Diary of a Maggot Read Free

whistle quavers on the verge of hysteria . He's coming back to kill us. What do we do now?
    I think harder than I've ever thought in my life. Dig deeper than I've ever had need to dig. I reach for any idea that might keep us alive.
    I close my eyes and think of soaring. Wonder if I'll ever fulfill that glorious dream and take to the air. If only I could do that now, I would fly away from here and never come back.
    Imagine the Beast's surprise to see me swoop past and disappear into the night sky. Imagine the shock of realizing that one he thought dead had sprung back to life.
    That's it.
    With newfound purpose, I dart from the crack in the post and scoot over the plain. The tiniest maggot protests as she trails after me, squeaking in my wake. She doesn't want to abandon our shelter.
    I don't stop to explain. She'll understand soon enough.
    Singing out as loud as I can, I call for any surviving brothers and sisters. I cry out across the field of devastation, trying to ignore the hundreds of maggot corpses scattered around me.
    At first, I think there are no survivors. I sing, I wail, I whistle...and still, there is nothing.
    Then, finally, an answer. The chirp of a single blessed maggot, trilling over the wasteland. Then another, then another.
    I count ten. Ten left out of hundreds.
    But ten's better than none. Enough, maybe, to do what must be done.
    I call the survivors together and tell them to meet me. We head for the rendezvous from all directions, trailing through the now-tepid water that pools on the plain.
    When we reach the rendezvous point, I tell the others to follow me. Then, I slither up from the plain onto the pile of flesh on which we once fed...t he mound of rotting meat that hit the ground when the bag fell apart.
    I lead the others over the rugged fleshscape, pitted by the gnawing s of our once- great family. We squirm between knobs of bone and cartilage, climbing ever further toward the goal I have in mind.
    We surge up over a final slope , and there it is. One eye, closed forever in final repose.
    Or not.
    I sing out orders to my troops, and we bend to our task. Six of us crawl up to the eyelid of that one eye. The other six hurry over a sharp ridge to the other eye.
    I whistle a signal, and we get to work. Six of us squirm up under the lid of each eye.
    Just as we get in position, the thunderous booming approaches overhead. Gets closer and closer, until it's almost as loud as the pounding of my heart.
    Then, the Beast clomps down the staggered hillside again. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. Across the great gray plain. Coming closer, ever
    BOOM BOOM BOOM.
    c loser.
    And then he stops. I hear his boots scuff the plain beside the pile of meat where we're waiting.
    He shakes something, and it clatters like rattling bones. "Come out, come out, maggots! Time for a bug spray party!" There's a hissing sound, and more clattering. " Time for you to die! Then I can get back to getting this body out of my basement. "
    The tiniest maggot twitches beside me under the eyelid . I press against her, holding her still. Waiting for just the right moment.
    "I know there 're more of you down here." The Beast clomps away from us. I hear more clattering and hissing. "I'm gonna kill every last one of you."
    There's more clattering, far away this time. More hissing, too.
    My five brothers and sisters and I huddle close together under the eyelid. Our survival is uncertain. Sooner or later, he'll come back around...and the future's murky after that. It's hard to imagine that such tiny creatures as we could somehow vanquish someone so enormous. So relentless.
    Sure enough, after a few minutes, the Beast works his way back to us. The clattering and hissing that come with him grow louder .
    Almost time now, I think. I nudge the rigid form of the tiniest maggot beside me, priming her for action. She grunts, then chirp-whistles a little tune of eager readiness.
    BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. He's almost upon us. I tense, preparing to move.
    "This cellar