Killer-Extras: Flash Fiction
A special full length story! Michael Penkas was the second place winner of the Killer-works writing contest; The Beach Blanket Blood Bath, with this gory homage to the classic horror comics of yesteryear!
Shadows on the Sand
By Michael Penkas
Mac spit out a mouthful of sand. Dylan and his gang were already walking past him, as if they hadn't even noticed. He was about to sit up, but Betty put a hand on his chest.
"Don't. It's not worth it," she said softly. He felt her hand run across his ribs and sunken stomach. At sixteen, he was already six-foot-one, but only weighed ninety-eight pounds.
"It's not right," he muttered.
"Don't let it bother you," Betty answered.
But two weeks later, it still bothered him. In that time, Betty had dumped Mac and begun dating Dylan. It was the first Saturday night of Summer vacation and Mac was spending it alone, listening to music in his bedroom. Lying on his bed, he thought about the best way to kill himself for a while, then picked up the new issue of Ghost Candles off a stack of comic books. With nothing better to do, he began to read...
Welcome to the book that lights your way through the shadows. Our first
story is about a young man who gets a different eyeful than he was hoping for
when he took his girlfriend out for
A MOONLIGHT SWIM
Not that Jim Stark was feeling like a man right then. And not that Tanya Rhodes looked much like a girl, either. Both were eighteen and, while Jim stood at a modest five-foot-five; Tanya towered over him at five-foot-nine, placing him at eye-level with her ... maturity.
"Come on," she said with a smile as she kicked off her shoes. "No one will see." Jim looked around nervously. He was still deciding as she was stripping down to bra and panties.
"Well?" He just stared at his teen goddess girlfriend for half a minute until she turned away and ran into the water.
"God, it's cold!" she screamed, followed by, "Hurry up!" Jim quickly stripped down to his boxers; then ran after his girlfriend, only momentarily aware of the cold water (that did nothing to dampen his mood).
The full moon glimmered off the water and their skin. The two of them were treading water inches apart from each other. Jim was about to reach for Tanya, when her mouth opened into a surprised little, "Oh!"
She asked, "Was that you?"
"What?"
"Just poked me. Was that you?"
"No." He raised both hands out of the water and looked down.
"Oh, there it is again."
Jim could feel it too, like soft fingers tickling his legs. He looked into the water and saw little red fish circling them both. He cupped a hand and dipped it into the water, scooping out one of the fish. It had a funny shape and he tried to get a better look at it in the moonlight.
The fish twisted around until it was staring at him. Its head had several points on it, almost like a crown. Its tail was split in two, like a pair of legs. The fish smiled, white foam dripping from its mouth.
"Oh my God!"
"What?"
"Oh my God!"
Tanya laughed, but asked with a bit of annoyance, "What?"
"It's a sea sprite."
"What?" She leaned in to get a better look.
"A sea sprite. Like in the comic book ads."
Tilting her head, Tanya said, "I didn't think they got this big," then, "Eew, is it laying eggs?"
"What?"
"That foam."
The sea sprite in his hand was thrashing around violently. "No. It wouldn't lay eggs out of its mouth. That foam is probably ..." He dropped it back into the water and looked to the shore. It was at least twenty feet away. "Come on!" he shouted as he began to swim.
"What?"
The foam coming out of its mouth was just that ... the sea sprite was foaming at the mouth! Jim began desperately stroking for shore as he screamed back, "They're rabid! Get out of there!"
The last thing Tanya said was, "What?" before she began screaming. At least, that's the last thing Jim was able to hear over the sounds of his own screams. The water was red for nearly an hour until the sea sprites had lapped up every drop of blood from it.
The rest of this story is no longer on our website, but will be available for purchase Summer 2009 with the release of our annual anthology!
Killer-words: Year One
Tiny Slices of Darkness
It will feature all the fiction stories posted on the site this year (including the rest of this one), brand new stories, a year in review, some of our best articles, original art, and more!
If you are interested in pre-ordering copies of the book please send an email to
jude@killer-works.com Bio Bits:
Michael calls formerly from Detroit and currently haunts Chicago, spending many hours crafting delightfully twisted stories to tell at Twilight Tales. (We've especially enjoyed his bits about homicidal lingerie and ant sized aliens.) His short stories have been published in The Book of Dead Things and Tales of the Red Lion and we have heard rumours that a novel is in the works.To head back for more Flash Fiction click
here.
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