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Uninvited

A day of urban exploration takes a sinister turn.

Karen slid the fiberboard away from the hole in the wall behind the old Fillmore strip mall. She knelt by the opening and peered in. She pulled her head back and smiled at the boy behind her. “Here it is!”

He didn’t look nearly as impressed. “It’s a hole. Very impressive.”

“Oh come on, Nick. It’s exciting! Who knows what we’ll find in there!”

“Oh, I don’t know… Rats, rabid dogs, hobo piss…” Karen ignored him and crawled through the opening. He rolled his eyes. “Guess I’m finding out.”

Karen shined the light from her smartphone in Nick’s face as he crawled into the room with her. He squinted his eyes and banged his head on the shelving above him. “OW! Seriously?”

She giggled. “Klutz!” She playfully shoved him aside and reached through the hole for the fiberboard.

“Worried about tipping your hand to the homeless people?”

Karen made a face in the glow of her phone. “Cops go by here all the time, jackass.”

“Nice.” Nick stood, squinting into the gutted clothing store. “Why am I here, again?”

“Because you expressed interest in my hobbies, jack…”

“Ass… Yes, I know.” He walked towards the front of the store. “It’s brighter than I thought it would be.”

“They usually are. Natural light…” She pointed up. “…From skylights. It saves money and is more welcoming.”

“Well, it didn’t save them enough, did it?” He smirked. He grabbed the gate pulled down over the store’s entrance. “Game over. Let’s go home.”

Karen stuck her tongue out at him. She grabbed the gate and yanked it upwards. It rose halfway before it caught on something and stuck fast.

“The website said explorers broke it weeks ago.”

“Was that before or after they chewed through the wall?”

“Ha ha.” Karen ducked under the gate and into the mall.

It was deathly quiet. The sunlight pouring through the large front windows of the strip mall was shaped by the thin, shifting fog of dust that hung in the air. Nick pointed at the windows. “Oh, good! The cops won’t event have to get out of their car to see us!”

Karen rolled her eyes. “That’s why we stay away from that side of the mall. Duh!” She gave him a shove and walked past him.

Nick hesitated. Karen turned back around. “Look, if you don’t want to do this, then just leave. I can take care of myself.”

“Whatever. I’m fine. I just don’t want to get in trouble with the cops again. My old man will kill me.”

“Then stay away from the windows, and follow me.” She turned and walked away, signaling him to follow with her finger.

They slowly walked towards the middle of the mall, being careful to stay towards the back. Nick halfheartedly peered into the stripped-down stores as they passed. Karen stopped occasionally to take pictures with her smartphone.

“There’s the middle!” Karen pointed excitedly to a large, open area. In the middle was a low wall that formed a ring. A handful of dying trees were languishing in the soil-filled middle. Weathered benches faced outward at regular intervals around the wall. Most were broken.

“And there’s the map!” Karen looked carefully through the filthy front windows, then dashed over to the aging kiosk. She knelt below the map and took a smiling selfie.

Nick followed her over to one of the benches facing away from the front windows and sat down. He smirked as a cloud of dust floated up between them. “What interests you so much about a place like this, anyway?”

“I feel like Indiana Jones! It’s exciting, exploring a place abandoned for years. Besides… This one’s supposed to be haunted.” Karen smiled devilishly.

Nick snorted. “Haunted… Seriously? You believe in that?”

“Well, kind of, I guess. I looked it up. There was a murder here, back in the nineties. The guy was some devil worshiper, or something.”

“You know, that’s some real bad horror movie crap right there.” He shook his head, smiling. “I gotta take a piss. I’ll let you know if I find any ghosts.”

Karen punched him in the shoulder. “The restrooms are on the other side of the mall, you know.”

“Who said I was going to use the restroom?” He grinned.

“Seriously? That’s gross!”

Nick stood and shrugged. “So is this place. See you soon.” He winked and walked off.

“Boys,” she mumbled to herself. Karen looked through the pictures on her phone. She picked out one she liked and tried to open her social app. “No signal? Seriously?”

She put her phone away and stared off in the direction Nick had walked. “What, is he taking a shit, or something?” She shouted. “Did you fall in!”

Karen’s voice echoed down the length of the abandoned mall. There was no reply. “Nick?” Still nothing.

She stood up and dusted off her backside. “I swear, if that little shit tries to scare me…” She started off towards the other side of the mall, hugging herself.

“Nick?” Silence. She continued walking. Something rustled in the store to her right. “Got you! You better not try to scare me.”

She peered through the broken gate of the old toy store. There was nothing inside, save for swollen, discolored ceiling tiles littering the floor. “What the hell, then…”

A mouse darted out from under a pile of ceiling tiles, squeaking all the way. Karen cried out, stamping her feet. “Damn it!”

She nervously laughed at herself. She took a deep breath and looked further down the mall. “Damn it, Nick! Where are you?”

Karen peered into the next store. “I bet he left me, the ass…” One of the trees in the middle of the mall rustled loudly. She spun around, grabbing at her chest.

“How in the hell…” The half-dead branches were still settling. She started back towards the benches. “I should never have told you about that murder!” She smiled.

She heard something dripping as she approached the trees. “Oh, gross! Are you pissing over there?” The dripping slowed. “Come on, answer me! Don’t be an asshole.”

Karen stormed around to the far side of the trees. She stopped dead. The blood drained from her face. She began to scream.

Nick was hung by his neck from one of the dying trees. He was shirtless. His throat had been slashed open. Bloody entrails hung from a gaping wound in his abdomen.

Karen stumbled backwards, still screaming, shaking her head. She stared at Nick’s corpse in disbelief. His dull, white eyes stared back. She turned and ran.

She fumbled her phone out as she went. She numbly punched 911 into the phone and hit the call button. “We’re sorry. Your call cannot be completed at this time.” She growled and hung up.

She stopped in front of the store they had gone through to enter the mall. The gate was closed. “What…” She grabbed it with both hands and lifted. It didn’t budge. “No!” She jerked up hard on it. The gate remained locked.

“This isn’t happening!” She half-screamed the words. She spun around and fell back against the gate. She looked from one end of the mall to the other, breathing heavily.

She looked to her left. One of the main entrances was a short walk down that way. Even if she couldn’t get out, if she could just get lucky and have a cop go by…

A loud crack came from somewhere behind her. She screamed and ran blindly. She slowed as she approached the entrance, then stopped.

“NO!” The glass entrance was lined from one end to the other with five-foot-tall plywood. The ground before it was still littered with broken glass. No way out. No way to see in.

She fished out her smartphone. There was still no signal. Something rustled in the old entryway. She snapped her head back up. Something dark slithered in the shadows.

Karen slowly started backing away, a shiver working up her spine. Something smooth and warm halted her progress. She screamed and dropped her phone.

She spun around. Nick took a step back. He was smiling. “Wow. Okay! I thought you weren’t scared to be alone?”

Karen looked from Nick to the trees in the distance and back again. “You’re alive… But I saw you. You were dead!” She took a step back.

The smile faded off of Nick’s face. “Oh, I’m dead, all right.” Blood began to trickle from a red line that stretched across his throat. “And now you’ll be dead, too!” His eyes turned black.

Karen turned to run. The black, twisted creature that had hid in the shadows burst forward. Its jagged, silver teeth dug into her throat. Blank, brilliant yellow eyes stared into her own as the life bled out of her.

“I tell ya, the damn city needs to get off its collective ass and force the owner to tear this place down!” The officer kicked a piece of debris out of his way. “We’re coming here what, sometimes three times a week for break-ins?”

The officer’s partner nodded. “Something like that.”

“Looters, partiers, now screamers…” The officer spotted something in the old, half-dead trees in the middle of the mall. “There you go…” He pulled his revolver. “Police!”

The two officers approached the trees, weapons pointed at the ground. They stared, unbelieving at the two corpses hanging from one of the trees. A young man, throat slashed and abdomen ripped open. A young woman, throat torn to shreds.

Something growled deeply in the shadows behind them…

FlashFic: Experimental

An experiment to create a super-soldier goes awry.

“Are you comfortable?” It was a female voice.

The young soldier moved to brush a strand of hair from her face and was caught fast by her restraints. She settled for blowing at it. Good enough. “As comfortable as I’m going to be.”

“Good, though I suppose this will be the last time you’ll be concerned with physical comfort, hmm?” The doctor chuckled, stepping into view. The soldier did not share in her mirth.

The doctor looked over the notes attached to her clipboard. She arched an eyebrow. “You’re getting the experimental treatment! Oh, my but you’re lucky.”

“Am I?” The soldier looked unsure.

“You are. Usually this procedure leaves you with significantly improved strength, agility, and so forth. You lose a bit of your humanity, of course. This new experimental treatment will enhance all those abilities, while also giving you elemental control!”

“Elemental… Like lightning, or something? But it’s experimental…”

“It all is, dear. You’ll be fine.” The doctor affixed a white plastic mask to the soldier’s face, ending the conversation.

The mask had two holes for the soldier’s eyes, and nothing else. Those eyes were widening. “I can’t breathe!” Her voice was muffled.

“No worries! You won’t need to for much longer.” The doctor smiled. She stepped back, nodding to a pair of unseen assistants.

Two men in white bio-hazard containment suits stepped forward. Each had an uncomfortably large syringe. The doctor stepped behind a clear protective shield.

She pressed a button on a control panel behind the shield. The soldier’s limbs were further restrained. The sudden movement caused her to cry out. She was trembling, fighting to breathe.

“Quickly, now.” The assistants jabbed their needles into the upper arms of the soldier, who unleashed a muffled scream. She became very still.

“The apparatus! Be quick about it!” The doctor studied the mask on the soldier’s face. The faintest trace of blue light was glowing up through the eye holes. “Time is short.”

One of the assistants rolled a large white apparatus over the soldier’s head. The other assistant grabbed a disc-shaped device attached to it and stretched it down over the mask until it clicked in place. The assistant stared into the soldier’s eyes. They were now glowing a brilliant blue.

“Get him out of there!” The other assistant grabbed at the first, who shrugged him off violently. The first assistant produced a second, smaller needle and jabbed it into the second assistant.

The second man went limp in the assistant’s arms. He dragged him out of the room. The doctor shook her head. “We must work on that.”

The doctor pressed a series of buttons. The apparatus over the soldier began to hum. The doctor spoke into a recorder. “Experiment four-two-zero commencing.” She turned a dial. The light coming through the mask intensified.

The soldier began to scream. “Unusual. Did we wait too long?” The doctor pressed a large red button and held her breath.

The blue light intensified and brightened, filling the room with a blue-white light. “That’s better.” An alarm sounded from the control panel. “What’s this?”

The light continued to intensify. The doctor drew a shade to block the light, but found herself squinting at the display before her. “My god…”

The soldier began to scream again. This time she did not stop. The light began to take on a crimson hue. The soldier strained against her restraints, snapping one, then another, then another…

Soon the room was bathed in blood-red light. The soldier began to tear at her clothes. The doctor sounded a general alarm in the complex. She turned back to the soldier.

Her uniform was on the ground in tatters, the apparatus separated. Red light streamed through her mask’s eye-holes. She started tearing at her own flesh.

The doctor sighed. She flipped a clear cover up off a glowing red button and pressed it. A stream of brilliant green light particles washed over the soldier. She screamed for the last time. Her body was torn and disintegrated by the plasma beam.

“Experiment four-two-zero, rated as failure. Reason, unknown.” The doctor took a deep breath. She watched as guards poured into the room. “The threat has been neutralized.”

She stepped from behind the protective shield and approached the remains of the soldier. She was little more than blood and ash. “Very unfortunate.” She turned to one of the guards. “Are they still serving pizza in the commissary?”

Finding Dinner

A capricious wee man surprises a mighty ogre, who surprises the little man in return.

“Terrible hungry,” the ogre muttered to himself. “Just terrible. Got to find a closer village. I…”

The ogre lumbered to a stop. He looked down, way down, on the ground. A very small something was standing in his way.

A wee man, no taller than a foot is long, stood with his tiny arms crossed over his chest. His bright red tri-corner hat partially obscured his face. His one visible eye glared ominously at the giant.

“Oi! But you look a bit cross…” The little man picked distractedly at his pale blue tunic, but otherwise remained transfixed. The ogre bent over, rubbing at his stubbly chin. “Hmm… Do you talk, then?”

The look on the wee man’s face faltered. “Waking up, are ye?” The little man’s arms started to drop. “That’s it. Out with your words!”

“Ha!” The little man squeaked. He firmly crossed his arms once more. He stared down the giant more ominously than before.

“You’re likely to pop an eye out, doing that. Look…” The ogre stood erect, scratching the back of his head. “You can either talk to me, or I can punt you across the wood. What have you, then?”

The ultimatum clearly caught the wee man’s imagination, if the look on his face was any indication. He let his arms fall to the side. “Have it your way, then!” He stomped his tiny foot, sending a minute cloud of dust wafting into the air.

The ogre laughed. “Who’s to say my way doesn’t see you flying through the air like a bird?” The little man trembled at the thought. “Easy, now. I’ve not come to that just yet.”

The little man sighed dramatically. “It’s just so embarrassing, you know.”

The ogre grinned. “So you do talk! Splendid!”

“Well of course I talk!” He lowered his head. “It’s just that I wasn’t supposed to, is all.”

“Not supposed to?” The ogre sniffed. “Bad manners, to stand and stare at someone you meet… Especially when they can eat you.” He grinned broadly.

This set the wee man to trembling once more. “Please don’t! I’ve not finished my quest, yet!”

“A quest, you say?” The ogre crossed his mighty arms. “It’s a bad start you’ve had, crossing an ogre such as I.”

“Begging your pardon sir, but that’s precisely what I was supposed to do… Well, I think.”

The ogre lowered his brow. “I’d think once more, if I were you.”

“I’ve thought many times.” The little man lowered his head and dragged his foot through the dirt. “Many times I thought I shouldn’t do this, but the village elder commanded it.”

“Ah! Answering the will of your elders, are you? Hmm… What exactly were you told, little one?”

“Well… He said I was to seek out the ogre. That’s you, I suppose. Then I was to stand and face you, which I did. I probably should have asked what came next, but it all seemed so simple.”

The ogre was smiling. He crouched down. “So you thought you were to literally stand before me.” The wee man nodded. “Then you were to face me.” Another nod. “Then gods know what happens next?”

“I suppose that’s a fair way to call it.”

“Suppose, then, that to face someone also means to oppose them in battle.”

A look of horror eased onto the little man’s face. “Surely not! I wouldn’t stand a chance against an ogre in battle. Just look at my sword!”

The little man produced a petite sliver of wood, sharpened to a point, with nary an edge to be found. The ogre guffawed. “That? A sword? More like a splinter, I’d wager!”

“A splinter!” The little man looked scandalized. “I spent a good hour honing this fine blade!” The ogre hooted. “You offend me, good sir!” The wee man jabbed at the ogre’s bulbous nose.

The weapon stuck fast. The ogre stood up, slapping at his nose. “Gah! You terrible little man!” He plucked the makeshift sword from his nose with thumb and forefinger.

He briefly examined it before snapping it in twain. The ogre dropped the pieces before the frightened little man and glowered. “Tell me, small man… Why shouldn’t I eat you and be done with it!”

The little man looked about him as if looking for the answer written in the sand. “Because, um… Because… Because you don’t know my name!” He sounded sure, but appeared uncertain.

“Don’t know your name? Are you mad! Shall I name my cooked goose Jennifer before I feast upon her breast? Perhaps the chicken would taste better should I salute it as Thomas before supping!”

The ogre’s face softened. He began to laugh. This confused the little man, who nonetheless nervously joined with the ogre.

“You’re a strange little man, but you amuse me. What’s your name, then?”

The wee man stuck his chest out with pride. “William, of ShortEnd.”

“William the Wee Wanderer!” The ogre guffawed. “I like it!”

William didn’t. “And you, sir?”

“And me… I suppose that’s fair, isn’t it? My name is Edgar.”

“Just Edgar?”

“Just so.” Edgar chuckled. “Us ogres like things simple, you see.”

“I do see. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Edgar the ogre.” William offered a brief but courteous bow.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. I’m going to your village for a midday supper.”

William tilted his head. “Well, I suppose the elders would be happy to feed you, but I’m not sure we’ve enough at the ready to… What’s so funny?”

The ogre stopped himself laughing, then sighed. “I’m more apt to eat your elders, than anything they offer me in a bowl.”

William’s face went white. “No! I mean, you can’t! That’s… That’s…”

“That’s what?”

“That’s uncivilized!”

“And I am uncivil.” The ogre strode past the wee man. “More so when I am famished, which I am!”

William sprinted to keep up with the lumbering giant. “Please! Don’t hurt my friends, Edgar! PLEASE!” The little man leaped onto the ogre’s mighty boot and held fast.

“Enough!” The ogre came to a stop. He shook his leg with gusto. Little William held on with all his strength and determination.

Edgar growled a bit and snatched the wee man up with one meaty hand. He held William before his face and frowned. “Should I eat you instead? You’d barely be a snack, wouldn’t ye?”

William gazed at Edgar with such a look of sadness that the ogre was given pause. The little man’s voice was small, even for his size. “Please, sir.”

The ogre sighed, ruffling William’s hair with a wild, somewhat fragrant breeze. “I must eat. What have you that would satiate the likes of me, hmm?”

“I, uh…” William looked about, grasping for a thought. Lucky for him, he found one. “A um… a whatsit. A… a double-cow!”

“A what now? You’ve gone daft from fear, haven’t ye?”

“You know! A huge creature of four legs. And a set of horns. And they eat grass and the like!”

“Double-cow…” The ogre burst into laughter. “You mean a bison!”

“YES! My goodness, but I was scared.”

“So you were. And your people have a bison to offer me?”

“We have many! Well…” William bowed his head. “They wandered near the village. And they may wander away again, yet.”

He raised his head, hope in his eyes. “But we’d be happy to let you have one!”

“You’d let me.” Edgar smirked. “Indeed.” He planted the wee man on his shoulder and resumed walking.

“Wait. Where are we going? Are you still going to eat us?”

“Perhaps. That depends on what your elders have to say about the bison.” Edgar grinned. William nearly swooned.

It was a short time before they entered the village of ShortEnd, and what an entrance it was. The guardsmen at the village gate gave only brief resistance. Many ran for their lives at the sight of the giant ogre easily straddling their defenses.

Other little men strung their bows and fired their missiles at the giant. Edgar grimaced at the pricks and pokes. One good, earth-shaking growl was enough to set them to other tasks, however.

Soon, Edgar stood before the chief elder of ShortEnd. A trembling William still sat upon the ogre’s shoulder. The elder waved his staff angrily. “William! You dare to bring an ogre to finish us, do you?”

The little man despaired. “No, your honor! Surely not! I tried to stop him. I stared at him just as hard as I simply could!”

“Stared? I told you to face…” The elder turned his eyes to the heavens. “Oh ye gods. William, you have your father’s brains!”

The ogre cleared his throat, cutting both men short. “I’ve no interest in squabbles! I must eat! Now…” Edgar plucked William from his shoulder and placed him next to the elder. “I’ve come to learn you have bison?”

The elder looked from the ogre to William and back. “Aye… After a fashion. They’ve wandered a bit, but they’re there. We don’t have the strength to herd them, alas.”

“I suggested to the ogre… Edgar he is. I told Edgar perhaps he could take a bison instead of us for his supper!” William smiled.

The elder turned white. “For supper… Please, Mister Edgar! Take a bison, take them all! We do not wish to be eaten!”

Edgar laughed. “I suspect not! Hmm…” The great ogre thought for a time. He turned to the elder with a grin. “I’ve a better idea.”

The elder spread his hands before him. “I will hear it, Mister Edgar.”

“I will take one to make into a fine meal, but…” He knelt down on one knee. “I’ll help you to herd the others.”

“You will?” Both wee men stared at the ogre, dumbfounded.

“I will… so long as your villagers feed them and care for them as best you can. Farming is a fair bit easier than conquest, especially on an empty stomach.” He winked at William.

The elder scratched at his lengthy beard. At last he nodded. “It will be so!” He offered the ogre his tiny hand.

Edgar allowed the little elder to grip his finger. He gently moved it up and down. “Indeed it will. Now let’s be quick. I’m famished!”

And thus the deal was struck. That day, a wee man showed a village elder that not all fools are such. And a gentle ogre showed a whole village that a measured discussion is worth a thousand arrows.

THE END

DEEP THOUGHTS: Penguins

Deep thoughts on penguins, Adventure Time, and poop. So much poop.

A few days ago, we asked a question on Twitter:

“Do you think the little penguin in the refrigerator that turns the light off ever gets lonely?”

A poll was added, and results were calculated! Here’s where we stand:

So clearly a majority are concerned for the little fella. This stands to reason as Penguins tend to be social creatures. The daddy penguins tend to hang out with each other to keep warm and discuss sporting events while keeping their unborn chicks cozy. Meanwhile, the mama penguins form cliques and go shopping (read: food hunting.)

Such is the power of the penguin pack that they leave a poop stain on earth large enough to be seen from SPACE.

Your dookie party has nothing on penguins.

At least one soul was concerned about the whereabouts of Gunther, which was nice. The cute little penguin pal hung out with the Ice King on the Cartoon Network hit show Adventure Time for an impressive eight years. Now that the show is over, you could argue that Gunther would be sad as well.

However, in a um… unique twist, Gunther ended up with the Ice King’s crown at the end of the lastest episode ever. The petite penguin was granted whatever wish popped into his little head. Gunther’s wish was, apparently, to be Ice King.

Well… as long as he’s happy? I guess? Yeah. Let’s just go with that.

FlashFic: Execution

“Let go of me! Let go!” The young man struggled against his captors. “This is bullshit! I didn’t do…”

“Shut it, Low-Class!” The man on his left cuffed him hard in the head.

They reached the end of the hallway. The man on the prisoner’s right swung the prisoner around and slammed him hard into the wall. “Stay.” He dug his elbow into the young man’s spine to drive the point home.

The other man unlocked a door at the end of the hall. The light from the area beyond blinded the young man at first. His face slowly contorted in fear as his eyes focused. “NO! OH GOD!”

The large concrete room beyond was splattered with blood and gore from previous, unsuccessful combatants. The young man began struggling again. “I don’t DESERVE THIS!”

“SHUT UP!” The man holding him punched him hard in the side of the head.

“Hey man, take it easy. You don’t want to piss off the Premiers.”

“He’ll survive.” He grinned at the prisoner. “For now.”

“Right…” The man at the door returned his attention to the prisoner. “You broke the law, you pay the price, Low-Class.” He nodded to the other man.

The other man nodded back and peeled the young man off of the wall. The prisoner walked quietly the first couple of steps, then wrenched around and popped the guard in the face. “You son of a bitch!“

The man by the door pulled out a handheld device and aimed it at the escaping prisoner. A pair of weighted balls rocketed out the front. They separated in flight, tethered together by a thin wire.

That wire struck the back of the prisoner’s ankles. The balls swung around his legs. He dropped to the ground, screaming.

The assaulted guard ran up to him and kicked him hard in the side. “That’s enough, scumbag!” The young man glared at the guard, but held his tongue.

The other man joined the first. They roughly picked the prisoner back up and forced him towards the door. The guard on the right shook his head. “You shouldn’t have done that, kid. You’re going to get shit for a weapon.”

“Maybe literally.” The other guard grinned sadistically.

The guards gave the prisoner one last mighty shove. The young man tumbled into the immense room. The steel door slammed shut behind him.

He tried to find his feet, but they slipped out from underneath him. He thudded back to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. He was in a congealed puddle of blood.

The young man backpedaled furiously. The stench of rancid blood and rotting flesh threatened to overwhelm him. He retched violently.

He pushed himself to his feet using the wall beside the door. The guard on the other side waved gleefully before walking away. The prisoner turned back around and observed his surroundings.

He was in a large, open concrete room about two stories tall. The far wall was about ten yards away from where he stood. Another steel door was installed in it.

Up above on one wall was a series of windows. Two old men were peering down at him. The Premiers. Directly below their observation deck was a steel panel.

The room was otherwise featureless, save for the abundant blood and gore. He picked his way around it to stand in front of the Premiers. “I’m innocent! Let me out!”

The two men looked at each other and laughed heartily. One leaned forward. He spoke with an English accent, his voice booming in the enclosed space. “So say they all, young man!”

The steel panel slid down. “You are extra guilty! You attacked your guards.” A baseball bat slid out of the new opening and clattered to the ground. “Bad show… and a bad weapon! HAW!”

The audio cut out. Both men laughed in their booth. The door across the way clicked. The young man gasped and stared. The door began to open.

The prisoner scrambled to where the baseball bat had fallen and hastily picked it up. The sound of an inhuman moan brought his attention back to the door.

A deathly pale man slithered out into the room. He lurched with a heavy limp. He regarded the prisoner with clouded eyes. His stare was vacant.

Brownish-black blood oozed from numerous open wounds, though a gash in one of his arms appeared bloodless. A block of steel was stuck in the side of his head. A small antenna emerged from it. A small red light on the end began to blink.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” The Premier allowed his laugh to ring through the cavernous room before cutting it off.

The zombie-like man suddenly stood straight up. He then relaxed into a martial arts pose. “I suppose you don’t know any Kung Fu?” The ghoulish figure burst towards the prisoner with frightening speed.

The young man cried in fright. He hefted the baseball bat and crashed it into the ghoul. The weapon caved in the ghoul’s chest where it hit.

The creature looked down at the new wound, then back at the prisoner. The ghoul snapped his teeth and hissed. Brownish blood oozed out of his mouth.

The prisoner swung at the ghoul. The creature grabbed the bat mid-swing and ripped it from the prisoner’s hands. It clattered across the floor, far from his reach.

The young man punched at the thing’s chest and stomach. The ghoul did not flinch or react. His eyes darted from the device on the ghoul’s head to the Premiers and back.

He grabbed the antenna on the device and wrenched it sideways. There was a loud electrical pop as the antenna came free in his hand. The ghoul shook violently and collapsed on the ground.

“Good show, old boy! You broke our toy. But it will still break you…”

The ghoulish man groaned and slowly rose from the ground. His clouded eyes fixed on the young man. The ghoul rocketed forward and seized the prisoner.

Man and ghoul howled and screamed as they rolled across the bloody floor. The ghoul cut the man’s screams short with a vicious bite to the throat.

“Such silliness!” The Premier turned to his partner. “The one thing restraining the creature and he disables it. Ah, well…”

“Yes, yes… Quite.” The other Premier toggled a switch on the instrument panel before him. “Bigsby, come clean up the arena, please. Also, prepare another Undead, would you? Blimey fool prisoner frenzied the last one.”

“I get the next one, Nigel.”

“Naturally.”

The Premier peered down into the room below. “Think they’ll ever learn? Obey?”

“Well I certainly hope not!” Nigel grinned devilishly.

The Premier returned the grin. “Quite.”

—

Fat Mop Zoo is back on Twitter! Kind of! Follow @FatMopZoo for updates and news about the website and author John Prescott