Kinja reply

A thief jimmies the door and breaks in. He bends down to start working on the ignition - and doesn’t notice that the air is growing occluded. He coughs a bit. Then a bit more. He smells metal. Then he coughs up blood. He sits up. The air is thick now - rusty dust has filled the cabin and he can’t even see out the windows. His eyes sting. He tries to wave away the dust - but it only grows more intense. He opens his mouth to cough - and suddenly the cloud of rust swarms him, wrapping around his body, flooding into his orifices. He cannot breathe. Desperately, he reaches for the door handle and jerks - and his skin peels away from his fingers. He holds his hand up to his face and watches in horror as the flesh turns brown, the blood runs black, and the tissues dissolve before his eyes. He tries to scream - but his lungs are rust.

The next day, David walks out to his car and wonders, “Huh, there seems to be a lot more rust flakes in here than I remembered. Welp, time to work on the car” and pops the hood. He hums cheerfully as he wrenches away. Inside the cabin, the rust quivers contentedly. Their god has returned - and his temple is safe.