by D Kershaw
Website: www.ShellyJarvis.com
Lullaby
by Lydia F. Black
The water was calm at high noon.
“Land!” a mate yelled.
Ahead, rocky cliffs jet out into the water. The captain motioned for the sails to be released. The closer the ship got, the more confused the crew became. Wrecked ships, blood-stained water, and dead bodies floated everywhere.
“There!” someone shouted, pointing.
Three beautiful women sat waiting ashore. One blonde, the others, brunette. They had a tail, rather than legs. They opened their mouths; a sweet, alluring voice emerged. The men could not resist; they jumped and swam. The sirens sang once more, “How long can you hold your breath?”
WHEN SHE’S NOT TRAINING for her third degree black belt, or slaving over the final days of school, Lydia F. Black, a ninja in Maryland, finds herself writing Drabbles, school papers, or the weird scenes in her head.
Smile
by Paul Eric Carberry
It started with a smirk. Innocent enough from deep below. Then it began to grow out of control. From the depths, expanding quicker than he could have imagined. No time to react. A sinister snarl twisted on the creature’s jaw, endless white tips bulging from the pink gums. A black hole opened up in the centre of the smile, swelling out of control. Razor-sharpened teeth outlined the ghastly void in space. His legs disappeared into the obscurity. Strips of flesh severed from legs, crimson rivers erupted around him. Enveloped in a sea of maroon blood. It concluded with a smile.
PAUL ERIC CARBERRY is the author of the Zombies on the Rock series. His tales of the zombie apocalypse in Newfoundland are inspired by George A. Romero’s Living Dead series. He has also published several short stories over three “from the Rock” anthologies including “Halloween Mummers”, “The Light of Cabot Tower”, “Into the Forrest” and “Harmon Field”. His Zombies on the Rock series currently has three novels, “Outbreak”, “The Viking Trail” and “The Republic of Newfound” and is currently working on the fourth novel “Extinction”. Paul is from Newfoundland and is currently living in Shearwater, Nova Scotia.
Website: engenbooks.com/zombies-on-the-rock
Quetzalcoatl’s Revenge
by Joshua E. Borgmann
The great serpent slithered through the air. Finding the cruise ship, it came down upon it in a fury. Its many limbs grabbed screaming creatures from the pool deck. Then it slither-flew a few hundred feet up before unleashing a beam of fire that annihilated the ship’s life boats. The beast coiled and uncoiled, hanging above the screaming passengers. Then it dived, cutting a path through the heart of the ship and nearly ripping it in half. These outsiders would no longer defile its temples, and the blood from the unbelievers it had claimed would again feed its pyramids.
JOSHUA E. BORGMANN holds degrees from Drake University, Iowa State University, and the University of South Carolina. He grew up on horror and science-fiction and had long intended to become a great master of the art form before he was sucked into the bottomless pit of academia. He toils away his days as an English instructor at a small community college and dreams of being able to escape into a world of fantasy and terror where there are no student papers to grade. He and his wife reside in a nameless rural Iowa town surrounded by terrible cornfields where he is terrorized by several felines who have taken refuge in his home.
Neptune’s Bounty
by Laurence Sullivan
It all started with a single shark washed up on the shore. Dead, bloated, a thick film of foam around its mouth. It was only a minor nuisance at first, quickly taken back out to sea by some local fishermen.
Then the rest arrived.
Whole schools of fish, dolphins, whales. Each new fish festering under the unforgiving sun. Within days the town was being choked out by the miasma; but the sea’s bounty kept surging relentlessly.
Unable to afford to leave, most folks left it too late... Failing to stem the tide, the gangrenous grave would soon swallow every soul...
RUNNER-UP IN THE WICKED Young Writer Awards: Gregory Maguire Award, Laurence Sullivan’s creative writing has appeared in such places as: Londonist, The List, NHK-World, Literary Orphans and Crack the Spine. He became inspired to start writing during his studies at the universities of Kent, Utrecht and Birmingham – after being saturated in all forms of literature from across the globe and enjoying every moment of it. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Northumbria University in the Medical Humanities, exploring literary portrayals of women’s domestic medicine during the eighteenth century.
Website: www.laurencesullivan.co.uk
Twitter: @LozzySullivan
Uprising
by Emma K. Leadley
The divers rubbed their hands in glee at discovering the old, barnacle-encrusted chest. Hidden in the collapsed prow of a known pirate shipwreck, it had lain undisturbed for centuries. It was bound to be treasure-filled! They took turns at prising the lock, dreaming of riches whilst keeping watch on their air gauges. Plenty of time! Slowly, slowly, the old hasp broke through, and the lid opened to reveal a pile of rubies, doubloons and pieces of eight. Stuffing their bags full, they failed to notice the water shimmering around them—the ghosts of dead pirates rising to protect their hoard.
EMMA K. LEADLEY is a UK-based writer, creative geek, and devourer of words, images and ideas. She began writing both fiction and creative non-fiction as an outlet for her busy brain, and quickly realised scrawling words on a page is wired into her DNA.
Website: emmaleadley.co.uk
Twitter: @autoerraticism
Eternal Lover
by K.B. Elijah
I brush my fingers up her bare legs, savouring the smoothness of her skin and nipping at her underwear.
She shivers with my touch.
I continue up her body—her arms, her breasts, her lips. I am as tender as the gentlest of lovers as I steal her breath, closing my mouth over hers, and tasting alcohol on her tongue.
She moves briefly, as if to pull away, yet obligingly remains within my embrace, and I watch her eyes close.
I know they won’t open again.
I pull her deeper, down into my colder layers, the ocean claiming another soul.
K.B. ELIJAH is a fantasy author living in Brisbane, Australia with her husband and three cockatiels. A lawyer by day, and a writer by...also day, because she needs her solid nine hours of sleep per night (not that the cockatiels let her sleep past 6am). K.B. writes for various international anthologies, and her work features in dozens of collections about the mysterious, the magical and the macabre. Her own books of short fantasy novellas with twists, The Empty Sky and Out of the Nowhere, are available on paperback and Kindle now.
Website: www.kbelijah.com
Instagram: k.b.elijah
Food for Thought
by Kaitlyn Arnett
There is a creature down there, and Ainsley knew this was fact. Its name was ancient, lost in the legends and myths surrounding it, but everything had to have a calling. Aegean was what she settled on calling it, her monster of the deep.
Because they’ve barely begun to explore the oceans, and all of those myths had to be based in fact. They always were.
Miles below the surface, the ancient beast stirred. It heard her thoughts, taking them. Bit by bit, day by day. Food for thought, as the saying goes.
And the creature awoke from its slumber.
KAITLYN ARNETT is a teen author who has been writing for five years. She focuses on the fantasy and thriller genres, specifically drabbles and short stories.
Beneath
by J. Dorden
The waters rose, coming over the bow of the ships, carrying those who were unlucky enough to get caught in its grasp off the ship. Bells and whistles and shouts of men overboard could barely be heard above the crashing waves and roaring winds. The lighting speared and cracked upon the masts. Little fires start, but quickly put out by the rain pouring down upon the poor unfortunate souls trapped in the temp
est. The ocean’s anger could be felt as it pulled the ships and the men into the dark depths below. The ancient beast beneath, forever hungry and waiting.
J. DORDEN is a writer/author with a self-published science fiction book, currently working on the second. She is 28 years old, was born in Georgia but raised in Florida and recently moved to Maryland. Hobbies include writing, crochet, and video games.
Twitter: @DordenJessica
She Loves Me
by Cassandra Angler
It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Scales black and neon green, and its face too humanoid for comfort. I heard the scientist speculating that this is the first of a hybrid breed, or a mutation from an oil spill. Its eyes watch my every movement through the glass of its tank. I can hear it in my head, begging me. Its eyes shift between me and the scalpel beside the examination table. I nod, bringing a smile to the creature’s lips. One by one, I slit the throats of the lab’s occupants. I return to her, bloody. She loves me.
CASSANDRA ANGLER is a married mother of four who lives in the State of Ohio in the USA. When she isn’t busy caring for her family, Cassandra works on her upcoming novel due out in November of 2020 titled Contaminated. Cassandra has three short story publications as well as several flash fiction and drabble publications.
At a Reasonable Price
by Hannah Retallick
Come one, come all! Half-price tickets to the Ocean Aquarium. Tell your friends, your family, that guy in the office. Bring your kids – they’ll be dying to visit! Here, take a brochure, sir. We have plenty to see today:
Plastic net lobsters, ring pull shrimps, drinking straw crabs, milk carton octopuses, carrier bag jellyfish, clingfilm sea dragons, crisp packet stingrays, pesticide whales, microfibre clownfish, and giant sewage squids.
Come one, come all! See for yourself, our glorious Ocean. Thank you, madam, I’ll show you in. And the Underwater Café is open for business. Free bottled water for all who thirst.
HANNAH RETALLICK is a twenty-six-year-old from Anglesey, North Wales. She was home educated and then studied with the Open University, graduating with a First-class honours degree, BA in Humanities with Creative Writing and Music, and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing. She is working on her second novel and writes short stories and a blog. She was shortlisted in the Writing Awards at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2019, the Cambridge Short Story Prize, and the Henshaw Short Story Competition June 2019.
Website: ihaveanideablog.wordpress.com
The Octopus’ Garden
by McKenzie Richardson
The diving expedition started well enough.
Inside the underwater cave Kas had stumbled across, their flashlights lit up rock formations and seaweed. Ren blushed when he was momentarily shaken by a rock pile that looked almost human. He illuminated it with his light, hoping Kas would fall for the same trick, then stopped abruptly.
He hadn’t been mistaken; it was human, an open-mouthed corpse, ankles tied with twisted seagrass, anchored to a rock. He swung around, realising the cave was littered with similarly-bound bloated bodies.
Then eight huge, suction-cupped tentacles wrapped around his mask, and all the light faded out.
MCKENZIE RICHARDSON lives in Milwaukee, WI. Her horror stories have been featured in various anthologies including Evil Lurks, Pandemic, and After: Undead Wars. She has also published a variety of poems and flash fiction pieces.
Facebook: mckenzielrichardson
Blog: www.craft-cycle.com
The Leviathan
by Zoey Xolton
God looked down upon Earth and saw the destruction that his creations of clay and water had wrought. Earth was always intended to be Eden—the Garden had been just the beginning—but his children had failed him; and continued to do so for generations beyond memory.
It was time.
They’d had their chance.
Deep within the ocean, wrapped around the warm, magma core of the planet, the slumbering Harbinger of Doom uncoiled itself, answering its master’s summons. The seven seas boiled and ran red. The mantle of the world itself, shattered.
The sea serpent’s awakening obliterated all of humanity.
ZOEY XOLTON is an Australian Speculative Fiction writer, primarily of Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Romance and Horror. She is also a proud mother of two and is married to her soul mate. Outside of her family, writing is her greatest passion. She is especially fond of short fiction and is working on releasing her own themed collections in future.
Website: www.zoeyxolton.com
The Cold Heart of the Ocean
by R.J. Meldrum
No-one was there to witness the last mountain top being engulfed by the rising ocean. Humanity was confined to floating rafts, at the mercy of the wind and current. They weren’t worried. The ocean would feed them. They were still the masters of the planet.
Weeks passed with nothing being caught in the nets. Food began to run out.
Suddenly grey shapes were seen below the rafts.
“Whales!”
“We can hunt them!”
“We’re saved!”
The humans celebrated their good fortune, but they were premature. One by one, the whales capsized the rafts. Their revenge, long overdue, was being served cold.
R.J. MELDRUM is an author and academic. Born in Scotland, he moved to Ontario, Canada in 2010. He has had stories published by Horrified Press, the Infernal Clock, Trembling with Fear, Darkhouse Books, Smoking Pen Press, and James Ward Kirk Fiction. He also has had stories published in The Sirens Call e-zine, the Horror Zine and Drabblez Magazine. He is an Affiliate Member of the Horror Writers Association.
Twitter: @RichardJMeldru1
Facebook: richard.meldrum.79
Lost City
by G. Allen Wilbanks
The sonar imagery proved correct. 800 meters down in the southern Atlantic Ocean, Professor Bellamy and two fellow researchers guided the diving bell through the majestic structures of a long-lost city.
Bellamy steered the underwater craft closer to the rounded peaks of what appeared to be multi-levelled buildings. An eerie bioluminescence provided enough light to see.
“Oh, my god,” muttered Bellamy.
“What is it?” asked one of the researchers.
Bellamy just shook his head. The extreme depths were messing with his eyes. For an instant, he thought he’d seen a face staring back at him from one of the windows.
G. ALLEN WILBANKS is a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and has published over 100 short stories in various magazines and on-line venues. He is the author of two short story collections, and the novel, When Darkness Comes.
Website: www.gallenwilbanks.com
Blog: DeepDarkThoughts.com
Cold North Sea
by Will Christian
Waves crash and erupt spume and foam. The white horses that don’t exist.
A mighty frigate that fought the horses, now plunges to meet Davy Jones. A feast for us, those brave seafarers. Forever trapped souls, no sun to see.
Fathoms below, it’s becalmed: no light to shine our way. The weeds and rocks we hide amongst don’t give up secrets, they just hold them forever and a day.
We move by senses honed and refined by eons of hunting for food. If you dare visit, we will lock you with us forever. Lost souls entombed in the eternal dark.
WILL CHRISTIAN is a father of two writers and a husband to his beautiful wife (who paid him to write that). With a sense of humour that his eldest daughter calls “adorable and groan-worthy dad jokes with surprising creativity”, Will can usually be found wandering the local beaches, writing poetry and drabbles, and wistfully daydreaming about the boat that his girls haven’t yet agreed to buy him.
Drifting Off
by Steven Lord
Has it really been three nights? Three nights clinging to flotsam, nothing but dark ocean stretching from horizon to horizon, sky a black quilt overhead. So many stars.
Optimism wil
l keep you alive, they had said. I didn’t pay attention. Survival training was for pessimists. I was going to live forever.
It’s hard to maintain hope in the face of an uncaring infinity of time and space. Every lonely second an eternity. Every glittering star an unkept promise.
The sky looks beautiful tonight. And I’m so tired. The water is lovely, dark and deep. Time to slip off, I think.
STEVEN LORD is a debut author based in the south of England. He is currently attempting to cram writing in alongside a busy day job, with varying levels of success. While his long-term aspiration is to get a novel published, at present he would be pretty pleased with a drabble or two.
