Horror / Darkness - 1
At first glance Michael didn’t recognize the girl. On the second, there was something familiar about the curve of her mouth, about her darkly glazed eyes. Her hair had been shorn rather than just cut. Razored right down to the scalp, and that was something hard to look past, at first. It made her look like the rest of the row of chained humans huddled in the corner of the night market, made her look naked. Made the ratty thin dress billowed down over her narrow shoulders seem transparent. Through it the outline of her bones ridged up her spine. She had lost color as well as her weight. Now she looked yellow, the color of her favorite shirt. The color of something used up and ready to be disposed of.
By this time Michael had stopped walking, and put his bags of hydro-bud and brews down on the ground. He took notice, he had to. It was everyday you saw a human you knew from way back when, much less one wit her faculties more or less intact. Or so it seemed to him on second glance.
He flicked a bottle cap in her direction as her spoke over her shoulder at the pen dealer, “thank one.” It hit the wall beside her, but the girl didn’t react. “How much you want for her?”
The name of the pen dealer was Xenn, who was healthy looking as well as big and swarthy because he didn’t have any say in how his body functioned, these days no-body did. He looked over at Michael, squinted and then shrugged, tightening his grip on the neck of the fledge human chained just to the left of the girl. Xenn was in the process of teething this one, making him both law abiding as well as entertaining to the nearby crowd of shoppers. This fledge wore a white coat draped back over its shoulders after it had been revived and released out of the blood bank. Maybe he had been a dentist. Xenn was the kind of vampire who appreciated irony. It helped him to be patient with them at first, nursing each fledge through the withdrawal pangs as they revived from their time in the vats, but then inevitably he lost his temper as they reminded him of something, anything at all really. So Xenn had learnt to sell his fledges fast if he wanted to make a profit, to anyone who wanted a pet.
God help them, except he didn’t really keep a hand in anymore these days.
Michael leaned forward and flicked another bottle cap at the girl. This one hit her on the shoulder. She twitched, like a horse shaking off a fly. She didn’t move, though, or look around to see who’d flicked it. Smart, Michael thought, or just housebroken.
He leaned back and sipped his precious bottle of Bud, and considered the blood rusty pliers Xenn held in his hand. Michael licked his lips and began the negotiation. There was no sense paying more than he had to.
When Michael walked away, he was out fifty bucks – with the only money that mattered now was Clan script backed by gold stored in the nearest clearing house, at the end of the world deflation was king – and he had the girl on a length of string, the catch of the day. Oh, and Xenn had been good enough to contribute another fifty to the buy. If he wasn’t sharp enough to keep an eye on his wallet in the pit of evil the world had become, well that was his problem, wasn’t it?
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i can’t say the best horror on urbis because i havent’ been doing alot of reviewing lately but i will say aside from a few spelling errors this is pretty damn good. i was instantly reminded of the movie ‘i am legend’ from the first page. however i will say that mainstream horror and/or zombie stories are becoming more and more popular doesn’t mean everyone can write them. but you do pretty well considering the genre i’m defintely looking forward to reading more.
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This is an excellent and intriguing write. I want to read more. The only thing that keeps it from being completely publishable is that it needs to be proofread for grammar and spelling. For example, “past” should be “passed.”
I could’nt get into it. It didnt capture my attention right off the bat
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