Goblins by David Bernstein

man. The man shook his head and looked confused. That moment of hesitation was the man’s downfall.
    Binky sprang into action. He leaped onto the man’s face and sank his claws into the sides of his head. The man screamed, but it was a muffled scream—Binky’s soft, rotund belly pressed against his face like a pillow. Blood squirted out of the man’s head in lawn sprinkler-like fashion. His body jerked and he collapsed to the ground, legs in spasm.
    Binky hopped off the dead man, his claws and arms drenched in crimson. The bear grinned, his red eyes glowing brighter as his eyebrows lowered.
    From there, the living plushy headed over to the front door and waited off to the side. A moment later, two men exited the cabin, one holding a sword, the other a rifle. One of them asked, “Where you at, you drunk bastard?” and Binky swiped at his left ankle, severing his Achilles tendon. The man screamed like a frightened child and went down fast. The rifle he’d been holding went off and the man’s head next to him exploded. The scene reminded Kaley of the time she’d watched videos of kids blowing up watermelons with M80 firecrackers.
    The man with the severed Achilles tendon had lost his gun and was crawling to it. The man looked back and saw Binky coming toward him. His eyes went wide with terror and he crawled faster. Binky grinned, clanked his claws together and dove, landing between the man’s shoulder blades.
    A fourth man emerged from the cabin. He was the bald-headed one and the largest of all four witch hunters. He wielded a double-sided axe, his arms bulging with muscles. His mouth dropped open at the sight of the carnage, but his shocked expression turned angry at the sight of the killer bear as it tore the back of his companion’s head clean off with a single swipe of its claws.
    Binky Bear wasn’t finished with Severed Achilles yet, and raised his arm for another strike when the bald witch hunter swung the axe down and lopped off Binky’s left arm. The axe sank into Severed Achilles’ back with a dull thwack, stilling the man. “Demon,” the remaining witch hunter yelled.
    White stuffing bloomed from Binky’s shoulder where his arm had been, the appendage now a few feet away on the ground. He spun around, undeterred, and growled at the witch hunter who yanked the axe free with a sickening sucking sound.
    â€œDevil spawn of hellion wrath,” the man said, spittle flying from his lips. “I’ll send you back to where you came and kill the one who summoned you.”
    The witch hunter swung the axe again, but Binky was ready this time. The bear lunged forward ahead of the axe as it plunged into the corpse’s spine. Binky sailed toward the man’s crotch, but instead of inflicting some kind of clawed action, the bear’s mouth widened, opening to the size of a Frisbee and closed on the man’s reproductive organs. Binky bit through everything, coming away with a mouthful of clothing and flesh, leaving the man with a gaping hole between his legs. Blood exploded over Binky in a shower of glistening cherry red. The hunter howled and grabbed at the area, finding nothing to hold.
    Binky chewed, his cheeks full, as the man fell backward, dead. The bear swallowed, then let loose a thunderous burp.
    The movie cut back to the witch’s daughter’s bedroom. She was fast asleep, but woke when Binky climbed up the covers and nuzzled against her chin.
    â€œThanks, Binky,” she said, and a moment later, the bear looked like a cute plush toy again, the life that had been flowing through it gone. The girl smiled and her eyes turned black and then the credits rolled.
    Kaley hadn’t realized the harm she’d done to herself until the movie had ended and she was alone in her all too quiet room. During some nights, she could hear the television from down the hall in her parents’ bedroom. But not tonight. They were still