The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

On the Road Again 
by Marge Simon 

Author’s note: I set this in an apocolyptic future, rather than a deserted past, as the prompt indicates.

We drive for miles, but all’s the same on either side of the road: destruction in one form or another. Some remains of chimney stacks. Here and there, an upright pipe; things improperly buried, a funereal sort of detritus. It’s depressing to find no life, other than roaches and the occasional rat. We know the costly pets – the ones bought and paid for – are likely still alive and well in the big cities. But at this time, they are more trouble than they’re worth to us.

A distance outside of Laramie, we’re not surprised to find an abandoned truck stop. We’ve no need for the fuel, but we smell life inside. Looters, our favorite prey. They don’t even bother to use any protection. In a few days, there’ll be some poor guy in line to get his Haz-mat stuff before he’s allowed to search remains of his property. Sorry mister, those maggots will have beat you to anything left in the till, if it’s still there.

Sam T and Krista have lots of time to kill,

he’s got a Ford truck and she loves the thrill

when out on the county back roads they roam,

trolling for treasure in partly burned homes.

A washer and dryer, a flat screen tv,

a rifle with shells, and a pistol for free,

not bad for a Thursday, they’ll try it again,

so stupid, so sure that their god is with them.

We move in quietly. Their exposed necks look so tempting as they peer into the cash box. There’s no need to rush lunch. Our little expedition here has given us quite a thirst.

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Fiction © Copyright Marge Simon
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Marge Simon:

Victims
by Marge Simon and‎ Mary Turzillo

The title of this collection sets you up for the surprise of lyrical stories of victimizations with unexpected endings for the villains. Be ready to have your heart opened and cheer for perceived victims, human (made and unmade) and other life forms, victorious in the hands of these two award-winning poets. —Linda D. Addison, award-winning author, HWA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and SFPA Grand Master.

Across histories and cultures and from Auschwitz to Babylon this book leaves you questioning who are the victims, and regardless of your conclusion you’re likely to get throat-punched. This is horror where everyone has a knife, and is ready to deliver this message: “Remember, you are always guilty. —Herb Kauderer, author of Fragments from the Book of the After-Dead.

Simon and Turzillo have only gone and startled me again. What a collection! Brutal. Beautiful. This quiver of poems strikes with the unflinching truth of persecution and oppression as seen through the lens of feminism. Prepare to come away bruised and yet strangely bolstered by Victims, a symphony of sadness orchestrated by two masters of dark poetry. —Lee Murray, Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Award-winner.

This is one of the braver dark poetry collections I’ve seen in a while. Horror poets generally employ victims in their work, but the focus is generally on the Evil. Turning the camera the other way is unusual, unsettling, emotionally risky, and surprisingly effective. From their stark opening take on Pygmalion, to the ending poem about the wasted life of Stateira of Persia, this powerful collection teases apart an impressive number of the threads of victimhood. Some are the usual cases, but quite a few are surprises, or reversals, or cases with unexpected layers. There is nothing repetitive about this collection. —Timons Esaias, winner of the Asimov’s Readers’ Award and the Winter Anthology Contest

Available on Amazon!