Horror Stories: A Macabre Collection by Steve Wands Read Free Book Online Page A

slow
moving.
    “God damn drunks, sick of cleaning puke off
the sidewalk.”
    “What’s that?” Bark grumbled, cheese dangling
from his lip.
    “Ah, nothing,” Jay grumbled back.
    Bark stuffed the last bit of crust into his
mouth and slurped up the last of his drink, shaking the ice at the
bottom of the cup to signal the end of his meal. He brought his
plate and unused fork and knife up to the counter, he grabbed a
napkin and dabbed his lip, again thanking Jay. Jay filled up his
cup for him and Bark was on his way. The bell jangled as Bark
opened the door and left. He headed home for the night.
    The bell jangled again, a woman staggered in
to Jay’s. She held a purse at her side, her leg was swollen and
bloodied, dried blood streaked down to her high leather boots. If
you followed the blood back up toward her hips you would find
several bites and strips of gouged flesh. Muscle and fat stuck out
of the open flesh. Above that were the torn remains of a skirt,
kept around her waist by a belt. Hanging slightly over that and
partly tucked in her torn skirt was a blood soaked white button up
shirt that too was ripped to shreds. Her left breast was hanging
freely, a nipple barely hanging by a tendril of skin. From in
between her breasts to the bottom of her mouth were ragged folds of
skin held together by coagulated blood, the sticky sweet deep red
hung from her chin. The insides of her throat were visible as were
parts of her sternum. Her jaw hung slack, almost being pulled down
by the weight of the gore just below it. Her teeth were crooked,
some missing, others cracked. Her face was that of nightmares, hair
and blood became a road map of disaster, tears of agony bled
mascara down her cheeks, her nose was missing; it looked like her
face was dragged down a city block covered in glass. What was left
of her eyes found her way to Jay and his shock stuttered stare.
Could she even see him?
    “My God! Lady sit down, I’ll call 911!” Jay
rambled out.
    She gargled some kind of groan, her jaw moved
as if biting the air. She stepped closer.
    Please be patient. All lines are busy. Your
call will be answered in the order it was received.
    “Fuck, it’s busy! Just sit down—I’ll get you
a towel!” He was frantic.
    Still staggering closer to him, she moved her
tongue across her bottom teeth. It was swollen and discolored. Jay
had a towel in hand and moved quickly towards the woman. He raised
the towel to her throat and she raised her hands toward his.
Confused, he stepped back.
    “Sit, hold this to your neck,” he told
her.
    She didn’t listen, she simply groaned and
moved her jaw toward him as if taking bites out of the air. She
smelled like piss, shit and death. Jay caught on quick and backed
up. He was close enough at first to feel her breath, he now
realized she hadn’t breathed. She was not weeping and she seemed
unaffected by the pain of her all-too visible wounds. Jay dropped
the towel, and stepped back farther, putting the phone back to his
ear.
    Please be patient. All lines are busy. Your
call will be answered in the order it was received.
    He had no choice but to continue backwards.
He was now behind the counter blindly reaching for the big wooden
spatula that was standing against the big oven door. His fingers
found it and pulled it into his palm. He raised it in front of
him.
    “Get back. I’m warning you,” he was calmer
now than before.
    She said nothing.
    “Well, fuck you too.”
    Jay put the wide end of the giant spatula
into the woman’s cold abdomen. Her movement was halted. He pushed,
she was not stepping back, he pushed harder and she staggered
backward. Groaning in disapproval she attempted to steady herself.
Jay didn’t give her the option. He pushed again, harder still, and
she staggered roughly to the wall behind her. Jay kept doing this
till they were back at the front door. He played a similar game at
times when a rat would make its way into the store, though he used
a broom instead of the