The air thumped with heavy baseline the DJ was playing, the entire dance floor was filled, it was dark, the lights had gone out at the start of the song. Lisa Harlow had frozen in place while her friends had carried on to move. The music continued uninterrupted and Lisa quickly realized that it was part of the show.
The atmosphere changed, it became electric, bodies crammed together closer, the entire club piled onto the dance floor in the centre of the building, and once the floor was filled they stood on the counter top that circled the hexagonal centre piece. Women in short skirts and tight fitting tops danced around the pillars that sprung from each of the six corners.
The strobe lighting began, and the crowd went wild. Lisa looked up as the crowd began to scream in time with the beat. The lighting lit the place up for what it really was. The rotting corpses of the undead writhed and wound their way around the poles, their skin glistening with decomposition, leaving a silvery trails of grease as they continued to spin around the bone poles, countless femurs bound together by leathered straps of human skin. Their raw meat faces were twisted in waves of orgasmic ecstasy as above them the heavens began to open.
The dance floor was pulsing now, all the ghouls and girls that had come out to play moved and swaying in a sudden rhythm.
"Are you ready" The DJ called from his elevated position behind the decks.
Lisa looked up at him, his bones so white, bleached by years in the sun before he finally rose. The few strands of hair that clung to his scalp whipped around as he danced, his arms raised, bony fingers extended towards the heavens. "Then let it rain" He roared above the pumping baseline.
The first few drips went unnoticed, but soon the downpour began. A deluge of fresh blood, taken only minutes before from the club next door descended upon them. The dance floor was tacky with it, all of their bodies joined and became one organ, beating and granting them all the life they had craved and wanted so badly that they rose from the grave to claim it when it called.
At the centre of it all, Lisa raise her hands, breaking the formation of the pulsating mass and threw her arms into the air, spinning around in the middle of it all screaming, her head thrown back allowing the ruby rain to fill her mount and run down her throat, covering her breasts. She had only been dead a day but was already sure that this was the life for her.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
No Escape
They ran, they ran almost constantly for three days, if that was at all possible. It wouldn't have been, not before the war. Yet now, in the aftermath of it all everything was possible. The dead had risen after all.
One by one their group was picked apart, limbs wrenched from bodies in powerful movements. The lumbering footsteps of the dead rang heavy in their ears, the city streets deserted now. Storefronts and apartment blocks nothing but empty husks filled with the dead, their eyes blindly watching them flee. Seeing nothing, yet capturing everything nonetheless.
Dark was the worst time, the power was gone, craters from the bombs made movement almost impossible, yet it was necessary, for the real monsters of Frankenstein just keep coming. They fall, rise again and resume the chase.
Their group was now but three men and one woman, their bodies burnt from the sun their minds fried from death . . . They stopped and looked around. They were alone, the chasing pack gone, hunting down other prospects for in all their haste, each had failed to realize they had already died.
One by one their group was picked apart, limbs wrenched from bodies in powerful movements. The lumbering footsteps of the dead rang heavy in their ears, the city streets deserted now. Storefronts and apartment blocks nothing but empty husks filled with the dead, their eyes blindly watching them flee. Seeing nothing, yet capturing everything nonetheless.
Dark was the worst time, the power was gone, craters from the bombs made movement almost impossible, yet it was necessary, for the real monsters of Frankenstein just keep coming. They fall, rise again and resume the chase.
Their group was now but three men and one woman, their bodies burnt from the sun their minds fried from death . . . They stopped and looked around. They were alone, the chasing pack gone, hunting down other prospects for in all their haste, each had failed to realize they had already died.
The Morning After
Channing woke with a start, he was shivering, naked and outside, not longer wrapped up in the bed he had crawled into the night before. He sat up, the cool dawn air dancing on his bare skin.
Where are my clothes? He asked himself.
He stands, his body is covered in blood, his mouth tastes like pennies and there is something stuck between his teeth. He pulls it out, a bloodied clump of wool.
Whats going on? His heart beat increases, the smell of the blood fills his nose, it overloads his senses. Channing hears his stomach growl, his mouth starts to water as he looks around for the source of the sickeningly tantalizing aroma.
The carcass was in the corner, the sheep ripped open savagely, its rib cage separated revealing what remained of the organs it had housed. The intestines lay on the floor beside the body nested inside a ring of blood clotted wool fleece. Flies buzzed around them in a drunken stupor with a buzzing sound that filled Channing's ears. The change was instant, the fur sprouted over his frame, nails became claws as he fell back into his four footed altered state of existence and began to feed.
Where are my clothes? He asked himself.
He stands, his body is covered in blood, his mouth tastes like pennies and there is something stuck between his teeth. He pulls it out, a bloodied clump of wool.
Whats going on? His heart beat increases, the smell of the blood fills his nose, it overloads his senses. Channing hears his stomach growl, his mouth starts to water as he looks around for the source of the sickeningly tantalizing aroma.
The carcass was in the corner, the sheep ripped open savagely, its rib cage separated revealing what remained of the organs it had housed. The intestines lay on the floor beside the body nested inside a ring of blood clotted wool fleece. Flies buzzed around them in a drunken stupor with a buzzing sound that filled Channing's ears. The change was instant, the fur sprouted over his frame, nails became claws as he fell back into his four footed altered state of existence and began to feed.
The Banker Blues
Everyday I sat behind the same counter, serving the same pasty faced men and women. Cashing this or withdrawing that. I could count notes with my eyes closed, and tell the difference between a ten and a twenty by touch alone.
Every tick of the clock beside my computer screen echoed in the empty corridors of my mind. "What am I doing here?" I would ask myself every day. "Trying to live your life . . . . to start over." Was the repeated answer.
I didn't believe it anymore. I don't think I ever did.
It was him who pushed me over the edge. Mr. 4pm Thursday. Every week, the same time, the same pale yellow shirt with an old mustard stain just under the collar, the same poorly knotted tie. Him with his pudgy face and expanding waistline. I could smell his sweat dotted skin the moment he walked in and I know I just couldn't take it anymore.
I snapped, and the moment I took that first bite I knew the running was over. I had come home.
I drained them all, one by one, I painted a mural in their honnour on the glass teller windows. I used his blood for it, Mr. 4pm Thursday.
Thankfully it was winter, I could walk out of the front door and into the night. It welcomed me with its howling embrace and I was lost in it, my thirst quenched but my hunger far from satisfied.
Every tick of the clock beside my computer screen echoed in the empty corridors of my mind. "What am I doing here?" I would ask myself every day. "Trying to live your life . . . . to start over." Was the repeated answer.
I didn't believe it anymore. I don't think I ever did.
It was him who pushed me over the edge. Mr. 4pm Thursday. Every week, the same time, the same pale yellow shirt with an old mustard stain just under the collar, the same poorly knotted tie. Him with his pudgy face and expanding waistline. I could smell his sweat dotted skin the moment he walked in and I know I just couldn't take it anymore.
I snapped, and the moment I took that first bite I knew the running was over. I had come home.
I drained them all, one by one, I painted a mural in their honnour on the glass teller windows. I used his blood for it, Mr. 4pm Thursday.
Thankfully it was winter, I could walk out of the front door and into the night. It welcomed me with its howling embrace and I was lost in it, my thirst quenched but my hunger far from satisfied.
Monday 30 August 2010
Lost and Found
It was handed in not long after 09.15, just as the rush hour madness was beginning to slow. Not really knowing how to handle such an item, Molly Parker found an empty out-tray in the manager's office and let the pink-grey mass fall wetly into it before storing it nearly away under the counter she sat behind, nestled between the other items.
Surely somoene would come for it. She said to herself as she worked. Reading her gossip magazine in between the standard queries over directions, train times and the inevitable delays. All the while she tried to ignore the wet gargled breaths and quiet pulsating sounds it made as it lay there, shivering in a grey jellied pool of its own decomposition.
She had never had a brain handed in at lost and found before, but she guessed that whoever had lost it would pick it up sometime after 17.30 once normal office hours had ended.
Surely somoene would come for it. She said to herself as she worked. Reading her gossip magazine in between the standard queries over directions, train times and the inevitable delays. All the while she tried to ignore the wet gargled breaths and quiet pulsating sounds it made as it lay there, shivering in a grey jellied pool of its own decomposition.
She had never had a brain handed in at lost and found before, but she guessed that whoever had lost it would pick it up sometime after 17.30 once normal office hours had ended.
On The Table
Jasper looked around nervously. He could hear the heart monitor beeping quicker and quicker as his pulse shot upwards. His whole body was shivering slightly and he was sweating. Somebody dabbed his head with a wet cloth. It was only a simple surgery, but he was nervous none the less. He had never been in hospital before, and had been having nightmares every night for a week leading up to it.
"It's ok Jasper, you won't feel a thing." Doctor Reid spoke calmly from behind his surgical mask. He wasn’t wearing his glasses today. He looked different or so Jasper thought as they put the mask over his nose and mouth.
"Please count backwards from ten for me Jasper" Another voice spoke to him. Jasper looked backwards from his horizontal perspective and saw an older man, strands of white hair poking out from beneath his surgical cap. His gloved hand held the mask in place.
"Ten....Nine.....Eight...S....se.....seve....." Jasper fell asleep.
"Okay. He's out." Doctor Reid announced to the room as he picked up his scalpel and made a long incision across Jasper's abdomen.
He laid the bloodied blade back on the green clothed tray and removed his hygienic mask. "Dig in" He said, and they all descended on the boy with a fervor, their mouths salivating at the prospect of fresh meat.
"It's ok Jasper, you won't feel a thing." Doctor Reid spoke calmly from behind his surgical mask. He wasn’t wearing his glasses today. He looked different or so Jasper thought as they put the mask over his nose and mouth.
"Please count backwards from ten for me Jasper" Another voice spoke to him. Jasper looked backwards from his horizontal perspective and saw an older man, strands of white hair poking out from beneath his surgical cap. His gloved hand held the mask in place.
"Ten....Nine.....Eight...S....se.....seve....." Jasper fell asleep.
"Okay. He's out." Doctor Reid announced to the room as he picked up his scalpel and made a long incision across Jasper's abdomen.
He laid the bloodied blade back on the green clothed tray and removed his hygienic mask. "Dig in" He said, and they all descended on the boy with a fervor, their mouths salivating at the prospect of fresh meat.
Sunrise
He sat there, the darkness surrounding him. His world nothing more than an emtpy space. The moon made an occasional appearance from behind the clouds, making long shadows that danced like trained monkeys on the wall of his barren apartment. The curatins had been left open and he had taken position in the chair directly before the window. His view of the bustling city streets below him and beyond that the desert for as far as he cojuld see. He had sat for hours just watching the world go by. His skin was beinning to crawl with anticipation, fear. His entire body felt electric, and he couldn't help but smile as the sun finally began to rise on the horizon. It was over, finally the longest night of his life was over.
Maybe now he could finally get some rest, get some sleep. He closed hiseyes and waited for the thin orange strip on the horizon to thicken, to rise.
He smiled and felt filled with sweet realsed as his body burst into flames, leaving behind nothing more than a pile of ash and a long forgotten grace empty some two hundred years.
Maybe now he could finally get some rest, get some sleep. He closed hiseyes and waited for the thin orange strip on the horizon to thicken, to rise.
He smiled and felt filled with sweet realsed as his body burst into flames, leaving behind nothing more than a pile of ash and a long forgotten grace empty some two hundred years.
The Rat
I could see it sitting there, its body bloated, skin removed by the radiation, its frame a highway of thick puslating blue and red veins. Every breath it took created a sticky wet rattle that echoed up and along the empty streets, and each movement shook more drops of liquid decay from its continually dying body.
It raised its bald head, twitching nose sniffed at the air, while the optic nerve hung loosely from bloody void where its eyes had once been and spasmed in the cool breeze as if tasting the air. I moved my position, careful for it not to see me. It didn't, its attention turned the other way and it slid farther up the street towards the house my party and I had used for shelter a few nights previous. Its giant frame dragged along on broken front legs, with its rear pair being nothing more than withered stumps unable to support the bodies gargantuan weigh.
I breathed a sigh of relief I had survived another close call . . . Only, I hadn't seen the female that had been waiting around the corner.
It raised its bald head, twitching nose sniffed at the air, while the optic nerve hung loosely from bloody void where its eyes had once been and spasmed in the cool breeze as if tasting the air. I moved my position, careful for it not to see me. It didn't, its attention turned the other way and it slid farther up the street towards the house my party and I had used for shelter a few nights previous. Its giant frame dragged along on broken front legs, with its rear pair being nothing more than withered stumps unable to support the bodies gargantuan weigh.
I breathed a sigh of relief I had survived another close call . . . Only, I hadn't seen the female that had been waiting around the corner.
Sunday 1 August 2010
4TH Place
Well, at Midnight EST my story went live in the August issue of SNM Horror Magazine (snmhorrormag.com) and was awarded fourth place for the month. Fourth out of Sixty Six, I suppose I should be happy with such a good placement, but I was pushing and hoping for first. I want to be the best. Although I will admit that after the initial disappointment, I am delighted to have been accepted and find it once again truly satisfying to see my work in print.
Thank you to everybody for reading or your future reading of my work Feel free to leave comments here or on the magazines webpage directly.
Thank you to everybody for reading or your future reading of my work Feel free to leave comments here or on the magazines webpage directly.
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