Dead Reckoning and Other Stories

by Dino Parenti

  “Pappy, I made something for you,” Luna managed between hard breaths.

  “My child . . . ?” Pappy said.

  Ash echoed with growled inquiries.

  Luna jammed the spiked ends of the torches into the ancient glass of the Way before taking Ash from Pappy and putting him on the ground. She unclipped the badger’s leader from her grandfather’s belt and clipped it to her own. She then redrew her freshly-made concoctions and handed them to Pappy.

  “Do not worry,” she said. “This is not my blood. Not most of it, anyway.”

  Pappy swallowed back a fear and a love that threatened to root him to the Way for all time. It had not been so long ago that he thought her irrevocably innocent of spleen and craving, when his only worth in the world was her unsullied awareness. And now she stood before him, having not only crafted a new, inexplicable light the likes of which had not been witnessed since the epochs of power, but at the cusp of womanhood and leadership.

  “Go and do us proud now, Pappy,” she said, beaming. “Let them all know we thrive.”

  Pappy glanced up at the infernal glow growing from the Way’s summit.

  “You will not be the same if you see,” he said.

  Luna nodded. “I know. I am eager, but I am also afraid.”

  “We all are, child. That is why we should not be.”

  “You could die,” she said.

  “Yes. But many more may live.”

  Luna reached down to stroke Ash, still soft and pliant under her touch. So much power for so small a thing. And as if Ash too sensed the burgeoning power in her, it swelled itself and groaned its own form of appreciation.

  Only after she stood again did Pappy see her wearing the ancient locket. She bore it with majesty, as if it had only ever belonged to her.

  She lay her head against her grandfather’s shoulder pads, and Pappy kissed the top of her red crown and whispered into her ear what he used to hum to her as a child to get her to sleep: “It is not new continents the earth needs, but new people.”

  Together, they stared into the glow above before cresting the hilltop and descending beyond view.

  GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IS MADE TO THE PUBLISHERS OF EARLIER VERSIONS OF THESE STORIES:

  “Entropy,” “Visitation Rights,” and “Incarnate” in The Lascaux Review.

  “Surge” in The Sinthology: An Anthology of sin

  “Umbilicus” and “Stratum” in Cease, Cows.

  “Two Boys in a Diner” in Shotgun Honey.

  “Mojito” in Revolt Daily.

  “Dead Reckoning” (appeared as “Beyond the Eye”) and “The Mother-of-pearl Way” in Pantheon Magazine.

  “Muir Woods” in Pithead Chapel.

  “Tooth” in Menacing Hedge.

  “Savior” (appeared as “Stalker”) in Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016

  “Puffer Fish,” “Petrichor,” and “On the Fickle Nature of Germination” are unique to this collection.

  ”Visitation Rights” won the 2012 Flash Fiction contest in The Lascaux Review.

  ”Entropy” was a finalist in the 2014 Short Fiction contest in The Lascaux Review.

  Special thanks to the following people for their help and inspiration:

  First and foremost, my close friends and family. There are too many of you to name, and you know who you are.

  Richard Thomas and Heather Foster for being readers and kick-ass editors—along with fellow Gamut troublemakers Mercedes Murdock Yardley and Casey Frechette for their most excellent support and friendship.

  The many editors and writing cheerleaders I’ve met in publishing and Litreactor: Emma Clark, Sarah Read, Jonathon Riley, Andrea Taylor, Leah Rhyne, Matt Pucci, Heather Wiscarson, Matt Garcia, Justin Weeks, CM Franklyn, Jessica O’Neill, Allie Marini Batts, Craig Wallwork, Amanda Gowin, Stephen Parrish, Renee Pickup, Rebecca Jones-Howe, Matt Andrew, Xach Fromson, Amelia Bennett (I knew you were too late for this one!), and of course, Joe Mynhardt at Crystal Lake Publishing for taking a chance with this motley group of stories. There are so many others, and if I missed you here, blame my memory and not your contributions and influence!

  Last but not least, the gang at HWA in Los Angeles . . . and Rod Serling.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  When not scribbling twisted musings into spiral notebooks, photographing the odd puddle or junk pile, or building classy furniture, Dino Parenti earns a little scratch drawing buildings. He’s also one of the fiction editors at Gamut Magazine. When not plowing through slush, he writes. His work can be found in a several anthologies, as well as the following journals: Pantheon Magazine, Cease-Cows, Pithead Chapel, Menacing Hedge, and the Lascaux Review, where he won their first annual flash fiction contest. Dead Reckoning and Other Stories is his first collection.

  THE END?

  Not quite . . .

  Dive into more Tales from the Darkest Depths:

  Novels:

  The Mourner’s Cradle: A Widow’s Journey by Tommy B. Smith

  House of Sighs (with sequel novella) by Aaron Dries

  Beyond Night by Eric S. Brown and Steven L. Shrewsbury

  The Third Twin: A Dark Psychological Thriller by Darren Speegle

  Aletheia: A Supernatural Thriller by J.S. Breukelaar

  Beatrice Beecham’s Cryptic Crypt: A Supernatural Adventure/Mystery Novel by Dave Jeffery

  Where the Dead Go to Die by Mark Allan Gunnells and Aaron Dries

  Sarah Killian: Serial Killer (For Hire!) by Mark Sheldon

  The Final Cut by Jasper Bark

  Blackwater Val by William Gorman

  Pretty Little Dead Girls: A Novel of Murder and Whimsy by Mercedes M. Yardley

  Nameless: The Darkness Comes by Mercedes M. Yardley

  Novellas:

  A Season in Hell by Kenneth W. Cain

  Quiet Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror by Jasper Bark

  The Final Reconciliation by Todd Keisling

  Run to Ground by Jasper Bark

  Devourer of Souls by Kevin Lucia

  Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love by Mercedes M. Yardley

  Wind Chill by Patrick Rutigliano

  Little Dead Red by Mercedes M. Yardley

  Sleeper(s) by Paul Kane

  Stuck On You by Jasper Bark

  Anthologies:

  Welcome to The Show, edited by Doug Murano

  Lost Highways: Dark Fictions From the Road, edited by D. Alexander Ward

  C.H.U.D. Lives! – A Tribute Anthology

  Tales from The Lake Vol.4: The Horror Anthology, edited by Ben Eads

  Behold! Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders, edited by Doug Murano

  Twice Upon an Apocalypse: Lovecraftian Fairy Tales, edited by Rachel Kenley and Scott T. Goudsward

  Tales from The Lake Vol.3, edited by Monique Snyman

  Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward

  Tales from The Lake Vol.2, edited by Joe Mynhardt, Emma Audsley, and RJ Cavender

  Children of the Grave

  The Outsiders

  Tales from The Lake Vol.1, edited by Joe Mynhardt

  Fear the Reaper, edited by Joe Mynhardt

  For the Night is Dark, edited by Ross Warren

  Short story collections:

  Things You Need by Kevin Lucia

  Frozen Shadows and Other Chilling Stories by Gene O’Neill

  Varying Distances by Darren Speegle

  The Ghost Club: Newly Found Tales of Victorian Terror by William Meikle

  Ugly Little Things: Collected Horrors by Todd Keisling

  Whispered Echoes by Paul F. Olson

  Embers: A Collection of Dark Fiction by Kenneth W. Cain

  Visions of the Mutant Rain Forest, by Bruce Boston and Robert Frazier

  Tribulations by Richard Thomas

  Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast by Jonathan Winn

  Flowers in a Dumpster by Mark Allan Gunnells

  The Dark at the End of the Tunnel by Ta
ylor Grant

  Through a Mirror, Darkly by Kevin Lucia

  Things Slip Through by Kevin Lucia

  Where You Live by Gary McMahon

  Tricks, Mischief and Mayhem by Daniel I. Russell

  Samurai and Other Stories by William Meikle

  Stuck On You and Other Prime Cuts by Jasper Bark

  Poetry collections:

  WAR by Alessandro Manzetti and Marge Simon

  Brief Encounters with My Third Eye by Bruce Boston

  No Mercy: Dark Poems by Alessandro Manzetti

  Eden Underground: Poetry of Darkness by Alessandro Manzetti

  If you’ve ever thought of becoming an author, we’d also like to recommend these non-fiction titles:

  Where Nightmares Come From: The Art of Storytelling in the Horror Genre, edited by Joe Mynhardt and Eugene Johnson

  Horror 101: The Way Forward, edited by Joe Mynhardt and Emma Audsley

  Horror 201: The Silver Scream Vol.1 and Vol.2, edited by Joe Mynhardt and Emma Audsley

  Modern Mythmakers: 35 interviews with Horror and Science Fiction Writers and Filmmakers by Michael McCarty

  Writers On Writing: An Author’s Guide Volumes 1,2,3, and 4, edited by Joe Mynhardt. Now also available in a Kindle and paperback omnibus.

  Or check out other Crystal Lake Publishing books for more Tales from the Darkest Depths. Or follow us on Patreon for behind the scenes access.

  Hi, readers. It makes our day to know you reached the end of our book. Thank you so much. This is why we do what we do every single day.

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  Or check out other Crystal Lake Publishing books for your Dark Fiction, Horror, Suspense, and Thriller needs.

  With unmatched success since 2012, Crystal Lake Publishing has quickly become one of the world’s leading indie publishers of Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense books with a Dark Fiction edge.

  Crystal Lake Publishing puts integrity, honor and respect at the forefront of our operations.

  We strive for each book and outreach program that’s launched to not only entertain and touch or comment on issues that affect our readers, but also to strengthen and support the Dark Fiction field and its authors.

  Not only do we publish authors who are legends in the field and as hardworking as us, but we look for men and women who care about their readers and fellow human beings. We only publish the very best Dark Fiction, and look forward to launching many new careers.

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  Crystal Lake Publishing is and will always be a beacon of what passion and dedication, combined with overwhelming teamwork and respect, can accomplish: Unique fiction you can’t find anywhere else.

  We do not just publish books, we present you worlds within your world, doors within your mind, from talented authors who sacrifice so much for a moment of your time.

  This is what we believe in. What we stand for. This will be our legacy.

  Welcome to Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths