Flash Fiction: Under a Dead Sun: Past Sins

Chapter 6

Morgan lost his footing, falling on his backside as he watched the horror unfold before him. The thing kept pulling itself free from the grave, clawing at the earth and tearing at the pine planks that use to house its body. It just couldn't be what he thought it was, but his eyes kept going back to that ring, golden against her wedding dress, the white lace and fringe yellowing in her months beneath the Earth. The ring he had given her all those years ago. His wife had risen from the dead, if what he saw could still even be called his wife.

Her skin had turned yellow and sour, where there was still skin. Yellowed muscle and bone stuck out beneath the her dress, maggots rooted inside the pockets of torn flesh. Her gloves had ripped at the fingertips, which had been replaced by sharpened black points. You could smell the foul odor, like rot and corruption that seemed to fill the air in a thick cloying fashion, invading your lungs and roiling your gut. It was her mouth though that had changed, her once beautiful features gone, replaced by a mask of horrors. Her once lustrous hair patchy and lank, her blue eyes now lifeless black orbs behind the remains of her wedding veil. But her mouth, stretched abnormally wide, lined with jagged sharp black teeth. A mouth stretched wide and snapping its way towards him.

"Eliza........God no Eliza......"

Morgan continued to crawl backwards as the creature freed itself from the grave and began working its way towards him. It didn't move quickly at first, but its jaws worked in an abnormal speed, quickening with each step closer to Morgan. It didn't speak, just let out a throaty growl that got louder and louder until it turned into a curdling scream. Morgan finally stumbled to his feet, still unwittingly clutching the pick in his hands. He kept backing away as the creature quickened its pace even more, her dull black eyes never leaving Morgan. Long greenish saliva dripped from her maw as she let out a swipe with her claws.

"FUCK GOD NO!.. ELIZA!"

Morgan felt tears welling in his eyes as he moved farther back, feeling the salty tears run down the dirt and grim on his face. He tried to blink them away as the monster moved forward. It let out another swipe of its claws and Morgan felt a gust of wind as he jerked his body away from her snapping jaw, throwing his body backwards. He landed bad on a hard patch of ground, a sharp rock ripping a small furrow in his elbow. He glanced at the cut, at the trickles of red blood that flowed from the injury. Morgan got to his feet, bringing the pick in front of him defensively as the monster began to move even quicker, nostrils flaring and becoming even more incensed. It ran a blackened tongue over its jaws and moved in, anxious for the taste of fresh blood. It was then Morgan realized that this was only going to end one way. With him killing his wife, and he wondered if he had the strength to do that a second time.


End of Line.
Gerrad!