Part I If I’m being honest, I ignored the warning signs. I mean, wouldn’t you? Sharon was perfect—or at least, she seemed perfect at the time. She’s beautiful in that classic way that makes people stop and stare. Smart, too. She’s got a dry sense of...
There weren’t ever any stories about the forest. It wasn’t haunted. It wasn’t sacred ground. It wasn’t anything except a bunch of pine trees, and whatever grows under pine trees. Mostly smaller pine trees, as I recall. Pine trees tend to kill off anything else...
I woke on sand, the sound of crashing waves in my ears and the powerful sun shining down upon me, its rays burning my skin. My whole body ached, and it was a struggle to even open my eyes, let alone lift my head to...
Have you ever wanted to relive the thrill of a roller coaster without leaving your seat? Well, I found a way–but it came with a catch I never saw coming. And if you ever stumble across RideShare on the dark web, don’t click it. Trust...
Have you seen them? The construction workers? Have you seen them? Working on the roads at night...
Across the cosmos, a lone survivor of a lost civilization mourns the destruction of her home galaxy, devoured by an insatiable celestial force known as the Gluttonous Star. Now bound to a new galaxy forged from remnants of the old, she watches as humanity thrives,...
They told me to bomb a hospital or an orphanage. My choice. I had a ZAG-05 personal rocket launcher and five rockets, each of which yielded five megatons and provided expedited half-life radioactive decay, allowing for comparatively prompt occupation. In other words, our troops could move...
I imagine that the folks in the city didn’t see anything at all. Out here we’ve got fewer lights. The sky’s a lot clearer at night. Gives a man something to think about, looking up at all that space. I know it’s no deep philosophy,...
Struggling to meet a delivery deadline during a brutal snowstorm, Jack Harper faces more than just treacherous roads. The ice beneath his truck isn't natural—it's alive, spreading and hunting with a will of its own. Joined by a terrified stranger, Jack must navigate a desolate...
Amanda was standing in the darkness, beating her fists against the refrigerator door. The commotion had wrenched me out of a deep and dreamless sleep. When I’d crept down the hall to investigate, I’d had panicked thoughts of intruders, stealing into the house to gut my...
Moving to the idyllic suburbs of Chester County seemed like a dream come true, until strange lights began appearing above the pine trees. At first dismissed as rumors of advanced drones, one man's unsettling encounter reveals something far more enigmatic and terrifying. As strange occurrences...
Seeking a fresh start in his small Midwestern hometown, Caleb hopes to leave his troubles behind and find peace. But when a chance detour leads him down Briar’s Bend, a road steeped in local legend, he becomes entangled in a chilling mystery. Drivers whisper of...
When an ambitious archeologist leads a team into the uncharted mountains of Eastern Europe, they expect to uncover ancient ruins and forgotten civilizations. Instead, they stumble upon something otherworldly—a living structure housing a presence that defies comprehension. As their awe turns to dread, the team...
While exploring the shadowy streets of Old Arkham, an arcane scholar stumbles upon a bookshop filled with forgotten tomes and ancient secrets. Among the crumbling shelves lies a peculiar book with a title that seems to shift and shimmer in the light. Drawn by an...
The air in the Andrews household was tense, rife with the particular brand of anxiety that crept in around the holidays, when expenses piled up and paychecks seemed to shrink. Jim Andrews sat at the head of the table, staring down at the stack of...
When Rick is awakened by his son’s midnight cries, he dismisses them as the product of an overactive imagination. But in the dim light of Desmond’s bedroom, he finds something far stranger—a massive, unnatural wasp nest that seems to have appeared overnight. As Rick and...
After moving to a quiet mining town, young Emmett finds himself in a school where rules are enforced with terrifying precision. The punishment for stepping out of line? A trip to the mysterious Goodness Room, a place whispered about in fear but never questioned aloud....
When Peter first notices the cryptic graffiti—“People Knob” and a phone number—etched into a grimy bathroom wall, he dismisses it as another oddity of city life. But when the same phrase begins appearing everywhere he goes, curiosity gets the better of him. A single phone...
Mike Gilbert paused before driving under the deer skull. Carved vines twisted along the arch at the entrance to Undergrove Salvage, with the bone-white skull centered at the top. He flicked a cigarette butt onto the road, then stepped on the gas. His Ford F-150...
Martin Finch leaned back in his worn leather chair, the familiar creak echoing softly in the quiet of his antique shop. At 55, Martin was a man of routine. Every morning, he arrived precisely at eight, unlocking the shop’s heavy wooden door to welcome the...
