was tough, but the fisherman pulled the embedded metal point hard enough to successfully rip a deep fissure in the rubbery layer of tissue which passed for its skin. A reddish ichor poured out of the gash, but the wretched thing continued to hold firm on Tatsuo’s severely bleeding arm as if its own life depended on it.

  Tatsuo began screaming while repeatedly kicking one of the deck’s thick wooden support posts in a futile attempt to relieve the pain. Goro quickly became even more desperate to wrench that vile creature out of his good friend’s flesh.

  “Tatsuo, please hold on! I will get it off, I promise!”

  Soon his friend ceased his frenzied movements and piercing screams and lay almost still. Tatsuo’s pupils had rolled up into his head and his mouth was gaping wide open. The tortured, very audible raspy breathes he was taking were very disturbing to the ear.

  “Hold on, Tatsuo! Please hold on!”

  The fisherman was determined to keep that vow and get his comrade through this terrifying tribulation. Now that Tatsuo had stopped struggling, Goro let his friend’s bleeding arm drop to the ground, after which he began repeatedly stomping on the worm’s warty body as hard as his leg and the sole of his foot could muster in tandem. The young man’s anger enabled him to smash the heel of his sandal down even harder.

  At first, little discernible damage seemed to be occurring to the tough creature. That only incited Goro to stomp down even harder and faster, screaming a stream of invective in rage and frustration as he did so.

  “Get off of him, you disgusting little bastard! Get off of him!”

  After what seemed like an eternity of incessant pounding, Goro noticed an expanding puddle of blood-like fluid flowing from underneath the worm and onto the wooden floor surrounding it. He responded to that by pushing himself past his normal level of endurance to continue the stomping, his accompanying verbal attacks aiding his need to vent throughout the ordeal.

  After several minutes of this, the creature’s sausage-shaped form was reduced to a flattened state with bloody fluid and what resembled pulped internal organs pouring out of its gullet. Next, Goro himself for what, in his estimation, needed to be done next.

  The fish-catcher forced himself to grab the flattened mass of the annelid’s neck with his bare right hand and attempt to pull it away from Tatsuo’s maimed wrist. The young man pooled the remainder of his stamina into the task, and to his utmost relief the horrid creature proved sufficiently injured that its jaw no longer held tight when yanked. The “head” of the worm was ripped away successfully, albeit at the cost of taking a small chunk of Tatsuo’s flesh with it, which remained in the thing’s surprisingly powerful jaws. Another torrent of blood gushed out of Tatsuo’s wound once the worm was pulled free.

  Goro gave forth a final shout and kicked the gory remains of the worm off the deck and into the water. He next bent over and vomited uncontrollably for almost a minute as the adrenalin rush wore off and the full enormity of what he had just witnessed and done sunk in. This was followed by his falling to the hard wooden surface of the deck in a state of near-exhaustion.

  After taking several deep breathes, the young fisherman exerted every remaining iota of his will to crawl over to Tatsuo’s idle form and see to the man’s condition rather than passing out. Goro did this despite having to crawl through his own spattered vomit to reach his friend.

  “Tatsuo, please speak to me!” Goro shouted as he grabbed his insensate comrade and shook him.

  The only response to that stimuli was what sounded like a brief agonized moan and an involuntary twitching of the right side of the Tatsuo’s still-gaping mouth. It was only then that Goro calmed down enough to realize that he had to tie something around his friend’s arm to staunch the blood loss, or he would likely bleed out.

  Goro was also aware he had to get the man proper medical attention without delay. However, few people in the village owned a vehicle and the closest hospital was in Yokohama. This would entail running to the nearest neighbor’s home (at least fifteen minutes by foot) and getting them to call an ambulance, which would take at least twenty-five minutes at top speed to get from there to Kenta, and the same amount of time to get back. Further, this would all hinge on Goro summoning up enough energy to do all of this when he felt extremely queasy and lightheaded.

  I need to lie down, just for a few minutes. But I dare not right now, because I must first tie something around Tatsuo’s arm, or he is going to bleed to death. I am unable to do this, but Tatsuo’s life depends on me to do otherwise. Please, ancestors, let me find the strength. And please do not let me throw up again…

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