The state capital burned by midnight.
The creature — now the size of a cathedral, a living mountain of fused flesh, mouths, and stolen bodies — landed in the center of the capitol square like a fallen god. Its shadow swallowed entire blocks. Every time it breathed, the air filled with the stench of spoiled meat and fresh blood.
Harlan stood on its highest ridge, naked, covered head to toe in gore, his body warped by the rot. His spine had elongated. Extra arms had sprouted from his ribs. His mouth split vertically like the creature's. He raised both axes — one in each new hand — and roared into the night.
The city fought back with everything it had.
Tanks rolled into the square. Artillery shells slammed into the creature's side, blowing huge craters that instantly filled with new screaming mouths. Fighter jets streaked overhead, dropping missiles that only made the beast laugh with a thousand stolen voices. Helicopters tried to evacuate the governor and his staff from the roof of the capitol building.
The creature simply reached up with thirty arms and swatted them out of the sky like flies. One chopper crashed directly into the governor's mansion. The creature caught the flaming wreckage and ate it whole — metal, fuel, and screaming politicians together.
Inside the capitol rotunda, the governor hid behind a barricade of desks and National Guard troops. He was on live television, face pale, voice cracking:
"Citizens, remain calm. This is a contained—"
The feed cut as the creature smashed through the marble dome like it was eggshell. Its massive vertical maw descended into the chamber. Senators, lobbyists, and security personnel were sucked upward in a vortex of blood and screaming. The governor tried to run. The creature's tongue — long, black, and barbed — wrapped around his waist and dragged him in. Millions watched as the most powerful man in the state disappeared between rows of teeth the size of traffic cones.
Harlan walked through the carnage like a priest at communion. He tore open the stomachs of fallen soldiers and ate their livers raw while they still twitched. Billy and Sadie, now fully merged with the creature yet able to detach like parasitic children, darted through the streets hunting stragglers. They especially loved the suburbs — soccer moms, yoga instructors, and their soft, well-fed children.
Darlene's multiple heads had multiplied again. Dozens of her faces now covered the creature's surface, all talking at once in cheerful, grandmotherly tones:
"Come here, sweetie… let Auntie Darlene taste you…"
"Such pretty skin… it'll look better inside us…"
"Don't cry, baby. Hunger is love."
Old Jeb had become a towering abomination of bone and rage. He rampaged through the business district, smashing skyscraper windows and pulling people out like olives from a jar. He wore a necklace made from the state senate's gold chains and human ears.
By 3 a.m. the city center was silent except for chewing.
The creature had grown so large it blocked the river. Its body now contained thousands — faces of the eaten pressed against its translucent outer skin, mouths still moving in silent screams. New limbs sprouted constantly, each one ending in a smaller version of the McCoy family. Miniature Harlans, Jebs, Billies, and Sadies peeled off the main mass and scurried into the side streets to spread the rot.
The infection had begun.
Anyone bitten but not fully eaten began to change. Their stomachs swelled. Their teeth sharpened. Their eyes turned hungry. Within hours they turned on their own families, tearing open throats and bellies with newfound strength. The rot was contagious now — passed through saliva, blood, and the creature's black ichor raining from the sky.
News networks still broadcasting from distant cities showed helicopter footage of the capital:
A living mountain of flesh devouring the statehouse.
Streets running with blood thick enough to clog storm drains.
Survivors running naked, screaming, only to be dragged back by dozens of pale arms.
Social media had collapsed under the weight of millions of final posts:
"it's coming"
"they ate my kids"
"i can feel it inside me help"
The President declared a national emergency. The National Guard was mobilized across every state. But it was already too late.
Harlan climbed to the top of the ruined capitol dome and addressed the burning city with a voice that boomed from every mouth of the creature at once:
"We started in the hollers because we were poor and forgotten.
Now America gets to know what real hunger feels like.
There is no escape.
There is only the family.
There is only the feast."
The creature opened its central maw wider than a football field and swallowed the entire capitol building in one wet, grinding gulp. Marble columns, statues, and the American flag disappeared between its teeth.
Billy and Sadie's laughter echoed from inside the beast.
Darlene's many heads sang an old Appalachian lullaby, now twisted into something obscene.
Old Jeb raised a fist made of fused human bones and roared.
And across the country, in every city, every small town, every quiet suburb, millions of people suddenly felt their stomachs clench with a new, terrible emptiness.
The rot had learned to fly on news helicopters.
It had learned to spread through screens.
It was coming for all of them.
(End of Chapter 9)