By the time the snails were up to his shoulders, he’d lost all feeling in his arms. He screamed as he fell into the sea of purple beneath him.

“Help me! AAAHHH! SOMEBODY HELP MEEEE!!!” He was screaming hysterically now as they moved up his neck and over his face. He was still screaming as they found his way into his mouth. He spit them out and continued to scream until he couldn’t feel his tongue…or the inside of his mouth. He screamed, his mouth loose and open from the numbness. He kept screaming as they filled his mouth and moved down his throat.

The last thing he heard as he tried to force air out of his lungs was the sound of sizzling. It wasn’t until he couldn’t scream anymore that he came to the realization that he was being dissolved from the inside out…

***

Jeb hung up the phone and sighed heavily. The deed was done and they’d skated through another year. There was only one thing left to do.

“Is it done?” Betty Benton said from the back.

“Yes. It’s all set.”

“Good.” She came hobbling out, the hump on her back making her move slowly through the trailer. She was dressed in her nightgown and a robe, ready for a long well-deserved sleep.

“What did you tell them?” she asked Jeb.

“Told them he never showed up and that we were very disappointed with their service. They won’t bother us.”

“Good,” she took a deep breath. “Let’s get this over with, then. I’m exhausted.”

Jeb helped his wife out of the RV and into the night. As the made their way up the walk, she started to shiver under the night air.

“We’d better hurry. I don’t want them to freeze.”

“They’ll be fine,” Jeb reassured her.

In the house, Betty stopped as she entered the living room, the remnants of the snails splattered all over the floor in dried purple puddles. “Oh…my…”

“Don’t fret,” her husband said patting her hand softly. “It was a necessary sacrifice. We never would have gotten him in here if the babies weren’t first.”

She nodded in understanding and they kept moving towards the basement.

As they walked down the basement steps, the snails moved out of the way to allow them passage. Jeb held her hand as they descended down into the cellar. “Watch your step. It’s still a little slippery.”

When they got to the foot of the stairs, the husk that was once Todd’s body was lying face up, its face turned to the sky. His skin had taken on a petrified appearance. His eyes were gone, leaving nothing but holes to stare blindly into oblivion. His mouth was stuck open in a silent scream, yet there was nothing left inside.

Jeb took out his hunting knife and cut open the overalls still covering his husk. Then sliced open his chest. Todd’s skin crunched under the blade as a slow hiss of air escaped his insides.

“Okay, Betty,” he said, waving his wife over. “Come on.”

She hobbled over and knelt down next to Todd with her back to him. She unbuttoned her nightgown revealing her hump. It pulsed slowly, purple-tinged life moving under her skin.

She took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Jeb sliced open her hump and instantly hundreds of eggs slid out and into the hole Jeb had cut into Todd’s body husk. When her hump was empty, Betty Benton slid her nightgown back up over her shoulders and stood up straight, her mobility restored.

“Oh,” she said, stretching out. “That’s so much better.”

Jeb wiped his knife off on his jeans. “Thank goodness, it’s over…at least for another year.”

“Yes. I’m going to bandage up my back and get some sleep,” she moved towards the stairs. “Make sure to turn the heat up tonight. I don’t want our babies to freeze.”

“Of course, dear.” Without another word, they left the basement and went to bed.