You slow down a bit, waiting for them to get in range, then tug the cardboard rectangle out of its envelope and hold it in front of you.
Several things happen at once. First, the legs-and-head creature stumbles sideways - not dead, but certainly very dazed and confused. It teeters off the gravel and veers head-first into a fir tree, collapsing under it. Its back-feet twitch spastically. The sight is more revolting than amusing.
The tall one seems transfixed by the pattern, unable to draw its eyes away from it. Its speed increases dramatically - it's almost toppling toward you now. The distance between it and the car vanishes in an instant. You try to sidle away, but too late - it crashes almost on top of you. Reflexively, you cover your head, but the blow doesn't come - it seems that it was already dead when it caught up with you. You slip the the Siren back into your pocket.
Quite timely, because the torso thing has also caught up with you while you were distracted. It leaps on top of the tall one's corpse, and you bring the bar down on it...or at least attempt to, because it intercepts it in mid-air, then takes its own swipe at you with one of its hands, which you evade. You take a kick at it and miss again. Before you can recover your balance, it pushes you down, holding you in place with two more hands.
Now you see that its whole lower surface is occupied by a multitude of mouths - pretty ordinary mouths, human teeth and all. It suddenly sags down on the rest of its hands. You feel a burning pain all over your chest and stomach. It's eating you. It's...
You draw your knee closer to your chest and slam your boot into one set of its teeth. Immediately you feel its hand withdraw from your own...which is still holding the bar. Which you promptly thrust it down its throat. One of them, anyway.
It reels back, and you give it the boot again, then again, then again. The catharsis of this action is almost overwhelming. Another kick, and it half-jumps half-topples off the car, then rolls down the gravel.
Your face is seriously itching like you won't believe now. You cover your head with your coat, then look at your hands. It looks like a mild sunburn right now - the skin on your hands is peeling a bit, but it's not really very gruesome. However, your work shirt is torn, and your torso is covered in bite marks of varying severity - some are just bruises, while in two places whole mouthfuls of skin have been torn away. The amount of blood is worrying rather than panic-inducing, but it's there.
Back in the direction of Meshta, there's an indistinct cloud of mist...or something. You can't really tell.
Work clothing (worn)
Vereinian Royal Infantry coat (worn) In pockets: hold-out derringer (two shots), ID Coin x2, nail file
Vereinian Royal Infantry boots (worn)
Lighter (almost full)
Knife-blade
Water canister (carried)
Isandan passport
Isandan military registry ticket (lieutenant of reserve)
Siren pattern (on cardboard)