by Mark Deloy
Inside, the cave opened up into a cathedral-like world of smooth rock and dripping crevices. There was an opening at the top, which let light in. The light shined like a spotlight onto the cavern floor, illuminating an area about five feet across. That was where Bennie needed to go.
The floor of the cave was covered in dirt and guano. The ammonia smell of the bat shit burned his nose and made him want to leave, but Bennie kept moving toward the light.
When he reached the area where the beam of light from above fell strongest on the dirt floor, Bennie crouched down and began to dig. There were a few small plants and some moss that grew in the sparse light and he pulled those free.
He scraped at the dirt beneath with his right hand first, then, when the fingers on that hand were raw and bloody, he switched to his left. The dirt and rock was hard and although he was barely making a dent in the floor, he kept digging. When the fingers of his left hand were ruined, too, Bennie searched around the cave floor until he found a good sized rock. He scraped away at the cave floor, never losing heart, but feeling the aches and pains from being eighty-something and crouching for hours in the dirt. His arms and legs began to cramp, but he ignored the pain and pressed on.
The light was fading inside the cave, and Bennie knew if he didn’t find what the master had told him was here, he’d have to leave and come back in the morning. His hole was nearly two feet deep now. The rocks were tearing into the thin flesh covering his knees, but he paid no attention.
He scraped with the rock, his third he’d pried from the cave floor, across the dirt frantically. Sweat poured off his brow and he had to keep brushing his long gray hair out of his eyes.
The last light of day was fading from above when Bennie scraped the floor and something happened. The line where he scraped was glowing. He scraped some more, and more dirt came free from what was underneath. Renewed, he scraped and brushed dirt off faster, revealing the illuminated subfloor. Now he had cleared the entire area where he had been working. He stepped out of the hole and looked down at what he had uncovered.
The Mandelbrot pattern swirled, colorful in the gloom, casting bright light into the cave. Bennie was not afraid. The light and patterns spun across his face. He was smiling. He knew what this meant.
The Master was close.
END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Deloy lives and writes in Middle Tennessee with his wife, two girls, and two dogs. He enjoys combat firearms training and collecting knives. His first novel, Life Suspended was published with Dark Recesses Press. His short stories have appeared in The Horror Library Volume 1, Neonomicon, Nocturne, Lighthouse 4, Splintered Dreams Anthology, and The upcoming Jack Ketchum Tribute Anthology from Hellbound Books.
Other HellBound Books Titles
Available at: www.hellboundbookspublishing.com
Them
Ray Sanders returns home from Florida to bury his mother.
Soon, the supernatural evidence behind his mother’s demise begins to surface in the form of dreams and mysterious happenings.
During all of the madness, Sanders must face his destiny and vanquish the generations-old evil that has plagued his family since the 1800’s…
In 1854, Louis Sanders, with the help of Elias Atkins, dug a well to provide water to the family farm. What they did not anticipate was the water to be infested with Odomulites - ancient sins. These malevolent beings - were trapped in our world on their way to the spirit world - formed a pact of protection with both Sanders and Atkins; the families would serve as guardians of the Odomulite nests and in return, a blind eye would be cast when the Odomulites took host bodies to inhabit and feed upon. It was this pact, which in 2016 would propel Sanders and Julie Fontaine - a young woman with a special connection to the Spirit World - into the heart of the last active nest to rid the town of its insidious Odomulite population.
Blood in The Woods
Based upon true events...
For Jody, growing up in the late eighties and early nineties in the small Louisiana town of Hammond with his best friend Jack was filled with wonderful childhood memories.
Time spent playing in the woods, shooting pellet guns, blowing up mailboxes, fighting at school and upon the dawning of interest in the fairer sex, their carefree lives typical of children with few responsibilities and no worries beyond the next pop-quiz or getting to second base. As they grow older together and experience the joys and pains of life, love, family and friendship, they uncover a grim secret that their home town has kept, and through little more than an innocent, idle curiosity, Jody and Jack stumble upon something horrific in the woods and their lives quickly take a most sinister and dangerous turn as they find themselves hunted by an unspeakable evil...
No Rest For The Wicked
From beyond the grave, a murderous wife seeks to complete her revenge on those who betrayed her in life; a powerless domestic still fears for her immortal soul while trying to scare off anyone who comes too close; and the former plantation master - a sadistic doctor who puts more faith in the teachings of de Sade than the Bible - battle amongst themselves and with the living to reveal or keep hidden the dark secrets that prevent any of them from resting in peace.
When Eric and Grace McLaughlin purchase Greenbrier Plantation, their dreams are just as big as those who have tried to tame the place before them. But, the doctor has learned a thing or two over his many years in the afterlife, is putting those new skills to the test, and will go to great lengths in order to gain the upper hand. While Grace digs into the death-filled history of her new home, Eric soon becomes a pawn of the doctor's unsavory desires and rapidly growing power, and is hell-bent on stopping her.
"If you're looking for a chilling ghost story filled with mystery and escalating tension, look no further. No Rest for the Wicked is the real deal - an expansive, unfolding riddle between the living and the dead."
Hunter Shea - author of "Tortures of the Damned" & "We Are Always Watching"
Worship Me
Something is listening to the prayers of St. Paul's United Church, but it's not the god they asked for; it's something much, much older.
A quiet Sunday service turns into a living hell when this ancient entity descends upon the house of worship and claims the congregation for its own.
The terrified churchgoers must now prove their loyalty to their new god by giving it one of their children or in two days time it will return and destroy them all.
As fear rips the congregation apart, it becomes clear that if they're to survive this untold horror, the faithful must become the faithless and enter into a battle against God itself.
But as time runs out, they discover that true monsters come not from heaven or hell…
...they come from within.
Demons, Devils and Denizens of Hell: Vol, 2
The second volume in HellBound Books' outstanding horror anthology fair teems with tales of Hades’ finest citizens – both resident and vacationing in our earthly realm…
Compiled by the inimitable P. Mattern and featuring: Savannah Morgan, Andrew MacKay, Jaap Boekestein, James H Longmore, Stephanie Kelley, Ryan Woods, James Nichols, P. Mattern, Marcus Mattern, Gerri R Gray, and legion more…
Shopping List 2: Another Horror Anthology
Once again, HellBound Books brings you an outstanding collection of horror, dark, slippery things, and supernatural terror - all from the very best up and coming minds in the genre.
We have given each and every one of our authors the opportunity to have their shopping lists read by you, the most wonderful reading public, and have the darkest corners of their creative psyche laid bare for all to see...
In all, 21 stories to chill the soul, tingle the spine and keep you awake in the cold, murky hours of the night from: Erin Lee, The Truth Artist, John Barackman, Serena Daniels, M.R. Wallace, Isobel Blackthorn, Alex Laybourne, Jason J. Nugent, Josh Darling, Jovan Jones, Nick Swain, Douglas Ford, Craig Bullock, Craig Bullock, Jeff C. Stevenson, PC3, David F Gray, Sergio
Palumbo, Donna Maria McCarthy, David Clark & Megan E. Morales
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