Okso here is my entry, I know it's been awhile hasn't it. Sorry about that. Well here is our new site, it's awesome. Good job Jon. Hope you all like the Horror, it's something different.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Idea: Character will take a bath, but the action goes terribly wrong. During the story, a character has to pay a fine. The story ends during a meal. The story takes place in the summer. During the story, there is a fight to the death.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The Horror:
The day was July 13th 2016; the people of earth were going about their daily lives as if nothing was wrong, nothing ever went wrong, nothing that they could stop at least. I remember that day though; I remember it because the events that took place then changed my life forever. That was the day the world finally knew true fear.
I was a business accountant in those days, focused on numbers and figures and formula. I thought finding three tenths’ of a cent in those days to be exciting. Ha, if I could only go back to those days, when things were carefree and fancy and I didn’t have to run every night for safety. I had woken up in a daze that morning, my alarm clock had gone off and instead of the usual buzz, and it gave off a high pitched siren sound. Almost pissed my bed from the scare. I remember throwing it against the wall in frustration and anger, cursing myself as I did, it was an expensive clock.
After collecting myself I began my daily routine of getting ready for work, shave, shower, teeth, breakfast and then out the door to catch the bus. I got as far as shaving before I encountered my second problem of that fateful day, if I had only known what else was going to happen I would have given up then and there and just gone back to bed. But no, I wasn’t like that in those days. After I had shaved I went to start up my shower and found my shower nozzle had corroded over, nothing was getting out of that thing and even if it did, I don’t think I would want to shower in it. I was usually a meticulous cleaner but work those last few weeks had kept me busier than usual and I had hired a maid service to come in and clean up while I had such a heavy work load. I regret now hiring a maid service that I found on a flyer stapled to a light post. Not one to break routine I put the plug in the tub and started running the water into a nice hot bath. I was never one to take baths but I wasn’t going to leave the apartment unclean, you just don’t do that sort of thing as an accountant.
The bath water was steaming I remember as I stepped inside it, my naked flesh turning red where the water lapped against it. The pain of the scalding water going up my legs and setting off a fire in my brain. Ah I wish I could feel like that again, I would give anything for one more hot bath. I remember sitting down in the water and resisting the urge to stand instantly back up. I wasn’t used to the water being so hot and it was if each submergence of my body was a new experience to me. I laugh now, regretting that I never took more pleasure in the simple pleasures of life. Taking more time out for myself and leaving my job at the office instead of with me twenty four seven. Slowly I adjusted to the water; it didn’t take long for my whole body to be under the crystal clear water. It felt nice and calming as I recall.
I was unable to enjoy it though, just as I was reaching for a cloth to clean my body the entire building began to shake and rumble. Pieces of the ceiling and wall began to collapse in around me. The water in my bathtub swirled and bubbled as if it was being boiled a top a stove. I scream and yelled as I scrambled out of the bathtub and into my bedroom. The building had stopped shaking by the point and I could hear screams and cries coming from outside. My bedroom was in chaos, my dresser and my art along the walls had all fallen down, pieces of glasses and porcelain were everywhere. My collection of little green space men I had picked up on a vacation a few years back were utterly destroyed. I remember the sadness when I saw them there shattered; I really liked those little green men.
I grabbed a robe from the mess that was now my closet and moved out into the apartment hallway, bypassing my living room and kitchen which were now in complete shambles. I met other people in the hallways, each of them more unsure of what was happening as the last. It wasn’t an earthquake; there hasn’t been an earthquake in those parts for decades. No one thought it was a bomb either, there wasn’t any sign of fire and it appeared to have affected the entire city. No one knew what was going on. So dressed in my brown fluffy robe and a pair or saddles I had slipped on before leaving my apartment I ventured outside for my answers. What I found outside was nothing but destruction and chaos. People were running from place to place, screaming, looting, and bleeding. It was if the entire world was coming to an end and I remember the first thing that went through my mind was that I wouldn’t be able to finish the burnstock adjustments by Thursday.
I tried to stop several people outside but they were either too busy with their senseless looting, or they were injured and bleeding. The few people I could get answers out of said that something had fallen from the sky and landed in Waterhill Park a few blocks south of my apartment. I decided that I should investigate and get my own logical take on the situation, perhaps there would be someone with better knowledge on scene, and I had seen my share of movies. There should be at least an army commander or police chief or someone to talk to! So I was off, in saddles and robe and with a mind to get some answers. Something had ruined my day and I was not about to let it get off without an explanation.
I got to the entrance of the park in no time flat, but was stopped at the gates by a bunch of hoodlums. I will never stop being amazed at how fast gangs can form when something goes wrong in the world. It’s like humans are drawn together to make trouble for anyone who isn’t part of their newly formed group. It’s insanity. This group of hoodlums were armed with bats and chains and demanded that I hand over any cash I had on me. After stuttering for about a minute I finally formed the words to tell them I didn’t have any money. Of course they didn’t like that answer. One minute I was smiling meekly at their leader and the next I was waking up with a painful head ache and freezing to death. I looked around, remembered that I was at the entrance to the park and then I noticed my nakedness. The punks had taken my robe and my saddles. I lay there in the rubble and debris naked and with a head wound. I couldn’t believe the nerve of some people’s children.
It was much later in the day now, I would have guessed around dinner time. I must have slept through most of the day after the blow to the head. I weakly and slowly got up, my legs almost giving out on me. I managed somehow, and I slowly began to stumble my way into the park and hopefully someone who could help me. The twilight was hard to see threw, my eyes blurred because of my head wound which didn’t help. I saw someone up ahead among the foliage and shadows. They were crouched over something; I couldn’t tell what they were doing though. I moved closer, stumbling as I did, I tried to call out to them, to try and get them to turn around but my voice croaked and came out in a wheeze. As I got closer and closer I saw more and more figures and I could hear a horrible sound. Tearing and squashing and chewing sounds, I could see the figures reaching down and tearing things from the ground and stuffing them into their mouths.
I stumbled onto the ground; I couldn’t understand what was going on. That’s when I saw the others coming towards me. Their movements were sketchy, their arms flicking back and forth in random movements, their heads twitching in erratic patterns, eyes wide and white. Each step they took was slow and purposeful, their legs making precise movements with each step. My vision cleared and I could see they were naked, their skin covered in large barnacle like sores, oozing and pulsing in unison. Some of the creatures were tentacle limbed with giant hooks protruding from their chests; others were more human shaped, their skin changing from a pale pink to a dark brown, their veins showing a black blood flowing through their bodies.
I froze then; I couldn’t understand what was happening. Were these things human? What had happened? Was I awake or was I still sleeping, a dream brought on by the blow to my head. The creatures approached closer and closer, I could smell the stink of them, they smelled like sulfur and sweat, their erratic movements giving them the look of rag dolls being shaken about by an unseen hand. I was horrified.
I scrambled to my feet, and began to move away from the nearest creature. That was a mistake, the creatures seem to be attracted to movement, the second I stood up the erratic movements stopped and all of the creatures around me turned in my direction. A horrifying scream burst out of their mouths simultaneously then, a scream that would turn milk bad and send the mightiest creatures scampering away in fear. As the scream faded into the night air the creatures launched their assault, their movement had changed from their erratic perfect movement to a horrible gibbering of limbs and torso as they scrambled toward me. Crawling over each other, tearing at each other as they struggled to get to me first, to feed on my flesh and my soul.
I turned and ran the, stumbling and tripping on the wooded ground of the park. I ran without thought, I ran and ran until I couldn’t run anymore and then I ran some more. My heart beat faster and faster, adrenaline pouring through my veins and into my limbs, giving me the strength I needed to get to safety. My feet were torn and scratched from the branches and twigs and rocks, the pain gave me a reason to go on, to not fall back into the gibbering mass that was chasing me. I could see light and buildings up ahead; the other side of the park was insight. I burst through the barrier of trees and scrub and ran out into the street ahead. I was free, I had made it to the open spaces, I could find a place to hide and figure things out. I began to get my bearings and was moving back towards my apartment building when I was confronted.
The creature that stood before me was bigger than anything else I had seen in the park; its arms were huge muscled pieces of jagged rock. The head on its shoulders was no longer recognizable; it had elongated and shrunk, flattened to be more incestile, less human. It clicked and clacked at me and it stepped closer and closer. It didn’t have the same erratic patterned movements as the other creatures, this one walked more confident, more in control.
I looked around for anything to use as a weapon, something. However I was just an accountant in those days. I didn’t know weapons training, and we hadn’t made them weak to sodium yet so I couldn’t even use that as an advantage. I ended up grabbing a piece of rebar if I remember; it had been part of the sidewalk and came loose when the meteor crashed into the park. So with rebar in my hand I faced off against the brute, I thought I was about to die to be honest, I had no hopes of fending off the thing. So he came at me, huge jagged rock arms slicing through the air. I jumped back, landing on the uneven ground and stumbling backwards onto a nearby car. The creature continued his assault, arms swinging and swiping in a frenzy of power; I rolled out of the way as the beast ate into the car, his arms turning the metal into shreds and shards. It was at that time that I came to my senses and dropped my weapon and turned tail and ran. I moved through the streets stepping on loose rocks and broken glass. More and more foreign debris were forced into my feet, the pain was almost unbearable. I could hear the beast behind me, knocking cars and other things out of its way as it barreled towards me.
I kept my gaze straight ahead, for fear if I looked back I would be doomed. Up ahead I could see a large garbage truck, its black paint absorbing the light from the intermittent street lights. I ran around the back of the truck and into the passenger side door. Luckily the brute wasn’t that smart and followed my trail around the back of the machine. I jumped in the driver’s seat, turned the truck on. The engine roared to life and black smoke billowed into the air. I jammed the gear to reverse and back up at full speed, knocking the monster into the back of the truck. I found the compactor controls and started it up. As hydraulics and metal began to move they creature let out a low click and then several high pitched whines. Bones crunched organs and blood squished and then there was nothing. The black blood began to leak out of the back of the truck, pooling into an inky black puddle that no light escaped from, it was almost hypnotic. I could not enjoy my victory though; I could hear other creatures coming towards the death cry of their comrade. I moved through the city until I reached my apartment again and temporary safety.
I sat down at my ruined kitchen table then, brushing off the debris and pulling over the box of cereal I always kept there. In the entire ruckus, it had stayed standing; the world was funny like that. I opened the box and began to eat the crunchy oat circles, surveying my surroundings and shutting down my conscience. My life had changed that day and I would never be able to go back to the way things were ever again.
Armageddon started that day; it was a day none would forget. However something else began on that day that was the day that Milton Charles died and The Horror was born. A man who had no emotion, no fear and no remorse.
