The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Feed for Complacency
by Elizabeth H. Smith
She returned to the foul cellar despite what resided there—a chore which could not be delayed. The consequences, too awful to allow.
Purity of death, sacred. Beauty of decay, glorious. The cycle, to be revered. Although rank in her nostrils, it was something one could not take for granted. Respect had to be given to those who would never return. They’d given themselves; a feast for things that should never see, or be seen. Blood to keep them in shadow, meat to give no reason to hunt.
She dragged two bodies wrapped in sheets to the edge of the skeletal stairway and pushed them down—feed for the horrors below.
The monstrous things had become complacent… But for how long, she wondered.
Fiction © Copyright Elizabeth H. Smith
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from Elizabeth H. Smith:
Through Clouded Eyes: A Zombie’s Point of View
Through Clouded Eyes: A Zombie’s Point of View: a collection of twelve stories told from the Zombie’s perspective.
They’re shambling toward you, feet dragging on the broken roadway. Arms outstretched, faces slack, they move as if they’re tracking your scent on the wind. You want to run, but you know there’s nowhere to hide.
Aware of their insatiable hunger, fear paralyzes you. These things were once human, people someone loved. Is there anything left inside them – some sliver of humanity that may save you from this nightmare? Your mind doesn’t want to accept the inevitable, a single thought consumes you: what are they thinking?
With your chance of escape dwindling, you snap out of it and run like hell knowing there is little to no hope; fate is coming for you. Soon you will see what they see Through Clouded Eyes…
Featuring stories from Maynard Blackoak, Calvin Demmer, Paul M. Feeney, Stacy Fileccia, Trevor Firetog, DH Hanni, Shannon Lawrence, Josh MacLeod, Zachary O’Shea, Neal Privett, Mark Steinwachs, and Alex Woolf
Spreading the Writer's Word 
Darkly delightful.