The Worm turns its ugly face towards the sun and grimaces with a distain unlike any it has felt before, then turns to the others and allows a stuttered breath to leave its lips. “We are going to bake in this weather if we don’t find some avenue of shelter, and if we bake, everyone else bakes as well.”
“Then what can we do, sitting ducks is what we are! SITTING DUCKS!” Ulander spits with fiery passion.
“The general and his minions five have us at his mercy. We can’t go back, for the river has risen, we can’t go down, because a sea of lava runs beneath us. Left and right are not options, for they bode the same fate that we face right now, just less barricades to protect us. So, we must go forward! We must take the fight to the devil in the red dress, and we must WIN!” he salivates with excited gusto.
“We can’t win, not against them, not like this!”
“Then LIKE what? TELL ME AND I WILL ACCOMMODATE! TELL ME WHAT WE NEED TO DO, TO KILL THAT PIECE OF SHIT! TELL ME AND I WILL FOLLOW!”
Ulander stares quietly at him, blinking softly while the others nervously watch on in silence.
“Stand up,” she says. “Stand up and let him shoot you down.”
A sea of sweat breaks out across The Worm’s brow, and his lips tremble. “W-W-W-What?”
She smiles wryly, “I said stand up, and show us that you are not leading us to our death. Stand up and prove the demonic one does not have you in his pocket.”
“I-I-I,” he stammers, as his eyes look over to the others. “I-I-I, I d-don’t need t-t-to prove anything to you.”
She raises her pistol. “LIAR! YOU NEED PROVE EVERYTHING! NOW STAND! STAND AND SHOW US YOU ARE NOT HIS MINION SIX!” she bellows, the others quickly follow suit, raising their assortment of foolhardy weapons towards him.
“N-N-NOW WAIT!” he cries out, as he raises his hands in the air, quickly surveying the area, before bringing his gaze back upon Ulander. “W-W-What makes y-y-you s-s-so sure I am l-leading us into a t-trap? W-W-Why couldn’t it b-be you who is w-w-working for the devil? W-Why can’t this b-b-be a ploy t-to trap us all?”
Her eyes widen, as her brow furrows. “B-Because I am n-not! Y-You are the traitor!”
“PROVE IT!” he spits quickly. “PROVE IT AND STAND UP, PROVE IT AN SHOW US ALL THAT YOU ARE NOT IN LEAUGE WITH THE DEVIL!”
“W-What?”
“E-EXACTLY!” he quips. “Q-Quick to lay j-judgment, but slow t-to act when the shoe c-changes feet.”
“I-I-I,” she stammers as the others slowly turn their weapons towards her. “I-I-I, I… THIS IS PROPOSTUROUS!” she bellows. “T-T-THIS WAS MY IDEA, N-NOT HIS! C-C-CAN’T YOU SEE W-WHAT H-HE’S DOING? H-HE’S TRICKING YOU ALL INTO B-BELIVEING I’M T-THE MOLE I ACUSUSED HIM OF BEING, J-JUST SO HE CAN TRICK US AGAIN!” she roars, as the others quickly move their aim back towards The Worm.
“REALLY!” he spits, as he throws his arms in the air. “SHE SAYS A FEW WORDS AND YOU ALL FOLLOW THEM AS IF THEY WERE GOSPEL! ARE YOU ALL TRUELY THAT GULLALABLE?”

***

Follow the below link to purchase A Twistedly Jolly Christmas 2022 and read all 31 five minute short stories.

Before you lies a piece of a puzzle far grander than you could ever know or imagine. For scrawled in blood upon the pages hidden within the above tome is stories twisted thirty-one in all, soaked in the embers of my insanity. Five minutes to glimpse inside the eyes of someone new, five minutes to answer, five minutes to sin, five minutes to do almost anything. A god, a demon, a harlot, a whore. A fascist, a killer, a sinner, a door. Death and division, humanity askew. A belfry of bats, a sea of black cats, so many moments out there to see, so many things you could see with me. So take a seat beside me and call it voodoo, because now you ride with me too…

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