Overgrowth

Deep in the rainforest a mushroom simply named “The Prosperity Mushroom”, with special properties was found. Every plant that was in contact with its mycelium had grown exponentially in size. Bananas the length of an adult male's arm, and mangos twice the size of a soccer ball. The possibilities were endless with this miracle fungus, if only I could make the food grown edible. The issue I keep running into is that the toxicity of the mushroom ends up in the end product. Any food grown and eaten would force the consumer into a violent fit of hallucinations and hysteria. Due to the side effect, the entire project is kept under wraps at a secret location. 

Funded by the US government, my team has tried almost everything to get something to grow. Every combination of fruit and vegetable. Some have much success, some never even start. All of them have the same issue with toxicity. Laura, Bryant, Ahmed, and myself were ready to give up on the entire project. To keep any trace of this mushroom from being cultivated, and sold on the drug market we were poised to destroy it entirely. 

As the last of the Prosperity Mushroom was placed into the furnace, Bryant spoke up and asked me to hold off. He had an idea that may turn the project around, and actually yield viable results. He wanted to mix the Prosperity Mushroom with another fungus, while at the same time growing a plant with a creeping vine to help boost viability. He chose the Chaga mushroom for its detoxing abilities, and pumpkin as that was one of the vegetables we had left in the seedling stage.

Ahmed and Laura helped with the process and I oversaw their procedure. Almost immediately we saw results. The vines stretched out fast enough for the eye to actually see. It was truly magical watching this plant grow before our eyes. I ran to get a camera to record our progress, and by the time I came back the vines of the plant had extended far out in every direction. Giant golden flowers started to bud along the thick green tendrils. The bed we used for growing the plant could hardly contain the entirety of the massive plant.

I congratulated my team on a job well done. Making sure to give Bryant credit for coming up with this idea. Exhausted from being awake for endless hours, I asked them to watch over the plant. That if it starts to bear any pumpkins to come and get me. I volunteered to be the first one to consume the vegetable. The master keycard was left with Bryant in case of emergency. I made my way to my room, and with great confidence fell fast asleep on my cot. I dreamt of my team being credited with ending hunger around the world. Of our discovery being used in Space, where astronauts could grow food in conditions that didn’t allow anything to grow.

I took a huge inhale as I shot up from my sleep. The usual recycled air that dried up my nostrils, occasionally leading to nosebleeds, had a much more natural feel to it now. There was some moisture held within, and a subtle earthy scent filled my nose and lungs. It brought a smile to my face as I made my way toward the lab. My body came to a stop of its own free will. As I turned the corner to the long hallway leading toward the lab, vines covered the floors and walls. It clung to the ceiling as I could watch it growing toward me. Gigantic yellow and white flower buds scattered throughout this jungle of a corridor.

I called out to my colleagues, and waited a few seconds for a response. Tangled in the vines I saw movement. An unnatural jerking of human limbs, and vine wrestled free from entanglement. It fell to the floor on its back, frantically trying to roll to its stomach. Finally righting itself, the creature stood on four feet. It was clumsy in its first steps, tripping over vines and bumping into the wall. After it stumbled a few steps its head jerked in my direction. Its dark green face opened up, and it let out a weak screech. In the blink of an eye it dashed in my direction. Still clumsy in its movements I turned and ran. The nearest door was the quarantine room, used for when we tested the produce. As I slammed the button to close the magnetic door, the creature had reached its hand inside trying to grab me. With a creak the creature’s forearm was separated from its body and twitched on the floor. I backed to the other side of the room, until my back was against the wall. The creature screamed and frantically slammed against the door.

I stood in shock watching the hand of the creature convulse and then stop. As it did, the green turned brown and started to shrivel up into itself. The creature on the other side of the door had gone silent. I searched the room for any protective gear I could find. Luckily in case of emergency we had a hazmat kit inside of the quarantine room. I put on a respirator and protective suit. I had no weapon available, but I was going to make a run to the supply room nearby. Inside were plenty of tools used in the cultivation of the plants we grew. As I made my way to the door, I stopped to examine the dried up hand on the floor. It was exactly like the dried up vines of a pumpkin. On the hand was a finger with a small diamond ring. It was Laura’s hand. The realization of my colleagues being turned into these abominations made me sick to my stomach.

I hit the button on the wall to open the door, ready for a clash with Laura. Luckily she had scurried off, probably back into the vines. The vegetation was already growing around the corner, inching closer to me by the second. I walked slowly and quietly toward the supply room. After a couple moments I approached the door. I pulled it open with a creak, and as the automatic lights turned on Laura was standing in the middle of the room. Her back was toward me. When the lights turned on her head started jerking in all different directions at the change in her environment.

She hadn’t noticed my presence yet, and the machetes were in between her and I. I stepped further into the room, approaching the shelves. I silently pulled a machete off the rack, always keeping an eye on Laura. With the blade in hand I stepped closer to my colleague. When I was a couple feet away I said her name. She swung around to meet my gaze, face opened revealing the thorns that filled the void. I called her name again, her head cocked unnaturally to the side. A chittering sound, similar to that of a rattlesnake came from deep inside her.

She moved quickly as she lunged toward me. No longer clumsy, she grabbed my arm as I tried to back away. Her rough skin and strong grip tore at my protective suit. I swung the machete at her forearms, hacking both off with a single blow. She showed no reaction to the pain, as new arms started to regrow. She sprinted toward me, and shouldered me against the wall. I shoved back, and raised my machete as she stumbled backward. Arms and hands now both fully regrown she lunged for me again. This time I brought the blade down on her cranium, slicing clean through the brain cavity. The creature dropped to the floor, and blood poured out from the wound.

I waited for Laura to begin to heal, but it never happened. Her body turned brown, and started to shrivel up just like her hand before. I stepped to examine her to find that the inside of the head still contained her brain. That must have been the reason why she knew to go to the supply room and wait for me. She knew that I would need something to protect myself. If Laura knew that, then Bryant and Ahmed knew that I needed the master keycard to escape the lab. I grabbed a second machete, and lassoed it around my wrist. I stepped out into the hallway, which was now overtaken by gigantic creeping vines.

I stepped back into the hall, half expecting it to grab me and turn me into an abomination. The tendrils didn’t seem to notice me being there, so I proceeded toward the lab. Stepping carefully to not trip over the roots. The further I walked, the more dense the vegetation became. The budding flowers had now bloomed, and were filling the halls with pollen. The pollen was similar to walking through a smokescreen, making it hard to see even a few feet in front of me.

As I approached the doors to the lab, a chittering sound droned from behind me. I turned and raised my machetes ready to defend myself. Nothing was there, yet the sound kept getting louder. Then suddenly the sound came to a halt. I frantically looked around for the abomination, searching the dense air for any sign of movement. Content that the worst was ahead of me, I turned slowly to enter the lab. As I did, a hand reached down from the ceiling, grabbing at my face. I lunged backward, away from my assailant. Losing my respirator in the process.

I took a shallow breath in, and it felt like I had inhaled hell itself. That was when I realized, it wasn’t pollen that had filled the hallways. It was spores, and they were now filling my lungs. I writhed on the floor in agony, my lungs searing hot. I was in so much pain that I hadn’t realized that the hand that had grabbed my face was now around my throat. A mouth was opening, revealing the pitch black, thorned darkness inside. As it neared my face I shoved as hard as I could at the creature’s chest, knocking it to its back. I attempted to roll to my feet, but my arm was grabbed by the creature. The sharp thorns on its arm dug deep into my wrist. Blood began pooling inside of my suit. I kicked the monster hard in the chest, its grip slipping and letting go. Realizing I still had a blade strapped to me, I held it tight in my hand. I swung down on the creature's head, freeing my colleague from his prison.

I felt around for my respirator, and put it back on. The burning slowed as I stopped inhaling the spores in the air. Feeling dizzy from the loss of blood, I sat down with my back on the door of the lab. I ripped off my belt and wrapped it tight around my arm in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. The light in my mind was beginning to fade, but I couldn’t stop now. I was so close to getting out of this nightmare. I forced myself to my feet, and shoved the door open. The lab had been transformed into a vined jungle. I jumped in fear as a loud splat filled the room. Looking up, I saw enormous pumpkins growing along the ceiling. I watched another giant pumpkin fall and explode as it hit the ground. Seeds shot out across the room.

Then I saw another creature, standing between me and the way out. Around its neck hung the master keycard. It was Bryant, and he had slowly started walking toward me. He was hunched over, his body tweaking as he approached me. I kept the distance between us, until my back hit the wall. Bryant began to chitter with excitement as he got closer to me. The dizziness had really begun to take effect, rendering me unable to move. Bryant was now just a few feet away, his arms outstretched reaching for me. With my vision now almost completely black, I watched a pumpkin land directly on his head. It exploded as it made contact, pelting me with seeds. They managed to find their way inside my tattered safety suit. I watched Bryant’s flattened head smack against the floor. Then I blacked out.

I have no clue how long I was on the ground for. When I woke up, the bleeding had stopped. I plucked the keycard off of Bryants neck. As I clumsily approached the exit I felt like my body had become very stiff. My bones seemed to creak with every step. With almost no coordination, I slammed the keycard against the scanner. The door opened and the last bit of light for the day hit me in the face. In the darkness of the lab, I hadn’t noticed the new green hue to my skin. I put my hands in my mouth, to find rows of thorns had replaced my teeth. With a hazmat suit full of seeds, I started to walk. I walked toward the sun setting on the city that was less than a night's walk away.

Well.. I did not think much about it, and did not wanted to share it...

I work in Iceland in a hotel. It is quite stressfull enviroment and we have alot of meetings. They are usualy causal, just me and my coworkers sitting in a managers office and talk...

It started last year... one day is repeating... I cannot really say, if the Whole day... I dont really investigated it, I am quite busy person and I dont have much mental energy left to dive deep into it.. But!

My job is mostly stereotypical, which is why I did not payed alot of attention to it.. I just thought "it just seems like its repeating, because you do the same routine every day" ...

But the truth is, that I just cannot understand, how can I do ALMOST everything the same every day.. it is not That stereotypical :D

---This Dejavu is like this, .. I am coming to work... Ill greet my two coworkers.. go to do my job , talk to couple of people... then on a break, I ll go to the managers office, where other 2 coworkers join me. We sit and laugh and complaint about some people. My manager is drinking a energy drink, one of my coworkers eating snickers. My coworker is standing next to me, and I sit on a chair closer to the door.. than I get a strange feeling, like I am looking at this situation from Above ( edit: more like in the tunel from above.. like you just see clearly the middle, everything else is out of focus) ... like not that my "spirit" left the body and is flying above me... just my consiousness is kind of aware, that I am not in a cotroll of this situation... everything seems to be simulated.. not real.. as I remember, I can almost predict who will say what, who is going to stand / sit where, what jokes are they going to use etc.. then I ALWAYS say "Wtf? This already happened! this is Dejavu!".. right then I have something like a flashback to all the previous times, it happened... My coworkers just stare at me, and my manager says something like " you said it the last time" .. and we laugh a bit... idk.. strange ... ----

Then I usually forget right away, that this happened, as we are quite busy at work... (Edit: I forget it right away, just the strange feeling left.. and I have a broken shattered partial memory of that situation...)

I just randonly remembered today, that this is happening, so I wanted to share that here.. it happened at least 10-15 times... always the same.. It does not really have a meaning...

I am quite rational person with 2 university diplomas... I have 60 people under me in my department.. I dont concider myself a person, that is easely self conviced about something like that.. quite opposite... I consider myself a sceptic... Also.. it did not happened 1-2 times.. but at least 10 ( As I remember ) or probably more...

What do you think? Does someone has same experience?

If anyone has any interesting scary stories they would like to be narrated, let me know! Send me the link and permission! :D

3 True Mailman Horror Stories: The Dark Side of Mail Delivery

https://youtu.be/e-TdTapQDy0

3 True Terrifying Sleepover Horror Stories (vol 2). Who did know that sleepover could be tha scary? 👻🌛
https://youtu.be/RfudtZRYhKc

3 True Scary Mental Hospital Stories - Asylum Horror. What horror story theme is your favorite?

https://youtu.be/LWWTf\_Ak5EA

3 Terrifying Car Trip Horror Stories. Have you encountered any unexpected on the road?

https://youtu.be/aS2CXWFi8eA

As a police do you get to handle some scary stuff.

https://youtu.be/A2YD3fumu9w

2 Disturbing TRUE Horror Stories 👻

https://youtu.be/HfERxoMCGQk

4 True DoorDash Horror Stories - Getting Robbed
https://youtu.be/V7QR4Em0sWU

https://youtu.be/-L4sw9IuegQ

The scariest moments as a hunter 😱 3 Terrifying Hunter Horror Stories! 💀🌲
https://youtu.be/V7EmAsdanZg

https://youtu.be/hwy5C3NM34I

🏠👻 Scared to Stay in an Airbnb? You Won't Believe What Happened in These 3 Rentals! 😱
https://youtu.be/fHoGrO8Wy\_0

Scary then things happens on airplanes. Or what do you say?
https://youtu.be/POjRNJ7d1TA

https://youtu.be/h7R9iRrgOSQ

These scary sleepover stories will make you think twice about those all-nighters
https://youtu.be/UIUMSq6ZjZo

https://youtu.be/SfJDlMV00mU

"Woodland Encounter" Disclaimer: (NSFW) All imaginary story characters are 18+

I am a skilled map maker and was acting on orders by the king to survey a remote part of his forest. The job was progressing smoothly when without warning I was confronted by a winged dragon. I was pushed to the ground and held down by it's powerful claws. To my surprise I heard the voice of a female.

"You are trespassing on my land! I could easily tear your heart out, but I will give you one chance to redeem yourself. If you are able to pleasure me, I shall spare your life."

As her claws lifted off of me she began playfully nudging at my manhood and making little growling sounds. I hated to admit, but her behavior was quite arousing.

"Remove your clothing so that I may gaze upon your flesh" she commanded.

I stood up and began shedding my garments with great haste. As the last bit of clothing fell to the ground, I stood gazing up at her with my fingers nervously interlaced behind me. Hopefully my erection was displaying my willingness to cooperate.

One of her front legs pushed on my back guiding me towards her moist opening. I was directed closer and closer until I was engulfed by her soft slippery warmth. It was nothing like any sensation I had ever experienced. She slowly snuggled down on me like a hen sitting on a nest. I began to move in her as she made deep breathy sounds. I'm sure I wasn't as robust as a male dragon but I was trying my best. She seemed to be enjoying it and that's all that mattered, because my life depended on it.

I could hear loud moaning as she pressed into me with aggressive lust. It was strangely thrilling to be dominated like this. I had never felt so desired. As her animal passion continued to intensify I could feel the pressure of my orgasm building. Suddenly her body began to tremble and I heard a great roar that echoed throughout the forest. Surely that had to be her climax! She pushed firmly against me a few more times before I finally exploded. The surges of my release were more intense than ever as I filled her to overflowing.

Both of us rested for a moment before her body gently lifted with a sigh of contentment. She began to lick me like she was cleaning a newborn. There was something very sensual about her big warm tongue bathing me in appreciation. I managed to pick myself up and brush off the grass and dirt. Once again I heard her voice...

"Dragons do not lie, and as much as it pains me to set you free, I wish you a long and happy life."

I could see a tear in her eye as she turned away and took flight. As I watched her fade from view, I hoped that perhaps some day we would meet again.

"The Book" Disclaimer: (NSFW) All imaginary story characters are 18+

It was late Friday night when we finally got to bed after spending a strange evening at Amy's friend's house. Samantha had us over for dinner and afterwards was anxious to show us an old book that she received from the estate of her aunt. It apparently contained all sorts of incantations and magic spells. I never believed in any of that shit but she convinced Amy to let her experiment. She instructed Amy lay on the couch, then Samantha held her hands out as she recited something I didn't understand. Suddenly Amy clutched her twinkie as she moaned in delight. "Holy crap! I just had an orgasm!" exclaimed Amy.I thought they were both just pissing with me. Samantha said it was my turn, so I thought it would be fun to play along. I chuckled as I reclined on the couch. She held her hands over me and babbled more of that nonsense. Suddenly I felt powerful surges soak me with cum. I must of had a terrified look on my face because Samantha and Amy both broke into laughter. It was so embarrassing and I ran to the bathroom to try and clean myself up. After I returned, I made some excuse that Amy and I needed to be getting home. Samantha thanked us for stopping by and being her first test subjects. Then she said there was one more spell she wanted to try before we left. Amy seemed excited, so I reluctantly agreed. Samantha told us to hold hands as she looked at the book and spoke a few more strange words. I felt nothing this time. She said it might take a while before it manifested. We both thanked Samantha for the dinner and an enlightening evening as we said good night.The morning light was streaming in through the bedroom windows as I yawned and stretched. Amy was still asleep with her back to me. I pushed off the covers and crawled out of bed, but something didn't feel right...

"Holy SHIT!!! My freakin' cock is gone!!!"

My outburst woke Amy. When she saw me standing there her mouth dropped open. All I had left was a puffy slit between my legs. Suddenly she got a weird look on her face and reached under the covers. She leaped out of bed whimpering and jumping around with a big woody bouncing and swaying!"What the fuck happened to us!" she shouted.Just then I remembered Samantha saying something about it taking while before the spell would take effect. "Dammit!" Amy immediately dialed Samantha and frantically told her what happened. Samantha sounded surprised that it really worked and told Amy that the spell should last from sunrise to sunset. At that moment we realized that we would be stuck this way for the next 11 hours or so. I was on the brink of a panic attack. Amy was a little more composed after talking to Samantha and did her best to calm me down. "Now listen to me, it's Saturday, we have nowhere to go and nothing to do. So let's just relax make the best of it."

She reasoned with me while cupping her balls and stroking her new novelty. This had to be the craziest role reversal in history. I finally felt brave enough to run my hand over the location where my best friend used to live."Damn Amy, this is so different!"

"If you miss it that much, feel free to play with mine. I think it's even bigger than yours used to be."

"Sure go ahead and brag."

"Come on, I want you to play with it."

Taking hold of her boner, I squatted down and began to gently lick the tip. I heard all sorts of verbal expressions as she was experiencing something totally new. I'm not gay, but I always wanted to know what it was like to suck on one. I nervously slid my lips over the head. It was such an intimate sensation to feel it in my mouth. I was swirling my tongue around and stroking the firm shaft.

I continued until she pulled me up and we began kissing. I could feel her tool pressing against my belly and was soon to find out what it was like to be fucked. She pushed me backwards onto the bed then jumped in beside me. Her hand reached down and I could feel her fingers sliding around. She knew exactly what to do and in just moments had me rocking my hips in a frenzied panic.

There was a strange tingling and suddenly my muscles tensed as a violent implosion shocked and thrilled me! "Amy I think I just had my first orgasm!!" She laughed and moved on top of me. I spread my legs wide and could feel her cock searching before it slipped inside. It was a sense of closeness that was beyond anything I ever imagined, like she had become a part of me. She grabbed my ass and pushed in deeper, then began to thrust. It was wild watching her boobs heave as she slammed into me. My hands were against the headboard trying to hold myself in position. She had such powerful hips! The moans grew into shouts of passion, then suddenly I heard her cry out as her face lit up in amazement. I was being filled up with pulses of juicy cum. The motion finally stopped and we both laid there looking at each other in disbelief. The revelation of what each other's climax felt like would change us forever. I lost track of how many times we fucked that day, but each one was a wonderful adventure.

The next morning we woke up to find everything back to normal. I was relieved but a little disappointed too. I'm sure we will be paying Samantha another visit to see what else she can conjure up.

"Exploring" Disclaimer: (NSFW) All imaginary story characters are 18+

The four of us were thrilled by our discovery. We cleared away the vines from the cave entrance and couldn't wait to be adventurous. Roger ran back to the Jeep and returned with the head lamps. We quickly removed all of our clothing except for our hiking shoes and put on the lamps. Jerry winked and gave me a thumbs up when he noticed my freshly shaved twinkie. We are members of a nude spelunking group called "Going Down"

After venturing in about twenty feet, it was time to switch on the head lamps. I playfully grabbed at Roger but he scolded me and said I had to wait. The walls had a glistening sheen to them, like they were covered in some sort of organic slime. We watched our step because the floor was becoming slippery as well.

Each of us made our way down the narrow passage until it opened into a large room. There was an unusual sweet smell that hung in the air. Jerry and Susan were holding hands and getting frisky. As we continued exploring, I saw none of the normal calcium formations like we were expecting. Just smooth surfaces, almost as if the enormous chamber had been hollowed out of the solid rock.

Jerry started kissing Susan and fondling her boobs. I focused my light on them and watched Jerry get a very impressive erection. Damn! Roger caught me spying and smacked me right on the ass. I grabbed his toy, but just as I dropped to my knees we heard a strange noise and turned to see that something horrifying and gigantic had blocked the exit. Roger pushed me away and started running but tripped on something and went down hard. He lay there motionless as a second creature moved out of the shadows slithering towards him.

Jerry and Susan rushed to his aid, but were captured in the monster's slimy tentacles. Their naked flesh was being covered with sticky ooze as they struggled to break free. In just moments they stopped resisting as if its secretions had intoxicated them.

Jerry called out for Susan just as a tentacle started dragging him towards its open mouth. I pulled off my shoes and threw them at the ugly creature, but it had no effect. I desperately wanted to help, but was too frightened to get close. Just then poor Jerry was sucked inside it's mouth. He was looking around in panic until our eyes met for a brief moment before he was swallowed.

The monster's jaws opened again and the tentacle holding Susan's legs started pulling her in. I looked back towards dear Roger. His motionless body was being picked up and swallowed by the other creature and I was powerless to do anything but watch the carnage.

I felt so frustrated as I turned back towards Susan who had now entered the creature's mouth. She was screaming and convulsing as her body was being slowly consumed. I watched in horror as her outline slid down it's throat.

Things grew quiet for a moment, then the slimy bastards turned and spotted me. My head lamp picked the worst time to flicker and die.

I was left standing naked and alone in total darkness, waiting...

All it takes is one wrong turn. One horrible, foolish decision. The horrors that beseech my eyes, horrors of the uncertain, of the unknown. It feels as if I've walked these lonely red hills for all my life. For all of eternity. Wandering aimlessly, often hoping that death lurks over these hills. Hoping that it moves quickly. Silently.

In my nights I feel the chilling dread that chips away at any hope of rescue, of refuge from a cold that seems to ice my very bones, of any hope of sanity regardless. In my days I scorch like Middle Earth in my nude; and it is in these moments I may find beauty in my resilience or panic in my hopelessness. I am haunted by many great horrors, perhaps the greatest being an inescapable mind; that wanders and quells on the darkest corners of man's predicament amongst the cosmos.

Our voyage has its reminiscence tainted with regret, blame unto myself for all the horrors I've known here thus. But who can predict that savagery can rear its ugly head in the beat of an anxious heart, ready for merciless death at the feet of the unholy?

We headed by wagon to Colorado, in tow of two stallions, with plenty of resources for our daunting quest. The rough ground of rigid dirt and clay showed no mercy upon our vessel. My daughter, my husband and I traveled on our lonesome, which felt to me foolish from the beginning. Still in my husband I had to have faith, he was a skilled hunter and a former soldier in the Confederacy, and he had protected us many a frightful time before.

We hoped upon the promise of a new life, of a better life than the hot desolate climate of our previous encampment, just north of Rock Springs. Supplies ran low as our agricultural endeavors were threatened by heat, exhausted land, savages, and scavengers. From the merchant town of Rock Springs we gathered all the goods we could afford, namely water, fire start, and non-perishable food, to the greet of a smile from the merchant.

This was not our first meet, and to me he'd always seemed a wise man, with a gleam in his eye and a generous demeanor. This, however, seemed to alter drastically when we detailed our journey, to his curiosity, of our westward trek to the greener pastures of Moffat County, Colorado.

With a cold, worried posture and glazed eyes, he confided his hearing of savages in those Red Desert hills that defied all manner of scientific reason. With skin that seems artificial in its hanging from the bones of impossibly large illusions of questionably human form. They could rend a man's flesh from his bones in a swift instant with razor sharp arms that stab the Earth and propel them forward with the likes of a stallion making haste.

Their featureless faces were foretold to come unhinged much like a trap door to swallow man whole like a serpent taking prey. Their maddening screams inspired waking nightmares of impossible darkness, of eternal purgatory, helplessly watching one's own likeness meticulously and slowly torture those they love most.

He had known well of a man, a friend and business partner, who had gone mad in his venture, and returned just days later, hardly comprehensible in his jumbled screaming of "dreams of a swirling vortex of hellfire" that "would drag him into a void of endless suffering amidst a sea of evil laughter and haunting cries". The old merchant recanted with terror that he had returned with his family nowhere to be seen, and death had met him by his own hand shortly thereafter.

This to me seemed alarming, and sent shivers down my spine. My blood seemed to run frigid at the thought of this tale. I pleaded with my husband to seek a new destination, to which he responded in laughter. He had been told a drunken horror story by the fire of his closest friend in which they had recalled a similar incantation, whom they had titled the "voidwalker", and to him had only rang of a comical, absurd legend likened to the monster of Frankenstein or the tale of Sleepy Hollow.

He demanded I not dwell on such a ridiculous tale, and that we would press onward to our dream of a more prosperous life beyond the desert. I hesitantly agreed, without conflict, and in the days of now it is my deepest grief. We happened upon the brutal scene at early dusk, while seeking prey for our eats. My husband had followed the small tracks of a badger up the ridge with a Winchester rifle and a knife on his hip, hoping to feed the family well upon the evening.

I watched as he moved upward the hillside, as dusk fell the sunset illuminated a cascade of blood red amongst the clouds. The surrounding skyline, delicately painted with indigo, met the acquaintance of storm clouds far in the distance in a dance of wonderment and despair.

From many miles beyond echoed the song of the Killpecker Dunes, carried many miles by fierce winds. The sound was beautifully ominous, a perfectly off key choir of hell, a booming chant of lost souls. This enamoring scene served as a muse as I pondered on the very constructs of life, and smiled imagining the new life that awaited us beyond our journey.

And that's when he stopped.

Seemingly frozen in suspended animation amongst the desolate stillness and booming cries of Earth, I felt as if staring through a picture frame. One that outlined a great sense of unease. That ominous feeling shall not be understated. I quickly knew something horribly wrong sat beyond the crest, and for a time my lips trembled in hesitation and quivered as I finally called to him in question. He spake not a word.

Slowly, in curious fright, I approached him, joined his gaze upon the valley down below. A wagon train of six lay half-overturned in immediately obvious defeat. Supplies lay destroyed in the debris, curiously as if this were the work of marauders certainly it would be for the victim's wares. As my eyes continued to adjust I began to see... corpses. Man, woman, and... even the helpless children, mutilated.

Fully exposed ribs sat arched and perfectly cracked, reaching for sunlight like the blossom of some hideous floral bulb, as if some horrid display of art, some prideful display of death in its most careful form. Arms and legs spread like some purgatorial crossroads that no man dare travel, as if situated as such with intention. An almost hyperbolic, jaw-hanged look of horror was apparent amongst their faces there from afar. I saw their steeds lay perfectly skinned and gutted along the barren sands. Flayed and mangled were their awful fates, beast and man alike, yet I noticed peculiarly that a speck of maroon red blood there was not.

A sight so cruel I had seen naught, even when great famines struck in our homes of yesteryear, even as we happened upon the gory, obvious work of many a marauder and turned a merciful blind eye, even as we traversed fields of the macabre in the hazy aftermath of our nation's civil war in escape of enemy imprisonment. We stood in lull and in repose, nary an exhibit of animation we gave, nor of which we could muster. The only proof that the world kept its livelihood around us rose and set with the still-booming Killpecker sands many miles past.

After a period which felt of many aeons, I finally mustered the courage to speak, to question our relationship to these phantoms of the valley, praying we shall press on in willful ignorance of the sight. Yet as my lips began agape, to this mass grave my spouse ascended, nigh tumbling to the base of the valley with righteous intent. Still not a word he spake, yet I knew of his instinct to preserve his fellow man, inspired of his old confederate adage of "no man left behind".

Still, this scene was unsettling. Beyond the likes that I or perhaps any man before had seen. It felt as if staring into hell. I followed, defying my fear with determination, to catch his arm and beg him to our vessel in leave. As I began my descent, the atmosphere began to change drastically. The bellowing of distant lands were joined by bellows of a higher pitch, of screams of dread, scoring a symphony of death that grew ever more deafening as I hurried toward him.

The sky turned black, as clouds symbolic of the fiercest storms rolled in with a near panicked urgency, and the setting sun began to blaze a bizarre blood red like the moon amidst eclipse. I felt dreadful winds that blew not a cool relief but a scorching dryness, and the thickening air seemed to choke me, as my mouth increasingly parched, as my tongue was dried as foretold of Hades' lair.

The sands turned black, and ran red with blood, not simply of the forsaken before us, but in cracks along the ground, fissured and veinous, magmic and volcanous. On the hills stood shadowed figures too monumentous to be human, too humanoid to be brute. Their blazing red eyes were obvious still in my panic and in my strife, and felt as if peering into my very soul, that eternally-suffering soul more primordial than mankind could ever comprehend.

The brutal scene before me still stood, with gore and ichor finally in full exposure, and still I ran to a husband I no longer could see, and when I finally came to the terrifying monstrosity, as if surprised awake from a nightmare, the torrid stillness of the familiar sands returned in an instant. Silence pierced my ears in quick realization that I was deafened, or either that the breathing and waning of the whole world had stopped in response to the vicious nightmare of just moments past. I saw intimately this cacophony of death I beheld from afar, and my heart raced still, and when quaking fear finally let its tightened grip free, I turned quickly so that the tears may flow.

And there my husband lay.

https://youtu.be/qWsD-rgulaI I just posted a new scary story on my channel, go watch, leave a like and subscribe if you like scary stories