SHORT STORY
It was midnight, no moon was out. The stars disappeared from the skies. Tombs creaked and rotting bodies emerged. Creatures started to crawl from the 500 year-old graveyard. No one was buried there for over fifty years. No humans passed within five miles of this city of the dead, except a bent old man who resided in a cottage just 20 feet away.
A burst of lightning illuminated the sky but the creatures continued their march. Thunder roared and rumbled and crashed and banged. But the bodies marched on. Blood-red eyes scanned the landscape. They were all hungry. Decades of nothing to eat was too much for them. Pelting rain shot from the skies, but the corpses, some carrying their coffins on their shoulders, moved in unison. Some were headless, others grotesquely decomposed, while a few were enormously swollen. Yet still the creatures ambled, and dangled , and canted.
A man, who lived with his family heard the eerie sound of something in his yard. He opened his window. A thousand pairs of bulging eyes glared at him. A few broken coffins crashed on the ground. Lightening flared across the skies. The army moved closer to his door. He quickly shut his window and ran back to his room . The father of four didn't want to awaken his family. But the graveyard army was hungry. So, they move closer to his door.
Some cried for food. The man knew he had nothing to give them. Only blood would satisfy them. They started banging on his door. His family awoke trembling. They were aghast by the rumble outside. The door collapsed. The man's wife was horrified. The children fainted from the sight of the ghastly spectacle. The man quickly hurried and got some pumpkins he had stored for the season and threw it at the invaders. They backed off and scrambled for the vegetable. Crunching teeth and swishing gums consumed the gift. Even the headless got their share. © Wallace Paul, October 2024.
It was midnight, no moon was out. The stars disappeared from the skies. Tombs creaked and rotting bodies emerged. Creatures started to crawl from the 500 year-old graveyard. No one was buried there for over fifty years. No humans passed within five miles of this city of the dead, except a bent old man who resided in a cottage just 20 feet away.
A burst of lightning illuminated the sky but the creatures continued their march. Thunder roared and rumbled and crashed and banged. But the bodies marched on. Blood-red eyes scanned the landscape. They were all hungry. Decades of nothing to eat was too much for them. Pelting rain shot from the skies, but the corpses, some carrying their coffins on their shoulders, moved in unison. Some were headless, others grotesquely decomposed, while a few were enormously swollen. Yet still the creatures ambled, and dangled , and canted.
A man, who lived with his family heard the eerie sound of something in his yard. He opened his window. A thousand pairs of bulging eyes glared at him. A few broken coffins crashed on the ground. Lightening flared across the skies. The army moved closer to his door. He quickly shut his window and ran back to his room . The father of four didn't want to awaken his family. But the graveyard army was hungry. So, they move closer to his door.
Some cried for food. The man knew he had nothing to give them. Only blood would satisfy them. They started banging on his door. His family awoke trembling. They were aghast by the rumble outside. The door collapsed. The man's wife was horrified. The children fainted from the sight of the ghastly spectacle. The man quickly hurried and got some pumpkins he had stored for the season and threw it at the invaders. They backed off and scrambled for the vegetable. Crunching teeth and swishing gums consumed the gift. Even the headless got their share. © Wallace Paul, October 2024.