The Beauty of Death Vol.1

Carly Is Dead

CARLY IS DEAD

by Shane McKenzieCarly was dead. She knew this. It bothered her at first—more of an inconvenience than anything—but the longer her body lay in the woods among the trees, the more she got used to the idea. At least she had a friend now. When she was alive, it was just her, Darnell, and the johns, and they didn’t qualify as friends. As soon as their load was dripping down her face, they were gone like the wind. Her new friend wouldn’t leave. When Francis and her family first started arriving, Carly didn’t want them there, was scared of them. But now, she didn’t know where she’d be without their company. It got lonely in the woods.

“How much longer until they hatch?” Carly asked Francis.

The bloated fly had become one of her closest friends since her arrival in the woods, and though there were lots and lots of other flies, none of them were as close to Carly’s heart as Francis.

“Any day now, I’m thinkin’. At least you’ll get to see ’em when they come,” Francis said as she suckled moisture from Carly’s forehead.

Carly had asked Francis to lay the eggs in the tear ducts of her eyes so she wouldn’t miss a second of their hatching. When you’re lying in the dirt for God knows how many days, you’d be happy for any form of entertainment. Carly was so excited for the arrival of the babies, she almost felt as if she were their mother.

“God, it feels like it’s taking forever,” Carly said.

“It’s not like we got anything else to do,” Francis buzzed.

Carly didn’t remember much about how she got into the woods. Her memory faded as the days went by and her body softened in the dirt and dew. At first, she’d almost felt alive, like she could stand up, brush herself off, and walk back home. Nowadays, she felt dead. She felt dead as hell. She knew trying to move or speak was no good, but Francis seemed to be able to communicate with her, and that was about all she could hope for these days. At first, she’d hoped someone would stumble by her body and get her out of there, but now, the woods were her home. She didn’t want to leave any more than she had wanted to die in the first place.

“I’ll be back, Carly. I smell some fresh backdoor brownies somewhere, and me and the others are gonna go find it. You be okay by yourself for a while?”

“I’ll be fine. Go have fun with your friends.”

“Thanks, hon. You’re a doll.” And Francis buzzed away with the others.

Carly stared at the eggs in the corner of her eye and smiled. Her face didn’t actually move, but she smiled nonetheless.

“’Bout time they left,” came a tiny voice to her right.

“I thought we’d never get a chance,” came another similar voice.

“Who’s there?” Carly said. She wasn’t afraid for herself, but she’d guard the eggs with her life. Or with her death, or whatever was left to guard them with.

“We’re just here for our share is all. Don’t mind us.”

A marching line of ants paraded past Carly’s vision and turned to face her. The ant that had been leading the line crawled closer to her face and spoke.

“We don’t want no trouble from you or the flies, miss. We have orders to take what we can back home to feed our queen and her young. Don’t mean to inconvenience you, ma’am.”

Carly was taken aback by the ant’s manners and smiled as she spoke.

“Of course I don’t mind. I’m not sure what’s left, but you’re welcome to anything you find useful.”

“That’s mighty kind of you, ma’am. We won’t be long, I promise.” The ant paused and took a long look at her eye. “What’s that you got there?”

“Those are my friend’s eggs. They’re due to hatch any day now. I’m so excited, I could piss myself, if that part of me still worked.”

The ant laughed. “You sure got a good sense of humor for rotting meat, you know that? Usually, we’d take those eggs for our queen, but I’m gonna forget about it just this once on account of your kindness, ma’am.”

“Well thank you, sir. I’d be devastated if anything happened to these little darlings. And Francis may never speak to me again.”

The ant nodded and bowed, then barked orders to the awaiting workers. They’d assumed positions all over Carly’s body, and on the leader’s command, they dug their pincers into the soft, putrid flesh and scooped out a helping. Carly was impressed by how much each little ant could carry. As they piled the meat onto their backs, they began marching down Carly’s stomach and side and back to the forest dirt where they trudged away and out of Carly’s sight. Time didn’t mean anything anymore, but the little ants worked relentlessly and were gone before she knew it. The leader stepped back toward her face and gave another bow.

“We thank you for your kindness, ma’am. I’m not certain this is the last time you’ll see us, but I think we got enough to last a good while. Good day to you.”

And with that, he dug his pincers into her chest, heaved the load onto his back, and followed his troops toward wherever their lair was hidden. Carly hoped the meat was good and made their young strong and healthy.

She thought the eggs twitched slightly, and a wave of excitement rushed over her like so much c*m when she was alive. She didn’t understand it; she could no longer remember her childhood or her family, but she remembered the johns. Not all of them, but a good amount of them. It was one of those bastards that had finally gotten the better of her and dumped her there in the woods. She wondered if Darnell was even looking for her. Probably not. That motherfucker had never shown compassion for her or any of the other girls. He collected his money and showed them the back of his hand if it wasn’t enough. But Carly had been his best earner.

He’s gotta be looking for me…somewhere.

Carly concentrated on the eggs, but it was a false alarm. Must’ve been the wind. She longed for Francis to return so they could chat about the babies, but she didn’t want to hold her friend back either. The other flies might shun her if she spent all her time conversing with dead bodies.

“Oh my, and what is this?”

Another unrecognizable voice.

“I’m Carly. Who are you?”

The worm accordioned its segmented body out of the dirt and onto Carly’s belly. She saw more and more of them pushing through the ground.

“Names are not important. I’m simply here to indulge,” the worm said as he suctioned his face to her chest and sucked on the festering meat. “I didn’t invite the others, I promise you that. But when it rains, it pours, you know what I mean?”

“I don’t mind, really I don’t. I would appreciate some conversation, though, since it’s so damn boring here alone.”

The worm pulsated as the meat worked its way down the tubular body. A tiny belch erupted, then the worm said, “I’m not really one for conversation, to be honest. I’d like to eat my lunch then be on my way, if you don’t mind.”

“Not to be rude, but it’s my body you’re eating. I’d think you’d at least have the decency to speak with me while you consume me,” Carly said. She couldn’t believe the audacity of this worm, coming out of the ground uninvited and gulping down her flesh without so much as a “how are you doing?”

“I’ll tell you what, lady. If you can stop me, by all means, do it. If not, shut the f**k up and let me eat in peace.”

The other worms laughed at this. Carly grew hot with rage.

The worms tunneled into her and filled themselves fat without even thanking her. The worm she’d spoken to ate bits of her face and mocked her all the while. It made its way to her eye and stopped.

“Lookie here. You boys hungry for an omelet?”

“You stay away from those! You have no right, goddammit!”

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up? You’re the most annoying pile of meat I’ve ever sucked on, you know that?” The worm called over his buddies to see the nest in her eye.

Carly had sucked on plenty of annoying piles of meat in her day, and as she lay there thinking about it, images of her death suddenly flashed through her mind.

It had been a regular working day, just like any other. John after john after john. She was the best, after all, and word had gotten around quick on the street.

A wood-paneled station wagon had pulled up, and a middle-aged, shriveled-d**k-looking man had stared out at her from the driver’s seat, his hand stroking his crotch over his brown corduroy pants. He’d smiled up at Carly and licked the front of his teeth.

“Hey, honey. Wanna go somewhere?” she’d asked.

The little creepy fucker had only nodded his balding head and stroked his s**t harder while Carly sighed and entered the car.

After that, it was all a blur of a pistol pointed at her face, a rope around her neck, and a d**k up her backside. The little s**t had to have been one-third d**k, because Carly remembered how much it had hurt while he pounded away back there. Then everything had gone dark, and the next thing she knew, she was lying on her back in the forest.

Carly was ready to let loose another outburst to let the worms know her displeasure when she heard a rustling from above.

“Aw, s**t,” the worm said as its brethren scurried away from her body and back into the earth. “I’ll be back, lady. I promise you that.” And with that, the dastardly worm vanished from her sight.

“Stupid, slimy little buggers.”

“Yeah, like we want those things in our mouths, right, Percy?”

The vultures swooped down from their perch above Carly and waddled toward her face. Carly didn’t know how to feel about the bald faces staring at her.

“I’m Carly. Thank you for scaring the worms away. They weren’t friendly in the least.”

“Hey, Percy. The meat just talked,” one bird said.

“Just ignore it. I’m starving.”

The birds dug their heads into Carly’s bloated stomach and gorged themselves on the soupy center. Though she didn’t appreciate their rudeness, Carly figured she was better off with them than the worms. The birds wouldn’t be interested in the eggs, and Carly would let them get their fill as long as the babies were safe, though she still ached for someone to talk to.

“You don’t have to be so rude, you know. Is it so much to ask for a little conversation while you’re devouring my body?”

“Percy, it won’t stop talking. What should we do?”

“I told you to ignore it. Don’t encourage it.”

The curious vulture continued its meal, but kept glancing at Carly as if embarrassed. She watched them take beakfuls of meat into their mouths and gulp as it slid down their throat. Dark juice dripped from their fleshy heads.

“Just help yourselves, then. Don’t let me ruin your meal, by all means.”

The vulture c****d its head to the side and stared at her.

“I can’t do it, Percy. It’s creeping me out. Can’t we find something else to eat?”

“Goddammit, man. We find a perfectly good pile of meat here, and you wanna let someone else get to it just because it said a few words at you? I swear to f*****g God!”

And with that, the birds left Carly to her thoughts. They’d left her body in ruins with the ropy intestines hanging out like bloated, dead snakes. She watched them fly away and turn to black specks in the sky, until finally flying out of her line of vision.

Carly missed Francis. She wanted her friend back, wanted someone she could talk to. The ants hadn’t been too bad, but they’d been too busy to have much of a conversation. She just hoped the bastard worms didn’t show back up now that the birds had left.

There was more rustling in the bushes to her left.

What now?

Whatever it was, it was much bigger than anything she’d seen so far in the woods. It moved quickly toward her and Carly wanted to scream.

“Holy s**t. Is that what I think it is?”

“Hello? Who’s there?” Carly shouted.

“Dude, get over here. It f*****g stinks!”

“Can you hear me? Please talk to me!”

“Looks like some animals been pickin’ at her for a while. Jesus Christ. Let’s call someone. I don’t wanna be anywhere near that thing.”

“Please don’t ignore me!”

“Hold on, man. I ain’t never seen a dead body before.”

A teenage boy’s face was suddenly hovering over Carly’s head. The boy stared down at her with a sneer that pulled his face to the side. He inspected her body with his swimming-pool blue eyes.

“Holy s**t, man. Whoever this lady was, she had some set of tits.”

“You sick little bastard,” Carly gasped.

“Dude, what the f**k is wrong with you? She’s f*****g dead, dumbshit.”

“I know that, I’m just sayin’.”

He reached over and grabbed something, then Carly saw the stick in his hand as he prodded at her face. The wood punctured her cheek and collided with her teeth.

“Oh, f**k. Her skin is like pudding, dude. Check this out.”

He proceeded to poke more holes into her body at the disgust of the other boy. Carly couldn’t see him, but heard his sighs of protest.

“You stay here and do what you want. I’m callin’ the cops.”

Retreating footsteps and leaves crunching. The boy with the stick stared at her body for another minute before following his friend out of the woods.

They’re gonna call the cops. They’ll come and take me away.

Carly didn’t know how to feel about any of it. Part of her was glad to be rescued from the various critters that now saw her as a free meal, but a larger part of her would miss Francis terribly. And she wouldn’t get to see the babies grow, which was something she very much looked forward to. Why did those little shits have to stumble on her now? A few days ago—if it had even been that long—Carly would have welcomed it, but now she was growing accustomed to her new surroundings.

She thought she saw the eggs twitch again, and a surge of anticipation swept over her. Was it her imagination again? No! They twitched again and again.

“Oh my God, it’s time! Francis! Francis, hurry!”

Carly stared intently at the eggs as the tiny babies within bulged and broke free. They writhed just over her eye and began feeding on the tissue. Carly was so happy to be able to provide for them. She filled with pride as she watched.

Then buzzing filled the air and Carly shouted, “Francis! Is that you? Hurry, hurry!”

Francis circled over Carly’s face and giggled with glee. She landed on the tip of Carly’s gray nose and watched as her babies stuffed themselves with carrion.

“Oh, Francis, they’re beautiful.”

Carly wanted to cry, but she was scared of washing the little darlings away. That and her ducts had dried up long ago. But she didn’t think about her death anymore. She only cared about the writhing, roiling life feeding on her eyeball.

“Thank you so much, Carly. It wouldn’t be the same without you,” Francis said.

“You’re my only friend in the whole wide world, Francis.”

Francis gasped and buzzed away. Carly knew danger was approaching, and heard voices and rustling bushes somewhere behind her.

“Francis, what is it? Where are you?”

Francis didn’t answer and the voices grew closer and closer. She recognized the sound of the teenagers.

“It’s just over here somewhere.”

“Yeah, and it looks like it’s been there for a while.”

The boys hovered over her head again, staring down and covering their noses. They had brought the police, just as they said they would. Carly hated them for it. Why couldn’t they just leave her in peace where she could live a happy life (or death) with the new babies? Why did they have to show up now?

“Holy Jesus. She’s a ripe one,” the officer said.

“Oh, nasty! She’s got f*****g maggots in her eye!”

“Probably lots of things been eatin’ on her for some time now. Let’s get you boys back to the car and I’ll call this in. You did good, boys.”

“No they didn’t, the little bastards. Leave me alone!”

The officer didn’t hear her. He walked off, leading the boys away, then turned back and knelt above Carly’s face.

“Here, you poor thing. Just terrible.” The officer pulled a latex glove over his hand and swept the babies away. Carly heard them shriek and squeal as they flew through the air.

“Oh, Francis, I’m so sorry.”

Carly tried to cry, but couldn’t. Even as the rest of the people showed up and wrapped her in a dark bag, she couldn’t make the tears come.

She would never forget Francis or the children.

She would miss the woods.