Bogleech.com's 2013 Horror Write-off:

"Crows"

Submitted by The Awesome Flee

I’ve had a crow infestation for a while now. I don’t know where they are, but every night they start cawing like maniacs, it’s unbearable.

I tried calling an exterminator, he said he’d be over in an hour, it’s been 10; I don’t think he’s coming.

I’ve been hearing a lot more of the cawing now, it’s been going 24-7, and it’s strange, the cawing seems to be coming from below me.

I think they’re in the basement, I’m hearing the cawing coming from below the floorboards, and occasionally I feel one throw itself on them.

I’m reluctant to go down there, the floorboards now feel like they’re bulging with crows, I don’t want to go down there.

The crows are now coming up from the basement, they’re stealing my food. I’ve set up traps, they haven’t worked.

I tried calling the exterminator again, this time nobody answered. Just cawing, I should have expected that.

I went out today. I wanted some peace from the god damn cawing. No such luck, a hoard of crows followed me everywhere I went, constantly cawing at me.

I finally built up the courage to go down into the basement today, nothing. Not a single crow. It’s very unusual though, there are tunnels everywhere.

Oh my god. I went out today, everyone disappeared. Not a single human being, just tunnels, tunnels everywhere.

It’s been days now since I last saw another human. I think I’m going insane, the cawing is constantly repeating inside my head. I’m beginning to think the crows are doing this to me on purpose. Maybe all the people disappearing has something to do with the crows.
           
I’m starting to get used to this, nothing but tunnels. The cawing has stopped. I haven’t heard a single caw. Finally, some peace.
         
  The people reappeared today. I asked one where they all went, nothing. Funny, I almost thought I heard some of them cawing.
         
  Now I really think I’m going mad. Everyone has started cawing, I can’t take it. It’s so fucking loud, GOD MAKE IT STOP!!!
         
  I tried to talk with another human, he cawed in my face, and then, oh my god, he spat a crow at me. It tried to go down my throat, I swatted it away, and it died. I’ve never seen an animal so sensitive, I wonder if these are normal crows at all.
         
  I’ve been keeping my distance from everyone since what happened the other day, I look outside, they’re everywhere. People wandering around like zombies. A simple noise will send them in a frenzy.
        
   I killed a man today, though I don’t know if it would be considered killing. He came into my house and starting spitting crows all over the place, every single one trying to go down my throat. This time though, they varied in size, some were the size of a regular crow, and some were the size of an ant. One succeeded in climbing down my throat. I can still it burrowing inside of me. I grabbed a poker from beside the fireplace and I rammed it into the “man’s” stomach. What I found has been burned to the back of my skull still today. Out of his stomach came hundreds of crows, each one trying to burrow down my throat. I hid from them under my bed for about an hour, and then peeked out to see if they were all gone. They were indeed. I went to examine the body, he was just a husk. No organs, no bones, no anything. It’s as if the crows were controlling him, like a puppet.
         
  I decided to do some investigating today. I started digging down one of the tunnels, to find the source. I dug all day. I still couldn’t find the source. I can feel the crow inside of me, crawling around, digging just as I am, its cawing vibrating my insides.

Another day of digging, I’ve been digging for about a month now, I think I’m getting close. Close to the center. I’m running out of food, I need to hurry. The crow inside of me surprisingly still hasn’t killed me, as if it’s purposely keeping me alive.

I finally ran out of food today. I’ve been living off of the husk of the man for a while now. He’s now completely gone. I’ve been reluctant to go outside, I fear the crows.

I went outside today, it was worse than I thought. Hordes of crows of various sizes, from the size of a car to the size of an insect. Some even distorted. There was something like a “crow centipede” crawling up my leg; I squashed it beneath my foot. What the hell is happening around here? I was attacked by the “crow zombies” this time you could actually see the crows bulging against their skin. I’m very afraid. I quickly ran to get some food and then zoomed back to my house. I don’t want to go back out there. The cawing is worse than ever before, it’s distorted. It’s almost as if it’s calling my name.

A ghastly thought crossed my mind while digging today. “If these crows have deformed to such a point where they can grow to such unnatural sizes, What if there’s crows too small to see? Kind of like a crow virus.” How many crows are inside of me? I don’t like to think of it.
I finally reached the center today. The moment I got down I was attacked by hordes of crows. When the onslaught finally ended, I found what looked like an immense anthill. Chambers, tunnels, thankfully large enough to crawl through. I started crawling aimlessly through the tunnels; I think it’s going to take a while to reach the center.

It’s been days of wandering through tunnels. I don’t think I’ll ever find the center. I think I might even die down here.
I found a great clue to finding the center today. A really dim light, I can follow it. A rush of excitement rushed over me. It kind of hurts to be excited actually, with that crow digging on my insides and all.

I’m getting very close, I’ve started to hear cawing in the distance, and piles of crow droppings are littering the ground. I can feel an aura, a sense of fear, like I’m about to see something I’m not supposed to. I decided not to turn back though, seeing how far I’ve gone.

I’ve almost found the center, and I kind of wished I did turn back. Crows were fused in the walls, cawing a gurgled variation of what sounded like my name. I’m very scared. Just a few more miles. The light is almost blinding now.

I found the center today, and now everything makes sense. I only stayed a second, one second to observe the horror in which sat before my eyes. She was fused into the ground, with branches of feathered flesh rooting into the ground like a tree, a deformed mess of black, tumorous meat, beating like a heart, wings and crows sprouting out at every end, with a large, twisted, misshapen beak at the end. One large talon was sprouting out of its back, in which alone was the size of a tree. I read something on an obscure website once; I think something like… bloody leech? Anyways, I read something about how a deep sea anglerfish mates, something like how a male bites onto the female’s side, and after a while fuses in, it becomes part of her, leaving alone only the guy parts to produce sperm. Well, I think that was what I was seeing. Crows, by the hundreds, biting into this… thing’s side. I saw the back ends of crows sprouting out of it, at seemingly random places. It grabbed a single crow out of the air with the claw coming out of its back, which it then tossed into its mouth. And then, oh my god, I will never forget what it did then. With those thousands of eyes all over its body…… It looked at me. Then, it began to spit out millions of crows, just like on the surface, which then began to head in my direction.  Ran out as fast as I possibly could. And I’m still running to this very minute.

I’ve been running for days now. And I’ve finally reached the end of the seemingly endless tunnels. I jumped out just as millions of crows burst out. I hid from them, in my attic, and that’s where I am now. I don’t want to go back down. Knowing that that thing is down there…

The queen.