The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

There is Doom and Gloom, While Things Go Boom
by Kendra Smart

There was a continuous low bellowing noise outside her window that woke Kendra from the warmth of her sage green quilted bedding. Her grey eyes fluttered open as the guttural sounds grew closer and by proxy, louder. Over her last six months on this assignment, she had grown used to the sounds of various creations and creatures. However the shrill screams and desperate cries for help were new and she was instantly awake.

Her lilac and azure ombre’d hair was a true nest of bed head but as she peeked out the picture window, bed head was the least of her worries.

Outside, the world was on fire.

Five years ago, Trident Research Inc. had been on top of the world with their technologic advancements. There had been many who had entered the world of replication technology, but TRI had taken the world by storm with their machine that could pluck whatever you could imagine, directly from your head. For a cost.

“When the possibilities are endless on what YOU can create, why should there be a reason to wait?”

Kendra was positive their PR was eating those words when just inside a day the first incident happened, the machine malfunctioned, and a pulse was sent out. Powerful enough to spread to unknown distances. But imaginations all over the world were hit and ravaged for their treasures. TRI was like the Jin of old, with all of the consequences, to this day still not all of them known. Everything was now possible, if it came from the world of the imagined and could come to life it did. Media Consumers had begged for thrills and chills, beautiful dreams and horrific nightscapes.

But what came into being was not brainless, unless you counted Zombie Nation. Nor was it lacking will, exceptions including the Magic Zone.

Once the initial bloodshed had happened, several waves later, adaptation began to happen.

Fighting or taming the creations became new job markets. Kendra had long held more compassion and empathy than those around her could stand. More than she knew what to do with at times, and that notion had been what had made her different. It had made the difference for her team time and again.

Sure, there was fear.

But stronger was her need for understanding and learning.

These things were what had made her one of the Lead Caretakers. TRI had had their PR team shift blame into grace as they set up new “calming” stations around the world. Each with specialized teams to help assist those who were able to obtain and bring their creations back.

What a joke that was, morbidly so in some cases.

Few survived the initial and follow up pulses, the sudden appearance of a fifty-fifty angelic or cuddly creature versus hellish and dismembering. Let alone funding or facilitating a transport team. As there had been variety in what came forth from The Nothing, so too were there ranges of size.

Kendra had wanted to be a part of the ground team going after the Kaiju for relocation years back but sadly, the team had been filled. But just like they used to say with college selection, if you didn’t get into your first choice, have a backup and boy did she have one. Kendra did get her second choice.

Dinosaurs.

To be fair, she herself had contributed to the Dinosaur domain when hit with the pulse. Though, to be fair, her brain held a very specific and technical creation. One that had given Kendra what she always imagined for herself.

Dexter the Dilphosauraus had been extracted from her mind exactly as she had envisioned him to be. He appeared at an imposing two feet seven inches tall. Grey and green scaled skin with a beautiful frill of orange marrying yellow and red but never mixing. Kendra had felt her whole being melt when he came to life and Dexter must have felt the same for her because he rushed her and circled her legs chirping and chittering. It had been a match.

Dexter was loyal, fiercely so to her. But could be a total terror when she was out of the picture.

He chirped now against her hand, softly. The warm, dry scaled skin was a comfort. His frill was down but it didn’t take a scientist to know she was on edge. The glow of the world outside lit up her face.

A fire meant two things, something or things had gotten loose, and death.

There were still screams that were emitting from downstairs. In the glow of the flames she could see some of the carnage. She made out three grey forms in the sky. Gargoyles.

What they sought was unknown. They may not have even had a purpose. Like moths they may have just been attracted by the lights. Or sounds.

“Well, sadly we aren’t leaving the light on for you, this ain’t a motel.”

Kendra began to gear up. She had been given tools to defend herself during times such as these. Sadly the definition and application of safety came down to the moment, and since the pulses, there was never a guarantee.

At least this time it wasn’t the hobo clowns or the myriad of bugs. Ugh. Shivers ran down her back. She still had nightmares where the cackling sounded out like fog horns. The clowns had been a rough gig.

She had her hands up in her hair, getting it up in a bun, when the world shook.

She heard the whistle of the rocket and saw as one of the Gargoyles was impacted, but not by the rocket. The rocket had landed square on the hand that had swatted the Gargoyle as though nothing but a gnat.

Dexter had been calm before but now bristled next to her. His whole body shaking as he too used his senses to gain awareness of the situation around him. Outside the window many things happened all at once. An immense sound emitted from what felt like stories above them, and easily heard even miles away. The blast let out a huge burst of light which lit the sky long enough to see the true scene against the night veil.

Bodies, both human and created, strewn about lying broken and splayed like toys cast aside once interest waned. A hand thrown here. Leg pulled from the socket with fresh juices dripping off the joint bone. A flattened head disjointly attached to a plump body. The dinosaur shadows against the flames.

The breeze coming in the window tasted like copper pennies.

Somehow a Kaiju had come to the land of Dinosaurs.

Kendra looked at Dexter as she turned her back to the scene at the windows and made her way to the door to get to her team, what was left of it. He burst through their door and alost seemed to pose as he waited for her.

“Roll back the rock.”

Kendra sang, she and Dexter had work to do.

More from author Kendra Smart:

Just Emotions:
A Gothic Bite Magazine Anthology

A collection of poetry.

‘Just Emotions‘ is exactly as it states, a group of writers who had feelings they wanted to express in poem form. Inside, there are a range of emotions to explore. Each writer has given a bit of themselves to you, each in their own way.

We hope that you enjoy these writings and that among the poems you may find some thing you can identify with or relate to. Thank you for giving us this chance to open the catacombs and share with you.

Available on Amazon!