Tag Archive for: drabble

Surprise!

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by Maxine Churchman

 

Sylvia, the bride-to-be, gasped when she saw the highlight of her hen weekend. Charlotte had done well; organising events on the small Caribbean Island to keep everyone partying. Now, at the end of their last meal, a huge pretend wedding cake was wheeled in and sat in the centre of the dance floor. Everyone watched as Sylvia threw the catch.

Laughing changed to screams as the zombie leaped from the cake; pinning her down. She smelled rotten meat as it bit into her face. The last thing she saw was the grinning face of Rob’s ex-fiancé, watching from the crowd.

Maxine Churchman

Maxine Churchman is a mother and grandmother from Essex UK. Her hobbies include reading, hiking, yoga and more recently writing. So far she has concentrated on dark drabbles and short stories but hopes to make progress on a Novel in 2020.
cccmaxine.blogspot.com

Kill the Messenger

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by Shawn M. Klimek

 

Kendra hurried back to the shelter to share the bad news. Dr. Armstrong’s serum had backfired. Despite early hopeful signs, all those treated had eventually regressed. Worse, the contagion seemed to have evolved a new vector. Armstrong had seemed about to explain when he tried to bite her instead. Was it airborne now? She didn’t dare wait to find out.

She banged on the shelter door. “It’s Kendra! Quick! Let me in!”

“Are you alone?”

“Yes!”

“Wounded?”

“No!”

As the door latch clicked, she suddenly couldn’t remember why she had come. But then the smell of flesh called her inside.

Shawn M. Klimek

Shawn M. Klimek is an award-winning writer and poet based in Illinois, credited with more than 150 published works of speculative fiction, horror, and humor. Find a complete index of these (plus bonus reads) on his writing blog, http://jotinthedark.blogspot.com, or follow his ongoing writing and publishing adventures on Facebook @shawnmklimekauthor.

This Is Where It Ends

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by Wondra Vanian

 

Everyone knows where it started. This is where it ends.

Seven people are gathered around the fire in a draughty old cabin. They don’t look it, but they’re all that’s left of humanity.

For the next twelve and a half minutes.

That’s how long it will take the shuffling horde to trudge through the snow. After that…

The survivors aren’t fighters; haven’t even seen a zombie since before little Xander was born. They believe they’re safe.

For another nine minutes and twelve seconds, they are. They’ll enjoy the last minutes of Xander’s fifth birthday celebration.

The last minutes of humanity.

 

Wondra Vanian

Wondra Vanian is an American living in Wales with her husband and their army of fur babies. A writer first, Wondra’s also an avid gamer, photographer, cinephile, and blogger. She has music in her blood, sleeps with the lights on, and has been known to dance naked in the moonlight.
https://www.wondravanian.com/

One

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by Chris Bannor

 

For three days my brother and I ran.  We screamed, pushed and pulled, and fought until we were free.  We were both drained, and the house had seemed safe enough.  Distant enough.

They crept in while we slept.

My brother opened his eyes moments after me and I could see the fear.  He heard them too.  There was no escape this time.

“The gun has two bullets,” he whispered.  I’d lied.  There was one.

He was too soft-hearted to pull the trigger anyway, so he never knew.  I was the only one left alive when the zombies began to feast.

 

Chris Bannor

Chris Bannor is a speculative fiction writer who lives in Southern California. Chris learned her love of genre stories from her mother at an early age and has never veered far from that path. You can follow Chris on Facebook @chrisbannorauthor

Exterminate

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by Evan Baughfman

 

They returned with a vengeance, with a hive mind sharing a singular goal:  the eradication of the human race.

They came back bigger than before. Meaner. Angrier.

They had every right to be furious with us, of course.

We’d let them all die. Ignored scientists’ warnings for decades. Caused the creatures’ untimely demise with habitat loss and pesticides.

Now, their swarms were massive and many. They attacked with two-inch-long, mutant stingers. Their venom rotted our brains. Turned us into bloodthirsty, mindless cannibals.

They’d found a way to exterminate us.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t figure out how to exterminate them.

The zombees.

Evan Baughfman

Evan Baughfman is a middle school teacher and author. Much of his writing success has been as a playwright. A number of his scripts can be found at online resources, Drama Notebook and New Play Exchange. Evan also writes horror fiction and screenplays. More information is available at his website www.evanbaughfman.com

An Honest Review

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by Galina Trefil

 

Centuries ago, he’d killed her.

She hadn’t let it go.  Skulking in the back during her book signing, he flipped through the hard copy whose glossy cover was a sensationalized rendition of his medieval portrait. 

Many smear campaigns had been launched against him over time, but he wouldn’t abide one from her, regardless of whether she knew why she was so drawn to hate him.

In the parking lot afterwards, he malingered near her car.  “What do you want?”  She demanded.

“An honest review,” he replied, exposing her throat for the upcoming feast.

Centuries from now, would she write again?

Galina Trefil

Galina Trefil’s work appears in the anthologies “Flock: The Journey,” “First Love,” “Sea of Secrets,” “Coffins and Dragons,” “Organic Ink volume One,” “Curses & Cauldrons,” “Unravel,” “Hate,” “Love,” “Oceans,” “Twenty Twenty,” “Forgotten Ones,” “Suspense Unimagined,” “Mythica,” “Faeries,” “Dark Valentine Holiday Horror Collection,” and “Scary Snippets Valentine Edition.”

Facebook: Rabbi-Galina-Trefil-535886443115467

Bogeyman

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by Andreas Hort

 

“Mm, Liam,” purred the raspy voice. “You look so delicious…”

“Daddyyy!”

Thunderous footsteps. Dad barged into the room.

“What’s going on? Liam?”

“Bogeyman!”

“Again?” Sighing, Dad switched on the light. “Where do you want me to look first?”

Liam wanted him to look in the closet. Empty. Under the bed? Also empty. Outside the window? Nothing.

Liam felt safer; maybe it had only been a dream after all. Dad killed the light, wished Liam goodnight, and left. Liam slid his feet under the covers and closed his eyes.

“So delicious…” Muffled. Under the covers.

Sharp teeth sank into his belly.

Andreas Hort

Andreas Hort resides in the Czech Republic. In his free time, he writes and takes steps toward his goal to move to an English-speaking country. His works have been published in several anthologies. He likes chatting with people with similar interests, so feel free to get in touch:
twitter.com/TheAndreasHort

Family Reunion

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by Joel R. Hunt

 

The months after she died felt like a thousand lifetimes, and each one was unbearable without her. When she appeared at the foot of my bed, I knew she had returned to release me from my torment. Her eyes glowed. Her face shone. Her finger beckoned.

God, how I missed her.

“Join me,” she sang.

“Yes, my love,” I answered. I rose, grabbed the nearby razor and snapped it in two. She smiled as my trembling fingers took the blade.

“We’ll be a family again,” I whispered.

I pushed open the door. Walked over to the nightlight.

“All of us.”

Joel R. Hunt

Joel R. Hunt is a writer from the UK who dabbles in the darker aspects of life, particularly through horror, science fiction and the supernatural.

He has been published in a number of short story anthologies (including the Black Hare Press ‘Dark Drabbles’ series), and hopes to have released his own anthology of short stories later this year.

You can find his daily ‘very short stories’ on twitter.com/JoelRHunt1

You Came to Me

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by Paula R.C. Readman

 

In the depth of a cloudless night, you came to me. Your cheeks all aglow and lips slightly parted.

“A Whiter Shade of Pale” tunelessly ran through my head. I reached for your hands. Cold to the touch, I cared not.

“Come. Lay beside me, my darling, for I shall warm you up.”

Wordlessly, you climbed in. I ignored the odour of decay that perfumed your skin and the worms and dirt that fell from your hair.

As the moonlight shone off my gravestone, I wrapped the shroud around us; glad to have you finally back in my arms again.

Paula R C Readman

Paula R. C. Readman lives in the UK. Her fiction has mainly been published in anthologies in Britain, Australia and America. Overall winner in two writing competitions and soon to have her first crime novella ‘The Funeral Birds’ published by Demain Publishing in February 2020.    

Blog: paulareadman1.wordpress.com

The Shape of Darkness

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by K.B. Elijah

 

At first, I thought it was the real estate agent. Who else bothered to come onto the property but Sandy White, her box of cheap biscuits in one hand and annual lease documents in the other?

But Sandy was pink cardigans and curls, not this hunched figure that loomed in the shadows of the moonlit driveway. Why did the shape of its head angle so? Was it just a trick of the darkness that lent it a gaping hole instead of a mouth?

I switched on the headlights, preparing to laugh at myself.

But the thing was wearing my face.

K.B. Elijah

K.B. Elijah writes for various international anthologies, and her work features in dozens of collections about the mysterious, the magical and the macabre. Her own book of short fantasy novellas with twists, The Empty Sky, is available on paperback and Kindle now: see her website at www.kbelijah.com.