The Troop

by Nick Cutter

the contents of his guts were right now leaking through the split tissue, into the crevices between his organs.

Newt was simply born a nerd,

Congratulations, Ms. Thornton, he’s a healthy baby nerd.

His hands were sticky with pulped insects.

It is a fact that cannot be denied: the wickedness of others becomes our own wickedness because it kindles something evil in our own hearts.

a rotted monster who’d dragged itself from the sea.

nothing on this earth, not disease nor the elements nor the tortures of mankind, could do that.

You did it, Fred. You broke his arm as a baby.

Forever friends, man. Until the very end of time.

If you look like you’ve got all the answers, people will naturally assume that you do.

You can’t let some woman go stomping on your balls—you just may acquire a taste for it.

Your mother’s so dumb she stares at an orange juice carton all day because it says: concentrate.”

“With your sense of direction, you’d fly everybody into the sun.”