Fear: A 2nd Collection of Horror Short Stories
Author: Lee Jones
Date: 2018-10-21 00:00:00+00:00
Description: Six Short Stories Appear in this 2nd addition to the Fear Series. Beverly Mansion is about a haunted house built in 1835 in Mississippi. Unbeknownst, a family moves in unaware of the properties dark past. They experience things unnatural to this world and unravel the secrets of the past. Strangers of the Night is about a group of murderous strangers visiting a family of tourist in Florida. The Undead Volume 2 and 3 are sequels in the Undead series. It's about four strangers who banded together to survive in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Blood Moon is a young adult story about a werewolf ra
Publisher: Saturn Publishing
Rights: Copyrights as per source stories

FEAR

A COLLECTION OF HORROR SHORT STORIES

BY LEE JONES

2018 © Lee Jones

2018 copyright. All rights reserved. Published by Saturn Publishing.
This is a work of fiction. While as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of all authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

www.saturnpublishing.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

SCARECROW REAPING

THE BEGINNING

A NIGHT OF TERROR

ROAD TRIP

SETTLING IN

SUN FALL

CLUES TO THE PAST

RUN FOR SURVIVAL

FINAL CHAPTER

BLOOD ON THE BAYOU

VACATION

STALKER

KIDNAPPED

IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT

SACRIFICE

ESCAPE

THIRST FOR BLOOD

INVESTIGATION

THE GIFT

FLAW

CONNECTING THE DOTS

INTERVIEW

HOME

NEW LEAD

TRAIL

BOAT

SMOKE ON THE WATER

FIRST CONTACT

CLOSE BY

BEAT OF THE DRUM

CULT SECRETS

ESCAPE

CLOSE CALL

FINAL CHAPTER

THE FOREST

PROLUGOE

THE BEGINNING

NO TURNING BACK

DAY ONE

NIGHTFALL

CROSSING OVER

INTO THE ABYSS

DEATH

AFTERMATH

THE UNDEAD

OUTBREAK

ESCAPE

NIGHTFALL

GAME PLANE

HELL ZONE

THE FINAL STAND

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

PAPERBACKS AND EBOOKS

AUDIOBOOKS

AFTERWORD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

Five short horror stories are in these compilation. The first four were previously released and the final one is exclusive to this book. Each story has a unique story and change of setting and theme.

Scarecrow Reaping is set during the 1930’s in rural America on a farm during the great depression. Blood on the Bayou is a modern telling of a cannibalistic cult on the Louisiana Bayou. The Forest is about the haunted spirits that occupy the suicide forest in Japan. The Undead Outbreak is the first in the Outbreak series. It tells of a viral epidemic turning people into zombies and four strangers must band together to make it alive to the safe house. Lastly, The Dark Side of The Moon is about an astronaut who lands on the dark side of the moon only to discover he is not the only life form.

There have been some edits from the previous releases for Scarecrow Reaping, Blood on the Bayou, The Forest and The Undead. This book will be updated with new editions with additional short stories.

SCARECROW REAPING

THE BEGINNING

It's the 1930s during the depression. The Johnson family has lost all their crops on their farm. The soil is dry and dust blows in the wind. A windmill, a barn and a farm house occupy the property but nothing else is seen for miles. What used to be a field of corn, has now all but dried up and welted away. A stretch of dirt road leads to a 2 way highway. Every once and a while cars will pass by but most of the time there is no traffic on the highway.

Bill Johnson is a middle aged farmer with a wife and two children. He is the 3rd generation farmer in his family and the farm has been in the family ever since. He has been working on the farm since a small boy and nothing else. All their fortunes are tied into the business however the past couple of years have proven difficult. Due to a drought, his corn has been dying till this current year there is nothing left to reap.

They have been living off of savings. Bill frustrated with the current conditions of the farm has been seeking a job in town 30 miles away. However, there has been no success. No one is hiring right now. The wife and children help around the farm with the few chickens and cattle grazing on the property. It’s their main source of food and occupies them most of the day.

It’s the early mourning and Bill is reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. He reads and stories tell of the current conditions in the country. The country is in an economic downturn. Melinda Johnson the wife, walks in with a grim look on her face and fresh eggs in her hands. "We're running pretty low on cornmeal to feed the chickens,” says Melinda. "I know," replies Bill. "What do you want me to do?" replies Bill in a stern voice. "Well you can get a job cause these corn ain't growing with this soil!" replies Melinda. "Ain't my fault I've done everything I could!" says Bill.

The last few nights Bill hasn't slept. He has been thinking so much about his current situation and it worries him
deeply. Bill and Melinda have been at odds bickering with each other the past few days. Melinda knows the crops are not growing but feels like Bill he could be doing more to help. So much is weighing heavy on his mind. He feels depressed. He looks over to the bottle of shine on the night stand and starts drinking. The first sip burns and taste like crap but washes away his worries.

The next mourning Melinda and the children are outside in the chicken coop collecting fresh eggs for breakfast. They also milk the cow for fresh milk and come back to the house. They find Bill drunk has a skunk passed out on the kitchen table. " Go outside and play I need to speak with your father" Melinda tells the kids. The kids run outside while Melinda places the eggs and milk on the counter. "Bill wake up!" Bill looks up in with one eye red. His face is sobering and grim. He hasn't shaved. His hair is uncombed. Their is a bottle in one hand with just a few sips of shine left. Other bottles liquor on the floor beneath him.

"Your not going to help us by drinking!" Melinda says. "Melinda I can’t do this anymore," replies Bill. "We have nothing and there is nothing we can do about it.” In a slurred speech Bill raises his head and says, "This farm has been in the family since my great grandfather and I let it go.” Melinda reaches for the bottle of shine in Bill's hand but Bill quickly swipes away at her. "Leave me alone!" as Bill yells in anger! Melinda is quickly startled and moves quickly out of the house. Bill slams the table and throws the bottle at the wall and smashes it.

A few days have past. A scarecrow over looks an empty cornfield. The wind blows dust. The situation has gotten worst. Bill has been drinking everyday. His fits have grown more often and Melinda become increasingly worried. She has tried to intervene but Bill has gotten physically abusive. Last night she received a shiner to her left eye.

A NIGHT OF TERROR

It's nighttime. Cooler then it has been so far this fall. It's October. There's a calm in the air. Crickets are heard all around. A gentle breeze blows. The
children are in bed upstairs and Melinda is asleep. Bill was not able to sleep and is in the barn. A small candle lights the interior. His breath is seen in the cold as he coughs. He is drinking more shine.

Bill has an anger growing inside of him. Why him? Why now? What did I do to deserve this? Bill thinks to himself. Bill stands up and throws the bottle of shine against the wall and smashes it. That anger has now turned to rage. He picks up a sickle and walks outside from the barn into the house. He slowly creeps upstairs. Each step careful not to wake anyone. When Bill gets to the top of the stairs he walks straight down the hallway into the children’s room. He stands in the doorway with the sickle in his hand. He watches the children sleeping soundly. His face in rage. His breathing is heavy. He slowly walks towards the bed.

As he slowly approaches the little girl in bed she turns over on her side facing him half awake. "Daddy?" shes whispers. Bill quickly lunges forward and with the sickle slashes her throat deep across. Blood quickly gushes out. Bill quickly spins around and slashes the his son's throat. Slices deeply across and blood rushes quickly from the boys throat. Both are dead instantly. Not a noise is heard outside of the room except for the blade of sickle slicing into flesh. Bill turns around and blood drips to the floor from the sickle. Some blood has splattered to his face and the rest of his body.

He turns and faces looking outside of the room into the hallway again. He slowly walks out towards the master bedroom at the end of the hall past the stairwell. He takes a right turning into the door opening and stands in the doorway. He is watching his wife sleep in bed. His body is shaking sweat and blood drip from his brow. His eyes are laser focused on his wife sleeping in bed. He walks even slower this time focusing on each step careful not to wake her. He walks right up to the bed and looms directly over
her body. He raises the sickle and quickly with no warning slashes her throat. Blood spurts into his face.

Bill walks downstairs and grabs the two barrel shotgun in the living room. He walks back into the barn with it. He standing in the middle of the barn the single candle still burning flickering with the wind. He raises the gun to his chin. The end of the barrel touching the whiskers of his beard. He pulls the trigger and his head immediately explodes and splatters the walls inside the barn. His body falls into a pile of hay. The flame flickering on the single candle burns out with a strong gust of wind. The barn is dark and the smoke dissipates into the wind.

ROAD TRIP

It's modern day. A group of young college kids, 20 somethings are on a road trip. Most of
them have never really been anywhere far away from their parents from the exception of college. It's a bright sunny day and things are looking great. They have been driving for hours. They don't have much money and usually park the car and sleep on the side of the road setting up a tent and sleeping bags.

It's late afternoon and the drive has been long everyone is getting weary and tired from the drive. Time to find a place to rest for the night. On a long stretch of road there is nothing but cornfields and farmland for miles to see.

Blue Skies and puffy white clouds.

"Lets find a spot to sleep tonight", says Tony. Tony dark haired, tall, handsome and charismatic. He's the one behind the wheel. Jamie, Tony's best friend. Melissa and Janice retrospectively their girlfriends all crammed into a 4 door sedan. "I gotta go", says Jamie. "Alright I'll pull over somewhere", replies Tony. Jamie gets out walks a little into the cornfield. He unzips his pants and takes a piss. He can see not far in the distance a scarecrow. A few black crows land on the arms of the scarecrow. Croaking and making noise. 2 crows are swirling flying in the air above the scarecrow. "Come on hurry up!" says Tony. Still peeing he looks over his shoulder and says, "shut up". A wind blows. When he turns to look back around in front the crows are gone. Jamie looks in confusion as to how the crows disappeared so fast out of view. He zips up his pants and walks back to the car. The girls are talking and laughing amongst each other. Tony is grinning sitting on the hood of the car. "Come on lets find a place to sleep tonight", says Tony.

As they drive further down the road they see an abandoned old farmhouse, barn and windmill spinning in the wind. A dirt road leads up from the main highway to the farm house. Tony slows the car to a halt. "Hey check this place out",
says Tony. "Do you think anyone lives there?" says Tony. "I don't think so", Jamie replies. "This place looks abandoned a long time ago", Jamie replies. "Alright lets have a vote, who says we check this place out and sleep here tonight?" says Tony. Tony, Jamie and Melissa raise their hands but Janice is shaking her head. "This place gives me the creeps", says Janice.

"Haha don't worry it's just old", says Tony. " Well it looks like three to one in favor of going to the farm for the night. They drive turn the car left into the dirt road. Its bumpy and weeds and other foliage are overgrown. They drive down and an old metal sign reads "Johnson Family Farm".

SETTLING IN

The car has pulled up to the farmhouse and everyone gets out and stretches. It's clear this place has been abandoned for a long time ago. The wood is decayed,
some windows are smashed out, overgrown with weeds and foliage. "Well no one lives here anymore lets check it out", says Jamie. The farmhouse is on the left side of the car and the barn is on the right. "Why don’t you girls go check out the barn we'll check out the house", say Tony.

The girls walk over to the barn giggling and talking amongst each other. Tony and Jamie walk up to the porch of the old farmhouse. A white rocking chair is swaying back in forth with the wind. The door is cracked open. "The door is open", says Tony. Tony opens the door and they both walk in. Inside cob webs, dust, and dirt. In the living room a coach, chairs and fireplace. Old pictures line the top of the bookshelf.

Meanwhile the girls get to the barn and open the door. It's dark and cob webs are everywhere. Old farm tools are on floor. A scarecrow still adorned with clothes sits upon a post on the back of the barn. "Well there's nothing in here,” says Melissa.

Back in the house the boys head up stairs. Each step creaking in the old house. They get to the top and see a hallway that leads to two rooms. "Whats in here?" says Jamie. Jamie goes into the master bedroom while Tony heads into the other bedroom. Inside the master bedroom all the furniture is gone. The same goes for the other bedroom Tony sees there is nothing inside. “Nothing in here,” says Tony. "Nothing in here too,” says Jamie. "This would be good to setup the sleeping bags in here,” says Tony. "You and Melissa take that room we got this room,” says Jamie pointing the bedroom. They both head back downstairs and regroup with the girls by the car. "What did you find?" says Melissa. "Well both rooms upstairs are empty, looks like a good place to setup our sleeping bags for the night," says Tony. "This place is still so freaking creepy!" says Janice.

SUN FALL

The sun is beginning to fall. The group has pretty much setup camp for the night in the upstairs
bedrooms. Their is no light inside so the guys look around collecting dead branches to start a bonfire. They get a bonfire started just by the car. Jamie and Janice romantically hold each other watching the sunset on the porch. Tony is preparing to make smores over the fire. Melissa grabs her acoustic guitar. The sun finally dips below the horizon.

Tony looks at his phone. It's so far out rural there is no cell signal but he has a paper map. He shows Jamie, "I am guessing we are here and we have about 50 miles to we get to the next town" says Tony. "We will head out first thing in the mourning,” says Tony.

The group settle around the fire. Melissa sings and strums a few songs on her guitar. Jamie and Janice are making out. It’s very dark and Melissa puts down her guitar. Tony points out a few stars in the sky. "That’s the Orion Constellation", says tony. "No that's not how do you know that? huh?" says Melissa. "I took Astronomy class 2nd semester."No you didn't you liar.” says Melissa.

Janice and Jamie are being playful and she gets up and runs a little bit. Jamie is still sitting by the fire but Janice walks towards the barn. She is curious. She pulls out a cigarette and lights it just standing outside of the barn. She hears a whispers and a small freezing gust of wind chills her body. "Hello?" Janice says. Nothing is heard back but the crickets chirping in the background. Janice walks inside the barn. Its very dark. She hears another whisper but cannot discern what it's saying.

"Hello is someone here?" says Janice. In the meanwhile the bonfire is almost dead and they have no plans of keeping it going. The group heads inside in good spirits. In the living room Tony has pulls out a few bottles of liquor. "Lets get the party started!" says Tony. Jamie passes around red solo
cups to everyone. "Where's Janice?" ask Jamie. "I don’t know she went to smoke or something,” says Melissa. Tony starts pouring liquor into the bottles and pouring it for everyone.

Janice steps on something and its make a loud sound. "Ugh I thought something was off with this place,” she says. Two dots suddenly glow in the back of the barn. They look like the eyes of animal glowing in the moonlight. Janice walks a little slow towards the eyes trying to see what it actually is. She can pick out the silhouette of a person and a face. She gasps.

The scarecrow becomes animated slowly moving its feet. A sickle in its hand. Janice becomes frightened and tries to run out but the door suddenly closes on its own. She can't seem to open the door she tries pulling and pulling nothing will give. She screams "help! help! help!” A loud ringing is onset in her ears. Her feet suddenly become locked in place.

The scarecrow is slowly moving towards Janice and now it’s body is fully visible. It finally looms over her body.

FIRST BLOOD

The group is inside having a drinking game. Tony and Jamie are almost pretty buzzed. Melissa
had two drinks but remembered its been a while since she had seen Janice.
"hey have you seen Janice?" says Melissa. The boys are playing beer pong. Melissa gets up and walks outside. Its cold. "Janice!" Janice!” Nothing is heard back. Melissa notices the door of the barn is open and walks towards the barn. Its dark so she grabs her phone and puts on the flashlight. The light at first shines a spot of blood on the grass. She gasps as she hold her hand to her mouth and moves the light further up. She shes a mutilated body covered in blood decapitated. It's Janice, she is dead.

Melissa screams "ohh my god!" ohh my god!" She turns around runs back towards the farmhouse. She bust through the front door and screams. Tony and Jamie stop their game and turn around. "Whats wrong?" says Tony. "It's Janice I think shes dead!” screams Melissa. "In the barn! There's blood everywhere!" says Melissa in fright. The boys quickly get up and Tony grabs a bat. Jamie grabs a flashlight and pulls out his Swiss army knife. The run out then slowly approach the barn.

"Who's in there we got a bat!" says Tony. Jamie turns on the light and points it inside of the barn. They see the blood covered everywhere and Janice body. The face on her decapitated head is mutilated and covered in blood. "Fuck!" says Tony he covers his mouth as he almost puked. "Janice!" Janice!" Jamie says and runs in sobbing. "Please, please, please ohh no" he mumbles.

Tony grabs his phone and dials 911. The phone quickly disconnects there is no signal. The scarecrow is missing from the back of the barn. Jamie is sobbing, Melissa is scared and Tony is confused. "Come out here everyone," says Tony. The group heads outside by the car.

As Tony unlocks the car but it wont start. A flock of crows descends around the group. Their eyes glow in the night.

For a second the crows seem as if they are watching the group. With a freezing gust of wind the crows fly off into the wind. They disappear into the dark of the night.

CLUES TO THE PAST

"We need to find out who did this,” says Tony. Tony picks up the bat. "I'm going inside the house. You and Melissa stay out here and search the area!," shouts Tony. Tony runs inside the house. Jamie is sweeping his
flashlight around outside looking for any clues. They come to the edge of the cornfield. They hear a whisper.

"Who’s There!" says Jamie. Melissa is clinging to Jamie's arm. Jamie walks in further into the brush of corn. Meanwhile Tony is searching inside the house. He walks past the pictures sitting on table in the living room. He stops and takes a few steps back and shines the flashlight on the photos. He has an eerie feeling. Old black and white photos of a family. The family that lived at the farm. As Tony is moving his flashlight over the photos he passes by one that shines for a second. He moves his flashlight back and one particular photo of a man has his eyes shining in the photo. He stares at it for a few seconds pulls away the flashlight then points it back again. The eyes in the photo of the man no longer shine. Tony slowly heads up stairs. Each step creaks. He begins searching upstairs.

Jamie is trying to find the source of the whispers he keeps hearing. "Hello?" says Jamie. He sweeps the flashlight through the corn bush. Nothing is coming up. His flashlight begins to die down. The light is slowly fading. He hits his flashlight several times to get it going again but nothing it stops working. Its completely dark.

Tony finds an old newspaper from the 1930's with dust and cob webs. On one paper it reads that its the great depression. Another paper reads about a great drought. Crops could not grow. He finds old ledgers about the farm. It shows five years ago before the drought business was doing well but this particular year the farm was in deep debt. Another local paper reads about the Johnson family. There was a murder suicide at the property unheard of in this town and no one ever took over the land.

RUN FOR SURVIVAL

Jamie is now lost. There is a killer on the loose but who and where. He stops because he hears
another whisper. Off in the corn bush he sees two eyes glowing. It's the scarecrow. The pair turn and run through the maze of corn. The scarecrow walks slowly towards them with a sickle in its hand. Melissa is holding Jamie's hand as they run. They make it the barn. They go inside and hide in the dark trying to be as quiet as possible.

A gust of cold wind and a flock of black crows appear to fly inside of the barn. They are everywhere croaking and making noise. Their eyes glow. Jamie puts his hand over Melissa's mouth so she doesn't scream. Fog fills the inside of the barn. The Scarecrow appears at the entrance of the barn. He walks slowly inside with the sickle in its hand. The crows are croaking louder and louder.

Jamie and Melissa put their heads down and hands on top their heads in fright. They are in the back of the barn in the corner in the fetal position. A few minutes later they look up and there is no sound, no crows and no scarecrow. Its dead silent.

They stand up and without warning the scarecrow appears. With the sickle it raises its hand and slashes Jamie's throat. Blood spurts everywhere and splatters on Melissa's face. Melissa screams. She runs outside. She runs and runs to the windmill by the road. Its spinning in the wind. Suddenly their is a loud ringing in her ears. She places her hand on her ears in agonizing pain. The scarecrow is slowly walking towards her. Melissa tries to run but she can't her feet are frozen to the ground.

The scarecrow finally stands before her. It raises its sickle over her head and with one swift move it decapitates her head. The body falls. The head rolls on the ground. Blood spurts everywhere.

FINAL CHAPTER

Tony is inside the farmhouse alone. He can't call anyone, the car won't start. He is miles away from
a living soul. There is a killer on the loose but who? What? He is on the second floor of the house in the master bedroom. Nothing is there but he hears a door slowly open and close from downstairs. "Jamie is that you? Melissa?" Tony shouts.

There is no reply but he hears footsteps creaking up the stairwell. He grabs his bat and hides behind the wall in the bedroom. He is prepared for a fight not knowing who. He hears each step creak up the stair well and then it appears as if the person had reached to top. Then the steps stop.

At this point Tony is breathing heavily and is holding up the bat ready to swing it. Tony gets increasingly nervous and shouts, " Come in and fight me you piece of shit!" Tony is looking out toward the door and doesn't see anything. He turns his head and two eyes glow in the shadow corner of the room. "What do you want!? Who are you!?" Silence.

It is the scarecrow with the sickle in its hand. There is fresh blood dripping from the sickle. Tony runs charging towards the scarecrow and swings the bat at the scarecrow. Hay flings up in the air. The scarecrow stops. The black crows appear outside of the window on the tree branches. They begin croaking loudly.

The scarecrow raises its hand and slices Tony's arm down to the bone. He has a deep gash and blood is pouring out. Tony runs out the room down the steps. He pulls his shirt off and wraps it around his arm to stop the bleeding. The scarecrow has started moving again. Coming down the steps creaking at each step it takes.

Tony runs outside and takes the lighter by the bonfire. He has a gas can in the trunk. He struggles with the keys and opens the trunk. He runs inside with the gas can and starts
pouring gasoline all inside the house. The scarecrow is moving slowly down the steps. the scarecrow looks at Tony right before Tony walks out. Now Tony can't move his feet are stuck to the floor. The scarecrow keeps moving slowly towards Tony down the stairwell.

Tony holds his hands together and makes a prayer. He then takes the lighter and throws it into the puddle of gasoline. A fire instantly ignites and flames plume up with black smoke. Tony is coughing. The scarecrow is halfway down the steps. The fire makes it's way under the stairwell. The stairwell catches on fire. The fire finally reaches the scarecrow and lights it. The flame plumes upwards on the scarecrow. The scarecrow struggles it moves trying to put on the flame but it just gets bigger and bigger.

Tony can finally move his feet and he runs outside the house. The house is now engulfed in flames. Black smoke fills the air. Tony is bending over trying to gasp clean air and coughing from the black smoke. He backs up a little to take a watch of the house in flames. A sigh of relief from Tony as he slouches. His arm is still bleeding but the pressure has slowed it from being worst. He looks down for a moment still in mourning over his friends. A tear from his eye drops and touches the soil.

The End.

BLOOD ON THE BAYOU

VACATION

New Orleans on a Friday night. The bars are oozing with tourist. Music is loud, and drinks are plenty. The air is filled with electricity. Three friends are out on the town. Jasmine, Nikki and John all twenty somethings that just graduated from University in Florida. The trip was planned out for months. As soon as they walked that stage, the next day they were flying out to New Orleans. They had rented a townhouse in the French quarter off Airbnb for a whole week.

John buys a round of shots for everyone. Nikki buys the second round of shots. Jasmine buys the third round of shots for everyone. They all hold a toast, sip then slam the shot glasses on the table at the same time.

“Whoo!,” shouts John. Everyone laughs it feels great.

They call a taxi and head back to their townhouse rental. The townhouse is beautiful, three bedrooms, an amazing view and best of all a hot tub. Everyone gets changed into swimwear and slips into the hot tub. Nikki lights a joint. John pulls out a bottle of vodka and starts pouring a cup for everyone. Everyone is chill remembering old times.

“Hey!” shouts Jasmine. She points to a dark corner of the backyard. “What is it?” says John. They hear a car tire screech on the nearby street, the car takes off suddenly and turns a corner to disappear into the dark of night. “I saw someone,” Jasmine says.

“You need to relax’, says Nikki. She passes Jasmine the joint. Jasmine takes a hit, and everyone forgets what just happened. They continue the until the early morning till calling it quits.

STALKER

John wakes up at noon and starts cooking banana pancakes on the stove. Jasmine rolls out of bed. “I got a freaking headache, but I want to do it all over again”, she says. Nikki wakes up shortly thereafter. “Mourning guys” she says. Everyone has a hangover, but they want to continue the fun. They all head out to the market. The daytime provided plenty opportunity for shopping and exploring. There were no plans just be spontaneous as possible.

Jasmine and Nikki have a couple shopping bags in tow. They’ve spent quite a good amount mostly on credit cards for clothes. They head down a quaint street lined with window shops. They stop in all grab lunch. It’s everyone's first time trying the authentic food New Orleans and its cuisine.

After lunch they head out and look for what’s next. They look like tourist and that attracts the street panhandles asking for change.

They venture into a fortune teller shop. Jasmine offers her hand and the fortune teller leans forward and proceeds to read her palm. The fortune teller grabs her hand and closes her eyes. After a few minutes she suddenly drops Jasmines hand and sits back into her chair. The fortune teller looks
shocked. She is shaking her head and then a chill shakes her body.

“What is it?” says Jasmine in confusion. The fortune teller stands up and says, “I can’t help you I’m sorry here is your money back”. The fortune teller throws their cash on the table and walks briskly behind the curtain in the back of the shop. Nikki looks amused and says, “That was so weird let’s get out of here.” The gang leaves the shop looking for something new to explore.

KIDNAPPED

It’s Saturday night. The gang heads back out to the bars filled on Bourbon street. This time Nikki buys the first round of shots. Jasmine buys the second round of shots and John buys the third
round of shots. They are having the time of they’re lives.

Unknown to them is the fact that someone is stalking them. Watching their every move.

They grab a taxi and head back to the townhouse. Nikki is drunk, and John is tipsy. They open the front door and its dark inside. Jasmine goes to flip on the lights, but the light won’t turn on. John and Nikki flop on the coach in the living room. Nikki quickly passes out on the coach and start snoring. “Are the lights not working?” says John. Jasmine walks into the kitchen, “The lights won’t turn on”, she says. “Maybe we should tell the owner to pay the light bill,” says John.

Jasmine turns on the light on her iPhone. She sweeps the kitchen wall first looking for the fuse box. Unbeknownst to her is a man dressed in all black and a black ski mask hiding and waiting in the kitchen. He suddenly lunges at her and grabs her by the waist and smothers a napkin to her nose and mouth before she can scream. She passes out
the man in black drags her from the kitchen into the garage.

In the garage there is a black Ford Econo van with dark tint windows. He drags her lifeless body into the back of the van. John hears a slight noise. “Jasmine did you find the fuse box”? he ask. John gets up and walks into the kitchen. He notices the door leading into the garage is open. The man in black suddenly lunges from behind and smothers him with a napkin. John is instantly unconscious.

John’s body is dragged by his hands from the kitchen into the garage then pushed into the back of the van. The man in black returns inside into the living room. Nikki is passed out on the couch asleep. He picks up Nikki and throws her body over his shoulder. She wakes up and notices it’s not John. “Who are you put me down!” she screams. Nikki is punching on his chest and kicks. The man in black pulls out the napkin again and smothers her in the nose and mouth. She immediately passes out. He carries her body into the garage and dumps her body in the back of the van with the others unconscious. The man in black closes the back doors. He pulls of his black leather gloves and black ski mask. The face of the kidnapper is revealed but no one can witness what happened and who it is.

He gets into the driver’s seat, starts the van and takes off to an unknown location. There’s nothing in the back of the van. No seats or tools or anything except for a plastic tarp lining the bed of the truck and three unconscious bodies.

The van drives onto a highway then a dirt road. There are no other cars, and nothing can be seen in the dark of the night.

IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT

An old abandoned warehouse in an unknown location. It’s the early morning. It’s rural
country in the middle of the bayou. The last highway was miles away. A dirt road is the only way in and out.

Inside is Jasmine, Nikki and John all hands tied up by rope in the middle to this steel beam. A single light shines down and lights the whole inside. The light flickers as bugs get drawn to the light. Crickets are the only thing that can be heard. Its calm and quiet.

Jasmine is extremely drowsy, but she slowly wakes up. One eye first then the other. She looks to her right then to her left. She doesn't see anything but darkness in all four corners. She doesn't have that much energy and it’s hard to remember what just happened. She tries to scream for help but there is duct tape over her mouth. She looks over her shoulder and sees her friends tied up as well. Nikki and John are still passed out.

Outside on the dirt road there are the headlights of a vehicle approaching the warehouse. It’s the same black van that was in their garage. It pulls up to the warehouse, parks but leaves the headlights on. The sound of the van’s doors opening and slamming
shut is heard. A man walks up to the warehouse and opens the warehouse door. It’s a man dressed in all black. Another man in all black follows behind the first. They walk in and stand in front of the gang and watch for a couple of minutes.

Jasmine quickly realizes these strange people walking into and pretends to be passed out again. She closes her eyes and leans her head down. The now two men in black untie Jasmine, Nikki and John and again dump their bodies into the back of the van. The two men step back and stand behind appearing to talk among each other. Jasmine tries to look up and see what they are saying but she can’t make anything, and she quickly pulls her head down.

The two men in black return to the vehicle and drive down another dirt road. The van pulls up to the shore of a swamp where an airboat is waiting. This time they tie everyone's hands and feet together and load their bodies into the bed of the airboat. The man in black starts the engine and both John and Nikki wake up. They look around confused but realize they are tied and their mouths taped.

The airboat is traveling now at full speed across the
water. Alligator eyes shine when the flashlight is shined into the water. Nikki and John both look at each other they have a worried look. Jasmine looks over at them and shakes her head. After a forty- five-minute ride the airboat finally start slowing down. It pulls up to a shore. Jasmine, Nikki and John pretend to be dead again. The men in black pick up all the bodies and bring them to this camp site.

SACRIFICE

The camp site has a bonfire lit in the center. Tiki torches are lighting the outer edges of the site. There is a haunting sound in the background. A crowd of people singing a chant. A drum beat. A powerful smell of odor.

Jasmine, Nikki and John are left inside a small cabin room this time only with their hands tied and no duct tape. A man in black guards the outside door with a shotgun.

“Oh My God, what’s going on?” says Nikki. Jasmine whispers at Nikki, “keep it down I have a plan to get us out of here.” John looks out the window he sees the guard and tikki torches. “Any idea where we are”? says John. “Somewhere on the bayou.” I say we take out that guard, steal his gun and make a run for the airboat,” says Jasmine in a low voice.

In the meanwhile, on the other side of the camp is an ongoing ritual. There is the body of a man lying on a table. A priest is looming over the body of the man painting the body with symbols. A crowd of about a dozen people appear to be under the influence of some psychedelic drugs and chanting with the sound of a drum beat.

The priest picks up a dagger from the table with both hands. He says a few words then stabs the man in the chest. Blood gushes from his chest and mouth. The congregation cheers in elation. They tie the feet with weights and drop it in the swamp waters nearby.

ESCAPE

Jasmine, Nikki and John knew they were running out of time. They could hear a crowd of people cheering. A priest is walking towards the
cabin. John looks back at everyone. “Someone is walking over here let’s do this,” he says. John breaks his hand ties against a sharp edge. He swings open the door and goes to grab the shotgun from the guard.

John grabs two hands on the shotgun but the guards still have a grip. He swings the butt of the gun and hits John In the head. John falls to the ground but gets up and tackles the guard by the knees. The guard still on the ground points the gun up and grazes John on the side of his leg. John yells and falls to the ground.

Jasmine and Nikki have broken their hand ties at
this point and exited the cabin. The shot rang out and alerted the rest of the congregation. “No!” yells Nikki. The priest and members of the cult have reached the cabin and take both Jasmine and Nikki hostage. John is dragged to the other side of the camp site. They are all brought to the same area where the man was just killed.

“Just let us go please just let us go!” says Jasmine. Jasmine, Nikki and John are on their knees. The
congregation stands behinds and watches. The high priest comes from behind the bushes. He is an older man with grey hair and a wrinkled worn face. He is dressed in all white. He faces the congregation and with his hands tells everyone to kneel. The congregation kneels before him.

“We stand here today with a sacrifice of blood, says the high priest.”

“Please let us go!” shouts Nikki. “Hush, hush my children. You all have been chosen to take this journey into the next life,” Says the high priest. The guards walk from behind and grab Nikki. The drag her up to the high priest while she kicks and punches. Nikki bites the hand of one guard and he lets go. Nikki makes a run for it but one of the men in black has a rifle. He let’s her run for a good distance just enough to get a good aim in his scope. He holds his breath and pulls the trigger. Nikki falls to the ground. She is instantly dead. The bullet has entered the back of her head.

THIRST FOR BLOOD

The men in black go and grab her body and drag it to from where she ran from. Jasmine starts weeping. John is shaking his head in despair. The
high priest has a dagger. He says a prayer. The congregation lowers their head in prayer. The high priest walks forward and grabs Jasmine by the back of the head. He pauses then suddenly slashes her throat. Blood spills out and her body falls to the ground.

They carry and put both bodies on a steel table designed to collect blood. “Drink my people,” says the high priest. The congregation is thirsty. They all surround the tables and drink with their mouths, some shoving each other to drink they are so thirsty.

The high priest turns and looks at John. He stares and has a menacing grin on his face but the men in black drag him back to the cabin. John is thinking to himself.

Who are these people? What do they want?

Jasmine and Nikki are now gone. How do can I get out of here?

What just happened weighs heavy on John. So many questions and so little answers. It is apparent this is some sort of religious cult conducting a ritual of human blood sacrifice. Nikki tried to run but she was shot dead. John was clipped before and a couple pellets of shot was still in his leg. He could not run anyway but he could still move. There was not much time left as indicated by the mad stare of
the high priest.

INVESTIGATION

It was rumored that there was a cult living somewhere in the parish. In the past couple
of years there had been numerous kidnappings and homicides but no leads.

It’s bright daylight and New Orleans PD has investigated the break in the French Quarter. The garage door was left open. Furniture was thrown out of Its place it’s apparent there was a struggle here but no bodies.

FBI Detective Carson was on the scene. He could see the similarities in this crime scene to other crime scenes in the past. A home break in then a kidnapping. Usually tourist that go missing. Bodies had been found out on the bayou with knife gashes or gun wounds. All the blood was drained. Carson had a feeling that it might be too late. He looks over to his partner, “We need to get a lead soon this looks similar and it might be too late.”

His partner Detective Langdon headed out to the street to interview witnesses. He knocked on the neighbor’s door. An older woman comes to the door. “I’m detective Langdon and I’m investigating a break in and possible kidnapping in the house next door.”

“ohh yes two weeks ago,” says the neighbor. The owner of the rental house had reported to police the situation when the current guest was supposed to be moving out, but he came and saw what happened. He could not get a hold of any of them by phone or through the app.

“They rent that house out to tourist, that night I saw a man dressed in all black and a black form Econo van drive into the garage,” says the neighbor. The guest had left their stuff behind suggesting a quick departure. The detectives knew who it was but where had they gone?

Carson stood in the garage. He closed his eyes and began to visualize the events leading up to the kidnapping.

THE GIFT

Carson knew he had a gift since he was five years old. He could sense people. His cousin had died of heroin overdose when he was just three years old. One day he told his mother he could sense his cousin in the room, telling them everything was alright, and he loved them.

People in the neighborhood would come to him at nine years old asking to speak to their long lost loved ones. Carson wanted to really use his gift, so he became a police officer as soon as he could. His gift really helped him advance through the ranks and he then became a detective.

Carson was assigned to homicides. He also worked on cold cases. He solved a thirty-year cold case of a naked woman found face down in the bayou. She was sexually assaulted and murdered brutally. The autopsy could not pin point a cause of death. Leads ran short because no one witnessed the crime that took place out in the wooded area of the bayou.

Carson’s gift at the time let him connect the dots, visualize the events leading up to the crime and locate the suspect who was still living. The suspect was eventually brought to justice and was now serving life in prison for the rape and murder of this young woman.

It’s been ten years and now Carson a veteran on the
force had solved lots of hard cases of which anyone without his gift would just go cold. No case was too hard. He solved all of them and helped bring closure to those loved ones who went missing.

FLAW

Carson had a secret he had been hiding from his superiors for a few months now. He had a slight drinking problem. He would carry a flask of
whiskey in his suit jacket and stash additional flask in his glove box. When no one was looking he would take a few sips. In his late thirty’s he had no wife or children, but he wasn’t the settle type anyways. He lived in a small apartment with two cats. Everything was meticulously organized and labeled.

He had been drinking because the last case he worked on went cold. He had solved every case he had worked on and now that this came up he couldn’t solve it. A couple went missing. Justice could not be served. He felt depressed and drinking filled the void. He was a functioning alcoholic at this point, but the drinking made him a bit unfocused and visions became blurry.

His partner Det. Langdon knew Carson had this problem but said nothing to their superiors about it. It was a crutch, but he believed Carson would get over it soon.

CONNECTING THE DOTS

Carson stood there in the garage. He had closed his eyes and visualized the scene.

A man in dressed in all black drove in a black van dark tinted windows pulled up to the driveway. He gets out and pulls up the garage door and pulls the van inside. He closes the garage door, turns off the engine and waits. Three tourists, three young people with the future ahead of them walk inside the house. Then it happens. The mysterious man in black kidnaps everyone and puts them in the van and drives away. He drives to a remote location on the bayou puts the people in an old warehouse. He then returns with another man dressed in all black and takes the people to another location. There is a sign that reads;

Airboat Tours.

Then an air boat speeding across the swamp. Carson’s vision goes blurry and then the premonition ends.

Carson opens his eyes. There was the clue. The suspects had used an airboat to transport the victims but to where? Langdon walks in, “what is it Carson?”

“The victims were taken into an airboat,” says Carson. The two head back to the station. Langdon begins a database search searching for airboat companies. The problem was that there was lots of airboat companies in the state.

Carson is at his desk. The phone rings. Carson picks it up, “FBI, homicide.” The caller on the line, “I have some information on the Smith case.” “Can you come down to the station to discuss it with us?” says Carson. The caller agrees to come by. The Smith case was the last case that Carson had worked on but could not solve. If they had the right information this would be an amazing break for him. “We have someone coming by saying they have information on the Smith case,” says Carson to Langdon. Carson gets up and walks into the bathroom. He goes into the stall and takes the flask out of his suit jacket. He drinks the rest of the liquor and finishes it drinking every drop.

He returns to his desk. There is a pin board behind his desk with photos of the missing victims. He pins the three recent additional photos to it and takes a sigh of relief.

INTERVIEW

The witness is here. Ms. Geane was a friend of the Smith’s. She was a tall woman with
dark hair and a slender body. She walks into the interview room and sits down. A small table is in front of her and two additional chairs. A false mirror is in the room and on the other side is another room with a camera pointing outwards. Carson and Langdon walk in and sit on the two other chairs.

“So lets get to it, tell me what you got,” says Langdon. “I was a close friend of the Smith’s,” says Ms. Geane. “That night they had been downtown and returned home, that was last time I saw them.” “They had no enemies or anyone I knew would want them dead.” “I heard some things,” says Ms. Geane. She gulps her throat and pauses. “What? What did you hear,” says Langdon? “I heard there is a group of people living somewhere far out on the bayou doing bizarre things. “Rituals, sacrifice for some twisted beliefs,” says Ms. Geane.

Carson and Langdon both look at each other and then back at her. “Would you be willing to take a polygraph test?” says Langdon. “Yes, I believe I would pass,” says Ms. Geane.

She gets up and walks into the polygraph room. She sits down and gets hooked up to the sensors.

The administrator sits down and looks at the computer screen. “Just relax and answer every question yes or no,” he says. “Did you know the Smiths?” says the administrator. “Yes,” says Ms.

Geane. “Did you kill them?” says the administrator. “No,” says Ms. Geane. They continue the test for another additional twenty minutes. The administrator allows Ms. Geane to return to the interview room. Langdon and Carson enter the polygraph room while the administrator is reading the data.

“So was she telling the truth? Says Langdon. “Yes, she is defiantly telling the truth says the administrator. He holds up a print out graph of the test with waves across a chart. Langdon nods his head after reviewing the data. Langdon and Carson return to the interview and close the door where Ms. Geane is waiting.

“You passed the test so your telling the truth,” says Langdon. “If you need me just give me a call,” say Ms;. Geane. She gets up, put a handwritten note of her phone number on the table and walks out.

HOME

Carson is at home now. He is slouched on his living room chair with the lights
out. It’s dark and midnight. The clock ticking in the background. He takes a sip of a glass of whiskey. He tries to think and see with his abilities, but the drinking is making tings cloudy. Police lights flash in the window then disappear.

Armed with this new information and they knew what had to be done. These group of people had something to do with the disappearances and they were somewhere out on the bayou.

Carson gets up and picks up a photo of his mother in a frame. She was the one that encouraged him to use his gift. He sits down and pours himself another glass. It starts raining outside and Carson drinks the whole glass in one sip.

He pours another glass drinking the whole glass in one sip. He is thinking he could figure this out he could save a lot of lives.

He gets up and picks up his laptop and goes to Google. He searches,

Cult on the bayou

To his surprise he finds a few search results. On a conspiracy website they speculate a series of murders connected to a cult. Carson keeps reading and sits back in his chair and thinks. He keeps reading into the early mourning and eventually falls asleep in his chair.

NEW LEAD

It’s the early mourning and Carson is still asleep in his chair. His cell phone rings and wakes Carson from his slumber. He picks it up it’s Langdon on the other line.

“Carson look we narrowed our search down to three air boat companies, I need you to come in to the station.” Says Langdon. Carson hasn’t even shaved but he changes into his suit and gets into his car. He drives to the station where Langdon is waiting in the parking lot with the un marked police car.

“Get in let’s visit the first place,” says Langdon. Carson gets in the police car and they drive to the first location. It’s quite a drive out but they get there, and the sign reads:

Airboat Tours.

They get out and there is a gravel road leading up to two air boats on the shore line. A trailer is there where they give people tours. Langdon walks over to the trailer to talk to the owner. Carson walks out scans the area. He looks around for any clues. Langdon has finished talking with the owner and he walks over to Carson.

“I spoke to the owner here and he gave me the
information on his employees,” says Langdon. Carson is looking out far on the swamp. “It wasn’t here, this is not the place,” says Carson. The two get into the car. Langdon nods his head they head on the highway to the next location.

They arrive at the next air boat spot. Again, the sign reads:

Airboat Tours.

Langdon gets out and tries to locate the owner. Carson gets out and looks around he gets a feel for the place. Langdon is talking with the owner of the airboat.

“There have been rumors, that there is a cult of crazies living out there, but I don’t believe any of it,” says the owner. “I’ve been on this swamp for twenty years and haven’t seen anything.”

“anything?” says Langdon. Carson nods his head no. They two get in and drive to the next location.

Hopefully they will get something. They drive up a dirt road. They pass an old abandoned building and drive further down to the water. There is no airboat parked on the shore. There is a sign it reads:

Airboat Tours.

Langdon parks to car. He gets out and tries to locate someone. Carson gets out and walks around. Something feels different this time. He kneels and touches the soil. He closes his eyes and suddenly a vision. Three victims, loaded into the airboat and the dark of night. Carson stands up and looks behind him towards the old building.

TRAIL

Carson then turns and looks out over the swamp. “They were here,” says Carson. “What?” says Langdon. “They were here, they came through the building then left on an airboat at night,” says Carson.

Carson looks to Langdon, “I think we should stake
out here and see who comes.” They park the car in a wooded area and cover it with bushes. They sit in the car with binoculars and wait till night falls.

Crickets are chirping, and the frogs are croaking loudly on the swamp. It’s now about midnight and Langdon is passed out snoring on the wheel. Carson is half awake but he see’s a bright light. He picks up his head and opens both eyes. It appears to be an airboat loaded on a trailer of a pickup truck. There are two men in black unloading the boat into the water. Carson looks over Langdon and shakes his shoulder.

Carson whispers, “wake up someone is here.” Langdon picks up his head. “huh?”

Carson points out towards the shore of the swamp. Langdon yarns and rubs his eyes. He can now see the headlights and the activity taking place by the shore. The men in black unload supplies to the bed of the air boat. They start the fan and ride off into the dark of night. Langdon tries to point out a license plate but it’s too dark to see. The truck takes off and soon the headlight disappears into the night.

“We need to get a boat out here and see where it
goes,” says Langdon. “Agreed let’s head back to the station and see what we can get,” replies Carson. Carson pulls his flask out and takes a drink. They start the car and drive up to the spot the mysterious men were at. Carson gets out and touches the water. They get on the highway and drive back to the station.

BOAT

“When are you going to quit?” says Langdon. Carson takes a sip of his flask and looks at Langdon, “I don’t have a problem ok.”

They have now secured an air boat loaded on a trailer and a pickup truck. The drive back to the known location with a new boat in tow. They get to the swamp and backup the airboat into the water. The truck is hidden in the nearby woods and bushes thrown onto it. It’s late afternoon and they are expecting the suspects to show up again at midnight.

Midnight comes and there is no pickup truck and airboat like the night before. They wait till the early morning and nothing. They pull the air boat out of the water and leave. The next day Langdon and Carson load the trailer with the air boat and head back out to the same location.

This time they wait and watch again like the night before. It’s about midnight and a black van and the same pickup truck pull up to the shore. Men in black unload their airboat into the water. Carson has a moment. He closes his eyes and can see something.

“What is it?” says Langdon. Carson looks over and says, “I am sensing danger. It is possible we have more victims here.”

The airboat takes off and the truck and van take off
down the road. Carson get into his air boat and. He waits till the suspects boat is far into the swamp not to warn them someone else is following them. Langdon gets in with his shotgun. He puts on the headset, starts the engine and maneuvers towards the direction of the suspects.

Carson has a walkie with him to communicate with Langdon. They are careful to use a flash light as this might give out their position, but it’s so dark they need to see where they are going. Every time they turn on the light out on the water they can see the eyes of alligators swimming below the surface.

It’s been an hour out in the swamp. It seems they might have lost the airboat.

SMOKE ON THE WATER

Langdon and Carson are on the airboat in the middle of the swamp. They are lost and have no clue where the suspects went. Carson pulls out his flask takes a drink. The mosquitos are nasty and have been biting at Langdon. He’s smacking his arm and neck every minute.

They can smell a burning fire in the distance. “You smell that?” says Langdon. Carson looks around into the night but it’s hard to pick out anything in the dark. He closes his eyes and tries to connect with his surroundings. Carson then looks up and grabs the flashlight. He points it out into the water. “This way,” he says. Langdon steers the boat in the direction of the light and Carson directs them the rest of the way.

They pull up to a shore with a camp and a bonfire burning. They have found something. Langdon cuts the engine and lets the boat drift not to alert anyone. They can see that other airboat parked on the shore but no one around. With out it making it shore both guys get out into the water their knees submerged. They walk over to the shore.

Langdon walks to the left Carson to the right. Langdon looks down at his phone, there is no signal this far out on the swamp. Radio contact with the station is probably cut off at this point as well.

FIRST CONTACT

A gunshot rings out and pings off the metal hull of the boat. Langdon and Carson duck and run for cover. Langdon runs behind the boat
and Carson hides in the bushes. Langdon pulls out a pistol but doesn’t know where the shots are coming from and can’t see in the dark. Another shot rings out.

Carson closes his eyes and can sense someone close by over in the woods. He slowly moves over to that area not to alert them. He creeps from behind and tackles the shooter from behind. The shooter falls to the ground and his gun gets thrown forward. The shooter is struggling, and Carson turns over the man to see his face.

“Who are you!?” yells Carson. He grabs the man’s lapel and shakes him. The shooter looks dead, foam slowly comes from his lips. Langdon runs over and looks down.

“Fuck!” says Langdon. “He’s dead,” says Carson.

The shooter had killed himself before he could be interrogated. They investigate the camp looking for any clues. Inside of a wood shack are photos posted on the walls of victims. Carson can see not only photos of the Smith’s but of also the other recent missing tourist and a dozen more missing. Carson picks up the photos of the recent missing tourist. “They’re not on this island but they are very close
by,” says Carson. “They were following each of their victims closely.”

CLOSE BY

Langdon and Carson get on the airboat in search of the location of the missing. They ride down the swamp further. “Stop the boat,” says Carson. Langdon cuts the engine. They pull of their headsets to listen. The sound of a drum beat is heard in the distance.

“Do you hear that?” says Carson. “Yea I hear it it’s coming in that direction,” says Langdon. He points off in the distance and flashes the light. Langdon grabs a row. Carson grabs another and they row the boat towards the sound of the drum beat.

They can see smoke and another fire going. Except this camp is much bigger. In fact, it was a whole compound with several cabins on the property. It was an island in the middle of the swamp so deep out that no one could know this was there.

They don’t want to alert who ever is at the camp, so they get of the boat way out in the water. This time the water comes up to their chest. An alligator swims by. It takes them fifteen minutes to reach the shore. They reach a shore near a wooded area. Their clothes are soaked, and mud is on their shoes.

They are hiding in a bush. Waiting and watching.

BEAT OF THE DRUM

Carson and Langdon are now on the island in the middle of the swamp. They are
hiding in a bush watching and observing. They can see the camp. A fire burns and a drum beat is loud. People dancing in a trance and chant with the drum beat.

Langdon whispers, “what the hell is this?”

“It appears to be some sort of ritual,” says Carson.

Two men in black walk towards one of the cabins. They open the door and drag out a man. He is badly bruised and appears weak. It’s John the victim that went missing a few weeks ago. They both recognize him.

“That’s one of our victims, Says Carson. “I know,” replies Langdon. They drag John out by one hand each. Langdon is ready to pounce and draw his weapon, but Carson pushes it down.

“Put that thing away!” Carson whispers. John is tied to a pole by his hands. Two other men in black load dead bodies onto the airboat and leave into the darkness of night. Langdon quietly moves across and behind the cabin where John was dragged from.

He waits until no one is looking then goes inside the door. Carson is still waiting in the bushes. He closes his eyes and tries to sense the environment. He feels death. He then sees a vision. He could see
those missing persons as victims being brought here. Then he sees the ritual. Men and women are dragged to a table, killed then drained of blood. The bodies dumped in another location in the bayou. Carson opens his eyes. He needs to hold something tangible to see more.

Meanwhile, Langdon has made it inside the cabin. He radios Carson. “I made it inside.” There are two hostages tied by their hands inside. Langdon holds a single finger to his lips to hush the couple from screaming. “FBI, I’m here to rescue you,” he whispers. He unties their hands and they look for an opportunity to escape.

CULT SECRETS

Carson finds a dagger on the ground. He holds it and closes his eyes.

The high priest has emerged. The drumming starts again, and the chanting gets loud. Langdon and the two hostages make their move and open the door. They hide in the bush nearby.

John is united and marched up to the table. The high priest looks for the dagger but can’t find it.

A congregation member brings another knife and walks up towards the high priest. Langdon is watching in the bushes and can’t resist. He does something now or someone is getting killed today. He draws his pistol points and fires hitting the man in the leg. He falls to the ground. The congregation scatters everywhere. Everyone running in panic.

Carson was beginning to see a vision, but all hell breaks loose. He looks up and see what was happening. He runs and grabs John. He shakes John laying on the table. “Wake up!” John wakes and looks up. Very weak and drowsy. “I’m FBI detective Carson I’m here to get you out!”

Carson helps John off the table and lifts one arm over his shoulder. The guards grab weapons and run in the direction of the shot. Langdon grabs the two victims and makes a run for it towards the shore.

ESCAPE

Langdon and the two victims have made it to the shore of the water. “Get in the boat!” Langdon points to the boat and the two victims must swim at this point to get to the boat. Langdon has stayed behind firing his pistol back. The water next to him splashes as bullets miss him.

The two victims make it to the boat. Langdon finally swims and climbs in the boat. He starts the engine pulls the boat around heads out into the darkness. In the hurry he has forgotten his partner Carson was left behind.

Carson is helping John get to the shore. He see’s and hears the air boat start then take off.

“Langdon!” he yells.

Langdon has now increased to full speed. He’s racing across the water. He just now realized he’s missing Carson in tow.

“I’m missing my partner, we need to go back.”

Langdon gets on the radio, “Carson you fucking idiot! I’m coming back to get you”

Langdon turns around the boat and heads back. “Get down,” he tells the two passengers. He cuts the engine and lets it coast then draws his weapon to cover for Carson. Shots are fired from the shore and ping off the metal hull of the boat.

“Come on!” yells Carson. Carson stops and suddenly has a vision. He is seeing a minute into the future.

In the future he see’s himself wading in the water trying to get to the boat and getting shot in the back.

Carson normally doesn’t like to carry a pistol on him so the only weapon he had was the dagger. He lays John on the back and runs back to face the shooters.

The shooter is suddenly shot in the head and immediately falls to the ground. Carson looks behind and it was Langdon holding his pistol smoke coming from the barrel.

Carson picks up John and heads back towards the boat. He struggles to get John body in the boat but gets it there then he himself gets in.

Langdon starts the engine again and turns around heading back out into the darkness.

CLOSE CALL

Langdon has increased the airboat now to full speed. They made a close call but finally made it out. Carson has a sigh of relief.

Un beknow to them is the fact that they are now being followed. The congregation has now entered their airboat and is about a half mile behind them.

Carson lowers his head and closes his eyes for a few seconds. “We’re being followed.”

The boat makes it to the shore and Langdon, Carson and the passengers get out and run to the truck hidden in the bushes. John must be slowly carried because he has a bad leg.

The truck pulls out and leaves dust. Just as they pull away the chasing airboat pulls into the shore. They have made it away a very close call.

FINAL CHAPTER

Carson sits in his apartment slouched in his chair with whiskey in his glass.

It’s been a few weeks after the rescue. The hostages have fully recovered. The suspects brought to justice.

It’s unclear why people do the things that they do you why they believe. Carson has finally solved another case. In fact, several cases. Closure had been brought to the survivors and the families of the victims.

Carson is ready for the next case, he takes another sip from the whiskey glass. He closes his eyes and begins to see. He sees the dead, the victims of this horrific crime.

The phone rings. It’s Langdon on the line and he has another case. Carson gets up and puts on his suit jacket and walks out the door.

The End.

THE FOREST

By Lee Jones

PROLUGOE

The suicide forest or Aokigahara forest (sea of trees) in Japan see over 100 suicides a year. Locals tell stories of paranormal activity in the forest. Many who come to visit do not return.

THE BEGINNING

Japan has always been a dream destination. The far east, full of splendor and wonder. Anime, bullet trains, sushi, martial arts, and some much more. But for a small certain group of tourist those things are not always enticing. Meet Katy, Jon and Leo. A group of American tourist on a flight to a Tokyo. But not any tourist, dark tourist. The kind looking for the unusual, off beaten path destination away from the usual tourist traps.

They’re plane just touched down on the runway. Its been a long flight and Leo is still passed out asleep in his seat. The plane docks into the terminal and the engines cut. Everyone stands and starts pulling their luggage from the overhead bins. Kate turns over to her right to shake Leo and wake him up. “Are we there yet”, says Leo. He opens one eye, then lifts his head to look around. He stretches his arms and sniffs his nose. “well finally”, Leo Says. The group de boards the plane and makes they’re way to the baggage.

As they wait several large military industry cases revolve around the carousel. It’s their gear and luggage brought along for the trip. Camera equipment, audio equipment and camping gear. Then the more obscure gear like a spirit box, thermometers, EMF meters, EVP and more. It was a bit overload but the team was prepared to make the most out of their trip. They are paranormal investigators on their way to the notorious Aokigahara forest. Also know as the suicide forest, home to 100 deaths per year. Many tourist come here but many come to not return.

The many stories and myths of from the locals of the forest have intrigued Kate, Jon and Leo. As a team they have investigated over 30 sites of paranormal activity over the years of working together. This time it was different. Never has there been so many stories and accounts from one location. If they were to find something, it was to be here.

It’s a few hours journey to the forest just on the other side of Mt. Fuji. The team is stoked on the final bus ride out. Leo is prepping his cameras. He’s the main photographer on the trip. He has his smaller goPro cam filming some unscripted moments. “On our way to the notorious suicide forest in Japan. This place is home to over 100 suicides a year. You are bound to find a body or some evidence in here”, says Leo as he speaks to the camera. He is making a documentary on the experience. Kate is looking on her laptop over news articles and photos about the myths and stories of the area. Jon is looking at a map of the forest trying to plot a trail and camping spot for the night.

The bus finally pulls in and everyone gets off. Kate, Leo and Jon are the last ones to de board the bus because they have so much gear. They pull bags from the overheard storage then pull luggage from underneath the bus. They put all their bags on the ground in a circle and just look at it. “You think we brought too much stuff?” says Jon. “We’re going to have to consolidate some stuff there is quit a hike to the camp site for tonight”, says Jon. The team starts organizing and consolidating their gear. They all have large hiking backpacks filled with the basics, a tent, food/water and flashlights. Leo pulls out a DSLR and slings it around his neck. He has a case in one hand. The rest of the team has a case of gear in each hand. They grab it and get moving. “If I can get a clearing I can pinpoint our exact location,” says Jon.

NO TURNING BACK

At the edge of the forest a sign reads, "Your life is something precious that was given to you by your parents" while another one states "Meditate on your parents, siblings and your children once more. Do not be troubled
alone." The Aokigahara forest is also called the sea of trees because of its high density of tress. It is so dense that you can easily get lost. Some Japanese tourist stand to read the sign in awe. But dare not to venture past the sign. Kate, Jon and Leo walk past with all their gear in tow. The Japanese tourist stare at the team in confusion.

Jon has a GPS but is struggling with a signal from all the trees covering the sky. Cell phone signals quickly die. “GPS signal is hard to get and I have no cell phone signal”, says Jon. They quickly realize things are starting to look the same. All they can see is trees for miles ahead. “You sure you know where we are going?”, says Leo. “The trail is going us in this direction”, says Jon as he points to off in the distance. “There’s no turning back at this point”, says Kate.

Jon suddenly stops and everyone following behind bumps into him. He is just staring up at a tree limb. It’s a noose hanging from the branch. “wow”, says Leo. Leo pulls his DSLR camera to his eye and start clicking away. He start video recording again,” first evidence into the forest”, Leo speaks to the camera. A couple of hours into hiking and the team has made it to the first camp site for the night. “We’re here lets setup camp for the night,” says Jon. They drop their backpacks and gear exhausted from the hike.

Jon starts assembling the tent and sleeping bags, Kate is working on a fire and Leo is wandering around the vicinity looking for more clues before it gets dark. The team is settling in for the night. Jon finishes setting up the tent and sets up game cameras on a couple trees around the vicinity
of the tent. Leo sets up an infrared camera pointing in one direction. Kate sets up high sensitivity audio recorder.

DAY ONE

It’s dark and the team has already setup camp. Kate as a bonfire going. Crickets chirp in the background
and everyone once in a while there is an animal noise in the background. There will be no EVP sessions tonight but the team wants to get a general feel for the environment they are in.

They leave the game cameras on but turn of the night vision camera and audio recorder to conserve battery life after an hour. They quickly fall asleep in their tent so tired from the trip and hike earlier in the day.

It is mourning and Kate is the first one up. She gets up and stretches and walks around the vicinity of the tent. Jon is up and checking on the game cameras. Leo wakes up last as always and cooks breakfast over the camp stove. Jon walks back over to the tent. “Nothing on the game cameras”, says Jon. “We will pack up and head off in that direction looking for more clues” says Jon. The team packs up after breakfast, puts on the backpacks and starts walking.

As they walk along the forest they start seeing more evidence. The noose was the first shock but they start seeing articles of clothing along the path. Jackets, shoes, wallets with ID, watches littering the forest floor. Leo is snapping pictures of the evidence.

Jon can spot something in the distance. He stops and stares not trying to get too close. It’s a dead body. Clothes were still on it and it was till decomposing. The smell was unbearable. Jon pulled his shirt up to cover his nose. He walks up to the body and finds a note next to the body. Leo hits record on his Gopro then starts snapping away at the scene on his DSLR. Kate starts coughing and wheezing from the strong smell and steps away.

She looks off in the other direction and notices some movement in the trees. “Hello? is anyone there?” She walks closer to get a better look. “Please I can help, just stay right there I’m coming,“ says Kate. She walks further into the direction trying to get a better view. It appears as if there is a Japanese woman with long grey hair half revealed behind the tree staring back at her for a second but quickly disappears. Kate walks up to that tree looks behind it but no one is there. She looks in all around but does not see anyone.

Kate walks back to the team. “What did you see up there?”, says Leo. “I though I saw someone,” says Kate. The team continue on the hike.

NIGHTFALL

It’s night time and camp is setup. The second night and the team is more than ready to get to some real work
done. Jon sets up game cameras, Leo with the night vision camera and Kate with the audio equipment. They are planning on doing an EVP session tonight. Kate will engage with hopefully some spirits and try to detect their presence over the equipment. They are ready to start. Leo puts on headphones and start listing and watching the night vision monitor.

“Are there any spirits with me?” says Kate. She has a spirit box in her hand. She repeats the question. She repeats
again but in Japanese. 私と⼀一緒に霊がありますか? Nothing but silence for a 20 minutes. They sit and wait and listen.

“Let’s try something else,” says Kate as she is about to put some equipment away. A yes is heard over the spirit box. Everyone pounces up then patiently watches their equipment for any changes. “Are you alone?” says Kate. They team patiently waits for 10 minutes listening. Then suddenly a “No” comes from the spirit box.

“Why are you here?” says Kate. This time the spirit box has no response. Suddenly a loud deafening noise almost like a scream is heard and Leo throws down the headphones to cover his ears. The needle on the EMF meter go off to the max. The monitor on the night vision camera goes completely hot white and bright. Everyone is covering there ears and then it stops. After five seconds of intense activity it is again silent. The needle on the EMF drops back down to zero. The screen not on the infrared camera is dark.

The team is now shook up. They are very experienced and have been on many paranormal experience but nothing this
intense. Kate has a worried look on her face. Jon flashes the flashlight at everyone. “Is everyone ok!?” says Jon. “There is defiantly something very strong here”, says Kate. Leo looks at his camera to check for footage. He quickly starts scanning through it. The event was so intense the camera footage was completely white and unusable. Jon runs over to check the game cameras. There was defiantly movement as those cameras did start recording around the same time as the event. “I’ll will have to analyze this in the mourning,” says Jon.

CROSSING OVER

It’s mourning and the team didn’t get that much sleep. They are groggy but need to continue. Leo wakes up
first. He walks out of the tent and notices a ring of bones arranged the tent and campsite. Human bones. He stops in fright and runs back into the tent to wake the others. “guys I think you really need to see this,” says Leo. Jon and Kate wake up and and walk out the tent. They rub their eyes then can see. The human bones circling the perimeter of the campsite. Jon quickly changes is look from tired to confused. “Who could of done this,?” says Jon.

“Someone is playing a fucked up joke on us,” says Kate. “Apparently there are people following us,” Say Kate. Leo grabs a few pictures with his DSLR and the team quickly packs up the stuff at the campsite. Jon upon analyzing the footage can see that something tripped the game cameras but can’t make out anything. In night vision mode its completely whited out for a few seconds around the same time as the intense event from last night. “Looks like we don’t have any usable footage, I’ll have to make some adjustments,” says Jon.

The team is hiking and exploring the forest once more. They pass a collection of human bones and a skull on the ground. Leo grabs a few pictures. They then make their way to a cave. “Lets check out that cave over there”, says Jon pointing off in the distance. They stood at the entrance of the cave and could not see much. It was dark looking down inside. Kate grabbed a small pebble and threw it down to listen for a hit on the ground. She counted after she threw it. “One, two, three, four, five,” says Kate. She stops. “I think I heard it at five seconds sounded a splash”, says Kate.

“So there is water down there,” says Jon. All scattered around the cave entrance is evidence. Mementos such as photos of the deceased, old wilted flowers, necklaces, hand
written notes etc. This location seemed to the most littered they’ve seen in the forest so far. “Something is different about this cave,” Leo is snapping away and filming on his cameras. Kate takes her flashlight and shines it inside the cave.

“ Lets setup camp nearby, I want to check out these caves tonight,” says Jon.
As Kate shines her flashlight she sweeps past and notices 2 eyes shining. She quickly sweeps back but the same thing is not there anymore. Jon is setting up the tent.
Leo notices a skeleton hanging by a noose on a tree branch and walks over to start taking photos of it. Kate steps in further in the cave to get a better look.

She notices the ground of the cave is wet. The water goes up to 3 inches deep .
Kate sweeps her flashlight again and the glowing eyes appear again. “Hello, is someone there?” yells Kate. The water in the cave is starting to get deeper. I is now above her ankles. She takes another step and notices the water goes above waist deep at this point and cant touch the bottom. She quickly pulls her foot back. Kate is sweeping the flashlight frantically around the cave. “Is someone there?” yells Kate again. There is a strange noise she quickly turns the flashlight to that corner.

Out of nowhere Kate is suddenly pulled down by her feet in the water. She screams. Jon and Leo can hear it and they drop what they are doing and run inside the cave. Kate is hanging on to the ledge of the shore of the small lake inside the cave for her dear life. Something is pulling her from inside the water and she is screaming. Both Jon and Leo run in at the same time and quickly see her with the flashlight. They grab one of each of her hands. They struggle for a couple seconds but eventually pull her up out
of the water. She makes it on solid ground and is soaking wet.

Jon and Leo both grab her by the shoulders and escort Kate to outside the cave. “Are you ok?” ask Jon. “What happened Kate?” ask Leo. Kate is shaking and shivering cold from the water. He eyes are big and she is silently trying to take in what just happened.

“Kate!?” shouts Jon. Kate is just staring into the air. Leo runs over with a town to dry her off and wraps it around her body. “I saw her”, whispers Kate not looking directly at anyone. “What?” ask Jon. “ I saw her”, says Kate a little bit louder this time. “Saw who saw who?” Ask Jon. Leo has started a fire and brings Kate over to the fire to warm up. She sits down next to the fire. “There is something very evil in that cave”, say Kate. Leo and Jon turn to both look at each other. “ I crossed over to the other side. I saw death,” says Kate.

Leo runs and grabs his camera gear and starts setting up at the entrance of the cave. He is quickly opening the all gadgets in his arsenal in his cases. EMF meter, spirit box, infrared camera, and audio recorders. “We have to see whats going on!” says Leo frantically setting up all the gear.

INTO THE ABYSS

A few hours have pasted its almost dark at this point and Kate is too scared at this point and has elected to remain in the tent. Jon and Leo are going to conduct an EVP
session tonight at the cave. A few bats fly out of the cave. Leo clicks on all the equipment. The monitor on the night vision camera is turned on. Jon walks up to the shore of the lake where Kate was attacked. He sweeps his flashlight looking for any evidence. The water is dark and murky. He cant see anything. Jon grabs the spirit box and turns it on. “Is there a spirit here?”, says Jon. Leo puts on his headphones and listens while watching the monitor.

“Yes” is heard from the spirit box immediately. “Are there others?” ask Jon. An immediate “Yes” is heard over the spirit box. Leo notices a humanoid silhouette in the monitor. The red showing warm and the blue areas showing cold. He shows Jon and points to the spot on the monitor. The figure is slowly moving towards them on the monitor but by flashlight they cannot see anything.

“Can you show me that you are here?” says Jon. This time the spirit box does not go off but Leo hears something over the audio recorder. It’s very faint and he goes to his laptop to enhance the volume of the faint sound. It’s a voice. Leo slows down the playback speed. It appears to say ....

Suddenly Jon interrupting sweeps his flashlight around the cave and see’s several glowing eyes. Not just one but its over been 20 to 25 shining back. Leo turns to his monitor and sees several silhouettes in the monitor. “Is there an evil spirit here?” Jon ask. Suddenly Jon is dragged into the water. Leo gets up and drops his headphones. Two hands appeared to be grab on his ankles.

Jon is know holding on the the shore of the lake with his finger tips. Leo grabs his hands. Jon’s hands are slowing
slipping and his head almost submerged under water. He tilts his head up to get more air. His mouth is now taking in water and he is gurgling trying to breath. Jon is swept under the water and completely submerged. Kate is yelling at the entrance of the cave too afraid to go in. “Whats going on?” yells Kate.
“Jon he just went under the water!” says Leo. Leo hears something and points up his flashlight. It appears to be an old woman with long grey hair. Kate notices the woman from before. The woman is appearing to walk on water. Walking towards them.

“Quick get out!” yells Kate. Leo runs towards the entrance where Kate is at but before he can make it something grabs at his feet.

DEATH

“Leo!” yells Kate. Leo is quickly swept away his fingers
barely griping the gravel into the darkness his flashlight disappearing into the water. A loud deafening noise like a scream is heard and Kate quickly covers her ears. She turns and runs. Smoke is bellowing from inside the cave and quickly moving out the cave.

Kate doesn’t have time to grab anything and runs through the forest. She is running as fast as she can. He heart beating 100 miles per minute. She trips on a trip branch on the ground and falls over. She hears and a noise and lies still on the forest floor. She looks up and its the figure. The demon. Just standing above her helpless body watching her. Kate quickly gets up and runs she doesn’t know where but she runs in any direction away from the demon. The moonlight and the stars now just lighting the forest. She is almost out of breath and stops for a moment to rest. She looks up and notices a several bodies hanging on nooses hanging on the trees above her. At least a dozen on the same 2 trees. She starts running again and looks behind. Her vision starts to blur.

Her neck feels tight. It starts getting tighter. She stops running and drops to her knees. Something is choking her. She is gasping for air. It feels as if a rope is wrapped around her neck. She places her hands as to remove something but nothing is there. Kate is slowly losing consciousness. Her vision begins to darken. She has been taken to the other side. Her dead body falls over

AFTERMATH

It’s been a few months and officials are now sweeping the forest to search for bodies. After all an annual search was done to recover bodies of loved ones who took
their lives in the forest. They come to the cave and notice the campsite. They see evidence but cannot locate any bodies. One man stands at the entrance of the cave and turns on his flashlight. Nothing.

As they search the forest they look around. Up the trees they see a body of a woman. But not a Japanese woman. It was Kate hanging by a noose from the tree. They cut the body down and the death is ruled as a suicide. The footage from the cameras at the campsite were recovered. The evidence was stowed away never to be seen again.

The End.

THE UNDEAD

OUTBREAK

By Lee Jones

PROLOGUE

An epidemic is bound to wipe out the worlds population…

OUTBREAK

Upon arriving at Hardsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Rochelle is a flight attendant on her last leg before her week off. She worked so hard and now she is going to get to take a well deserved vacation. She is rolling her bag of luggage from the jet bridge into the terminal. New passengers standing in line are waiting to board the next flight. She gives a sigh of relief as she walks by the crowd its all over for now.

She walks down and checks in with the hostess at one of the in terminal restaurants.  It’s a pretty fancy restaurant for being in an airport. She is seated and rolls up her luggage and starts reading a menu. “I heard the salmon was the best thing on the menu,” a strange man says. “Waiter can you get this lovely lady a martini,” says the man.

Rochelle looks over to the man. “Why thank you, and may I ask you for your name?” says Rochelle. “I’m James, I’m here in Atlanta for business, he replies. The waiter brings of a large martini and places it in front of Rochelle. “I’ll take the salmon”, Rochelle talks the waiter. “What exactly do you do James?” ask Rochelle. “Ohh investments, stocks, bonds, pretty boring stuff nothing of interest to a  pretty woman like you” says James.

“You have a way with women don’t you?” replies Rochelle.

“When I see someone like you I can’t resist. Where are you headed to next?” says James. “Ohh, I’m on vacation now, it’s been a few years since I had one,” says Rochelle. “Where are you going I’m sure you’ve been seen so many places”, replies James.

“I really have no idea where I’m going, I was hoping to just figure it out,” says Rochelle.

Rochelle takes a sip of her martini. Boom! She drops her martini the glass breaks apart. An explosion is heard. There are screams and people running from the jet bridge towards the inner terminal. Rochelle gets up walks from her table and can see there was a crash. One of the planes crashed into the terminal building airside. Black smoke is spewing quickly and a fire has started. “ “Someone get help!” a man screams in the background.  Rochelle having some emergency training wants to help. James looks over to Rochelle, “we should help get these people out of the fire” says James. They both look at each and nod then run over to the crash.

The pilots appeared to be dead and crushed from the impact. The heavy black smoke is making it difficult to see and breath. The plane crashed nose first into the terminal from the runway. A chunk of metal left a wide opening in the fuselage from the impact. Some passengers remain strapped into their seat unresponsive. One man was missing his legs and dragging himself to safety with his arms.  Another woman screaming at the top of her lungs. “Help! help!” says a victim. Rochelle and James run over to help the victim. “Are you ok?’ says Rochelle frantically. Unknown to Rochelle a man walking down the aisle very slowly dragging his feet is in a daze.

The man grabs Rochelle by the shoulders from behind and attempts to take a bite out of her flesh. James Tackles the man to the ground. The remaining passengers that seem dad appear to to suddenly wake up from the dead. Their heads snap and turn watching Rochelle and James. Aggressive, full of energy and biting. “Somethings not right!” says James. The injured woman that Rochelle was helping suddenly starts biting aggressively at Rochelle. Rochelle steps back frantically. “Whats going on!?” says Rochelle. “Let’s get out of here I’m not trying to find out!” replies James. James grabs Rochelle by the hand they both run from the plane wreckage.

In the terminal they continue running and coughing from the smoke.  They make it to about the end of the airside terminal and look behind them. A hoard of people are running in their direction, but they appear to be the passengers from the plane. The passengers appear to be injured, bruised and moving awfully fast to be just have come from a plane crash.  Rochelle and James look at each other and then continue running. They make it to the train connecting the airside concourse to the main terminal of the airport. They just made it in time, the doors shut just before the horde reaches them. The people bang on the windows but the train pulls away.

Rochelle is breathing heavily. “I have not a clue what just happened back there”, says Rochelle. The train gets to the main terminal they make their way bast baggage claim and out to the street. Masses of people are moving from the airport pouring into the street and fleeing in cars. Rochelle hears her cell phone go off. It’s an emergency alert from the government. All the other people pull out their phones with the same alarm.

“This is an Emergency, Seek Shelter Immediately,” it reads. “ We need a ride wait here!” says James. He runs inside to the car rental kiosk desk to look for keys. He runs back out with a bunch of keys in hand. “Come on lets go!” says James. They get to the parking garage and James press the buttons on the wireless car remotes. One of the vehicles goes off and they locate the car is belongs to. James gets in the drivers side and Rochelle in the gets in shotgun. James starts the car and pulls out of the parking quickly screeching the tires.

There are some parked taxi cabs blocking the roadway but James manages to navigate around them swerving in and out. They finally hit the road and start heading as far away as they can from the airport. Rochelle checks her phone for news. “Tokyo, London, Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles in a state of emergency,” says the broadcaster.

ESCAPE

They have managed to make it out alive. James turns on the car radio to the AM spectrum. Lots of white noise and static then turning the knob a voice cuts through the noise. “We have a safe house at Mercy Hospital. Food, first air, safe from the the infected.” “Infected? What could it be? Rabies, Ebola?” ask Rochelle. “No this is nothing the world has seen before”, says James. “It’s spreading fast like wild fire”, say James.

Their car pulls onto the highway but the entire highway is littered with parked abandoned cars. They can’t drive through for miles that they can see the road is blocked. They will have to get out and walk. “Damn we’re gonna have to hike our  way there”, says James. They park the rental car and get out. They now have to walk.

Walking down the highway most of the cars are abandoned. “I need to see if my family is ok”, says Rochelle. She picks up the phone but now she has no cellular signal. Rochelle bites her lip. They walk for a few miles in the sweltering Georgia heat and make it to a shopping center. “Over there, there is a gun shop,” says James. At the top a sign read BLACKPOWDER GUN SHOP.

The front window was smashed in it looked like it was already looted. They step over the broken glass inside to the gun shop. It turns out most of the place looted but they find a collection of shotguns locked in a glass gun case in the back. “I’ll look for a key, says James. He looks around for a key to open the gun cabinet.

CRASH! Rochelle threw a brick at at the display case holding the long guns and pulls two guns out. She passes James a shotgun. “Well then, you know how to use that thing?’ says James. Rochelle inserts a round and cocks back her shotgun. They head out the gun shop and notice a grocery store in the same shopping center. “Lets check for food and water in that grocery store,” says Rochelle. The parking lot was abandoned, no other soul in sight.

The front door was open. Rochelle slowly opens it and they walk inside. Most of the shelves are empty and the power is out. James signals Rochelle to clear the opposite side of the store. They slowly move in with careful not to make too much noise. James stops and finds some food left over on the shelf. Rochelle finds some medicines and first aid on the opposite side of the store.

“I found food over here!’ yells James. As he is examining the items he feels a metal barrel touch to the back of his head. “Don’t you fucking move! Put your weapon down now!” says the voice behind him. James slowly put down his gun on the ground and puts his hands up. “Turn around!” James complies and turns around to face the voice.  It’s an older man, probably 60’s. He has a pointed right in the James’s face. “What are you doing here are you infected!?” yells the man.  “No no we here looking food and water we are completely healthy”, says James frantically.

“Drop it!’ yells Rochelle. She has her gun pointed at the back of the strange man. The man slowly places his gun on the ground and turns around.  James quickly moves out of the way.

“We have some questions for you, do you know whats going on?” say Rochelle. The man has his arms raised in the air. “There was an outbreak, a virus. It has spreaded rapidly. Those that are infected have a ultra sense of sound and smell. They feed on the un infected,” says the man. “My name is Will by the way, I have food and water in the back”. Rochelle slowly lowers her gun. Rochelle glances at James.

“Do you know a way to Mercy Hospital?” ask Rochelle. “I do but why are you going there?” ask Will. “There is a safe house there we need to get there,” say Rochelle.  Will escorts them to the back of the store where is there is a small collection of food and water. Rochelle runs up and quickly opens the bottle of water and starts chugging it. James start drinking as well and open a can of beans and starts eating it.

"We’re going to have to get there by foot all the roads I know of are blocked and impossible to drive through,” says Will. The group quickly packs a couples bags full of supplies. A small amount of food and first aid. They leave the grocery store and Bill shows them the way.

NIGHTFALL

It is now dusk and it is getting darker by the minute. They haven’t seen a soul for hours. Cars remain abandoned in the streets blocking the roadway. Stores have been broken into and looted. Rochelle, James and Will have been walking for hours. “Look we might have to get some rest somewhere and someone will stand watch,” says Will. They are in a nice looking neighborhood but everyone is gone. They find a 2 story house and kick down the front door. An an infected charges towards Will, and will takes a shot to the head and the body falls to the ground.

“Lets clear the house before we settle in,” says Will. James heads up stairs to clear the 2nd floor of any infected. Will clears the 1st floor first the kitchen, living room, garage and back.

“Clear!” yells James.

“Alright you can put your gun down. I’ll stand watch for a few hours and then I’ll get some sleep”, says Will. James and Rochelle look at each other as if to hesitating trusting a man they just met. They both nod and head upstairs. In the one of the rooms Rochelle lies her back to the wall with the gun standing up next to her. James flops out in the on the bed. Fours hours have passed and James is awoken. He was snoring loudly. “It’s your turn,’ says Will. Will lowers his ball cap over his eyes and lies down. James steps outside on the porch and notices several infected roaming about but they do not notice him.

The infected turn the heads towards James and start charging towards him. James points his gun and fires. The shotgun fire is too slow to keep up with the ever increasing hoard of infected charging at him. Will and Rochelle wake up from the noise and run out to the porch. They notice whats going on and start firing back.

“Head up stairs!” yells James. The infected have gotten to close and James, Rochelle and Will all run up stairs. They climb through a window onto the roof. The infected have gotten inside the house and now climbing the the stairwell. Everyone firing away all they got at the hoard of infected. But everyone is running low on ammo. “I’m getting low on ammo we need to get out of here!” yells Will.

All of a sudden a pickup truck pulls up to the house. A man leans out of the window and starts firing at the infected. “Get in!” he yells. Will, Rochelle and James jump from the second story roof onto the bed of the truck. The car pulls away just in time.

GAME PLANE

The vehicle is now driving off road. Rochelle is sitting in the back with James. Will is sitting shotgun. “Why did you save us?’ says James. “I owed an old favor to my friend Will here we served in battle back in the day”. My name is Zac by the way,” say the man. “We’re trying to get to Mercy Hospital”, says Rochelle. “Well right now all the roads are blocked it is impossible to get through. “I got a lodge just down this dirt road,” says Zac.

They pull up to a house hidden away by trees and a dirt road. “Make yourselves at home,” says Zac. Everyone gets out the car and looks around. They all head inside to the kitchen. Everyone sits down at the kitchen table. "Who are hour friends?” says Zac. “This is Rochelle and James. I met them bucket a grocery store. They wanna to Mercy Hospital they say that’s where safe house is, “says Will.

“How do you know for sure?” ask Zac. “We heard a radio transmission, its are best hope right now,” says Rochelle.

“Well, I’m gonna have to go with you too. I don’t have enough food at this point to get through a week now, my resources are about dried up” says Zac.  Zac gets up and goes to the other room. He brings back a paper map and puts it on the kitchen table. With a marker he draws a path from they’re current location to the the hospital.

“I was savaging out yesterday and found this area is flooded with infected. We are going to have to get past this zone as quietly as possible,” says Zac.

HELL ZONE

The gang has gone as far as the pickup truck will take them. They get out the truck, grab their bags of supplies and start walking. The hospital is a few miles away but the walking area is flooded with infected. Zac pulls out his binoculars and can see hoards of infected for miles roaming the streets. “Number one rule is to keep quiet as possible,” says Zac. “We’re taking the subway to get there. Everyone takes the stairs down to the station.

It’s dark and there are no lights down there. It’s pitch black. Everyone switches on they’re flashlights. Careful not to make a noise. The station is abandoned and no one is there. They begin walking  down the tunnel. Everyone is carrying a gun. They make it to the next train stop and can see several infected prowling about sniffing for a scent of fresh flesh. They shine they’re flashlights but the light seems to not bother the infected. Another infected appears to be finishing the last of a stray dog. The blood dripping from his face and the intestines splattered on the floor beneath it. The smell is unbearable. Zac has a vile of infected blood.

“Here put this on your body it will mask you scent”, says Zac. Everyone smears a bit of it on their clothes. “The virus transmits only from blood to blood contact”, says Zac.

Zac turns his head to everyone and puts his finger to his lips to signify silence. Zac keeps a flashlight on the infected to make sure nothing happens. They are about to clear the station then suddenly unknown to her, Rochelle’s foot kicks a glass bottle.

Ching! All the infected in the train stop turn to look at them and beginning charging towards them. More infected appear to come from down the steps. Zac cocks his shotgun and begins firing. But there are too many at this point it is a horde of infected heading their way. “Run!” yells Zac to the others. Will, James and Rochelle begin running further down the tunnel.

Zac gets bit by an infected on his shoulder. He turns and runs down the tunnel. He is hurt bad and he is bleeding badly. from his shoulder. He puts his hand over it to stop the bleeding. “Come on Zac”! yells Will. They continue running and make it tot the next train station and run up the stairs. They make it out to the street and into the back of a bar. They get inside the bar and locked the back door.  Everyone is catching they’re breath. Rochelle takes a a bar towel, rips it up and fashions a tourniquet. She wraps it from Zac’s arm from his armpit to around his shoulder. Will brings over a flask of liquor found at the bar and gives it to Zac. “Here drink this,” says Will. Zac takes a long gulp then chokes and coughs. “Shit!” says Zac. “He got bit does that means he’s infected?” ask Rochelle.

“Possibly. We don’t know that much about the virus at this point”, says Will. James grabs a pool stick from the bar to use as a melee weapon.

THE FINAL STAND

James grabs the map from Zac. “Ok we are only ohh a mile a from the Hospital.” says James. “Yea but look at that horde of infected out there”, says Rochelle. They all look out the windows of the bar an can clearly see the biggest concentration of infected they have seen yet.

“Lets make a move in the mourning”, says James. “Zac is going to need medical treatment as soon as possible we can’t wait till mourning for that to happen,” says Will. “You see that horde of infected out there! There is no fucking way we are getting through that right now!” yells James. “Zac got bit and we don’t know how fast this virus can really progress,” replies Will. Rochelle breaks up the argument. “Give me the map”, says Rochelle. She also takes the binoculars and looks out upon the horde.

Directly across the street is a gas station. “I got an idea”, says Rochelle. She busts through the door to the gras station across the street. James and Will follow her. “We can set a trap, bait them in this area then set a fire. Then we can make a move,” says Rochelle. Everyone runs inside the convince store to grab gas cans. As many as they can. Rochelle grabs a lighter. The pumps are out on the gas tanks so they find the backup generator switch. “Alright once I turn this on it’s going to start attracting infected,” says Rochelle. She flips the switch and James and Will start filling the gas tanks.

Infected have started slowly moving from down the street towards them. “Hurry!” yells Rochelle. They then splatter the gas all over the place. James places a line from the the inside of the gas tank to the outside and draws it out about 50 feet. “Alright come on”, says Rochelle. James leaves on an old boom box and turns the music all the way up. He leaves it in the middle of the gas station. hey back up and she trails a path of gas from the station to out in the street.  Rochelle holds of the lighter, flicks it on and drops it at the end of the trail she just created. The fire quickly spreads from the street all they way to the station. The gang runs back to the bar to grab Zac.

A large horde of infected come charging towards the gas station. Several get on fire burning dead infected flesh. Rochelle, Will and James get back into the bar and find Zac in bad shape. His health is getting worst. His flesh is turning swollen and black starting from the area of the bite going down his arm. The infection is growing and Zac seems weak. “Come one Zac this is our chance!” yells Will. Will helps Zac to stand up and they make their way out of the bar. Zac is struggling to keep up but they make it down the road.

They make it to the hospital and find several infected roaming around the entrance of the hospital. James fires a few shots taking down a few. Inside they find the hospital is empty, and the power is out. They turn on they’re flashlights looking for any signs of help. “Is anyone here!?” yells Rochelle. They make it to the ER wing of the hospital. They can see lights on. A barbed fence gate is blocking the path into the rest of the wing. “Hello is anyone here we need help we have someone hurt!?” yells Rochelle as she bangs on the fence. Zac at this moment is leaning on Will to standup.

A man in military boots and a rifle walks out from one of the doors from behind the fence. He walks right up to the fence. “Help we need help immediately we have an injured man!” yells Rochelle.

“Is he infected? say the man. “He got bit” says Rochelle. “Then he cannot enter.” says the man. “We have come a long way, we really need your help,” says Rochelle.

Suddenly, a female doctor comes from the end of the hallway and walks towards them. “Let them through this man needs medicine I can treat him,” says the female doctor. The guard opens the gate and lets Rochelle, Zac, Will and James in. The barded fenced gate closes behind them. They follow the doctor and she leads them to a ER room with a bed. They lay Zac onto the bed. ‘Thank you doctor,” says Rochelle.

“I’m doctor Meyer, I’m studying this virus in my patients. I have valuable data. We need to get this data to the CDC but all lines of communication are down.”

Doctor Meyer hand Rochelle a notebook. “We have to get this to the CDC it’s very important!.” says the Dr. Meyer. Rochelle, James and Will all look at each other. “Lets do it,” says Rochelle. “I’m going with her,’ says James. “I’m going too,’ says Will. They are taken to the main area of the safe house which is the cafeteria and two wings of the hospital. Many survivors are here. The guard shows them their stores. Everyone packs bags with supplies, ammo, grabs guns and the folder. They now have a new mission.

To be continued…

Stick around for Volume II of The Undead series.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

The lunar lander has touched down on the far side of the moon. Commander Walker is in his spacesuit and exits the lunar lander climbing down the ladder. It has been 70 plus years since man has touched down on the moon but now a private space company has sent the first men to the moon. Science Officer Clay follows and steps down the lunar lander touching the lunar surface for the first time.

They lower the lunar buggy and board it. They drive five miles to the edge of a large crater.

They de board the lunar buggy and setup scientific instruments. Commander hears a transmission from Clay “Walker!” and then static.

Commander Walker turns around and sees blood floating in the air. Officer Clay’s body lays lifeless on the ground. His spacesuit has been compromised.

Vapor is leaking out, and the white of his spacesuit is stained red. The Commander moves as fast as he can over to Clay laying on the ground. He can see in his visor that his face is lifeless frozen with ice crystals, the glass smashed in.

In the reflection of Clay’s visor the Commander can see a dark figure behind him.

“Dragon we have an issue over,” says the Commander over the radio.

The lunar orbiter with another crew member is orbiting overhead is onboard. The pilot, Pilot Murphy. The Commander repeats again, “Dragon we have major issue over, it seems we’ve lost Clay over.” Nothing is heard in reply. The line is dead silent. Commander Walker is breathing heavily. He tries to look around in his bulky space suit.

He can’t see anything. But something catches his eye, down in the crater. The crater is miles wide and very deep and against the grey of the lunar surface is movement.

Suddenly there is a strike, a fireball across the lunar horizon falling to the lunar surface. A fireball erupts once the object hits the surface.

On his radio he now hears a blip and then static noise. “Dragon do you come in?” says the Commander in a frantic response. The commander comes to terms that they object that fell could of been the Dragon. He has no one way home and has lost two crew members.

Off in the distance where the crash was he can see an object ascend from a crater into space.

The commander gets back into the lunar buggy and drives back to the lunar lander. He needs to make an emergency transmission to earth.

He steps off the lunar buggy and notices in the mirrored reflection of the lunar lander is the same figure behind him.

The commander promptly climbs the stairs of the lunar lander and closes the hatch. He starts going through the lunar launch sequence. On touch screen in front of him he runs through checks.

A large bang is heard outside the lunar lander. The commander switches to his outside camera and sees it on the screen. The commander is now sweating and his heart is racing.

Another bang is heard outside. Towering about 10 feet tall, slender without any recognizable features is a shadow casting on the lunar surface.

The commander quickly enters a code into the touch screen to signal and emergency to earth.

The commander has finished the launch sequence and presses the button for launch. But nothing starts. He presses again, nothing.

He checks the outside cameras and can see dust billowing from under the spacecraft. There was some sort of damage.

He unstraps, and exits the Lunar lander. Outside there is a hole ripped into the lower portion of the lander. He can see there are large foot prints leading from the spacecraft off into the distance. But these are not the foot prints of boots, but of something else.

He grabs his tools and attempts to make repairs. The commander pulls out a specialized tool and attempts to repair. Something catches his eye. In the corner of his eye he can see the figure again. He tries to turn around but something is felt on his legs. He feels pain. Hi suit is rapidly decompressing and he falls to the ground gasping for air. His body in extreme pain. His vision is going dark and in seconds is dead. The cold overtakes his lifeless body and freezes ice crystals forming on his face.

The End…

PAPERBACKS AND EBOOKS

Check out the 2nd book in the series by Lee Jones. Available as ebook, audiobook or paperback on Amazon.￼

AUDIOBOOKS

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AFTERWORD

There was inspiration from many sources in order to write this book. I always liked zombie fiction so I wrote The Undead. The Forest came from watching a show on the suicide forest in Japan. The ideas for Scarecrow & Blood on the Bayou came from theme park attractions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lee is a short story horror
author. He Lives in Florida.

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www.saturnpublishing.com

FEAR

A SECOND COLLECTION OF HORROR SHORT STORIES

LEE JONES

2018 © Lee Jones

2018 copyright. All rights reserved. Published by Saturn Publishing.
This is a work of fiction. While as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of all authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

www.saturnpublishing.com

INTRODUCTION

Six Short Stories Appear in this 2nd addition to the Fear Series. Beverly Mansion is about a haunted house built in 1835 in Mississippi. Unbeknownst, a family moves in unaware of the properties dark past. They experience things unnatural to this world and unravel the secrets of the past. Strangers of the Night is about a group of murderous strangers visiting a family of tourist in Florida. The Undead Volume 2 and 3 are sequels in the Undead series. It’s about four strangers who banded together to survive in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Blood Moon is a young adult story about a werewolf ravaging a small town in Oregon.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEAR

A SECOND COLLECTION OF HORROR SHORT STORIES

INTRODUCTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BEVERLY MANSION

DISCOVERY

DISTURBANCE

ATTIC

THREAT

PAST HISTORY

DANGER

PHOTO

WARNING

FUNERAL

PORTAL

STRANGERS OF THE NIGHT

MOVING IN

LURKING IN THE SHADOWS

KILLER

ESCAPE

THE HUNTED

PROLOGUE

NEW BLOOD

SITE OF THE MURDER

MARTINI

CLUES

THE BAHAMAS

HOSPITAL

SOUTH BEACH

ESCAPE

ON THE RUN

STORM

BODY

BLOOD MOON

FOOTBALL FRIDAY

BONFIRE

SECRET

AFFLICTION

FULL MOON

LIFE OR DEATH

THE CURSE

PAST

BLOOD MOON

THE UNDEAD: MASSACRE

PROLUGUE

MASSACRE

ESCAPE

AQUARIUM

SHOOTER

INJURY

OUTPOST

THE UNDEAD: DOOMSDAY

STOLEN

THE LAB

RESEARCH

REFUELING

AIRPORT

RUN TO SAFETY

NUCLEAR BLAST

More by the author

About the author

BEVERLY MANSION

DISCOVERY

A large white house sits overlooking an old plantation in Mississippi. The sun is falling and crickets are chirping. The Beverly Mansion was built in 1835 on a plantation. It contained two stories, an attic and a basement. It has a overgrown garden with statues. The house and property has just been purchased by Jim and he is renovating it. He is a middle aged man with two children and a wife. It was a steal of a deal for the price for such large amount of square footage. It’s a historical house designated by the state. So that limited to what could be done with it.

Jim is finishing work on the wood flooring in the living room. The family has already moved in and is living in other rooms of the house. Boxes line the walls inside the house. Unpacking is still being done. Anna his wife walks in, “dinner is ready.”

“I’ll be right there,” says Jim. In The kitchen is a southern affair laid out on the table family style. Fried chicken, collard greens, corn bread, sweet tea, southern mashed potatoes and gravy. The kids are looking at their phones under the table. Jim comes to sit down, “ Let’s says grace.”

Everyone holds hands and Jim says a prayer. The family was not very religious but prayed at dinner.

Jim was raised on old values and has tried to instill that into his children. “So how much work do we have left in fixing the floor?” says Anna. Jim starts speaking with food in his mouth,”I’m almost done with it, once I’m finished with the floor I need to start work on the roof. I gotta get into the basement.”

“The realtor said the basement hasn’t been opened in years,” says Anna.

After dinner the kids return upstairs to their rooms. Anna is cleaning up the kitchen. Jim has to go into the basement to finish work on the floor. He has a key. He hasn’t really been in the basement and it’s been left unopened for years. He grabs a flashlight. He inserts the key and tries turning the knob. It has a lot of resistance it has been rusted inside.

He pushes and bust through the door. Dust blooms in his face and he waves in front of his face to push the dust away. He coughs then turns on his flashlight. He points it down stairs into the dark abyss. As he walks down the stairs the wood creaks who knows how stable it will hold up he thinks. His foot touches the bottom and splash. There is a slight puddle of water on the floor of the basement. Cobwebs are thick between the support beams. Not much is down here.

He walks around to see the floor above then almost falls into something with his right foot. He steps back and points the flashlight down. There’s a hole in the basement floor.

It appears there is a secret room. Jim shines his light around inside then looks up at the floor. He can see the floor needs a cross support beam.

He heads back upstairs to Anna in the kitchen.

“I found what it needs, but I found a secret room in the basement. The realtor didn’t mention that,” says Jim.

Anna shakes her head, “well, this house is so old who knows what else we will find?”

DISTURBANCE

A few nights later Jim has almost completed the flooring. Everyone is asleep upstairs. The house is quiet. Jim is sound asleep when he suddenly wakes up. He heard a thud. Anna wakes slightly but turns around on her side and falls back asleep.

Jim gets up and puts on a robe and slippers. He walks outside the room closing the door not to wake anyone. He stops to listen. He can hear what hears like footsteps downstairs.

There’s a pump action shotgun in the closet in the hallway. He goes to grab it then creeps down the stairs slowly. He gets to the bottom of the steps and notices the front door is closed. He checks the windows and those are closed. He goes into the kitchen and flips on the light.

He hears a unintelligible whisper in his right ear. It’s very low but catches his attention and he turns around. He walks back out the kitchen and notices the door to the basement is open. He raises the gun and slowly creeps down the stairs to the basement.

Inside the basement using his flashlight he looks around and nothing is there. He gives a sigh of relief and walks back up stairs to bed.

ATTIC

The next mourning Jim is up working on the roof. He climbs down the ladder to the ground dusting off his hands. He is looking up admiring the work done on the roof and notices something in the attic window. Some movement, who could be in the attic?

Anna walks out with some glasses of lemonade in hand and gives one to Jim.

“Where you in the attic?”

“No, why do you ask?” says Anna in confusion. He looks up again and sees a young girl in the window staring back at him. “The kids are in school?” says Anna.

“Look!” says Jim pointing at the attic window.

The girl figure quickly turns away and disappears.

Anna looks at Jim in confusion.

“What’s going on? I’m going to go to the attic,” says Anna.

Anna goes into the house and walks up the stairs. Jim follows with a ladder. They place a ladder and Anna climbs inside the attic. She coughs from the dust in the attic air. It probably hasn’t been visited in a while. There are boxes of old things and vintage antiques.

“What is all this stuff? “

Anna picks up an old photograph. A hand written date is on the back 1857. Its a silver plate a daguerrotype. It’s a portrait of a man posing in a chair. She picks up another photo and dust it off. It’s a black and white photo of a family. The date written is 1875. It’s a man, woman, boy and girl.

“Wow., this stuff has been up here for years.”

There’s an old grandfather clock, vintage toys, creepy looking doll collection in the corner.

“You should see all these antiques, could be worth something you know?”

Anna packs some things in a box to bring down.

“Well did you find that what we were looking for?” says Jim.

“No, but here is this,” she hands Jim the box of antiques. “Huh? well we learn something new about this house everyday don’t we?” says Jim looking through the box.

THREAT

It’s nighttime and the house is quiet. The daughter Emma, 8 years old is sleeping in her bed in her own room. She hears a thud and it wakes her up. She looks around her room is so dark and the corners are black. The moonlight seeping through the blinds. Across the room from her bed is the closet door. It pops open in front of her eyes. The door knob turns and creaks the door open leaving a slight gap. She gasp, what’s going on?

Emma is curious and she gets out of bed to see what it could be. She slowly walks up to see what it is. Looking inside the gap in the door it’s completely dark. She grabs the door and pulls it open and walks in further. She looks around and see’s nothing.

Emma is suddenly lunged forward and grabbed by something. She screams. Two glowing eyes appear in the darkness. “Help! Help!” she screams. She finally after is a few seconds is left free and she backs out and slams the door shut.

Her brother Eric 12 years old, runs in and finds Emma in the middle of the floor crying.

“Whats going on? Are you okay?” he says.

Jim finally walks in, “Whats going on here?”

“There’s something in the closet,” Emma points to the closet. Jim notices red scratches on her arm. He grabs her arm to take a look further.

“Where did you get these scratches Emma?” Emma continues crying, “I don’t know I don’t know!” Jim and Eric look at each other and Jim pickup Emma and brings her to her bed. Eric opens the closet door but nothing is there but clothes.

“Nothing is here, don’t worry nothing is going to harm you,” says Jim. Eric brings some items to clean up the scratches on her arms. He tucks the sheets over her and they turn off the light leaving the door open.

Jim goes back to his room and Anna turns over in bed. “What was that all about?” she says.

“Nothing, she was just having a nightmare,” says Jim.

PAST HISTORY

Anna is typing on the computer. She works from home. She diverts from work and heads to Google to do a search. The real estate agent said this was a historical house with a lot of history but did not go into detail as to what. They were so excited about the price at the time that they did not bother to ask.

She googles,

Beverly Mansion

Plenty of results are available. She scrolls through the search results and clicks on an article. She glances through the words then reads it thoroughly after the initial words she read shocked her.

The house was apart of a slave revolution in the early 1800’s. Two slaves made it north but were hunted and killed. When word got out the remaining slaves at the Beverly plantation were captured or killed.

At dinner it’s just Anna and Jim at the table. They sit across from each other. “Don’t you have a feeling that something is wrong here? Do you wonder what ever happened in this house?” says Anna. Jim looks up and stays silent then continues to eat.

“Today I did some research, there’s more to this house then we thought. It was apart of a slave uprising in the early 1800’s. Many were captured and killed,” she says.

“I lost my appetite,” says Jim. He gets up and heads into the other room. “Jim?” says Anna in confusion. She chases after him and grabs him by the arm. He turns around. “There is something very unnatural going on in this house,” she says.

“What are you implying? That this house is haunted? Those type of things don’t exist,” says Jim. He shakes his head.

“Listen, I know it’s hard to believe, but where did Emma get those scratches from?” says Anna.

“I don’t know, she could of fell out of bed and scratched herself!” says Jim.

The new mourning Anna gets up and looks for the business card for their realtor. She calls the number. Ring, ring, ring no one picks up so she leaves a message.

“Hey, this is Anna you sold us the Beverly Mansion a couple of weeks ago. This may sound strange we have been experiencing some weird things but, can you tell me about the past owners of this house?”

A few hours later she gets a call from the realtor. She picks up her phone.

“Hello? This is Anna.”

“Hello Anna. The house is as you know is very old and has a lot of history. The original family owned the house up until 2000 when the last remaining family member died. They all died in that house Anna.”

Anna puts down that phone. The realtor is still talking on the phone. She finally hits end on the screen. Hearing this has startled Anna.

DANGER

Anna is in the attic looking through the old antiques stored there. Jim is outside painting the exterior of the house. She hears a sound and looks over in the corner by the dolls. She looks back and keeps going through the boxes.

Thud! Anna looks up again in the same direction. She notices the dolls have changed position. They have moved from where they were the first time.

She gets up and walks over to the corner. “Hmmm?” She is looking at the dolls.

‘GET OUT!” Anna spins around behind her and sees a little girl standing in the far end of the attic.

“Who are you how did you get in here!?” says Anna. The girl stares back at Anna. Suddenly a loud deafening sound is heard and Anna quickly covers her ears. She falls to her knees and feels immense pain on her back. She screams, picks herself up and runs down stairs.

The runs and runs then out of the house across the grass outside to the car. “Anna!” says Jim. He notices her running and runs over to her getting into the car. He pulls her out of the drivers seat grabbing her on both arms shaking her.

“Anna! Anna!”

Anna is sobbing. He notices blood seeping through the back of her shirt.

“Why are you bleeding?” She cries into his arms. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” he says. He escorts her inside the house.

An hour later Anna is in the kitchen on the dinner table sitting with bandages on her back. She is drinking a glass of wine for the pain. Jim is in the kitchen standing leaning on the sink counter. He is staring at her silently.

“Anna what happened?” says Jim.

“I was in the attic, and something attacked me. There was a little girl, she said get out, then she disappeared,” says Anna.

Jim has a stern look on his face. He sighs and looks down. “Those bruises on your back, they look like lashes,” he says.

PHOTO

A few days have passed. They hired someone that works in the field of paranormal investigations are are expecting him anytime.

A knock at the door. Anna answers the door.

“I’m Mark we spoke on the phone,” he says.

“Ok great come on in,” says Anna.

They are all sitting in the living room.

“Would you like some sweet tea?” says Anna.

“No thanks, let’s get right to business. I did that research on this house and it has me worried. The last surviving members of the family died in this house,” says Mark.

“The little girl is not the bad one, she is trying to warn us. I’m afraid, there is something more sinister here,” says Mark. “I’ll be conducting an EVP session tonight,” he pulls out a ouija board.

“You can’t be serious?” says Jim. Anna hands Mark the photos. He looks but something looks peculiar. “Huh? That’s strange.” He hands the photo back to Anna.

She picks it up and is shocked. The photo with the family is missing faces. The silver plated photo is also missing a face. She drops it on the floor.

WARNING

It’s night and Mark, Anna and Jim are in the kitchen sitting around the kitchen table. The ouija board is in the center of the table. A couple candles are lighting the interior and everything is dark.

“Ok, put your hands on in the planchette,” says Mark. Everyone places their hands on the planchette.

“If someone’s in this house, show us your here?”

The planchette begins to move. “Are you doing this?” says Jim. The planchette points to 1 then 9.

“What does this mean?”

Then spirit box begins to crackle. “Death,” is heard over the spirit box.

Mark looks over to everyone and whispers, “there were 19 slaves killed here.”

“Is the little girl we’ve seen, is she good?”

The planchette moves with such force as that everyone lifts their hands up and it moves on it’s own.

It spells out N then O. Everyone can smell a smoke. “Smells like something is burning, says Jim. He gets up and sees smoke bellowing from the basement. The door is open when he remembered last time he locked it.

He runs into the basement halfway down the stairs and see’s a blazing inferno. THUD! He turns around the doors slams shut behind him. He runs up and tries to open the door but it’s locked shut. He bangs on the door yelling help! help! Anna and Mark get up and run towards the door. The basement door is closed shut. It’s locked and they don’t have the key.

“Stand back!” says Mark. He steps back and kicks the door open. The door swings open but it’s dark.

“Where is the fire?” says Mark in confusion. Anna runs down the steps and doesn’t see any fire, or smoke.

She sweeps the flashlight all around inside. “Jim!” “Jim!”

Mark runs down the steps.

“Where’s Jim?”says Mark.

Mark missteps and almost falls into the hole in the basement. He points the flashlight down and see’s a body. He leans over and looks forward. It’s Jim’s dead body lying helpless at the bottom of the hole.

“Mark what is it?” says Anna.

Mark is shaking his head.

“Mark what is it!?” says Anna.

She walks over and points her flashlight into the hole. Her eyes grow big and she drops her flashlight and screams. Mark hugs her and Anna puts her hand over her mouth.

FUNERAL

The authorities have come over and removed the body. The death has been ruled as an accident. A fall. Anna is in disbelief and has yet to tell the children the reason about their father’s disappearance for the last few days.

A few days later the funeral was held not far from the house at a local cemetery. The coffin is being lowered into the ground and in the distance Anna can see something. It’s the same little girl from the attic halfway revealed behind a tombstone.

She stares at the little girl and the girl stares back.”Mommy,” Emma tugs on her arm. She looks down to hug Emma then she looks back up to the same tombstone. The little girl is gone from view.

Mark is at the funeral and he walks over. “I’m sorry for your loss. You know, it’s not safe to stay in that house.”

Anna has a tissue to her face. She turns to look at Mark. “You know, whatever killed my husband, I need to know. I need an answer.”

PORTAL

It’s night time and Mark and Anna are in the kitchen.The children have been left with a family member for a few days. A couple candles light the interior. They are ready to conduct an EVP session.

“Who is the evil spirit in this house?” says Mark.

A gust of wind blows inside the house and the candles suddenly burn out. “Yes” is heard over the spirit box.

The little girl appears again. She is outside the kitchen window looking inside at them. She writes “Get Out” on the window in blood. Then moves out of sight.

They hear a loud noise. The sound of many screams, it’s deafening. They both cover their ears with their hands. They look up and see the little girl standing in the kitchen with them. The sound has stopped.

The monitor on the infrared camera shows the silhouette of a large object filling the entire view, but a little girl is standing in front of them. Mark is looking at his equipment in confusion. The silhouette on the monitor should be smaller then the girl in from of him.

“Whats your name?” says Anna. The girl stands and stares for a moment.

In a low booming voice, she speaks “Death!” a big wind gushes past them.

All the doors and windows in the house close shut.

Mark suddenly feels an immense pain on his back. “Aww!, let’s get the fuck out of here!”

Anna runs and tries to open the front door. It’s locked shut and she grabs the keys. She pushes as hard as she can and bust through. She runs to the car. “Mark! Come on!” she yells. Mark comes stumbling out.

Anna pulls out a zippo lighter. She lights one of the old photographs and drops it on the ground. They have prepped the house with gasoline. A flame runs from the car to the house. The flame hits the house and quickly starts burning.

Anna and Mark stand by the car and watch the house engulf in flames. The structures of the house falling to the ground. Black smoke bellowing into the night sky. They can hear screams. A sigh of relief comes across Anna. They continue to watch the fire until it burns out. Anna starts to cry. It’s all over now.

The End.

STRANGERS OF THE NIGHT

MOVING IN

A family of four has rented a house for a week on vacation in Florida. So many sights to see and things to do. They pull up in their rental car to the garage of the house and unpack their luggage.

“Come on son grab those bags,” says Mr. Grey. He opens the front door with the key. “Wow, look at this it’s better in person then in the pictures,” says the wife Mrs. Grey.

“Well your room is there, your over there,” Mr. Grey points out. Baron the son flops out on the coach and turns on the TV.

“Hey why don’t you and your sister go out and explore a bit? Just be back before six we’re going out for dinner,” says Mrs. Grey. The siblings walk out unto the street. It’s a suburb with houses lined up after another. There’s a small little park with a playground in the middle of the community. They walk over to that and Baron sits on the swing. He pulls out his phone and checks social media.

There’s a girl off in the distance watching him. She is attractive and chewing gum. She stands and watches and Baron doesn’t notice. “There’s some random girl checking you out,” says Sam the sister.

Baron looks up and sees the girl. She walks away and into a car but doesn’t start the car. She continues to sit in the car and watch.

“Pretty creepy if you ask me,” says Baron. “Yea let’s get the fuck out of here,” says Sam. They head back to the house and join their parents.

They head off in their rental car for dinner.

Unbeknown to them is the girl in the car is trailing their location.

The family get out of the car and heads into restaurant. The mysterious girl in the car is slowly driving into the parking lot then drives away.

A couple hours later the family returns to their car and makes the drive back to the house.

LURKING IN THE SHADOWS

The car pulls into the driveway. “Don’t stay up too late guys we have a lot of fun to do in the mourning,” says Mr. Grey.

They open the front door and flip on the lights. The lights won’t turn on. “Hmm, what’s going on here?” Mr. Grey looks around. “I’m going to find the fuse box,” he says.

Sam turns on the light on her phone. She goes into the kitchen. A scream. Baron runs into the kitchen. He flashes the light on his phone. Click. The lights suddenly turn on.

It’s revealed that Sam is being held by knifepoint by a girl in a mask. It’s a clown mask and she has a large kitchen knife held to Sam’s throat.

“Whoa! take it easy. We have money just put the knife down,” says Baron. Mr. Grey runs in. He pulls out his wallet and starts to pull all the cash out.

“I don’t want you fucking money,” says the girl.

“Whatever you want, I can get whatever you want!” says Mr. Grey.

The knife whit no warning slashes her throat and Sam’s helpless body falls to the floor. Mrs. Grey runs in and see’s Sams body falling to the floor and screams.

KILLER

Mrs. Grey is screaming her head off. Baron is shocked at seeing what just happened so quickly. He is shaking in his boots. Mr. Grey attempts to grab the knife from the girl but she swings it at him.

She backs up knocking over some pots and pans. Another burglar, a guy dressed in all black and a clown mask appears from behind. He has a machete in his hand.

“Give me you fucking phones! Empty your pockets!” he says. Baron and Mr. Grey look at each other then empty their pockets and phones. The guy steps on the phones smashing them with his foot.

“Get on your knees!” he yells. The girl comes with duct tape and wraps their hands behind their backs.

Mrs. Grey has run into the closet in the master bedroom. She is so scared she is trying to unlock her phone but forgot in such a stressful situation.

She is fumbling with the phone. The closet door opens.

“Found you! She says. They guy burglar walks in.

“Well well, step on out,” he says. Mrs. Grey steps out of the closet sobbing.

“Look can we think about this,” says Mrs. Grey. The girl lunges forward and stabs Mrs. Grey with the knife. Her body falls over. She attacks again, then again.

The girl stabs a total of over a dozen times in Mrs Grey’s body. Blood spurts in her face. She is laughing behind her mask.

ESCAPE

Baron and Mr. Grey are in the kitchen tied up. Baron is falling apart, he is so emotional. “Son get a grip of yourself we are getting out of this,” says Mr. Grey.

He rubs his duct taped hands against the edge of the counter.

The girl and guy murderer drag Mrs. Grey’s body out by the ankles into the living room.

Baron can hear the conversation in the living room.

Let’s chop the body up in get in these trash bags

Ok. I’ll get the body of the girl too.

The guy walks back into the kitchen. “Fuck! where are they?” he yells. Mr. Grey lunges from behind and wraps his arms around the neck of the guy. A struggle in sues. He grapples the guy but he takes the knife and cuts Mr. Grey’s arm.

Baron runs in and tries to do the same thing. He jumps on top of the guy trying to grapple him. The girl comes from behind and stabs baron in the back and he falls to the ground.

The guy spins around and stabs Mr. Grey in the chest. Right into the heart.

The blood spurting in his face. He is laughing through his mask. A pool of blood is forming on the bottom of carpet. Staining it red. Baron bleeds out slowly. Mr. Grey is dead almost instantly.

Baron is watching, his head laying on the floor and his body is helpless. His vision is slowly dying out. His vision slowly fades to black.

The End.

THE HUNTED

PROLOGUE

This book is a sequel to Blood on the Bayou. Our hero returns as Detective Carson. He is this time a private investigator. Detective Carson is back on the hunt for a serial killer who has the same psychic abilities as him. The killer seems to be one step ahead of Carson but will he be the hunter or the hunted? Set in Miami, Carson is hired by a wealthy family to solve the cold case of they’re murdered daughter.

NEW BLOOD

Carson now retired from the FBI, is home enjoying a vintage bottle of whiskey. The phone rings and he answers. “Hello is this detective Carson?” says the caller. “Yes ma’am how may I be of your service?” says Carson. “My daughter was murdered five years ago and the case went cold. I would like for you to come to our residence to check out the evidence in Miami. I have sent a plane ticket and accommodations to your email. I look forward to seeing you here.” says the caller. CLICK. The caller hanged up.

Carson stares and thinks about it for a few moments. He takes another sip of his vintage whiskey then gets up and checks his laptop. He can see the email. One ticket to Miami leaving tonight. He packs a bag and request for Uber he is on his way.

The flight in first class was comfortable. He gets to baggage claim then grabs his one bag of rolling luggage then heads out the ground level for a taxi. Instead, a black limo rolls up where he is standing. The driver gets out and walks around and opens the door for Carson. Carson wasn’t expecting a limo ride there. “Mr Harrington is expecting you,’ says the driver. Carson gets in with hesitation. The limo drivers takes Carson through the city to a private island in Biscayne Bay. Lots of mansions on this island. The neighborhood to host movie stars, million dollar athletes, the rich and the wealthy.

Carson is stunned looking at the large mansions out of the window of the limousine. The limo then pulls into a gate leading to a large mansion, two stories, four car garage, and a tennis court off to the side. A large flower garden and large pool off to the back of the mansion. Lights illuminate the whole property. The limo pulls around the round about in front of the mansion leading to the front door. The driver gets out and lets Carson gets out. He walks up to the door and rings the bell.

A middle aged man in shorts and a short sleeve shirt opens the door. “I was expecting you detective Carson,” says the man. Inside he can see crystal chandeliers, winding stairs case, marble floors. It’s nothing Carson been exposed to. “ I’m John Harrington, have a seat right this way this is my wife”, says the man. He leads Carson to another room where his wife is waiting and files are on the table and some bags of evidence. Carson sits and John Harrington sits across from him.

“We hired you because we are told you are the best, you have cracked every cold case you have worked on” says John. “Our daughter went missing five years ago at a nightclub, her body was found at the bottom of a swimming pool. Mrs. Harrington has a grim some look on her face. A few tears come down her face and she grabs a tissue to wipe it up. “The local police found no leads on the case and it went cold a year after the murder,” says John. He pushes a few photos across the table to Carson.

The crime scene photos were gruesome. The body was dismembered and lying at the bottom of the pool. It was at the site of a resort in Miami beach. “The reason we called you now is that the police believe this is connected to a recent string of killings. A body was found dismembered at the bottom of a dumpster. They believe a hack saw was used to dismember the body and there were several stab wounds in the torso. The killing is similar to that of my daughter,” says John. Carson nods his head looking at the photos. Mr. Harrington takes out his check book. He begins writing a check, ‘Who should I make it out to?” He scribbles a lot of zeros on the check. “This should be enough to get started,” says Mr Harrington. He hands Carson the check.

“I need to visit the site of her last known location and I need to check the files of the similar killings”, says Carson. “I have a car at your disposal, anything you need just ask me,” says Mr. Harrington. He gets up and hands Carson some keys.

The doors of the garage opened and an entire collection of exotic cars are parked there. A Lamborghini, a Ferrari, a Bugatti, a Porsche. Carson lifts up the keys and presses the button. The headlights on the Porsche blink. He gets in with his luggage and files. “I hope you find your hotel accommodations fitting,” it’s the best we could find, says Mr. Harrington. Carson closes the door, starts the car and drives off.

SITE OF THE MURDER

Carson gets to his hotel, The Four Seasons. He flops down on his bed without changing and quickly falls asleep.

“It’s mourning and Carson wakes up. He can see his phone is blinking a red light he has a notification. He checks his phone and see it’s a voicemail. It’s from an unknown number. The voicemail plays, “ We both have the same gift, we are both the same.” It’s a man in a deep husky voice. CLICK. The calls ends abruptly. Carson doesn’t think much about it. He has to go down to the police department to check the records. Then he must go to the last known site of Michelle Harrington, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harrington.

He heads down stairs and gets into the Porsche. He drives and stops at a coffee stand. It’s his breakfast. While he is sipping his coffee he is looking at crime scene photos. Something sticks out to him. He gets into the car then heads out to the last know site. Speeding down the freeway going over the limit. He pulls into a resort hotel. The Atlantic Hotel has been in business since the 1930’s. Old art deco architecture right on the beach. Classic interior a nod to the past. Carson arrives and heads to the pool area. He walks around the pool. Beautiful women in bikinis are sun bathing by the pool. He lifts up the photo and aligns it to the exact location of the scene. He can now visualize the moments leading up to there death. He closes his eyes and a scene begins to unfold.

Michelle Harrington is out partying. She is drunk and flirting with a well looking man in a suit. He looks like money. They get to his hotel room and have sex. During intercourse the man pulls a knife from under the pillow and stabs her in the chest several times. Blood staining the silk white sheets. He then pulls out a hacksaw and dismembers her body putting the body parts and sheets into a large duffle bag. It’s 5am and everyone has gone home. He sneaks out and dumps the parts into the pool. He wipes the blade of the knife and saw with the water to remove the blood. He puts it back in the duffle bag into the back of the trunk of a car and takes off.

Carson comes back to reality. He leaves and heads towards the police station to check records. In the records room he grabs several files deemed to be related to the case. They all seemed to have one thing in common, young, female and attractive. In one case a victim was dismembered and left behind a nightclub. Another case a body was left in a restaurant bathroom. Whoever the killer was, was attractive and was baiting young women in some swanky places.

If Carson was going to find the killer he would have to go under cover and become one of them.

MARTINI

Miami is home to amazing nightlife and lots of parties. Carson got an invite to an exclusive Yacht party through the Harrington’s. He is dressed in a black tuxedo and bowtie, again compliments of the Harrington’s. He wants to get a feel for the crowd, the atmosphere and get any tips of someone matching the description of the killer. Carson boards the yacht and grabs a martini from one of the cocktail waiters. He chugs it down then puts the glass back on the waiters tray. The yacht is huge, gold trimmings, ebony wood panels, and chrome.

The deck quickly fills with people in tuxedo’s and expensive gowns. Beautiful girls in bikini’s get into the hot tub. The boat is on its way.

On the second deck a man in a white tuxedo appears to greet the crowd below. He’s the host for the night. “Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to my beautiful yacht The Destiny. We will be underway on a magical tour of Biscayne bay. Champagne and Hors d voure provided by the waiters. Enjoy the voyage”, says the man.

Carson ask a guest at the party, “who is that man?” “Ohh thats Neil Stone. He’s a real estate investor, own’s hotels, properties all over the place,” says the guest. While everyone is mingling on the outside deck, Cason sneaks his way inside the master cabin. Nobody was inside the master cabin. Inside were sweeping views, gold trimmings, glass and walnut cabinets. A 100 inch screen TV, a large mirror on the ceiling, and expensive paintings. He walks around looking for clues, then opens some cabinets. He opens a large dresser with french doors. Expensive suits hang inside but on the bottom he notices something. A Gucci duffle bag and drop of blood on the outside of it. He goes to reach for it then suddenly a voice.

“Can I help you with anything?” Carson turns around and see it’s the man in the white tuxedo, Neil Stone. “Yes I was just admiring this beautiful yacht,”says Carson. “Well then, thats good. Why don’t you come out now and enjoy the rest of the party with everyone else?” says the Neil. Carson nods his head then walks out. He grabs another martini and tries to blend in with the rest of the crowd.

Something doesn’t feel right. Carson pulls up his phone and googles Neil Stone. The names comes up with a long list of news articles, interviews, videos and more. He was well known and accomplished.

CLUES

The next mourning Carson wakes up in his hotel. He see’s his phone blinking. It’s a notification who could it be this time. He calls his voicemail and listens. “I know who you are, but little do you know who I am. The hunter is being hunted.”CLICK. The end of the message.

A chill goes down Carson’s spine.

Carson is reviewing some paperwork. The doorbell to his room rings. He answers the door and it’s one of the hotel staff with a package for him. The package has his name but no return address. It’s a white box with a gold ribbon. Carson looks all around it and is perplexed. Who would send him a gift?

Carson cuts the ribbon and lifts the lid. It’s a bloody finger. If someone was sending him a message they we’re sure serious about it. Carson drops the box and the finger rolls out of the box. He is having a vision. A woman screaming, blood splattering and death. The blood seeps on the ground. He puts the finger back, cotton swaps the blood and packages it into a zip lock bag. He gets in the car and drives to the police station for forensic analysis.

The lieutenant walks out of the forensics lab where Carson is waiting.

“It’s from the body of a young woman killed yesterday on the beach. I believe she is connected to the serial knife murders we have been getting lately” says the lieutenant. The lieutenant hands Carson a file with some information on the victim. “What were here moments before being found?” ask Carson. “She was at a yacht party last night hosted by Neil Stone. After that we don’t what happened she never made it back home, says the Lieutenant.

Shock comes to Carson’s face. “What is it?” ask the Lieutenant. “I have to go,” says Carson he rushes out. He gets to the crime scene on the beach and yellow police tape is still posted.

He was just at that same party last night. How could he have missed the signs? He needs to get back to the yacht to investigate. Carson drives back to the same pier and sees the yacht is gone. He ask one of the workers there, “Where is the Destiny?” “It went out to sea, probably the Bahamas. Carson looks stunned.

All the evidence was gone.

THE BAHAMAS

Carson needs to get to the Bahamas. He charters a small prop plane ride there the next day. He arrives on a small island. The Destiny is docked at a pier in Freeport, Bahamas. He needs to get on that boat but doing it discreetly.

He waits until all crew members leave. He heads over to the dock and sneaks onboard. He goes into the master cabin looking for the same bag he saw that night. He is opening cabinets and drawers.

Suddenly a growl is heard and Carson turns around. A knife is being lunged at him. Carson dodges the attack and attempts to grab the attackers arm. The attacker is wearing a ski mask and gloves. A struggle ensues. Carson while holding the attackers arm is slammed against the wall damaging a painting. Carson kicks the attacker and the attacker charges with the knife. Carson dodges the charge. Carson then attempts to grab the knife from the attacker again but is stabbed in the belly.

Carson immediately falls to the ground. “I would I kill you now but…” The man immediately leaves. Carson is bleeding badly. He pulls out his phone and calls for emergency. The ambulance arrive and take Carson to the local hospital.

HOSPITAL

Carson wakes up in a hospital bed. His vision is blurry. He can see that his hands are handcuffed to the bed. He tries to get up in a panic. A Bahamian police offer walks in. “Why am I handcuffed?” asks Carson. “You were trespassing on a private yacht, maybe stealing jewelry, expensive artwork?” says the officer. “No, I’m a private investigator I’m investigating a cold case,” says Carson. “You will be sent to jail after your stay here at hospital,” says the police then he walks out.

Carson knows he can’t stay here in the hospital. He must have a plan to get out. A nurse walks in and drops off a envelope. It has his name but no return address or name. He opens it and it is a letter.

“The hunter is now being hunted” it reads. He drops the letter to the ground. The nurse leaves. A man in all black clothing and a ski mask walks in. Carson screams and yells, “Help!” “Help!” The man pulls a knife from behind his back pants and leans over Carson. Carson rolls and flips the bed over. The knife doesn't go through. Security and nurses run inside. A security guard and a cop try to apprehend the attacker but the attacker stabs them both. The security guard in the chest and the police officer across the throat. Both drop to the floor dead. The nurses flee the room. Carson can see the keys attached to the hip of the police officer dead next to him. Blood is spilling all over the floor. Carson goes to grab the key. Scooting each time with the heavy bed on top of his back.

He finally grabs the key and un cuffs one arm, then the other. Carson gets up and runs out of the room down the hallway. He goes to hide in a janitors closet. Suddenly he gets a voice inside his head.

“Carson, you are running from me, I will find you” says the voice.

He runs out of the hospital and into a taxi cab.

SOUTH BEACH

Carson has made it back to Miami. He recovered from the knife attack. The questions is who was the attacker? Who wanted him dead? It was the killer who was covering their tracks. Carson was getting too close. But why didn’t the attacker finish him off?

Carson is walking along the shore of south beach. He is contemplating his next move on the case. His phone rings from an unknown number. He answers it. “ I will be at club Vice tonight see if you can find me,” says the voice.

Carson is ready. Night time comes and Carson is dressed in a white suit without a tie and dark shades. He gets to the club in his Porsche and pulls up front. Valet grabs the key. The music is booming and goo girls are dancing in cages topless. Carson is looking for the killer but who?

In the VIP section it’s Neil Stone and his posse. Neil pops a bottle of Rose and pours it into a beautiful girls flute glass. She giggles and flirts with Neil. Carson recognizes them and is standing from the back watching and observing them. It clicked, he suspected Neil Stone was a suspect but he had no evidence. Carson walks over and introduces himself, “I’m Carson we met before at your yacht party.” “ohh yes the thief, so nice for you to stop by” says Neil. The young girl grabs his attention again and the conversation ends quickly.

Carson walks away but is on alert. The young girl gets up and grabs Neils hand and they walk to the bathrooms. Carson follows from behind and hears banging on the bathroom door. Moaning is followed by screams from the girl. Carson goes to hide in the other stall.

A sound is heard. It was the sound of flesh being cut. Bloods starts to pool on the floor of the bathroom. The man quickly gets up out of the stall to wash himself off. He leaves the scene out of the back door of the club.

Carson follows behind to get a glimpse. Neil Stone has just committed a murder. Carson has just witnessed a crime. He alerts the club staff and the club is cleared of all patrons. Police and Morticians arrive on the scene. The body is wheeled away in a gurney.

ESCAPE

Neil Stone has been arrested. He sits in the interrogation room. His lawyer is present. Not only was there a witness, but blood on his black leather gloves place him at the scene of the crime.

He was found in one his hotels in the presidential suit at the top floor.

Carson walks in to interview the suspect. He sits down at the chair across from Neil. His lawyer is present.“Well, well. Look at who we have here,” says Carson. Neil is looking down appearing to be depressed.

“I wanted you to see it,” says Neil. “What?” replies Carson. Carson gets up and punches Neil in the face. Two cops run into the interrogation room and apprehend Carson. “You killed that girl and you killed Michelle Harrington!” Neil has a smirk on his face.

Carson is brought into another room. Carson picks up the phone and calls the Harrington’s. “I believe I found your murderer,” says Carson.

Neil looks over to the police office. “I am going to set you free.” The officer repeats, “I am going to set you free.” The officer walks over and un cuffs Neil. Neil walks out and walks free.

Hours later Carson is let go. He walks out and opens the door of the car. Something doesn’t feel right. He gets a vision, that he is dead. Carson steps out and backs away from the car.

BOOM! The car explodes and Carson is thrown to the ground. He has some bruises and bleeding.

ON THE RUN

A murderer is now on the run. He has killed many and will not stop killing. Carson must stop him before his next killing. Neil revealed himself because he liked the game. He needed an audience but he always seemed one step ahead.

Carson opted for a Dodge Hellcat curtesy of the Harringtons. Police were on high alert looking for Neil all over Miami. They raided all of his properties in Miami. It was now all over the news. But no one knew where he was. Some people says he went to Mexico.

Carson is in his hotel room and closes his eyes for a minute. He visualizes a car speeding down the overseas highway. He opens his eyes. Neil was heading down the keys.

Carson leaves the room and gets in the Hellcat. He is on his way immediately. Carson hits the highway heading south on highway one. Carson calls the lieutenant from the police department.

“I believe he is hiding out in the keys somewhere,” says Carson. “And how do you know this?” ask the Lieutenant. “I just know, I just know,” replies Carson.

There are many islands in the keys. What made matters worst was the weather was changing. Dark clouds loomed overhead.

STORM

The storm had started. A light drizzle then progressively getting harder. Carson was now driving through a down pour. The lieutenant had alerted the authorities in the Keys.

Carson is driving down overseas highway then a voice pops in his head. “The hunter is being hunted,” says the voice. Carson quickly concentrates and continues driving. Suddenly a big rig speeds right behind him and bumps his rear bumper. Carson switches lanes but the big rig truck follows and comes harder hitting him again. Carsons car spins and flips and crashes. Carson is hurt and the car is flipped over on the highway. He looks more carefully in the mirror and can see it’s Neil Stone walking up to him. “Found you,” Carson whispers to himself.

Before Neil makes it to Carson a shot rings out. Neil was shot in the leg by a highway patrol officer who spotted him. Neil stops and grabs his leg. “Put your hands up where I can see them!” yells the officer. Neil drags himself by the edge of the bridge. “Stop right there!” the officer yells. Neil leans himself over the side and plunges into the water.

The officer runs over and looks over the edge into the water but cannot spot a body.

BODY

The next day police boats and divers are on the scene trying to located a body. They did not.

The End.

BLOOD MOON

A WEREWOLF STORY

By LEE JONES

FOOTBALL FRIDAY

Silverton, Oregon is a small sleepy town on the coast of Oregon. It’s a Friday night and there is a home football game at Silverton high. Silverton is winning and college football scouts are in attendance and for a reason. Kye is a winning high school football star in his senior year. Last year Silverton was undefeated.

“Wow they are crushing it this year. I wish I could be with Kye instead of that bitch, ” says Amy. “ I guess so,” says Grace. Grace is a senior in her second week of school at Silverton. She just moved with her father from Chicago. A girl from the big city now in Silverton. She was more of the rebellious type, shy, reserved dressing in mostly black, maybe even a bit of an outcast.

The score was 24 - 0. The last quarter of the game. Fans of Silverton were screaming and cheering but fans of the opposing teen at this point have begun leaving the stadium. Kye was the quarterback. He calls hut, fakes a pass and runs. He runs so fast that the opposing team cannot keep up with him and gives up trying to tackle him. Kye makes a 40 yard run and TOUCHDOWN!

The crowd is cheering and screaming and Kye does a touch down dance. They punt a field goal for the last seconds of the game. The ball goes over bringing the score up and the game is over. The opposing team shakes hands and walks off the field.

Kye was the big man on campus. Defiantly outgoing and every girl in school dreamed of dating him. He dated the most popular girl in school, Megan. She was very pretty, but was defiantly a bitch. Kye is walking off field and his team his surrounding him cheering him on. The team heads to the lockers. There is an after party going on and the whole football team is going to be there.

“Come on lets go to the party tonight!” says Amy. “Really? I’m not really the party type,” says Grace. Amy drags Grace by the arm into the car. “Okay okay let’s go,” says Grace in despair. They drive and make it to a large house. The scene was chaotic. The lawn was trashed with beer cans, and cars parked all over the lawn.

They pull up in the car by the edge of the street and get out. “Relax, I know somebody here,” says Amy. They walk inside and the whole house is packed with kids from school. The backyard has a pool and kids are belly flopping or cannon balling in the pool.

Someone hands Amy and Grace beers but Grace declines. “Wait here, I’m looking for my friend,” Say Amy. Grace waits behind. She looks over and can see in the kitchen the whole football team celebrating. One team mate is challenged to drink as much beer in a minute as he can and he chugs beer after beer. He downs five beers and crushes then throws down the cans on the ground. The team shouts and bangs on the counter tops.

Grace walks over to the entrance to the kitchen watching them in curiosity. “I would like to honor, Kye for being the best quarterback on our team. Without him we not be undefeated!” Yells a team mate. “I couldn’t have done it without you guys, my teammates,” says Kye. The whole team shouts and bangs on the counter tops again cheering in excitement.

Kye notices Grace is watching. He turns to look at her. “Well who do we have here? You must be new to school?” he says.

Grace looks shocked that the most popular guy school would even talk to her. She looks down and has a hard time speaking. “Go ahead, whats your name?” he says. “Leave her alone she’s weird,” says a team mate. “My name is, my name is Grace,” she looks up at him into his eyes.

The look at each other for a moment. “I’m Kye, nice to meet you. Guess I’ll see you around school,” he says. Amy walks up ad taps Grace on the shoulder. “Whats going on here?” she says. “I just was talking,” says Grace. “To Kye? Ohh my god really?” says Amy.

“We’ll yeah he welcomed me,” Grace has her heart beating.

“Let’s go, I need to study for tomorrow’s quiz,” says Grace. “Huh, you realize tomorrow is Saturday? There is no school,” replies Amy. “Here have a beer have a little fun,” Amy hands Grace a beer. Grace takes a sip. She takes another sip then suddenly chugs the whole can. “It’s good isn’t it? says Amy. Grace is about to fall over, she sways a little. She lets down her hair yells, “whoo!”

Grace jumps on top of a table and starts dancing. A crowd forms around her and start cheering. She starts stripping taking off her jacket and throwing it to the crowd below. She then takes off her top leaving just her bra and throws it to the crowd.

Amy turns around and realizes whats going on. She runs up and pulls Grace by the hand to the ground below. “What are you doing!?” says Amy as she shakes Grace and looks her in the eyes.

“I’m just having fun like you said,” says Grace in slurred speech.

BONFIRE

Kye woke up late about 3pm in the afternoon. He’s got a headache. He picks up his phone from his bedside and reads all the text he has.

John: Hey man, lets go to the movies tonight

Kye wipes his eyes. He walks into the bathroom and brushes his teeth and brushes his hair. He puts on some clothes. He gets another text.

John: Hey did you see that new girl last night so hot!!!

A picture accompanies the text. It’s a picture of Grace in just a bra and jeans on standing drunk onto of a table at the party. Kye gets in his car, it’s a mustang. He meets up with friends at the mall.

He’s with his boys and they catch the matinee. After the movie they walk out and Kye see’s the same girl from last night in the lobby of the theater. He walks up to Grace.

“Hey! It’s Grace isn’t it?”

“Yes, we run into each other once again,” says Grace.

“You know the whole school has a picture of you going around, it’s nothing bad, well it could be” says Kye.

Grace laughs when he shows her the picture. “Hey if your not doing nothing tonight, you wanna hang out with me?” say Kye.

Grace blushes and says, “sure, yes.”

“Cool meet me at the beach tonight we are having a bonfire,” says Kye.

Kye rejoins his friends and they walks off continuing to talk. “Do you realize what just happened? He just asked you out” says Amy.

“You gotta tell me what’s he’s like.”

Grace rolls her eyes.

The sun goes down. Grace made it to the beach. She can see a fire on the beach in the distance. A small group of kids from school are out dancing around the fire. Music is blasting from a jeep parked next to it.

She walks up and everyone turns to look at her. “Hey it’s that new girl,” a guy says. Everyone laughs. Kye walks over and grabs Grace’s hand. “Come on let’s go,” and he walks her down the beach.

“They can be assholes sometimes. So where are you from?” ask Kye. “I’m from Chicago, I live with my dad, I’m not used to living like,” says Grace. “You mean in a small town, it’s alright. Everyone knows each other here. I’ve been here my whole life you get used to it,” says Kye.

They are strolling down the beach. The stars are visible and a full moon is almost complete. Grace smiles back at Kye. The conversation is short and they head back to the bonfire. She gives him his number. “Call me,” says Grace and she leaves.

SECRET

Grace is at home studying on a Sunday night. She dazes off and remembers spending the night with Kye on the beach. She turns on the TV and the local news is on. “Reports speak of a large animal that attacks live stock and pets on a full moon. Just a few hours ago we we found the body of a Silverton citizen. Half of his body was ripped to shreds and the bite marks are consistent with the previous animal attacks. This is the first attack on a human, ” says the reporter.

Grace looks up at the TV and turns the volume higher. They show the scene and some of it is blurred out for TV censoring.

The next day is school. Class is as usual. Kye and his friends walk in class and sit in the back of the classroom. “Quiet down everyone. Okay open you books to chapter 10,” says the teacher.

Grace looks behind her and smiles at Kye. She text him with the phone under her desk.

Kye: Hey! :)

Grace: I didn’t know you were in my english lit class

Kye: surprise! meet me after school by the bleachers

It’s the last class for the day and the bell rings. Grace is so excited and she goes to head towards the bleachers. She gets there and Kye is not there.

Grace: I’m here

Kye: There is a letter under the bench.

Grace looks under the bench and finds a paper taped underneath the bench. It’s a hand drawn map. It reads

Secret meeting location

The maps leads into the woods.

She is unsure about this but maybe he is playing a game?

She walks and walks into the woods. She could almost be lost at this point. “Grace, your here,” Kye walks out from behind a tree trunk.

“What’s this about?” she asks in confusion. “Grace I need to tell you something. I’m a werewolf,” says Kye. “All of the news on TV about slaughtered animals, it was me.” Grace looks surprised and then laughs. “That’s a good one you made me laugh,” says Grace.

“Grace, I am for real. Every full moon I transform into a beast, I cannot control it. I felt like you were a pure soul, I could tell you, I could trust telling you this. Last night I killed a human, and it’s getting worst,” says Kye.

He holds up a piece of bloody shirt from the victim on the news last night. Grace’s eyes become huge and she is shocked. “Ohh my god we need to go to the police with this,” says Grace. “They won’t believe it, they won’t believe a beast is doing this,” says Kye.

“You see Grace, I need your help, I can’t live like this anymore,” says Kye. Grace turns and begins walking in the opposite direction. “I can’t help you, I” she stops and thinks. Saw turns around facing Kye. Kye walks up to her. He pulls back her hair. “ I’m cursed, I never asked for this. It gives me extra abilities in speed and strength, but when there is a full moon I cannot control turning into a beast and killing.”

Kye grabs her hand. “On a blood moon it is worse. You see this, it’s all fake. Kye the football star, the popular jock, that’s not me,” he says. “A blood moon is approaching soon which probably why I killed a human last night. I need to drink silver, it might almost kill me but will rid me of my affliction.”

“I’m so sorry, I wish I could help,” says Grace. Grace suddenly pulls away and runs away. She runs and runs until she leaves the woods.

The next day during lunch break she is with Amy. “Yesterday something strange happened with Kye,” says Grace. “OMG what is it,” ask Amy. “He told he was, he was something he wasn’t. That the popular guy, the jock, the football star is not him. It’s all fake to him a facade,” says Grace. “Well you know we all wear our mask,” says Amy.

“It was so strange, I mean he has a crutch, something that no one knows about. He asked me to help him and I don’t know what to do,” says Grace.

AFFLICTION

It’s a Saturday afternoon and Grace is at home drawing. She loves to sketch. She gets a text.

Kye: hey, meet me at the beach

Grace heads to the beach and Kye is waiting there alone.

“I’d thought you wouldn’t come. Being that I told you my secret the other day,” says bye.

“Well you know we all wear a mask,” says Grace.

“I’m a different and I know that, I try to fit in but it doesn’t work.”

They begin strolling down the beach.

A girl is taking a picture with her cell phone in the distance.

“Ohh geez, looks like someone from school found us together. This is really going to blow up in school on Monday,” says Kye.

Grace laughs and shakes her head.

“The most popular guy from school is with the least popular girl,” says Grace. Kye laughs with Grace. Kye stops and grabs Grace by the shoulders. “Look, I need you to get your hands on silver. The next full moon is coming soon and I really need your help,” says Kye. He looks her dead in the eyes and she looks back.

“Okay I’ll do it,” and Grace nods her head.

The next day Grace looks on the internet researching for solutions. She can see that a full moon is happening in a couple days. She needs to get her hands on silver. Her father is not home. She doesn’t have much jewelry but she remembers her mother’s jewelry. Her mother died in an auto accident a few years ago. She left behind some jewelry but it’s kept in her father’s bedroom.

She sneaks in and starts looking in the drawers. She then looks in the closet and can see basically a shrine to her mother. Photos, pieces of clothing, the jewelry. She had no idea her father made this inside his closet. She can see necklaces, rings, earrings and more a rather large collection. She grabs and starts putting this in a book bag.

FULL MOON

It’s the day of the full moon and Grace has her book bag filled with jewelry. She had to remove some school things to make room for it. Kye was supposed to play a game tonight but he skips school altogether saying he was sick.

After school Grace meets Kye in the same secret location in the woods. She walks up to him and he is awaiting. He walks up to her and kisses her on the lips. His lips are hot and burning and she pushes him away. She goes back to kiss him again till it gets to hot then lets go. “Your so hot?”

“I want you to see this. But please be careful, use the silver” he says. “This is my mothers jewelry, she died in a car accident years ago,” says Grace. “I’m so sorry to hear that, you should of brought something else,” says Kye. She lifts up the jewelry and he immediately steps back and starts breathing heavily.

“Its all I could find for silver. Are you ok?” says Grace.

“I’m ok its when I see silver I get very stressed out,” says Kye. She puts it back in her back and under a tree distance from them.

They sit under a tree. “When I transform into the beast, use the silver and run. I don’t want to hurt you,” he says.

The time passes as they converse and Grace falls asleep at some point on his shoulder. Now the sun is setting. The sun comes down and it is very dark in the wooded area.

The moon is large and bright. It begins rises in the sky from the horizon.

Kye is beginning to transform. His eyes are growing large and his veins are popping out of his skin. “Grace, it’s happening!”

Grace wakes up and lifts her head. She can see what is happening and is shocked. “OMG!” Grace gets up and steps back. She looks around for her book bag but its so dark she can’t find it.

“Kye!” she yells standing watching helplessly. “Grace! you need to run! run now! yells Kye.

Grace turns around and runs into the woods. She has no clue where she is going it is so dark. She can hear the growls of a dog in the background. The ruffling of leaves and branches breaking and snapping.

Grace is so out of breath. She makes it back to the car and gets in. HOWL! she can hear a loud wolf howl. She looks into the woods and can see the tree branches being ruffled. The werewolf has emerged. Big and beastly. Standing 8 feet tall, muscular, and a mouth full of teeth.

Grace suddenly struggles to find her and get them in the key hole to start the car. She drops them on the floor of the car. She picks it back up and inserts the key and starts the car. The werewolf turns it’s head and looks her right in the eye. She slams on the gas pedal and pulls away.

LIFE OR DEATH

Grace drives unto a country roadway with no cars. She turns on the headlights. She drives down the road. She looks into her rearview mirror and can see the monster has stopped chasing her and is howling at the moon.

Grace drives home and quickly runs into her house, into her room and slams the door locking it. She is terrified and shaking. She can’t believe what she just saw. She slaps her face thinking she might be in a dream.

Her father notices something is off. He is reading in the living room and gets up and knocks on her door. “Grace, whats going on are you ok?”

“I’m ok dad! I’m ok,” says Grace.

The werewolf makes it to the school campus. On it’s path it breaks a window and causes damage to property. It makes it way down a road and into town. An elderly woman is in her home watching TV. She notices a silhouette outside the window and thinks it might be a burglar. She grabs a shot gun from the garage and steps outside looking around.

“OK COME OUT I KNOW YOUR HERE!” yells the woman. She turns around and can hear a growl in the darkness. “What is that a dog?”

The werewolf lunges forward from the darkness. The woman fires a shot. The beast has a wound in its shoulder and it looks at it. Blood is seeping but it rebounds and attacks again. It mauls the woman. It eats the flesh of it’s victim leaving some body parts and bones before a neighbor walks out and notices whats going on.

The beast dashes off disappearing into the night. Minutes later, the local news station and sheriff arrive on the scene. The sheriff walks up standing just above the dead carcass of the victim. “Looks like another one of these attacks,” says sheriff Brown.

Grace turns on the TV and see the local news. Another victim. Grace begins crying she feels stupid for not finding her bag with silver to stop the rampage of the beast.

The next mourning Grace heads out to retrieve her bag. She has the same map and follows it. Kye is found sleeping naked in the woods. “Kye!” she yells. Grace runs and shake Kye sleeping on the ground. He has a wound on his left shoulder. “Your hurt?” she says.

He lifts his head and looks at her. “Grace? your here” She kisses him on the cheek. “We need to get you some clothes,” she stole some from her dad and gives it to Kye. He put it on.

“Somebody was killed last night Kye,” says Grace. “I can see something happened to me but I can’t remember anything after you left,” he says. “It’s my fault, I, I didn’t have the silver with me and I was so scared I just ran,” she says. Grace walks over and can see her bag is still there.

“Nothing is your fault, it did what you could to stop the beast inside me,” he says. She walks him back to the car and they drive back into town.

THE CURSE

The school is repairing the damage. Footprints were casted by plaster by the sheriff. Kye is at football practice. The problem is, is that he is distracted. He has been thinking lately about the upcoming blood moon and is increasingly worried. “Kye! What’s going on?” says the coach.

Kye’s performance is lacking in practice. “I just got a lot on my mind right now coach,” says Kye. “Take a break, I need focused players on my field right now,” says the coach. Kye goes to his car and looks at his phone. He has voicemails from colleges wanting to recruit him for their football team. He gets a text from Grace.

Grace: I’m going to do better, don’t worry I won’t mess up

Kye: I’m afraid this blood moon you won’t be able to stop me

Kye: Meet me at the beach

They meet at the beach at night. There is a bonfire but Kye is all alone. Grace walks up. “Hey.”

“Hey,” says Kye. They feel a bit award around each other. “So in a few days it’s going to be a blood moon,” says Grace. “I know it’s been troubling me for a while. This could potentially be even worse. I need to stop the killings,” says Kye.

PAST

Grace is in school but Kye has missed school again. She is in science class the the teacher is discussing the blood moon set to appear that same night.

“A lunar eclipse occurs only when the earth, sun and moon are directly aligned,” says the science teacher. “We will be able to see it tonight so I want a brief summary on your aberrations due by tomorrow,” says the teacher. The bell rings and Grace gets out of class. School is out and she needs to find Kye. She gets a text.

Kye: Meet me in our secret place

Grace get in her car but she is unsure this time. Can she stop the beast? She gets to the secret location and finds Kye there awaiting her return. “You missing days at school people are wondering whats going on?” she says.

He gets up and looks her in the eyes. “Kye is not perfect, he has flaws like everyone else. My parents were werewolves, they wanted me to have a normal life so they put me in a foster home. Football was my escape, I grew up almost forgetting about it. But when I got older I started transforming into this monster. I am the only one I know of,” says Kye. He is still staring off in the distance pondering.

Grace walks up hugs him from behind. “I want you to know whatever happens tonight, it wasn’t me. Kye would never do this. It was the beast,” he says.

Some time passes and the sun starts going down. Grace has her things and is more prepared this time.

“We want to control the beast but not kill me,” says Kye. A tear falls from his eye.

BLOOD MOON

The sun has gone down and Kye begins transforming. His eyes get bigger, His veins begin popping out, his body temperature rises. “Grace!” Grace looks up and grabs the jewelry from her bag. She places a necklace around his neck. “ARGHHH!!!” He screams and when the silver touches his skin steam emits. His body is sill transforming and he is growing in size.

Claws are developing form his hands and his face is forming into that of a wolf. “Grace hurry I need more silver!” Grace hurries and grabs another necklace to put on his neck. She puts it on and the skin burns and steam emits. His neck grows so big that it breaks the necklace and it poops off.

Any other jewelry wont work at this point. “GRACE! RUN!” yells the beast. Grace turns and runs as fast as she can. She remembers this time where she needs to go. She is running as fast as she can.

HOWL! She can hear in the background. She gets in her car but she wants to follow the beast path this time to warn anyone.

The beast begins galloping down the road. She notices in her rear mirror that this time it’s much much bigger. Grace drives to the sheriff’s office. She runs out and and into the building. “Sheriff Brown, we have an emergency!” yells Grace. The sheriff gets up, “well what is it?”

“The killings have been all related to a beast, a wolf. A half man, half wolf. He stands about 8 feet tall, if we don’t stop him more killings are going to happen tonight!” says Grace.

“Haha, kid you can’t be serious?” says the sheriff. “I’m telling you we need to go now!” yells Grace.

“Alright, alright I’m sure it’s not what you think it is.,” says the sheriff reluctantly. She gets in the sheriff ’s car and she directs the sheriff where to go. They drive down a road into the darkness of night. They then get to the center of town and can see the beast breaking down whole buildings and structures.

The beast smashes into the small brick post office demolishing it. The sheriff slams on the breaks. “What in the world?” He gets out and grabs his shot gun from the trunk.

“Wait don’t kill him, It’s Kye!” yells Grace. “The football star?”the sheriff looks confused. “Only silver can stop the beast” says Grace.

The sheriff gets on the radio, “Calling for backup, for a, for a large wolf!” The people of the town come out to see what all the commotion is. Some of the kids from school are out and the use their cell phones to video tape the incident. For most people of the town this is there first time getting a glimpse at the beast.

The beast smashes through a convince store and the building demolishes. It thens heads towards a gas station. The sheriff aims his gun but Grace puts her hand on the barrel and lowers his sight.

“Kid get your hand off, we gotta kill this thing!” he yells.

More police cars arrive. Another sheriff calls in for air support. Moments later a helicopter arrives with a spotlight on the beast tracking it’s move. The beast is running along the road and notices the spotlight from the helicopter.

The police setup a roadblock setting up several cars in an attempt to stop it. The beast fast approaches, howls and then smashes through the blockade of police cars. An officer on the helicopter fires a shot at the beast. The beast stops and then climbs up a tree. It jumps from the tree onto the helicopter.

The weight is too much and the helicopter begins to fall and crashes in the trees. It eats the dead officers in the helicopters ripping their bodies to shreds.

A swarm of police cars arrive and the officers get out and start firing at it. It proceeds to run towards the marina. The beast smashes through some buildings and then pickups and throws a boat at the officers.

Grace gets in the sheriff’s car stealing it and drives away. She drives up to the marina and walks out with her bag. “Kye! Kye!” She runs out towards him. “It’s me, Grace,” she says. The beast turns around stops and looks at her.

The beast is breathing heavily. It locks eyes with her. Grace approaches the beast. “I’m here to help you, Kye,”she says. Suddenly shots ring out. The beast is hit multiple times in it’s chest. “NO!” she yells. It’s helpless body falls to the ground.

It starts transforming back to human. Back to Kye. Grace runs up and can see it’s him back in human form. His body lays helpless on the ground. She embraces him and the blood gets on her clothes. She is weeping. The police narrow in and surround her and Kye.

To be continued in part 2…

THE UNDEAD: MASSACRE

By Lee Jones

PROLUGUE

An epidemic is bound to wipe out the worlds population… Our four heroes must get the research file to the CDC, but the safe house is breached with a horde of zombies.

MASSACRE

After some time to rest the team hesitates no more to get moving. Before leaving Dr. Meyer hands Rochelle a notebook. “Protect this with your life,” she says.

Outside the hospital, flood lights are setup from the roof to illuminate the perimeter. The fence is mainly setup inside the hospital wing where the survivors wait. On the roof the guards can see a few more infected straggling towards the hospital. The stragglers start growing in numbers.

The guard on the roof takes a spotlight and shines it down below. He can now see there is a horde of infected gathered just below. The horde is rapidly growing in size and they have now gotten inside the lobby of the hospital. A guard inside the fence is looking from inside the wing out into the lobby.

Infected rush in a large horde and push against the fence. Now more infected are in the lobby so many till no floor space is seen. They all push together at once and push the down the fence. BOOM! The horde rushes in. “Get back!” yells the guard as he fires his gun.

The guard is quickly overtaken and falls over. He is bitten. Other guards run down the wing with guns. They fire at the incoming horde of infected. Some infected fall down but the horde is so large that their guns can’t stop them all. The guards are quickly taken over by the horde and bitten then they’re bodies ripped to shreds and eaten.

A fire alarm goes off. Lights are flashing. Rochelle and the gang are in a hospital room awaiting departure for they’re mission. They look out the window and can see a sea of infected all the way down the street for a mile up to the hospital.

“Shit, we need to get moving,” says Rochelle. James grabs a rifle and loads a few rounds in the chamber. They depart the hospital room down the stairs to the cafeteria. At the bottom of the stairs looking out the door window they can see a horde of infected. Survivors are being ripped to shreds and eaten. Limbs pulled from their bodies and flesh eaten from bone. Blood splattering everywhere.

The noise is deafening, the infected are growling and hissing, making noises like wild animals. James fires a few shots at the horde through the window. Two infected go down but the other infected quickly turn to look at them. The infected begin moving towards them. Zac and Will point their guns at the horde and begin firing. Some infected go down but there are so many they just keep coming.

“There’s too many!” says Zac. They run back up the stairs to where they came from. They can see Dr. Meyer trying to get her patients disconnected from the tubes in the hospital beds. “Let’s help her!” says Rochelle. The gang runs and quickly tries to help patients up out of bed to safety.

“There is a helicopter on the roof, we need to make it upstairs!” says Dr. Meyer.

BOOM! The infected have busted down the door on the first floor. “We need to get moving they’re coming up the stairs”, says Zac. Dr. Meyer is trying to help up an elderly woman in bed. “Doctor, we need to get moving the infected are going to be here in less than a minute!” yells Zac. “I can’t just leave my patients here, we need to get them out”, replies Dr. Meyer. “Listen we don’t have time, there are too many to stop!” yells Zac.

Rochelle goes to grab the doctor but she shrugs her arm. “Let go of me! It’s my duty to take care of my patients, now they must be saved”, yells Dr. Meyer. “Guys lets go”, says Rochelle to the rest of the gang. The infected have now made it to the second floor and the gang runs to the stairwell. James and Zac fire they’re guns for just enough time to make it to the next floor up. On the way out Rochelle can see the infected grabbing Dr. Meyer and her patients being ripped to shreds and eaten.

The gang is running up the fire stairwell to the roof. They can see just below them the horde of infected coming up just below them on the stairs. They get to the third floor, the forth floor, the fifth floor then finally the tenth floor. Everyone is huffing and puffing, sweating heavily. Will coughs, they can see the helicopter sitting on the pad. “I’ll get the chopper started! hold them off for a few minutes!” yells Zac. Zac runs to get in the helicopter. He straps in and looks around at the switches.

ESCAPE

Will, James and Rochelle are at the top of the stairwell with their guns pointed. They can hear the loud growling and hissing. Then finally they see infected. Everyday people who were infected with an unknown virus turned into raging cannibals. Animals with no other thought process but to eat uninfected beings.

They begin firing and take down a few infected. The sound of round shells are dropping to the floor. The rotors on the helicopter start to spin. “Let’s get in!” yells Will. They all turn around and run for the helicopter and get in. They shut the doors. “Strap in, it’ my first time flying,” says Zac. “I thought you were in the Army?” says James. “I was, however I was infantry”, says Zac. The helicopter lifts up slowly and wobbly a few feet off the pad.

Infected come rushing onto the roof of the hospital. The helicopter is hovering just a few feet off the ground. “Alright, lets get us out of here,” says James. He flips some switches above him. The infected horde are running towards them. As the helicopter starts to elevate higher, a couple infected have grabbed onto the helicopter’s landing skids.

The helicopter lifts up into the air wobbling side to side. “Steady as she goes,” says Zac speaking to himself.

“I think we are the only known survivors, we left a whole lot of sick patients and survivors back there. ” says Rochelle. “We left the only known person who has studied the infected and knows how to make a vaccine, Dr. Meyer” says James.

“She gave a notebook before we left,” says Rochelle.

Will leans over and can see the infected hanging onto the landing skies of the helicopter. “We got a few un invited passengers on board,” says Will. He grabs his hand gun and leans over. He takes a shot and misses, the bullet sparking on the landing ski.

The helicopter is now in the air hovering away from the landing pad but wobbling side to side. “I’m trying to hold this thing steady,” says Zac. Will leans over again to shoot but misses the shot when the helicopter bobs to the side. CRASH!

The other infected have smashed the other side of the helicopter window. It’s snapping it’s teeth at them. James is sitting closes to the window. It bites him and grabs his arm. “Shit!” yells James. Will looks over and can see what’s going on. He grabs a pistol and tries to aim steady not to hit James. A struggle ensues. “Damn!” Will is frustrated that he can’t get a good aim with the helicopter bobbing about and drops the pistol on the floor of the helicopter. He gets up and

punches the infected in the head. Zac gets distracted and looks behind him and can see what’s going. He looks back and can see the needles on the dials begin to drop. He starts flipping switches. He can see that it looks like the engine lost power. He lost engine power and needs to make an emergency landing. The helicopter is gliding back down to the ground.

There is a grassy area nearby, a park, he steers the helicopter the best he can. The helicopter is coming in fast. Everyone bracing for impact. The auto rotation helping glide the helicopter down but too fast. CRASH! They have crashed in the middle of the park. Black smoke is filling the air around them and a small fire has started up front.

Rochelle is coughing and has a horizontal cut across her forehead. Will is knocked out cold. James has a few bruises on his body. Zac is trying to move his body but something hurts.

“Is everyone okay?” says Rochelle. James slaps Will on the cheeks. “Wake up! Will,” says James. Will opens his eyes and starts coughing. James climbs out and helps Will out. Rochelle crawls out she is in a tight space. Zac exits the cockpit. “We got everybody? We need to get moving. The crash likely has attracted infected,” says Zac. James helps Will by his shoulder and Will is limping on one leg.

AQUARIUM

Zac looks around his surroundings. Olympia Park? “Guys, I think we’re in Olympia Park. Let’s head over this way,” says Zac. On the other side of the park they can see infected moving in there direction. They pickup the pace and get inside a building. The Georgia Aquarium. The lights are off. “Here seal off the door!” Zac grabs a vending machine and pushes it up against the door.

They get inside the main floor with the food court. Will sits down on a chair. Rochelle goes to the gift shop to search for any supplies.

The can now hear banging. The infected have reached the outside of the door. James grabs a flashlight. He shines the light and can see through the glass dead fish floating in the tank. But there is movement, a hammerhead shark. It swims aggressively fast towards James and butts it’s head into the glass. “We need to get to the CDC,” says Rochelle. “I found some food,” says Zac. He holds bags of snacks, chips, candy bars and bottles of soda.

“Do you think the virus could have affected animals as well?” says James. The shark is still butting it’s head against the glass. They pack a couple of bags of food and supplies. The problem was that the CDC was about 6 miles away.

They exit upon a back door to the aquarium and head out at night. It’s very dark. Only their flashlights lighting the outdoors and the stars and the moon. Downtown they can see flashes of lights in the skyscrapers downtown. It’s survivors making SOS signals.

SHOOTER

The gang has made it out. James has a paper map. He puts the flash light on it where it shows a line from the aquarium to the CDC marked with a red X. He points off in the right direction. Everyone tries to move as quiet as possible. They make it down a street. Cars are abandoned and on fire. Trash litters the street, windows smashed in. It’s a scene of chaos.

PING! Everyone looks around in confusion. PING! Someone is shooting at them. A red dot is on Will’s forehead. Zac tackles Will to the ground. “Get down and turn off your lights!” Everyone drops to the ground, switches off their lights and crawls. They crawl behind a car for cover. Zac pulls out a rifle and looks down the sights. The shooter is in one of the skyscraper buildings up high. PING! A bullet hits the car door. From the sound of the bang Zac is trying to determine how far away the shot was from.

He scans the building above looking at the windows. Its hard to see. “Where are you?” Zac whispers to himself as he looks down the sights. Another shot and Zac quickly locates the shooter up on the 8th floor of a skyscraper building. Zac aims, holds his breath and fires a shot.

BANG! It looks like he took out the sniper. But the loud gun shot sound is likely to attract infected to their location.

They can hear growling and hissing in the distance.

INJURY

“Shit we need to move,” says Zac. He looks over and can see that Rochelle was hit by a stray fragment. She is holding her hand over her right shoulder. Blood is slowly spewing. “Let me take a look at that,” says Zac. She lifts her hand and blood is everywhere. “Ok lay down, we need to pull this out.” He pulls out his pocket knife and flips the blade out.

He feels with his fingers the shrapnel location. Will and James hold her down. “Okay this is going to hurt,” says Zac. He inserts the blade and digs a bit deeper. Rochelle wants to scream. Will places his hand over her mouth. Her body jolts in shock. Zac pulls the knife out and has a fragment of metal on the tip of his blade. Zac then rips off his shirt and makes a tourniquet. He wraps it around her arm and shoulder. The blood seeps in and turns the shirt red.

James looks up and can see infected the next street over moving slowly in there direction. “Hey guys let’s get going,” says James. They help Rochelle up and begin fast walking away from the area. Down the street they can see a military Humvee pass by. They start walking towards it and around the corner there is a military outpost.

OUTPOST

The gang has made it to an army outpost in the middle of downtown Atlanta. Rochelle is being treated by a combat medic. Will is resting, Zac and James are talking to the Sergeant. “She has the research and we need to get to the CDC safely,” says Zac. “Everyone is either dead or infected. The Air force is bombing the whole city in 24 hours, air evacuation at twenty one hundred hours” says the Sergeant. “What we can’t do that? We have a chance to make a vaccine on a mass quantity!” says James.

“Look it takes time to do that and we don’t even know if what you got will work. These orders are coming from the higher ups,” says the Sergeant.

Zac and James go back to the tent where Rochelle and Will are recovering. “How do we even know someone is there at the CDC?” says James. “I don’t know but we need to get there soon.

To be continued…

THE UNDEAD: DOOMSDAY

By Lee Jones

PROLUGUE

Our Four heroes must get out before a bomb is dropped on the whole city.

STOLEN

“We’re going to get there. You see that truck over there?” says James. James runs bent over careful not to be seen. He opens the driver’s side door of the army truck slow and climbs in. He looks behind at the gang, “come on get in” he whispers. Rochelle and Will are still under the tent. Zac sneaks in the rear door.

Zac signals over to Rochelle and Will. They look around then stoop over to sneak into the truck. They climb into the rear door careful not to make a sound. SCREECH! The truck suddenly pulls away as fast as possible. The sergeant looks over. “They took the truck!” says corporal. “Let them go, they wont get far,” says Sergeant.

James is driving at the wheel. They get to a highway. Interstate 85. They road is flooded with abandoned vehicles blocking the lanes. James has to slow down and drive slow to maneuver around the debris.

Zac has a map and is checking directions sitting in shotgun. Military helicopters fly overhead.

THE LAB

The truck pulls into the parking lot of the CDC. The parking lot is empty of cars but debris is everywhere. Everyone gets out. James grabs a baseball bat. Everyone has their guns in hand.

They get to the main entrance and the door is open. Windows are smashed in. The power is off and it’s dark. Zac and James turn on their flashlights. “careful,” whispers James. “HELLO! Is anyone here?” yells Zac. They sweep their flashlights around. They continue walking down the hallway.

Rochelle has the research papers in her bag from Dr. Meyer. “There’s an emergency operations center,” says Zac. “I doubt that anyone is still here,” replies James. Zac shines his light and can see an infected standing in the middle of the hallway. The infected spots them and starts growling.

Zac pulls out his handgun to shoot, but James lower’s Zac’s hand and proceeds to move forward. He walks up to the infected and swings his bat. SPLAT! He hit the infected in the head and blood splatters on the walls. The body of the infected falls to the ground.

“Alright, let’s see if anyone is still left,” says James.

The BSL 4lab is in a separate building. It deals with the most deadly viruses. The lab has it’s own air supply and workers wear space suits. The building is separated inside with airlocks.

They make it to this building and get inside. This building has power. The lights are on. The backup generators are still running. But no one is there.

There is a light glowing at the end of the hallway. They turn a corner and discover a someone is inside in a lab coat. The lights are turned on in this particular room.

RESEARCH

James taps against the window. The person turns around and backs ups in the table behind in fright knocking some things over. His eyes are big and he stares back at them for a moment. Rochelle waves at him and holds up the papers to the glass. He walks up to examine the papers.

A sigh of relief and the scientist walks to open the door to the lab and opens it. “Come on in, I needed to make sure,” he says. Everyone steps inside the lab. “ I’m Dr. Roberts, I’ve been here trying to create a vaccine,” he says.

“We’ve come quite a ways to make it here, we brought some research from a doctor who was working on infected, ” says James. The doctor steps closer to Rochelle and looks at her shoulder. “You were bit?”

“No I got hit by a sniper, here are the papers” says Rochelle. She hands him the work and he opens the file taking a look. He puts on his glasses reads for a few minutes. He sits down on a stool and continues reading and turning the pages and nodding his head.

Rochelle and Zac look at each other then look back at the doctor. “Interesting, this virus has come out of no where. We are calling it the LQP-79 virus . The great plague, the greatest probably in of all history by our reports. It spreads rapidly and once transmission occurs the effects are almost immediate. We believe it originated in Paris and spread quickly around the world through the airport. Could be engineered, we have no clue how it came about,” says the doctor.

Zac looks confused. “Wheres everyone else?

“Evacuated, we stayed as long as we could and the condition here got worst. I stayed behind because my lab is here and I need to find out as much about this as I can” says the Doctor.

“The military is bombing the city in a few hours and we don’t have time. They are evacuating everyone from the airport we need to get there,” says Zac.

“Well it does take time to research this and develop a vaccine, ” says the Doctor. “Let’s grab as much equipment as we can and make it out of here,” says Will. Everyone looks around tries to grab what they can, the doctor is pointing out what to get. Zac heads outside and pulls around the truck. The load the back with as much as it can hold.

They can see a horde of infected approaching there position. Everyone gets in the truck accept for the Doctor. “Ohh my I need to get so more!” The doctor climbs out of the truck and runs towards the building. “Dr. ! We don’t have time we gotta go! ” Yells Rochelle. She gets out of the truck and runs to grab the Dr. She grabs him by the arm and drags him back to the truck.

The horde of infected is approaching quickly. Zac is honking the horn which makes the infected even more aggressive. Rochelle pushes the Dr. in the truck and she shuts the door. “GO!,” yells Rochelle. Zac slams on the gas pedal heading towards the horde then quickly slams on the brakes sliding into a turn. The truck is a bit slow but he slams on the gas pedal again and pulls away. He hits some infected against the glass window of the truck. The sound of banging against the truck window frightens the Doctor. Lots of black smoke funnel from the exhaust of the truck.

Everyone has a sigh of relief. “Geez, was you trying to get us killed back there?” says Rochelle. “I really need the lab equipment this won’t be sufficient enough,” says the Doctor.

REFUELING

The sound of fighter jets is heard overhead passing by. They are heading towards the airport. “We’re running low on fuel,” says Zac driving the truck. “If it could get any worst then this,” says Will.

They are driving through a neighborhood. Cars abandoned, windows broken in houses, debris in the street. “Over there!” Rochelle points to a gas station.

They pull into the gas station and pull up to a pump and shuts off the engine. “The pumps are shut off but there is probably a backup generator to turn on the pumps,” says Zac. Everyone gets out and starts scoping out the gas station. “I’ll check inside,” says James. The glass door is broken to the gas station connivence door. James heads inside stepping over broken glass and can see some food items still left behind.

“Hey! We got food in here,” he yells. Behind the cashier counter there are some controls. Rochelle walks in with a bag and starts stuffing food in the bag, mostly bags of chips and candy bars.

The lights flicker on. James and Zac both got the backup generator on and running.

Will pumps the diesel into the Humvee.

AIRPORT

They make to the airport. Commercial aircraft are wrecked or abandoned. Fire and smoke still burning at the site. Military helicopters are taking off flying into the city.

Large military cargo aircraft are lined up on the adjacent runway for takeoff. Military personnel and vehicles are driving all over the place.

There are citizens lined up waiting with some possessions. Some appear to be injured. The scene is chaotic.

Zac drives up to someone who appears to be an officer in charge. “I have a doctor here who has medical research on the virus, we need priority to get out as soon as possible.”

The officer looks in the window at the doctor. “I’ll get you on the first cargo plane out of here,” he says. “Where is it going to?” says James. “The Navy has ships off shore. We have orders to land on the USS Ford, aircraft carrier,” says the officer.

They pull up to runway. The first plane is almost done loading with citizens and gear. The line is short and military personnel are standing around directing the crowd. They pull up to the rear cargo door of the first plane. “We are supposed to board this plane!” yells Zac. Suddenly they hear screams.

The citizens on the plane are running out. Infected are onboard and have bitten several passengers. A soldier runs in with a hand pistol. He stands firmly trying to aim from a distance. Pop! Pop!

He fires several shots.

One shot hits the head of the infected while citizens escape from behind. The infected falls to the ground. There are 2 other infected. The soldier radios in backup.

Two more solider runs to help with assault rifles. They open fire on the other infected. One infected is hit in the leg and falls but keeps moving towards them. He shoots and hits the infected in the head exploding it’s skull and splattering flesh and blood.

The other soldier puts his gun in auto and holds down the trigger spraying the area. “Fuck you!” yells the soldier. The bodies of the infected fall to the floor.

“Lets get these people quarantined,” says another officer. Military trucks pull up with people in full head to to toe hazmat suits. They proceed to direct the citizens back to the holding area.

“We don’t have that much time how are going to get these people out?” says James. “We can’t save everyone, we need to get out of here,” says Rochelle.

The pilots of the first aircraft attempt to pull the plane of the runway so that the other planes can take off. Confusion erupts as people are worried they may never leave and the runway is cleared for the other planes.

Plane number two turns on their engines and taxes around to the take off. It speeds up and takes off.

RUN TO SAFETY

James, Rochelle, Will, Zac and Doctor Roberts are directed to quarantine with the other citizens.

“We need to leave asap, we have a doctor here who has research to make a vaccine!” Yells Rochelle to the officer in charge.

“He can come the rest of you need to go to quarantine,” says the officer. He points to the line of citizens being walked back to a large tent. “Lets move!” The doctor is whisked away and his equipment is taken from the truck. The doctor boards the third plane.

The third plane taxi’s around and takes off. One plane is left on the runway for takeoff. People begin boarding the final cargo plane.

“We need to get out of here we don’t have much time before the bombing,” says Zac. “We need to make a run for it,” says Rochelle. They turn around and make a run for it.

A Solider aims at them from a distance ready to take a shot. An officer walks over and puts his hand on the muzzle of the rifle and lowers it.

“Stand down soldier,” says the officer. It’s the officer they spoke to the first time they came to the airport.

James, Zac, Rochelle and Will coming in last make it to the last plane. They board and get in. Everyone is huffing and puffing and they strap in.

The plane pulls around and is ready for takeoff.

Another plane lands on the adjacent runway.

“They don’t have enough time,” says James. The aircraft pulls speeds up and lifts off.

NUCLEAR BLAST

The cargo plane has just taken off and is still ascending. They are looking out of the cargo door and can see a bright light in the distance but it soon becomes to blinding and they cover their eyes. The cargo door is slowly pulling up.

“Brace for impact!” someone yells. BOOM! the shockwaves from the blast shake the entire plane and almost knock it out of the sky. Extreme turbulence follows and alarms on the plane are going off in the cockpit. Everyone inside is screaming and holding on for dear life.

To be continued…

Stay tuned for volume 4 of The Undead series.

More by the author

Check out the other stories by Lee Jones. Available as ebook, audiobook or paperback on Amazon.

￼

About the author

Lee is a short story horror
author. He is the author of the previous short stories, Scarecrow Reaping, The Forest, The Undead Series and the Detective Carson Series.. He Lives in and works in Florida.￼
www.saturnpublishing.com

FEAR

A THIRD COLLECTION OF HORROR SHORT STORIES

LEE JONES

2018 © Lee Jones

2018 copyright. All rights reserved. Published by Saturn Publishing.
This is a work of fiction. While as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of all authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEAR

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MAILING LIST

INTRODUCTION

THE VAMPIRE HUNTER

SILVER BULLET

VISITOR

THE HUNT

SECRET MAP

TAKEN

PRISONER

ESCAPE

PLAN B

BATTLE

BURN

THE UNDEAD: APOCALYPSE

AT SEA

MISSION

AMBUSH

BACKUP PLAN

APOCALYSPE

THE OTHER SIDE

OUTPOST

SAFETY

SETTLING IN

THE GATEKEEPER

INTRODUCTION

ARMY OF DESTRUCTION

URGENT MESSAGE

CONQUEST

VICTORY

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MAILING LIST

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INTRODUCTION

Three short stories appear in this final book in the Fear trilogy. The Vampire Hunter takes place in London in the victorian era during a steam punk alternate universe. Vampires are killing humans at an alarming rate and the Vampire Hunter is tasked with stopping them. He unravels a secret but can he stop the vampire feast before it’s too late? The Undead: Apocalypse is part 4 in the Undead series. Lastly, we have the first part of The Gatekeeper: Protector of the Realms. A fantasy book that introduces readers to the next amazing series from author Lee Jones.

THE VAMPIRE HUNTER

SILVER BULLET

Our story takes place in London during the late 1880s during the victorian era. The coming of age technology is powered by steam. Horse and buggy still reign but cars are powered by steam. On a bustling dirt street is a vaudeville theater. The audience mostly the poor and working class are booing at the act on the stage.

The woman performer is standing speechless and frightened as they crowd starts to throw tomatoes at her. A tomato hits her in the face.

The host of the show runs from behind the curtain and grabs the woman performer who is stunned speechless.

“Come on,” he says and he drags her behind the curtain. He shakes her on the arms looking in her eyes, “What happened to you out there?” He walks back out the center of the stage dodging tomatoes projectiles. “Okay okay! Ladies and gentleman! I present to you our next act.

The magician, the illusionist of darkness Victor Hugo!”

In The crowd watching is Adrian. He has a pistol on his hip hidden under his long coat. The chamber is filled with silver coated bullets.

A thin pale man walks out on the stage. The crowd starts booing.

“For this illusion I will need one volunteer,” says Victor. He points at a young lady in the audience. She looks shocked that he is pointing at her but she runs to the stage.

On the stage is a contraption with a table and a large circular saw. A box covers the middle section from view leaving the ankles and hands and head open. The circular saw is raised on a lever above the middle section.

“The lovely young lady will be strapped onto the table!”

When she reaches the stage he kisses on her hand. With the wave of his hand he instructs her to lay inside the contraption. She slides in and he then proceeds to strap her ankles and hands to the table.

The large circular saw aimed at the mid section of her body starts turning. He waves his hand and it slowly lowers down as it spins faster.

The crowd is stunned in suspense and gasp can be heard in the audience.

“Stop this madman!” yells a man in the audience. The saw comes down and the blade touches her body. It appears the saw is magically going through and she is fine. Then there is blood splattering from the blade of the saw. The saw goes deeper and blood is oozing to the floor. The young lady is screaming and her hands and feet in the cuffs are shaking.

She quickly succumbs to death and all movement is stopped. The audience is stunned at what they just witnessed. The saw completes going through the table and is at the bottom of the table. Victor walks up and separates the two sides of the tables to present to the audience. His illusion is now complete, which may not be an illusion at all.

Revealed is the end’s of the young woman with blood and internal body parts falling out. Victor takes a bow. “Murder!” yells a man in the audience.

Bang! a shot rings out. Victor ducks. In the audience is Adrian holding his pistol out pointed at the stage. Victor quickly runs behind the curtain out of view. The crowd disperses and runs towards the exits of the theater. Adrian runs towards the stage and climbs up on the stage. He runs lifting the curtain towards backstage. A jungle of ropes and wires are obstructing his view. He hears a sound and looks up. Victor the magician is climbing up.

Adrian looks over and sees a ladder going up. He runs to it and starts climbing. Victor has now reached the second level of the stage a bridge suspended by ropes above the stage. Adrian gets to that level and can see Victor is attempting to reach the roof.

The bridge swings side to side as Adrian steps onto it. He is trying to keep balance.

“Stop right there vampire!” Adrian presents a cross arm length at Victor. He is standing on one end of the bridge while Victor is on the other end trying to find a way to the roof. Victor turns around to look over his shoulder. Adrian runs towards Victor and tackles him to the floor of the bridge. The bridge swings back and forth. He is now onto of Victor and he presents the cross in Victors face. Victor glances at the cross and his face immediately turns dark and veins pop in his face. Victor turns his head not to look and he shoves Adrian off. He gets up and steps back running for the wall.

He leaps into the air and grabs a rope hanging off the wall. Victor is now climbing up the wall. Adrian who was slightly knocked out rolls over and gets up. He can see Victor climbing the wall and has almost reached the ceiling. He stands back at the bridge and runs and leaps towards the same rope on the wall.

Victor has now climbed through a small door in the ceiling reaching the roof outside. Adrian has now climbed up and attempts to push through the door. The door seems stuck or something heavy is holding it down.

Several pushes and Adrian pushes through the door climbing onto the roof. Victor is standing on the edge of the roof of the theater. “Stop! stop!” Adrian yells. He pulls out his pistol and aims. Victor looks behind then leaps disappearing out of view. The trigger is fired but the shot misses. He appeared to leap to his death below but to where?

Adrian runs to the same location on the roof. He looks down and he sees Victor running through the streets below pushing citizens to the side. Victor runs into a building and disappears out of sight in the darkness of night. Adrian is disappointed. He catches his breath and wipes his brow.

VISITOR

Adrian is in his flat. He has photos of suspects lining his walls. A candle flickers in the darkness as he writes in his notebook.

The vampire has escaped. Tall, dark and last seen at the vaudeville theater in London. Suspect is still on the run.

A knock at his door. Adrian gets up to answer it. He opens the door unlatching several locks and chains and a woman appears in distraught. “I am told you are the man who killed Victor,” she says.

“What do you want?” says Adrian. “Excuse my manners sir, my name is Elizabeth. My sister was murdered by the hands of Victor!” she says.

“I cannot help you,” says Adrian. He attempts to close the door but her foot is in the opening preventing him from closing it. “I said I cannot help you,” says Adrian.

“But sir! I am told you are the vampire hunter!” she says through the crack of the door. “Ma’am I cannot help you,” he shoves her and slams the door shut.

He turns and thinks for a moment. He swallows unsure what to do. He then turns and opens the door again. The woman is on her way downstairs. “Ma’am! Come on inside!” he says. She stops to look at him and walks back to him walking inside his flat. She walks inside looking all around and he shuts the door.

“Wow what is this place?” she says. She sits down next to his desk where he is writing. “I attempted to kill the vampire but he escaped. I’ve been tracking him for several weeks,” says Adrian.

“Many young women have been disappeared or bodies have been found in London the past few years. It’s getting worst. The police are perplexed and have not been able to find enough evidence. I want justice for my sister,” she says.

“Yes, on my wall here you will see photos of suspected vampires. They only come out at night. Preying on unsuspected young women, sometimes men. Now with my failure to kill Victor sets me back,” says Adrian.

“I can help you, I can help you locate the demon,” she says.

“I work alone,” says Adrian. “Please sir, I want this as much as you do,” as she looks into his eyes. Adrian stares at her for a moment thinking.

“Okay, you will help me but any problems slowing me down you will be removed,” he says. She nods her head, “Yes sir.”

THE HUNT

Adrian is watching though his spyglass a cargo ship on the dock on the river Thames. Steam is bellowing from the chimney.

The crew is unloading crates and barrels. Elizabeth a young beautiful woman is making some moves. She is at the dock. She uses her beauty and charm and she convinces the man guarding the gangway to the ship to let her onboard. She turns and gives the signal with her hand.

Adrian puts down the spyglass. He pulls out a gadget from his belt underneath his long coat. It’s a pistol device with a hook and wire reel. He aims it at the edge of building and pulls the trigger. The hook flies through the air with the wire attached and it latches on to the edge of the roof.

He pulls on a latch and the reel starts to wind in. Steam is coming from the gadget. The hook is attached firmly to the building. Adrian grabs with both hands and the gadget pull him up to the top of the building.

He hoist himself over the ledge onto the roof of the building. He pulls out a rifle from his back and looks into the scope. He has his sights on a worker. He pulls the trigger and a man goes down with the bullet exiting through his head. The other man scurry and run away.

Adrian puts the rifle away and runs towards the edge of the building and pulls a latch from his backpack. A parasail deploys and he glides down towards the location of the ship. He touches down and detaches the sail. He walks up onto the gangway on the ship.

On the ship he walks towards the bridge of the ship. Elizabeth is inside, she is attempting to break open a safe on the bridge of the steam ship.

“Step back,” he says. He pulls another gadget from his belt. It’s a pistol like device and he points it at the safe. It shoots two disk that attach to the door of the safe. He pulls the trigger again and the disk explode busting open the safe door. Boom!

Elizabeth runs over and can see something sitting inside of the safe. It’s a scroll. She unravels it and can see it’s a map. “Look at this Adrian, it’s a map,” she says. Adrian looks over her shoulder. “Interesting,” he says.

“Get them!” a man yells on the dock. He has appeared from no where and is pointing to them. Other men are scurrying running towards them. “We need to go now,” says Adrian. He pulls out a hand held device with some knobs and buttons on it. He presses some buttons and pulls a knob.

“Ok go stand by the edge starboard side! I am going to hold them off!”

Elizabeth runs over and is waiting by the side of the ship. The men now are running up the gangway. Adrian pulls out a revolver pistol. Ding! a bullet flies past his head and bounces off metal. They are firing on him.

Elizabeth can hear a motorized sound coming down the river. She can’t see because it’s night time and dark. She then see’s a boat moving fast towards them. The boat however has no pilot. It is steering itself.

“Get on that boat Elizabeth!” Adrian looks behind his shoulder trying to stop the attack with his pistol pointed in front of him. Elizabeth makes a leap and jumps on the speed boat. She rolls on the floor of the boat as the boat speeds by. The boat turns in a circular motion in the water.

She gets up and looks at the console. It’s a console of knobs and buttons and a large steering wheel. She attempts to turn the steering wheel back to the direction of the cargo ship but it does not respond. She starts banging on presses buttons and switches and tries again. She can now steer the boat.

She steers it back to the cargo ship in port where Adrian is in a fire fight.

Adrian is held down behind a metal wall of the ship leaning over periodically to take a shot.

Ping! Ping! bullets are flying past. He looks behind him and see’s Elizabeth in the boat. He gets up and makes a run for it leaping off the edge of the ship onto the boat speeding by. He lands inside the boat rolling around and hitting himself in his back.

“Damn that hurt!” he says. Elizabeth turns the boat around and steers it down the river. Shots are fired at them in the boat but the quickly are out of range as the boat makes it way farther down the river.

SECRET MAP

The map they smuggled on this daring mission a few days ago is a map to the vampire underground. It was rumored that the vampires lived underground the city but he could never located the entrance to such a place.

Adrian and Elizabeth are in a pub at night. The gas lanterns and candles light the interior. The people are rowdy and loud. Music plays in the background and people dance. Adrian has a few bandages on his side where he fell on his amazing leap to escape.

They are trying to blend in. They are watching a suspect in the crowd with a young lady. He dips and weaves through the crowd and makes his way to a back door holding the young ladies hand.

“Follow him,” says Adrian to Elizabeth. Elizabeth follows the suspect going to the back door entrance leading into a kitchen. The man goes into a closet door.

Adrian still out in the pub area, follows Elizabeth and walks behind secretly back into the kitchen area. Elizabeth follows the suspect and opens the close door. He leads down steps into a darkness. She goes to grab a single candle careful not to blow out the flame. She holds the candle steady and walks down the steps looking all around.

She can’t see much but darkness. On the ground below her feet is sand. She can see the clothes, on the ground. He feet then brush up against human bones.

Adrian sneaks into the back kitchen. He looks around looking for another path. He then looks over and see’s the door to the closet is open.

He looks inside down the steps and see’s it’s completely dark. He grabs a candle.

Adrian walks down the steps slowly. He has his silver pistol drawn on alert.

TAKEN

At the bottom of the steps he feels sand below his feet. He waves the candle around in different directions but can’t see anything. He then hears something. A scream in the distance. “Elizabeth!?” he yells out. Another scream.

“Elizabeth!? Where are you?”

He walks up to the entrance of a tunnel with art engraved on the sides of the entrance wall. He holds his candle up to it inspecting the symbols. Another scream is heard in the distance. Adrian shines the candle below and can see a trail of footprints. He follows the footprints in the darkness.

He looks up and can see Elizabeth being held hostage by a pale man. He is clutching her she cannot escape.

“Well Adrian, The notorious Vampire Hunter. Hmm, we finally meet,” he says.

Adrian raises and points his silver pistol at him. “No no no, I will bite her and suck her blood,” says the man. He shows his teeth hissing and Adrian can clearly see fangs.

“Adrian please!” yells Elizabeth. “You shall surrender your weapon and Elizabeth will not be harmed,” he says. Suddenly a dozen other vampires appear to step from the darkness into view. They stand and watch from behind the man holding her hostage.

Adrian raises his hand and drops the pistol to the ground. The other vampires walk up to him and cuff him from behind by his hands.

They escort him along with Elizabeth to another room.

“Welcome to the underground. Your the first human to come here,” says the pale man. They kick away the solver pistol.

PRISONER

Adrian and Elizabeth are being held in a dungeon somewhere underground the streets of London. They can see down the hallway are flames lighting a large chamber. A crowd of vampires are beginning to congregate inside where there is a wooden stage.

It appears they are preparing for a ritual. In the dungeon they can see other humans are inside the cells.

Humans kidnapped or tricked and taken away. There is a table on the stage designed to pool blood into a barrel below. A couple vampires walk over and open a cell pulling out a female human. She screams and shouts. They pull her and drag her to the stage. The crowd steps back making a path in the center to the human.

They take the human to the stage and strap her hands, ankles and neck to the table with cuffs holding her down. She is squirming trying to escape.

“Vampires, my fellow vampires join me on this feast tonight!” says the vampire priest. He takes out a knife and makes several cuts in her body.

The human is screaming in agony. The blood pours out and pools through the table going through several pipes into a barrel. The young lady quickly dies on the table.

“We have increased in numbers. This first human sacrifice marks our first step in overtaking the city of London. London will not be city of humans, but for Vampires! We will not longer hide in the dark afraid of them, they will be afraid of us! The war has begun!” says the vampire priest.

Adrian and Elizabeth look at each other. He can see the vampire guard with a key on his belt pacing back and forth in the dungeon.

Elizabeth uses her sexy persuasion to distract the guard. “Guard!”

“I would love to give you a taste of me, I’m quite sweet,” she says.

The guard stops and walks over to her cell. “Get close, get closer,” she says. She reveals her neck to him and he licks his lips. The guard takes the key and opens her cell. He walks towards her and she steps back slowly playing with him.

“You have to come get me,” she says. The guard laughs and he walks slowly towards her. The guard reaches his hands out to grab her and she kicks him, grabs the key off his belt and runs out the cell. She slams the cell door shut. She unlocks Adrian’s cell and he gets out. She unlocks the other cells holding the humans hostage.

ESCAPE

Adrian was stripped away of his gadgets and weapon on his belt. His belt is missing. However he has a secret stake in his shoe. He taps his heel and a stake is sprung out from the sole.

“Let’s stop them,” he whispers to Elizabeth. They hide in the darkness and can see the vampires drinking and feasting on blood. Another guard walks over to grab another human for sacrifice. Adrian sneaks from behind and stabs the vampire guard in it’s chest. The body of the vampire quickly vaporizes into dust.

The human hostages are escaping to the surface through the maze of underground tunnels.

Adrian sneaks on to a few other vampire guards and takes them out with the stake.

“How are we going to stop them here? There are simply too many,” says Elizabeth.

“There’s a metal refinery on the other side of London,” says Adrian.

They escape with the other humans. They head out seeing light.

PLAN B

Adrian and Elizabeth know the vampire plan is pending soon. Vampires want to take over the city of London. Rampaging thought the streets at night feeding on the innocent. They are in Adrians flat planning their next move. Looking over a map. Vampires are on the hunt for them so they know they can’t stay long before someone picks up their trail. Word is that the vampires have sent an army in search of him and will kill him at all cost.

Adrian wants to use that to is advantage. “I can bait them to the refinery, we need to set a trap,” says Adrian. “What can we do?” says Elizabeth.

“I will draw attention to myself, board my speed boat and get to the refinery. They have plenty of silver. We can draw them under this area here. You will push this button to drop the molten silver on them,” says Adrian. Elizabeth nods. They now have a plan. “Do we have a plan B?” ask Elizabeth.

“No, this is the best plan we got,” says Adrian.

BATTLE

The trap has been set. Elizabeth awaits at the refinery. Adrian is hanging around the pub where the vampires like to sneak backdoors to the underground. A vampire spots him and is watching him. The vampire talks to another vampire next to him and points at Adrian.

Adrian start walking quickly and the vampires follow behind him. Adrian looks behind him again and notices a dozen vampires are following him now. He bobs and weaves through the crowd trying to keep a distance. Adrian pulls out the controller and presses a knob and a few buttons. He is running towards the dock on the river.

The speed boat comes speeding in the water. Adrian begins running and the vampires begin running too. As the boat approaches he has to run faster. Some of the vampires begin exhibiting their special abilities. One jumps and leaps higher in the air then any human could. Adrian finally reaches the dock and leaps off rolling into the boat.

The boat speeds off but a few vampires attempt to leap into the boat but miss and fall into the river. “Whoo!” Adrian yells. Adrian looks to the side on the land. He can see vampires running atop the roofs of the buildings following him. They move very fast quicker then a human could.

They leap between roofs. More join in and now there are a dozen vampires leaping on top of the roofs following him. “Come get me!” yells Adrian. The vampires get more aggressive. The steam bellowing from the boat speeding at over 50 knots. A vampire appears to try to attempt to launch itself into his boat. He jumps but Adrian steers the wheel to the left dodging his attempt. The vampire falls into the river.

Thump! Unbeknownst to Adrian a vampire has landed at the back of the boat. He turns to look around and can see the vampire trying to balance itself. Adrian grabs the silver revolver from his belt and aims for the back of the boat. He tries to get a good aim with the choppy movement of the boat moving.

The vampire leaps forward and knocks the pistol out of his hand. It opens it mouth and attempts to bite into his neck. Adrian shoves it away.

He taps his foot to spring out the stake from his shoe. The vampire hisses and attacks sprinting at him. Adrian throws up his arms to defend himself from getting bit.

“Arggh!!” A struggle ensues and Adrian is trying with all his strength to get the vampire off of him. He is deadlocked holding the shoulder of the vampire away from his neck. A big wave hits and knocks the vampire down. Adrian quickly grabs the stake from his shoe in his right hand.

He lunges at the vampire and stabs it in the chest. The body of the vampire quickly turns to dust.

Adrian turns back to see what’s happening. The boat is about to hit a ramp in the river. The boat hits the ramp and flies into the air. Adrian leaps out catching a meal pole from a building. He grabs on and hangs there. The boat crashes into the water. He looks behind his shoulder and can seen the other vampires coming in his direction.

He climbs himself into the window of the warehouse and on solid ground. He is in the refinery on the second floor. Buckets of molten metal are passing over a conveyor belt pouring into cast. Elizabeth is on the other side of the warehouse waving. “Adrian! behind you!”

Adrian looks behind and sees. a vampire coming through the window. He quickly runs. He jumps inside a big bucket where molten metal is about to be poured into. The vampires are climbing in rapidly. Their fangs exposed and their mouths chomping aggressively.

“Adrian watch out!” yells Elizabeth. Up ahead he can see where molten metal is being poured. Elizabeth is looking for a control to stop the conveyor from pouring into his bucket.

The vampires run aggressively up on all fours. Some magically crawling and running on the vertical walls. They stop when they sense the molten metal. They keep a distance.

Now at the front main entrance of the warehouse are more vampires coming through. They bust down the door but keep a boundary staying away from the silver. The inside quickly fills with hungry vampires ready to take his blood.

“Well well who do we have here?” It’s Victor the magician vampire walking in. “We meet again Adrian. All of these vampires are ready to take your blood. The vampire hunter is no match for all of us,” says Victor. He laughs.

Elizabeth hits a button and the conveyor stops just before pouring molten metal inside of his bucket. The vampires notice Elizabeth turning their heads toward her watching her. They are hissing and displaying their fangs.

“Why don’t you come? Forgot all of these vampires it’s just you and me Adrian,” says Victor. Adrian pulls out his hook gun and points it out. It pulls the trigger and it lift him out of the large bucket. He lift up his long coat to slow his decent to the ground. He kneels when he hits the ground.

BURN

Adrian stands in front of Victor. The other vampires watching. They stand man to vampire staring each other down. “Who will make the first move?” says Victor. “You will,” says Adrian. “Haha, very bad choice,” says Victor.

Victor walks approaching Adrian then begins to run shouting. Adrian pulls out his hook gun and points it to the second floor where is Elizabeth is waiting. “Elizabeth hit it!” Adrian pulls the trigger and pulls himself up. Elizabeth hits the button and restarts the conveyor. All the buckets move turning over.

The molten metal is silver. It pours below onto all the vampires. They turn to dust. Some try to escape. Adrian pulls out his silver gun and fires those escaping in the back. Victor is looking around confused. Adrian points his silver gun and fires. The bullet on a direct path for Victor Hugo’s head.

The bullet goes though his forehead. His body quickly forms into dust.The dust blows away into the wind.

Adrian and Elizabeth look at each other. Elizabeth jumps onto of Adrian kissing and hugging him. They have killed Victor and stopped the vampire apocalypse. London has been saved.

The End.

THE UNDEAD: APOCALYPSE

By Lee Jones

AT SEA

Zac, Rochelle, Will and James have been at sea for weeks along with hundreds of other survivors. However the ship must dock at shore. It has run out of supplies and food and they cannot sustain for any longer at sea. The nuclear bomb has obliterated the city of Atlanta. Reports coming from around the country show that much of the world is in a pandemic. But a couple weeks ago the radio went silent.

The doctor is getting much closer to developing a vaccine. However he is missing critical supplies and equipment to finish the job. The ship is docking in Virginia. They are hoping they can find food on shore.

MISSION

The ship docks. A specialized team is tasked with heading into town and locating stores of food. Navy SEALs, outfitted in mission gear disembark the ship. The area surrounding the dock seems abandoned. They walk through the area looking for signs of life.

There is an abandoned pickup truck with the keys still inside. “Check this out it still has the keys,” says the chief petty officer. He turns the key and the truck starts. Both SEALs get in the driver side and shot gun. The others hop in the bed of the truck. The chief drives the truck bumping over debris.

“Most places have probably been looted,” says the petty officer.

“We need to look,” says the chief. They drive through the streets looking around. The city is abandoned, debris and abandoned cars fill the streets.

They steer around the best they can. Up ahead is a shopping center about two miles from the dock..

It’s a supermarket. They can see shopping carts in the parking lot everywhere. The windows are broken into. “Chief up ahead,” points out the petty officer. He drives up and parks the truck. “We need to clear the area before we load the truck up with supplies,” says Chief. Chief picks up his radio and speaks, “We’ve located a possible location for food supplies. We are about two miles north of the dock where there is a large shopping center.”

“Ten four,” a reply is heard over the radio. The SEALs in the back get out and head inside the shop. They turn on their flashlights and shine it around inside.

AMBUSH

“Did you hear that?” says Petty Officer over the radio. ‘What?” says Chief. “We could have tangos in here,” says Petty Officer.

“Clear!” “Clear!” are heard over the radio as each SEAL clears an area or room.

“We do have tangos, holy shit! look behind you six o clock,” says Petty Officer.

In front of them is a horde of infected. So many you can’t even see asphalt in the parking lot. They are approaching the SEAL team in the super market.

“We need backup!” the Chief calls over the radio.

“Fire!” he yells. The team quickly takes cover behind shelves and begins firing. The sound of gun fire making the infected making them more aggressive and run quickly towards them. They fire on automatic with their assault rifles taking on several infected. Their bodies stumble to the ground. But the horde is too much they can’t simply stop all of them.

“Hold your ground!” yells the Chief. The bridge on the ship gets the radio signal. The broadcast fizzles in and out. “We need backup!”

Then several shots are heard over the radio. “That’s not good,” says the captain of the ship.

He is listening with the other officers of the ship and Zac, Rochelle, James and Will are there too. “Chief! Chief! Can you hear me!?” yells the Captain over the radio. The captain looks up and shakes his head.

“I think we could of lost our boys out there,”says the Captain.

"We will go!” says Rochelle. “Excuse me?” says the Captain.

“We volunteer to go to search for more food and supplies, we know it’s dangerous and we are willing to risk our lives, ” says Rochelle.

The captain looks in her eyes for a moment then nods his head.

“Fine, we can supply your weapons, we will not send backup godspeed to you all,” says the Captain.

BACKUP PLAN

The whole gang is on the dock suited up with vest assault rifles, ammo and backpacks. “Alright so we are heading to the last location of the SEALs?” says Will. “We need to find a vehicle first,” says Rochelle.

They pretty much follow the path of the of the SEALs. “They must of came through here,” says James. “Check for working vehicles,” says Zac. They come across an SUV. Zac lifts up the hood. It’s got gas and it seems to be in working condition but the battery is dead.

“Give me that.” Rochelle hands Zac a battery jump starter. He attaches the leads to the car battery. “Ok start it,” he says.

Rochelle turns the key and the car hesitates but it starts.

They get in and drive off. Driving through the streets of the city they can see the extent of the damage.

Atlanta was bad and now seeing this city is upsetting. “Jesus just what the hell?” says James. “Ok the SEALs were last seen at this position on the map,”says Zac pointing to a location on the map.

He slams on the gas and drives through the street dodging debris and abandoned vehicles. They come to the same supermarket shopping center from the last known location of the SEALs.

“This is their last known location, they found food supplies here,” says Zac. “It appears there are no infected should be safe to head inside,” says Rochelle. They pull the car up and Zac gets out in the parking lot. The can see the truck of the SEALs.

Zac steps inside,” Anybody here!?” He turns around and signals to everyone else it’s safe to come in. “We still got canned goods, can’t go wrong with ramen noodles,” says Zac.

James brings a large duffle bag and starts unloading canned goods into the bag. Will steps into the back of the supermarket, “Hey there are boxes full of goods back here!”

Rochelle starts bringing boxes from the back and loading them in the vehicle. “We are going to need a larger vehicle than this to get this stuff out,” she says.

“Well whatever happened here they are not here,” says Zac.

They walk around on broken glass. Looking down Zac notices a trail of dried blood on the tile floor. “That’s not good,” he says to himself.

He follows the trail of blood and it leads to the back of the deli. The assault rifle of the SEAL is laying there, also some items he would be carrying with him.

He walks further up and sees a skeleton. “Damn damn,” says Zac shaking his head. “Hey guys I found them!”

Will walks in. “Whoa!” he says. Zac picks up the radio,”we’ve located the body of one of the SEALs. We’ve however have located the supplies.”

“Ten four,” is heard over the radio in response.

APOCALYSPE

As Rochelle is carrying a box outside to the car she notices movement in the distance. A car alarm goes off and starts beeping. “Hey whats that noise thats going to attract attention here?” says James.

Rochelle can hear in the distance something. It’s the sound of an extremely large horde of infected. Rochelle squirms her eyes and can see a wall of infected stretching for a least a while wide moving in their direction on the horizon. It’s the largest horde she has ever seen.

“Hey guys we have a problem, like a really big problem,” says Rochelle. She runs inside, “ guys you gotta see this.”

James walks out with her, “ holy shit! We need to get the fuck outta here.”

“I’ll grab Zac and Will we need to move now!” she yells. She runs inside to find them. “Zac! Will!

She spots them in the deli section and runs over. “The apocalypse is coming!” she yells. “Rochelle what the hell are you talking about? says Zac.

“The biggest horde of infected you’ve ever seen is heading this way!” says Rochelle. “What?!”

“Come, come we need to go!” says Rochelle.

“But what about the supplies? We really need this,” says Zac.

“I’m staying behind,” says Will.

“What?” Rochelle and Zac both look at Will in confusion.

“It’s my time, I cannot escape death any longer,” says Will.

Will sits down and starts to cry. “Listen Will I know it’s hard, but we really have to go,” says Zac.

“Leave me here! We all die eventually. I’m an old man my time is up,” says Will. Zac and Rochelle both grab him by the arms but he shoves them away.

Zac looks at Rochelle, “ Go get James I will meet you both at the car!”

“But what about?” says Rochelle. “Go now!” yells Zac.

Rochelle runs out, “James lets go we have very little time.”

Zac kneels down to look at Will in the eye. He hands him a pistol.

“Here use this, see you in heaven,” says Zac. Will is sobbing.

THE OTHER SIDE

Zac grabs some last minute boxes and supplies in his arms. The horde has now made it to the street preceding the parking lot of the supermarket shopping center. He gets into the car and slams on the gas.

Some of the horde attempts to follow the car but he drives off in the opposite direction.

Will is left sitting on the floor of the deli inside the supermarket. He is thinking about his life.

He is thinking how happy he was before the pandemic broke out as a retired veteran. The horde quickly reaches the supermarket and like a tornado leaves a path destruction in it’s wake. The horde gets inside.

Will holds the pistol to his chin just moments before infected reach him and he pulls the trigger. His body slums over. The infected run over and quickly rip his body to shreds. They surround his body pulling off body parts and eating, blood spurting everywhere.

The infected fight each other over fresh flesh to eat. Windows break and the building is easily damaged. Rochelle looks in the rear mirror and sees the horde. She begins to shed a tear.

“We did what we could guys, but he wanted it,” says Zac.

James is looking down feeling a moment of grief. He looks up and speaks, “We’ve lost a friend. But, we need to continue searching for food and supplies. Rochelle can see in the rearview mirror a fire has started at that building.

The horde is so massive, she thinks how did this come about?

“How can they act together in such a large group?” Rochelle ask out loud.

“I think the virus is evolving, we’ve never seen anything like this before,”says James.

OUTPOST

They have made it to a few miles out away from the giant horde. Their search continues without Will. Most shops like everywhere else have been previously looted. But they have little time and must make it back soon with supplies.

James holds up a list of supplies needed. They are sitting around a bonfire to stay warm.

“With as many people on the ship, and the other ships we need a miracle. Simply there is not enough we’ve found yet,” says James.

They have a can of beans and ramen noodles cooking over the open fire.

There is a full moon out. The crickets are chirping and the only lights they can see are stars in the sky. Rochelle is humming to herself to calm herself.

“Well I think we will find something give it until tomorrow. We still have the next town over to explore,” says Zac.

Rochelle is quietly looking up at the moon. She lowers her head for a moment and notices lights flashing in the distance.

She wipes her eyes and looks harder. It’s a morse code signal.

“Guys look over there,” she points in that direction. The guys turn around and see the flashing light.

“Morse code? Get me a pen and paper,” says Zac. Rochelle hands him a pen and paper. He begins writing down the pattern. Zac is scribbling fast trying to interpret the code. He is mumbling to himself.

Rochelle and James look at him.

“Wow, haha! we have survivors. They have an outpost with food, water, and medicine,” says Zac.

SAFETY

Zac, Rochelle and James are standing at the gates of an outpost. A safe house but much larger safe space to accommodate more survivors. A guard with a rifle stands up top with a spotlight smoking a cigarette.

“Hello! We are survivors, we saw your morse code signal a few miles away,” says Zac. The guard drops his cigarette surprised there are survivors. He turns to look at them, “Where are you from?”

“We are from Atlanta we’ve come a long way, we took a Navy ship here. Theres a ship off shore, they need supplies as soon as possible,” says Rochelle.

“At the outpost here we help our own, no one leaves until the infection has passed,” says the guard.

“We wish to enter, we are healthy no infection. I’m Zac, she is Rochelle and he is James.”

The guard stands and watches them for a few moments observing them. He turns behind him and signals his hand to another guard.

The gates slowly begin opening. Everyone looks at each other and smile.

SETTLING IN

The Outpost is a small town surrounded by fence and guards. The survivors appear happy, life seems normal inside it’s walls. Upon intake, Zac, Rochelle and James are assigned to a house and given duties for the community.

The whole community comes to their rescue helping out wherever possible. Later in the day they have a community service. The mayor of the community is John.

After the sermon Rochelle approaches John.

“We are new here, here, my name is Rochelle this Zac and James,” she says. “I see welcome you all to the Outpost. We strive to make this the safest community. You have something, how can I help you?” he says.

“We would like to thank you for taking us in. But we came from a ship off shore, a Navy ship. There are more survivors, they need food and supplies,” says Rochelle.

“Once you come to our community you cannot leave, we have everything here that you need,” says John.

Rochelle looks at Zac and James. John walks off and greets another survivor. “We need to get to those survivors,” says Rochelle.

The End…

Stay tuned for part 5 of The Undead Series.

THE GATEKEEPER

PROTECTOR OF THE REALMS

PART 1

BY LEE JONES

This story is being released in parts and will eventually be released complete as a novella.

INTRODUCTION

The multiverse is divided into

seven realms. Each similar but also vastly different. A

gatekeeper is tasked with protecting the portal between

each realm. The gatekeepers are an elite peacekeeping

force known throughout all the realms of the

multiverse. The Gatekeeper treaty ensures that no one

crosses into the other realms. A king of each realm

governs their world and it’s people.

ARMY OF DESTRUCTION

In the second realm an army has just invaded a portal. An army of darkness and mass destruction. The soldiers are coming through the portal one by one. Some foot soldiers with swords or bows, and some riding on top of large dragons.

The gatekeeper of the second realm lays helpless on the ground. His body is lifeless and soldiers march over his dead body.

Archers line up in a row and pull back their fire arrows pointing them to the sky.

The commander of this army of darkness is Artemis. Once a gatekeeper, he broke the code of the gatekeepers and went rogue. He has been building an army for years in secrecy. Today was the first step in his conquest. He is wearing an elaborate suit of armor in black, and a long sword attached to his hip. They stand perched on the steps of the temple overlooking a bustling city.

“Supreme Leader of Darkness, I just need your word to attack,” says a general. Artemis waves his hand to command the attack.

The general yells out to everyone, “ Attack!”

The archers pull back their bows’ and fire the arrows into the air.

The arrows fly through the air and hit on buildings. Fires are starting. The foot soldiers charge ahead in unison.

“We should overtake the city rather quickly, their army is rather weak,” says the general. The foot soldiers reach the city streets and slaughter as many citizens as they can.

Women, men and children of all kind running as fast as they can. The opposing army is small but has aligned its self in defense. They march towards the Dark Army in the street.

The archers from the dark army pull back their bows again and fire. The arrows fly through the air and hit the men of the opposing army, many bodies drop to the ground. Both armies’ foot soldiers charge at each other.

They clash swinging swords at each other.

Dragons fly through the air sweeping to the ground to pick up men then drop them from the air killing them.

The scene is chaotic and disturbing. Artemis and his general stand and watch from the temple steps above.

A messenger walks up to them and unravels a map of the city holding it open and displaying it.

The general points to a location on the map.

“We need to overtake the palace and kill the king. Once we do, you will control this realm and all it’s people.”

Artemis nods in acknowledgement.

The palace is fortified behind a giant wall. The foot soldiers have easily defeated the initial onslaught of the opposing army. They reach the outer wall of the palace.

Arrows fly over the walls and start fires on the inside of the palace. There is a large metal and wood door towering high several feet. The dark army pushes forth a large battering ram. In unison, they are chanting and push the battering ram into the door causing it to loosen the door several times.

The dragons fly over head trying to avoid arrows and drop heavy stones below inside the palace walls. The stones fall and instantly crush men.

One more push of the battering ram bust the door open.

The dark army soldiers rush in charging and attacking.

The opposing army runs and moments later a white flag is raised above the palace.

“Impressive,” says Artemis. He gets on a horse rides from the top of the steps of the portal temple through the streets below. He rides through the streets and the soldiers stand out of his way clearing a path. He lashes the horse to run even faster.

He rides inside the palace and walks inside to the main entrance. He stands in the middle of the room and waits.

“Where is he?” he says. A few soldiers come from behind the doorway with the king in shackles. They present the king to Artemis and the king kneels before him.

Artemis lifts his chin up to examine his face.

“I have taken control of this realm, I have no other use for you.,” he says. Artemis pulls out his sword from his holster and steps back a bit.

He swings the sword at the kings neck and decapitates the king.

URGENT MESSAGE

Zaden is new a gatekeeper tasked with protecting Alynthi, the sixth realm. He carries a long sword and stands in front of the temple gates. A wolf companion stands by his side. Having trained in the battle arts since a young boy, he now has achieved his ultimate goal. Having just been nominated to this post was his dream.

It is about time that Zaden should be relieved of his post, but his replacement does not show. Off in the distance he can see someone coming towards him.

A messenger arrives to the temple steps with a scroll. He unravels the scroll and speaks, “I have an urgent message for you.”

"Gatekeeper, if you have received this message, you are unfortunately the very last gatekeeper of this portal. We have been overtaken with a surprise attack in the other realms. We can not support you. We believe the next invasion will be soon. You must protect the portal at all cost.”

The messenger leaves. The news is shocking.

He is now left to protect this portal by himself. How big is this attack? What can he do to defend this portal? He thinks to himself.

CONQUEST

Artemis has now taken full control of more realms. They have now refortified their army and are ready to invade the next realm. They are inside a field tent looking over a large battlefield map laid on the table. All the generals and military leaders stand around the table. A general speaks, “They have a rather large calvary, if we can overtake that we can, break through their fortress.”

Outside it is a icy snow world extremely cold and barren. They are high in the mountains. A temple sits high atop the mountain where the portal is. The extreme wind blows the fabric of the tent.

Dragons await tied up outside to a post. Their wings are wrapped around their bodies to protect themselves from the cold. Horses are kept inside. The foot soldiers await inside tents around fires singing to songs to pass the time.

They are planning to enter the sixth realm. The general points to the map. “Just two more realms to conquer. Their numbers are dwindling we can easily overtake the portal. Once inside we will crush their army. First wave by air then calvary, then archers, then soldiers!”The general slams his fist on the table.

A horn blows and all the soldiers get out of their tents. The dragons are woken up and unchained. All the generals stand outside the tent to watch. The Dark Lord gives the wave of his hand to command the first wave of attack.

The portal is located inside a gated temple. The portal is spinning like a whirlpool.

The dragons stand up and flap their wings and lift off the ground in unison and fly into the portal one by one.

Next comes the calvary. Men in armor on horses ride through one by one. A commander stands by signaling each soldier when to go through.

On the other side of the portal in the sixth realm, Zaden is standing by. He is suddenly knocked over and watches a dragon fly through and into the air above. It bust through the gate. Then another dragon. They fly straight to the city of Flemery.

In the distance he can see arrows fly in the direction in defense of the dragon. More dragons are coming through at a fast rate. Zaden unsheathes his sword and turns around to stop the invasion. A calvary soldier comes through on a horse. The horse stands on it’s hind legs and Zaden swings his sword at it. The soldier is knocked off and the horse stumbles. He swings again and the soldier blocks with his sword. They are deadlocked with swords. Zaden is trying to push the soldier in a power struggle when a calvary comes through and knocks Zaden over.

More calvary come through the portal. Two soldiers come rush over and attempt to constrain Zaden. Zaden gets up and swings his long sword at the two soldiers. More soldiers join and Zaden is completely surrounded by the enemy. The fight continues but Zaden is quickly overtaken and succumbs. His sword drops to the ground. Zaden is on his knees and is being held down by several soldiers. He is breathing heavily. Another soldier walks up and cuffs Zaden on his hands and feet.

His wolf battered and bruised from fighting, Tering is taking away in a put into a cage.

The archers are coming through and then the foot soldiers. The generals come through the portal and last is the Dark Lord himself. Zaden is moving trying to break his chains but now he is too exhausted.

The army’s attack is swift. The city of Flemery is quickly overtaken with fire. Civilians are being killed in the streets of the city. The opposing army of the sixth realm sends their dragons and several air battles takes place.

Two opposing dragons clash in mid air and bite each other falling out of the air. Arrows are flying everywhere and fire is burning down buildings.

Zaden is stood up and escorted to a cage. He is thrown into a cage and the door is locked. Zaden gets up and rushes to the door and shakes the bars.

VICTORY

Zaden watches helplessly from his prison cage. A white flag is flown above the city fortress. The Dark Army drops their weapons and cheers in victory.

The remaining soldiers of the opposing army are taken prisoners. They are escorted and chained then escorted into cages.

The Dark Lord emerges and he watches the scene. He watches as his soldiers cheer in elation. The dead are left to rot in the streets. As he stands and watches he turns his head to look at Zaden. He locks eyes with him for a moment then walks off. Zaden shakes the bars of his cage.

Zaden’s cage begins to move and he is being wheeled to an unknown location with hundreds of other prisoners. The horses pull the train of cages down a trail. Foot soldiers walk aside making sure no one escapes.

“That's the gatekeeper,” one soldier says. “I’m surprised he wasn’t killed,” says the other soldier. “The Dark Lord wants plenty of prisoners to build his tower. We don’t know too much about it’s rumored to be some sort of weapon of mass destruction,” says the first soldier.

Zaden is perplexed by hearing this news. What could he be building? If it is a weapon what could it be and what could it do?

The caravan stops.

To Be Continued…

Stay Tuned for Part 2

More by the author

Check out the other stories by Lee Jones. Available as ebook, audiobook or paperback on Amazon.

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About the author

Lee is a short story horror
author. He is the author of the previous short stories, Scarecrow Reaping, The Forest, The Undead Series and the Detective Carson Series.. He Lives in and works in Florida.

www.saturnpublishing.com

INTRODUCTION

SCARECROW REAPING

1. THE BEGINNING
2. A NIGHT OF TERROR
3. ROAD TRIP
4. SETTLING IN
5. SUN FALL
6. CLUES TO THE PAST
7. RUN FOR SURVIVAL
8. FINAL CHAPTER

BLOOD ON THE BAYOU

1. VACATION
2. STALKER
3. KIDNAPPED
4. IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT
5. SACRIFICE
6. ESCAPE
7. THIRST FOR BLOOD
8. INVESTIGATION
9. THE GIFT
10. FLAW
11. CONNECTING THE DOTS
12. INTERVIEW
13. HOME
14. NEW LEAD
15. TRAIL
16. BOAT
17. SMOKE ON THE WATER
18. FIRST CONTACT
19. CLOSE BY
20. BEAT OF THE DRUM
21. CULT SECRETS
22. ESCAPE
23. CLOSE CALL
24. FINAL CHAPTER
25. Chapter 36

THE FOREST

1. PROLUGOE
2. THE BEGINNING
3. NO TURNING BACK
4. DAY ONE
5. NIGHTFALL
6. CROSSING OVER
7. INTO THE ABYSS
8. DEATH
9. AFTERMATH

THE UNDEAD

1. OUTBREAK
2. Chapter 49
3. ESCAPE
4. NIGHTFALL
5. GAME PLANE
6. HELL ZONE
7. THE FINAL STAND

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

1. PAPERBACKS AND EBOOKS
2. AUDIOBOOKS
3. AFTERWORD
4. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FEAR

A SECOND COLLECTION OF HORROR SHORT STORIES
INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BEVERLY MANSION
DISCOVERY
DISTURBANCE
ATTIC
THREAT
PAST HISTORY
DANGER
PHOTO
WARNING
FUNERAL
PORTAL
STRANGERS OF THE NIGHT
MOVING IN
LURKING IN THE SHADOWS
KILLER
ESCAPE
THE HUNTED
PROLOGUE
NEW BLOOD
SITE OF THE MURDER
MARTINI
CLUES
THE BAHAMAS
HOSPITAL
SOUTH BEACH
ESCAPE
ON THE RUN
STORM
BODY
BLOOD MOON
FOOTBALL FRIDAY
BONFIRE
SECRET
AFFLICTION
FULL MOON
LIFE OR DEATH
THE CURSE
PAST
BLOOD MOON
THE UNDEAD: MASSACRE
PROLUGUE
MASSACRE
ESCAPE
AQUARIUM
SHOOTER
INJURY
OUTPOST
THE UNDEAD: DOOMSDAY
STOLEN
THE LAB
RESEARCH
REFUELING
AIRPORT
RUN TO SAFETY
NUCLEAR BLAST
More by the author
About the author

1. FEAR

1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
2. MAILING LIST
3. INTRODUCTION
4. THE VAMPIRE HUNTER
5. SILVER BULLET
6. VISITOR
7. THE HUNT
8. SECRET MAP
9. TAKEN
10. PRISONER
11. ESCAPE
12. PLAN B
13. BATTLE
14. BURN
15. THE UNDEAD: APOCALYPSE
16. AT SEA
17. MISSION
18. AMBUSH
19. BACKUP PLAN
20. APOCALYSPE
21. THE OTHER SIDE
22. OUTPOST
23. SAFETY
24. SETTLING IN
25. THE GATEKEEPER
26. INTRODUCTION
27. ARMY OF DESTRUCTION
28. URGENT MESSAGE
29. CONQUEST
30. VICTORY
31. More by the author
32. About the author

Table of Contents

Fear-A Collection of Short Horror Stories
Title Page Content
INTRODUCTION
SCARECROW REAPING
THE BEGINNING
A NIGHT OF TERROR
ROAD TRIP
SETTLING IN
SUN FALL
CLUES TO THE PAST
RUN FOR SURVIVAL
FINAL CHAPTER
BLOOD ON THE BAYOU
VACATION
STALKER
KIDNAPPED
IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT
SACRIFICE
ESCAPE
THIRST FOR BLOOD
INVESTIGATION
THE GIFT
FLAW
CONNECTING THE DOTS
INTERVIEW
HOME
NEW LEAD
TRAIL
BOAT
SMOKE ON THE WATER
FIRST CONTACT
CLOSE BY
BEAT OF THE DRUM
CULT SECRETS
ESCAPE
CLOSE CALL
FINAL CHAPTER
THE FOREST
PROLUGOE
THE BEGINNING
NO TURNING BACK
DAY ONE
NIGHTFALL
CROSSING OVER
INTO THE ABYSS
DEATH
AFTERMATH
THE UNDEAD
OUTBREAK
ESCAPE
NIGHTFALL
GAME PLANE
HELL ZONE
THE FINAL STAND
THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
PAPERBACKS AND EBOOKS
AUDIOBOOKS
AFTERWORD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FEAR 2
FEAR
A SECOND COLLECTION OF HORROR SHORT STORIES
INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BEVERLY MANSION
DISCOVERY
DISTURBANCE
ATTIC
THREAT
PAST HISTORY
DANGER
PHOTO
WARNING
FUNERAL
PORTAL
STRANGERS OF THE NIGHT
MOVING IN
LURKING IN THE SHADOWS
KILLER
ESCAPE
THE HUNTED
PROLOGUE
NEW BLOOD
SITE OF THE MURDER
MARTINI
CLUES
THE BAHAMAS
HOSPITAL
SOUTH BEACH
ESCAPE
ON THE RUN
STORM
BODY
BLOOD MOON
FOOTBALL FRIDAY
BONFIRE
SECRET
AFFLICTION
FULL MOON
LIFE OR DEATH
THE CURSE
PAST
BLOOD MOON
THE UNDEAD: MASSACRE
PROLUGUE
MASSACRE
ESCAPE
AQUARIUM
SHOOTER
INJURY
OUTPOST
THE UNDEAD: DOOMSDAY
STOLEN
THE LAB
RESEARCH
REFUELING
AIRPORT
RUN TO SAFETY
NUCLEAR BLAST
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About the author
FEAR 3
FEAR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MAILING LIST
INTRODUCTION
THE VAMPIRE HUNTER
SILVER BULLET
VISITOR
THE HUNT
SECRET MAP
TAKEN
PRISONER
ESCAPE
PLAN B
BATTLE
BURN
THE UNDEAD: APOCALYPSE
AT SEA
MISSION
AMBUSH
BACKUP PLAN
APOCALYSPE
THE OTHER SIDE
OUTPOST
SAFETY
SETTLING IN
THE GATEKEEPER
INTRODUCTION
ARMY OF DESTRUCTION
URGENT MESSAGE
CONQUEST
VICTORY
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