Short Stories
Patient Zero
Pandemic Unleashed
Skywatcher Press 08/13/2021
We survived the global shutdown… now imagine if horror writers had authored our reality. While you were hoarding toilet paper, Skywatcher Press spent the last year barricaded in a hellscape, mining the dark depths of the horror community to bring you the deadliest ravages of civilization by the most twisted and terrifying people. Contained within these sick minds comes startling plagues beyond anything we have yet seen, gruesome horrors blurring the lines between what we experienced and what might have happened, or what never could have happened, or what will happen next time. Step into the darkness, you are going down with the sickness.
Stories include:
Patient Zero Claire Davon
A Game of Solitaire Hillary Lyon
Whatever It Takes Victoria Hancox
The Far Edge of Sixteen Matthew Hollis Damon
Insanire Marie Lanza
The Ribbon Kara Race-Moore
If They Bleed Rachel W. Roth
Boys Rich Restucci
The Fever and The Thaw Richard Clive
The Isolated Life of Gerald Connors David Greske
They Wiggled and Jiggled and Tickled Inside Her Benjamin Langley
Daddy’s Sick Chris Grillot
The Greasy-Feast Virus Tim O’Neal
Side Effects May Vary Tracy Cross
The Last Days of the Plague Sara Century
Everything Had Been Normal DJ Tyrer
Excerpt
I watched as the man was wheeled away on a gurney into the bowels of the regular hospital. Next to me the attending nurse snapped her gloves off and tossed them into the disposal area. I paused, watching him being rushed away and then met her gaze.
He was a John Doe, unable to give us any useful information. He kept raving about men and needles, stuff like “they stuck me, Roger,” and “I told you they was coming for me.” No doubt he was out of his head from drugs and alcohol. He had to have come from one of the homeless tent cities that proliferated in Miami, or been one of the ones that lived under a bridge. Where he came from might be important, but it was too early to be sure of anything. The blood leaking from his face, his eyes, his nose and his mouth and the stench in the room indicated that he had soiled himself. There were livid red spots on his skins, and his ribs stuck out where his shirt separated from his pants. In such people it was hard to tell if that was his natural state or if whatever had sickened him had caused it.
This was the third person with similar symptoms recently and while we weren’t panicking yet, we were concerned.
“Doctor, what do you think it is?”