Page 45, Paragraph 6; Page 46, Paragraphs 1 - 3 ***SPOILER ALERT!***

***SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read the end of "Hob's Hog" yet, you probably won't want to read this post, as part of the ending of the chapter is revealed. Don't say I didn't warn you.***

Page 45, Paragraph 6:

Hob walks away from the hill of branches and from me to the little fire in front of the hut, where he stoops. His shadow rises high and black on the whiteness of the aurochs skin, and he picks up a burning stick from the fire. Now Hob turns to come back to where I am, holding the burning stick in his hand that makes drops of white light move on his belly, on his arms, and on the edge of his black cheek.

Page 46, Paragraph 1 (first full):

I look to the girl, and don't understand why she isn't helping me. She stands far away from where I lay on the hill of branches, and now takes the aurochs wrap from her hair, and doesn't look at me. The skin-band falls, a bit of white in the dark. The girl turns her head toward the light, and I see that she wears the band to hide a bad mark on her head. Above her eyes there's a big tear. There's no blood, but the skin lifts up at an edge, along and beneath her hairline.

Paragraph 2:

Now my arms and legs start shaking so hard that I can't stop them. My ass makes a noise, and shit comes from it onto my legs. I don't want the girl to see this. I don't want to look at her. I turn my head slowly and look up. Hob's come back here and is standing above me. White eyes. White teeth below an empty blackness where there is no face, with antlers rising above it.

Paragraph 3:

"All good," he says to me, and now puts his burning stick in the hill of branches. From the wood beneath me comes a noise like bugs whispering "quick," and "hit," and "set," and so forth. Now the noise of bugs becomes the noise of a rat, and the rat says "scratch," and the rat says "stick-it-back," and so forth. I smell blood. I smell smoke. Oh, now. Oh, where is the girl?

Page 45, Paragraphs 3 - 5; Notes ***SPOILER ALERT!***

***SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read the end of "Hob's Hog" yet, you probably won't want to read this post, as part of the ending of the chapter is revealed. Don't say I didn't warn you.***

(btw - I'm honestly not trying to tease this out - I just haven't had a lot of opportunities to sit down and work on this blog for more than a half-hour or so.)

***

Page 45, Paragraph 3:

I cry hot tears and try to say I'll do anything for Hob if he doesn't hurt me. I'll go away. I won't see the girl. I try to say all of this, but my mouth is full and I can't say anything. Hob takes me around the pigpen, in front of the white-skin hut, where there is light as from a little fire, and now I see his black face and his wooden horns, and see that there's blood on him.* As there is with me. Oh no.

Paragraph 4:

Now he lays me down, like a baby, on the prickly thing in front of the aurochs hut. I feel a lot of pokes on my back and legs, which is where I understand he's putting me on the hill of branches that I saw him make. Now he takes his hand off me. I lie on the hill of branches with nothing to hold me, and I try to get off, but I can't move. There's no strength. I don't have the strength. I can't move anything, just my hand to rub my neck.

Paragraph 5:

There's a hole in my neck, where liquid's coming out, where blood's coming out, which isn't stopping. Hob. Hob put a hand-axe to my neck while I wasn't paying attention [?]. Oh! All of my blood is coming out onto my belly, my neck, and the branch hill beneath me. I don't smell flowers. I smell nothing but blood.**

* And just who is Alan Moore trying to evoke with his depiction of Hob? (Dana Carvey voice) "Could it be... Satan?" Baphomet? Cernunnos? It's interesting to look at the history of the Horned God archetype in terms of this and speculate as to whether Moore had a particular deity in mind when he created this image. It's also interesting to note that "Old Hob" is apparently another term for the Devil.

**And that's almost never a good thing.

Page 44, Paragraph 9; Page 45, Paragraphs 1 and 2 ***SPOILER ALERT!***

***SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read the end of "Hob's Hog" yet, you probably won't want to read this post, as part of the ending of the chapter is revealed. Don't say I didn't warn you.***

***

Page 44, Paragraph 9:

Arm around my neck. Man-smell. Hot skin. His arm is strong on my neck; his belly is against my back. I can't breathe. I can't speak. I'm scared. I'm scared, and I can smell the man, and smell [?] his hot penis. My feet are off the ground. The girl looks deeply into my eyes. His big arm hurts with a hard pain and keeps me from breathing (oh Mother) and now something comes, bright and quick, and makes a little cold sensation on my neck, followed by a big sensation of warmth.

Page 45, Paragraph 1 (first full paragraph):

I think the man has thrown warm water down my belly to make me wet, but I don't understand how. I move this way, now that way, but oh! It's no help, and more warm liquid falls on my belly and all the strength goes out from me. His arm moves away from my throat so I can take a breath, and arms comes below my back and my ass to lift me. I'm lying now in his strong arms. I look up, and eyes, all white, look down upon me, but there's no face. Now below the eyes comes another white shape. Teeth. Hob is smiling.

Paragraph 2:

Oh, he found us. He knows we're planning to leave. I turn my head to look at the girl, so I can tell her to run, but a bad taste comes into my mouth so I can't say anything - I can only spit. She doesn't look frightened, nor does she look like she's going to run away. She doesn't move, and her face is expressionless. Now Hob walks with me in his arms. All my strength goes from me, like I'm sick. I can't get away. The girl stands there so she can quietly follow Hob and I. I smell flowers. I smell man. I smell blood.