Avon Fantasy Reader No. 14 — page 91: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

grayish white creatures, six feet high, moving aimlessly on the other side of the gate. They had heads without features, bodies without legs, arms without fingers. Cautiously, he touched one and shivered at the peculiar sensation that was imparted by contacting the animal’s skin, Realizing that his men were watching him closely and that any sign of nervousness on his part would be communicated to them, and feeling certain, too, that each of the peculiar shapes was but a mask and cloak for a Moronian soldier, he drew his revolver and shot one of the odd things several times through the heart section. The bullet holes closed immediately and there was no blood. The thing kept on with its curious shuffling movement. “Attention, men,” he commanded. “Open the gates and we will take them all prisoners. God knows what they are, but they cannot hurt us anyway, and we will hold them till tomorrow and then send them in trucks to the General-in-Chief.” His men obeyed the command but there were many more of the new creatures than there were soldiers and thus while over seventy were captured, several hundred passed the barricade and continued moving down the road. In the guardhouse the telephone was ringing violently. Headquarters want- ed to know if anything new had developed and whether Lieutenant Kraut and his command were safe. Disquieting rumors were being received from the other outposts and they wanted an immediate report. Lieutenant Kraut started to tell about the peculiar things he had captured, and the Major at the other end of the line reprimanded him for being drunk again. The Licutenant protested that he was perfectly sober. The Major demanded an exact descrip- tion of the new animal. The Lieutenant had one brought into his office and held near his desk while he gave the description. Even while he was talking, the animal softened and began to melt. The Lieutenant described the process as long as he could talk. Even while writhing on the Hoor in deadly nausea and vomiting, he tried to tell what had happened, but his retching only con- vinced the Major at Headquarters that the Lieutenant was beastly drunk. Finally the Lieutenant was dragged out of the office by two of his men, who waded through pools of indescribable filth to rescue him. He was too sick to realize that his entire command had fled the Post, though here and there one of the soldiers lay on the road too sick to move. Outside, the road was im- passable on account of the puddles of slime which dotted it. Cursing and vomiting, the Lieutenant stapgered through the dark woods, seeking pure air and [reedom from the stench, which even in memory produced a recur- rence of the prostrating nausea. Meantime those of the novel creatures who still lived were shuffling slowly down the broad highway, every few minutes losing one of their number by death and decay. In the dark hours of the night they died unseen and un- mourned, but each of them left behind horrible evidence that they had once lived. Over pools of slime others of their kind walked, some three feet high, — . others a foot high and here and there could be seen midgets only a few inches high but resembling their larger brothers in every detail. When the sun rose, there also arose from every road between the two kingdoms, the smell of death a million times magnified. It was as though Moronia were surrounded by a 89 comiclbooks. conn