then nodded.
"And you're still here? Doing all this? For a
bunch of kids you don't even know?"
I nodded again.
He fell forward, into me, the book pressed
between us, and I hugged him instinctively. He shook, sobbed, and
cried for a good minute, overwhelmed by the fact that he might
actually have found a home.
Danny edged toward me, his flashlight
circling. "We're surrounded."
"We'll be fine," I told him. "It's time,
Thomas."
He nodded against my arm, and then closed his
eyes.
Watching the quick flashes of illuminated,
leering corpses as they closed in around us, I held him tighter. If
this didn't work… they'd have to tear me apart to get to him.
Invisible hands grasped at my clothes, and -
fell limp.
The wind all around us stopped.
The sound of hundreds of falling bodies
echoed through the forest as the corpses fell in scattered
unison.
The forest still burned, but the portals had
damaged so many trees, it was impossible for the leftover flames to
spread now that the source was gone.
Danny laughed first, and Thomas and I both
joined him in a series of deep, freedom-charged belly laughs.
It was over.
I smiled. Just for once… everyone had lived.
And more - dozens more black-suited refugees moved by us in the
forest, overjoyed to finally escape their endless walk. The cold
and calculating part of me assessed them for threat… after all,
they might have had the slow-time bacteria with them… but I guessed
that, without the light-hungry super-crop plants the bacteria
needed, it would be no threat here. That runaway symbiotic cycle
had been broken.
Today is a good day: today, just for once,
everyone lived.
And now I sit in a corner, wondering at my
own survival. I didn't really expect to live through this, and I
have no plans. Thomas sleeps in one corner of the room, and I sit
in the other, analyzing the events of the past few weeks. It should
feel odd to become the surrogate mother of a
light-being-turned-human from another reality, but… I've seen
stranger.
And now I've got a book that talks to souls,
and a shoe with a maddening mystery. I wonder what next week will
bring… for the first time in far too long, I'm actually looking
forward to finding out.
###
About the
Author
I'm an author of science fiction and horror.
I write a wide range; everything from short story anthologies to
full-length novels. As an avid fan of both genres myself, I try to
create engaging works that, above all else, make the reader
think.
You can follow more releases, or give
comments at:
Website: MattDymerski.com
Twitter: @MattDymerski
Email: [email protected]
I'm always interested in hearing from my
readers!
Other Works
Psychosis
Explore the true anatomy of horror through
these thirteen tales of despair and terror, each written by the
author of the original short story "Psychosis."
Psychosis
The Bonewalker
The Fire of the Soul
"Come Closer"
Scribblings
The Lodge
Correspondence
Strangers in a Graveyard
The Lonely Grave
The Basement
Erosion
Strange Things
The Seven Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The Asylum
What is the nature of insanity? Follow one
doctor's hunt for dark Truth through a series of patient accounts,
each further from the light than the last...
Contains all six of the popular Asylum series
of horror stories, brought together for the first time to create a
single nightmarish journey into the realms of fear.
Creepy Tales
Five longer tales designed to creep and
disturb.
It Watched Us Play
A Series of Strange Occurrences
The Hole
The Heat
The Misdial
Aberrations
Thirteen creepy short stories designed to
disturb even the most jaded horror fan.
A Strange Kind of Journal
Still Life
Staring Contest
Final Exam
The Everest Corpses
Something’s Wrong
An Overheard Conversation
Smoke and Mirrors
An Unhappy Awakening
The Unseen Hands
The Hungry Lights
The Television
An Impossible Window
World of
"And you're still here? Doing all this? For a
bunch of kids you don't even know?"
I nodded again.
He fell forward, into me, the book pressed
between us, and I hugged him instinctively. He shook, sobbed, and
cried for a good minute, overwhelmed by the fact that he might
actually have found a home.
Danny edged toward me, his flashlight
circling. "We're surrounded."
"We'll be fine," I told him. "It's time,
Thomas."
He nodded against my arm, and then closed his
eyes.
Watching the quick flashes of illuminated,
leering corpses as they closed in around us, I held him tighter. If
this didn't work… they'd have to tear me apart to get to him.
Invisible hands grasped at my clothes, and -
fell limp.
The wind all around us stopped.
The sound of hundreds of falling bodies
echoed through the forest as the corpses fell in scattered
unison.
The forest still burned, but the portals had
damaged so many trees, it was impossible for the leftover flames to
spread now that the source was gone.
Danny laughed first, and Thomas and I both
joined him in a series of deep, freedom-charged belly laughs.
It was over.
I smiled. Just for once… everyone had lived.
And more - dozens more black-suited refugees moved by us in the
forest, overjoyed to finally escape their endless walk. The cold
and calculating part of me assessed them for threat… after all,
they might have had the slow-time bacteria with them… but I guessed
that, without the light-hungry super-crop plants the bacteria
needed, it would be no threat here. That runaway symbiotic cycle
had been broken.
Today is a good day: today, just for once,
everyone lived.
And now I sit in a corner, wondering at my
own survival. I didn't really expect to live through this, and I
have no plans. Thomas sleeps in one corner of the room, and I sit
in the other, analyzing the events of the past few weeks. It should
feel odd to become the surrogate mother of a
light-being-turned-human from another reality, but… I've seen
stranger.
And now I've got a book that talks to souls,
and a shoe with a maddening mystery. I wonder what next week will
bring… for the first time in far too long, I'm actually looking
forward to finding out.
###
About the
Author
I'm an author of science fiction and horror.
I write a wide range; everything from short story anthologies to
full-length novels. As an avid fan of both genres myself, I try to
create engaging works that, above all else, make the reader
think.
You can follow more releases, or give
comments at:
Website: MattDymerski.com
Twitter: @MattDymerski
Email: [email protected]
I'm always interested in hearing from my
readers!
Other Works
Psychosis
Explore the true anatomy of horror through
these thirteen tales of despair and terror, each written by the
author of the original short story "Psychosis."
Psychosis
The Bonewalker
The Fire of the Soul
"Come Closer"
Scribblings
The Lodge
Correspondence
Strangers in a Graveyard
The Lonely Grave
The Basement
Erosion
Strange Things
The Seven Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The Asylum
What is the nature of insanity? Follow one
doctor's hunt for dark Truth through a series of patient accounts,
each further from the light than the last...
Contains all six of the popular Asylum series
of horror stories, brought together for the first time to create a
single nightmarish journey into the realms of fear.
Creepy Tales
Five longer tales designed to creep and
disturb.
It Watched Us Play
A Series of Strange Occurrences
The Hole
The Heat
The Misdial
Aberrations
Thirteen creepy short stories designed to
disturb even the most jaded horror fan.
A Strange Kind of Journal
Still Life
Staring Contest
Final Exam
The Everest Corpses
Something’s Wrong
An Overheard Conversation
Smoke and Mirrors
An Unhappy Awakening
The Unseen Hands
The Hungry Lights
The Television
An Impossible Window
World of
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