The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Refuge
by A.F. Stewart
The park woodland glowed in soft orange light as the street lamps flickered on automatically. The low-lying fog diffused in eerie colour and pinpoints of radiance, giving the appearance of eyes in the night.
The Vestige took comfort in the scene; it reminded them of home. It also made it easier to see the Hunters and flee their cruel weapons or even fight back. Too many of the Vestige had fallen before they found this place; too many left behind to be dismembered by the Hunters. Not anymore. Here they had found a certain amount of safety.
Yet unease persisted in their society. Why did the Hunters hate them so? Why did they wish their annihilation? The Vestige had no answers, only speculation. Perhaps the Hunters feared what was different.
Perhaps they believed the dead should remain buried.
Fiction © Copyright A.F. Stewart
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from A.F. Stewart:
Hell’s Empire: Tales of the Incursion
A unique anthology of two thrones at war as the forces of Hell assault an unsuspecting Victorian Britain.The cry went out to theologians and engineers, to artificers and antiquarians, to every name which could be named. By telegraph where lines were still intact, and by volunteer riders where they were not; smuggled along the coast in fishing smacks, semaphored from hill-tops. It came without royal sanction, issued jointly by the Lords of the Admiralty and Marquess Lansdowne, the new Secretary of State for War:”In God’s name, help us. We are losing.”
A short but chilling read with a killer last line, Perhaps they believed the dead should remain buried. 🙂