Disintegration

stood up and paused momentarily to steady himself as it threatened to slip and squirm off the nails which had pierced its skin and become wedged between the bones of its neck and shoulder. Webb yanked the cadaver a little higher until its swaying feet were hanging above the heads of the other corpses, then flipped it over and threw it down onto the other side of the truck. It landed unceremoniously in the road close to where Sean was standing and immediately began to drag itself up onto its feet. He backed away nervously.
    “Don’t be so fucking useless,” Webb said as he jumped back down and speared the back of the creature again. “There’s nothing to worry about. One of them on its own won’t hurt you.”
    Sean took a single tentative step toward the hideous remains of the man which writhed angrily on the end of Webb’s bat. He was transfixed by its grotesque appearance. Could this thing have ever been human? The discolored skin on its face was ripped, blistered, and pockmarked. Blood, pus, and all manner of other seepages had matted the patchy beard which covered its chin and the curled, dark hair drooping over its forehead. Its mouth hung open, its jaw moving up and down constantly, giving the impression that the damn thing was chewing or mumbling or both. As he neared the corpse it lifted its arms and began to lash them through the air, trying to reach out for him but held in check by Webb.
    “Are you sure about this?” Sean asked, starting to move back again.
    “Completely,” Webb replied. He twisted the bat around, wrenching it free from the creature’s sinewy flesh. Suddenly finding itself able to move without restriction again, the body lunged forward with surprising speed, almost immediately colliding with Sean, who was desperately slow to react. As the obnoxious creature crashed into him he lifted his arms and shoved it away, feeling his gloved hands sink into its rotten flesh. Unbalanced, it tripped over its own clumsy feet and fell to the ground again, twisting around mid-fall and slamming face-first into the tarmac. Sean felt an unexpected rush of power, immediately silencing his earlier nerves.
    “Fuck…” he mumbled as the grotesque figure began to pick itself up again.
    “See?” Webb said. “Just like I told you. They’re useless. Nothing to worry about.”
    The cadaver stood upright. Its movements were unsteady and it tipped awkwardly to the right, allowing the remains of its bowels to slip through a gaping hole in its abdomen and land on the tarmac with a nauseating splatter and splash. Sean put his hand over his mouth and gagged. He closed his eyes and desperately tried not to vomit.
    “Can’t do this,” he said, his mouth watering, about to throw up.
    “Yes, you can,” Webb immediately told him. “Thing is, mate, you ain’t got any choice.”
    “What?” he mumbled uselessly, still looking at the glistening puddle of decayed guts in the middle of the road. Webb didn’t say anything else, he just threw his bloodied baseball bat along the ground toward the other man, then ran over to the far side of the junction, putting maximum distance between himself and the advancing corpse.
    “Next time you face one of these,” he shouted to Sean, “you might be on your own. You might not have anyone else to bail you out. You might have to get rid of it before it gets rid of you.”
    “But I … I don’t know what to do,” he stammered. “I don’t know if I can—”
    “You just hit it,” Webb yelled, getting annoyed. “Just hit the fucking thing as hard as you can and if it gets up you hit it again. Keep hitting it till it stops moving.”
    The body slipped in its own entrails and stumbled. Sean jumped back but then stopped, Webb’s words ringing in his head. What if he was right? What if he did find himself face-to-face with one of these things out in the open? Digging deep, he swallowed hard, then ran forward and shoved the cadaver away. It managed to keep its balance—just—then began moving back toward him. His confidence increasing, he shoved it back once more. Then again. Then again. The foul-smelling, maggot-ridden, rapidly decomposing aberration in front of him wouldn’t give up. Each time he touched it, the physical gulf between him and the corpse became more apparent.
    “That’s it,” Webb shouted in encouragement. “Keep going!”
    Another brutal shove sent the corpse slamming back into the side of one of the trucks which blocked the junction exits.