Ghoul Excerpt

Hello out there,

I’ve been pretty busy today messing with my favicon and several other things so I didn’t have a chance to write a blog. I figured today is as good as any for an excerpt!

This ones from the book I’m writing “Ghoul.” I talked a little about the world in this post a few weeks ago. It’s not written in the same style as Adrian but it’s really interesting.

This is the very beginning of the story. Enjoy!

Neil snapped at me, his teeth clenching in front of his decaying tongue. Maggots fell from his neck landing on the floor. Several parts of his body were decomposing. All of our bodies were. We needed to eat.

Neil turned back to the wall and scraped his claws into the hardened dirt. He towered over everyone in our pack. His arms were perfect for digging and his claws easily pulverized the hard dirt into something more easily scoopable.

We’d been digging for food for the last week and hadn’t found anything. I plunged my hands into the midnight black dirt, pulled it back, and packed it into the back of the tunnel.

Lewis blocked my way as I tried to pass him. He was slender with small tufts of hair left on his head. He was our wayfinder and usually was pretty good at finding us food, but I was beginning to doubt his senses.

As I pushed my way past him he shoved me into the tunnel wall. Got in my face, made a series of clicks, and snarled. I cowered away from him, lowered my head, and thrummed. 

He’d won whatever it was he was trying to prove. When he was satisfied with my terror he walked back over to Neil and clawed at the dirt with him. 

I looked at Heather for sympathy, but her gaze was cold. Her decay was even worse than mine. Most of her breasts were gone—eaten by the maggots that plagued us. We could never seem to be rid of them.

We tunneled underground; it was the best way for us to find food without being detected.

Neil suddenly screeched, then Lewis started clicking, and Heather started up after him. It was contagious. I resisted the urge, though, and just thrummed to myself.

Neil, Lewis, and Heather darted forward, leaving me behind. I cautiously crept at first and then used my hands to launch myself to match their pace. 

They had broken into a rather large crypt. I drew in a deep breath through my nose, and the aroma of a freshly dead corpse hit me. It was food. My teeth chattered in anticipation.

Neil, Lewis, and Heather were already hovering over it. They were much faster than I was. I tried to shove my way in to get a bite, but they pushed me back when I got close. I slammed my claws into the ground, stood tall from my normally hunched position, and clicked at Heather. As the dainty one, I regularly got pushed around. Brute force ran our hierarchy.

Lewis swiped at me with a clawed hand and caught me on the shoulder. It sent me flying back, crashing into the crypt’s wall. Lewis was above me in an instant. I cowered, covering my face. The hit I was expecting never came, I cautiously peeked through my arms. He was back over by the corpse, stuffing parts of it into his mouth. He stared at me while chewing, which made my hunger worse.

Using the wall as leverage, I was able to push myself back to my feet. I lowered my body and backed away from them. Lewis’s gaze lingered on me as I went. Once I got far enough away, I resumed my normal hunched-over position and wandered the crypt. It was rather large, but there were no other fresh bodies around.

Closing my eyes, I sniffed at the air, and something faint hit my nose. I sniffed again and finally recognized the aroma. Alive, something around here was alive. Because it was faint, it probably meant that it was a small animal. I clacked my teeth in anticipation.

I followed the scent to a large opening where the crypt widened out into a cave. I crept along, willing myself forward. Open spaces were dangerous. The cave led to a smaller chamber where a large metallic box was hidden under some vines. I pulled it out and sniffed at it; this was definitely where the smell was coming from.

The metal was no match for my claws. It gave way easily, and a cloth-wrapped human body was revealed. I eagerly tore the cloth from it. It looked intact, its skin was somewhere between taut and shriveled. It smelled alive, which confused me.

I ripped off its head and drew my tongue along its gray shriveled cheek. It tasted dead, not regular dead, but undead like us. I snarled a half-bark and kicked the box. The body came flying out and rolled away. Something around the neck of the body fell off. It was a strand of interlinking metal.

The head in my hands vibrated. The dried leather skin reversed its appearance, becoming more and more alive. Hair spurted from the top of the head. I dropped it, startled. It made a thunk as it struck the ground and rolled itself back to the body. It found its way to the neck and stuck itself in place.

My curiosity was piqued, so I crept forward next to it and watched the body plump up. Its skin went from gray to brown to pink. The body turned until it was flat on its back. Its chest began to rise and fall. When it turned and looked at me, I tilted my head.

The human reached for me and showed its teeth.

It muttered something at me, and I was captivated. I cautiously crept over to it and ran my clawed hand over its now pink skin. It twitched at my touch. When I made contact with it, dark energy was revealed around it. It pulsated along its skin. The darkness near my hand spread out as if trying to escape my touch. It made me tilt my head again.

Slowly but deliberately, I nuzzled my head next to its arm and licked it. It was delicious, no longer tasting undead. I thrummed at it.

It showed its teeth again, sat up, and put its hand against my face. I mimicked the thing it was doing with its teeth. It looked confused for a moment, gestured a hand at me, and suddenly, the energy surrounded me again. There was so much of it, it blinded me. I tasted the air, and I could faintly taste the energy. It was also delicious.

Rocks and pebbles on the cave floor from behind me crunched, and I spun around to see what it was. While I couldn’t see her, I could tell it was Heather. The disturbance was too small to be one of the males.

The human’s hand fell, and the dark energy blinding me disappeared. I heard the human stand, but I didn’t dare look back. This human, food, whatever it was— it was mine. It grabbed my arm from behind, and the dark energy returned, blinding me again.

I heard a hissing from where Heather was.

I extended myself up to try and escape the energy. It moved with me, and I still couldn’t see. I felt Heather launch herself forward. It was strange because she was at least twenty feet away, but I felt her movements somehow.

Before she could get to us, the energy rushed from my face to Heather. When it hit her, she instantly stopped. I saw the energy not just surround her but sink into her, leaving her with a dark aura. I shook off the human’s hand and the aura around Heather disappeared. Heather was frozen in place. Her eyes darted around and she looked panicked.

I crept over to her and pushed her a few times. She rocked back and forth as if she were in a daze. I turned to look at the human, and it looked back at me. It motioned for me to come to it, and I did. When it touched me, energy surrounded me, not enough to blind me this time. I quickly glanced at Heather and the dark aura was around her again. I clicked at her.

When I turned back to look at the human, it felt so small. Instincts took over, and I breathed, even though I didn’t need to. I could see a small funnel of the dark energy enter my mouth. It satiated my hunger slightly. Liking what I tasted, I inhaled deeply, sucking the rest of the energy into me. It made me feel… warm. An odd sensation.

I showed my teeth to the human, this time while closing my eyes. When I opened them, the human’s eyes were wide open. It took a step back from me.

I thrummed at it and tilted my head.

Fear emanated from it. Delicious, delicious fear. When it darted toward the opening of the cave, I easily caught up to it and threw it to the ground. I pinned it down, and it threw more energy at me, which I absorbed again.

I’m cutting it off there but as you can see, if you’re into Grimdark stories this is definitely something you might like!

Most of everything I post here is still in the first draft stages. Let me know what you like about it or let me know what you think should be changed.

Thanks for reading!
Katherine