MicroHorror

Daryl knew he couldn’t hang around much longer, not if he wanted to hit every house in town before midnight. Mischief night only came once a year and he wasn’t going to waste it sitting at home waiting for Billy. Not this year, not when he finally found the perfect spot to collect his ammo.

Reluctantly, Daryl decided to go it alone. He climbed the rusted fence and jumped down into the overgrown bramble of old man Johnson’s backyard. He crawled under the chicken wire surrounding the garden and smiled as the putrid stench of decaying vegetation assailed his nostrils.

With his sack filled to the brim with rotten tomatoes and peppers, Daryl turned to leave. He hesitated when he spotted a huge mushy brown cabbage, the perfect piece to complete his arsenal. It was way in the back, so he crawled deeper into the garden and reached his arm out as far as it would go, his fingers grasping at air. He turned his head to the side so he could stretch out a little further and let out a yelp when something cold and slimy grabbed hold of his arm.

Daryl frantically struggled with his attacker and was eventually able to yank his bleeding hand free. Filled with panic, he turned to run, blindly stumbling through the garden. He had almost made it to the fence when a sharp blow to the back of the head sent him sprawling to the ground.

Daryl awoke with a splitting headache, lying face down in the dirt. He tried to get up but discovered that his hands and feet were bound with plastic ties. He nervously looked around and recognized that he was once again in the cabbage patch.

Old man Johnson walked into Daryl’s field of vision holding a bloody shovel on his shoulder. “Sorry I had to hit you, son, but it looked like you just might get away”. He let out a cackle as Daryl struggled to free himself. When he finished laughing the old man knelt down next to Daryl and said, “I was beginning to fear that I wouldn’t be able to feed my cabbages the nourishment they need to get them through the harsh winter. But luckily you boys showed up.”

“What are you talking about?” Daryl asked, trying to make sense of the situation.

The old man smiled and turned to walk back to the house. He called out over his shoulder, “Take a look around you, boy, and you’ll be able to figure it out.”

Daryl struggled into a sitting position and looked around him, only now noticing the bleached bones that littered the ground. A soft whimper caught his attention. He craned his neck to look behind him and let out a blood-curdling scream.

Billy was tangled up in vines with several monstrous cabbages attached to him. Daryl was horrified to realize that the throbbing cabbages were alive and feeding on his friend. They were abnormally large with red tinted leaves and had giant mouths full of what looked to be jagged pieces of bone instead of teeth. But, to Daryl, the most disturbing feature was the cabbages’ pale blue eyes. Human eyes. He didn’t want to look but was mesmerized by the gruesome scene unfolding before him. He watched as the cabbages systematically moved from section to section until they sucked his friend dry, turning him into withered husk.

The largest cabbage turned and locked eyes with Daryl. It opened its cavernous mouth in a silent scream, dripping blood from its splintered teeth onto the ground below. The cabbage began to tremble as one of its vine legs snaked out and dug into the dirt, pulling its body forward. Another vine crept forward and after finding purchase in the earth, dragged the cabbage ahead a little further. This was followed by another vine and then another. Daryl watched helplessly as the cabbage methodically inched its way towards him, hunger blazing from deep within its beautiful blue eyes.

It was getting late and Michael was hungry again. He turned off the porch light to deter any further trick-or-treaters and descended the rickety wooden steps to the dank cellar. His screaming Halloween treats were still chained to the back wall, thrashing against their bonds. He had a skeleton, a princess, and what was left of the pirate to choose from. Michael decided that he was in the mood for something sweet before bedtime. So, with carving knife in hand, he headed straight for the princess.

Sheriff Bob Goddard smiled at the three young trick-or-treaters. He winked at the parents as he playfully pointed his .45 revolver at the Indian chief and pulled the trigger… click. Next, he aimed at the ballerina and fired… click. Finally, he turned towards his nephew, who was dressed just like him. Bob pulled the trigger once again… boom.

The sound was deafening as the force of the bullet knocked Billy backward. Billy’s mom stared at Bob with shocked disbelief.

“Sorry, Sis, but there’s only room for one sheriff in this town,” Bob said, as he slammed the door.

Derrick reached deep into his Halloween bag, withdrew a Snickers and shoved it into his mouth. Next, Kyle grabbed a Three Musketeers and wolfed it down without hesitation. Then came Justin with a Hershey bar and Steven with a Butterfinger.

Sweat trickled from Derrick’s scalp as he anxiously reached into his bag for the thirteenth time and retrieved an Almond Joy. Immediately after biting into the chocolate, Derrick fell to the floor screaming, blood pouring from his damaged mouth. Kyle and Justin fought to hold him steady so Steven could remove the rusty razor blade embedded in Derrick’s soft palate.

The invasion came without warning and without mercy. Spaceships descended from the heavens, unleashing their weapons of mass destruction on strategic military installations around the world, effectively eliminating any threat of retaliation. For weeks, wave after wave of alien aircraft brought indiscriminate death from above, laying waste to hospitals, schools, churches, office buildings, and homes.

A massive ground assault followed, consisting of hundreds of thousands of little green men with light blue metallic skulls. They were as ruthless as they were hideous, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.

The first country surrendered within hours of the aliens breaching their border, quickly followed by the next country, and then the next. The domino effect continued until only one country was left to defend the planet from the alien horde.

A harried aide rushed into the President’s office with an urgent message. “The aliens have seized control of the city and are demanding our immediate and unconditional surrender,” he said.

“Our country doesn’t surrender, we fight to the death for freedom,” the President answered, pounding his fist on the desk for emphasis.

“Mr. President, with all due respect, this isn’t a fight, it’s a slaughter. We lost this war as soon as the aliens chose this planet; we just didn’t know it yet. As we speak, the aliens are rounding up people by the thousands and we’re powerless to stop them. They perform medical experiments on the men and… and…” he paused and took a couple of deep breaths to collect himself, “…the women are used for the sexual gratification of their soldiers. Although small in stature, their sexual organs are huge and incompatible with our species. That doesn’t stop them, though. They’re animals; they force their way into our women, ripping them apart.”

The President nervously paced back and forth shaking his head. “That may be so, but I’m the President of the most powerful nation on the planet. How can I justify our surrender to the people?”

“The terms are actually pretty reasonable. The aliens want to set up a number of military bases within our borders as they’ve already done in many other countries around the world. They also want exclusive rights to one of our natural resources, a resource that we no longer use. So, our quality of life really won’t change that much.” Sensing the President’s apprehension he added, “Don’t think of it as giving up, but rather as biding our time until we can fight them on even footing.”

This seemed to appease the President. “You’ve convinced me. Have the aliens draw up the terms of surrender,” he said with sigh of resignation.

The President signed the surrender treaty outside the capital building under a blood-red sky. Pen still in hand, he turned to the alien leader and asked him what planet he was from. The alien took off his light blue helmet and rubbed his hand through his short gray hair before answering. “I’m General Nathan Garret, in charge of deep space oil procurement for the United Nations, planet Earth.”

Sara had a monster in her freezer. It was fat and ugly with beady, red, malevolent eyes and a mouth full of hypodermic needles for teeth. Its claws were curved razorblades attached to eight spider-like legs. The spindly appendages were as black as coal, in stark contrast to the monstrosity’s plump albino white body.

The strange creature had lived in Sara’s freezer for as long as she could remember, following her to each new home. The monster would speak to her often, especially late at night, begging to be freed from its frozen prison. She didn’t want to, she really didn’t, but more often than not, she let it out.

The monster cost Sara her marriage, her job at the airline, and there was no telling what it would take from her next. So Sara decided to never let it out of her freezer again.

A few weeks later, Sara’s mother found her lying on the kitchen floor in the sticky residue of an industrial-sized container of double chocolate fudge ice cream. She closed the freezer door, called 911, and then knelt down next to her daughter and held her cold hand until the ambulance arrived. The paramedics told her that Sara had died of a heart attack during the night, probably brought on by her excessive weight.

But they were wrong; it was the monster that killed her. I should know, because now it’s in my freezer. And it wants out.

Calvin was one of the good guys; at least that’s what the citizens of Rock Lake always said. He coached Little League, taught Sunday school, volunteered at the local animal shelter, and could be counted on 364 days a year to help any neighbor in need. His birthday was the exception, the one day of the year that he set aside for himself. This year was the big four-oh and he had something extra-special planned. While humming Happy birthday to me, Calvin fired up the chainsaw and then turned his attention to the whimpering Girl Scout tied to the chair.

Jason had noticed a couple of interesting things about his new neighbor Cassandra since he began watching her. She never dated the same man twice and she always wore sunglasses, even at night.

Jason ducked down when the headlights of Cassandra’s Porsche swept by his bedroom window as she pulled the car into her driveway. He watched from the corner of his window as Cassandra and a young man in a military uniform got out of her car. The soldier scooped Cassandra up into his muscular arms and carried her into the house. When the lights came on, Jason noticed that the blinds to Cassandra’s bedroom window were partially open. He thanked his lucky stars and quickly snuck out of his house and across the yard to get a closer look.

By the time Jason got to the window the soldier was already naked and tied to the bed. Cassandra was performing a slow striptease for him to a rock song playing on the radio, taking off everything but her sunglasses. Jason couldn’t believe his eyes when she straddled him and slowly rocked back and forth. He could see the hint of a smile on Cassandra’s lips when she slowly reached up to remove her sunglasses.

Jason stared in horror at the undulating mass of little black worms squirming out of Cassandra’s eye sockets. The man thrashed on the bed trying to get loose from his bonds as several of the worms slithered out of Cassandra and dropped down onto his face. The soldier screamed out in agony as the worms burrowed into his eyes.

Jason quickly backed away from the window. He knew that he had to do something fast, so he turned and ran to his house. He grabbed his cell phone off of the counter and dialed 911 while searching through the kitchen drawers for some kind of weapon. He grabbed a butcher knife and nervously gave the 911 operator the address as he crept back over to Cassandra’s house, knife in hand.

The front door was unlocked and Jason heard a siren far off in the distance as he cautiously entered the house. He slowly walked down the hallway and stopped just outside the bedroom door and peered inside. He couldn’t see the soldier but Cassandra was lying face down on the bed. Jason could see her sunglasses sitting on the nightstand causing a wave of revulsion to pass through him. Jason knew what he had to do. He took a couple of deep breaths to steady his nerves and then stormed into the bedroom and buried his knife deep into Cassandra’s back. She let out a soft whimper as she rolled over and fell to the floor. Jason stood frozen in fear as he watched the tiny screaming worms flee Cassandra’s dying body and inch their way towards him.

When the policeman arrived Jason led him to the bedroom. The policeman briefly glanced at the eyeless corpse and then eyed Jason suspiciously.

“Have you ingested any narcotics tonight, son?” the policeman questioned.

“No; why do you ask?” Jason replied.

“Well, it’s the middle of the night, we’re indoors, and you’re wearing sunglasses. Do you mind taking them off for me so I can check your eyes?”

“It would be my pleasure, officer,” Jason said, a smile creeping across his face.

Colleen was more confused than afraid when she walked out of the kitchen and found her neighbor standing in the middle of her living room.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

Without saying a word, Gerald casually walked over and punched her hard in the stomach. Colleen dropped instantly to the floor gasping for breath. Gerald grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the bedroom. When the air finally returned to her lungs, Colleen began to scream.

Gerald picked Colleen up and threw her onto the bed, tying her arms and legs to the bedposts. “Are you going to be quiet or do I have to hit you again?” Gerald asked through clenched teeth.

She just nodded her head, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. Gerald tore her dress down the front and ripped her bra and panties off. He stared at her naked body, while Colleen silently whimpered.

“I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t kill me,” Colleen begged.

Her voice broke Gerald’s trance sending him into a rage. “You think I’m stupid, that I wouldn’t notice. You think you can just walk among us.”

“What are you talking about?” Colleen whispered.

“I know you’re not human. Nobody has skin that perfect.”

“You’re crazy,” Colleen said, as she started thrashing on the bed, screaming for help.

Gerald walked calmly to the kitchen and came back with a small paring knife. Colleen stopped screaming, and her eyes opened wide, when Gerald approached the bed, knife in hand.

“Please, you don’t want to do this; you’re making a big mistake. I have nice skin but it isn’t perfect. Take a closer look before you do anything drastic,” Colleen pleaded.

Gerald stuffed the torn panties into her mouth to shut her up. Colleen shook her head back and forth violently when he brought the small knife up to her face.

Gerald put one of his calloused hands on her forehead to hold her steady. She let out a muffled scream when his knife bit into her flesh just below her right ear. He cut down under the jaw line and around to her other ear. Her screams stopped and her eyes glazed over as she went into shock. He removed his hand from her forehead and cut up along her hairline from ear to ear. He stepped back to admire his work. Blood was pouring out of the cut along the scalp, saturating the pillow below. He reached down below her jaw and grabbed the skin along the incision and tugged. This brought a fresh batch of screams from Colleen until she mercifully passed out from the pain. He managed to pull the skin from the lower half of her face up over the chin to her mouth where it got caught. He used his paring knife to trim the skin around her lips allowing him to pull the rest of her face off with little resistance.

He was shocked when he discovered that she didn’t look like an alien beneath her perfect skin. He panicked; maybe she was human after all. He looked down at the mutilated body of his neighbor and realized that no one would understand. Adrenaline pumped into his body as he raced next door to his house. He headed straight for the bathroom and turned on the faucet. He set the knife on the counter and cupped his hands under the cool water and splashed it on his face to calm himself down. He looked up at his reflection in the mirror and to his horror noticed his own perfect skin. With a trembling hand he picked up the bloody knife and brought it to his face.

Jessica slammed the door shut behind her as she stumbled into the cottage and fell to the floor. Concerned, her husband rushed to her side.

“It’s raining,” Jessica said, gasping for breath.

“That’s impossible; the warning sirens haven’t sounded,” Bob replied.

“The rain came out of nowhere, totally unexpected. The Shriekers swarmed out of the reservoir and attacked the warning station before they could sound the alarm. I ran all the way home to warn you that Shriekers are everywhere. It’s a feeding frenzy. Too many people were caught out in the rain unprepared.”

“Where’s Allison?” Bob asked, suddenly growing very frightened.

“Oh my God, you mean she isn’t here with you?” Jessica wailed.

“Calm down. She’s thirteen years old; she knows enough to come in out of the rain,” Bob said, hoping that was true.

A sudden, deafening burst of thunder rattled the windows, sending shivers down their spines. They sat huddled together on the floor for over an hour, unable to move.

“Did you hear that?” Bob asked.

Jessica concentrated and heard the faint scratching emanating from outside the door and nodded
to her husband.

“Did you lock the front door?” Bob whispered.

“I’m not sure,” Jessica answered, her voice strained.

The scratching continued, steadily growing louder. Bob summoned all of his courage and slowly crawled across the floor towards the door and whatever was lurking on the other side. He nervously watched the doorknob slowly turn as his shaking hand reached up to engage the lock. The doorknob caught against the lock and rattled back and forth violently for several minutes, then abruptly stopped.

“Let me in,” their daughter said, in an emotionless voice. “Mommy, please let me in. There are monsters out here.”

Relieved, Jessica stood and reached for the doorknob but Bob quickly grabbed her arm. “She’s been in the rain too long. She’s one of them now,” he said.

“She’s our daughter; I have to know for sure.”

Jessica pulled her arm free from her husband’s grasp and threw open the door. Allison sat curled up in a ball on the small porch, wet clothes matted to her trembling body. She looked up and smiled revealing broken, jagged, bloodstained teeth, as her dead, hate-filled eyes locked onto her mother’s. Startled, Jessica took a few steps back. Allison took advantage of her mother’s hesitation and launched herself into the house, unleashing a series of hellish shrieks that were soon drowned out by her parents’ screams.