Eye See You: Mother's Day pt. 12 *End Arc*

I had somehow managed to get a call out to my son. The landline in the kitchen still worked, and I was able to dial and talk without any part of it trying to merge with me. He had picked up on the third ring.

“Mom, where are you!” He sounded panicked.

“Bea and Richard’s,” I choked out. “They’re both… they both…”

I could barely speak. The sobs threatened to overtake me again every time I opened my mouth.

“Mom?” His voice was calmer now, but no less concerned. “Mom, what happened? Why are you at Aunt Bea’s house?”

“David, I just need you to pick me up. Okay? I’ll be sitting outside. I just need… please come and get me. Okay?” I spoke quickly, knowing that if I took too long, I would break down on the phone. I couldn’t cry again. I didn’t have the energy.

He promised to be right there.

I left the kitchen and made my way to the front porch. Slowly I lowered myself onto the cement steps. I sat there, my mind feeling empty and my body feeling weak. Only one thought kept repeating in my head, over and over again.

This is just the beginning.

Was I really ready to fight this fight? Could I? I had no idea. All I knew was that I couldn’t give up. I couldn’t let what happened to Bea and Richard happen to me, or to my son.

I had to fight. 

To Be Continued in... 

Eye See You: Mutation

Rituals pt. 26

The flame didn’t dissipate. Instead, it spread, catching onto the wooden beams, and the wooden ceiling above us.

“This isn’t good.” I glanced around. The other vipers were either dead, or mostly dead. It was just me, and the burning building. “What do I do now?”

“Run,” was all Juktha said. Her voice boomed through my skull, and I instantly took off.

The basement was growing hot around me, and the fire was spreading quickly. I hoped the others hand made their way outside, because the last thing I needed was for one of them to come crashing through the already badly damaged floor.

I made it to the stairs, taking them two at a time, the fire lapping at my heels as I moved. Then I was upstairs. I turned, heading towards the front door, but found that the floor between the basement door and the front door was now engulfed in flames.

Shit, I thought to myself. What now?

“The window!” Juktha’s voice rang in my ears again.

I turned my head, and without thinking, I dove just as the rolling ball of green flame burst through the basement door and engulfed the entire room I had just been standing in.

The glass burst around me, and I could feel the heat of the explosion behind me. Then I was crashing into the ground, tucking into a roll, and praying that I didn’t break my neck. When I stopped rolling, and the world stopped spinning, I opened my eyes.

Missy, Alana and Doug were looking down at me.

They were smiling. 

Eye See You: Mother's Day pt. 11

I reached down, pulling the wire from my ankle, and with a fierce tug, yanked it from Richard’s body. It writhed and wriggled in my palm, the electricity slowly fading from it now that it was separated from its power source. I gripped harder, and in seconds it went limp.

I grabbed the tall reading lamp next to the bed and raised it over my head. Sometime in my brain had snapped, and I was running on complete fear. I raised the base of the lamp over my head, the metal of the lamp glinting in the dim light that came in through the drawn windows, and I swung.

The base of the lamp collided with Richard’s grotesque, rotting skull. The weight of the blow instantly collapsed his face, sending a cloud of rotted bone dust into the air. I swung again, the lamp slamming into his open chest cavity, crushing whatever electronics had invaded his body. I swung again and again, my mind stuck in a violent loop.

That thing, that Virus, had stolen so much from me, and I was not going to sit back and let it take my life, too. It had to pay.

When my energy finally gave out, I dropped the lamp to the floor. It hit the hard wood with a clatter. I stood over the bed, panting. My eyes took in the damage I had done. Richard looked barely human. His already rotten body had been reduced to piles of thin, leather skin, blackened blood and bone dust.

I fell to my knees and I began to cry. 

New Pom Pom Angel: Forbidden Kiss pt. 13

Dinner went very well, and after we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. He held my hand, and occasionally our shoulders would brush together.

Normally being affectionate with another man in public made me uneasy. There were always glances, or comments. Sometimes people would threaten me. Even in a time where more and more people were accepting of same sex couples, that fear had to always be present. There was that need to always be aware of your surroundings, and the people nearby. 

Dante didn’t care. He understood evil, but in an odd way, he didn’t seem to understand hate. He didn’t care that people were staring at us. He just wanted to hold my hand, and that was all that mattered. It probably helped that he had demonic powers, and that any drunken bro who decided to start shit didn’t stand a chance against him. That wasn’t all it was, though.

He was just too happy to care.

Eventually we made our way to a small park two blocks away from our building. We walked the cracked cement path through the overgrown trees and found a bench across from a small koi pond. Still holding my hand, he gently guided me to sit next to him. Once I was seated he kissed my cheek and gently rested his head on my shoulder.

“Are you happy?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Do I make you happy?”

It didn’t take me long to admit that he did. He made me very happy. He made me happier than I had been in years.

“Yes,” was my answer.

“Good.” He turned his head and kissed my shoulder. “You make me happy, too.”

And that was all it took for me to admit that I had completely and totally fallen in love with the demon sitting next to me.

I didn’t know what how the relationship would develop. It could be amazing, or it could be hell on earth, but that was fine. At that moment I realized that I was willing to take the risk, because Dante was worth it. Dante, with all his flaws and misunderstandings of human tradition, was the perfect man for me, and I would be a complete idiot to pass it up.

I turned my head towards him, and we kissed.

I was madly and truly in love, and that was all I needed at that moment. 

Slime pt. 6

“What the hell was that?” Lana froze, listening. The noise was gone, but she could have sworn it sounded like a scream.

“I didn’t hear anything.” Rochelle was busy at one of the computer terminals that lined the walls of the compound’s central command station. “You okay?”

“Fine.” Lana sighed. “Guess the quiet of this place is just starting to get to me. Never had cabin fever before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

The central command was a medium sized room made smaller by the sheer amount of equipment stuffed into it. It didn’t help that it was tucked in the lower level, not far from the mining crew bunkers, and that meant there were no windows. The place felt like a metal closet.

“So,” Rochelle glanced back at the computer screen, “the damage to the planet is pretty extensive. Not complete, mind you. It looks like almost a third of the planet structure has been hollowed out, but that amount is growing. The planet should be at half mass by tomorrow afternoon if the decay rate stays steady.”

“Half mass?” Lana shook her head. “What the hell is causing it? And where the hell is it all going? That much planet does not suddenly just vanish without a trace.”

“Well, I can account for at least half of what is already missing. Our mining operations have done significant damage to the planet’s structure, and the operations have removed a large amount of materials from the planet’s core. As for the rest of it… I have no clue.” Rochelle continued to tap away at her keyboard.

“As for the structural integrity of the compound?” She leaned forward. “How bad is it?”

Rochelle sighed. “Not great. The entire structure isn’t over the… breakdown? I don’t really know how to describe it. Anyways, the entire structure isn’t at risk, but a portion of it is. Namely the village area. The stores and recreational portions of the compound are at high risk of collapse.”

Lana nodded and stood up, walking towards one of the in station communicators. She tapped a few keys, and the screen blinked to fuzzy life.

“Heather?” She spoke into the intercom, and waited for a response. “Heather, can you hear me? God I hope you have your communicator on you.”

“I hear you.” Heather’s voice crackled back. “Not well, but I can hear you. I have one of the skeleton crew here, Marco. Captain, something happened. The bar… well, it’s gone.”

Lana responded, “I’m not really surprised. Listen, you need to clear out of the village. It isn’t safe. You and Marco should make your way towards the bunker and the central command. I’ll explain more when you get here.”

“Got it,” Heather answered.

“See you in a few. If you run into any problems just contact me through the command number. Rochelle and I will be here.” Lana disconnected from the communicator.

She glanced around the room, at all the outdated technology that surrounded her. TV and movies had lied to people for years. There were no glass touch pads or holographic screens. While they did exist, no company, and no government for that matter, was going to spend money on them. Not unless the compound or ship could prove to be profitable. No, places like Tetra-18 were gifted with the outdated crap that no one else wanted, but everyone knew how to use. It meant less time training people, and lower overhead.

“This is odd.” Rochelle’s voice brought Lana back into the present.

“What?” She walked over to the computer terminal.

“That unaccounted mass? Well, I think I found it. It didn’t so much vanish as it condensed and relocated.” Rochelle pointed to the terminal. “It’s… well, it’s moving directly under us. It looks it’s building up.”

As if in response the room suddenly gave a sudden jerk. Both Lana and Rochelle had to brace themselves from the shock wave, but they did manage to stay on their feet.

“Rochelle, I need you to contact the pickup shuttle. I don’t know how they can manage it, but they need to get here faster.”

“On it.”

Lana headed back to her desk and opened a connection to Rochelle’s computer. Something in the data she had pulled up, and in the images she had managed to get together bothered her. It was the way the mass was moving. It seemed deliberate. It seemed…

Alive. 

A much needed break.

So, this is a post I never thought I would have to write, but I am finding it impossible to avoid.

Basically, I need a mental break. Square Zero is very fun to write, and I enjoy all the worlds and stories that I've created, but it also takes a lot for me to keep up with all of the different series. I have recently made a big move in my real life, and am job hunting, which is taking up most of my mental energy.

So, I am going to be taking a short break from Square Zero, and when I come back there are going to be some changes to the blog. Most importantly, I am going to be cutting down on the number of series that I'm writing, as well as the days that I will be posting, while also adjusting the schedule with the remaining series that I have currently running. The time will also allow me to plot out some of my trickier series, and iron out some of the issues I've been facing with the story progressions. I would prefer to get those things figured out now instead of writing myself into a corner, as I have with series in the past.

So, once I have the schedule figured out, I will post it on the blog. There will be some new posts next week, and then the new schedule will begin on July 11th, with the beginning of the third arc for New Pom Pom Angel.

I apologize for the break in posting, but I need the time to make the adjustments to keep Square Zero running smoothly. Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

Tentacle University 2: The Sorority pt. 19

Kent sat in his room, his eyes locked on his phone. He hadn’t heard back from his guys, and that made him nervous. The fact that he had heard police sirens early made it worse. Something had gone sideways. He could just feel it. This was all about to blow up in his face.

Why had he trusted those three to do his dirty work for him? They were morons who were two steps below apes. All they knew how to do was hit shit. Well, and fuck. They knew had to fuck real well, and right now they were fucking him well and good, and Kent wasn’t enjoying it.

The phone rang, and Petra’s number popped up. He answered on the second ring.

“What happened?” Kent could hear the panic in his voice, and it made him sick.

“I couldn’t tell you. Something weird blew up, and Morris is dead.” Petra’s speech was rapid fire.

“One of those fuckers killed him?”

“I doubt it. His body was all messed up. Looked like he had been mummified.”

Mummified? What the fuck was going on? Was Petra screwing with him? It wasn’t funny. He was freaked out enough, and he didn’t need some no brain thug cracking jokes at his expense.

“Don’t you bullshit me…”

“I’m telling you the truth! I don’t know how it happened, but Morris was turned to fucking tanned leather.” Petra paused. “Listen, Voigt and I are coming over, and…”

Kent cut him off. “No, you listen. You two need to stay far away from this house for a good, long while. I’ll meet the two of you tomorrow. Somewhere public. Just keep your heads down and your fucking mouths shut.” He bit his lip. “And watch Voigt. He’s still a good old boy, believes in right and wrong and all that shit. Make sure he doesn’t talk.”

“Do you want me to… you know?” Petra lowered his voice.

“No!” Kent nearly shouted. “Keep him alive, but calm. Got it?”

“Got it.” Petra hung up.

“You little shit.” Luther Stanton’s voice made Kent spin around.

“Daddy!” Kent blurted out his common greeting without thinking.

Luther didn’t look like he was in the mood to play “Daddy” tonight though. His face was bright red with rage, and his jaw was clenched.

“What did you do?” Luther advanced on him. “What the fuck did you do?”

“I… I tried to take care of it!” Kent took a step back, and felt the back of his legs collide with the edge of his bed. He lost his balance, and fell back. “You told me to take care of it.”

“And you fucked it up, just like a knew you would.” He loomed over Kent, fire burning in his eyes. “And you fucked up my backup plan.”

Kent was about to say something, to beg for forgiveness. Luther didn’t give him the chance. His hand came down quickly, cracking across Kent’s face, whipping his head to the side. The pain was intense, but familiar. Luther had hit Kent before plenty of times, and just as hard. Kent knew how to calm him down.

Carefully, Kent rolled onto his belly, then pulled his knees towards his chest, lifting his ass in the air. He could hear Luther suck in breath. Slowly he began to pull his punts down, exposing his round, firm butt cheeks.

Luther was an angry man, but he thought with his dick first. It didn’t take much to get him off track.

“Please, Daddy,” Kent whimpered. “Please punish me for what I did.”

Kent could hear Luther’s belt buckle clacking, followed by the sound of his pants hitting the floor.

Kent had won, just like he always did.

As Luther road him, Kent’s mind drifted. He thought of how exactly he was going to fix things. Apparently he had fucked things up royally, and that could be bad for him. As mean as Luther could be, life on the streets, or worse, prison, could be even worse. He needed to fix this. Brute force wasn’t the answer. That was absolutely clear. No, he needed to take a different approach, and he needed to do it quickly. First, he had to deal with Petra and Voigt. Petra could keep his mouth shut, but Voigt… Voigt was the wild card.

He felt Luther grab his hair and yank his head back.

“Keep your head in the game, boy.” His voice was a harsh rasp. “Don’t you like it when Daddy punishes you?”

“Yes, Daddy.” He purred out the words, and felt his stomach lurch as he did so.

Luther made him sick, but he also made him comfortable. Eugene wasn’t much better, and was a whole lot harder to control. Even with all the shit he had to put up with, his life in Luther’s house, as Luther’s “son” was one hundred times better than his life working the streets.

Eugene… now Eugene was someone that Kent could spare. He, like Voigt, was a wild card. Sure, he was tied up with the pictures and everything, but none of the evidence led back to him. Not clearly. A plan started to form in Kent’s mind.

As Luther pumped away, and Kent plotted. 

Eye See You: Mother's Day pt. 10

I glanced towards Richard.

His body was limp. Did I see his hand twitch? No, that was just my mind playing tricks on me. He was dead. There wasn’t enough left of him to do much of anything if that Virus thing took over. He was dead and…

I saw it again. His hand twitched. Then there was the groan.

I stood up straight, my eyes locked on the corpse of my best friend’s husband. He was watching me. His dead, shriveled eyes were locked on me, and when I took a step towards the door they followed me.

No, not again. I couldn’t do this again.

“You must,” he croaked. “You must go through instillation.”

His death smile grew.

One of the wires that had been whipping around in the hollowed out cavity of his torso had snaked its way out of his body and had made its way across the floor. I hadn’t noticed it until it had wrapped itself around my ankle.

I felt the tip of the wire jab into my skin.

“No!” I screamed as loud as I could as I felt the wire start to burrow its way into my flesh.

I was not going to die like this! 

Rituals pt. 25

“Whatever you’re going to do, do it quickly.” Alana was helping the young woman to her feet.

“You two, run.” I didn’t take my eyes off of Venom. “Get upstairs, get to Doug. I’ll be right behind you.”

Alana didn’t argue with me. She looked at the young woman, gave her a once over. “Are you okay to run?”

The woman nodded.

“You got a name?” I asked the young woman.

“Missy.” Then the young woman ran over, and kissed me on the cheek. “An angel’s kiss for luck.”

Alana and Missy took off, running towards the stairs, past the sea of howling vipers. It was just me, Venom and the growing ball of energy building up in the palm of my hand. It was growing brighter and brighter.

“Release it by flexing your fingers,” said Juktha.

I did as I was told, and just in time. Venom was less than five feet away, and closing quickly. The burst of energy expanded, turning from a ball into a wall of pure light.

“No!” Venom screamed. “I can’t die this easily! I am to powerful. I am…”

His body exploded into a ball of twisting, writhing green flame. 

Eye See You: Mother's Day pt. 9

The house seemed to buzz with electricity around me. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even bring myself to cry. I just sat there, the shock washing over me. My best friend was dead. I had killed her.

No. Someone else had killed her. That thing that had taken my husband had killed her. I had just disposed of the monster that had taken control of her body. There was no Bea left in that thing I had killed. There was only… what had my son called it?

There was only Virus.

I started to stand, but froze when I heard a groan coming from the bed. 

New Pom Pom Angel: Forbidden Kiss pt. 12

We sat in a table towards the back of the restaurant, away from the families and large parties. Our spot was pretty quiet, and the lights were set low. It was actually pretty romantic.

Dante looked at me from across the table, the light of the tabletop candle flickering in his eyes. At least, I thought the candle was flickering in his eyes. It could also just be a little bit of hellfire.

I chose to believe it was the candle.

“I’m kind of surprised you asked me out again.” Dante smiled. “Our last date kind of went belly up, and everything before that was a bit of a mess because… well, because I don’t really know how humans date.”

“Yeah, things have been a bit disastrous so far, but…” I cleared my throat. “You try. You try really hard, and that means something to me. Sure you don’t always get it, but the fact that you keep trying to get it right is the most important thing.”

Dante’s smile grew. He reached out, and took my hand in his. His grip was firm, but gentle. He nibbled on his lower lip, and even in the low light I could see his cheeks turn a subtle shade of pink. He looked so cute.

“I thought that was how romance was supposed to work.” Dante’s voice was soft. “I always thought that if you wanted someone to know you liked them, you did your best to show them.”

“A lot of people forget that.” I gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

“Well, I won’t.” 

Slime pt. 5

Bucky made his way down the steps, his boots clanging loudly on the metal. He was humming to himself, not a care in the world. He was going to be getting home soon. He just knew it. He was going to be getting out of space, and back on earth. He would be getting back to his wife, and his daughter. He missed them more and more every day. He didn’t think it would be that bad when he first signed up. He thought he would at least be able to keep in contact with them, but he quickly learned that contact was iffy at best, and most of the time the links back to earth were down.

That was one of the things no one tells you when you are signing up. They never tell you that you will spend whole months cut off from your life on earth. They lure you in with the money and the promise of moving up in the company, but they never tell you how lonely it gets, or how dark. Bucky had thought he knew what true darkness was, but he had been proven wrong. Tetra-18 barely had a sun, and when night hit the world outside of the compound was pitch nothing.

It didn’t matter, though. None of it mattered. Soon he would be off Tetra-18, and back home. He only had a short term contract, and no option for the company to re-up him if he didn’t sign off on it first. That was a deal that most of the other guys didn’t get. He didn’t spread word around either. Didn’t need any of the roughnecks and bruisers getting jealous. When they got jealous they started slamming things. Usually someone else’s face. He knew they all thought he was a rube for thinking that he was getting back to earth, but he knew he was. They couldn’t drop him on another rock without his consent without breaking who knows how many space laws. At least, according to his contract.

“Lars, you start packing yet?” Bucky reached the bottom of the stairs and called down the long, shadowy hallway. The overhead lights, at least the ones that hadn’t already burned out, were flickering. Must have been because of the quake earlier, or maybe the tremors he had felt a little while ago. “Lars?”

He took a step forward, and paused. He could hear something at the end of the hall. It was soft, though. It was like a faint swoosh and splash of water. Heavier than water though. It wasn’t so much a splash as it was a smack, of something thick hitting against the heavy metal walls.

What the heck was Lars doing down there? He didn’t really strike Bucky as the kind of guy who would start washing the place down before they jetted. Especially since it would all just be so much space rubble in a few days.

“Lars, you okay down there?” Bucky took another step forward.

The faint noise stopped suddenly, and the only thing Bucky could hear was the whirring of the fans bolted up in the air ducts. The door to the bunker slowly opened, and the light from inside turned the hulking form of Lars into an almost terrifying silhouette. The old man took another step forward, his motions seeming odd. They were too fluid, and at the same time his limbs seemed to be moving too loosely. His outline seemed to pulse, but just a bit, as if something under his skin was still adjusting.

“Lars?” Bucky tried to call out, but his voice was nothing more than a whimper.

The old man charged, moving faster than Bucky had ever seen him move. He didn’t even have a chance to turn before the old man was right in front of him. Lars froze, his eyes locked onto Bucky’s.

“What… what the hell happened to you?” Bucky stammered.

Lars’s skin was blistered and burnt, and his eyes were two glowing green, liquid orbs that seemed to dribble past his lids and down his cheeks. He was gritting his teeth, and that same green liquid oozed past his cracked and bloodied lips. His skin moved in gentle waves, seeming to be completely unattached from the tissue underneath.

Bucky tried to scream, but Lars just laughed. He old man grabbed him, slammed him against the wall, and then started pulling him down the hall by the collar of his work uniform. Bucky kicked and fought the best he could, but each movement made him wince with pain. He was pretty sure his right arm was broken, and it felt like his knee had been knocked out of place.

He looked up at Lars just in time to see the old man knock one of the air duct grates away from the ceiling, exposing the whirling metal fan inside.

“No,” Bucky muttered.

Lars looked at him, his smile growing, the edges of his mouth ripping. He nodded at Bucky.

“No!” Bucky screamed.

Then he was lifted off the ground with such ease that Bucky’s scream was actually silenced by his surprise. He just stared, wide eyed as his head moved swiftly towards the spinning metal blades.

-*-

Lars pushed the boy hard, his head connecting with the metal blades. Gore and brain and bone splattered the hallway as what was once a head was suddenly reduced to a bloody, dripping stump. The body gave a few hard jerks and then went still.

Lars dropped Bucky’s body to the floor, propping him up against the wall.  Then, using both hands, he cleared away the stump that was Bucky’s neck, and found the severed, and partially crushed trachea. Using two fingers he forced it open again, and then positioned his mouth over the now clear opening.

Parting his lips, Lars let loose a stream of glowing green slime, the liquid finding its target perfectly. Not a drop was spared. In moments Lars had filled Bucky’s body up, relieving some of the pressure in his own. Once he was done, he stepped back, watching.

The slime didn’t need a host’s brain to function. Lars’s brain had been liquefied almost the instant the slime had entered him. No, the slime didn’t need a brain. It just needed a shell, and Bucky’s body was the perfect shell.

It started with a hand twitch, and then a small sputter of slime from the ragged stump of a neck. Then, carefully, Bucky’s headless body stood up.

The two corpses didn’t need to talk. They just knew what they had to do.

They had to find the others in the compound and deal with them. 

Tentacle University 2: The Sorority pt. 18

Chad and Alice watched the others. Even though they had both fed, they could sense the hunger growing again. They needed to feed, but they needed to choose wisely. These hosts, especially Chad, were still very much present and mindful. They had to pick someone who would not upset the internal balance. If the hosts began to struggle, then the demon could lose control.

The demon couldn’t have that.

Both of their eyes locked onto Willard. The guilt seemed to radiate off of him. The panic as well. He had done something he wasn’t supposed to. He had done something really bad.

“His energy is strong,” said Alice.

“He almost glows with it,” said Chad. “It’s dark, though. That one is twisted.”

“I like twisted,” said Alice. “Makes them taste sweeter. Makes them more fun to play with.”

“Do you want him, or should I?” asked Chad.

Alice narrowed her eyes, and bit her lip. She was examining him, studying him. “I think you would have better luck with Willard. I’ll try and find those two who got away.”

Chad smiled, never taking his eyes off of his decided prey. “You be careful. That foreign one was a mean son of a bitch.”

“I’ll break him,” said Alice. Then she turned and walked towards one of the ambulances that had lined up in front of the Greek Row Commons.

As she left, a young man approached him. The demon dug into Chad’s mind for a name. Lance. He was close to Chad, and that made him off limits for now. He had a bandage on his cheek and one of his arms was in a sling. A dark bruise blossomed on the skin between his neck and shoulder.

Chad’s emotions seeped through, and the demon let them. He needed to seem natural. He needed to appear human.

Lance approached carefully. “I can’t believe you’re standing up.”

“The beating looked much worse than it actually was.” Chad gave a half smile, and approached Lance, closing the gap between them. “You look like you could use a few days in bed, or in the hospital.”

“Looks worse than it feels.” Lance smiled.

That smile made Chad’s stomach tighten. The demon sighed internally. He never could understand human love and affection. Sex he got. Sex felt good, and it fed him. Sex made sense to him. Romance did not.

“The cops done with you?” He glanced over Lance’s shoulder at the still swarming police.

Lance nodded.

“Then let’s get you home and in bed.” Gently Chad put his arm around Lance’s shoulder, and led him away from the madhouse that had formed in front of the Greek Life Center.

He would get to Willard later. 

Eye See You: Mother's Day pt. 8

Bea’s body jerked hard, and her head snapped back. A pocket of flesh above her right breast burst, releasing a stream of rotting, black blood and yellow pus.

I kept my finger on the button, and pushed the Taser harder. She jerked again, and this time her left eye exploded. She was shaking violently, the electrical current from my Taser overloading her pace maker.

I could feel hot tears running down my cheeks. I was killing my best friend.

No, I reminded myself. Whatever was in the electronics, in the… the Digital Void, had killed my best friend. I was just taking out one of its drones. Bea was no longer in there, not the Bea that I knew. Not the Bea that I had loved like a sister, not the Bea that had been the Maiden of Honor at my wedding, not the Bea that… that…

I screamed, thrusting my hand forward again. The Taser smashed into the pace maker and pushed it back, into her chest cavity. Her body, with the sudden overload of electricity, lit up. Her flesh was glowing hot and orange, and her remaining eye exploded.

Then, the power ran out on my Taser, and Bea dropped to the ground. 

Rituals pt. 24

The room snapped back into focus, and I could feel Juktha inside of my brain, my body. Her power coursed through me, and I felt almost invincible.

When I glanced at the young woman being held by Venom I could see that her face was sweaty and flush. She was concentrating.

“Did it work?” She whimpered.

I nodded.

“Good.” She glanced at Venom. “Now you and Juktha can kill this son of a bitch.”

Venom hissed and threw the girl towards us.

“Damn it,” he yelled, “the little bitch was holding out on me. Well, ssssshe can die like the rest of you.”

Then he started slithering towards us. His body moved smoothly across the floor, weaving in and out between the shafts of light. What was I supposed to do? I had the power, I just… well, I didn’t know how to use it.

“Raise your hand,” Juktha said. Her voice seemed like a pleasant echo in my brain. “Raise your hand and focus. I’ll do the rest.”

I did as she told me, and focused my mind on Venom.

That was when my palm began to glow. 

Eye See You: Mother's Day pt. 7

I pulled my Taser out of my bag, and held it in front of me. Bea just laughed.

“Sweetie, a little shock isn’t going to do much to me.” She motioned towards the twisted hunk of technology in her chest. “Electricity is part of me now.”

Then, without warning, she let out a high pitched howl and rushed at me, her arms outstretched. She moved quickly for her age, her aching hip and bad knees no longer an issue.

No longer an issue because she was no longer alive.

I thrust the Taser forward, and the two metal prongs at the top made contact with her pace maker. I held down the button, and prayed to God it worked.

New Pom Pom Angel: Forbidden Kiss pt. 11

We decided to walk to the restaurant. The night was beautiful and clear, with a gentle breeze that kept everything cool, but not cold.

Dante walked next to me, his shoulder close to mine, and occasionally he would lean close, brushing against me.

I asked, “You ever have Chinese before?

“Well, there was this one guy, but he might have been Korean. I honestly don’t remember; it was so long ago.” He looked at me. “Oh, you mean food. Chinese food.”

I nodded, my eyes again made wide by the demon talk.

“I actually haven’t. The world of human food is kind of new to me. Usually I just dine on the flesh of the damned.” He shrugged. I stopped walking. He turned, looking at me. “Oh come on, Nando, I’m joking. Of course I’ve had Chinese food.”

“What about the whole ‘flesh of the damned’ thing?” I asked.

He walked up to me, looping his arm in with mine, and started me forward again.

“Only on holidays.” He rested his head on my shoulder. “Although, I guess you could say I’m going the demon version of vegetarian. No more souls, no more roasted flesh of the damned. Just normal, human food.”

I think he expected that comment to calm me down, but it didn’t. I made a mental note to keep that holy water with me. Just in case Dante fell off the flesh eating band wagon, or we got in a fight or something.  

Slime pt. 4

“Bucky, what the fuck is all that noise?” Lars sat up in his cot, hacking violently.

He looked through the mostly abandoned bunker. There were two bunk beds, both recessed into the wall, across from him, and one above him. He couldn’t hear anyone moving up top, and the ones across from him were empty. No one was there, but that still didn’t solve the problem with all the noise.

He had been busting his ass for the past six hours loading drill bits as big as a Bronco into a fucking space locker, and he needed some damn rest. His body was aching something fierce, and he could feel his hip tightening up. If he didn’t watch it, the damn thing would like tighter than his wife’s snatch after he told her he was signing up. She had said it was a mistake then, and he should have listened to her. Now she was dead, and he was stuck on a rock floating in the middle of who the fuck knows where.

“Bucky, you better not be the one making all that fucking noise!” Lars turned, groaning as he did so, and sat up in his bunk. “If it is, I’ll crack your skull with that space rock you keep hidden under your bed.”

No response.

Damnit, he thought to himself. Maybe being out in the middle of nowhere was finally getting to him. He had seen it happen to other guys. Guys who had been working a lot less time than he had. It would start with a little paranoia, followed by a few hallucinations, and then… bam, cabin fever, galactic edition would set in. Lars could remember one kid who was so fucked up in his brain that he had sealed himself into one of the airlocks. No one could get in there before the thing blasted open, and that kid was turned into so much human soup splattered on the walls.

That was the least grisly one he had seen.  

“Bucky, where you at boy?” Lars started to get up. His hip protested, but he forced it. “I’m to old for this shit.”

The ground gave a sudden lurch, and Lars lost his footing, falling forward, reaching out just in time to keep his face from smashing into the steel floor. He tried to push himself upright, but his body wasn’t having it.

“Oh fuck.” He shook his. “Oh fuck, fuck, fuck. It actually happened.” He half laughed, half whimpered. “I’ve fucking fallen and I can’t get up.”

He gave up trying to lift himself off the floor, and instead rolled onto his back.

“Bucky!” He yelled as loud as he could. “Bucky, I… I need your help!”

This time there was a response, but it wasn’t from Bucky, or any person for that matter. No, the response was a low gurgling sound coming from the floor grate just above his head. It was faint, but it was getting louder.

“What the…”

An opaque, greenish liquid pushed against, and then through, the floor grate. It oozed out, moving across the floor, towards Lars’s face.  He tried to squirm away, but the slime was picking up speed, moving closer and closer, its intent obvious. It was coming for him. It could sense him.

He screamed, and the slime leapt, covering his face, blocking and flooding his mouth. It stung his skin and blocked his airways. It forced itself into him, down his throat, into his belly. He could feel his insides melting, and the slime was expanding, taking over him, taking over everything, taking, and…

Then there was nothing. Lars was gone. The slime was there now. The slime could use his body, and it would.

It had a mission. 

Tentacle University 2: The Sorority pt. 17

Stephen sat in the back of the ambulance, a bandage around his head. His body felt bruised and battered, but nothing felt broken. An officer was standing in front of him, questioning him, but Stephen was only half paying attention.

“So, why was everyone meeting?” The officer had a pad in front of him, and was jotting down notes.

Stephen did his best to recount the story of the hacked GreekLife accounts, and all the info they had found out when looking into who the hacker was. He was having a hard time focusing, and he was sure he had left out some key details, but the officer got the gist of it.

“And you say that the president of your frat was going to bring the materials to the cops? Why didn’t your Dean?” The officer didn’t look up from his pad.

“I don’t know. The Dean didn’t seem to thrilled about opening up that can of worms.” He rubbed his throbbing head. “Probably wanted to avoid bad press. You know, keep it internal.”

The officer asked, “And you and your friends weren’t happy with that?”

Stephen looked up at the officer. He was older, with tan skin and a chubby face. Had to be around fifty, maybe older. Close to retirement, and he really didn’t look like he wanted to be there.

Too bad, thought Stephen.

“Someone killed themselves because of those photos. Someone tried to make it look like I had posted them. No, we weren’t happy with it. We were pissed, and we were going to do something about it, but then those goons showed up.” Stephen’s head let out a harsh throb. “Damn it.”

“Any idea who those goons were?” The officer tucked his pad into his belt. “Would make things really easy.”

He shook his head. “They wore masks.”

“Of course they did.” The officer sighed. “You said the fraternity president had those materials. The stuff with the photos and all that. Think he would turn them over now?”

Stephen pointed towards Willard. “Ask him.”

-*-

Willard could see the officer walking towards him. His heart rate was climbing quickly. This was all getting out of hand way too quickly, and he needed time to think.

“Are you listening to me, you little shit?” Dean Stanton growled through the cellphone pressed to Willard’s ears.

“We will finish this in person, tomorrow.” Without another word, Willard hung up.

He was going to get his ass wailed on tomorrow, but he had no other choice. The cops couldn’t hear him talking to Stanton. That would be bad. That would ruin all the plans that they had put together. Who the hell had sent the goons? The two of them had worked everything out. Willard would placate everyone, make it sound like something was getting done, and then they would just wait for it all to blow over.

Now… now he was backed into a corner, and he did not like that. Dean Stanton, or as Willard preferred, Daddy, didn’t like it either. 

Eye See You: Mother's Day pt. 6

Richard lay on the bed, his chest and stomach ripped open. Wires whipped around in the hollowed out cavity that had once been his torso. The bed was soaked in blood and dark bits of his insides that had splattered out.

His face, though. His face was what really horrified me. His eyes were open, his mouth slack, but still, somehow, he was smiling. He lay there, a literal shell of a human being, and he was smiling.

My scream finally caught in my throat, and I stumbled away from the bed, my back crashing into the wall.

“What did you do?” I looked at Bea.

Bea stood in the doorway, her hand to her mouth. She was making a ‘tsk tsk’ sound. “Ever since the upgrade he’s just been lying there like a total log. I don’t think it took. Do you? I mean, I know he’s old, but we both are, and I took mine just fine.”

“Upgrade?” I inched farther away from her.

“Of course, Loni!” She laughed, turning her full attention to me. “Oh… you haven’t gone through installation yet. My dear, it isn’t that bad. I promise you. Mine went just fine.” She pulled away her sweater, exposing her white, wrinkled chest to me.

Her breasts hung low, and her nipples looked as if they had rotted off.  Purple veins seemed to spark and glow along them, the rest of the flesh was an unhealthy greyish green. The veins led towards the center of her chest, towards the small device that had broken through her skin. Tiny hooks of metal and wires burrowed their way into her flesh.

It was her pace maker. 

Rituals pt. 23

A feeling I couldn’t describe rushed through me, and I could feel my body growing hot. That voice in my head was growing louder, calling to me, telling me not to worry. She said I should trust her.

I did trust her. I don’t know why, but I did.

“It has been a while since I have been joined to someone,” said Juktha. “It feels nice to find that special person again.”

I didn’t have to ask her who her previous host was. I could see him in front of me. He was the one that Rita had talked about. His name was… Bobby.

“Dead, I’m afraid.” Juktha sighed, her voice tinged with sadness. “And we will be, too. If we don’t deal with your little snake problem.” 

Eye See You: Mothers Day pt. 5

I had been the first person Richard had talked to when he was about to propose to Bea. I had been the one who had told him to go for it. I thought he was perfect for her. I thought they were perfect together.

He had looked so happy then. His eyes had lit up when I had responded positively. He hugged me, and he thanked me, and he asked me to be there when he did it.

“It would only be right,” he had said. “You’re like her sister.”

Bea and Richard.

They had been the couple I had looked up to. They had been the ones that had always been there at every family party, at every tragedy.

Tragedy…

Tragedy…

Oh god. 

New Pom Pom Angel: Forbideen Kiss pt. 10

The next night I decided it was my turn to do something nice for Dante. He had actually managed a pretty romantic date the night before, and so I thought I could do something nice in return.

I just had to make sure that it was in a place where neither of us could be interrupted again. So, I picked a nice Chinese restaurant not far from the building.

I stood in front of his door, my shirt pressed and my newly cut hair gelled. I thought I looked damn good.  Regina, who was glaring at me through the doorway, didn’t seem all that impressed.

If looks could kill, I thought. Then I wondered if hers actually could kill, and took a tiny step the side, just in case hellfire sprayed from her retinas.

“I still don’t get it,” said Regina. “Out of all the guys in this city you picked my brother. Why him? Do you have some weird demon fetish? People do, you know. I run into them all the time at the dungeon.”

I shook my head. “He’s just a nice guy, or at least, he tries to be.”

“Listen, Nando, I like you. Well, I like you as much as a demon can like a person. We get along. I’d almost call you a friend.” She cleared her throat. “That is why I have to say these two things. First, as sweet as Dante seems, just be on guard. He steals souls. That’s what he does. He may not even do it on purpose. You know, like premature ejaculation, but instead of ejaculating he’s sucking your soul out of your body.”

I could feel my eyes go wide as she continued.

“Second, and this is not from me as a demon, but me as a sister. My little brother is still my little brother, and if you hurt him I will chop off your nuts and you can sing soprano in Hell’s gospel choir.”

“Hell has a gospel choir?” I was honestly confused.

“What else do you think we do with the all the televangelists who get sent our way?” She looked at me as if I should have known that.

“Is that him?” Dante’s voice echoed from the back of the apartment. “I’ll be right out Nando!”

He sounded so happy. The sound of his voice, so light and excited actually made me feel a little warm inside. Didn’t help with the nerves, though. Those were getting worse by the minute. Especially since Regina had just told me that I could accidentally get me soul sucked out of me.

Before I could say anything else, Dante pushed past Regina, grabbed my hand, and with a quick “be back later”, pulled me out of the house.

And I was off for yet another date with a demon.  

Slime pt. 3

Heather stood in what had once been her bar and looked over the wreckage. Shards of glass and the dust from the ceiling tiles littered the slick, black floor. Although most would describe Heather as bubbly, her bar didn’t reflect that. The whole place was dark, with neon lights burning behind the bar, and an old school jukebox in the corner. Now it was a mess.

The quake had done some real damage.  Tables were knocked over, and the jukebox and fallen forward, the glass front smashing. Inside, some territorial urge was telling her to clean up, but she knew it was pointless. The countdown on this place, her place, and this planet had started long ago. She sighed, leaning against the bar, her hand going to her forehead, her fingers rubbing her right temples.

It was hard to keep up appearances all the time. She was always the bright one, the ray of sunshine for everyone else stuck on this dust pit named Tetra-18. She didn’t feel like doing it anymore. She knew she would, once she encountered people again, but for right now, while she was alone, she let herself mourn.

Tetra-18 was a dump of a planet, but it had been her home. She had come willingly, taken up the bar willingly, and started making a life for herself willing. Now, against her will, everything she had worked so hard for was going away.

“I take it you’re not open.” A male voice sounded from the doorway entering into the bar.

Heather turned, wiping the surprise wetness from her cheeks, and smiled. “Guess not. But… maybe a few bottles of something or other survived the quake.”

The man stepped into the bar. He was tall, lean, with olive skin and close cropped hair. Heather had seen him around.

“Marco, right?” she asked.

“Yep.” He glanced around at the ruined bar. “Need some help cleaning up?”

Heather shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll all be so much space dust in a few days.”

That comment killed the conversation for a while. Heather made her away behind the bar and found a few unopened, and unbroken beers still resting in the now warming freezer. She placed one on the bar, dusting some dust and debris away as she did so, and popped it open. She took the second one and opened it for herself.

Marco grabbed one of the stools off the ground, and put it upright. He sat down, leaning forward and rested his elbows on the bar top. His golden brown eyes watched her as she drank. They weren’t unfriendly eyes, but curious. Heather really didn’t know what to make of the young man. She had heard his name in passing, enough to be able to put a face to that name, but she couldn’t recall any details, no gossip. He was probably one of the guys who just kept his head down, did his work and counted down his days until he was back on earth. That was ninety percent of the miners that came through Tetra-18. No one had probably told him that his trip to earth wouldn’t be happening in the near future. The skeleton crew that the company had left behind was going to get shipped to Beta-66, and the gas mines there. They usually saved that news until the last minute, spring it on the guys when they are already in flight. Heather had picked it up when one of the big wigs behind all these mining expeditions had gotten loaded and let it slip while he was trying to bury his face in her tits.

She wasn’t going to be the one to break the news to Marco.

“How are the rest of the guys?” She, out of habit, began wiping down the bar. “No one was hurt during the quake, right?”

Marco shook his head. “Nope. We were down in our quarters. Everything down there is bolted in, so no real damage. To people or facilities.”

“Don’t really care about the facilities. That’s the captain’s job. I’m here to care about the people.” She put down the rag and leaned forward. “So, you going back home after the clean up?”

She decided to test how much he already knew. He looked young enough to possibly be green, but the scars and calluses on his hands told her that he had been doing hard work for most of his life.

“Doubt it.” He took a swig off his beer. “I thought I was the last tour, and I ended up here. Came over from Iggy-7. Some of the guys think we might be going back, but me… nah.” He took another swig. “This kid Bucky, can’t be more than eighteen, he really does think he’s going back to earth. No one has the heart to spring the contract’s fine print on him. I told him they should, but no one wants to be the one who…”

The sound of his voice was overpowered by a sudden, loud crash.

“What the hell?” Heather looked past Marco, and noticed that the floor in the far right corner of the bar had suddenly collapsed. “Is that a sink hole?”

Marco stood up, turning towards the still crumbling floor. “No way. This whole base is built on solid rock. I’ve seen the diagrams myself.”

More of the ground began to crumble away, the growing hole moving closer and closer towards the bar where they both sat. Marco edged towards the door, looking at Heather and motioning for her to do the same. There was another crash, and a huge chunk of the floor broke away, vanishing into a inky, black nothing.

Marco was the one who froze. Heather grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the doorway.

“Come on!” she yelled.

They made it through the doorway just as the entire bar collapsed in on itself. Stone dust and shards of metal sprayed into the air, and Heather and Marco both tumbled to the ground, their arms up to shield their faces. There was a loud, electronic woosh, and a metal door slid into place, blocking the bar from their view.

“This area is not safe.” A computerized voice sounded through the hallway.

Heather sat up, brushing her hair and bits of debris from her face. “No shit.”   

Tentacle University 2: The Sorority pt. 16

Rachel’s head throbbed, and her ears were ringing. She sat up slowly, trying to will her eyes into focus. It wasn’t working. The room seemed to spin around her. What the hell had happened?

Slowly she began to see small details. People still littered the floor, although they didn’t look dead. People were walking among them, and she could hear the sounds of their voices, although they were faint.

She squinted. Cops.

“Help…” she croaked. “Help me.”

“This one is awake!” One of the officers yelled out, and waved his arm towards her. Then, in a few steps, he was next to her. “You okay? Don’t worry, we’re here to help.”

As calm and collected as the officer was, Rachel still didn’t feel safe. She couldn’t figure out what had happened. Those guys had rushed in, and then… Chad had been hurt, and then something bright and blue, and she remembered herself being lifted off her feet. Then her memory stopped.

“We got a corpse!” Another officer was yelling in the background?”

“Chad?” The name slipped past her lips, barely a whisper.

She was on her feet, looking around the room, her eyes finally in focus. The ringing in her ears had been replaced by the sounds of cops rushing in, sirens blaring in the background. She looked around.

Chad stood at the door front door, Alice by his side. They both looked unharmed, and completely calm.  How? How could Chad be standing? One of those guys had beaten his brains in. He should be bruised and bleeding on a stretcher, not upright and… and smiling?

Alice looked at her, and Rachel felt a chill run down her spine. Her friend’s eyes, which had once been so warm and friendly, were now cold and distant. She was smiling as well, but it was one of those smiles that never seemed to reach the eyes. It was a mask.

“Your friend Chad is fine.” The officer next to her was speaking. “He’s the one who called it in.”

Rachel couldn’t speak. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the two people standing in front of her.

Something was very wrong, and her gut was telling her that it was about to get even worse. 

Eye See You: Mother's Day pt. 4

I gave the door a single knock and waited. I normally never knocked, but today I had to be careful. I didn’t want to walk into… whatever was going on. I couldn’t take that shock.

Their door opened, and Bea poked her head out. She was smiling and wide eyed. It wasn’t a natural smile. It felt… plastic.

“Loni!” Her voice was too chipper. “Come on in.”

I followed her in the house, carefully reaching into my purse and wrapping my hand around my Taser.

It wasn’t just the attitude that was giving me pause. It was her clothes. She had on a floor length house dress and a heavy wool sweater. It had to be nearly seventy outside, and she didn’t have the air on in the house, and yet she wasn’t sweating.

“So,” I said, “you were saying that Richard was acting odd.”

“Oh yes.” She didn’t turn towards me when she spoke. “He just seems so… down. He hasn’t moved all morning. Just lying in bed. Won’t even talk to me.”

She led me towards the back of the house, towards the bedroom she shared with Richard.

“What do you want me to do?” I slowed my steps, building up a larger distance between the two of us.

She stopped in front of the door. “I was just thinking that maybe a little company might help perk him up.”

She gave the bedroom door a gentle push and it slowly creaked open.

I started screaming, and I feared I would never stop.