The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Call
by A.F. Stewart

It began with a few, gathered on the beach, all squawks and flapping wings while the tourists laughed and tossed them crumbs. The birds moved closer, closer as more settled in the trees, long shadows cast to the beach. Human voices still chattered, among the caws, screeches and twittering, but the laughter stilled, replaced by a slight unease.

Some people rose to their feet, backing away, but others still tossed their crumbs to the ever-increasing number of birds. Flocks of them came, settling on the sand and in the trees, until only the voices of birds could be heard against the thumping scramble of feet fleeing towards the water.

The ocean splashed around frightened people as a great shrieking wave of avian feathers and flesh rose simultaneously and dove en masse. Screams ascended, and the smell of blood, as ripping beaks tore at eyeballs, ears, hair, and flailing arms. Sand and sea became awash in red, and, in time, the beach became littered with corpses.

Then, their screeching voices calling out, they rose to the sky on bloody wings and flew towards the city.

Fiction © Copyright A.F. Stewart
Image courtesy of Nina D’Arcangela

More from A.F. Stewart:

Abandoned: 13 Tales of Impulse, Betrayal, Surrender, & Withdrawal

To act with abandon, in any sense of the word, is human. Whether it’s the sudden, strong urge to do something, either good or bad, or the act of betraying someone you love, we make choices that forever change our lives. Do you give into something or someone completely, or withdraw wholly into yourself? These thirteen stories run the gamut of emotions and express horror as you’ve never imagined it.

The story of a woman alone at the end of the world and the small lifeline she hopes will prove humanity still exists challenges the search for anything left behind after the death of a child. What if you hid a secret you’d thought no one else knew? Would its revelation spark the monster hiding within? A downward spiral into madness juxtaposes the ultimate, but impossible, (re)birth. Would you choose the frigid winds of winter over the warmth and safety of your lover’s arms?

Abandon hope, all who enter here…

Available on Amazon!