Dan is the first to get his bearings and turns quickly toward the source of the disturbance. He is sure that Mike and Etan have followed him here and are prepared to finish him off. He doesn’t have his guns yet, and even if he had it, he knows he could only kill Mike with it, anyway. He will do that for sure. Even while that big black fucker is taking his life, he will make sure he ends Mike’s!He plants his feet and readies himself for a fight. He is startled by what he sees next.As Delano steps through the doorway, he sees the gun pointed at Dan. He turns his sinister gaze to Alex , attempting in no way to shield him from its onslaught.Alex ’s frightened face suddenly turns into a grimace of pain as he doubles over and drops the gun on the floor.Delano sees… Bees. A swarm of big, black bees flying aggressively around Alex ’s face and neck. They light upon his face, buzzing angrily but not stinging. They are taunting him, it seems before they inject their barbed, poison-filled ske

Amy’s eyes flutter open as she awakens from her sleep. She has been lying on a filthy steel table, and she looks quizzically at the dirty ceiling. She slowly sits up and grabs her throat in pain. After a moment, she realizes her predicament and quickly surveys the room.The room is shadowy and quiet. Metal furniture and papers are scattered throughout. Slowly, she swings her feet from the table and onto the floor. Looking around the room, she sees there is a doorway to her left that opens into a hallway, illuminated faintly by moonlight through windows high above. Carefully, she heads toward the doorway.As she is about to go through it, a dark figure moves from one side of the hallway to the next, hissing viciously.She stops and retreats a few steps.Again, ambiguous, human-like shapes move swiftly back and forth from room to room, hissing like cats as they go.One apparition casts a glance toward Amy and stops in mid-glide. Its eyes are dull, glowing, white orbs. The phantom begins

As he looked back, he saw the man in the big hat, still standing a distance away, still looking in that direction. For a moment, Delano thought that maybe he had mistaken a discarded window mannequin for a real person. The big hat would make sense. Only after he saw the wide smile under the shadow of the brim did he know better.It was large and malevolent, and Delano was immediately nervous. He looked away quickly and followed the old man inside. He sincerely hoped the big-hatted man with the big smile would not follow.The police came and dragged the two men off. The old man treated Delano’s cut as best he could. There was no going to the doctor for him, so the man helped and bandaged it up the best he could. The man told him that the cut was bad and that he could come back the next day and he would change the dressing. Delano agreed and thanked the man for his help.As Delano rose to leave, the man stopped him and put a hand on his shoulder. He told Dan he knew that he was the one

Etan’s eyes have become mere slits as his white pupils lock on Jack’s face. His once thick, muscled neck has elongated slightly, the vertebrae snapping audibly as his head sways back and forth in a hypnotic motion. A thin, slick, ink-black tongue darts from his mouth in a mocking fashion, tasting Jack’s fear. Etan’s mouth opens abnormally wide. He hisses, displaying large fangs, dripping with gooey venom.Jack looks at the sickle in his hand and then throws it away, disgusted. It lands with a clatter near Dan’s prone body. Jack then raises the gun and aims it at the Etan- mutant advancing on him. He’s not scared. He hasn’t got this far in his life by being a coward. But at this moment, he understands the ride is over. He knows he’s been used. “Played” is the word he would use. He was figured out and manipulated by this spook, demon or whatever it is, and now it is time to pay his dues. He rather admires the beast that is poised to take his life. It is a dominant performance, to say th

“Got the two of 'em tied up or wha?”The other one kept tying the yellow nylon ropes, sweating, grunts. He didn't have the time to answer. His brain rocketed away from earth every passing second, as the meth's buzz beat around the inside of his skull. The old fella struggled, the wife looked about ready for an aneurysm but hung in there mostly in a silent dread, as one of the men who broke into their previously safe home kept lashing rope around them, pulling it tighter.Alex always played dealer. Rich, or Staunch as everyone insisted on calling him ever since an unfortunate egg incident in elementary school, met the devious task of cooking up relatively impressive methamphetamine even for a man who quit going to school before he needed his first shave. Up until a muggy night in the middle of this summer they'd never gotten themselves into anything more than dealing, supplying a few crews out of town, and a ton of manufacturing.Now they found themselves beating and tying up ninety-