The Swamp thing. Part 4

 — Hey, we're coming to you! — it's unclear who he warned and, ducking down so as not to touch the hanging board, went into the garage.

Trembling, Vital watched as Alexey and his grandfather stepped over piles of junk, while trying not to step on the shiny stream flowing under their feet. Uncle Lyosha barely made a sound, stepped on something, kicked aside the board that was in the way. Periodically, he extinguished the lighter, letting it cool down.

"Nobody.".. — Grandfather's voice came. Vital exhaled. — It seemed like it.

—Yeah, probably,— Alexey replied. There was relief in his voice. Maybe the wind...

They walked to the exit, still trying not to step on the liquid flowing from the side. Grandfather walked in front.

— Hey, Sergeyich, come here! That's where this stuff is coming from!

Vital, who came closer, shuddered. He squinted into the depths of the garage.

Uncle Lyosha was squatting down again. The grandfather came closer and looked over his shoulder.

— Ugh, what an abomination, huh?  Alexey asked with a chuckle. "It looks like it's in the cellar somewhere, don't you think?"

The silhouette of my grandfather, clearly outlined by the flame of a lighter, shrugged his shoulders. Unable to contain his curiosity, Vital got closer.

It was a perfectly round hole located closer to the left wall of the garage. The hole was about thirty centimeters in diameter, and it was amazing that none of the elders had put their foot in it. Vital saw a smooth surface on which the glare of the fire danced. It seemed that it was not liquid at all, but black ice: only a thin streamlet slowly oozed out of this cavern. The surface of the slurry suddenly swelled into a bubble, which almost immediately burst with a sound like a sigh. A very unpleasant sound.

"That's what we heard," Uncle Lyosha said faintly. He extended the finger of his right hand almost to the surface of the hole. "I thought someone was sighing."..

—Okay, let's go," the grandfather said and took a step back, almost bumping into his grandson. — There's nothing to do here, let the garage owner sort it out...

He didn't have time to finish.

Another bubble of air floated to the surface and with the same nasty wet exhale burst, spraying droplets of black muck around.

—Damn it!  Uncle Lyosha shouted and jumped up. He still had a burning lighter in one hand and was wiping his other hand on his trousers.

"The damn thing got on my pa."..  He suddenly stopped talking, cocked his head to one side, as if listening to something.

And then he screamed.

From surprise and fright, Vital also screamed, took a step back and flopped on his ass. He watched in horror as Uncle Lyosha, glasses flashing, jumped up and down, shaking his hand as if trying to extinguish the fire.

He jumps and screams.

— Booooo! Booolnoo!

Grandfather jumped up to Alexey and tried to grab him.

— Lech, what happened?! What the fuck happened?!

— It hurts! On your finger!.. ooo!!

Suddenly Alexey howled, and immediately the dogs, who had been silent until now, joined his voice.

Vital was roaring.

Grandfather was screaming.

Uncle Lyosha jumped forward, away from the garage, pushing the stunned grandfather along the way so that he flew against the wall. The lighter had fallen to the floor, but it hadn't gone out, and now shadows were jumping on the garage walls in a wild parody of dancing. Alexei, his eyes bulging with pain and white, which seemed even bigger because of the miraculously held glasses, ran at the boy. Horrified, Vital began to crawl back, almost touching the mud flowing on the ground with his left hand. Alexei was rushing straight at him, clearly unable to see anything from the pain. Vitalka squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the blow.

Suddenly Alexey stopped screaming, froze, and the boy was surprised to see that the man's eyes were even more bulging. It seemed like they would fall out of their sockets just a little bit more.

—Pain...— Alexey began, and suddenly the hand he was holding in front of him jerked back. It looked like someone had twisted it. His glasses had slipped down his nose.

— AHHH!  Uncle Lyosha shouted again. Vital watched in fear as his arm twisted. Someone or something was pulling him back to the garage. The man was jerked around with his back to the boy.

The grandfather ran up to the screaming neighbor.

"What happened?" What...  Then he saw how tense Alexei's face was. It was as if he was fighting with someone invisible.

— It pulls...  Alexey began, and then he was jerked again, he literally flew into the garage, pushing his grandfather aside again.

"HELP ME!" help me!

Grandfather took a step forward and saw Alexei being pulled forward with his hand towards the cavern, from which a vile liquid was oozing. This hole looked like a greedily open mouth, from which black drool flowed in a thick stream. The food is served.

Alexey resisted as much as he could, but something was stronger. Grandpa grabbed him by the shoulders, trying to pull him back, but it was like trying to stop a skating rink. And when Alexey's hand, which had been hit by a drop of black goo, finally reached the surface of the hole, he screamed. No, he screamed. Without words, just letting out scream after scream into the darkening sky. The grandfather screamed, trying his best to help his friend, but he was slowly being pulled into the hole, inch by inch.

Vital put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes.

Strong arms grabbed him, and Vitalka shouted: for some reason he thought it was Uncle Lyosha.

"Come on!"  Grandfather shouted. "Just don't look there!"..

"MY FACE!" my...

Vital instinctively looked in the direction of the scream and saw how the black liquid, as if in impatience, splashed out of the hole right on Uncle Lyosha's face. The scream was immediately cut off, and there was only a nasty gurgle as the man involuntarily swallowed what was being forced into him.

Uncle Lyosha's body jerked and went limp, while something continued to methodically pull the prey into the hole. Now that Alexey wasn't resisting, things went faster.

The boy gasped and lost consciousness.

He woke up just a minute later. His grandfather carried him in his arms as garages flashed by. Grandpa was breathing heavily: after all, he wasn't thirty years old, but he was walking pretty fast.

"Grandpa, I..." he coughed.

— Vitalka!  He stopped and lowered the boy to the ground. "Can you walk?"

The boy nodded. He opened his mouth to ask about Uncle Lyosha, but his grandfather interrupted.:

For some reason, he kept looking over his grandson's shoulder. Back the way they came from. Vitalka looked around, but saw nothing. The dogs were howling all around.

The man got up from his crouch and, taking the boy by the hand, quickly walked forward. So fast that Vitalka practically ran, just not to lose his step.

Grandfather turned his head from side to side. It looked like he was looking at the roofs of garages. Vital followed his gaze, but saw nothing unusual.

— Grandpa, what are you?..  Vital began and choked.

Dogs were running across the roofs of garages. Vital saw only vague shadows, occasionally flickering in the dark when the creatures had to jump through holes. The howling didn't stop for a second. The boy started crying from fright.

— Don't be afraid, Vitalka, don't be afraid...  Grandfather muttered. He didn't take his eyes off the roofs of the garages. — We'll come home to Grandma soon...