*Warning Violence/Language.*
The Crawl
Sunlight streamed into the opening. The man with the light had just finished his crawl and was sitting by the opening filling out his paperwork. Sunlight glared off the window of his truck, reflecting deep into the darkness under the house. He moved slightly to the right of the access opening and continued writing.
There was a shadowed movement, a rustle then "Meowr?" A kitten poked it's head into the opening. It was young, perhaps only a couple of months old. A striped Tabby with yellow eyes. It's pupils dilated to peer into the darkness under the house, were round.
"Hi kitty!" He cooed softly.
The kitten paused, then poked it's head in further. The man, sitting crossed-legged, reached into his shirt pocket for a small Zip lock bag.
"Come on kitty,' He whispered. 'Here you go-aren't you a cute one?"
His fingers pulled a bit of meat from the bag. Leftover roast beef from lunch and always good to have for just this type of occasion.
"Here you go fellow, come on." Holding out the morsel.
The kittens nose twitched as it smelled the food. It took a step in, then another.
"Come on kitty..."
The kittens nose touched his fingertips. It was dry and he could feel the little hairs and whiskers. The cat took the food and backed off a few steps eating it.
"Mrrrwar?" It mewled again.
"Come on kitty, I have more."
The kitten edged closer, then rubbed it's face on his pants leg. Rubbed in little circles, purring softly.
The man reached out and stroked the kittens head and back, rubbing it under the chin. The kitten purred louder.
The man stroked the kitten under the chin, his other hand stroking and scratching along the kittens back then up to it's ears.
The man's hand wrapped around the kittens neck-tight.
The cat let out a chocking "GRRRK?!?" And it's eyes bulged. It struggled to free itself but it was too small and the man was too big. Muscles bulged in the mans forearms as he squeezed the cat's neck.
The man whipped the cat in a small arc slapping it's body against one of the cinder block columns that supported the floor joist of the house. There was a soft thunk and the sound of something in the cat wrenching-the sound one makes pulling the leg and breast sections apart on a piece of fried chicken.
He dropped the kitten which lay there twitching and clawing at the air robotically.
"Ahhh...poor thing, Can't have THAT now can we?" He reached out and grabbed a loose cinder block from the homes construction and dropped it on the kittens head.
He then made a notation in his notebook. By the date. It was nothing more than a small star but it kept his count up. Like fighter pilots painting shoot-downs on the nose of their planes.
He crawled out of the opening into the hot Florida air. He replaced the cover door and turned towards his truck. The kitten was buried under some dirt and the cinder block. It was unlikely it would ever be found.
"Bugs gotta eat too- Hell, keeps me in bizness!" He laughed to himself.
He opened the truck door. It had a sign on it that said 'Pestinex Pest Control'. He finished his paperwork, pulled a sheet out and walked to the front door.
A tall, middle-aged man answered. "Here you go sir, all set for another year!"
The man looked at the sheet for a moment then sighed, "OK, thanks-can't be having bugs in this place. Especially fleas. My daughter just got a kitten and I don't want fleas."
The pest control inspector smiled, "Nope, no fleas, no bugs and no pests. That's our guarantee."
"Speaking of pests.' Said the homeowner, 'You didn't see a kitten out there did you?"
The pest inspector thought for a second. 'Was it kinda small? Tabby? I saw a kitten over under the trees near the back fence..." He said blandly.
The owner sighed again, "That's it. Got to try and find it before my daughter notices. She has Spina Bifida and is chair bound. Loves that damn cat all to hell."
"Well, good luck and my best!" The pest inspector turned away and headed for his truck. He was in a hurry to get going. End of the day and all. He got half a block from the house before breaking into a roar of laughter. Tears were running down his face and he gasped for breath.
"Good luck finding THAT cat!"
"Spina Bifida and shit. Awwww...poor thing!" He wiped the tears from his face and kept chuckling to himself as he drove.
*****
Two weeks later he was on his way to a call that was a bit further than he wanted to go. "Damn-could they call someone closer>"
His hand rested on his notebook which had been coded to show his kills. Only a couple in two weeks, what a bummer. He had done a young dog at a pastors house. Rich ****er could afford a new one. Then an older cat. The thing was practically a mummy anyway-all old and shit. He swore he saw a puff of dust blow out of it when he dropped his toolbox on it. Didn't even bleed. Flattened out like an old rug. The cats owner was old as crap too. Rheumy eyes and cigarette stained teeth. Screw 'er.
This trip was a special call-out. Two of the other guys at work were sick.
'More likely out partying or banging the neighbor when the wife is gone.' He thought.
They had asked for him when they called. He had never done a crawl this far out. Maybe an old customer or referral. The house was in the middle of nowhere. Winding, humidity-slicked roads and trees, dark and heavy with moss. Real crap-hole place. He figured.
He had stopped at a convenience store when he was close and asked where the road or place was. The old man behind the counter had said he never heard of it. 'Been here for 40 years and aint heard of it!'
'Uh huh,' He thought. 'Running a Stop-N-Rob for 40 years has prolly smoked his brain. Bet he gets into the 'tampered' Ripple too.'
He lost half-an-hour driving in circles and it was getting late. Hour drive home too. "I better find that son a bitch soon or I'm calling it!"
Then he saw the road. How had he missed it? Damn, he had driven up and down the other road six times and never saw it. He had finally pulled over to check the road name one more time and he saw the dark opening between the trees appearing as if by magic. The sign marking it was severely weathered and mostly blocked by tree branches.
The close and hanging trees made him feel like he was driving in a cave. The road was too narrow for another car to pass and too tight to turn around or pull over on. Damn, they better be there. His was angry and frustrated. His air conditioner in the truck has stopped working so he was hot and sweating like a pig as well.
The road ended at an old cast-iron gate. The kind with the ornate spikes and crap. They were closed and they were both rusty and slimy at the same time. He had reddish-black goo coating his hands when he was done pulling them open.
"Mother****er!" He snarled seeing the smears of goo on his shirt, door and seats. The shit didn't really wipe off well either. "****!"
The house was old. And it was big. An old mansion some rich bastard must have built ten-thousand years ago in the swamps of Central Florida. The paint was a faded Grey; maybe white at one time 'Yeah, like when Christ was hanging around.' He thought. Then chuckled. 'Hanging around. Ha! I kill myself!'
The front yard was patchy, sand, weeds, A dried-up water garden with statues-all of them aged and some broken. He could see another, more ornate garden around to one side-what looked like some old Roman bath or something. It too was badly kept and overgrown. The trees in the immediate vicinity of the house were all dead. Tree skeletons, he thought. The big trees-like those along the road, stopped at the boundaries of the yard. The were thick and dank. He could imagine Bigfoot out there looking at him. Watching and waiting.
'Hope it's a female. Imagine doing a chick Bigfoot. Hairy tits and all.' He shuddered.
The whole place was dark and dank with the smell of old wood and damp bricks. Musty.
He walked up to the door. He was ready to go off on these people. Give them some shit and charge them double for this damn trip. He clanked the old brass knocker on the peeling door and waited.
Silence.
'Clank! Clank!', getting pissed. Scowling, Face red.
The door rattled and his jaw set. 'Gonna give these bastards some shit!' he thought.
The door opened and his jaw fell.
The woman standing there was elegant and gracefull. She had a light robe wrapped around her body-it stopped just below the knees but her legs,the part he could see, were outstanding.
She had long, straight hair-it was hard to tell in the dimness but it looked multi-colored. Striped. But not salon striped-natural and not stark and nasty looking.
She had a perfect face. Lines, shape...everything. She also wore a pair of dark glasses; round ones. like John Lennon wore but small-they just covered her eyes but he could see by her brow and the shape of her lashes they were probably beautiful as well.
"Yes?"
"Ummm...Hi ma'am,' He stuttered. Sucking in his belly so not to look as fat. [[ It didn't work.]]
"May I help you?"
"I'm with Pestinex, you called for an inspection?"
"Certainly. Please-pull your truck around to the back. The crawlspace entrance is there. Got plenty of batteries, I hope?" She smiled-perfect teeth. His mind was numb.
"Let me know when you are done, dearest,' She purred 'You can come in and get cleaned up..." She turned to step back and let her gown slip slightly showing more of her leg. Her thigh. It was too dark to see much more than a flash of skin but his mind went into overdrive.
Walking around t the truck 'Man Oh MAN!' He thought. 'I saw her cooter! 'Maybe when I'm done I can get in-wash up and see more, ask her out. Get me some of THAT...'..'
*****
He pulled the wood cover to the crawlspace away. Dank, chilled air rushed out. "Be cooler in there at least..."
He turned on his helmet light and checked his flashlight. Big old houses like this could be a bitch. At least they were built tight-no snakes under there. He hoped.
Seven feet or so in he met his first obstacle. The house, built from the ground up had stone foundations supporting each wall inside the house. That meant a pitch-black maze of dead ends and rooms he had to crawl on his hands and knees. 'Damn!'
Some time in the past someone else had crawled it before. There were places in the walls with rocks knocked out. They were small too. He could get through them but it was going to be tight.
*****
He got to the last of the rooms. near the far corner of the house. He figured at most, there were two room. He felt something crunch and a sharp stick in his palm. It was a cats leg. chewed off at the knee, dry and crusty. 'Bleh!' He muttered and tossed it aside. As he crawled into the next room there was more crunching and snaps-more bones.
"This shit is giving me the heebees."
One last room, he hoped.
He got into the last area. More bones. They were different this time. Larger. 'What the hell?'
He crawled to look and realized his light was yellowing. Dimming.
"Aww SHIT!" He shook the lamp and it brightened then dimmed-quickly fading to a dark yellow blob. He took the hat off and tapped the light. It flared momentarily then started fading. Fast.. He reached into his pocket for his hand held light. It was small but it would get him out of this shit-hole. It flared on and he saw the bones.
Thigh bones-large ones. Femurs. A hand and a face; the empty eye sockets of the human skull stared silently at him. He began to tremble.
A noise. Soft. Swishing. A low hiss and growl.
He pointed his light towards the opening he had crawled through. Eyes-glowing yellow and green. stared balefully at him. Several sets. Cats...
He reached for a weapon-a rock and bone. Anything. The mewling growls got louder as cats began slipping into the room through the opening.
"Get! Shoo!" He yelled, tossing a bone at them.
His penlight began to flicker.
Dimmer. Dimmer.
"GO AWAY! GO AWAY MOTHER****ERS!" He screamed. The light went out.
The last thing he saw was cats creeping up on their prey. Lots of cats.
"Oh! He made it to the back of the house!" Purred the woman as she heard his scream fade to a gurgle then stop.
"Ah, well. Guess we won't get any breeding from THAT one, eh children?"
She left the robe slip off. Her long feline figure bare to the light from the two oil lamps. Her fur-very light, but striped similar to her hair, picked up the colors of the lamps and glowed lightly. Her long tail fell loose and she let it wrap around her leg-she hated stepping on it.
She stretched then ran her hands down her front. Her breasts were heavy and enlarged; full of milk. All six of them. She pinched her lower nipple and felt the warm liquid on her fingers.
"Come on children; time for dessert!"
She lay down on a rug made from some animal skin with thick fur. Bear? Sheep? She didn't remember and it wasn't important.
From the room and hallways she heard the patter of feet. The children's feet. The mewled happily as they came. They crowded around her and lay next to her and scrambled over one another to find a teat. The more human ones helped their younger feline siblings and settled down. The room was full of purring.
A deep purr emanated from the woman as she cleaned one of her children.
Her elliptical pupils were wide-open. It let her see in the dark better.
Author's Notes
I was a pest control inspector in Florida in 1993. I actually found a severed and mummified cats leg underneath and old house.
There is also a house I inspected that was built like a maze with the walls all built om foundations of stone that went to the ground. It was pitcg-black and a maze down there. The entry was in a twox two closet into a twox two chamber then belly crawling into the next larger chamber.
The rest of the story is, well, presumably fiction but who knows.
The Crawl
Sunlight streamed into the opening. The man with the light had just finished his crawl and was sitting by the opening filling out his paperwork. Sunlight glared off the window of his truck, reflecting deep into the darkness under the house. He moved slightly to the right of the access opening and continued writing.
There was a shadowed movement, a rustle then "Meowr?" A kitten poked it's head into the opening. It was young, perhaps only a couple of months old. A striped Tabby with yellow eyes. It's pupils dilated to peer into the darkness under the house, were round.
"Hi kitty!" He cooed softly.
The kitten paused, then poked it's head in further. The man, sitting crossed-legged, reached into his shirt pocket for a small Zip lock bag.
"Come on kitty,' He whispered. 'Here you go-aren't you a cute one?"
His fingers pulled a bit of meat from the bag. Leftover roast beef from lunch and always good to have for just this type of occasion.
"Here you go fellow, come on." Holding out the morsel.
The kittens nose twitched as it smelled the food. It took a step in, then another.
"Come on kitty..."
The kittens nose touched his fingertips. It was dry and he could feel the little hairs and whiskers. The cat took the food and backed off a few steps eating it.
"Mrrrwar?" It mewled again.
"Come on kitty, I have more."
The kitten edged closer, then rubbed it's face on his pants leg. Rubbed in little circles, purring softly.
The man reached out and stroked the kittens head and back, rubbing it under the chin. The kitten purred louder.
The man stroked the kitten under the chin, his other hand stroking and scratching along the kittens back then up to it's ears.
The man's hand wrapped around the kittens neck-tight.
The cat let out a chocking "GRRRK?!?" And it's eyes bulged. It struggled to free itself but it was too small and the man was too big. Muscles bulged in the mans forearms as he squeezed the cat's neck.
The man whipped the cat in a small arc slapping it's body against one of the cinder block columns that supported the floor joist of the house. There was a soft thunk and the sound of something in the cat wrenching-the sound one makes pulling the leg and breast sections apart on a piece of fried chicken.
He dropped the kitten which lay there twitching and clawing at the air robotically.
"Ahhh...poor thing, Can't have THAT now can we?" He reached out and grabbed a loose cinder block from the homes construction and dropped it on the kittens head.
He then made a notation in his notebook. By the date. It was nothing more than a small star but it kept his count up. Like fighter pilots painting shoot-downs on the nose of their planes.
He crawled out of the opening into the hot Florida air. He replaced the cover door and turned towards his truck. The kitten was buried under some dirt and the cinder block. It was unlikely it would ever be found.
"Bugs gotta eat too- Hell, keeps me in bizness!" He laughed to himself.
He opened the truck door. It had a sign on it that said 'Pestinex Pest Control'. He finished his paperwork, pulled a sheet out and walked to the front door.
A tall, middle-aged man answered. "Here you go sir, all set for another year!"
The man looked at the sheet for a moment then sighed, "OK, thanks-can't be having bugs in this place. Especially fleas. My daughter just got a kitten and I don't want fleas."
The pest control inspector smiled, "Nope, no fleas, no bugs and no pests. That's our guarantee."
"Speaking of pests.' Said the homeowner, 'You didn't see a kitten out there did you?"
The pest inspector thought for a second. 'Was it kinda small? Tabby? I saw a kitten over under the trees near the back fence..." He said blandly.
The owner sighed again, "That's it. Got to try and find it before my daughter notices. She has Spina Bifida and is chair bound. Loves that damn cat all to hell."
"Well, good luck and my best!" The pest inspector turned away and headed for his truck. He was in a hurry to get going. End of the day and all. He got half a block from the house before breaking into a roar of laughter. Tears were running down his face and he gasped for breath.
"Good luck finding THAT cat!"
"Spina Bifida and shit. Awwww...poor thing!" He wiped the tears from his face and kept chuckling to himself as he drove.
*****
Two weeks later he was on his way to a call that was a bit further than he wanted to go. "Damn-could they call someone closer>"
His hand rested on his notebook which had been coded to show his kills. Only a couple in two weeks, what a bummer. He had done a young dog at a pastors house. Rich ****er could afford a new one. Then an older cat. The thing was practically a mummy anyway-all old and shit. He swore he saw a puff of dust blow out of it when he dropped his toolbox on it. Didn't even bleed. Flattened out like an old rug. The cats owner was old as crap too. Rheumy eyes and cigarette stained teeth. Screw 'er.
This trip was a special call-out. Two of the other guys at work were sick.
'More likely out partying or banging the neighbor when the wife is gone.' He thought.
They had asked for him when they called. He had never done a crawl this far out. Maybe an old customer or referral. The house was in the middle of nowhere. Winding, humidity-slicked roads and trees, dark and heavy with moss. Real crap-hole place. He figured.
He had stopped at a convenience store when he was close and asked where the road or place was. The old man behind the counter had said he never heard of it. 'Been here for 40 years and aint heard of it!'
'Uh huh,' He thought. 'Running a Stop-N-Rob for 40 years has prolly smoked his brain. Bet he gets into the 'tampered' Ripple too.'
He lost half-an-hour driving in circles and it was getting late. Hour drive home too. "I better find that son a bitch soon or I'm calling it!"
Then he saw the road. How had he missed it? Damn, he had driven up and down the other road six times and never saw it. He had finally pulled over to check the road name one more time and he saw the dark opening between the trees appearing as if by magic. The sign marking it was severely weathered and mostly blocked by tree branches.
The close and hanging trees made him feel like he was driving in a cave. The road was too narrow for another car to pass and too tight to turn around or pull over on. Damn, they better be there. His was angry and frustrated. His air conditioner in the truck has stopped working so he was hot and sweating like a pig as well.
The road ended at an old cast-iron gate. The kind with the ornate spikes and crap. They were closed and they were both rusty and slimy at the same time. He had reddish-black goo coating his hands when he was done pulling them open.
"Mother****er!" He snarled seeing the smears of goo on his shirt, door and seats. The shit didn't really wipe off well either. "****!"
The house was old. And it was big. An old mansion some rich bastard must have built ten-thousand years ago in the swamps of Central Florida. The paint was a faded Grey; maybe white at one time 'Yeah, like when Christ was hanging around.' He thought. Then chuckled. 'Hanging around. Ha! I kill myself!'
The front yard was patchy, sand, weeds, A dried-up water garden with statues-all of them aged and some broken. He could see another, more ornate garden around to one side-what looked like some old Roman bath or something. It too was badly kept and overgrown. The trees in the immediate vicinity of the house were all dead. Tree skeletons, he thought. The big trees-like those along the road, stopped at the boundaries of the yard. The were thick and dank. He could imagine Bigfoot out there looking at him. Watching and waiting.
'Hope it's a female. Imagine doing a chick Bigfoot. Hairy tits and all.' He shuddered.
The whole place was dark and dank with the smell of old wood and damp bricks. Musty.
He walked up to the door. He was ready to go off on these people. Give them some shit and charge them double for this damn trip. He clanked the old brass knocker on the peeling door and waited.
Silence.
'Clank! Clank!', getting pissed. Scowling, Face red.
The door rattled and his jaw set. 'Gonna give these bastards some shit!' he thought.
The door opened and his jaw fell.
The woman standing there was elegant and gracefull. She had a light robe wrapped around her body-it stopped just below the knees but her legs,the part he could see, were outstanding.
She had long, straight hair-it was hard to tell in the dimness but it looked multi-colored. Striped. But not salon striped-natural and not stark and nasty looking.
She had a perfect face. Lines, shape...everything. She also wore a pair of dark glasses; round ones. like John Lennon wore but small-they just covered her eyes but he could see by her brow and the shape of her lashes they were probably beautiful as well.
"Yes?"
"Ummm...Hi ma'am,' He stuttered. Sucking in his belly so not to look as fat. [[ It didn't work.]]
"May I help you?"
"I'm with Pestinex, you called for an inspection?"
"Certainly. Please-pull your truck around to the back. The crawlspace entrance is there. Got plenty of batteries, I hope?" She smiled-perfect teeth. His mind was numb.
"Let me know when you are done, dearest,' She purred 'You can come in and get cleaned up..." She turned to step back and let her gown slip slightly showing more of her leg. Her thigh. It was too dark to see much more than a flash of skin but his mind went into overdrive.
Walking around t the truck 'Man Oh MAN!' He thought. 'I saw her cooter! 'Maybe when I'm done I can get in-wash up and see more, ask her out. Get me some of THAT...'..'
*****
He pulled the wood cover to the crawlspace away. Dank, chilled air rushed out. "Be cooler in there at least..."
He turned on his helmet light and checked his flashlight. Big old houses like this could be a bitch. At least they were built tight-no snakes under there. He hoped.
Seven feet or so in he met his first obstacle. The house, built from the ground up had stone foundations supporting each wall inside the house. That meant a pitch-black maze of dead ends and rooms he had to crawl on his hands and knees. 'Damn!'
Some time in the past someone else had crawled it before. There were places in the walls with rocks knocked out. They were small too. He could get through them but it was going to be tight.
*****
He got to the last of the rooms. near the far corner of the house. He figured at most, there were two room. He felt something crunch and a sharp stick in his palm. It was a cats leg. chewed off at the knee, dry and crusty. 'Bleh!' He muttered and tossed it aside. As he crawled into the next room there was more crunching and snaps-more bones.
"This shit is giving me the heebees."
One last room, he hoped.
He got into the last area. More bones. They were different this time. Larger. 'What the hell?'
He crawled to look and realized his light was yellowing. Dimming.
"Aww SHIT!" He shook the lamp and it brightened then dimmed-quickly fading to a dark yellow blob. He took the hat off and tapped the light. It flared momentarily then started fading. Fast.. He reached into his pocket for his hand held light. It was small but it would get him out of this shit-hole. It flared on and he saw the bones.
Thigh bones-large ones. Femurs. A hand and a face; the empty eye sockets of the human skull stared silently at him. He began to tremble.
A noise. Soft. Swishing. A low hiss and growl.
He pointed his light towards the opening he had crawled through. Eyes-glowing yellow and green. stared balefully at him. Several sets. Cats...
He reached for a weapon-a rock and bone. Anything. The mewling growls got louder as cats began slipping into the room through the opening.
"Get! Shoo!" He yelled, tossing a bone at them.
His penlight began to flicker.
Dimmer. Dimmer.
"GO AWAY! GO AWAY MOTHER****ERS!" He screamed. The light went out.
The last thing he saw was cats creeping up on their prey. Lots of cats.
"Oh! He made it to the back of the house!" Purred the woman as she heard his scream fade to a gurgle then stop.
"Ah, well. Guess we won't get any breeding from THAT one, eh children?"
She left the robe slip off. Her long feline figure bare to the light from the two oil lamps. Her fur-very light, but striped similar to her hair, picked up the colors of the lamps and glowed lightly. Her long tail fell loose and she let it wrap around her leg-she hated stepping on it.
She stretched then ran her hands down her front. Her breasts were heavy and enlarged; full of milk. All six of them. She pinched her lower nipple and felt the warm liquid on her fingers.
"Come on children; time for dessert!"
She lay down on a rug made from some animal skin with thick fur. Bear? Sheep? She didn't remember and it wasn't important.
From the room and hallways she heard the patter of feet. The children's feet. The mewled happily as they came. They crowded around her and lay next to her and scrambled over one another to find a teat. The more human ones helped their younger feline siblings and settled down. The room was full of purring.
A deep purr emanated from the woman as she cleaned one of her children.
Her elliptical pupils were wide-open. It let her see in the dark better.
Author's Notes
I was a pest control inspector in Florida in 1993. I actually found a severed and mummified cats leg underneath and old house.
There is also a house I inspected that was built like a maze with the walls all built om foundations of stone that went to the ground. It was pitcg-black and a maze down there. The entry was in a twox two closet into a twox two chamber then belly crawling into the next larger chamber.
The rest of the story is, well, presumably fiction but who knows.
