Kindle Edition
Amazon
Amazon Kindle
Category:
Horror
Publisher: Dream Weaver Novels
ISBN-10: 1505703042
Pages: 163
Copyright: Dec 27, 2014
ISBN-13: 9781505703047
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
Gates of Erebus is an anthology of short stories from indie authors from around the world. The tales range from the timidest of shadows to the pitch black of a killer's heart.
Gates of Erebus: Dark Paranormal Short Stories is a collaboration of some of the best indie authors from around the world.
Herein are the tales of a mother condemned for witchcraft; a demon who shows up in the oddest of places; a soldier who leaves you wondering who really is the monster; a crumbling mutant and a would-be assassin; a murderous imp and a story darker than a murderer’s heart; one man’s escape from Hell and the hell hounds that pursue him; a house haunted by more than just ghosts; a supernatural race born to keep the world of good and evil in balance; the devolution of the human race; and Death takes a wife.
Dream Weaver Novels has gathered some of the world’s best indie authors to bring you this dark anthology. So, grab your hot chocolate (or coffee) and your fuzzy warm blanket, and sit back and relax with these tales of horror…oh, you might want to check your doors and windows first!
Excerpt
First segment of:
Kaiser
by Su Williams
Gem and Jade Fortune didn’t believe in ‘twin telepathy.’ But even telepathy wouldn’t have helped them when the zombie apocalypse hit.
In the beginning, the violence—or ‘the Rage’ as newscasters dubbed it—was sporadic and seemingly isolated. But ever-increasing cases of folks devolving from acceptable human behaviors into wild frenzied rages, ignited and spread from every town and city like uncontrolled forest fires. Normally-civilized people devolved into the primates some claimed they evolved from. The attacks steadily increased, day by day, week by week. Cities fell into chaos for no apparent reason and enflamed crowds tore the towns apart—looting, burning and eventually killing. A fumble or incorrect call by a ref in a football game, whether high school or pro, could spark mass hysteria and violence.
Scientists tried to pinpoint the population group most widely affected, but the Rage just didn’t seem to have a preference. When the Senate and Congress melted down and nearly eighty percent of the politicians descended into madness, the scientific community wondered if this de-evolution affected the ‘intelligent’, more-evolved humans. Perhaps the people that had reached the pinnacle of man’s evolution were the first to succumb. But, when entire prisons fell prey to the disease, they reconsidered. Gramps had grouched at the TV that night. “Like none of them prisoners are smart. Some of ‘em could out-think the President…well, I guess that’s not saying much.” New information came out every day about the virus. Like how the devolved died and rose again as something inhumanly alive. “Them prisons,” said Gramps, “are overrun now with walking dead men.”
The twin’s grandparents kept them home, at first, locked behind dead-bolted doors and barred windows—anything to keep them safe from the fury that exploded like roadside bombs in a war zone that once was their hometown.
“A plane hit Spokane’s twin towers,” Grampa Fortune told them after watching the evening news. The duel smoke stacks in the heart of the city, and nearly six city blocks were decimated as the plane flew squarely between the chimneys, flipped sideways and cartwheeled down Second Avenue and hurled fuel across everything in its wake. “Come here,” Grampa grumbled at the twins and wandered to his room at the back of the house. Gem and Jade tossed glances at each other, shrugged and shuffled along behind him.
“What’s up, Gramps?” Jade asked. He always liked going into Grampa’s private room. There were hidden cubbies and secrets stashed throughout the room, many that Gramps kept solely to himself.
Grampa clamped onto Jade’s shoulder with his tanned, freckled hand. “I’m going to show you two something that only me and your Gramma know about. I’ll expect you to keep it to yourself. But with all hell breaking loose out there—well, I want you armed.”
Gem scanned her brother’s face, almost wishing they did have some sort of telepathy. Gramps fidgeted with a safe combination—his hands shook so much more now, after two rounds of chemo for bone cancer. He lifted the lid of the chest-freezer-sized safe and stepped back to make room for the twins. Jade and his sister edged up to the side of the safe as if it was a pit of vipers.
“Holy sh…crap, Grampa!” Jade balked on the swear word. Gramps was a ‘God-fearing man’ and didn’t care for the coarse language in his home—their home since their parents, volunteers for Doctors Without Borders, disappeared somewhere in Syria six months previously. “Were you expecting a war?”
Gem felt the blood drain from her face as she stared down at the arsenal in the safe, her eyes wide with wonder—and horror. Gramps had taught them how to shoot just about anything—handguns, shotguns, rifles, even an assault rifle or two. He taught them to clean, disassemble and reassemble every weapon they used. But it was all just for fun, wasn’t it?
“Grampa…where did you...how did you…why did you get all these guns?” She wasn’t against gun ownership, but part of her only thought of them as hunting tools and for target practice. “You want us to shoot—people? Like, did you plan for the zombie apocalypse or something?”
Grampa sniffed and gave a chortle. A sound that made Gem’s heart skitter. “No, no,” he said scratching his chin as though there was still a beard there. Since chemo, he was bald all over. The twin’s eyes met in agreement that it was a nervous tick he’d developed long ago. His hand dropped with a quiet smack on his thigh and he breathed a resigned sigh. “No, I never expected an apocalypse of any kind. I just love guns. Have since I was a kid with my first .22.” He lifted out an assault rifle, all done up in grey, black and white abstract all over it. “This is an FN-FAL, 308. I built it myself. It and its brother over there.” Gramps nodded at an identical weapon with a glossy wood finish. “This one’s painted urban camouflage. Supposedly keeps you hidden in the city. Hmph.” Grampa shoved the gun at Jade, then lifted out the other and thrust it at Gem. Jade cradled his weapon in his arms like an adoring new father, while Gem held hers at arm’s length like a child with a nasty diaper.
Disbelief congealed the girl’s thoughts. Her eyes darted between her grandfather and her brother. Jade slung his rifle over his shoulder by the leather strap and placed a heavy hand on Gem’s shoulder. She blinked at him, then stared down into the stash of weapons. Gramps really was ready for the zombie apocalypse. And so, it seemed, was Jade. But, she wasn’t. Why would she be? Who’d have thought the potential of a genuine zombie apocalypse was even possible? All she wanted was to finish the last few weeks of her senior year, graduate and move to Pullman to go to college.
“Gemma?” Jade used his pet name for her. She knew he was worried then. “Are you all right?”
“I…Jadey, does he want us to kill—people?” she stammered.
“Nonsense,” gruffed Gramps. “I expect you to defend yourselves, is all. World’s turning to hell out there. Crazies suddenly going off and raging at anyone near ‘em. People are getting killed in the streets, in the stores, at the gas pump. Every day. They look all normal one minute, and the next the Rage’s got ‘em. I don’t expect you to haul the rifles everywhere. They’re too big. Too bulky. I got other weapons for personal protection.” He turned to the safe and drew out a wooden box with a hinged glass lid. Identical handguns nestled on red velvet. “Bought these for ya when your dad told me they were having twins. I was planning on giving them to you for your graduation present, but I’d feel a helluva lot better knowing you two could defend yourselves out there now.” That was as close as Gramps got to swearing, most of the time—unless he was working on the plumbing.
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