Armageddon House
Page 8
Earlier, the other three transformed at least briefly, one at a time, into something they needed to be. Now it’s Mark’s turn.
Fear departs, resolve strengthens. He steps forward, gun raised toward the murmurs of friends. Yearning aches in him, a surge of hunger to touch someone else, the way trees extend limbs, straining for contact, a lonely grasping for another’s hand. But there is no one else.
Four bullets. Enough to kill, enough to be born. Once he’s done, he’ll finally see what comes next.
END
About the Author
Michael Griffin’s latest collection The Human Alchemy (Word Horde) was a 2018 Shirley Jackson Award finalist. Other books include a novel, Hieroglyphs of Blood and Bone (Journalstone, 2017) and his debut collection The Lure of Devouring Light (Word Horde, 2016). His stories have appeared in Black Static and Apex magazines, and the anthologies Looming Low, The Children of Old Leech and the Shirley Jackson Award winner The Grimscribe’s Puppets.
He’s also an ambient musician and founder of Hypnos Recordings, a record label he operates with his wife in Portland, Oregon. His blog is at griffinwords.com