Lobsters and Landmines: Another Nine Disturbing Short Stories About the Darker Side of Human Nature

By Glen Johnson

Lobsters and Landmines is the second book in the Human Nature Series, following in Lamb Chops and Chainsaws footsteps, by continuing to look at the darker side of human nature, by delving into the dark twisted world of the sick minded, the perverse, the psychos and sociopaths; people who take pleasure from hurting others. Individuals, who could be your next-door neighbour or your lover, even a close family member.

Read about a captain who discovers the perfect lobster bait after a violent outburst. A HIV infected man who injects women with his tainted blood. A disfigured ex-army bomb disposal expert who has carved out a piece of paradise for himself in Vietnam, who keeps females as slaves and children as objects to sell. Or the sad story about two friends who are forever parted on September 11th 2001. And the airhostess Jenny who finds the perfect job on a Brazilian airline, but it seems they want more from her than most employers. What about the sweet little old lady who wins awards for her cakes, but what are her secret ingredients? Or the doomsday prepper that spends every waking minute of everyday prepping for the end of the world, until one critical mistake changes everything. Or a computer firm that sells its algorithmic computations to cosmetic firms, cutting out the need to test on animals, but below ground, the vast computer server hosts a disturbing secret. Finally, a businessman who realizes a little too late, what is truly important in life?

Contents

1 Lobster Theodore
After a violent outburst, Jim’s life will be forever changed. However, every cloud has a silver lining when the captain discovers the perfect lobster bait.

2 Little Prick
A HIV infected man injects women with his tainted blood. One victim gets the ultimate revenge.

3 Man’s Best Friend
A disfigured ex-army bomb disposal expert has carved out a piece of paradise for himself in Vietnam. He collects women as slaves to live on his farm, and children to be used by his American clients who fly over once a year. Today is the day they arrive, but not everything goes according to plan.

4 Towers of Tears
On September 11th 2001, two friends are forever separated.

5 Fit for the Job
Jenny’s medical checkup clears her for a job as an airhostess for a small Brazilian airline. However, it seems they want just a little more than most employers do.

6 The Last Cake
Grace has won every baking competition she has ever entered. She has just one cake left to make before she hangs up her oven-glove. But what are her secret ingredients?

7 Lockdown
A doomsday prepper has everything he needs to survive any end of day’s scenario. His underground bunker is all prepped and ready. However, in his haste to survive he has made one critical, life-changing mistake.

8 Nosey Parker
A computer firm is raking in hundreds of millions by selling their latest algorithmic computations to cosmetic firms, cutting out the need to test on animals. However, below ground, one section of the vast computer server hosts a disturbing secret.

9 Regrets
A businessman is taking a flight he has flown hundreds of times before. At home, he leaves an unfinished argument with his wife. However, the flight does not go according to plan, and he realizes what the most important things in life really are.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glen Johnson
• Release date: Aug 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301197323

Glen Johnson

Glen Johnson was born in Devon, England in 1973. He is the author of 55 fiction and non-fiction books. In August 2014, he gave away all his belongings and bought a backpack and he started travelling around Southeast Asia. While he travels, he helps charitable organizations, writing and releasing books about their foundations, leaving them with all the royalties. His first charity book is called Soi Dog: The Story Behind Asia’s Largest Animal Welfare Shelter and it’s available in ebook and paperback worldwide. He has also started to release a series of books about his travel adventures as they unfold, and Living the Dream: Part One – Khaosan Road, Thailand, and Part Two – Krabi, Thailand is available from all good ebook retailers. He also loves to travel and has spent over eleven years living and travelling around the world – so far, he has explored forty-three different countries. At present, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand, but he has also lived in Mexico, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and Singapore. He is also the lead writer on the development team for a new computer game called The Seed (2018), from the creators of the award-winning S.T.A.L.K.E.R Misery mod.Why not add Glen as a friend on Facebook. From his author’s page, you can keep up to date with all his new releases and when his kindle books are free on Amazon. He checks it daily, so pop on and say hello. Don’t be shy, he’s friendly and accepts friend requests.www.facebook.com/GlenJohnsonAuthorwww.facebook.com/RedSkullPublishing and all good ebook retailers.Glen has published 174 books worldwide (via two publishing companies he owns). 55 are his own work; the other 119 are modern-classic-fiction books that can be found on all good eBook and paperback retailers.Books Released by Sinuous Mind Books, and Coming Soon –Books released under his real name Glen JohnsonNON-FICTION BOOKS –CHARITY BOOKS (with Gary Johnson)Soi Dog – The Story Behind Asia’s Largest Animal Welfare Shelter (2015)BEES Elephants Sanctuary: A Haven for Old and Retired Elephants (Coming Soon)TRAVEL BOOKS (with Gary Johnson)Living the Dream 1 – Khaosan Road – Thailand (2015)Living the Dream 2 – Krabi – Thailand (2019)Living the Dream 3 – Penang – Malaysia (Coming Soon)FICTION BOOKS –APOCALYPTIC/DYSTOPIAN/HORRORTHE SIXTH EXTINCTION SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short Stories)The Sixth Extinction 1 – Outbreak (2013)The Sixth Extinction 2 – Ruin (2013)The Sixth Extinction 3 – Infested (2013)The Sixth Extinction 4 – The Ark (2013)The Sixth Extinction 1-4 – Omnibus Edition (2013)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: THE FIRST THREE WEEKS SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short stories)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 1 – Noah’s Story (2013)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 2 – Red’s Story (2013)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 3 – Betty and Lennie’s Story (2013)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 4 – Doctor Lazaro’s Story (2013)The First Three Weeks 1-4 – Omnibus Edition (2013)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION & THE FIRST THREE WEEKS SERIES OMNIBUS (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short stories)The Sixth Extinction & The First Three Weeks 1-8 – Omnibus Edition (2013)The Sixth Extinction & The First Three Weeks & The Sixth Extinction America 1-12 – Omnibus Edition (2014)The Sixth Extinction & The First Three Weeks & The First Three Weeks The Squads Stories & The Sixth Extinction America & The Seven Seeds of the Gods 1-23 – Omnibus Edition (2017)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: THE FIRST THREE WEEKS – THE SQUADThe Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks – The Squad – Echo’s Story (2014)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks – The Squad – Coco’s Story (2014)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: AMERICA SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short stories)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part One: The Black Spores (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Two: False Hope (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Three: The Pods (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Four: The Long Road (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – 1-4 Omnibus Edition (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Five: No Turning Back (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Six: A Friend in Need (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Seven: All Aboard (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Eight: New Hope (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – 1-8 Omnibus Edition (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – 1-20 Omnibus Edition (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Nine: Keep Running (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Ten: Don’t Look Back (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Eleven: Resurrection (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Twelve: Alliance (2018)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Thirteen: Abandon (2019)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Fourteen: Burn (Coming Soon)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: BOOK EXTRASThe Sixth Extinction: The Seven Seeds of the Gods. Book One – Ancient Egypt (2016)The Sixth Extinction: The Seven Seeds of the Gods. Book Two – Ancient Mayan (Coming Soon)The Sixth Extinction: One Year On (England) (Coming Soon)The Sixth Extinction: Clarkson’s Discovery (Coming Soon)THE ENDLESS SERIESEndless: Part One – Sorrow (2019)Endless: Part Two – Fear (Coming Soon)Endless: Part Three - Anger (Coming Soon)THE EVENT SERIESThe Event: Part One – The Last Hope (2019)The Event: Part Two – Crashing Down (Coming Soon)THE HUMAN NATURE SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short Stories)Lamb Chops and Chainsaws – Vol.1 (2012)Lobsters and Landmines – Vol.2 (2012)French Fries and Flamethrowers – Vol.3 (2014)The Human Nature Series 1-3 – Omnibus Edition (2014)Backpacks and Body Bags – Vol.4 (Coming Soon)THE EXTREME HUMAN NATURE SERIES (Extreme Horror Short Stories)Condoms and Cabbages (2015)GHOST (Short Stories)Sea of Trees (2017)Child Angels (2018)Tall Ghosts (2020)The Lost Cat (2023)HORROR (Short Stories)Quarantine (2020)Laugh Out Loud (2021)Secrets and Lies (2021)Blood Lotus (With Hathairat Phuekhiran – 2023)HORRORThe Watchers (2014)THE WAR OF THE GOD’S SERIESWar of the Gods 1 – The Devil’s Tarots (2012)War of the Gods 2 – Lilith’s Revenge (Coming Soon)THE SEVEN WORLDS SERIES (with Gary Johnson)The Gateway – World One (2014)The Keystone – World Two (2015)Even Jewel – World Three (2017)The Sleeping Gods – World Four (Coming Soon)The Turquoise Abyss – World Five (Coming Soon)Oceans of Fire – World Six (Coming Soon)Journeys End – World Seven (Coming Soon)THE SPELL OF BINDING SERIESThe Spell of Binding – Part One (2012)The Spell of Binding – Part Two (Coming Soon)THE PARKINGDOM SERIESParkingdom – Book One (2012)Parkingdom – Book Two (Coming Soon)OTHER BOOKSTales from the Lake Vol.2. Short Story: Prime Cuts (A mixed horror anthology with 18 other writers – published by Crystal Lake Publishing. 2016)Books released under the pseudonym J.G. NewtonEROTIC PLEASURES SERIES (#1 Best Seller on Amazon USA and UK Erotic/Suspense)Guilty Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Dirty Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Secret Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Kinky Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Erotic Pleasures Series 1-4 – Omnibus Edition (2014)EROTIC MONSTERS SERIES (#1 Best Seller on Amazon USA and UK Erotic/Suspense/Horror/Humorous)Frankenstein’s Monster: Erotic Monsters Series (2014)Dracula’s Lover: Erotic Monsters Series (2014)Mummy’s Desire: Erotic Monsters Series (Coming Soon)Werewolf’s Lust: Erotic Monsters Series (Coming Soon)COMPUTER GAMETHE SEEDGlen Johnson is on the development team as the lead writer (eight writers) for a new computer game series called The Seed. The Seed is a story-driven post-apocalyptic video game set in Eastern Europe in 2026. It’s a single-player 2D interactive novel, deeply rooted in HEXACO psychology – it showcases the gravity of choice. It’s by the same team that created the award-winning game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Misery mod.The Seed: Act 1 (2018)The Seed: Act 2 (Coming Soon)The Seed: Act 3 (Coming Soon)If you need to get hold of Glen Johnson, email him on: [e-mail]

Book preview

LOBSTERS AND LANDMINES

Another Nine Disturbing Short Stories about the Darker Side of Human Nature

By Glen Johnson

-Sinuous Mind Books-

Published by Sinuous Mind Books for Smashwords

Copyright © Glen Johnson

Cover design by Sinuous Mind Books

Glen Johnson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead or undead is entirely coincidental.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form without Sinuous Mind Books or Glen Johnson’s prior consent. Except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles.

For my friend –

Matthew D. Chilcott (Chilli)

CONTENTS

Contents

Prologue

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

About the Author

Other Books by Glen Johnson

Contents

1 Lobster Theodore

After a violent outburst, Jim’s life will be forever changed. However, every cloud has a silver lining when the captain discovers the perfect lobster bait.

2 Little Prick

A HIV infected man injects women with his tainted blood. One victim gets the ultimate revenge.

3 Man’s Best Friend

A disfigured ex-army bomb disposal expert has carved out a piece of paradise for himself in Vietnam. He collects women as slaves to live on his farm, and children to be used by his American clients who fly over once a year. Today is the day they arrive, but not everything goes according to plan.

4 Towers of Tears

On September 11th 2001, two friends are forever separated.

5 Fit for the Job

Jenny’s medical checkup clears her for a job as an airhostess for a small Brazilian airline. However, it seems they want just a little more than most employers do.

6 The Last Cake

Grace has won every baking competition she has ever entered. She has just one cake left to make before she hangs up her oven-glove. But what are her secret ingredients?

7 Lockdown

A doomsday prepper has everything he needs to survive any end of day’s scenario. His underground bunker is all prepped and ready. However, in his haste to survive he has made one critical, life-changing mistake.

8 Nosey Parker

A computer firm is raking in hundreds of millions by selling their latest algorithmic computations to cosmetic firms, cutting out the need to test on animals. However, below ground, one section of the vast computer server hosts a disturbing secret.

9 Regrets

A businessman is taking a flight he has flown hundreds of times before. At home, he leaves an unfinished argument with his wife. However, the flight does not go according to plan, and he realizes what the most important things in life really are.

Whereas the locations in this book are a fusion of real and imagined, the events and characters are merely a fabrication of my imagination.

Glen Johnson

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it."

Albert Einstein

"Man is the cruelest animal."

Friedrich Nietzsche

Prologue

We live in a cruel world.

Millions die each year from wars and genocide, starvation and disease, murder and sexual abuse; hate crimes and terrorist attacks. The newspapers, magazines and the television are overflowing with bad news. Everywhere you look, there is pain and suffering, anger and hatred, misery and despair.

It is a violent world.

The bad things are no longer happening to someone else, someone from another country, or another religion; they are happening to us and our loved ones, in our cities, towns and villages, in our neighbourhoods and on our doorsteps.

It is an evil world.

This cruel world, in one form or another, touches us all; we are all affected by the wickedness that saturates our species. People capable of acts of unbelievable evil surround us all, and sometimes – when push comes to shove – we are the perpetrator of the evil that touches others.

-1-

Lobster Theodore

Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart. Proverbs 29:17

Four o’clock in the fucking morning. Shit, I need another line of work. And it’s Saturday!

The alarm had not woken Jim Fuller up, because he always seemed to sense just before it went off. Besides, his fiancée, Tracy Dunn would give him shit if he woke her up too early, or her obese ten-year-old son who seemed to run the household with his tantrums and fighting. Fat Theodore, the little shit. Who in this day and age calls their kid Theodore, for fuck’s sake?

Theodore had recently been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He has always been hyperactive, loud, attention seeking, rude, angry, and disobedient.

ADHD my arse; he is just a rude, obnoxious child who gets away with it purely because they come up with a new, so-called, disorder. Why don’t they just say it as it is, NGSD, Needs a Good Slap Disorder? In my day, there was none of this, don’t-hit-them shit. If a child misbehaved, you smacked them, simple as that. I used to get a good whack; it didn’t do me any harm. I learnt respect that’s for sure.

Jim gave a long sigh, mixed in with a yawn.

Just another ten minutes. What is the point of owning my own business if I can’t sleep in? However, he knew it was just wishful thinking. He may own the boat, but Mr. Kenshaw was his real boss. No one else in the area was interested in buying his lobsters, Mr. Kenshaw practically dictated what he was going to pay, unless he wanted to drive over an hour to the next town, and even then, the prices were not much better.

Bloody EU dictators, shipping too much over from Europe.

America was also having a crisis with an over abundance of lobsters flooding the market. This time last year, he could get three pounds for a pound, now it was down to just one pound thirty-five pence.

The bastards!

Jim Fuller was a fisherman from Clovelly, a beautiful, privately own village in North Devon, England, which has been in the same family since 1738. It is picture perfect, with its cobblestone streets and whitewashed cottages, against a four-hundred-foot cliff backdrop.

His father had handed over the prosperous little company to him, just months before his cancer was diagnosed.

All that hard work. All those years, and he didn’t even get to enjoy his retirement. Sixteen-hour days in all weather, bringing the catch home to sell to the highest bidder by the dockside. In those days, people lined up to out bid each other. Now all I have is one greasy haired, pasty dickhead waiting for me to sell to at the wharf.

Jim stretched his legs; they both cracked at the knees from arthritis from too much standing in cold, wet weather.

So here I am, about to start another day, trying to rake in enough money to pay the mortgage and have enough leftover for bills and food. If Fat Theodore didn’t eat so much, things wouldn’t be so bad.

He had to put up with the attitude and arguing from Tracy as well. She always complained she didn’t have money to go out with her friends, or buy new clothes like them.

Clovelly was beautiful, but it didn’t have a nightclub or rowdy pubs, so it was expensive to have to keep traveling to the neighbouring towns and cities.

If she didn’t smoke sixty fags a day, we would be better off. She is like a smokestack, always with one burning away in the corner of her mouth.

She was only twenty-seven, just four years younger than Jim, but her constant smoking made her look ten years older.

He would have dumped her years ago, before her son started getting too big and lazy, and she turned into a chimney, but the business had been going downhill even before she turned up.

The small two-bedroom cottage used to be his fathers, left to him after he passed, and due to his mother passing away eleven years before, after a series of nasty strokes, he was the only other relative inline. However, he had re-mortgaged twice on the property just to keep the fishing business afloat. The bank refused the third request. If it wasn’t for Tracey’s benefit money, and child support from Theodore’s dad, they would be in the red all the time; hence why he kept her around.

Jim rolled over and sat up. His big-callused hands rubbed down his stubbled face. He used the light from a streetlight right outside their bedroom window to peer at his rough hands. For the last six months, Tracey did not allow him to caress her body. She said it was because his hands felt like sandpaper. He thinks she is having an affair.

He looked down at her as she slept. Her hair was a mess, all knotted and straggly. She hadn’t even bothered to wash her makeup off when she had come in blind drunk just after 2 AM. She said she was out with friends, but he knew she only ever went out with two friends. One was away visiting family, and the other phoned just after nine and left a message on the answering machine to say Theodore was missing his mum, and could she go and pick him up; she said she couldn’t drop him off because she had had a couple of glasses of wine while watching TV.

Jim stood up and pulled on his dirty, smelly clothes from the day before, and made his way to the small bathroom. Jesus, I need a holiday. He couldn’t remember his last one. Ten years ago? He was not sure. He couldn’t afford not to work, and what little he did make went into boat repairs or bills. He couldn’t remember the last time his bank wasn’t overdrawn.

He went to brush his teeth and noticed Tracy hadn’t bothered to go shopping again.

She probably spent the money on drink.

He wandered down to the kitchen for his morning shot of caffeine. There was just enough in the bottom of two bottles to make one cup of cheap chicory coffee. He peered into the fridge. Half a tin of value range baked beans and only two slices of wafer-thin ham that had gone hard on the edges. There was no milk for his coffee. And for some reason, Tracey’s handbag was on the bottom shelf along with her mobile phone.

Stupid, drunk bitch!

Tracey’s friend must have dropped Theodore home after all because he could hear him snoring. He hadn’t noticed he was even gone when he got home.

He normally finished around six in the evening, and after spending half an hour arguing with Mr. Kenshaw, about prices and the undersized catch, he popped into the Jolly Sailor for a pint. He knew he couldn’t afford it, but he couldn’t face going straight home. Therefore, he sat in the corner of the pub nurturing his pint for an hour before having to face the madness. When he got home, he nuked a ready-meal in the microwave, and ate at the table by himself. He then showered and went straight to bed, while having to listen to Theodore running around, screaming, and swearing at his mother.

Jim knew he was becoming severely depressed, but he just could not see a way out of his situation, so rather than face his fiancée or her obese, hyperactive son; he simply crawled under the sheets and escaped into the oblivion of sleep.

Tracy even gave up complaining about him not being around. He was sure she was fucking someone else.

Good riddance to old trash, he thought.

He went to put some bread in the toaster, but there were only two slices of crust left, and they were both moldy.

Fuck what a life! Where did I go wrong? I never had it this bad when dad was alive. We always had food on the table and money in the bank.

Jim looked at the clock on the microwave. It was almost 4:30 AM, and if he wanted to check all his pots and get back in time for Mr. Kenshaw, he had to be out on the boat by 5 AM.

He noticed the open letter on the kitchen table. He flicked it with his hand. Another letter from the local do-gooders at number thirty-three, opposite, telling him he needed to paint the front of his cottage. Apparently, he was letting the whole street and village down.

Fuck off! Why can’t they mind their own fucking business? Stuck up twats with the trust funds and company shares. That was the only downside with living in such a small village; everyone was in everyone else’s pockets.

He should have left by now, but he just did not seem to be able to get up the strength. He pulled out a chair and dropped down onto it. He sat with his head in his hands. He was tired, hungry and fucked off with life.

I’m hungry, said a voice from behind him that echoed his own thoughts. Fat Theodore had heard him moving around and had wandered into the kitchen for something to eat.

Considering he is so hyperactive; running around and smashing the place up, why is he still such a fat fuck?

Go back to bed. Your mum is still asleep. It’s early, Jim said through his hands that cupped his face.

The ten-year-old boy just stood in his tight fitting, Doctor Who pajamas, with his arms limp at his sides, stomach protruding, still half-asleep, staring at Jim’s