Twist and Scream - Volume 6 (Horror Short Stories)
Page 6
Heather awoke again in the processing room, alone and naked; instinctively she stroked the swell of her stomach, willing the baby to stay in just a little longer. From the room’s small windows she could see people rushing around outside, hurrying to fill a lorry before it left. She couldn’t see her son.
She heard a door slam and followed the progress of a forklift truck carrying a pallet over to the transport. The pallet was stacked with large tubes and as she watched she saw an arm clawing at the air from inside one of them. Heather recoiled into the corner, biting down on her hand in her mouth to try and push down the scream that was bursting out.
Desperately, she pulled the sheet off the trolley and wrapped it around herself, and over her head. It didn’t look right but it looked a whole lot better than naked. She stuck her head out of the door and, seeing the corridor empty, ran over to a double door on the left.
She was almost there when she made the mistake of looking through a viewing window to someone else who had been taken for processing. In the middle of the room was a male body on a trolley but the only part of it she saw were the legs and twitching feet, the vampires had crowded around to feed on the rest of him.
Heather’s mind didn’t allow her to register what she saw straight away but she lost precious seconds staring in disbelief. She only found the strength in her legs to move when she saw that the body on the trolley had stopped moving his.
No one stopped her in her race to reach a van, the keys were in the ignition and after a few faltering attempts her shaking hands were able to start the vehicle and head towards the sunlight on the other side. She drove slowly and stared straight ahead; in her utter fear and terror she had momentarily forgotten about Peter.
A lorry was leaving the depot and Heather simply followed it out of the gate before over-taking and putting her foot to the accelerator once she was free. It was only when she had returned to the motorway and going sixty over the speed limit that she realised she’d left without her son. The cry of anguish came from her soul.
She pulled over onto the hard shoulder and vomited onto the grass verge. A police car pulled up behind her and the two officers approached the hysterical woman who had a sheet hanging off her with extreme caution. When she tried to tell them about the vampires in the big building who had taken her son they handcuffed her for everyone’s safety, and when she told the doctors back at the police station she was sectioned and taken to a mental institution.
The depot installed additional security measures and increased the strength of their sedatives.
Of the millions of people reported missing each year around a quarter of a million will never be seen again.
Heather’s story continues in a full length novel due for release in 2015.
Also by Jayne Bartholomew –
*Twist and Scream – volume one*
*Twist and Scream – volume two*
*Twist and Scream – volume three*
*Twist and Scream – volume four*
GET THE SET! *Twist and Scream – omnibus edition (volumes 1 – 4) *
*Twist and Scream – volume five*
*Love, Lies and Lemon Cake*
A lot can happen in a year.
Mark is struggling to juggle redundancy with an extremely expensive supermodel fiancée who wants a show-stopping wedding in Las Vegas.
After years on the move, Kate returns to her home village and unknowingly brings a problem from the past with her.
Penny years for a little more spice in her marriage to the vicar, but when she does find something that excites her, it’s not quite what she expected.
There’s sabotage in the tea room and Laura’s in a coma.
Love, Lies and Lemon Cake is a cheerful and uplifting look into village life. Go on, have a nibble…
*Space Hoppers – Dance of the Guinea Pigs*
When planets get mad they don't get even, they get creative.
Legends say that the Universe created an orb of Light to protect itself from a growing evil. They say that when it is needed most the Light will appear to save the day. If only it was that simple...
For Sarah, picked up by aliens due to an administrative error and thrown into a galactic council of war, life will never be simple again.