Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Horror.
The House Upon the Sea
Three fishermen set out one day to a cape far from their homes in search of a bounty only the sea could provide. Limited by only their imaginations and what their schooner could carry, they embarked on a mission fed by fantasy but satiated by adventure. They were headed to the mysterious Cape Chessa in hopes to bring back an even more mysterious cargo; the elusive fish called Perrin. But few fishermen of their native land had seen them, and even fewer, of any cape or inlet seafaring village, had caught one.
By Alder Strauss5 years ago in Horror
The Ravine
The next several days came and went. The mornings brought new pain and the nights took old hope. The animal crackers were now gone and every inch of the box licked clean of crumbs. Their sweating, too, had stopped and the lack of water had left Carol’s wounds untreated, causing them to worsen.
By Alder Strauss5 years ago in Horror
The Ravine
Night came quick like before, bringing the end to another sweltering day and the start of an icy night. The two were surviving on two-to-three animal crackers a day and what little water they had left was gone. Carol and Jameson both slept. A lot: A solution that both kept Carol’s mind off her famished condition and her aching, drying body. She awoke from a hearty shiver to the sound of one of the monsters sniffing and licking. Carol could hear it in its step. It was the big one. The instigator. The alpha. She looked down at Jameson, who was sleeping soundly in her lap, curled into a ball. She had taken off her sweatshirt and wrapped it around him and, though she was shivering, his body warmth was steady enough to keep her a bit warmer and him without much exposure to the night’s chill. Her concern for him, however, was great. His skin had dried and his lips were starting to bleed a bit between chapped cracks, when he moved them in any significant fashion. The rash had gotten worse, too.
By Alder Strauss5 years ago in Horror
The Ravine
Martin continued on along the old logging road, which eventually leveled out at the bottom of the tree line, emerging from the wilderness to acres and acres of tree stumps opening up into Avery. From the point where the road narrowed onward, Martin took his time, looking to see if anything about the passage was unusual. However, he saw nothing that caught his eye.
By Alder Strauss5 years ago in Horror
The Ravine
The next morning came earlier than expected and with it, the heat. Carol looked at the water bottle and sighed. There was only enough for a few good, earnest drinks. Water rationing had now become a desperate struggle. And while she had been hoping for the sun they were now receiving, before being stranded, she now prayed for rain. She lifted the bottle up to Jameson’s lips. When she was done with that, she took off his diaper and checked his underside. To her relief there was only a slight indication of a rash. She looked back to the trunk and then outside beyond the car. She waited and studied the surroundings. Maybe the monsters were gone now. Maybe she had scared them off for good. Maybe she had showed the alpha who’s boss. There was a low, brief growl in the distance. It sounded like it had come from above them, but with her head the way it was, she couldn’t tell for sure.
By Alder Strauss5 years ago in Horror
The Ravine
Night descended upon them. A chill in the air stuck to the two like the heat had earlier that day and darkness settled in so black that they could barely make each other out, let alone anything else. Carol’s stomach grumbled and Jameson’s came to match. The smell of urine from his diaper had hung in the air long enough to be ignored; relegated to just another woodsy smell. With her leg the way it was, but knowing Jameson would need changing sooner than later, she’d have to brave the pain and get to the trunk somehow to retrieve the diaper bag. Carol felt around her and touched something that crumpled: Plastic from the box of animal crackers she had managed to find in arm’s reach earlier that late evening. It was a quarter box’s worth when she found it and now there was even less; her and Jameson had been gingerly feeding on them. Carol knew that they had to conserve the crackers until they were rescued. But that wasn’t the biggest of their concerns. She knew that they could survive for a while without food. It was dehydration that preoccupied her mind. And Jameson’s thirst always came first.
By Alder Strauss5 years ago in Horror
The Ravine
Afternoon set in as the two carried onward; its heat practically burned in pockets of sunlight along stretches where bald patches of hillside lay as solitary monuments to a once-great forest. Carol took another small drink from her bottle and Jameson took another from his. They were both running on empty. The sedan, however, was doing fine with its fluids as it carried them along towards another incline, much more gradual, however, than the one they had slid down awhile back. This one carried the two further from the road they had started from their cabin on and into more zig-zag cuts into the hillside. Jameson complained in the backseat.
By Alder Strauss5 years ago in Horror
Two Gracious Guests (18+)
The first light of day came not too terribly long after the men had peaked. Aaron and Marty lay in a bed of satisfaction, wrapped in a cocoon of satiated fantasy. Each one slept in their respective places. Their slumbers were long but, towards the end, they had collected a myriad of unimaginable nightmares that neither could commit to understanding as anything more than the worst subconscious hangover imaginable. When they finally woke up it was dark. They had slept through the entire day. The girls were gone and the two friends weren’t in their beds anymore. They weren’t even in the bedroom. Aaron and Marty found themselves sitting at the table they thought they had seen on the tour the night before. This time, however, it was much longer.
By Alder Strauss5 years ago in Horror
